Concentré d'Orange Verte

Released in 2004, the fragrance Concentré d’Orange Verte is a reinterpretation of the famous Orange Verte released in 1978. A true star of the Hermès house, Orange Verte was considered upon release an alternative to classic eaux de cologne. Created by Françoise Caron, Orange Verte revealed its complexity through a uniquely woody sillage. Concentré d’Orange Verte keeps the elegance of its predecessor while proving more intense, more powerful. The revisited version is a composition signed Jean Guichard.

Concentré d’Orange Verte, a fragrant revisit signed Jean Guichard

It was thus to perfumer Jean Guichard that Hermès turned to revisit its famous Orange Verte. Jean Guichard is not only a very great perfumer, but also the director of the Givaudan perfumery school. For ten years, he has trained perfumers, shaped them, taught them the craft and guided them to become the successors of tomorrow. For Jean Guichard, a perfumer is an artist, a poet combined with a scientist. Jean Guichard comes from a line of perfumers, and his son, Aurélien Guichard, has also become a perfumer. Jean Guichard is responsible for such great successes as Loulou by Cacharel, L’Interdit by Givenchy and Obsession by Calvin Klein.

Orange, the star of Concentré d’Orange Verte

Naturally, Jean Guichard kept orange at the heart of this revisit. Concentré d’Orange Verte opens on the lively freshness of mint accompanied by orange blossom. Native to Asia, mint is an aromatic plant that once perfumed Greek temples. It was in the Middle Ages that mint began to be used for its therapeutic properties. Mint is widely used in cooking, in both sweet and savory dishes. In perfumery, mint essence is obtained by steam distillation of the dried flowers. It releases tonalities that are at once spicy, herbaceous and sweet. The heart of Concentré d’Orange Verte is composed of green orange, mandarin pulp and lemon pulp.

More than 2,000 years ago, the Chinese devoted themselves to growing citrus fruit in the mountains of East Asia. Brought back by the Portuguese from their stopovers in Ceylon in 1520, orange was considered a luxury product until the early twentieth century. Merchants typically expose oranges to ethylene in order to kill the chlorophyll and obtain fruit with vivid colors. Our oranges only take on their familiar colors once they experience cold. Green oranges are sweeter than others and are mainly eaten in very hot countries (Mexico, Brazil). In perfumery, green orange releases tonalities that are at once green, sweet and tangy. Finally, the base of Concentré d’Orange Verte is intense and smooth thanks to the presence of cedar, patchouli and coumarin. Sober and slender, the bottle is tinted for the occasion in a vivid green echoing the essence of the composition.