Most feminine perfumes are largely based on floral notes. Yet in 2004, the house of Hermès created a surprise and chose to highlight ambergris in its perfume l'Eau Des Merveilles. Although unusual, it quickly won over the public, revealing a highly appealing masculine-feminine facet.
Emblematic from its release in 2012, l'Ambre des Merveilles is a fascinating perfume in every respect. Its unstable bottle is almost as appealing as its stardust. Its resinous, warm scent is an invitation to the imagination. From then on, it took boldness to revisit such an essence. Nevertheless, it took more than that to stop the overflowing ambition of the house of Hermès. This is how the brand new Eau des Merveilles Bleue came to be. So, will this new essence manage to rise to the challenge? Is this perfume a worthy successor, living up to all our expectations?
Olfastory’s review
The maritime inspiration of l'Eau des Merveilles Bleue
Logically enough, l'Eau des Merveilles Bleue is a perfume we owe to the creator Christine Nagel. Indeed, she has held the position of exclusive perfumer of the house of Hermès since 2014. Quite different from her predecessor, the highly renowned Jean-Claude Ellena, she is nonetheless every bit as talented. Often described as an atypical, spirited person full of life, Christine Nagel seeks to put a bit of her soul into each of her creations. Thus, when she received the brief from the house of Hermès about this new perfume, an idea immediately came to mind. L'Eau des Merveilles Bleue was meant to be an open door to wonder, at the crossroads of childhood dreams and femininity. Christine Nagel therefore drew inspiration from one of her most beautiful memories: her discovery of the sea. She sought to capture the sensation she discovered that day on the pebbles wetted by the water. She says she remembers their salty taste and mineral quality. Now, it is precisely this sensation that one discovers with fresh eyes in l'Eau des Merveilles Bleue. This translates into a fairly simple yet no less harmonious formula. L'Eau des Merveilles Bleue revolves around three major ingredients: a maritime accord, patchouli, and woody notes. The whole wonderfully conveys the flood of stars running through a child's eyes upon discovering this vast expanse of blue.
Hermès's poetic bottle
At the same time, note that l'Eau des Merveilles Bleue comes to us in a round bottle with a completely smooth surface. This is reminiscent of a pebble polished by sea water. Thus, Hermès has sought to establish a perfect continuity between its visual and the scent contained in its bottle. Nevertheless, it displays a very intriguing appearance. Its blue color is evocative of the marine world. Yet not only that… L'Eau des Merveilles Bleue is as if traced with a constellation of stars. From then on, no one truly knows whether it belongs more to the world of the sea or that of the sky. In this sense, it corresponds perfectly to the dreamlike world of the Hermès collection. Finally, the whole takes the shape of a roly-poly toy. L'Eau des Merveilles Bleue never sits horizontally, which only accentuates its particularly original character.