Eau de Narcisse Bleu was created by Hermès’ in-house perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena as part of the ‘Les Colognes Hermes’ collection in 2013 and, after all this time, it remains one of my favourite go-to spring scents.

Eau de Narcisse Bleu opens with a bitter green burst of galbanum that leads to an opulent note of floral, animalic narcissus. The word ‘narcissus’ is derived from a Greek word for narcotic, and the narcissus used here is heady, intoxicating, and complex. I smell its green facet and its hay and tobacco aspects. A fresh, sweet orange blossom adds another floral dimension to the fragrance, rounding out the narcissus, its animalic facet boosting that of the narcissus. The flowers tame the bitterness so that the galbanum fades into the background yet gently persists to the drydown. A soft, woody base smoothened by white musk completes the scent.

Eau de Narcisse Bleu dries down to an elegant, uplifting, fresh spring scent.

Like all good colognes, Eau de Narcisse Bleu doesn’t have any real development and is more about the experience of spring, but what makes it unique is the way Ellena swapped out the tang of citrus for the green of galbanum in the standard cologne formula.

Notes: galbanum, narcissus, orange flower, woody accords and musk.