Jean-Claude Ellena is arguably the world’s most famous and revered living perfumer; known for an aesthetic philosophy of minimalism that pervades the last two decades of his work, Ellena carved an olfactory signature for Hermès that relied on transparent and legible structures chiselled with a light and delicate touch. After being anointed as the successor to Ellena’s tenure, perfumer Christine Nagel is reported to have worked alongside him for two years before taking the helm in 2016. Her first wave of in-house releases included Eau des Merveilles Bleue, Eau de Rhubarbe Écarlate, and Galop d'Hermès. Since then, Nagel has worked on another 11 projects including the new flanker of 2017’s Twilly d'Hermès named Twilly d'Hermès Eau Poivrée, launched in August of this year.

The new scent without doubt presents facets of intrigue and interest, if not dulled by being rooted a little too much in nostalgia to achieve its aim of captivating a new, young generation of Hermès customers.