Cover Photo Courtesy of Studio des Fleurs

What started as a brave step to overcome her innate fear of horses, became today a reflection of endless creativity. A few years ago, Hermès perfumer Christine Nagel went to the stables at the Saut Hermès show-jumping event where all at once, her apprehension vanished when a chestnut horse approached her and pressed its head against her face. It was the first time that the Perfumer smelled the primitive tang of muscles warmed by exertion, the velvety breath of the animal mixed with the scent of sawdust, and it all settled in a corner of her memory to become several years later the starting point for a new story.

When Christine Nagel discovered an exceptional oud, a divine essence with warm and sensual notes, the buried memory was immediately awakened. In fact, the new Hermessence, with its simple, direct composition, recreates the emotion of her original sensation, blending oud with a natural, ‘‘petal-like’’ rose hydrosol and a rose oxide to create Oud Alezan. And what makes it even more special is the affinity between rose and oud, which is equal and mutual: neither ever dominates nor rides out alone. The extraordinary sensory quality of these two materials gives the impression that they have been close companions for millennia, made to captivate and complement each other, when in fact, their idyll was born of chance.