After reading the whole story of its creation in Chandler Burr’s The Perfect Scent I had great expectations for this one.

I know Jean-Claude Ellena is a regular reader of this blog (OK, that is, of course, not true, but wouldn’t it be cool if it was, and throw this out in your face with fake casualness?), so I’m sure he’ll understand, after all, his Declaration is my favourite perfume.

OK I’ll say it in one single breath: Un Jardin Sur Le Nil and my skin just don’t go well together. The mango is not fresh, not green, it was left on a sun-beaten ledge of a closed window until it overripened to the point that it could make you nauseous.

Sure, sure, it’s my skin, and my too healthy diet, but on the ribbon (you won’t expect to receive a vulgar strip of paper at Hermes, will ya?) the situation is not that better.

The idea is great: mixing mango with a sort of carrot and tomato leaves, but something just pushes this perfume over the edge. It’s only on the next day that this Hermes fragrance becomes what it should be: fruity, warm, different from anything you did and will smell and – more importantly – not obnoxious.  Until then though, if nauseous is too strong a word, it’s at least cloudy.

The best thing of this perfume was the British-accented Brown Thomas SA who sprayed it on me.

If this was a color it would be:

Hermes Un Jardin Sur De Nil

Un Jardin Sur Le Nil By Hermes For Women And Men