Osmanthe Yunnan (Hermès) Made in China

What do flowers smell for? To attract insects… some cater for beautiful butterflies and decent hard working bees. But some, and it seems osmanthus too, wait for less squeamish sort. These flowers exude an odor of something which fell and has been there in the heat: overripe fruit or (let’s face it) a decomposing animal.

J.-C. Ellena drew his inspiration for Hermèssence Osmanthe Yunnan from Chinese air itself. In the South in the Yunnan province the air is humid, hot and absolutely everything is impregnated with sweet spicy smell. They cook there around o’clock and virtually everywhere  in the streets among some strange tropical plants in bloom.

So combine these two impressions and we get a perfect leather perfume (even nowadays leather still has this sweet yummy smell of dry-cured flesh).

All notes in Osmanthe Yunnan are enveloped in a transparent citrus (lemon?): a sweet note of brown dried apricots, spicy isobutyl and a somewhat bitter tea note.

As if a Monsieur and his eau de cologne have taken a stroll in the humid Asian tropics and got eaten.