HERMES
Eau de Rhubarbe Ecarlate

2016

PERFUMER
Christine Nagel

rhubarb
Lantana
white musk

‘An unexpected interpretation of the Hermès Cologne, it revisits the surprising freshness of a herbaceous plant: rhubarb. A fruity citrus fragrance, Eau de rhubarbe ecarlate Cologne expresses the freshness of crisp rhubarb and tangy lantana, mingled with elegant musk notes.’ – Hermes

A far cry from the sometimes overbearing, denser rhubarb, and instead, a lovely thin, juicy fragrance with a strong aromatic side.

This is a refreshing take on the note, with a lot of tart, citrussy facets and it comes across as a lemonade for most of the wear. Scent wise, you definitely get the rhubarb, but it’s not as deep as the note sometimes is. It feels a little bit like the grapefruit-vetiver combinations that are quite common, that remind me of cannabis. Here too, I get a cannabis-ish, minty edge for a moment.

The rhubarb twist takes it from a full-on lemonade to small tinges of shampoo to me; the way aloe vera does. While refreshing, it has a damp, green edge to it. And it feels a bit plasticy… but in the way that some plant stalks feel and smell plasticy, if that makes sense.

As expected with a fresh scent like this, performance isn’t great. To be fair, it’s pretty terrible; it was overpowered by my beard oil.

This is not often my type of scent, but I was surprised how much I liked it. I would probably enjoy wearing this a lot on a warmer day too; it feels perfect for cutting through Summer heat.