Hermessence Brin de Reglisse Hermes for women and men

Brin de Réglisse is a straightforward, linear accord of aniseed and lavender. On skin, there is also a note of lightly roasted coffee, as other reviewers have noted, which tries but doesn't manage to impart much depth or complexity. There is also not much in the way of sillage, so you wear this for yourself.

In this way Brin is almost antagonistic to the idea of a perfume, which might appeal to some, but being such a simple, overly gourmand fragrance, it fails completely to blend, to become part of the wearer. Throughout its short, linear life, I feel as if I am walking around with a sachet of lavender and aniseed in my jacket pocket. Sounds not bad until you recall the 170 dollars you paid for the privilege.

Hérmès and J C Ellena call the Hermessence line olfactory haikus, but they are merely sketches, no flesh, no life. The upside of which is that great results can be had by layering if you have the inclination and the cash.

I tested Brin de Réglisse with Poivre Samarcande, a black pepper and wood scent that smells like an excised foundation of a finished fragrance, and the result was much more powerful than either achieves alone. In fact, the pair smells so wonderful together, like smokey, spicey licorice tea with an undercurrent of salty skin, I'd wear it regularly if not for the 300 bucks it would cost me for a bottle of each.

Beautiful natural lavender. I've been searching for something true to the lavender bush that graces my garden, and so far this has been the best. Within the first 1/2 hour the licorice starts to grow in this and mixes flawlessly. Gorgeous, dirty lavender with a licorice twist.
Lasts a few hours and stays close to the skin.

Brin de Reglisse is all about dry lavender while I don't see lavender listed here. It's the main ingredient of Brin de Reglisse. I smell lavender and dark coffee! Dry,bitter lavender and coffee!I really appreciate a nice lavender perfume but I appreciate longevity too..Brin de Reglisse does not last!! I get the impression of lavender for 10 minutes and then it's...gone!I smell nothing!I suppose that for this price level I had to smell at least something!!!Anyway..overall it's a well constructed perfume,all I am askiing for is a better lasting power..

The Finnish firm Panda produces some of the best black licorice around: all natural and rich in molasses. Among my favorite products from their line are the herbal black nibs, which, according to the ingredients listed on the box, add to their already superlative recipe the following herbs:

Peppermint leaves, Shop vervain wort, Orange leaves, Marsh Mallow root, Glycyrrhiza glabra [which I believe is just licorice?], Blackberry leaves, Plantain herb, Thyme leaves, Torch weed flowers, Lungworth leaves, Elder flowers, Milfoil flowers, Iceland moss, Sage leaves, Star anise, Mallo flowers, Primrose flowers, Red poppy flowers.

I think that this entry in the Hermes Hermessence series, BRIN DE REGLISSE, is quite similar to the concept behind Panda Licorice flavored with herbs. The difference being that BRIN DE REGLISSE throws in a touch of lavender and omits the herbs included in the Panda confection. When all is said and sniffed and chewed, I think that Panda has produced a better herbal-black licorice perfume. I like BRIN DE REGLISSE, but I love Panda, and I'd rather eat their nibs than smell like them.

Hmmm.. both underwhelmed and a bit impressed if that's possible?
I finally plucked up courage to enter the intimidating Hermes shop today for a long awaited test. As a huge fan of Caron's Eau de Reglisse I wanted a comparison.

Brin de Reglisse is certainly LOVELY, soft, warm, comforting, gentle.. but, it seems to have no sillage whatsoever. You would have to spray this really generously to smell it on yourself and possibly spray it continuously for somebody else to get a whaft as you pass. It's gone in an hour. At £150 a bottle that is not good.

The only capacity in which I see this this working is to save it for when you are going to get close up to someone. It's scent is very much like a soft natural body smell and in that way it's very sexy. But really, is there anypoint in getting this little fragrance for £150? Sadly, I think not. Though if I ever win the lottery I will consider an hourly dose..

ps. I've just read some of the other review on here and I absolutely agree that it had a pleasantly 'salty' element. I wonder if that's why it is reminiscent of the human body/skin smell?

WOOOOOOAAAAAAAH! LICORICE EXPLOSION! Brin de Reglisse is all about licorice, so if you like licorice, here's your true calling. Personally, I don't like it.

Smells like Dritte Salze licorice coins, which I love. There's a brief herbal note like the herbs/mint in SenSen breath candy, but mostly it's a smooth, faint herbal salty licorice. It's VERY faint, though, very skin-close and doesn't last very long. Plus my husband hates black licorice, so I won't be buying this. Otherwise, a must try for licorice fans.

The wind of the mistral caressing a sprig of lavender ,a coat of liquorice,a breeze of hay and a soft sigh of orange blossom.

From the Hermessence line, Brin de Reglisse is one that sounds the most compact and simple. But this one works because that the simplicity here is centered around too biggest notes, lavender and anis. If Caron Pour Un Homme works like a dance of lavender and vanilla, this one changes lavender`s pair and put it to be conducted by the spicy and dark aroma of anis. The note gets very close of something which is dark-sugary and bitter at the same time, and it works very well combined with the aromatic aroma of lavender, that stripped down of the caramelic and medicinal tones provides a more herbal, green aspect to the note. One curiosity about Brin de Reglisse is that, before the launching, Hermes used a similar formula to give Hermes George V to person which were invited to the reopening of their french George V Store. George V is the opposite twin of Brin de Reglisse, with the lavender more in focus than the anise and showing a more fresh aroma, almost tea-like, with a discreet caramelic note. Both interesting fragrances, but in the end i prefer George V for the relaxed aura it exhales.

This is the first fragrance by Hermes that actually works on me..and I adore it.
I am a huge liquorice fan anyway but the mixture with lavender makes Brin de Reglisse extraordinary and special.
The lavender comes first an adds a comfortably touch to the whole composition, then liquorice appears like a strangely beautiful black butterfly.
It is not the typical sweet candy liquorice odour but rather edgy, salty-bitter and nonchalant.
There is no dramatic sillage and unfotunately no extraordinary longlivetiy, rather subtle.
Might not be everybodys cup of tea but if BdR is your type, it could grow to be an addiction.;)
A quite unusual and enchanting perfum.

After falling in love in Ambre Narguile I had some hopes on this one to.

And the opening is so lovely that I almost starts jumpin up and down, like an inside of my head explosion of the most powerful and yet pleasant lavendel and licorice cloud. So absolutly stunning! But then my skins ability to suck up everything with licorice in starts to work, and after only a coupple of minutes the licorice is gone and unfortunatly it takes the most of the fragrance with it! Sniffing my wrist and wanting the magic back so bad, but no... after about an hour I can`t almost not smell it anymore, just the lightest remainings of lavendel, and offcourse no coffee on my skin...

But the opening makes it worth to have tried it anyway. The opening is... well, I want it back over and over again, like a labrat pushing the button for... guess it must have been Brin de Reglisse, right? ;)

I recived a long desired sample from fraganticamember, F_A. Thank you so much! Very honest and natural fragrance. Simple ,unusual combination of realistic licorice and lavender. This is a very different perfume. Love it!!

Very beautiful notes of lavender and licorice, soft and warm coffee base. Worth trying!