Les Colognes Hermes Eau de Gentiane Blanche Hermes for women and men

In general I find Hermes scents to be boring and irrelevant to my tastes, but I was drawn to this one because of the name and the handsome slate gray bottle.

Giantiane Blanche is gorgeous and original. I feel like this could be a masculine version of Alien by Mugler, except more sedate. It's a woodsy floral, with a lovely wet and clear quality. It's like watching a piece of beautiful, gnarled driftwood descend through a waterfall. Very, very modern and zen.

It's not something I would purchase because it's very expensive and has the predictably soft and short wearability of an eau de cologne. But I do think that it's an enthralling scent and it's definitely worth experiencing.

Im absolutly taken by my first encounter with Eau de Gentiane Blanche. Its an intriguing but also inspiring fragrance. It opens citrucy and watery, but quickly turns into this very earthy, green, almost compost-like smell. Its like wet soil after rain.

The whole composition feels mellow, like a Norah Jones song on a rainy New York afternoon....

IMO, I see more Eau de Gentiane on a man, I wouldnt see myself wearing this or any woman for that matter. This scent has a deep sexy masculine vibe to it, not vulgar or in your face kind of sexy, but more like a polished english gentleman aristocratic way....I'm charmed!

Simply divine!

Gentian Blanche smells like Burial and Portishead sound like. I imagine this would be Violet Harmon's (from season 1 of American Horror Story) signature scent. Reminds me of early morning walks, after night rain, in early spring or late autumn thru the mist filled meadows of the Sierra Nevada's where I grew up...or bus rides to work at 5:30am in the midst of heavy fog thru the outer/inner Sunset and Richmond neighborhoods of San Francisco in my early twenties.

It is a beautifully melancholy scent. It's simplicity is very deceptive...four listed notes combined to create an extremely sophisticated and complex fragrance.

I find it very interesting that almost all the reviews are positive to very positive yet everyone has a very distinct preference for seasonal wear. Close to equally split between winter, spring, summer and autumn. I think it is appropriate for any season, weather and event if your mood is right.

I also find it to be so unisex as to almost be asexual. This does not smell like mens or women's fragrance to me...and if it weren't so vegetal, green, moist and earthly as it is, I'd almost call it alien. A scent full of paradoxes. Somehow earthly yet otherworldly, ghostly yet alive with a vegetal and herbaceous greenness, sad, soft and smooth yet invigoratingly sharp.

I am completely fascinated and totally in love with this unique little treasure. I'm having one of those moments where I want to shout at the top of my lungs and announce to everybody I know how amazingly beautiful this is but at the same time I want to keep it as my little secret out of fear that it would somehow loose some of its magical power if I smelled it on multiple people on a regular basis (another Gentian Blanche induced dichotemy).

Hermes - Eau de Gentiane Blanche

This is, truly Hermes!

Strictly for gentlemen. A woman can only pull this off with a great sense of style (suits, "Man, I feel Like a Woman", vintage YSL, Chanel with cigarette) and attitude to make it work.

1. Among all in the Les Colognes line, this has the most unique scent.

2. Herbal, incensy, musky, floral yet light and crisp.

3. It is safe for work, big meetings, or art fair.
It exudes confidence, victory, but at times it can be complicated, depressing, but it's so soothing, comforting, you want to linger in that state of depression or bittersweet beauty. But at the end, you realize, you still have it all in the palm of your hands, and you're still the man.

4. A smoky bittersweet potion&poison.

5. Score comparison
(Full score is 5/5)

Gentiane Blanche / Pamplemousse Rose / Orange Verte Concentree
Scent - 4.0 / 3.5 / 3.0
Uniqueness - 4.0 / 2.5 / 2.0
Longevity - 4.0 / 1.0 / 4.0
Versatility - 4.0 / 2.5 / 2.5
Silage - 4.0 / 2.0 / 2.0

HERMES EAU DE GENTIANE BLANCHE
"You are the poison, you're the potion."

-Mr. Almond-

Got this along with a bunch of other samples to try out, most of which have been labelled unisex in various reviews. I agree with some on the clean, green, spring rain thing. Very light and subtle on me, nothing bold or musky or earthy though. Zero projection or longevity on me, this is my least favorite of the Hermes line. I even tried layering with other things, and that didn't improve anything. This will move to the "give to friends" box. Just too light and insubstantial for my tastes.

This is a bold, very clean, very green perfume, that by no means conforms to the rules of a classic cologne. It is strong, impressive, can easily become a signature. And, like most of its kind, plays in the "love it or hate it" league!

I truly cannot remember smelling anything similar to it ever before - it stands out! At first i was a bit shocked, then about 10 minutes later i realised i had just smelled a milestone in perfumery - mark my words...

Don't know why, but it gives me a biscuit-ish feel; above all, however, it has this vibe of cleanliness and freshness..

..some days later: i just realise that this scent has a lot in common with Hiris of the same house, which i also love!! AND that it reminds of clean, ironed linen in expensive hotels, somehow! Therefore i would say it's quite formal and definitely elegant ;) !

Smells like a damp spring morning. This is so different than other colognes that I have had before. I really like this cologne. It is light and you will probably not get noticed with it. It smells great up close and personal. I can see how it is unisex. I highly recommend it and feel it may be even btter in the Summer as I currently wearing it during a New England Winter.

A green aroma, fresh, clean.
Has a juncture of leaf, damp earth, through which rain beating on vegetation, is the feeling that brings me this perfume.
Linear, with the output reconciled the aromatic gentian and subtle musk and floral nuances, a touch of citrus dna line Hermes, incense leaves only one density.
While simple, has a mature and sophisticated air.

I love this cologne for its airy sublety. I don't know what gentian smells like, but to me this smells of earth, stems and roots after rain, and dark chocolate. There's something incredibly sexy about that. Who'd have known?

This fragrance is a downpour. This heavy rain pummels the cold rocks earth, and grass, and other plants on the side of a mountain during a cool night. It's the kind of rain you surrender to, allowing yourself to get soaked to the skin. When I first smell it I can hear the swelling noise of the rainfall begin.

I am extremely cautious when observing scents that contain elements of the fragrance of rain, but I put my trust in this one, and use it only once in a while, because it has that much integrity and power.

I grew up in an area that had chamomile growing on the side of a road near my house. I was always in love with the way the plants smelled on Spring nights after a rainfall. Subtle and fresh with a mild bit of cool bitterness. As mentioned in other reviews this is a green scent - more about the dew on unopened flower buds than the scent of the flowers - a very wet green scent. It starts as a soft waxy citrus for me - like the wet rind of lemon before peeling and held a few inches from the nose. Very waxy citrus - but very quickly fading. It is also softly cool. The magnificent thing about this fragrance is the dry down and how it manages to recreate the wet scent that I remember experiencing after running my hand across various rain drenched plants as the cool spring night air crept in. It lasts a few hours and very close my skin and is fairly consistent after the the first few minutes of a subdued & waxy citrus. Stays skin scented wet all the way through.
This scent amazes me.

This smells like ginseng. It's kind of peculiar but good at the same time. Reminds me of medicine herbally smell.

This is an amazing citrus,woody green musk, these are the cliff notes version of what my nose picked up. It reminds me wearing a tweed sweater, nice black slacks, double breasted blazer and a hat strolling through central park on Madison and fifth avenue, very elegant, minimal and aristocratic, surprised that all of that is in a "COLOGNE" that is not dated in the 1800's or early 20th century.

Getting it next week FOR SURE!

'Tik', I couldn't agree with you more about fragrance being subject to personal taste, which we all have a right to, just as beauty is to those beholden to it. I do enjoy many of Mr Ellena's other creations, especially Bigarade Concentree. But I'm not so certain that Gentaine Blanche is one of his best.

However, I do share your love for *Padparadscha. It reminds me of Christian Lacroix Tumulte Pour Homme, which has become increasingly difficult to find lately. I also see that you've made the excellent choice of including *this as part of your wardrobe. Cheers to that :)

-fragrancesommelier

Dear fragrancesomm, it' s only question of personal taste. For me it' s 10/10, because i very like Ellenas' s minimalism. You have right for Your personal ranking.

During our lunch at Osteria Francescana (Modena) in October 2012 the drinks pairing included a fabulously aromatic and quite strong gentian root infusion, called "Genziana" and distilled by Giovanni Boroni from Borzago (Trentino, in the north of Italy), so I knew what to expect...
This is a coincidence surely, but in fact the more I think of it the more I find resemblances between Massimo Bottura's highly poetic approach to food and Jean-Claude Ellena's creations.

This is a fantastic and unique smell, very dry when worn on its own. It is freshly torn green leafy stalks, a vegetal bitterness evocative of a misty morning walk on the gentle mountain side, biding one's time seeing, hearing and smelling everything around - for they are all so different and strangely indifferent to our presence there - just like this perfume.

I also love to blend it with Eau de Pamplemousse Rose or Concentré d'Orange Verte, which give a bit more warmth, sweetness and depth to the sternness of the gentian root.

This is a 10/10, there's no doubt about it. It is perfect on its own while being open to blending, and I couldn't ask for more.

Eau de Gentiane Blanche reminds me of a handful of rich, wet, brown dirt. I will venture to say that as young children, most of us have at some point, driven our hands into wet dirt, cupped a handful to our nose and smelled it. If you are an adult and have not yet experienced the fragrance of wet dirt, follow these four easy steps:

1) Go to your local garden supply store; buy a bag of potting soil.
2) If soil is not pre-moistened, add a generous amount of water.
3) Cup a handful to your nose (if you can't smell it at distance).
4) You've suffered the same experience but spent far less quid.
5) (Optional): put wet soil on your wrists and sample for the day.

Well... that's exactly how Eau de Gentiane Blanche smells. While that glorious fragrance certainly has its own unique place in my mental library, it deserves no place on my body, unless I'm mud wrestling with three women. 'Tik', 10/10, really? No way.

10/10

Once, when I was very young, I met someone almost twice my age in a bar. Someone famous. Well, not famous by face or name but famous from their beautiful work. They were the kindest, most calm and gentle of all people I have perhaps ever met. Being young and foolish and full of Dutch courage, I naturally flirted. Imagine my surprise when I awoke next to them the very next morning. Being truly British, there had been no sex. As we said our goodbyes, I impulsively pulled them towards me in a bear-hug and buried my face in their neck. This is where Gentian Blanche takes me, forever in that moment - lips kissing the cleanest, most heavenly skin. Cool and warm at the same time. Gentian Blanche also reminds me of a cheap soap from my primary school and yet there is nothing cheap smelling about this fragrance. Do not expect fireworks and lust; those things are over all to soon. Here you will find a quiet passion that is clean and angelic on the surface yet carries an almost unspoken musky desire. A strange combination of peace and longing that takes me on a journey from the comforting soap of childhood to the intoxicating flesh of a beautiful adult.

Eau de Gentiane Blance sits very close to the skin. I wear it for myself. I wear it for the one that got away.

Eau de Gentiane reminds me of the Italian bitters used in summer drinks. It opens with a bright green freshness, very clean and smooth, and dries into a light floral woodiness that is, well, very bitter. This Les Colognes release is definitely a touch stronger than Eau D'Orange Verte, and also perhaps a bit more linear. In the far drydown it takes on an ashen character, smelling very "white" and "grey" and cool. Definitely unisex, and an interesting fragrance - I think it's the only one featuring Gentiana that I've ever encountered.

I am no expert on scents but I own four Hermes fragances. I am a male, and I do not care about what is labeled as men/women fragances. If they agree with me, then I am all for it. Everytime I reach for Hermes I layer them with Hermes Orange Vert. It works perfectly. Gentiane blanche lasts forever on my skin/clothes. HGB is a long lasting scent. Three days after I wear it I can still smell on my shirt down in the hamper. Talk about a long lasting scent. On my skin, I only get the iris or the gentiana (don't know the difference). It makes me feel I am walking on a field surrounded by iris/gentiana and that's the only thing I can see and smell. I don't get the earthy scent like others had mentioned. It's definetly different and a bit overpowering. I only spray 2/3 times when I reach for it.

So unique! I can't help to love this diamond in the rough.

Smells like fog, not smog or fog from the inner city, but fog from outside your cabin, in the deep woods.

So natural smelling, when I have my days when I don't want to smell perfumy but still want the added allure of a manmade scent ... i reach for this!

This is a love

Lasts a full 24 hours on me

Also I've found this is an excellent one for layering, if you're into that.

I've found layering with the perfumes that I dislike veyr much (the sweet fruity ones) I get something beautiful and very unique

Eau de Gentiane Blanche is one of most distinguished fragrance I've ever smelled. This fragrance is so bitter and green, almost like you put leaves in your hand and squeeze it until you get the liquid. I adore its individuality scent, but I think it is not for everyone. However, the longevity is superb for cologne!

I have an unsophisticated nose and I am new at this but to me this smells a lot like Grey Flannel without the strong violet. I like it a lot but I wish it would last longer. About two hours on me.

It is very green and fresh!!!I don't smell any frankiscense at all!
This is very spring and summery scent!Gentian flower is something that i haven't smelled in any other perfume...but the scent is very earthy and green fresh!Iris,is definetely obvious as a part of composition.
The scent is weak and i can't trace after a couple of hours on skin.If there was an oak moss addition on this scent it could be stronger with a chypre floral element!Good fragrance from dear Ellena :)

Does anyone know how one can add notes to the ones offered for evaluation on Fragrantica? For me this perfume has very pronounced notes of carrot seed and raw coffee been, angelica, litsea, curry leaf and possibly carraway and pepper, all of them much more pronounced than orris. I would like to put them out for evaluation to see what others think. I know many would disagree as this has the tendency to register different to anyone. I've had people swear they detect notes that range from detergent to chinese soup. Anyway, it is most certainly an amazing opus, deceptively simple. One way of describing it would be "iridescent soil".
I would love it even more if it had less musk in it but still easily the best mainstream out there as is

Les Colognes Hermes Eau de Gentiane Blanche shocked me, after reading the listed notes I was expecting something quite different. Either way it smells wonderfully earthy, and reminds me very much of the smell received when you tare apart an iris stalk or fan, more so than the flower itself. I am not familiar with gentiana and maybe that is the strong grass like note that I am smelling. Very natural, slightly sweet, crisp, but dark green.
Moderate sillage, and good lasting power.

Gentiane Blache is a truly interesting fragrance. It is a cologne, fresh and refreshing, with no citrus. It is clean laundry, mown grass and clover, and the scent of the spray a bell pepper gives when you split it open. It is summer and clean and layers of green.

I really want to love GB, and at first I do. But after thirty minutes on my skin I just don't want to smell it any more. Like eating too much candy as a kid, I feel I'll be sick if I smell it again any time soon.

I gave my sample to my wife who wears it occasionally. And every time she does, I fall in love again for thirty minutes, then ask her to wash it off.

I am just totally blew away by this masterpiece and it is worthy to buy.


The combination of iris,incense and gentiana is unique,magical but harmonious.It makes me feel relieved that I NEVER expected and the longevity is also amazing for a colongne(Apparently it will last longer if you spray it on your clothes than spray it on your skin).
Actually, the root and flowers of gentiana(It is called “龙胆”in China) are very essential and vital chinese medicine but I never consider it as an ingredient of a perfume.Maybe that's the reason why it is so attractive and complex.


A little opaue problem about it is that afer I sprayed it on my clothes for 3 hours I smelled something like a mixure of mint and chewing gum and it became much sweeter than before.But overall it is a best choice for all the seasons to wear.I highly recommend it.极力推荐！

I would classify this as an esoteric perfume. It's inspiration, the Gentiana flower, is not one I am familiar with, and I doubt most others would recognize it either. My only association with this scent would be vague recollections of wild flowers, grasses and herbs.

Described enigmatically as an "irreverant take on the Cologne style," I imagine it would probably only reveal it's deepest secrets to someone well versed in the history of perfumery, which I am certainly not.

But nevertheless, this perfume has given me a great deal of pleasure. I find myself continually drawn to it, fascinated by it's dark green beauty. It's not a "sensual" perfume. Rather, it seems to stimulate me intellectually, with a verdant clarity.

I don't think most others would enjoy it on me. It doesn't have that sudden burst of light and glory that the perfumes of the Jardin series have. But it does provide the subtle and uniquely personal satisfaction of sharing a small piece of the Jean Claude Elenna's genius.

Personnellement je l’aime beaucoup, elle est délicate et distinguée. Son apparente discrétion cache une ténacité étonnante, et on se surprend à sentir cette eau longtemps après la pulvérisation. Il faut aimer l’amertume et la simplicité. Je la classerais volontiers parmi les eaux "propres", sans en avoir les inconvénients ( elle a du caractère !). Pour celui qui veut se ressourcer, loin des trucs tapageurs et branchés, revenir aux sources d’un monde un peu minéral, semé ici et là de plantes dont le vent et le soleil de montagne libèrent les arômes...
8.5 /10

polished sophisticated elegant..Ellena is one of my favorite artist
where I live the picking of gentiana is prohibit but I remember this excepional smell from my trip
anyway..
It smells like rounded gentiana fresh and bitter: a mountain flower sour
this frag to me talk about the Alps and long trip around these
It seems wearable although Ellena used unusual raw materials
I love this way to build parfumes
niche choice,niche parfum


9.5/10

maybe a far cousin of dzongkha..

This one definitely deserves testing!
Not like any other already known freshness in the perfume industry (in my experience, that is.. :)
Gentiane Blanche is a bit of a niche scent but absolutely well wearable.
I love it, both for its originality and its happy-go-lucky vibe.
Well done, 8/10!!

It's a strange scent without any citrus and if you want a special , interesting perfume choose this one.
I can say Gentiane is a surreal composition as the color of the bottle suggests (first time I sprayed it I immediately thought of Dali's paintings and the movie The Crow with legendary Brandon Lee...they are beautyful but make me sad...)

Eau de Gentiane is very earthy (still clean) which part is common with Un Jardin Sur le Nil but it's not been smoothed with fruits and vegetables or light flowers.
Perhaps only iris (I have never smelt real encian ) there is here which lightens a bit this unusual scent.
I can't smell any sweetness in it...but it's mystical and enigmatic.
Almost transcendental...
I always detect something undefined "swamp or seaweed-like" in the background of Gentiane.
You have to know this scent is not a "happy-feel-good" fragrance.
It's not for any occasion...
But I love it,that's sure :)

Ohh and I think Gentiane so masculine (on my skin) that I wouldn't take it to unisex category.
But I know everyone's skin is different...

Esto no es un perfume.
Es un fatal experimento fallido.
Un ambientador para farmacias.
J.C. Ellena nos esta tomando el pelo.

To answer teedee - the gentians are a family of wild, flowering plants. I only know the yellow gentian (a very tall plant) which grows all over the European Alps and Jura mountains, and which is used in herbal medecine; and the tiny, blue gentian which is such a delight to find in little clusters when you are walking in the Alps in summer. I have never, knowingly, come across a white gentian. The yellow and the blue do not have perfumed flowers, so it is perhaps the root that is used in perfumery. I would verymuch like to try this scent from Hermes.

One day I'll buy it without doubt, without test again.
I think it cleans the world! It's cleanest perfume I've ever sniffed. So pity that its longevity is super weak.
I don't know if its perfect smell is from encian -which color is my favorite blue- or not, so must check the incense. But it's an absolute springy aromatic odor.
I've smelt it once but definitely I'll buy it. Wish its longevity... ah! Everything has a weak point.

Eau de Gentiane Blanche requires a lot of getting used to. It's not what you might expect. In fact I'd go so far to say that it's one of Jean-Claude Ellena's most unique compositions.

I initially wanted to test this fragrance because the blend of iris and incense intrigued me. Well, there are hardly any floral notes in this fragrance, let alone iris. Apparently the gentian flower gives off a strong odour of wet earth, and I must say that Eau de Gentiane Blanche does smell very earthy and vegetal.

The smokiness created by the incense note is really fascinating alongside the strange, wet earth smell. When I first applied this fragrance to my skin, I was left wondering why on earth I thought that wearing this would be a good idea. It smelt like celery and homemade vegetable soup, not particularly what I wished to smell like.

I stuck with it, determined not to scrub it off, and eventually I began to respect it. The strong earthiness dimished slightly and the scent became a touch powdery, with a distinguishable calamine lotion scent. At this point I was enjoying wearing something so alien and odd.

Supposedly Eau de Gentiane Blanche is a cologne, yet this fragrance is lasting so well on my skin, almost like that of an EDP. The sillage is rather good too. I sprayed it lightly on my wrist and then read one of my favourite books. I kept getting this beautiful waft everytime I turned a page.

All in all, Eau de Gentiane Blanche is perhaps more masculine than feminine, however wearing it myself didn't make me feel like questioning my gender. It's a strange scent that will either repulse or captivate its wearers and the people around you. I'm glad that I gave this fragrance a chance.

My favorite fall fragrance.
Also it reminds me 2009 xmas i spent in Deutschland.
Fits to wear in a journey, IMO.
Very special, but i like compositions made by Jean Paul Ellena. They are like little stories written by different scents about main one.

I really like the fragrance however it only lasts for thirty minutes on my skin.doesn't last long enough to buy.

I wanted to like this one, as I love almost everything Jean Claude Ellena has done, but it just doesn't work on my skin. The drydown is a salty musk with an oily quality like unwashed hair that skank lovers may enjoy, but I wasn't a fan.

testing this scent was full of pleasant surprises.

First of all, good for me, I dont know what does the name of the perfume means. I dont have any idea what is 'gentiane'.

It starts abit strange on me: mix of earthy something. The scent was so familiar, yet I couldnt recall the name. And so it went by and reveals more aromatic side of itself...Soft sweet earthy cologne with hint of woods. that accord in the beginning comes and goes very faintly. i smelled hint of wet moss and it all rounded with soft musk

I totally enjoy this scent. Only when I reached home i remember... Gentiane blance has somewhat slightly similar top notes with Hiris!

One thing...this is a cologne, so it doesnt last very long. May be it is a good thing...as I can re-apply and enjoy the whole experience as many times without worrying of overdose :D

hm...not so good for my wallet thou...as with most Hermes fragrances, they are lovely and price is...ahem... not the most economical fragrance around.

It works perfectly on my skin and I am a woman...;) But it is definitely a scent for summer. With the sun on your skin, it develops into a bitter-herbaceous scent of a medow in the Alps.

This is definitely a masculine scent; despite the unisex designation. It is an earthly scent with musky green undertones.
Sophisticated in it's simplicity, this scent will call to those who are confident in their skin.

Am I the only one here who cannot understand the beauty of this perfume?

To me it smells like cooked vegetables...Like you've been cooking and your clothes smell like...

...artichokes actually!

i looove it!! it smells wonderful! i think this one is deffinitely male parfume. i would never wear it, but i would love my fiancee to smell Eau de Gentiane Blanche !

love the clean musk. frankly this is probably my fave winter scent i will always use.

This scent makes me feel so good. There is a slight reminiscence to the original Orange-Verte, but this scent created by Jean-Claude Ellena is another exercise on understatement.

Citrus and green in the beginning, that warms slightly to cedar and incense like notes. I haven't smelled the Gentiane flower before, but really there isn't anything floral about this scent.

Longevity is about 4 hours on me as a very subtle scent, but most of its strength is gone after the first hour.

I love this scent a lot. It gives off an air of sophistication and understated luxury. An expensive eau de cologne at $125USD, but I would think it a wiser buy if it was an Eau de Toilette at the same price.

Very nice, bitter and fresh and elegant and so on... but also very musky like good quality white musks like ethylene brassylate, ambretolide or something else
More interesting and novel than the pamplemousse rose in my opinion. See rose ikebana or terre from the same brand with very similar grapefruit notes

I love this. My skin is hospitable to many of JCE's minimalism masterpieces.

A PARADOX-gentiane blanche begins and ends with a sweet slightly powdery note. Its a transparant, layered iris, no gentian (which is very astringent in its pure form.)the sweetness and creaminess of orris lingers, with earthy nuances playing peek aboo.


Which critic claims there is no such thing as individual chemistry?

Interesting! Green and earthy right from the start, no citrus. A bit aggressive at first, but then the flower notes start to develop and the fragrance becomes much lighter and more transparent. The earthy note disappears fairly quickly, too. The musk is kept very light and all in all, this makes for a very elegant heart. I also seem to get an aniseed note, which I find very enjoyable. Well-made, original and, I think, worth trying...