Twilly d’Hermès

I met my perfume gal-pal Louise at our local Nordstrom recently – they’ve redone the beauty area and dedicated a lot more room to fragrances, with all the Tom Fords, more Prada and Hermes, the Le Labo city exclusives, a couple of niche-y lines, etc. I am thrilled. In celebration, today I want to talk about one scent on prominent display there – the new Twilly d’Hermès.

The vibe is whimsical and the ads feature a pretty young thing, and it’s clear that this is aimed at a younger audience than your Hermès standard. That bottle is adorable, with a little bowler hat for a cap and a multi-colored cord around the neck, a nod to the thin, pricey Twilly scarf the scent is named after.   Of course, we’re talking about Hermès; the bottle has a nice heft in the hand, and there’s nothing cheap-looking about it. The scent was developed by Christine Nagel, and features notes of ginger, tuberose, and sandalwood. That sounds nice, doesn’t it?

And it is nice; I thought about buying it the second I tried it, something that hasn’t happened to me in ages with a mainstream scent (it’s stocked by Nordstrom and Sephora, among other places.) The top is a spicy burst that seems both gingery and peppery. The tuberose isn’t identifiable as such, more a “white” floral, a little buttery and a little chilly, and it’s subtle, which isn’t a normal tuberose (God knows) but it’s nice. The sandalwood comes through clearly but not so much that it’s overwhelming, and it’s a lovely complement to the ginger, which sadly doesn’t last as long as I wish it did (ginger never does, does it?) but becomes almost citrusy in the drydown, along with a light musk.  It’s not especially sweet, and it doesn’t read as young or girly; anyone could wear it without feeling silly.  I think it’s office-friendly after the first ten minutes or so, and while it’s subtle it’s quite long-lasting, especially on clothing. I caught a whiff on my sleeve two days later; it’s distinctive enough, with its almost citrus-y dry rasp of sandalwood, that I immediately recognized it.

Lord knows I don’t need any more perfume, but I’m thinking about it. It’s $100 for 50ml at Nordstrom, and $79 for 30ml at Sephora, but the Nordstrom purchase comes with a gift, a nifty little 5ml travel mini and a twilly-like ribbon tucked away in the box.

For another take, here’s a link to Robin’s review. It sounds like we got the same impressions of the scent, only she doesn’t like it nearly as much as I do, which is too bad since she bought a bottle unsniffed. Maybe I’ll see if she wants to unload it?  That would be very perfumista of me, taking it off her hands like that…