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wydok – :
this is the best hermessence performance-wise. the smell might be tricky for some as it turns really animalic on me (i love it that way!) but it is really unique. the smell lingers for hours and hours with a soft projection but still very noticeable (unlike brin de reglisse, that disappears like a magician). i really like this a lot, and im glad hermes gives us the option of 15mls bottles to keep trying its fragrances without breaking the bank
gamem – :
This perfume was interesting from the aesthetic of the bottle but once emitting a healthy burst of its essence I was overcome with the scent of horrible rotten breath. It is perhaps one of the most revolting of all perfumes. I would prefer to wear secretions magnifique every day compared to Muguet Porcelain once.
cdh679Diobtetty – :
Oof. I consider myself to generally be a fan of LOTV for the fresh yet simultaneously sinister edge that I find it imparts to fragrances, particularly when it’s used to cut through florals and aldehydes. This take on LOTV is primarily aquatic, opening with a nausea-inducing blast of calone, followed by a drydown that smells to me primarily of melons and rotting pond water. I tried to ride it out, but these molecules are just completely wrong for my chemistry and it ended up being a scrubber. Maybe one day I’ll find an Ellena that works!
Dalliarty – :
AMAZING , it smells like sweet cucumbers , i smell some florals after a good 5 minutes , very fresh , very cold creamy , greenery goodness, nice !
a bit simple but simple is better sometimes !
yba325speagoessenda – :
There was something at the beginning that put me off for a bit,(the pear I’m guessing) but after about 20 mins it turned into a beautiful LOTV scent and yes it smells as close as possible to it as one can get. (I have LOTV around my home, so yes it does) This, Hermes classifies it as unisex, which it is but for the most it slightly leans on the feminine side, the drydown is the more masculine and easily can be worn by men, as long as they are not insecure. I am enjoying this on a very hot summer evening, projects within an arm lengths as has decent longevity.
Xponoc – :
Very green, very floral, very dirty, and very feminine if that makes any sense. The opening melon is quite lovely. I don’t think it’s possible for a man to make this work except under the most limited circumstances. (Maybe if one is wearing a crisp, white, collared shirt at the beach for example? That has never actually happened to me, so…)
Still and all, a very nice frag; simple, but meticulously composed. Longevity is about 4 hours.
3.5 out of 5 for me.
лысик – :
I’ve had mixed feeling with Muguet Porcelaine until recently. I found it a transparent, watery, melon-infused lily of the valley very much in line with the general aesthetics of Hermessence. But there is also a strange fuzzy warmth that makes it surprisingly not as fresh and crisp as other green, aqueous lily of the valley.
It’s not until I read the astute and poetic review from Patrice Revillard, the perfumer behind the blog Musque-Moi, that I finally realised : yes, it’s the civet (or something with a similar effect)! From then on, everything just clicked and fell quickly into place.
Even though Mr. Ellena himself doesn’t specifically affirm, it’s now impossible for me to smell Muguet Porcelaine without referencing Roudnitska and Diorissimo. The iodine-infused melon can be found in quite a few Roudnitska’s creations, especially Diorella and Le Parfum de Thérèse, while civet-laden lily of the valley is one of the most intriguing characters of Diorissimo (although I perceive it more like an indolic jasmine, despite the intention of its creator).
That being said, the smell, the texture and the mood of Muguet Porcelaine are entirely different, notably because Ellena incorporates these tropes into his haiku “writing” style, contrary to the short story of Diorissimo. Arguably, Muguet Porcelaine doesn’t have much significant evolution. The fairly transparent and watery lily of the valley and melon can be perceived right away, with the civet purring in the background with its furry warmth and a touch of saltiness to complement with the melon. However, the tension between the animalic dirtiness and the floral and fruity innocence persists deep into the dry down, where the fragrance eventually manages to unify these two aspects into a sensual skin scent.
I got a 10-hour longevity and a soft sillage.
I have to admit that I’m not among the biggest fans of Ellena. I admire his vision and commitment to perfumery, and many of them are very enjoyable, but I was rarely awed or emotionally touched by his compositions, even though it must not be easy to transform heavy materials into feather-like airiness. But his latest creations for Hermessence, first Cuir d’Ange, and now Muguet Porcelaine, challenged my preconceptions that perfumes can’t be airy, watery or transparent, and sensual animalic at the same time. And the results are fantastic, even though they sometimes don’t seem apparent at first glance. Therefore, I would highly recommend giving Muguet Porcelaine a try, especially if you happened to be looking for a modern airy animalic floral.
vitaliyurban – :
What it says on the tin – a soft, dewy lily of the valley scent with pear juice and a musky white base. Lily of the valley often goes oddly screechy or soapy on me. Muguet porcelaine doesn’t, but it makes me realize that I’m just not a fan of muguet notes, no matter how delicately handled.
tol418 – :
Jean-Claude Ellena’s magnificent Muguet Porcelaine is a beautiful rendition of that most delicate of spring flowers – the lily of the valley, or muguet. Green, sappy and dewy, with a hint of pear, the lily of the valley here is truly exquisite.
As Bois de Jasmin author Victoria Frolova pointed out in her excellent review of Muguet Porcelaine, Ellena was clearly harking back to the work of Edmond Roudnitska, whose Diorissimo set the standard for all lily of the valley perfumes to follow. What made Diorissimo so incredible was not only its beautiful composition, but its technical mastery – because no natural essence can be extracted from lily of the valley’s flowers, it takes a skilled perfumer to recreate the scent, molecule by molecule. One of Roudnitska’s innovations was to use the aroma chemical hedione, with its jasmine-like facets and surprising tenacity, to recreate the waxy green scent of muguet.
Ellena has followed suit, using hedione prominently in his very green composition. His muguet also adds a juicy, almost under-ripe pear note, which lends a hint of sweetness to the bitter verdancy. The dry down here is thoroughly modern, with prominent musk underpinning the composition. Overall, Muguet Porcelaine is a nostalgic, bucolic scent with wonderful presence and a pitch-perfect balance of notes and accords. Truly stunning.
cooroSymn – :
Baigneuses ( Bathers ) by
Paul Cézanne 1879-1880
radzhiv – :
I am getting something terribly disgusting out of it. It starts almost immediately and lasts long both on my skin and blotter, so it’s not skin chemistry, it’s how my olfactory system reacts on some component, I wonder which one. Definitely won’t recomment to buy without testing!
GromOnyx – :
“even though I never smelled the true flowers … Whilst all the aforementioned quite true to LOTV (and some amplify one or two factors of LOTV) … if you want a TRUE LOTV blind buy any one aforementioned”
lol…. wat
yura3411 – :
I don’t know what lily of the valley flowers smell like, so I can’t comment on accuracy of representation here. But when I briefly tested this perfume along with others in the Hermessence line at a Hermes boutique, it really stood out as very naturalistic compared to most of the others, which seemed more abstract. To me, the opening of Muguet Porcelaine smelled exactly like I had just stuck my face into a bouquet of flowers resting in a vase — I could clearly smell not only the young and somewhat indolic blossoms but also the freshly cut stems and even the faint aroma of the greenish, slightly musty water in the vase. I was only able to smell the opening, so this is not a full review. But this vivid and realistic blast left more of an impression on me than any of the other Hermessences.
Greg0ry – :
First of all, Fragrantica misspelled the name as “Porcelain” while it should be “Porcelaine” （I had trouble when searching the name).
Second, fans of the perfume may wish to skip my review. I will probably be the only one who gives thumbs down to the very LOTV by Jean-Claude Ellena.
Let me start with the fact, I love LOTV in general—even though I never smelled the true flowers—and I LOVE the legendary Diorissimo by E. Roudnitska which sets a benchmark of LOTV for me. To be more clear, I own vintage (80’s or 70’s) EDT, parfum and the current version of Diorissimo. They all smell wonderful with the texture of wind chimes: crispy and melodious. Also I have tested other LOTV, including Lily of the Valley (Yardley & Penhaligon’s), Muguet du Bonheur (Caron), Muguet en Fleur (Yves Rocher), Muguet des Bois (Coty), Don’t Get Me Wrong (Etat Libre d’Orange) and Parfum d’Ete (Kenzo) so I guess this would somehow make me qualify to say a thing or two about LOTV and Muguet Porcelaine.
Whilst all the aforementioned quite true to LOTV (and some amplify one or two factors of LOTV), MP, on the other hand, is much more vegetable, fruity and aquatic, most dominantly it is cucumber which is not listed in the notes pyramid, hence explained the difference. LOTV is there at the first 4 or 5 minutes maybe less, even at the stage LOTV is not the leading actress but a sidekick to the melon-like cucumber. Around 10 minutes, the whole gets GREEN in a very RAW way—like fresh cucumber juice splashed on newly-mowed grass, and trust me it does not smell pleasant. 30 minutes later, it sets into some aquatic white floral vibe with solid green backdrop turndown to proper volume, likable yet far from a masterpiece.
In conclusion, if you want a TRUE LOTV blind buy any one aforementioned and sample this one before purchase.
demon650 – :
Ah — it does smell like springtime. To me, it smells like a true lily of the valley, set within a mandatory green context; just like if you picked a bouquet and added some leaves / forest plans to it. I have done that as a child — and that’s what it reminded me of.
Other than other lily of the valley scents, this one reminds me of L’Eau Par Kenzo — it has the same delicate and fragile floral note that doesn’t really dry down to anything more exciting than that. Or perhaps it is the watermelon note that makes me think of it.
I won’t be purchasing this after using up my sample for several reasons:
* Limited longevity and sillage. It just doesn’t stay on. This would make it a great perfume for work for a formal environment — it will give one a joy of putting perfume on when getting ready for work and it is likely to have dissipated by the time one reaches one’s office. It is also not too sweet or strong — it is just a pleasant scent.
* To me, this is a limited-use perfume. I don’t like using obvious florals like that in the spring or summer — while I do enjoy seasonal scents, I would much rather have a bouquet in my living room. I like wearing these scents on crisp and sunny winter days, when it seems startlingly appropriate — but doesn’t warrant buying an entire bottle. It is such a clean and happy scent, it transports its wearer straight into spring.
* It is just not complex enough — I want to layer this with something else to feel that I am wearing a more finished product. It’s akin to having one flower in a nice vase — it’s great, but one wishes for a more ornate, complex bouquet.
* I am not convinced that the price tag is justified. It is a nice perfume, yes, but it is not outstanding. I love many Hermes perfumes and expect *more* from them. This one is not *more* — it’s *less.*
I wouldn’t say this is a true unisex perfume. I wouldn’t call is a very feminine scent, either — it mostly hints at nascent femininity. I always think of these as a good gift idea for very young women, as they are not too suggestive, yet clearly feminine. I myself was a recipient of similar perfumes when I was much younger, and it was very age-appropriate.
Sanek666 – :
Beautiful, delicate, fresh dewy lily-of-the-valley. It is sublime. I love the light wateriness of Hermessence Muguet Porcelaine. It is so sweet and fresh and pretty and light-hearted, and makes me feel soft and gentle and very very feminine. It’s absolute bliss in a bottle for me. I adore it.
Also, it lasts incredibly well on me, for such a light perfume; it’s still there quite noticeably after 16 hours! Amazing. Very amazing.
It is one of my favourite, gentle perfumes. I adore lily-of-the-valley, it’s one of my favourite flowers, and notes in perfumes, and this one is superb. I love the transparency. It is heavenly. Truly heavenly.
snaipers – :
I got four Hermessence samples courtesy of a very generous Hermes salesperson (I was in the shop randomly browsing things I cannot afford) and this was one of them.
I was wearing Diorissimo all through my teenage years so LOTV is a very familiar note. I really like this take by Hermes: dewy and transparent but somehow the lily of the valley is still recognizable for what it is (unlike, say, Carillon pour un Ange, in my opinion).
I think that Muguet Porcelaine is to LOTV what Un Matin d’Orage is to gardenia. Dewy but elegant.
Longevity and sillage are low, which is why I won’t be buying a full bottle. I might get it in 15 ml if I ever decided to splash out on the coffret.
ss_andrey – :
Nicely done, the lily of the valley is definitely crisp and green, almost limonade in a way, to the point of being screechy in the top notes, still, very authentic smelling muguet, top quality scent, having grown up with a mom who wore Diorissimo all the time and loved everything lily of the valley, I can say this is a real nice and quite unique interpretation of muguet. Feminine in my opinion
Meall500bedyWelty – :
I was so ready to love this, but it just smells of synthetic melon… How did Jean Claude Ellena come up with this? Because I know this is not typical of him…
iimeda – :
I made the mistake to dismiss this new Muguet Porcelaine a bit too easily at first but then a couple of friends whose perceptions and tastes I keep in good regard suggested me to give it a second chance and I did. I’ve to say I partially changed my mind but I’m still not completely sold on this new Hermessence. Probably because, when it comes to fragrance, muguet is not exactly one of my main focuses.
Anyway, Muguet Porcelaine opens with a bizarre muguet and melon combo that while sounding as intriguing as the pleague and cholera at once, it actually works. From one side there’s the bitter green floral facets of muguet but they’re juxtaposed to a fresh and slightly sweet melon note that makes of this opening something novel enough to hold my attention while still not resulting overly bizarre or exactly weird. In fact, it’s very likable. As usual with Hermessence, the fragrance fades pretty soon to evolve into a more conventional “pretty muguet” where the white floral facets are enhanced together with the general *inoffensiveness* of these light concoctions. Something I believe it would be very easy to wear for anyone into light modern florals done with enough class and taste to not fall into overly predictable territories.
Now, even though I’m a fan of Ellena and more generally of Hermes, I’m still not particularly fond of this new launch. I’m not bothered at all by its transparent / waterecolory character but I probably would have appreciated it more if it was launched as part of the Les Jardins series in which, in my opinion, it would have been more properly contextualized. Anyway, despite being far from the genius of other Hermessences such as Cuir D’Ange or, say, Osmanthe Yunnan, Muguet Porcelaine is still worth exploring for representing a nice twist on a genre I’m personally not particularly interested into.
Rating: 6.5-7/10
sergpsn – :
Sublime lilly-of-the-valley…
I have always been ready to try out the Hermessence line by master perfumeur Jean-Claude Ellena. To date I have tried and worn every single one of them.
With this one (which I am surprised he is still making them as I heard he was leaving the house of Hermès), he has made a beautiful, water-like lilly-of-the-valley composition which I find green and sheer and beautiful. I must stress that this is made in his own very transparent, sheer style. Compared to other lilly-of-the-valley fragrances I think this is a little inadequate. By that I mean that it seems to fit in with the rest of the Hermessence line, but as a standalone fragrance focusing on that particular note I can think of others that deliver more for the money you would pay.
If put in the context of the rest of the line, then this one makes sense and fits in perfectly. If you are familiar with the rest of this series then you will see that he has made another hit. But if you are looking for something practical which will last all day for less money, then look elsewhere. Beautiful but fleeting, Muguet Porcelaine is a delicate wonder that if you can afford will delight you, but if you want something substantial then go for other “muguet” style fragrances.
romantatar – :
I have a sample spray that I’ve been testing. It’s beautiful! I don’t smell cucumber or melon or watermelon or bubblegum. Note: I love Ellena’s Jardin series, so if you don’t like Ellena’s style, our opinions may diverge. I do like the transparency and sheerness of his Hermes fragrances and I like them in this one. I’ve smelled Muguet Porcelaine shortly after smelling real lilies of the valley growing in a garden, and it is quite true to the flower though perhaps a little more watery, as if the flowers were wet with dew or raindrops. One small spray lasted for two hours on my wrist, though it remained light and green. I’d love to experience Muguet Porcelaine in a parfum concentration.
alex0163 – :
Watered down Jo Malone (if that’s at all possible) Lily of the Valley and Ivy.Nothing spectacular here at all.
Five minutes after spraying it becomes a skin scent.
Pass.
solitary08 – :
No no no no no!!! I was REALLY looking forward to this one! If anyone could do a close-to-live LotV I thought it’d be Ellena! (considering the success of Cuir d’Ange)
It has a really odd synthetic sweetness to it (watermelon & cucumber) making it really unpleasant especially in the beginning…
There goes my dream to actually purchase something instead of drooling over Guerlain’$ Muguet 🙁
TincHurocrinY – :
Just tried it, melon and cucumber! HORRIBLE!
aagg – :
Tried the new Hermessence today. The smell is surprising to me as I was anticipating a green/floral muguet, though got a fruity/floral mainstream muguet. The fragrances starts off with a traditional Diorissimo-type lily-of-the-valley (green and “plastic”), but just 20 seconds after it transforms into sweet melony bubble gum that strongly reminds of Victo & Rolf Eau Mega. On a whole I would describe the fragrance as a melony bubble gum with sweet and milky undertones on a base of ISOe Super-y lily-of-the-valley. The fragrance is powerful and lovely, I do like sillage and longevity. However that’s more a Kenzo type of scent, not Hermes and especially not Hermessensce. A man could wear it.
goxa_aka – :
This is a soliflore with a true smell of lily-of-the-valley. Feels like standing in a meadow with lush emerald green grass wet from the summer rain with lily-of-the-valley all over as far as your eyes can see. Stunningly beautiful!
I didn’t have the chance to test performance but it seems light like the other Hermessence fragrances. If it projects and lasts OK enough I will probably put it on my to-buy list.