Elixir des Merveilles by Hermès

What an incredible find! Nothing synthetic here, it smells super natural 🥰, ideal for autumn and winter 💞.

I love that sweet, beautiful candied orange. What fine creativity from Jean-Claude Ellena; his perfumes are always elegant, natural, and balanced. Elixir Des Merveilles embraces the senses. Upon opening, that sweet, ambered, crystallised orange emerges, as if trapped in the resin of a tree. You note the orange, the amber, the woods, a touch of incense, fine caramel, and vanilla, perhaps a hint of vetiver at the base. It is a perfect dance: initially the orange shines, while woods, amber, and resins reign at the end. It is an imposing perfume, sweet without being gourmand or cloying, festive yet with chic and formal touches. One of the most beautiful and complex oranges I have ever smelled, niche quality and very unisex. I wear it in cold seasons and in the evening, dressed up. It lasts 8 to 10 hours with a strong to moderate trail. I insist, it is a treasure.

Although it is a little complex, it is highly rated by the community. The opening is balsamic, very citrusy and resinous. On my skin, oranges wrapped in amber stand out, with a sweet touch of tonka bean and vanilla. It smells beautiful, but I confess that smelling it on him has been addictive and seductive. The bottle is also very pretty, looking like a half orange 🍊. It is not for everyday wear, but for special occasions. Hermès has captivated me once again.

I have about 50cc left, half a bottle. Until now, I used it without restraint as my skin is very dry, but when I wanted to buy a refill, I found it unavailable even on the Hermès website, so I’m keeping it to ration it and make it last longer. Thanks for the replies.

Thanks Hanna, although at least in the department store in my city they didn’t have it. They’ll probably be waiting for the new one.

One of my go-to fragrances; I absolutely love this orange!

It’s my Christmas perfume; that orange scent that isn’t citrusy reminds me of candied orange strips with sugar. It’s not gourmand, not floral, not citrusy… it’s unique! There’s nothing like it. Perhaps a very subtle base note recalls Shadow of Merveilles, with similar incense and Peru balsam, but the Elixir is another world entirely. The longevity is brutal; you wash with soap and it still smells. On the skin it leaves an oily trail, you can tell the quality. Try it even if it’s not easy to find (I’ve only seen it at Selfridges and took it home). Don’t buy it blindly if you’re used to the cheap sprays and floral notes of commercial perfumes. It would look perfect on a man too.

A beautiful and rare perfume, sweet and bitter, balsamic, attractive, warm, resinous, unisex, with personality, enveloping. It’s the best of all they’ve released since Eau de Merveilles. People around me love it and it draws compliments.

A perfume I’d describe as: balsamic, citrusy and resinous. It opens with bitter orange peel, although the amber and resinous notes take away some of the bitterness and add sweetness. The patchouli note is evident and adds that balsamic touch. The woody notes give it a more ‘serious’ and unisex air. Although it carries sweet notes, it’s not sweet at all; it’s more balsamic and dry. I think it’s better for cold seasons as it’s quite intense. It lasts a long time on the skin and I don’t recommend buying it blindly.

Elixir de Merveilles is an orange delight but not citrusy or light; it’s more mature, pulpy and candied with flashes of vanilla and sandalwood, accompanied by a dark, earthy patchouli that gives it a chocolatey accord to that orange, as if it were a bonbon filled with jam, but not extremely sweet, more like dark bitter cocoa, all over an amber and resinous base with a certain medicinal touch from the benzoin. The opening didn’t win me over the first time, but without a doubt I’ve grown to love it. It’s a creation by Master Jean-Claude Ellena for Hermès, far from his comfort zone (those minimalist and neat ones he has us used to) and, contrary to most of the brand’s creations, it boasts great performance: the longevity on skin can exceed eight hours and it projects quite well. It could be a perfectly unisex fragrance, as there are no floral traces; it’s an oriental with gourmand touches that, although intended for the female public and with a certain sweetness, wouldn’t sound out of place on a man.

Elixir des Merveilles… it’s sea salt crystals, nomen omen, wonderfully packaged. I licked my elbow and the taste of sea salt stayed on my tongue, only with a subtly soapy touch. The Eau de Parfum is ‘schizophrenic’ for me: spicy and soft at the same time, delicate and strong. These notes blend incredibly. What’s constant is the salt. Sometimes I notice a bubblegum scent. The Passiflora gives a ‘bubble gum’ effect, but I think it’s more caramel (nothing like that caramel you know which is). Orange peel? Yes, it appears and disappears like a game of hide-and-seek. Peru Balsam gives it a bitter and slightly smoky touch. It seems simple but has a lot to say. I’m not a fan of Ellena, but this smells like home and is a masterpiece for me. It lasts a long time on my skin and has excellent projection.

I received this perfume without really knowing what to expect… I read very sophisticated reviews about curious scents. I was prepared for something strange that would require study. What a pleasure to discover I was wrong! It was love at first sight. I experience it as a four-act perfume: 1. The opening is one of the best oranges I’ve ever smelled, not sour or metallic, like ripe orange juice at its peak. Perhaps a little sweeter with an amber base. 2. After an hour and a half, it reminds me of the heart of Narciso Rodriguez’s For Her, but more complex with more nuances. 3. Then it becomes darker, gaining a ‘damp room’ character and becoming a bit earthy, without losing that sweet amber base. 4. The dry down is like the most perfect orange cream you’ve ever tried. It’s like putting on the softest garment imaginable. Words fail. A masterpiece that you shouldn’t miss.

It’s not easy to review Elixir des Merveilles, as my objectivity goes to pot with Jean-Claude Ellena. But I say that, unlike other creations of his, this has great performance: it projects more than moderately and lasts up to 10 hours. It shares similarities with Eau des Merveilles, but here the orange takes a balsamic and sweet path; at times it reminds me of putting orange peels on a wood-burning stove in southern Chile. The caramel is noticeable, something smoky, with a super comforting sensation that makes me smile. Today my 50 ml bottle finished. I enjoyed it a lot and also decanted some. I hope to find it again.

It’s a delicious, well-structured interpretation, warm and enveloping with light oriental airs. It adapts more to cold months, but it looks good on hot nights with an exotic air. It has the original DNA, but this flanker is rougher, resinous and ambiguous. It looks great on both sexes and doesn’t clash at any event. It’s totally chameleon-like: on a woman it gives intellectual and dreamy airs, and on a man a naughty touch for seduction. On my skin, it highlights a rough touch of resins wrapped in warm amber sweetened by orange marmalade. Good performance, excellent essence quality and superb versatility. A warm and enveloping fragrance in romanticism-glam that I love. Brilliant for important events, dates and dinners. It has a hard-to-find air nowadays.

It’s a beautiful perfume, very round and very orange. The bottle is perfect for the contents. I associate it more with the day than the night, with this sunny, bright and sweet amber. From start to finish it’s an orange without acidity, half candied in sugar with resins. A creamy caramel of orange. At times it shows small salty glimmers, light incense tones, some earthy and sour aftertaste. But everything is just sparkles on a great hot orange cake freshly baked, dense and compact. The almost medicinal balsamic character is more noticeable when drying: oily resins, some solvent and a powdery wood touch. I don’t see the marked masculine point so commented on; although it’s unisex, it leans more towards the feminine. Perhaps because I’m used to stronger woods, these pass me unnoticed. I’ve felt very comfortable wearing it. At times I think I’d get saturated, but it doesn’t happen, thanks to a contained projection. When I move, I notice the enveloping trail of my arms and neck. Good longevity, about 6/7 hours with a small amount. Note: I edited the review. With heavy use, a resinous-medical character with an oil painting point appears. In those cases, I lose the perception of the perfume in a couple of hours. With a small amount, it didn’t saturate me and I perceived it for many more hours.