Eau de Citron Noir Eau de Cologne

The name is the first clue, and the fragrance delivers on it: Hermès Eau de Citron Noir Eau de Cologne, from 2018, is a citrus that has been deliberately darkened.

Black lemon is dried lemon, the kind used whole in cooking across the Gulf, and it smells nothing like the fresh fruit. It is sour and dusty, slightly fermented and faintly bitter, with the brightness cooked out of it, and that peculiarity is the reason this scent exists. Black tea reinforces the effect with a dry, tannic, slightly smoky astringency that reads like the leaves themselves rather than a cup. Guaiac wood finishes it with resin and smoke, dense and warm and a little tarry, and it gives the composition a base that no ordinary cologne would have.

Three materials, each of them dry. Nothing in this is sweet and nothing in it is juicy, which makes it an unusual proposition at a concentration normally reserved for the brightest and simplest of scents. As a cologne it is light to wear and not especially long lived, though the resin underneath holds it on the skin for longer than any straightforward citrus would manage on its own. Use it generously; the format is designed for that.

It is unisex and it suits daytime, warm weather and anyone who finds standard summer fragrance too simple or too sweet. It is also one of the more interesting things to put on when you want to smell clean without smelling like everybody else, and it suits an evening in warm weather better than most colognes manage.

Saddlery in 1837, perfumery from 1951, and the same family throughout: that is the short version of a Paris house founded by Thierry Hermes and run today by the sixth generation of his descendants.