Best Un Jardin à Cythère by Hermès Alternatives & Similar Perfumes

The brand’s vision of uomo/man. This is a fresh, elegant, masculine fragrance made with citrus, spices and aromatic woods, Calabrian bergamot and equatorial peppers, sweet-smelling resins and oakmoss. A true classic.

In the Hindu tradition, Brahma is the creator god, responsible for knowledge. Abode of Brahma conjures bright alertness with spiritual stillness. Starting open and alive with a luminous burst of sharp basil and tart rhubarb, it softens with the diffusive green of galbanum mixed with delicate white florals. Grounding the experience are transparent threads of incense, sandalwood and ambergris.

Perfumer: Maxime Exler

A cool, weightless breath that glides over the skin like the crisp poplin of a freshly-tailored shirt. Air is fashioned through contrasts: an ozonic accord swirling through the dissonant tang of blackcurrant and lime. This dark, metallic fruitiness cuts through the composition, enlivening the woody/amber base with a juicy green tension.

Perfumer: Alex Lee

Bamboo captures the tranquil greenness of spring and summer in Zhejiang — a vision of misty hills and swaying bamboo after the morning fog has lifted. The breeze carries fresh green leaves through a soft haze of lily of the valley, jasmine and geranium. A breath of earth is suggested by vetiver and patchouli, while ambergris and cypress wrap the scent in a warm, resinous calm.

Perfumer: Juan Liu 

Distant Hills in Silence is a meditative, woody-aromatic perfume inspired  by twilight on a mountain peak and the quiet whispers of wind through the pines. It opens with resinous frankincense and elemi blended with clean green leaves and clary sage, before shifting into a bright citrus clash of mandarin, bergamot and lemon. Chilly black pepper sharpens the feel, before a mossy and powdery fusion of patchouli and violet lends a cold shadow to the composition.

Perfumer: Maxime Exler

Lovely and limpid, pretty and pellucid, osmanthus is poetry in a flower. Its scent is a gorgeous whirl of apricot, tea and suede, which in Dot is made even more fresh with bitter orange and leafy green notes. This enveloping edp keeps the edges round with amber woods, punctuated by a sprinkling of peppery frankincense.

Perfumer: Chris Bartlett.

The Elephant’s formula has a fresh air nuance and violet leaves in the opening. The heart layer is sandalwood highlighted with ambery kohinool material and the base has accords of chocolate and coconut milk, both used to enhance effect of sandalwood rather than turn fragrance into a gourmand.

Fun fact: Elephant was originally meant to be a spicy chai and sandalwood fragrance to represent India. The sandalwood idea stayed, but the idea of elephants in their habitation led to the green, fresh and leafy top instead.

An enigmatic being, seen by locals in the late 1990s wandering the Swiss woodlands of Maules, dressed in a camouflage cape and a vintage gas mask. No one knew if they were woman or man, or even human, but this 6’3” creature was always observed picking and smelling flowers. When the cryptid disappeared forever after ten years of sightings, Le Matin reported that the mask and the cape were found in the forest, along with a note signed “Fantôme de Maules”. 

This olfactory tribute summons the forest that was the stranger’s haven: green leaves, galbanum, lavender, oakmoss and vetiver. A scent that’s part barbershop, part woodland escape. Who was this “ghost”, anyway? We will never know, because they don’t want us to. The modern world is alight with information and the shadows are shrinking. So here’s one for perfume lovers who don’t feel it necessary to explain themselves.

Beaufort’s latest fragrance, the confounding and aquatic leaning Fathom V, broadly takes it’s cues from Shakespeare. Throughout The Tempest, the writer conjures vivid images of violent weather, shipwrecks and magical islands but the name Fathom V itself stems from a phrase gleaned from ‘Ariel’s Song’ within the play:

“Full fathom five thy father lies; 
Of his bones are coral made; 
Those are pearls that were his eyes: 
Nothing of him that doth fade, 
But doth suffer a sea-change 
Into something rich and strange.”

The idea of this ’sea-change’ and the constant tidal flux of the sea is properly explored in Fathom V with the overdosed use of contrasting materials: salt and earth, fragrant herbs and mosses, pleasant floral notes and intense dark spices encompassing and outlining the push and pull of the oceanic torrents. 

Grooming Guru on Fathom V:

"Fathom V’s cleverness lies in its ability to take the concept of an aquatic fragrance and turn it on its head. Instead of following the bright and breezy, surf’s up approach that so many marine scents take, it plots an entirely different course, taking the wearer on a dark, foggy, Gothic adventure that conjures up images of dark, 17th century sea ports full of smugglers, ships with moss-covered hulls and illegally obtained barrels of spice."

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Candy Perfume Boy on Fathom V:

"How Does it Smell? Like gunpowder, lush vegetation, murky waters and the barnacle-covered hulls of pirate ships."

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To commemorate a decade of Fathom V, Beaufort has produced a limited edition ‘Directors Cut’ extrait version of the scent: the ‘big green beast’ retooled in an ultra-strong variant at a 150% higher oil inclusion.

This ‘extended’ version brings to life the more muted aspects of the original, heightening the spices and turning the flower shop plant stems aspect into a fallen forest of green. Incredibly powerful and extremely long-lasting. Each all-black bottle is individually numbered, with the edition running to only 1000 pieces worldwide. Each box contains a hand-signed note of authenticity.