Every once in a while I blindly buy a fragrance – and by blindly I mean online, without ever having tried the scent before. It’s a risk that rarely pays off, yet I keep being persuaded by marketing and keep falling into this trap. There’s always that one time that you end up with a new favourite perfume, most times you end up with bottles you’ll pass on to someone else, and sometimes you end up with something like Hèrmes Twilly Eau Poivree.
You can tell by that intro that this is not exactly a consensual scent. I myself don’t have my mind set on it. As the name indicates, it’s powdery, which if you’ve seen my other scent reviews you’ll know that is something I gravitate to, but this powdery is unlike any other I own: it’s not soft nor creamy, it’s potent, earthy, basically dusty, and quite masculine. The (discrete) rose note is what gives it femininity and ultimately makes it a woman’s fragrance.
The only components mentioned are pink peppercorn, rose and patchouli, and I am shocked at how streamlined the notes on this perfume are. It feels a lot more complex than just three notes.
As you first apply it, you can definitely sense the peppercorn. The scent starts fresher and brighter and gets deeper and more powdery and woody as it dries down. I was completely baffled by the rose note: not being a fan of rose, I usually detect it right away, but with this scent, I couldn’t, not at the beginning at least. After testing the perfume quite a few times, I could finally pin that hint of femininity to the rose note. This is the best use of a rose note that I’ve ever seen (smelled?) – for once, it’s not the overwhelming note in the fragrance, and it’s just what this scent needs in order to balance the patchoulli and peppercorn without making the fragrance loose it’s woody, dusty identity.
Being so powdery, this is once again a fragrance with a vintage feeling – something that a lot of people would say “grandma would wear”, which was never a fault for me, but it might be for some people. I would say it’s not something you would gift your adolescent niece, and also not something for daytime – I classify it as a night only scent. Sillage is moderate to high (don’t put too much, you might bother those around you), and longevity is moderate on the skin – but it does leave a light scent on your clothes for the next time you wear it.
It’s one of a kind, it packs a punch, and it’s going to divide opinions. My husband and my mother love it, which I would not have guessed at all. I’ve come to learn to like it more and appreciate it’s uniqueness, but it’s not something I’ll be constantly wearing. It’s a bottle that’s going to take me a lot to use up, but that I ultimately decided to keep.
All this to say, do not buy it before trying.
