Eau de Gentiane Blanche Hermès for women and men

It feels like sleeping in on a gloomy day at dusk, yet neither dark nor depressing. It is calming and meditative: a fragrance for thinking, writing, and humming a lullaby to oneself. The musk caresses over the sharp green vegetal shades, creating a perfect balance of casual and luxury. Perhaps the true luxury lies in the softness one can afford for oneself, to be slow and light and translucent.
The projection and longevity are not the strongest, but they work well with this kind of fragrance. It wears like a thin chiffon shirt over my skin; maybe you see it, maybe you won't. But that's why I love it instantly!

This is very very earthy, powdery, and green. It reminds me a little bit of Grey Flannel by Geoffrey Beene, though they are not the same scent. They do give off similar vibes though. I’d agree that this smells like damp earth. I don’t get much (or any, really) florals. This has a “dry” feeling to it that is hard for me to describe. To me this is something I’d wear during the cooler, rainy months. I can already tell this will get on my nerves if I try to wear it when it’s warm or hot outside. Longevity is on the lower end of average for me, but this is pretty strong for the first couple hours. I usually like to touch this up once throughout the day if I’m still out and about.

To me this smells like cold, rained on concrete which happens to be something I enjoy. I definitely get iris and a little smokiness in the opening before it dries down to something cool, mineral and intriguing . If you like the earthy bitterness of gentian in Italian amaros and want something fresh and cool that isn’t citrus based this might just be for you.

really fresh, feeling good in summer.

Has Fragrantica's main accords graph ever looked more wrong? There's no sweetness, no floral, no amber here. Hermès's best from the Colognes range flies under the radar because of its unique use of gentian. Though a flower it's cold, earthy, aromatic, almost incense-like. Sang-froid in a bottle. Perfect for warm or hot days. Bitter, green-herbal gentian with some ashy orris root ionones lurking. If you've ever slugged the aperitif Suze, you'll recognise the note and it will be cheaper to test that way rather than to blind buy, because this is not a crowd-pleaser. My favourite Hermès.

This is one of the most unusual fragrances from a major house I've ever encountered. Certainly there's iris in this, but otherwise it smells more like damp earth. I had heard it compared to petrichor, that lovely invigorating smell the ground emits after a spring or winter rain, and I think that's a fine comparison. It's oddly clean and refreshing, although there's some bitterness to it too (this is not a fragrance everyone will like, and it's certainly quite unlike most other eaux de cologne).

I'm glad I own a travel spray of this, although I don't know if I would use a full bottle, since it's such an unusual fragrance and should be used for special occasions.

It's a hidden secret in the world of perfumes. I remember the very first sniff of this juice 8 years ago and I felt in love immediately. It's very unusual and I don't know anything you can compare it to. That's a fragrance for extreme weather, heat above 34 Celcius degrees when Dior Homme Cologne no longer works. Very dry, bitter and refreshing. Green and herbal but NOT in an old-fashion way. I am sure this is not the fragrance for everyone, kind of acquired taste. And here the surprise: while the vast majority of Hermes colognes have the real cologne performance, Gentiane lasts a lot on my skin - up to 14 hours with the shower in between and I still can smell this beautiful composition. Sillage is very quiet but this is a kind of perfume that helps you survivwe the hottest days instead of seducing others. A true masterpiece.

is something wrong with me? i don’t smell anything floral about this fragrance. the opening is so so GREEN - earthy and reminds me of a vegetable garden. i don’t smell the medicine or bitterness at all until maybe the very end… (still looking for a medicinal/bitter frag tbh) but the ginseng doesn’t come off as “bitter” to me?

噴在雙手手腕上，各２下
然後我懷疑有聞到味道嗎？ 😂

再分別又噴了１－２下後
最開始衝出來的是麝香皂感，
但真的非常短暫，一閃而過

然後才是人蔘切片的味道
根莖切片的綠感，
完全不帶甜，
也沒有其它香評那麼誇大的苦味

奇妙的是它的擴散雖然差，但是貼膚很久，
越貼膚，那個蔘味就越隱隱的跟著，
時不時會聞到它那蔘感＋泥土溼溼＋鳶尾柔和感覺

很自然大地的香氣，
我找不到其他跟它一樣的香水了
真的非常獨特，超愛，直接成為我簽名香，
真希望Hermes考慮為它出濃度更高的EDT或EDP，
我也會想要購入的！

I wear this when it's a hundred degrees outside and I want to smell like a beautiful garden salad. Powder-soft dirt, chalky iris root, and bitter green bell peppers. It's very dry and very cold- a great "air conditioning" perfume for a humid sticky day. I like to layer it with Clarins Eau Dynamisante or Balenciaga Florabotanica.

Smelling this soft rooty dirt on my skin now, I feel like a small animal that has buried itself in the ground to keep cool.

Pair with: a clean white t shirt that you don't mind getting dirty.

I also get jalapeño peppers from this, and I'm not sure why a person would want to smell like that. Just me, I guess.

I've never smelled gentian, so here is my impression from this cologne: cold, vegetal, earthy, green, delicate, tomato leaf, bell pepper, shady, rootlike. There is a bit of the iris and incense, but this is a very singular fragrance. It can give the impression of a pizza before going in the oven, but if you can get over that, it is very charming and wearable. I don't sense a bitterness or medicinal property others have. An unusual offering that makes one want to dig in the soil and commune with the land.

Very unique smelling fragrance. I am glad I bought it. Smells like weeds in the garden.
Longevity: 8/10
Sillage: 5/10

Very green and herbal, makes you smell like a walking vegetable. Performance is non existent. Extremely poor sillage and becomes skin scent in 30 mins and vanishes totally after an hour or so.

This is definitely a slept on fragrance! The opening with it's heavy vegetable bitter sharp herbal tincture kind of scent probably puts most people off of it, but it dries down to the most lovely, soft, creamy and deep spring scent. The spiced tang of gentian and root and soil, with the creamy smoothness of iris, one of my favorite notes. Everytime I find a jacket I wore with this, I wonder what is this delicious wonderful scent?! And I'm reminded it's Eau de Gentiane Blanche. Simply beautiful.

When I peeped the accords I had to check to see if this was the right page. The closest to "sweet" that I can detect is a green pepper smell. Everything here is deeply vegetal, dank, almost musty. This little sample is going to taunt me until I can figure out how to wear it ..

Green, bitter, cold, understated and chic.
An unusual fragrance that smells like a cold and bitter aperitif.
An excellent alternative to those traditional summer colognes we all love.
Decent projection and good longevity for an EDC.

Hermes Eau de Gentiane Blanche (2009) - gin & tonic cologne - #jeanclaudeellena creates a unique take on eau de cologne by using a flower #gentiana . These flowers (specifically roots) are used to treat antifungal infection, but I digress. The cologne gives off a spicy, rooty, crushed plant smell - almost resembling Green Bell Peppers. I also get cold, wet soil accord. It’s then balanced off by Iris and White Musks - resembling #hiris , yet drier and spicier. Delightful surprise!

This is cerebral. Bitter, earthy, rain storm, rooty vegetables crushed up, pea flour, lots of contrasts and different smells yet very refined and natural. Also smells chalky and dry, and I get a paper mache accord. This is like the easy breezy version of Le Labo Iris 39 with that peppery bite. Very enjoyable to wear.

Quite bitter n sour but in a nice, lovely way. I miss Aqua Allegoria Gentiana massively, n while this is by no stretch it, it will have to do. I layered it with Jardin sur le Nil n I think they went well together.

A great quality cologne! green in the herbal and yellow citrics, tonic and optimistic. I dare to say in the same vein of L.E. des Chanel "Bel Respiro" .

Earthy, Green, Icy and Bitter. Reminds me of vetiver without the veitiver. It smells like a cold bitter iced cocktail. ( I do get the hint of pepper in the background). Surprisingly long lasting on me for a cologne, and wears like an EDT (especially on clothes). Sillage is intimate and a perfect skin scent, but it does bloom in the heat. (if that is your thing)

I wore it yesterday and can still smell it on my shirt after a full day of wear.

I adore it.

Eau de Gentiane Blanche is a magnificently photorealistic depiction of gentian flower and damp humus, with deep, shadowy, savory vegetal elements that I've only ever encountered in Eau d'Italie Bois d'Ombrie (which I unfortunately never replenished).

It opens with a spiky, sharp green tone for which I have a penchant (artemisia, wormwood, and thuja notes are so appealing to me as well). This sensation is much like that of metallic leaves of pelargonium (not the rosy-scented type) foliage under the sun, tomato leaves, green peppers, various nightshades, there's just something so wonderfully evocative, but it doesn't end there: the iris, which while not pronounced, provides a softer, shadier, almost somber counterpoint to it all, a shift from sun to shade, maybe filtered light, a waning summer or early autumn sensation. This is most evident in the heart and the base, as a subtle smoke enters the picture, the incense element, shading the experience even further, which is an interesting contrast to the damp earth and leaves effect.

For an EDC, this has the longevity of an EDT or even an EDP is your skin holds it well. While relatively linear, save for the more pronounced irones and incense in the drydown, it is really artfully composed and just beautiful to my nose. It really is the kind of fragrance that those who are drawn to a reflective, even pensive vibe would be enamored with. I am one of those thinkers and dreamers and I love it.

Herbal/green/ and sharp basically. Very metallic, cold... interesting it doesn't give the impression I hope to give with my fragrance choices. For someone who wants to come across as standoffish. 5/10

Hmmm, I'm torn on this one. Not because I dislike herbal fragrances — quite the contrary — but because this just doesn't align with the listed pyramid, at least to my nose. I was intrigued by this mysterious gentian note, and the addition of iris, smoke, and musk really piqued my interest. This also seemed like the only one of the Hermès colognes worth owning, given what I'd read about the others' compositions and performance. Unable to find a sample, I made a blind buy — something I appear to be making a dangerous habit of under this interminable quarantine.

I really should have heeded the general consensus of other Fragranticans. I get no iris or smoke, maybe a hint of neutral musk, and this strong note that is much more savory-vegetal than it is bitter-botanical. I'm assuming that this is the eponymous gentian. What other reviewers have said about the chopped peppers or sun-warmed tomato leaf rings true: to me, this smells like the dried herb medley you might sprinkle on a pizza.

It's by no means unpleasant, and definitely unique. There's a certain freshness that plays well against the subtle musks. But it dries down very quickly to the aforementioned veggie note, and stays that way for hours thereafter. I'd need to be in a very special mood or en route to a very particular kind of event to really want to wear this. It is a stark outlier compared to other offerings by Hermès.

Another unanticipated element of my disappointment is that I can't help but feel that this is redundant in my collection (something I try to avoid, but that's just a personal preference). Despite the fact that literally none of the listed notes line up, Eau de Gentiane Blanche smells like a weaker, simpler version of Boudicca Wode by The Beautiful Mind Series, which I've also reviewed. Boudicca has a similar savory-herbal quality, but there, it's obvious and traceable: pepper, sage, cumin, coriander, saffron, and juniper, rendered more complex by the addition of white tobacco, opium, and angelica. Whereas BW develops beautifully along several different axes, EdGB remains mostly one-dimensional and not nearly as strong. It also tends to become cloying after a while, unlike BW. Avoid wearing this in warm weather, or it risks veering into BO territory.

On the whole, an interesting fragrance that leaves one wanting. Over-seasoned, but half-baked: a rather desultory pizza pie. If you're really into this promising note profile, please do check out Bodicca Wode!

The Grand Chalet at Rossinière is a palace-sized 18th C alpine chalet in the Canton of Vaud in Switzerland. Count Balthazar Klossowski of Rola, AKA Balthus, called it his home. Eau de Gentiane Blanche evokes an aperitif in the early spring garden hosted by Countess Setsuko serving tea and transparent flower-water flavored Daifuku. Delicate new greenery in the rocks and crevices, the ancient wooden mass is breathing in the sunlight, and Balthus sits in a rattan chair sipping a bitter, root-based elixir. He's been ill, but the vibration is optimistic. I suggest very heavy sprays and you don't expect to share this fragrance with anyone. Very restrained and chic.

There is a gentian eau-de-vie in Switzerland that tastes like soil, deep and earthy. It is not for everyone’s taste but I have always thought it has such personality.

This Hermes is just a little like that, but it is also ethereal and quintessential as any truly artistic fragrance must be. It stays with you the entire day like a second skin, projection is very timid but that doesn’t mean it isn’t “there”. Love it.

Think it has been discontinued almost everywhere, while other of these colognes are sold anywhere. Well, am I surprised? No. Some of other Hermes Eau under same collection are like a YouTube video. Gentiane Blanche is like a book, and who wants to be seated and read?

I think anyone who chooses Eau de Gentiane Blanche as their scent must be very interesting - it's so unlike anything else I've ever smelled. It's a cologne in that it's quite transparent and light, but otherwise it's totally original, very cold and earthy; the gray-green color of the bottle fits the mood of the scent perfectly.
In the opening it smells like the city in winter, icy rain on concrete and a hint of ashes. As it dries down a kind of botanical floral accord becomes dominant - it smells quite realistically like the kind of flowers that aren't kept for the sake of their scent. I also get a very subdued citrus, not at all bright or juicy or sweet or anything like citruses in perfumes generally smell, but noticeably there, and something like vetiver or cold woods. There's really nothing sweet about this perfume, but it's not unpleasant for all that. It's totally unisex as well, as such original scents are almost by definition, since there's nothing about it that's familiar enough to be either stereotypically masculine or feminine.
I like it quite a lot, and I'm happy to have my little decant to revisit from time to time, but I can't imagine I'll wear it very often.

I hope they make a edt or edp of this. I love it very much but it doesn't last 1 hour on my skin. For the review, it smells like a bitter neroli with a soft touch of the powdery iris.

wow, this is for a long time a blast of the top-notes of original balmain vent vert. contrary to vent vert it does not soften and sweeten and deepen. it's green and vegetal and somewhat bitter in a marvelous way -- and then it simply fades. it is fabulous.

Eau de Gentiane Blanche, a review.

I am a proud owner of four Hermès scents: Terre, Bel Amis, Equipage Géranium and now Eau de Gentiane Blanche.
This is a beautiful artisan quality scent. This is like what Jicky is to Guerlain, a scent quite a few people may be put off by because it utilizes uncommon notes, the scents less travelled.
It’s what I call a “Pachamama scent”, that is, a fragrance that feels like it’s in harmony with mother nature. Have you ever tried Tactics by Shiseido? Well, it gives off that kind of naturalistic vibe, a bit zen, a bit mysterious, but not too much so, there is a balance present here.
Interestingly, the gentian flower was the emblem of the Minamoto clan, a surname for emperors during the Heian period in Japan; but I doubt that’s what Jean-Claude Ellena had in mind. Growing up in France, he no doubt had in mind the alpine zone of the Massif Central that straddles the regions of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Occitanie, where the gentian flower grows wild.
It gives off a distinctly Mediterranean forest and telluric vibe. This naturalistic quality is what makes it a winner, in my opinion.
There are many ways to describe this vibe:
Picture the smell of a pavement during a hot day that has been drenched with a bucket of water, and lets off a subtle smell of cooked earth.
Or the smell of rain pouring down on a rock in a meadow: a smell of soil with a distant aqueous note, with a hint of plant flowers in the background. This aqueous note is not artificial smelling in the slightest, it’s very personal and true-to-life smelling.
The sillage is good on this one. About 4-7 hours, seems to last well on fabrics too.

So, who should buy this fragrance?
I agree with some of the other reviewers here: this is a one-way scent, what you see is what you get, it doesn’t evolve or go through different phases, that’s not what it’s trying to do. Personally, this does not diminish my satisfaction with this scent in the slightest. I think it’s the sort of scent people will bemoan not having bought while it was still in production, it’s one to treasure, a sort of Hermès black swan for the ages.
I see why it doesn’t appeal to so many people for being a more subtle creation, but really, it is a fantastic scent to own; it’s honest, unpretentious, and surprisingly natural.
So, when to use this scent? For me, it would be perfect for a hydraulic engineer who works outside in a dry climate, an outdoorsy type, a hiker or mountain climber, a yoga teacher, diplomatic interpreter, etc. Or a bookseller in a wet climate who wants to evoke a sense of mystery. Male or female, this is a pure perfume for anyone with an open nose.

It is like an olfactory vignette: if Terre de Hermès offered us the sensation of a forest full of oranges, Eau de Gentiane Blanche is even more specific: think humid plateau tucked away in a foggy mountain, with wet rocks and lush vegetation, and of course the smell of the eponymous gentian. The sound of water, smell of soil, a person at peace.
It’s an 8.4 out of 10 for me. It saddens me seeing this fragrance still languishing under the 4-star mark.
For example, Jicky (which I love) is rated at 4.11 as of June 2019, so I hope Eau de Gentiane Blanche gets up to the 4.15 or even the 4.20 mark, because I believe it’s deserving of it, and Jean-Claude Ellena, you deserve a lot of credit for your efforts with this intimate and personalised fragrance, merci beaucoup maître!

Bitter, vegetal, and so cold that it's almost metallic. It's a beautiful depiction of the gentian flower, but it's too green for me. I don't hate it, but it's just not a scent that I would wear.

Extremely bitter. This is one of the most astringent compositions I've smelled in the vegetal category, yet very captivating at the same time. The floral facet is quite obvious from the get go and only fades a little in the entire wear. As the scent dry down the incense becomes more obvious, which surprisingly frees up the heavy and bitter "gentian" impression, and the sweetness from musk emerges. The silage and longevity is unmatched - I have a little sample in my sample box and it makes everything smell like it. Agreed with the review below that Eau de Gentiane should long be discontinued due to its niche qualities; it's certainly not a mass-pleasing perfume.

Overall a very unusual fragrance that leaves an impression. I might upgrade to a small bottle in the future.

Unexpected unusual discovery. Vegetal, green, dry, with a "marble" finish. There is a coolness about it that has nothing to do with the mainstream fresh and clean fragrances. Charming, daring, bitter and special. It's a miracle that it's still in production, because it's definitely not a mass pleasing perfume. A must for summer. With the right mood it works in autumn as well. Lasts quite well, with an okay projection

I detect a very light nothing.

Strangely I also get chopped veggies from this one.

This is a very minimalist composition and there is no citrus whatsoever. Pretty unique I'd say.

I normally love JCE's signature but this one is not one of his best in my opinion. The opening is very dry and afterwards the whole feeling is quite ''vegetal''. The drydown does have a very faint musk but overall I don't really find this one interesting.

However the longevity is surprisingly good for an EdC.

5/10

I was so close to buying this online a few days ago after having tried it months ago and loving it, but thought I should maybe test it one more time before buying. Oh man, am I glad that I did. I don't know what has changed since I last tried this, but it smells like straight up freshly chopped green jalapeños and blue cheese. It's very metallic, green, spicy, peppery and sharp. I envy those who have a better experience with this one like I used to.

NOT.....dry and gone by the minute..

The Young Sailor I by Henri Matisse 1906

One more example of the race for originality between the 2 most prestigious houses of parfumes Hermes and Guerlain.

Gentiane, a rare (and protected, but now planted & grown for it's famous alcohols) dark blue & very pretty alpine flower is not listed among frag notes on this site. The alcohols are famous for their gentle bitterness (Suze, the Gentianes of local producers) well suited for aperitifs - they "open the appetite" according to the French Chefs ...

Guerlain's AA Gentiane being gone since long, JC Ellena picked up the Guerlain challenge with an even more original combination with the powdery iris, very strong and present in this frag. This combination is marvelous and pure, the rest (incense, musks) are only dressings.

There is nothing in common between a paper strip test and the skin. A must try, and I love it in my bottle for my skin for many days to come! It's at its best in the Alps or the Rockies, in summer beneath high mountain lakes, just like Hermes Eau des Merveilles Bleue is fantastic on the beachsides of the Mediterranean (a flacon of 100 cc gone within 3 weeks during our most recent stay).

I had tried this for my first time on a quite cold winter day, and it reminded me of the pea-flour cake I had at the Imitaion Imperial Cuisine restaurant as Beijing. It has a bitter opening with coolness, and a slightly powdery sweetness blends in after a few seconds, which is pleasant to me. I had to hesitated for several months to get a full bottle, becasue it never lasts over 1 hr on my skin... I really like its opening, for a hint of coolness i smell.

People say spicy, peppery and green bell pepper. I get a combination. It smells like straight up jalapeno on me. I generally love Hermes, but this one doesn't smell at all like the listed flowers and white musk, which was what I was hoping for.

I don't know how to start with this beauty!I m finally an owner of a bottle,but I have also test it so many times in the past. Maybe is the Hermes house, I own some of their masterpieces so maybe their formulas works for me. Maybe is the central idea of that house-I feel they take the perfume creation as a subject of art or poetry or both- that means they risk with bold creations and unexpected combinations and high quality ingredients.
I tested it without knowing the pyramid of notes and was sure that a more bitter "O" de Lancome type of unisex scent was revealed on my skin which I adored though,immediately.
When I saw the notes on Fragrantica,what a surprise!Flowers? Incense?MUSK? Where is the citrus zest? where is wood? The forest? the rain? the cold breath of the winter wind? Are all there,for me and on my skin.
I love this one for its quality,the high performance on skin and through the day,the uniqueness,the freshness,the mystery,the power of simplicity,the boldness.
Monsieur Ellena, you wrote a fairytale again.
Thank you for this one.

The first thing that comes to mind when smelling any Hermes perfume is expensive. Not in a bad or tacky way, on the contrary, it feels more like Hermes spares no expense in giving us these beautiful, interesting, refined scents. It is an expensive gift, chosen perfectly, nothing extraneous.

I have two sample sprays of Eau de Gentiane Blanche, both from an Hermes boutique and both only half full. After trying it today, I will nurse every precious drop until I can buy my own bottle.

I didn't know what to expect with this fragrance as I had never heard of a gentiane flower. Plus, I grow Iris in my yard, but they are mostly scentless. So the word Blanche is what I focused on-would this be a white flower smell?

No, it isn't a typical floral at all. For me, it can only be described in adjectives. I spray, and I am again 18, sitting on large rocks by a deep blue, glittering alpine lake, smelling the forest, the first sun of the year warming my shoulders, a soft breeze blowing my hair, little pockets of snow still lingering in shady parts of the woods. The rocks I sit upon are warming to my brown smooth legs, and I hear spring birds fluttering overhead. The scent of pine and forest green and lake water wafts over me with each puff of breeze. This is my youth in a bottle. Hermes actually and perfectly captured an afternoon of my youth and put it in a bottle.

To me, this is a unisex fragrance. I'd be crazy about it on a man. I'm crazy about it on me.

It stays the same from first spray to dry down, but that does not mean it is uncomplicated or doesn't tell a story. It whispers to me, and it may whisper something different to you. I think it is flexible for both day and night, for all seasons, beyond all seasons. It's beautiful.

It seems to last on my skin, although I can't help but spraying it every couple of hours just to deepen it. But I must resist, to save it. Oh...just a bit more....I think I'd drink it if I could. It's my favorite Hermes scent so far, although I have liked them all, this one I love. It's next on my "to be purchased" list.

A delightful mossy-woody scent. I would characterize it as resembling a vetiver scent, but without the vetiver! Eau de Gentiane Blanche is simple, clean, fresh, and predictable: A peppery light smoke experience that provides a healthy spiciness that isn't clouded with many other notes. Instantly fell in love with it upon sample, and now I proudly own a bottle.

floral bitter, gloomy, mysterious, but a really good scent on my skin lasted half an hour ... I will definitely try it again and make over spray because it's a great smell.

Soft, smooth, bitter flowers. Lovely. Iris and other cold, somewhat bitter florals wrapped in a little bit of light musk to soften and with added aromatic depth.
A linear scent with a surprising staying power.

"Figurative and generous expressions of instant pleasure, the Hermès Colognes offer a series of material-based olfactive vignettes." This suggests a simpler, linear scent, one that doesn't develop a story going through a sequence of top, heart and base notes but stays the same throughout its relatively short life.

The linear character is certainly true. A couple of seconds after the initial cloud of alcohol disappears, the actual scent of this fragrance becomes clear and established and once it's established, it remains the same until it slowly fades a few hours later.

I was nicely surprised at longevity of a fragrance deemed to be a cologne. It stayed noticeable for at least three hours, maybe as long as four. Quite impressive for me as I often lose any traces of a scent couple of hours in, and I kept catching bigger and little reminders of this now and then for much longer than that.

So it's a linear scent, freely admitting to being a vignette. One would thus expect a fairly simple accord, a base more than a complete fragrance, but Jean-Claude Ellena, responsible for a long list of Hermes' fragrances as well as several other rather rarefied creations for niche perfume houses, including Acqua di Parma, the Different Company and L`Artisan Parfumeur, has created a rather complex thing here.

The official notes include gentian, iris, incense and musk.

There are florals - incredibly fresh yet intense. I'd call this aspect of the fragrance green, but it's a strange green, very much alive yet rather grey. If you look at the colour of the bottle, held against light, you'll get the kind of pale-grey green I am talking about. There is a lot of iris there, which is probably responsible for that grey. But there is also gentian in the notes, and although I don't know what the gentian flower (an alpine plant, see the other pic) smells like, I feel that it must be contributing there with a purple/grey element.

Actual gentian flowers are vivid royal blue, but in the scent the purple-blue is diluted, less saturated. None of this makes for a weaker fragrance, but decidedly shifts the focus from the floral to the aromatic incense aspects.
There is bitterness there, a medicinal quality so typical of many incense fragrances, but it's a a bitterness that's both smooth, set against a soft background of pale musk, and also fresh and open, like a scent of a meadow known far and wide for being particularly abundant in medicinal (and perhaps even hallucinogenic) herbs.

I have seen the word etheral repeated in comments about this fragrance, and yes, it is etheral, as in being airy and a bit unearthly, but not at all weak or vulnerable. This is not a scent of a shrinking-violet young damsel in teary distress. This is a scent that makes me think of Galadriel.

Unisex my eye! I received a sample of Gentiane Blanche last year while visiting the Hermes Boutique and making a purchase or two, but tossed them into one of my shoe-boxes filled with other samples. While I was pleasantly surprised to find something unfamiliar to me, I am so glad that I applied a familiar Hermes sample after my gym workout because this fragrance is pure flowers and estrogen...nothing unisex about it.

Upon first spray I got hints of that tell-tale Hermes fresh-aromatic DNA along with a fresh-floral and a light powdery accord. I do not recall ever having smelled a gentiane fragrance, but I do know this one is NOT for me(n) in any form or fashion.

As far as a female fragrance goes...well, it's somewhat likable, but I wasn't blown-away. Moreover, I find that this fragrance--and perhaps gentiane more specifically--is not something I crave smelling on les femmes. I wouldn't mind it, but I find there are just a ton better floral fragrances that I would enjoy sniffing ahead of this one.

Overall, I mildly like this fragrance but I enjoy smelling many more musky-floral fragrances on the ladies. Sadly, I am giving this one a dislike because there is nothing unisex about this scent. Dudes beware!!!

Eau de Gentiane Blanche is extraordinary - DIVINE!! It's just gorgeous! Green and cool, and warm; beautiful incense and musk, and earth, and forest, and sunshine and rain - fresh and sharp, yet smooth and aromatic. It's amazing. I adore it. It smells like nothing else. Lovely flowers I don't know, but definitely flowers, delicate and ethereal. Definitely smell aniseed. Delightful. Powdery and soft. Oh my. So many different smells. It's lovely. And lovely bottle too. I love the colour.

Fragrance Review For Eau De Gentiane Blanche

Eau De Cologne

Hermes

Notes

Gentiana Incense Musk Iris

Gentiana is an Alpine flower which I really enjoyed up close to my nose while vacationing in Switzerland a few years ago. I was not expecting this cologne to be floral and I knew as an experienced perfumista that it would not smell of gentiana but I was nevertheless intrigued. Off the bottle it smells quite powdery. The iris flower is stronger than the small dose of gentiana. It has a citrus scent as well, fresh and invigorating like the natural fresh air on mountain slopes. Then it smells of iris. It seems to want to evoke an Alpine setting: flowers, mountains, deer, and green slopes. This is a very green aromatic scent.

There's some vetiver, musk and green notes, common ingredients in men's colognes which make this one of the more masculine unisex scents from a unisex line like Hermes. This would smell good on the right guy who can pull off greens, musk or powder based iris. The touch of incense is nice but it's not smoky at all. It's green and musky, clean and elegant. With only 4 notes not to mention unlisted citrus and vetiver it's a linear scent that does not have any real complexity or progression. It smells the same from beginning to end but it's a hell of a great smell.

Gentiane Blanche has an air of a refined hothouse flower or humid rose. It is exquisite bordering on tristesse.

upon application it smells fresh and then powdery, a very unisex floral - it could be for men or women, maybe a bit masculine for a woman, there's a hint of citrus, vetiver, and wood - it reminds me of a lightened up version of terre d'hermes

i like it - i don't know if this is a full bottle buy for me - good performance more than a few times i could smell it wafting up from my arm

edit: the last time i wore this it was very blue, cool, & powdery but there is a strange metallic synthetic note that glares through the rest of the loveliness which ruins it for me otherwise it would be great

When I'm wearing Eau de Gentiane Blanche it creates a mental image of a forest. But it's a pretty specific forest. It takes me to an early spring day, just after a cold and slow rain, the sky is gray and the mountain peaks are still covered in snow. You can smell the humid cold air, almost misty. A running water is nearby and the grass is just starting to grow here and there. There is also a hint of "blue" flowers in the air.

Gentian is a mountain flower that smells a bit herbal and a bit sour. The iris here is in no way powdery, it is rather green and sharp, with the smallest hint of sweetness. There is also incense in this fragrance, which might lead you into thinking this would be a smoky autumny fragrance. But here, the incense is toned down a lot, sometimes not even being aware it's there. To my nose it just acts as a complement to the greenness of the fragrance, making it a bit more balanced, "rounding" the green sharpness.

Eau de Gentiane Blanche ticks all the boxes necessarily for me to consider it being a masterpiece. It is beautifully crafted and blended, having one of the most naturally pleasing smells I have come across in the fragrance world so far. It's my favorite of the whole Eau de Cologne line of Hermes and I'm really excited to have it in my collection. The performance is also amazing on me, having a very decent sillage (an arm's length for a good 3-4 hours) and really great longevity (I can trace it up to 10-12 hours after application, sometimes even more than that).

The only problem I have with it is its versatility, as I find it hard wearing it most of the times. It's my current go-to rainy cold day fragrance, or when I go in vacation to the mountains, but other than that it's pretty hard to find other contexts in which I can pull it off. It's also a pretty weird scent to some and sometimes gives a feminine vibe (I'm a guy), which to me is not necessarily off-putting, but to some it may feel odd or awkward. Some may even say it smells a bit "medicinal" and I can totally understand that, it can smell like a green tincture if you think of it that way. But I prefer sticking to my mental image of a rainy misty cold forest.

My "marks", 10 being highest:

Scent: 9.5
Sillage: 7
Longevity: 9
Uniqueness: 10
Versatility: 4

I am a die-hard fan of incense, iris, and green perfumes, and this is one of the most wonderful combinations of all three of these notes. It's funny that some people call it melancholy - I've been wearing it on the beach all summer, with the smell of sunscreen mixed in, and often layered with Hermes Eau de Rhubarbe Ecarlate! To me, it is more intoxicating than mysterious, more fresh than melancholy, more day- than night-time. Green bell pepper, as a fellow reviewer notes: yes! Aniseed, as does another: yes! I would not have bought it reading the description of "sweet, powdery, floral, balsamic, musky" - none of those I particularly fall for. But this is all that, somehow, and all of the opposites as well: bitter, green, fresh, dry, and even salty (but that may just be because I thought it the perfect beach perfume...)
To me, this and Rhubarbe Ecarlate are my favorite summer perfumes. A smoky modern version of Jacomo Silences.

A blind buy and I really cannot decide how I feel about it... I loved the reviews and was expecting something different. This doesn't smell like rain on me. As soon as I sprayed it I felt a bit uneasy because although I didn't hate the smell, I didn't really like it either. It smelt so familiar and yet I could not figure out what exactly it was reminding me of. On the second day of wearing (and trying to grow to like it) I finally got a vision, a flashback if you will, and I remembered the smell.

When I was little, we used to spend summer holidays in a house in the woods, on a lake. My dad and grandad used to go fishing a lot and I would rise with them before the sunset many a mornings to go fishing in a rowing boat.
The sun would rise and soon it would be so hot, blue skies, the sun and water all around us. When I think of those mornings I remember a distinctive smell of the lake, the water and the plants, sometimes water lilies, sometimes weed that would get caught onto the hook, but mainly calamus, the tall water plant. That's the smell I recognised as soon as I sprayed the scent on my skin.

I'll give it a few more tries. I'll try it in different weather, different moods. I love the memories the smell brings back but I am not yet entirely sure if I want to smell of it. Time will tell.

7/10

Not a 'Musk' fan but this one is great! well blend Iris and ummm... grass scent! maybe Gentiana.

Imagine when you lay down on grass garden after afternoon rainstorm, when the sky staring blue. That's what mine description about this one.

Its scent so similarly like Eau de Narcisse Bleu. but EDG has a bit darker.

Scent : 9/10
Longevity : 9/10
Sillage : 8/10 and it's close to your oily skin.

jean-claude ellena è l'autore di questa ennesima colonia minimale a cui hermes ci ha abituati da tempo. si tratta di un accordo del tutto unisex, assai fresco e verde, che ricorda la sensazione odorosa di fogliame sotto la pioggia, più che la genziana (che io proprio non sento), e fin qui tutto bene, anzi benissimo. peccato che poi il profumo viri su territori muschiati e molto saponosi, che il mio naso fa fatica a tollerare. le prime note sono davvero notevoli, per i miei gusti; l'assestamento quasi insopportabile.

scent : 10/10
sillage : 6/10
longevity : 9/10
80% day / 20% night fragrance
nice green,violet and woody scent
the best scent that i ever smell (green, citrus and clean) my signature fall scent, the scent remain on my clothes for 5 continuos days, it got the different kind of green scent i guess its the guintina
simply the best

Eau de gentiane blanche is, by all means, striking. It starts off citrusy and musky at the same time. No happy citrus here. It is somehow more muted, down-toned. Like lemon rinds in a foggy misty London afternoon (poetic, I know, but it's what comes to mind). I have never smelled gentiana, so I cannot really weigh in on whether it smells like it or not. I get iris in the vein of clean ironed linen. I am having great difficulty explaining this, but Eau de gentiane blanche is not sheer as Ellena's creations are in my mind. This is somehow opaque. Not impenetrable by light, but not diaphanous either. It's like a clean gauze veil that has been powered and has become kind of weighty and heavier. After a while I get a smokey note - kind of like cigarette butts, but not stale ones, just freshly smoked.

As I said above, this is a difficult one to pin down. I would wear it gladly if it were given to me. For the Hermes price, I don't think I'll be getting it. But it is a very remarkable one/ Unique.

Eloquent reviews, diaphanous perfume! I had to try it and my first impression was GREEN! Crisp, luminous green. Then it dries down to an herbal, musty, bitter floral accord, that does remind me of Grey Flannel by Geoffrey Beene a bit. Softer, and more translucent. Surprisingly delicate, like new shoots unfurling fragile leaves, Gentiane Blanche is light. Not quite a skin scent, it floats close to my body for hours. I still smelled it when I woke up the next morning. Love the unusual divergent blend of notes. Quite refreshing!

Tested on: paper strip.

Impression:
Rain. Yes literally rain, as you can smell when the rain is coming.

Quite linear.

Bitter, not sweet, raw green. Being raw without added pungent, sourness. Somewhat makes this feels Modern.

This is definitely bitter. It's more a masculine fragrance than unisex as listed.

I was looking this kind of bitter perfume. I hope that price will go down. I need this badly.

More in depth review after purchase.

Doesnt last.

Smells like chalk dust.

Super peppery , i gave it to my dad because i just could not pull it off the pepper was too much, is nice and fresh but if you are not into pepper stay away

First time on here given a second review, but this one really takes awhile to appreciate. First off, it's bitter/fresh which is the main reason why I love this. Sweet/fresh colognes are a dime a dozen (Acqua di Gio, Eternity, etc.) and I don't like those kind of fragrances. This one is almost a garden variety, a vegetable, grassy green scent with a hint of damp molten leaves laying in a rain soaked forest. Very earthy musky and natural. Although its not listed in the notes here, I also get a strong bitter oregano vibe from it.
The projection and longevity is good, I get whiffs of it all day when I wear it. Some colognes I love initially then I get tired of wearing them. This won't be the case here, this is one that will stay in my collection forever. Because it is so under the radar, I just hope it never get discontinued, as it's now my signature.

I understand how so many compare Eau de Gentiane Blanche with Geoffrey Beene...in the end it's not in the same category. I find that Geoffrey Beene is far more spicier with a definite woodsy vib. Eau de Blanche has more herbal/green aroma and heavy on gentian. There's a hint of floral notes just enough to balance this juice which gives it a real attractive masculine vib. I've never smelt a Blanche flower...If it's anything like this fragrance I do definitely appreciate it and I find it worth having. Musk soften the green/ earthly blend.
Longevity and Silage is moderate overall lasting about 4-6hrs...if you spray it 2x I find it that it would last at least 8hrs.
Finally thoughts,
Whoever loves Geoffrey Beene but you want a more earthy/green blend...this juice does it. Hermès takes awhile to release a frag and that's because Hermès takes care. This juice is UNBELIEVABLY GREEN. Try it several times before you decide to buy it ...you will enjoy this fragrance. Rating this frag is definitely worthy of 8/10. If Hermès decides to make a edt I would enjoy wearing it. Kudos to Hermès

Gentiane Blanche is the most sophisticated yet understated scent I have come across with.

It smells clean, uniquely chalky, dry and earthy, very refined, also soapy. Could easily be my signature scent, however something more feminine is holding that place already. What I find odd, is that normally my senses do require pause from perfumes, but Gentiane really doesn't bore the senses.

Crisp, handsome and perfect as it is- I wouldn't change anything about Gentiane Blanche. Its crisp purity is energizing, and to my great surprise it is very long lasting- couldn't possibly wish for more during some long or demanding days.

My favourite cologne of all.

Love this one, but as others have said it has no longevity. I'd still like a fb though not for everyday use. It gives me an image of walking in a misty rain through a cemetery with mossy gravestones and family tombs - interesting but a little eerie. I get the reference to Massachusetts in tkomaigo77's review, since I'm from there too- might need to pick up some moxie now. UPDATE: I now have a full bottle. The more I wear it the more I love it!

Extremely dry and very unique.like chalk or perhaps clean laundry.
The most short lived fragrance i ever tried.
Gone in 30 minutes.My best advice on this is try it first.
Hence the short review.
Save your $,because even if you wear this nobody will know.

This is a very enchanting scent. Imagine walking through an old garden in the rain, with ivy surrounding on the nearby stone walls, and earth and moss on the ground, as a mist is forming. Good longetivity, Lasts about 7-8 hours with 1-2 sprays.

Definatly worth the buy.

Just ordered a bottle of this based on the good reviews its had. It sounds really mystical and intreiging. I cant wait to try it.

Very understated and under rated. Musky, green, earthy and hypnotic. Imagine the ambiance of lheure bleue minus the sense of claustrophobia. Feels like I am wrapped in hermes cashmere, strolling through the Bois de Boulogne on a cold day, comforted, protected. Not a fragrance that will ever be an airport best seller, but more for those who prefer something a bit darker and poetic. Classiest thing you can buy for £50 that's for sure.

At first sniff this fragrance gave me visually color grey - foggy, late autumn air, dying grass. Then the fragrance clears up and more deep green notes come to play - wet forest, moss, dirt, grass.

Overall, very real, calm, earthy fragrance. Although, beautifully crafted and I appreciated very much, I find it to be depressing.

It is simply dry, mossy grass. Nothing to get excited about.

I like this fragrance because it reminds me of high school when I used to smoke camels drink Moxie and chew on Korean Red Ginseng chewing gum. It's possible only people from the northeastern US will understand that. Moxie is a kind of soda that was produced in 1886 and it tastes about that old too. The secret to its bitter medicinal "acquired taste" is Gentian root extract.
Most people connect Hermes with elegance but this fragrance brings me back to melancholy teenaged autumn days in Massachusetts. I may have to pick up a bottle when the seasons change.

I was generally interested in this one, considering I am an Hermes fan. I think all of their fragrances for both men and woman are unique and beautiful. There is something natural about how an Hermes fragrance smells on a person.
Anyway, this one is hard to find so I stopped by a Hermes boutique to try it on one night as they were closing...and...well I was kinda speechless.
I can't say I hate it or love it but I was intrigued and confused by this one. Its not fresh, not citrus, not flowery at all. Earthy is the word with maybe some oregano. Like oregano and wet cardboard. While that sounds bad, its not and truly unlike anything I have ever smelled before. At first I was kinda turned off, maybe like I was expecting something different. I first though, "this is something I do not want to smell like".
Still I kept smelling it on my arm and kept getting something different.
The next morning I could still clearly smell it on me. I am not sure what a person who would happened to walk by me would think of this. I does not smell like a cologne but like an aura.
In short, the verdict is still out on this one. Definitely something for a cologne connoisseur to try on, just for the experience.

This smells like a cozy cave; moldy and manly, wet and weird. It attracts and repels me simultaneously, but seems to have more pull than push so I keep coming back in for another sniff. Intriguing, to say the least. There is a freshness to it that compliments those brisk and misty spring mornings, and a dark side that reeks of autumnal decay – in a good way. I couldn’t imagine wearing this outside of those two seasons. In a nutshell: creepy and interesting, much like the dank cobweb-infested cellarway of my grandparent’s old house; we used to run down the stairs as kids to see who could stay down there in the dark the longest before freaking out…and it smells eerily similar.

Gentian is a beautiful flower in the high mountains. In nature it has a very rare, albino version too, the white Gentian. Folk belief says that the place where one find a white Gentian there is a treasure under it. I have found this treasure in this unique, fresh, bitter-green cologne. In reality the white (blanche) name refers more to white musk what softens the bitterness of Gentian roots. I think this fragrance will be never a top seller as most like sweet perfumes like "Le Male" or "1 Million". (...like less prefer the pure, bitter taste of dark chocolate or green tea.)
Longevity: I do not find problem with it as many write here. On on my skin it stays for about 6 hours, on cloth for two days(!) and I can detect it even after several days. So I apply 3 sprays. One on wrist, one on neck and one on my cloth. It stays with me all day long and even next day I can smell it.
Projection: Not many will notice or compliment it. This cologne is private. It gives a good feeling an atmosphere to you. Take care, you can be addicted to this scent! :)

It is a Masterpiece!!!

There are two things going on for me here. One; the damp mossy floral and smokey mix reminds me of being in Bali after a heavy afternoon shower or by a waterfall in a rainforest here in New Zealand. This is very refreshing, calming and unique.

The second; my father had his own business along with a warehouse full of the synthetic fabrics that were for re-use in the medical industry. This cologne reminds me of the fabrics, a strange metallic, musky odour. Not an unpleasant smell, something I always quite liked.

Close to the skin the floral is obvious, the sillage however smells quite sharp, more like my second description.

After a while I find it smells like a building site, where a lot of treated pine is used. I think this puts me off it a bit. Overall I find it a bit strange and synthetic and wondering if such a smell was actually the perfume.

I like it, but I am not over the moon about it. I would probably only wear this on very specific days. Say if it was foggy, misty or rainy.

i love it- feel wet moss and iris root surrounded by bitter floral note (never smelled gentiane, but must be it)..very unisex- a perfect sultry scent with attitude for me..

Smells exactly like Gentiana officinalis roots, that my dad used to collect to put in liquors. The same green, woody earthyness, a bit like liquorice roots but without any sweetness.
If you have ever tasted "Enzian" bitter well, the aroma is very similar...
(I keep trying it in duty frees and similar places, but it is a bit too expensive at the moment for me, pity.)

Update: as it seems to be going out of production I decided to buy one bottle of it...lovely, stays close to the skin and reminds me of my dad and of his stash of dried herbs for liqueurs. A conforting, nostalgic smell

I hope it is not actually being discontinued, it would be sad...

I ordered a sample vial of this cologne a few days ago. It has a interesting scent.This cologne smells so different than any other I tried. It smells sort of like plants or weeds that have a bitter aroma or taste bitter. The aroma also reminds me of a degreaser cleaner I have. I also think it faintly has a aroma of Grey Flannel cologne. I'll have to think about this one more before I buy a larger size sample of this in an atomizer or regular size bottle.

this is damp, humid, verdant. sweetly musky. slightly aromatic too. I love it! I can't quite pin it down... but it's something everyone should sniff at least once.

Just got a bottle.. and I found an abundance of peppery notes to it, with a floral base. Something like.. refined form of Grey Flannel. And I love it.. !Any opinions..?

Open with sharp iris and breezy musk, then its gone in an hour and comes with gentiana that's little sweety (maybe its comes with the reflect of musk). I love to wear this in the rainy day.

This is a unique scent. If you want to fit in and be like everyone else, slap on some Aqua di gio, not this.
I agree, this is about as close to the scent of a greenhouse as you can get. The rich musty (but not in a bad way) smell of moist soil, plants imbibing moisture and expressing their essential oils, and the faint aroma of a myriad of florals.
This one is Edgar Allen Poe in a black suit, sitting in a garden at dusk. It is not overtly goth or melancholic, but certainly not bright and cheery. It simply...is.
The person who wears this (male or female) would be one unafraid to stand apart, a free thinker, a poet or philosopher.
My only displeasure with this is it's strength and projection. Otherwise, dare I say it's a masterpiece?

A green, leafy fragrance reminiscent of a spring garden in the morning. On the quiet side, it smells very natural--the florals well balanced with the fresh green quality. It becomes quite dry over time. I get very little incense in this. If you've ever smelled Diptyque's floral or green offerings, this shares some similarity in its texture, however it's altogether drier, quieter, and a bit flatter. The Hermes Jardin series is also similar, but in my opinion, more interesting and with a bit more punch. You may want to look there first. I'm very neutral toward this.

Despite all their differences, I immediately thought of Dzongkha when this arrived to my skin. I thought: this has the same metallic floweriness, the rather exotic and merciless iris in your face but there is a huge river separating both costs though...

Before I could see what it was, I also thought: well... this also reminds me a bit of the sharp musk shown in Voyage and a bit of other Ellena's works... I could see that connection somehow... but then again...

I came back to Dzongkha and wondered why I got caught by that one but could hardly stand this one. I don't mean this is badly done... Jean Claude's mastery is always there, but according to my taste, here that note gets truly sickening whereas it is the main part of a whole blend in l'Artisan's. I must confess Dzongkha also gets tiresome after some wearings but is superbly done. More complex, a full story demanding your attention. Here the concept seems to be cleanliness or subtlety but I get sick in my stomach. In Bertrand's work there are so many other things going on that are harder to take at the first encounter but take you on a fascinating trip. It is exotic, ferocious, untamed and unique. Here I get a neverending sharp bitter iris plus what seems to be that gentiane girl making things even worse.

That's it... I am very sorry but this scent is not something I'd wear or be happy to smell around. There are too many jewels in this brand, check them all first!

Hermes - Eau de Gentiane Blanche

This is Hermes at its finest!
If Terre and Voyage are too mainstream for you, and you'd like to find something unique, I'd recommend EdGB. It could have been placed among those expensive Hermessence fragrances, "Hermessence Gentiane Blanche" IMO.

It's strictly for gentlemen. Only a woman with appropriate style can pull this off (wearing suits, "Man, I feel Like a Woman", vintage YSL, Chanel black and white, chic Parisian style with a cigarette) plus the attitude. The personality could be icey cold, but confident and endearing.

The scent itself is a mixture of herbal, incensy, musky, floral notes; very light. It is appropriate for work, to fancy dinner; but not for a date. It says confidence, victory, but at times it can feel a little complicated and depressing, but there's something soothing, comforting, that makes you want to linger in that state of depression and bittersweet feeling. He is rich, but he is sad. Yet he's adored by many and nobody knows his secret/mystery. He's just a lonely person who has all the finest things in life, but happiness; disguised by those black shades and his sleek suit.

Scent - 4.0
Uniqueness - 4.2
Longevity - 2.7
Versatility - 3.0
Silage - 2.6

EAU DE GENTIANE BLANCHE
"He is the poison, he is the potion."

-Mr. Almond-

From the ad copy: "...the Eau de gentiane blanche revisits freshness with a mixture of boldness and delicacy." No, it doesn't. There's no boldness at this address. This is a floral that's way too fey and faint for me. I do not understand how anyone can claim this is masculine.

And I don't understand the "blanche" in the title. Doesn't that refer to white flowers? Gentiana are blue. Or is it the musk?

And, confusingly, reviewers here assert that this is a green fragrance - or redolent of brown earth. Will the real color please stand up?

I don't understand this; I don't like it.

I picked up a bottle of Hermès EAU DE GENTIANE BLANCHE scent unsniffed for a couple of reasons. First, I love the other Hermès colognes. Second, I really enjoyed my bottle of Guerlain Aqua Allegoria GENTIANA, which is basically drained.

To my surprise, EAU DE GENTIANE BLANCHE smells NOTHING like GENTIANA! I was expecting a light and innocent floralized cologne, but this composition is more like roots and soil to me. In fact, I'd say that this creation is a lot closer to TERRE D'HERMES than it is to any other gentiane perfume I've sniffed. Okay, I've only sniffed one other besides the Guerlain (to my knowledge), but together those two created in my mind the concept of gentiane as a blue flower.

No blue flowers here whatsoever! This is a completely neutral unisex cologne, and some may even find it masculine. It lacks some of the stereotypical aromatic qualities of masculine colognes, smelling more to me like fresh potting soil than a fragrance of any type. Unlike some reviewers, I do not consider this scent to be green. I've worn it several times, and to me, it always seems more like brownish gray.

I do find something appealing and somehow calming about EAU DE GENTIANE BLANCHE, but I rarely reach for it and will not replenish the bottle, should this one ever be drained--which seems unlikely to happen...

In general I find Hermes scents to be boring and irrelevant to my tastes, but I was drawn to this one because of the name and the handsome slate gray bottle.

Gentiane Blanche is gorgeous and original. I feel like this could be a more tranquil, masculine interpretation of Alien by Mugler. It's a woodsy floral, with a lovely wet and clear quality. It's like watching a piece of beautiful, gnarled driftwood descend through a waterfall. Very, very modern and zen.

It's not something I would purchase because it's very expensive and has the predictably soft and short wearability of an eau de cologne. But I do think that it's an enthralling scent and it's definitely worth experiencing.

Im absolutly taken by my first encounter with Eau de Gentiane Blanche. Its an intriguing but also inspiring fragrance. It opens citrucy and watery, but quickly turns into this very earthy, green, almost compost-like smell. Its like wet soil after rain.

The whole composition feels mellow, like a Norah Jones song on a rainy New York afternoon....

IMO, I see more Eau de Gentiane on a man, I wouldnt see myself wearing this or any woman for that matter. This scent has a deep sexy masculine vibe to it, not vulgar or in your face kind of sexy, but more like a polished english gentleman aristocratic way....I'm charmed!

This is a bold, very clean, very green perfume, that by no means conforms to the rules of a classic cologne. It is strong, impressive, can easily become a signature. And, like most of its kind, plays in the "love it or hate it" league!

I truly cannot remember smelling anything similar to it ever before - it stands out! At first i was a bit shocked, then about 10 minutes later i realised i had just smelled a milestone in perfumery - mark my words...

Don't know why, but it gives me a biscuit-ish feel; above all, however, it has this vibe of cleanliness and freshness..

..some days later: i just realise that this scent has a lot in common with Hiris of the same house, which i also love!! AND that it reminds of clean, ironed linen in expensive hotels, somehow! Therefore i would say it's quite formal and definitely elegant ;) !

Smells like a damp spring morning. This is so different than other colognes that I have had before. I really like this cologne. It is light and you will probably not get noticed with it. It smells great up close and personal. I can see how it is unisex. I highly recommend it and feel it may be even btter in the Summer as I currently wearing it during a New England Winter.

I love this cologne for its airy sublety. I don't know what gentian smells like, but to me this smells of earth, stems and roots after rain, and dark chocolate. There's something incredibly sexy about that. Who'd have known?

This fragrance is a downpour. This heavy rain pummels the cold rocks earth, and grass, and other plants on the side of a mountain during a cool night. It's the kind of rain you surrender to, allowing yourself to get soaked to the skin. When I first smell it I can hear the swelling noise of the rainfall begin.

I am extremely cautious when observing scents that contain elements of the fragrance of rain, but I put my trust in this one, and use it only once in a while, because it has that much integrity and power.

I grew up in an area that had chamomile growing on the side of a road near my house. I was always in love with the way the plants smelled on Spring nights after a rainfall. Subtle and fresh with a mild bit of cool bitterness and dark wet cold soil. As mentioned in other reviews this is a green scent - more about the dew on unopened flower buds than the scent of the flowers - a very wet green scent.
It starts as a soft waxy citrus for me - like the wet rind of lemon before peeling and held a few inches from the nose. Very waxy citrus - but very quickly fading. It is also softly cool. The magnificent thing about this fragrance is the dry down and how it manages to recreate the wet scent that I remember experiencing after running my hand across various rain drenched plants as the cool spring night air crept in. Not to mention the complimentary fragrance of wet soil in the background.
It lasts quite long and very close my skin and is fairly consistent after the the first few minutes of a subdued & waxy citrus. Stays skin scented and earthy green wet all the way through.

For those of you who think that the smell of dry soil getting the first drops of a long awaited rain is one of the most beautiful fragrances on the planet ... this should go up high on your try list.

This smells like ginseng. It's kind of peculiar but good at the same time. Reminds me of medicine herbally smell.

This is an amazing citrus,woody green musk, these are the cliff notes version of what my nose picked up. It reminds me wearing a tweed sweater, nice black slacks, double breasted blazer and a hat strolling through central park on Madison and fifth avenue, very elegant, minimal and aristocratic, surprised that all of that is in a "COLOGNE" that is not dated in the 1800's or early 20th century.

Getting it next week FOR SURE!

Dear fragrancesomm, it' s only question of personal taste. For me it' s 10/10, because i very like Ellenas' s minimalism. You have right for Your personal ranking.

During our lunch at Osteria Francescana (Modena) in October 2012 the drinks pairing included a fabulously aromatic and quite strong gentian root infusion, called "Genziana" and distilled by Giovanni Boroni from Borzago (Trentino, in the north of Italy), so I knew what to expect...
This is a coincidence surely, but in fact the more I think of it the more I find resemblances between Massimo Bottura's highly poetic approach to food and Jean-Claude Ellena's creations.

This is a fantastic and unique smell, very dry when worn on its own. It is freshly torn green leafy stalks, a vegetal bitterness evocative of a misty morning walk on the gentle mountain side, biding one's time seeing, hearing and smelling everything around - for they are all so different and strangely indifferent to our presence there - just like this perfume.

I also love to blend it with Eau de Pamplemousse Rose or Concentré d'Orange Verte, which give a bit more warmth, sweetness and depth to the sternness of the gentian root.

This is a 10/10, there's no doubt about it. It is perfect on its own while being open to blending, and I couldn't ask for more.

10/10

Once, when I was very young, I met someone almost twice my age in a bar. Someone famous. Well, not famous by face or name but famous from their beautiful work. They were the kindest, most calm and gentle of all people I have perhaps ever met. Being young and foolish and full of Dutch courage, I naturally flirted. Imagine my surprise when I awoke next to them the very next morning. Being truly British, there had been no sex. As we said our goodbyes, I impulsively pulled them towards me in a bear-hug and buried my face in their neck. This is where Gentian Blanche takes me, forever in that moment - lips kissing the cleanest, most heavenly skin. Cool and warm at the same time. Gentian Blanche also reminds me of a cheap soap from my primary school and yet there is nothing cheap smelling about this fragrance. Do not expect fireworks and lust; those things are over all to soon. Here you will find a quiet passion that is clean and angelic on the surface yet carries an almost unspoken musky desire. A strange combination of peace and longing that takes me on a journey from the comforting soap of childhood to the intoxicating flesh of a beautiful adult.

Eau de Gentiane Blance sits very close to the skin. I wear it for myself. I wear it for the one that got away.

Eau de Gentiane reminds me of the Italian bitters used in summer drinks. It opens with a bright green freshness, very clean and smooth, and dries into a light floral woodiness that is, well, very bitter. This Les Colognes release is definitely a touch stronger than Eau D'Orange Verte, and also perhaps a bit more linear. In the far drydown it takes on an ashen character, smelling very "white" and "grey" and cool. Definitely unisex, and an interesting fragrance - I think it's the only one featuring Gentiana that I've ever encountered.

I am no expert on scents but I own four Hermes fragances. I am a male, and I do not care about what is labeled as men/women fragances. If they agree with me, then I am all for it. Everytime I reach for Hermes I layer them with Hermes Orange Vert. It works perfectly. Gentiane blanche lasts forever on my skin/clothes. HGB is a long lasting scent. Three days after I wear it I can still smell on my shirt down in the hamper. Talk about a long lasting scent. On my skin, I only get the iris or the gentiana (don't know the difference). It makes me feel I am walking on a field surrounded by iris/gentiana and that's the only thing I can see and smell. I don't get the earthy scent like others had mentioned. It's definetly different and a bit overpowering. I only spray 2/3 times when I reach for it.

Eau de Gentiane Blanche is one of most distinguished fragrance I've ever smelled. This fragrance is so bitter and green, almost like you put leaves in your hand and squeeze it until you get the liquid. I adore its individuality scent, but I think it is not for everyone. However, the longevity is superb for cologne!

I have an unsophisticated nose and I am new at this but to me this smells a lot like Grey Flannel without the strong violet. I like it a lot but I wish it would last longer. About two hours on me.

It is very green and fresh!!!I don't smell any frankiscense at all!
This is very spring and summery scent!Gentian flower is something that i haven't smelled in any other perfume...but the scent is very earthy and green fresh!Iris,is definetely obvious as a part of composition.
The scent is weak and i can't trace after a couple of hours on skin.If there was an oak moss addition on this scent it could be stronger with a chypre floral element!Good fragrance from dear Ellena :)

Exalted soil / the scent of winter in the countryside.
-
I can still recall the shock of the first ever sniff of Gentian Blanche. It was nothing I ever expected to come out of e perfume bottle. Before it, I couldn't imagine that a scent can be earthy and fresh at the same time, that a it can be so bitter and yet so pleasant or that a cologne without citrus is possible.
Raw coffee beens, angelica and pepper, are not listed notes but are very much present to my nose. Many will disagree as this has the tendency to register differently to everyone. I've had people swear they detect notes that range from detergent to chinese soup. Anyway, it is most certainly an amazing opus and to my knowledge, the most original cologne to ever have reached the shelves of the mainstream, a completely radical take on the theme of freshness.

Les Colognes Hermes Eau de Gentiane Blanche shocked me, after reading the listed notes I was expecting something quite different. Either way it smells wonderfully earthy, and reminds me very much of the smell received when you tare apart an iris stalk or fan, more so than the flower itself. I am not familiar with gentiana and maybe that is the strong grass like note that I am smelling. Very natural, slightly sweet, crisp, but dark green.
Moderate sillage, and good lasting power.

Gentiane Blache is a truly interesting fragrance. It is a cologne, fresh and refreshing, with no citrus. It is clean laundry, mown grass and clover, and the scent of the spray a bell pepper gives when you split it open. It is summer and clean and layers of green.

I really want to love GB, and at first I do. But after thirty minutes on my skin I just don't want to smell it any more. Like eating too much candy as a kid, I feel I'll be sick if I smell it again any time soon.

I gave my sample to my wife who wears it occasionally. And every time she does, I fall in love again for thirty minutes, then ask her to wash it off.

I am just totally blew away by this masterpiece and it is worthy to buy.


The combination of iris,incense and gentiana is unique,magical but harmonious.It makes me feel relieved that I NEVER expected and the longevity is also amazing for a colongne(Apparently it will last longer if you spray it on your clothes than spray it on your skin).
Actually, the root and flowers of gentiana(It is called “龙胆”in China) are very essential and vital chinese medicine but I never consider it as an ingredient of a perfume.Maybe that's the reason why it is so attractive and complex.


A little opaue problem about it is that afer I sprayed it on my clothes for 3 hours I smelled something like a mixure of mint and chewing gum and it became much sweeter than before.But overall it is a best choice for all the seasons to wear.I highly recommend it.极力推荐！

I would classify this as an esoteric perfume. It's inspiration, the Gentiana flower, is not one I am familiar with, and I doubt most others would recognize it either. My only association with this scent would be vague recollections of wild flowers, grasses and herbs.

Described enigmatically as an "irreverant take on the Cologne style," I imagine it would probably only reveal it's deepest secrets to someone well versed in the history of perfumery, which I am certainly not.

But nevertheless, this perfume has given me a great deal of pleasure. I find myself continually drawn to it, fascinated by it's dark green beauty. It's not a "sensual" perfume. Rather, it seems to stimulate me intellectually, with a verdant clarity.

I don't think most others would enjoy it on me. It doesn't have that sudden burst of light and glory that the perfumes of the Jardin series have. But it does provide the subtle and uniquely personal satisfaction of sharing a small piece of the Jean Claude Elenna's genius.

Personnellement je l’aime beaucoup, elle est délicate et distinguée. Son apparente discrétion cache une ténacité étonnante, et on se surprend à sentir cette eau longtemps après la pulvérisation. Il faut aimer l’amertume et la simplicité. Je la classerais volontiers parmi les eaux "propres", sans en avoir les inconvénients ( elle a du caractère !). Pour celui qui veut se ressourcer, loin des trucs tapageurs et branchés, revenir aux sources d’un monde un peu minéral, semé ici et là de plantes dont le vent et le soleil de montagne libèrent les arômes...
9 /10

polished sophisticated elegant..Ellena is one of my favorite artist
where I live the picking of gentiana is prohibit but I remember this excepional smell from my trip
anyway..
It smells like rounded gentiana fresh and bitter: a mountain flower sour
this frag to me talk about the Alps and long trip around these
It seems wearable although Ellena used unusual raw materials
I love this way to build parfumes
niche choice,niche parfum


9.5/10

maybe a far cousin of dzongkha..

This one definitely deserves testing!
Not like any other already known freshness in the perfume industry (in my experience, that is.. :)
Gentiane Blanche is a bit of a niche scent but absolutely well wearable.
I love it, both for its originality and its happy-go-lucky vibe.
Well done, 8/10!!

It's a strange scent without any citrus and if you want a special , interesting perfume choose this one.
I can say Gentiane is a surreal composition as the color of the bottle suggests (first time I sprayed it I immediately thought of Dali's paintings and the movie The Crow with legendary Brandon Lee...they are beautyful but make me sad...)

Eau de Gentiane is very earthy (still clean) which part is common with Un Jardin Sur le Nil but it's not been smoothed with fruits and vegetables or light flowers.
Perhaps only iris (I have never smelt real encian ) there is here which lightens a bit this unusual scent.
I can't smell any sweetness in it...but it's mystical and enigmatic.
Almost transcendental...
I always detect something undefined "swamp or seaweed-like" in the background of Gentiane.
You have to know this scent is not a "happy-feel-good" fragrance.
It's not for any occasion...
But I love it,that's sure :)

Ohh and I think Gentiane so masculine (on my skin) that I wouldn't take it to unisex category.
But I know everyone's skin is different...

Esto no es un perfume.
Es un fatal experimento fallido.
Un ambientador para farmacias.
J.C. Ellena nos esta tomando el pelo.

To answer teedee - the gentians are a family of wild, flowering plants. I only know the yellow gentian (a very tall plant) which grows all over the European Alps and Jura mountains, and which is used in herbal medecine; and the tiny, blue gentian which is such a delight to find in little clusters when you are walking in the Alps in summer. I have never, knowingly, come across a white gentian. The yellow and the blue do not have perfumed flowers, so it is perhaps the root that is used in perfumery. I would verymuch like to try this scent from Hermes.

Eau de Gentiane Blanche requires a lot of getting used to. It's not what you might expect. In fact I'd go so far to say that it's one of Jean-Claude Ellena's most unique compositions.

I initially wanted to test this fragrance because the blend of iris and incense intrigued me. Well, there are hardly any floral notes in this fragrance, let alone iris. Apparently the gentian flower gives off a strong odour of wet earth, and I must say that Eau de Gentiane Blanche does smell very earthy and vegetal.

The smokiness created by the incense note is really fascinating alongside the strange, wet earth smell. When I first applied this fragrance to my skin, I was left wondering why on earth I thought that wearing this would be a good idea. It smelt like celery and homemade vegetable soup, not particularly what I wished to smell like.

I stuck with it, determined not to scrub it off, and eventually I began to respect it. The strong earthiness dimished slightly and the scent became a touch powdery, with a distinguishable calamine lotion scent. At this point I was enjoying wearing something so alien and odd.

Supposedly Eau de Gentiane Blanche is a cologne, yet this fragrance is lasting so well on my skin, almost like that of an EDP. The sillage is rather good too. I sprayed it lightly on my wrist and then read one of my favourite books. I kept getting this beautiful waft everytime I turned a page.

All in all, Eau de Gentiane Blanche is perhaps more masculine than feminine, however wearing it myself didn't make me feel like questioning my gender. It's a strange scent that will either repulse or captivate its wearers and the people around you. I'm glad that I gave this fragrance a chance.

My favorite fall fragrance.
Also it reminds me 2009 xmas i spent in Deutschland.
Fits to wear in a journey, IMO.
Very special, but i like compositions made by Jean Paul Ellena. They are like little stories written by different scents about main one.

I wanted to like this one, as I love almost everything Jean Claude Ellena has done, but it just doesn't work on my skin. The drydown is a salty musk with an oily quality like unwashed hair that skank lovers may enjoy, but I wasn't a fan.

testing this scent was full of pleasant surprises.

First of all, good for me, I dont know what does the name of the perfume means. I dont have any idea what is 'gentiane'.

It starts abit strange on me: mix of earthy something. The scent was so familiar, yet I couldnt recall the name. And so it went by and reveals more aromatic side of itself...Soft sweet earthy cologne with hint of woods. that accord in the beginning comes and goes very faintly. i smelled hint of wet moss and it all rounded with soft musk

I totally enjoy this scent. Only when I reached home i remember... Gentiane blance has somewhat slightly similar top notes with Hiris!

One thing...this is a cologne, so it doesnt last very long. May be it is a good thing...as I can re-apply and enjoy the whole experience as many times without worrying of overdose :D

hm...not so good for my wallet thou...as with most Hermes fragrances, they are lovely and price is...ahem... not the most economical fragrance around.

It works perfectly on my skin and I am a woman...;) But it is definitely a scent for summer. With the sun on your skin, it develops into a bitter-herbaceous scent of a medow in the Alps.

Am I the only one here who cannot understand the beauty of this perfume?

To me it smells like cooked vegetables...Like you've been cooking and your clothes smell like...

...artichokes actually!

i looove it!! it smells wonderful! i think this one is deffinitely male parfume. i would never wear it, but i would love my fiancee to smell Eau de Gentiane Blanche !

love the clean musk. frankly this is probably my fave winter scent i will always use.

This scent makes me feel so good. There is a slight reminiscence to the original Orange-Verte, but this scent created by Jean-Claude Ellena is another exercise on understatement.

Citrus and green in the beginning, that warms slightly to cedar and incense like notes. I haven't smelled the Gentiane flower before, but really there isn't anything floral about this scent.

Longevity is about 4 hours on me as a very subtle scent, but most of its strength is gone after the first hour.

I love this scent a lot. It gives off an air of sophistication and understated luxury. An expensive eau de cologne at $125USD, but I would think it a wiser buy if it was an Eau de Toilette at the same price.

I love this. My skin is hospitable to many of JCE's minimalism masterpieces.

A PARADOX-gentiane blanche begins and ends with a sweet slightly powdery note. Its a transparant, layered iris, no gentian (which is very astringent in its pure form.)the sweetness and creaminess of orris lingers, with earthy nuances playing peek aboo.


Which critic claims there is no such thing as individual chemistry?

Interesting! Green and earthy right from the start, no citrus. A bit aggressive at first, but then the flower notes start to develop and the fragrance becomes much lighter and more transparent. The earthy note disappears fairly quickly, too. The musk is kept very light and all in all, this makes for a very elegant heart. I also seem to get an aniseed note, which I find very enjoyable. Well-made, original and, I think, worth trying...