Augment Your Scent This Autumn - The Gloss Magazine

Augment Your Scent This Autumn

We tend to gravitate towards richer fragrances in colder weather. This year, we’re seeing a trend for intense scents. We may be minimalist with our make-up, but is maximalist the way to go, perfume-wise, this season?

I think the super-strong focus is partly tied to cost; if you’re spending a bit on a perfume, you certainly want to be aware of it, and probably want other people to notice it, too. Also, who wants to be “demure”, anyway?

I met master perfumer Christine Nagel in her light-filled perfume studio high above the streets of Paris recently, to discuss her new Hermès perfume, Barénia (from €82), and was interested to hear her take.

“There’s a race to potency that I find problematic, because everyone wants the fragrance to be stronger and stronger, to take up more and more space. But, for example, when you taste a dish and it’s too hot, you no longer taste the delicacy of the flavours it contains; when you go to a concert hall and the music is too loud, you can’t hear the subtlety of the music. Fragrance is similar: it just becomes too imposing, and you can no longer tell the artistic work that goes into it.”

Nagel always has something singular to say through scent. Stylish, irreverent, fun – she spots my Claddagh ring and dashes o to get her own to show me – Nagel exemplifies a woman happy in her own skin, which is what Barénia is all about. “I’d rather have a perfume that has a strong signature and then just melts into your skin; it stays in our sphere but doesn’t go and bother other people, or impinge on their boundaries.”

“In the world of perfume-making, there’s one advantage we’ve had a over Covid: people realised how important their sense of smell is,” muses Nagel. “I do notice nowadays that a lot of young people seek out signature fragrances that have a lot of personality, and I think this is a good thing.”

Barénia is Hermès’ first chypre. A chypre is traditionally a warm, dry and woody scent with bergamot top notes, a floral heart of rose or jasmine and a woody, mossy base, and it’s a type of scent Nagel loves as it’s “timeless”. Barénia may fall into a traditional category, but it’s determinedly modern.

Nagel plays with each element of the structure, bringing together Calabrian bergamot with buttery lily, which looks delicate but has an “assertive character”; it features here for the first time in a women’s fragrance, alongside berries and patchouli. Instead of the usual oak moss, she uses roasted oak wood, which is extremely sensual, with an almost rum-like warmth and deliciousness.

Barénia has a punchy opening that softens into something intimate. The perfume takes both its name and its sensual texture from one of the brand’s signature leathers: Barénia leather is famed for looking better the more worn in it gets – its patina is an intrinsic part of its appeal. “When I bought my first Barénia bag for myself and when it first got a scratch I cried! … And then I thought – it’s more beautiful with scratches on. Jane Birkin had bags with scratches on – it’s much more chic that way.”

This is an approach we can get behind! As Nagel puts it, “There’s so much extra charm that comes with the expressions on your face, and that charm is something quite unique.” Elegance is instinctive, believes Nagel. “The women who most inspire me are very adventurous, women who act on instinct, such as Peggy Guggenheim, Isabella Bird, Sonia Delaunay.”

A strong statement that is elegant, with an edge: we’re adopting this as our autumn mood. @sarahhalliwellbeauty

See more: Let’s Talk Important Perfume

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