Eau de Narcisse Bleu Hermès 2013

7.5 / 10172 Ratings

Eau de Narcisse Bleu is a popular perfume by Hermès for women and men and was released in 2013. The scent is floral-fresh. It is still available to purchase. Pronunciation

Perfumer

Jean-Claude Ellena

Fragrance Notes

Narcissus, Orange blossom, Galbanum, Woody notes

Ratings

Scent

7.5172 Ratings

Longevity

6.0118 Ratings

Sillage

5.4127 Ratings

Bottle

7.7139 Ratings

Submitted by DonVanVliet, last update on 19.06.2021.

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Reviews

02/04/2021

9.5
Scent

Susan

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Susan

Top Review 17

A treat for the senses......

In an increasingly "noisy" world of fragrances, my longing grows for olfactory "oases of silence"......for fragrances that do not have to be "worn"......that do not "mask"......for fragrances that leave the wearer "visible"........that do not disguise or even smother his personality, but rather bring his innermost essence to shine....

Even if not too many Ellena fragrances meet my personal taste, they are all such "oases of calm".......never loud, never chumming up or attention-seeking........they are the soft-diffuse light of a dawning day......in contrast to the glaring artificial spotlight that so many other fragrances adopt and which dazzles rather than illuminates.....

Narcisse Bleu is one of those gently subtle fragrances that envelops its wearer in an almost angelic aura of scent......that gives him a sense of being carried, of floating, almost of weightlessness.....

In the first few seconds after application, I perceive a sea-like freshness.......not a citrusy or aquatic freshness.......it's a freshness that seems more milky-green and very clear and pure.....

However, this brief moment - which may seem slightly pointed to some noses - is short-lived.....within a few seconds, the fragrance becomes rounder, softer and milder..... everything arranges itself.....finds its place.....melting into a transcendent mist.....

Narcisse Bleu has a comforting, enveloping softness.....fine, powdery blossoms float softly and calmly through light green light onto sun-warmed woods.....the world rests.....

This fragrance is balm for the soul.....indescribably beautiful......

14 Replies

10/17/2020

WildGardener
175 Reviews

WildGardener

Real Fantasy

There is a certain type of gardener; an obsessive who grows nothing but auriculas, and who shows them - one to a pot - in a black painted case called a theatre.

With his blue narcissus (a plant that doesn't exist in nature) Jean-Claude Ellena was doing something akin to the auricula fanatic.

When compared with the garden series, you can see how the Hermès Eaux have been stripped right back. All the surrounding baggage has been removed, and, with two or three chords, the subject has been honed down to abstraction.

In Narcisse Bleu, narcissus, orange flower and galbanum are put under the microscope. It's quite linear, with no head accord, but there are contrasts to keep it going : bitter & sweet, humid & dry, and in the opposite sense there's the harmony of yellow & green that (sort of) makes blue.

Despite the strange colour, the illusion of a living flower comes across thanks to the humid-grainy texture of photo-realistic pollen, which plays an important part in the smell of real narcissus. So, even though this is a fantasy creation, it's a realistic fantasy.

Some while later, the profile develops a brown note which comes from the barnyard side of narcissus absolute - as well as from woods in the base - and here Ellena chose to follow the materials. He let the fantasy push his work in a perfumistic direction. Not because he's a gardener with dirt under his nails who want's to celebrate one of his rare blooms; on the contrary, Ellena is an artist who takes slices of nature, cleans them up, and serves them to his public as floral gems.
With this fantasy creation, Ellena is playing with the line between reality and abstraction; nature and culture. But that doesn't make him just a philosopher in his ivory tower (although I suspect he's something of the penseur), he's also a canny craftsman with a sense of what sells. And so we have Narcisse Bleu, a perfume that is creative and commercial alike, a good perfume.

4*

Carded spray sample

02/24/2019

8.5
Scent 5
Longevity 2.5
Sillage 7.5
Bottle

Cumulnimbus
86 Reviews

Cumulnimbus

Austere beauty

I love this austere creation. I feel narcissus is gently supported by iris and I can smell some vetyver in the potion too. Ellena manages to keep the cologne full of the characteristic brightness shared by most of his perfumes. I must get myself a full bottle of this magical quiet, reflective and pensative breeze.

01/14/2019

5.5
Scent 5
Longevity 2
Sillage 5
Bottle

StellaDiverF
213 Reviews

StellaDiverF

Green Woody Cologne

Contrary to what the name suggests, I get very few narcissus from Eau de Narcisse Bleu. It's very woody on me even to a spicy extent. This stage lasts about 3 hours max then turns into a bitter carrot skin scent quite similar to in Un Jardin sur le Nil for another 2 hours. Overall green and woody, a refreshing close-to-skin fragrance for spring and summer. However, I find it too expensive for such a sheer and linear fragrance.

08/26/2018

10
Scent 6
Longevity 6
Sillage 10
Bottle

Mark030
5 Reviews

Mark030

Very nice cologne

The opening of this cologne is very citrussy. That's great for two reasons; one because it reminds me a lot on eau d'orange verte, second because the citrussy smell lasts longer than in the orange verte version. The other side of the smell is mostly soapy and light woody. In the perfume I can not recognise it's bitter and grassy side but I can smell the fine and discrete narcissus which I appreciate a lot. For the rest it has a discrete longevity for being a cologne, it lasts on the skin and also on fabrics, so I am very satisfied and pleased with this cologne.

1 Replies

07/24/2016

8
Scent 6
Longevity 6
Sillage 8
Bottle

Rickbr
190 Reviews

Rickbr

Not exactly blue and neither very narcisse

I see Eau de Narcisse Bleu, launched in 2013, as one of the most unusual Colognes within the Hermés line. Firstly, the choice of Narciso, one of the most expensive flowers in perfumery when coming from nature and not from a synthetic composition. Narciso precisely conveys a more retro aura and the chosen theme is a fresh, modern Cologne, so protagonist of a vintage aura is at least curious. And second, the color choice, both in the name as the bottle, since Eau de Narcisse Bleu at any time te passes this olfactory sensation.

On the contrary, we have here an ode to the color green and a modern cologne indeed. Eau de Narcisse Bleu takes the Ellena olfactory signature and is heavily based on a combination of materials that give it a woody, mineral and transparent feel. The Galbanum used in perfume helps to strengthen the green aspect, adding a light touch of fresh earth and cut grass. There iris nuances in composition reinforce this earthy look and give a light powdery hint to the composition.

The Narcisso is for me perhaps the most difficult part of being identified, as though naming the composition is used very moderately, I believe that both for its high price as the restrictions on its use. The smell of the flower is revealed more in its green nuances and slightly spicy ones and its more floral aspect ends up mixing easily to the orange blossom scent in the heart of the composition.

Despite the peculiar choice of the protagonist and color, the aim to create a modern and woody colony is reached easily and gracefully here. Eau de bleu Narcisse has a grassy and green aura very interesting, worked well transparently to join the woody and mineral base. It is a medium-length cologne, 4-6 hours in the skin, and a Concentré version of its aroma would be welcomed.

02/01/2016

8
Scent 6
Longevity 6
Sillage 8
Bottle

AromaX
31 Reviews

AromaX

Helpful Review 3

Natural Narcissus went blue with cold

When trying to find Narcissus in Eau de Narcisse Bleu, it's important to forget everything you know about the narcissus note in perfumery and switch the reference point to the natural narcissus absolue. A Russian blogger Ekaterina Khmelevskaya in her aromablog.ru has perfectly described that smell, so let me cite her here: "The real narcissus absolue doesn't smell like tight honeyed yellow and white gramophone shaped flowers. But rather like hay, a little bit of soap and small blue flowers." Fleur de Narcisse by L’Artisan Parfumeur is good reference for the natural narcissus note.

Another interesting point about Eau de Narcisse Bleu is its translunary character. While smelling it I don't get a clear visual impression, but rather a sequence of gleaming illusions overflowing into each other. First I percept a simple sketch of white and blue hyacinths painted by the green galbanum note. But in a moment that vision falls apart into thousands white snowflakes of powdery musk. I feel the citrus nuance of the scent touching my skin like a white magnolia petal, but it easily melts under the lukewarm rays of winter sun. Eau de Narcisse Bleu could perfectly express the smell of snowdrops as it's all about early spring, melting snow, frosted grass and narcissus flowers went blue with cold.

10/16/2014

Omni
70 Reviews

Omni

Helpful Review 7

Love is Blue

Ellena translates as ‘The Greek’ in English. Should Jean Claude aspire to being King of Hellena, by virtue of a Mediterranean ancestor, I would be a loyal subject.

Greek Mythology fascinated my Father, a man whose further education was shattered by WWII during the bombing of London. He became an armchair academic instead and we listened to radio stories before the advent of television, the childrens’ bathed bodies in pyjamas, sitting on the hard bare-boarded floor that was barely covered by an old hessian rug. We ate toast and tomato, or crumpets and jam for supper, as tales of Pegasus, Cyclops, and Narcissus, cadenced by melliflous British voices, shapeshifted in our imaginations.

Eau Narcisse Bleu,well, the clues are in the name.

Narcissus, a young man blessed with unsurpassable beauty spurned male and female alike. He and his Mother, Liriope, gave their names to naturalising bulbs of great charm, the trumpet flowers of daffodils and earlicheer and the Grape Hyacinth.

Using today’s parlance Narcissus was stalked by Echo, a single white female, who, under the spell of an angry Hera, could only repeat his uneasy call of ‘Who is There? She was therefore incapable of captivating Narcissus with scintillating conversation. She faded away, (anorexic probably) from unrequited love and only her echo remained in the glades of their sylvan abode.

Narcissus came upon a glistening pond where the water reflected not only the azure sky but the plumage of birds on the wing and overhanging trees. He stooped at the waters edge and saw his one true love, a creature so perfect he fell in love, truly, madly deeply, with himself. Unable to tear himself away Narcissus pined away until his soul left his body. The search party found only a nodding daffodil growing at the edge of the pool.

The perfume is a homage to Ovid's story in my opinion. The elements of sylvan glade, water, blue sky and the slight scent of Narcissus are present. Voila.

To wear it successfully you will need garments without any laundry detergent scent residue left in them and unperfumed soap and body lotion for your toilette. It is quite fleeting and is easily drowned out. Edmond Roudnitska, at his doorway in Grasse, shouted at a very young Jean Claude Ellena to 'go home and not come back' until his (trademark) white shirt carried no smell of soap. Roudnitska set Ellena the discipline of an unperfumed life; to this day Ellena eschews fragrance on his person.

Not being such a sensitive nose, I prefer my other JCE fragrances, Kelly Caleche, Apres La Mousson, Claire des Merveilles etc and my husband and son are devoted to Terre D'Hermes.

05/06/2014

6
Scent 5
Longevity 2.5
Sillage 7.5
Bottle

WRoth
153 Reviews

WRoth

Eau de Narcisse Bleu

Opens with iris note of Hiris, but settles on my skin quite differently: as a mixture of multifaceted green notes, but not necessarily iris. Like most modern-day Ellena creations the fragrance is light and diaphanous , making it hard to distinguish the singular notes. Apart from the iris I mentioned before, there might be a heavy dose of galbanum (probably the scent's key player) and bit of petitgrain. The fragrance is a nice spring-summer scent, but nothing out of the ordinary compared to Bel Respiro or Hiris.

05/16/2013

10
Scent 7.5
Longevity 7.5
Sillage 10
Bottle

Ysbrand
84 Reviews

Ysbrand

Very helpful Review 8

Lukewarm Narcissus

And please, read "lukewarm" as a mere temperature description and not as my reaction to Eau de Narcisse Bleu. Colognes are meant to be refreshing (and so is this one, very much) but there is a sort of residual warmth in it. Like the cool water chilling down the heat a body radiates after swimming several lengths.

When i first smelled Eau de Narcisse Bleu i thought it was very similar to its close relative Eau de Gentiane Blanche. Nevertheless, while they share a clean, confortable freshness that reminds you of pristine landscapes of untouched nature, they are fundamentally different: where Gentiane Blanche feels virginal and has a strange herbal mustiness, the Narcisse Bleu is a physical green floral scent.

And it feels summery. Makes me think of swimming pools, gardens, naked skin and a summer-storm coming up.

As it opens it is bright and sunny, with a sparkling neroli, a bit of orange and leaf-green galbanum, all gift-wrapped on what i think is hedione. The citrus spark is soon to be dimmed, although it will stay in the background for a while, making room for the narcissus to unfold its sensual scent, that comes with an orange blossom tint. Narcissus is a bit of a paradox, being animal and persistent as a white flower would be, but somewhat tepid, low-key, airy and green.

Or blue! As the name implies, Eau de Narcisse Bleu makes us see the narcissus through a blue/violet tinged lens. Bluish, grayish notes as orris, violet leaves and cedar wood shavings are crucial allies to the green sprouts, to conjure up a moody mist over the obsessing sexuality of the narcissus, and the fragance never settles between the rainy soil and the muscly arms, so why not keeping both? Eau de Narcisse Bleu reminds me in spirit of another favourite "blue" fragance, Bas de Soie: it smells cool, detached and delicate, but if you give it a closer glance, you notice there are some bedroom eyes, looking back.

Anybody who likes green florals will be pleased with this narcissus fragance, and surely will appreciate its voluptuous, grown-up twist, quite unusual in a fresh cologne. I don´t have to say I am in rapture with this complex fragance, not being so excited about a new release in a very long time.

2 Replies