On me, this smells very woody. When I wear it, I feel like a sexy tree. Many woody scents smell very dry, or use heavy citrus that overpowers any subtle notes, but Hermann is balanced very beautifully. It is, in fact, my favorite woody fragrance, as it lasts longer than Tom Ford’s Gray Vetiver and smells less traditional than Dior’s Sauvage. It doesn’t change dramatically as it dries down, only seeming to become a different version of itself, as if you’re moving from the edge of the forest into its interior. I don’t layer it with other smells; that would be a sacrilege. The sillage is also, in my opinion, just perfect for me. Other people can smell it, but I don’t worry about giving headaches to fellow passengers in an elevator. I don’t wear Hermann exclusively since I would cry if I became nose blind to it, but it’s one of the three scents I wear most often. I might put it on the evening as a comfort after a bad day or spritz some in my hair before going to a beer garden for a celebration. I do find that some of the quieter notes (the ones that might remind you a little of Bulgari’s Aqua Amara) are less prominent in humid weather, but where I live it’s pretty dry for half the year, so to me that’s a small price to pay for eventually reaching the shadowy heart of this forest. I hesitate to even compare Hermann to other fragrances because everything the ones I’ve mentioned does, Hermann does better. Etat Libre’s samples are very affordable, so I think anyone who likes woody scents should try this for themselves.
