Master perfumer Christine Nagel says Hermes' new scent is like a 'nice sauce’

Just as self-respecting, Birkin-toting individuals figured they’ve collected everything there is to collect from Hermes, the French marque pulled out yet another first from its chapeau.

Barenia, Hermes’ very first chypre fragrance – an enigmatic category of perfumes – made its Asian debut in Shanghai in September. The new scent joins 84 unique fragrances that make up the behemoth’s scent library.

CNA Luxury met its creator – Hermes’ master perfumer – Christine Nagel for a whiff of this highly nuanced fragrance.

WHAT IS A CHYPRE?

Nagel explained: “It is a classical [perfume] structure, the most elegant structure. It is a little bit complicated because it is a mix of several ingredients – a citrus note, a more opulent floral note and a woody note – like a recipe of a nice sauce.”

Since joining Hermes in 2014, the perfumer had a secret ambition she never shared with anyone: To create a chypre fragrance for the French maison.

For 10 long years, this secret was buried deep in Nagel’s heart. “I love chypre because chypre is difficult. I can create a perfume in three months or three years, it depends. This one, perhaps is unique, this was my secret. I didn’t have a brief. It was a personal choice and I worked on it secretly.”

Shrouded in so much secrecy that at one point, the 65-year-old even contemplated keeping the project under wraps forever. “I love this. And perhaps I would never present it because it’s my secret.”

Yet work on it never stopped. “I was attached [to Barenia], and each time I returned [to working on it], it was with a lot of pleasure.”

Nagel created her chypre little by little. “I needed time to discover the demands of Hermes as the details are important to Hermes. Year after year, I got to know Hermes better.”

Similar to piecing together a jigsaw puzzle of an Hermes woman, Nagel methodically considered her multi facets and adapted to them one ingredient at a time.

After a whopping 987 tries, over a period of 10 long years, Nagel finally decided that her chypre was ready.

A TRUE LABOUR OF LOVE

“Ten years is not a long time, it’s a good time,” Nagel said pensively as she relished the decade-long pursuit.

“Each time I discover a new ingredient, or a special ingredient, I think, ‘oh, perhaps it is good or not good for my perfume.’”

Nagel’s new scent may fall into the chypre family of fragrances but the Barenia is quite unlike any other chypre options out there.

She recalled vividly: “One day, a supplier presented me with a new flower from Madagascar, a butterfly lily. The flower had a lot of character – spicy yet elegant. I thought perhaps this butterfly lily could replace the rose jasmine in my chypre.”

This decision resulted in a world’s first. “This is the first time the butterfly lily is found in a feminine perfume.”

And as far as unusual ingredients went, Nagel had another trick in her Birkin. “I requested for a new bergamot that is still a little bit green in order to obtain a very clear, crystal-like scent.”

Tapping her Italian connections (Nagel’s mother was Italian), she got in touch with the Capua family who for five generations grew bergamots in Calabria in Southern Italy. The Capuas created a unique green bergamot extract exclusively for Nagel.

“Only for me,” said the perfumer, with a chuckle.  

Not content with sticking to chypre’s formulaic structure, Nagel made a conscious decision to challenge its time honoured composition. “It’s an obligation to include oak moss in a chypre but it can smell a bit old,” she decided.

“Then I received a new ingredient: Roasted oakwood. I took a sniff and went ‘wow, this is interesting’ because it’s not harsh; it’s very soft and sensual. When you smell it, it’s like rum.” Adding a sexy, alcoholic kick immensely elevated Nagel’s “nice sauce”.

To balance her new recipe, the perfumer shook up yet another classical component of the chypre structure. “Regular patchouli is authentic [to the chypre formula] but it’s not enough for me. I mixed Akigalawood (a high-tech patchouli) with traditional patchouli to obtain a very unique patchouli that smells almost addictive.”

“The story from my childhood led me to find an exporter from Ghana who had these miracle berries [that had the ability to turn bitter to sweet] and so I bought 15kg of them in order to obtain an extraction. Unfortunately, all I got [from it] was only one drop. It’s really sad.”

Not ready to let slip of turning fantasy into reality, Nagel persevered. “I smelled this drop and recognised the smell – it’s apricot. So I recreated this smell to be added into my chypre.”

In retrospect, she said: “Even though I didn’t put the miracle berry into the perfume, the power of this drop inspired me to give my perfume an apricot note that adds so much character.”

BARENIA, THE PERFUME OR THE LEATHER

However, Nagel is quick to add: “Barenia is not a leathery perfume, it’s a metaphor. It’s sensual like Barenia leather, which is the best leather for me. The caress of Barenia is very sexy and is in perfect equation with the perfume.”

According to the perfumer, the fragrance disappears onto the skin just as the patina of the Barenia leather shifts over time.

“The elements at Hermes are very interconnected,” Nagel mused.

A SMELL, AN OBSESSION

And connected is how Nagel feels towards Barenia and all the other fragrances that she has ever created, which includes hits like Hermes’ Terre d’Hermes, Narciso Rodriguez’s for Her, Dior’s Miss Dior Cherie and Jo Malone’s Wood Sage & Sea Salt, to name a few.

“When I’m out on the streets and I pass a man or a woman, very often, I sniff,” Nagel shared surreptitiously.

“Sometimes, I recognise one of my perfumes. And I follow,” she let on.

“If it’s a man, it’s strictly professional,” said Nagel, playfully. “I go faster, ahead of him then turn to see his face. It’s emotional for me. Because this man, or woman, is not a friend but they have a part of me on them. I love this.”

Yet Nagel insists she’s not obsessed.

After a dramatic pause, she conceded. “Maybe a little bit obsessed.”

WHAT’S NEXT?

“It’s a secret,” she said with a twinkle in the eye.

Like clues to a charade, she added: “It is based on a true and very special story. And there will be many special ingredients.”

Will it be another 10-year wait?

Only the magician who lives in the baobab tree can tell.

CNA Luxury was in Shanghai at the invitation of Hermes.