Terre d'Hermes with added bubble gum and cardamom!
Composed by Carlos Benaim, who's also done classics like RL Polo, CK Eternity for men and Herrera for men, I was pretty excited to try this. I remember the first time I tested it was in a Berlin airport and I bought it on the spot. Definitely the most interesting Dunhill scent for years.
The fresh and sweet opening of neroli, bergamot, hints of iris and florals is zesty and very intrigueing and seamlessly morphs into heart notes of cardamom, sage, lavender and moss, then gently ends on a bed of clean and still slightly sweet vetiver combined with musk and black pepper. I find no signs of oud anywhere, but get a hint of coconut creamy sun tan lotion sometimes. Projection is unfortunately rather unimpressive and with a mediocre longevity as a skin scent, it kinda makes you hope Dunhill had used ingredients of a little higher quality. Either way if you feel that TdH is nice but too old-mannish for you, you should really check Icon out.
Overall, it does smell elegant, refined and is great for spring and summer in office settings. I find Icon to have been a great male comeback from the house of Dunhill and am looking forward to testing Icon's flankers Absolute, Racing and Elite as well as Benaim's more recent release Century from the same brand.
A honorable mention should go out to the lovely, very masculine heavy glass bottle which is just a pleasure to look at.
