This New Scent by Hermès Is an Icon in the Making
Barénia is classic yet thoroughly modern.
Hermès perfumer Christine Nagel.
From the moment she joined Hermès in 2014, perfumer Christine Nagel knew that she would one day add a chypre—characterized by a combination of bergamot, rose or jasmine, patchouli, and oakmoss—to its collection. But first, she had to get to know the renowned fashion house to understand how to bottle its essence.
With Barénia, Hermès’s latest perfume and the house’s first-ever chypre, Nagel put her own twist on the recipe. The result is a chic, multidimensional scent that’s classic yet thoroughly modern. It opens with bergamot and a floral note that comes from butterfly lily, a delicate flower from Madagascar that’s never been used in a perfume before. “The backbone of the perfume,” as Nagel states, is soft roasted oakwood paired with patchouli. But the standout ingredient is the miracle berry. She had the molecular composition analyzed and found a way to replicate the scent in a lab. The result is a note that resembles dried apricot.
The name of the perfume refers to the brand’s signature leather. “The first time I felt [Barénia leather] under my fingertips, I fell in love with it,” Nagel says. A love that now has its own scent.
