Scents can be incredibly evocative, a power I was reminded of firsthand on a trip to Australia not too long ago. I lived in the Sydney suburb of Manly as a child (the irony isn’t lost on me), but I hadn’t visited the country for a good few decades. The moment I stepped onto the beach at Manly Bay as an adult, though, I experienced an incredible surge of memory. It wasn’t triggered, as you might expect, by the sight of the beach on which I once toddled, but by the smell of the Southern Pacific Ocean mingling with the brittle, sun-beaten Norfolk Pines surrounding the bay. It was powerful, surreal, and not a little emotional.
The same rush also hits me whenever I wear certain colognes. The original Polo Ralph Lauren formulation, for example, brings back memories of my dad’s perfectly ordered sock drawer, where he hid his bottle from my prying teenage hands. L’eau d’Issey by Issey Miyake brings to mind my awkward university years, when I subsisted on a diet of Granny Smith apples and Campo Viejo (but smelled great doing it). The classic Terre d’Hermès by Hermès reminds me of moving to London and getting a job at a magazine—the first moment I truly felt en route to becoming an actual, real-life grown-up. It’s the latter, a scent that folks have worn and loved for years, which we’re shining a spotlight on today—not only because it’s marked down nearly 50 percent right now, but because even at full retail price, it’s one of the best bang-for-your-buck scents on the market.
Terre d’Hermès was created by master perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena in 2006. It was a near-instant hit for the vaunted Parisian house, which up until that point had focused almost exclusively on women’s fragrances. To this day, its intense-but-balanced mix of orange, pepper, cedar, and vetiver remains unflinchingly modern, and its reliable, masculine scent makes it a worthy addition to your arsenal. Plus, it’s massively on sale right now—nearly half-off—which makes it an even more attractive pick if you’re looking for value.
When I picked up a bottle recently, it smelled as good as I remembered—moodily earthy and perkily citric, instantly flicking my nostrils with the zing of hopeful youth. It’s sophisticated yet simple, timeless yet complex, and, unlike so many of the other scents that defined my adolescence (or, uh, me), it’s aged incredibly well. It’s also far more affordable than most of its counterparts in the designer cologne space, and, in my opinion, the better option for it.
