24 Faubourg

24 Faubourg takes its name from 24 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore, the address of the first Hermes store, and Maurice Roucel composed it in 1995 as a deliberately radiant, optimistic floral. The eau de parfum is the fullest of the sprayable concentrations Hermes still sells, sitting above the eau de toilette and the discontinued Eau Delicate in weight and sweetness. It opens bright rather than sharp, with bergamot and orange lifting a soft, nectared peach and a green hyacinth edge that keeps the fruit from reading as jammy. The heart is the reason people keep buying it: orange blossom and jasmine give a broad, sunlit white floral, gardenia adds creaminess, and iris threads a powdery, slightly cool line through the middle that stops the whole thing turning syrupy. Black elder contributes a faintly wine-like sweetness that is easy to miss but does a lot of work. The drydown is where the eau de parfum separates itself, with vanilla, sandalwood, amber and patchouli settling into a warm, resinous, faintly suede-like base that clings close and lasts well into a second day on fabric. Performance is generous without being aggressive. It reads as polished and grown-up rather than youthful, and it suits formal daytime wear, occasions and cooler months better than a hot afternoon, where the vanilla can turn heavy.