Eau d'Hadrien EDT by Annick Goutal

It's amazing that Eau d'Hadrien has been around for 20 years and I'm now just getting around to it. In my defense, I have been meaning to for years, but it hasn't worked out.......until today.

I'm familiar with only a few other Goutal releases; namely Sables with its big bad immortelle / amber onslaught and Eau du Sud showering you with lemon and some earthy notes. Both are g2g and well made.

As I sprayed Eau d'Hadrien, I was immediately reminded of Eau du Sud and for a moment thought that a "switch" was made. I say this because I am sampling from a 15ml splash bottle. Within a few minutes however, I could tell the difference in spite of not having smelled Eau du Sud for quite awhile now. There's a light but noticeable cypress note that emerges quickly. It sets it apart from Eau du Sud.

The opening of Eau d'Hadrien is a blast of slightly shimmering citrus. The grapefruit makes it a bit tangy and the lemon adds a tartness. The cypress note starts coming on after 2 or 3 minutes along with a floral component that I can't say I recognize as the listed ylang. I'm quite sure it's me and I've noticed that ylang seems to throw me off in spite of having smelled it countless times now. It goes well with the woody aspect and the citric accord hangs in there for a good amount of time.

Personally, if I had to choose between Eau d'Hadrien and Eau du Sud, I'd choose the latter. Eau du Sud seems to have more depth, but Eau d'Hadrien smells a bit more realistic to me. Some have mentioned furniture polish in regards to the lemon rendition. I get no such correlation. If anything, Eau d'Hadrien is a very good and simplistic wear for the warmer months when you want citrus with a downplayed wood note.

Yet another worthy Goutal and yes, another thumbs up from Aromi for Eau d'Hadrien.

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