Jungle L'Éléphant (1996)
by Kenzo

Jungle L'Elephant Eau de Parfum - Jesus! what a mighty fragrance! smells tenacious with a warm glow of florals, has a unique halo of vanilla essence and yeh, it has that famous "sperm" accord found in Secretions Magnifiques and Moschino Freinds. Easily unisex, and one of Kenzo's prominent releases.. pls do sample this Giant Elephant!.. L'Elephant was great! it's definitely something i'll consider purchasing..

Kenzo Jungle is described as a gourmand, but in my mind "Gourmand" equals vanilla-ish, chocolaty and sometimes fruity cake-like scents. Kenzo Jungle is none of those things. It's dry, spicy and powdery. Yes, it contains many gustative elements like: cardamon, clove, mango, licorice and vanilla. But this is more about South East Asian cuisine than French patisserie. Kenzo Jungle is a spice market somewhere in Thailand or Vietnam. A true "far-away-places"scent.
One of the only other scents that gives me this feeling of Asian Cuisine, yet in a completely different composition, is the marvelous Bois Farine by L'Artisan with it's distinctive satay peanut sauce accord.
Kenzo Jungle also contains masses of patchouli, which is one of my fetish ingrediants.
Very, very longlasting.

Bond N°9 Chinatown is very similar to Kenzo Jungle, maybe not as dry.

This is my HG and the fragrance everyone knows me by. Strangers often ask me what perfume I'm wearing. Warm creamy honeyed cinnamon spices with awesome staying power. Soooo.. sultry and sexy! If this one works with your chemistry, wear it proudly because there is nothing else out there as unique as this. Truly an unforgettable signature scent.

An absolute beauty this is! This elephant is definitely the king of the jungle in the Kenzo kingdom for me. And now one of my firm top 10 scents of all time.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this brave, unique perfume - and so do the men! Apart from that METRO MAN has already said it all. Find it too scary? Then try Pomegranate Noir, Jo Malone - in Jungle's shadow! Hildy

Kenzo Jungle L'Elephant

Y'know how we say we want more movies that take risks or music that doesn't sound like anything else or perfume that is willing to take risks? Very often we say these things but it seems that these artistic efforts that live up to our desires never seem to stick around for long. Today's example is 1996's Kenzo Jungle L'Elephant. This was one of a pair of scents created by Dominique Ropion in this time period and both of them stand out from my impression of Kenzo as a standard designer of solid scents that don't necessarily push the envelope. At least back in the mid-90's the line took a chance and tried to do that and of course they both are discontinued. L'Elephant is full of the spices I love and while most scents would just stop there L'Elephant continues to accelerate seemingly adding every note in the perfumer's arsenal and somehow making it work for me. From the top this blows in on a stiff breeze laden with cardamom, cumin and clove. There is a hint of citrus but it is so fleeting it took my third sniff of this to convince myself it was there. No, the beginning of this is the cool lemon fresh of cardamom, the depth of cumin, and the heat of clove and it works wonderfully on me. If you are cumin or clove averse the beginning of this will be tough for you, let me ask you to be patient beacause as much as I like the top this one just gets better as it develops. The heart starts with a ripe floral mix of ylang-ylang and heliotrope; the contrapuntal beat is provided by anise and this is full-on licorice which in contrast to the sweet floral makes beautiful music. The note list again lists mango as a note but this time I can't convince myself that it's there. This heart smells like a chai tea as the spices are still there but way in the background. Just as I think things are on the verge of getting too busy in comes more in the form of vanilla and amber and these add to the richness of this scent. The development of this just kept piling on so much I was beginning to feel like the olfactory equivalent of M. Creosote and fearing the one thin mint note which would cause my nose to explode. Let me close this with a warning, this scent is not for everyone it has all of the subtlety of a jackhammer at times and then at other times it rewards you with subtle surprises as these notes interact and create different landscapes to explore with your nose. If you're not into trying weird things, stay away. On the other hand if you're a scent adventurer strap on your pith helmet and head into the Jungle and hunt up some L'Elephant.