Parfums des Beaux Arts Indochine
by Dawn Spencer Hurwitz

I expected this to be a cooler, brighter, fresher ginger than Gingembre, but actually it has the same generic warm/rich/sweet/musty/oriental/vintage DSH base. It doesn't get as sharp and powdery though, instead the ginger note lasts much much longer. Unfortunately, the ginger note in Indochine, while more longlasting, is not as true as the short-lived one in Gingembre. It smells more like what I've come to expect from ginger notes in perfume - piquant, spicy, refreshing, citrusy - than like fresh ginger root. It's warmer and more syrupy than fresh ginger, closer to the powdered spice. It also reminds me a bit of the "ginger lily" note, which gives the scent a slight tropical/exotic feel, without the pina coladas and seabreeze. I enjoy it mainly because I adore ginger and pure ginger scents are so rare.

18th June, 2008.