Reviews of Encens & Bubblegum (2006)
by Etat Libre d'Orange

A very synthetic fruity bubblegum note with some incense...

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[Original submission date: 10 December 2008]

Don't be fooled by the name - there's no bubblegum here. It's basically just another quite pleasant orange blossom scent, of which there are hundreds. Too feminine for me though.

If they wanted shock value, they shouldn’t have given the secret away with the name they chose. This is a fun fragrance and, to my nose, the combination of incense and bubblegum doesn’t work very well; but I imagine that’s not important – the juxtaposition is entertaining, the fragrance is wearable, and Encens et Bubblegum could end up being a great conversation starter, if that’s of importance. The ingredients are quite good quality, the balance is fine, the sillage works, and the Encens et Bubblegum has near acceptable longevity, so it might even be a better deal than many of the other novelty fragrances. But I just can’t give incense and bubblegum a thumbs up. Except for the imagery it engenders, I don’t find it that interesting.

It's time to chew bubblegum and burn encens, and I'm all out of encens.

Lovers of peculiar, complex fragrances (Parfumerie Generale's scents, Comme des Garcons, or even Angel) really should try this. It's a "fluffy" incense, full of white florals and a bit of not-too-sweet fruit, completely different from the other (dense, heavy) incenses I've smelled. I think the combination is smashing, though apparently not everyone agrees.
As for the bubblegum note: I tried blind-testing Encens on people I know (a favorite hobby), and they all said things like "flowers," "very floral," and "really feminine"; nobody could smell the bubblegum at all, even with prompting.
I smell a bit of freshly-unwrapped DoubleBubble in it, but is that just the power of suggestion? Hard to say. I can say it's fascinating, odd, and (personal opinion) really lovely. 10/10.

REALLY don't get how this is unisex, given how sweet it is! All I can say about this one is everybody who's smelt it on me has loved it, including one colleague who said "I think I see the point of perfume"!

This one is hilarious! One sniff and I can immediately visualize a bored young girl (in school uniform, pigtails and lipgloss applied without a mirror behind the corner) chewing gum at the mass and trying to look as hard-boiled as only a teenager can. Maybe not something I would buy or wear but a delightful fragrance nevertheless.

The funny thing is, I've tried several incense fragrances that smelled like bubblegum, a sort of plasticky, musty fruit scent. One that comes to mind is Encens Epice. Very weird. And it's very weird that Etat Libre d'Orange does it on purpose too. The difference is, this is incense AND bubblegum, instead of bubblegum INSTEAD OF incense. The incense note is nice enough, smoky and crisp and spicy like the smoke note in Jasmin et Cigarette, but why oh why mix it with pink tuttifrutti bubblegum?