Chembur (2008)
by Byredo

Byredo Chembur

Byredo is a new perfume House created by a Swedish Indian designer, Ben Gorham. In 2008 they released their first five fragrances. Jerome Epinette was the nose behind Chembur which is the incense centered scent of the line. Chembur is a city outside Mumbai, India and it is where young Mr. Gorham would spend days with his mother having a picinic. There was a temple nearby and he wanted to capture the mix of green grass and incense from just over the hill. I think M. Epinette succeeds in that but this makes Chembur a very light fragrance. The top carries a lovley lemon zing to it and it carries nicely into mix of nutmeg and ginger before the incense comes wafting in. The inspiration was to have it feel like incense from far away and M. Epinette does pull that off but as someone who loves the note this was a tease for me. I wanted the incense to slowly get more intense and pick up depth. Instead it stays just over the horizon and out of reach. The base is musk and amber and they are good compliments but again I wanted them to be stronger. For all that it is light Chembur has good longevity on me and it is very close wearing. I found my experience with Chembur to be frustrating as I was left wanting more. If you are someone who likes incense in lighter doses then Chembur might be just what you're looking for as it is a well-constructed piece of perfumery.

The worse of the four Byredos that I tested (I decided to give Rose Noir a miss). It’s, at best, a faint citrus-musk with fleeting traces of the ginger, nutmeg and incense.

For those who love understated fragrances, this may appeal to you but it was painfully nondescript to me.

[Original submission date: 05 July 2008]

This is a lovely labdanum-based scent. In fact at first I found it too close to straight labdanum absolute, but after wearing it more I appreciated the citrus and other incense notes. I love that it feels very warm, but bright and cheerful at the same time. Such a nice antidote to heavy, brooding incense scents. I could see how incense lovers would find this too thin, but I appreciate its wearability. I found myself reaching for it more this winter than any other incense, and I'm guessing it works well in warm weather too.

At first I was unsure. It did smell a bit market-placey. But it ended up smelling like the ocean. In a good way. I feel like I've been swimming when I catch the scent. (North Cal Pacific for me.) It must be different on each person. Weird. I like it a lot.

Chembur smells like pungent smokey air outside a third world city in the far east somewhere. There is incense, burning woods, and a dark leather scent that keeps the fragrance mysterious. The opening is very captivating but as the middle notes evolve a strong scent of nutmeg and ginger mixed with the labdanum and musk evolves into a filbert nutty fragrance that undermines the dark leather incense notes. Softens and trivializes the dark brooding opening. It is a very compelling fragrance of contradictions. I find I love this during the first few hours but am less impressed with it the longer it wears down. Like all of the Byredo fragrances it is very unique.

A very pale, somewhat watery incense scent for everyone who finds Bois d'Encens or any of the CdG incenses too strong and offensive. Almost zero sillage and very modest longevity. A big disappointment compared to the other partly beautiful fragrances in this line.