Bombay Bling Review

Bombay Bling’s opening does an incredibly convincing impression of a ripe, Bowen mango: close your eyes and you can easily think yourself tucking into that deliciously pulpy, yellow flesh, all sweetly tropical smelling and undercut by a green tang from the skin. 

It’s a cheap trick though, for the magic is short lived: first the fruity notes disappear, then the green notes, leaving behind only an excessively sweet, ambery floral accord. Or perhaps that should be an ‘expensive trick’: Bombay Bling is £150 for 60mL. 

Nose: Bertrand Duchaufour

House: Neela Vermeire

Release date: 2012
Notes (per Fragrantica): labdanum, cardamom, caraway, blackcurrant, mango, litchi, jasmine, gardenia, ylang-ylang, tuberose, rose, frangipani, patchouli, woody notes, sandalwood, vanilla, tobacco. 

Pichola Review

Pichola starts off with some tart citrus that’s soon lost to a metallic green accord having the penetrating waxiness of C10/11 aldehyde(s) and the ‘sucked silver spoon’ quality of Helional (as Luca Turin once described the compound). The latter shows prominent watery and ozonic facets and, given the perfume’s name, we might suppose this is intended to represent the famous lake at Pichola in Udaipur.

The dominant floral counterpart is played by jasmine, but this develops some distinct celery-salt and woody qualities suggesting there may be some cis-jasmone complementing the Hedione. Edmond Roudnitska used to advocate placing a drop of fragrance on a piece of wide card in order to observe the physical separation of components and, in a neat example of paper chromatography, the celery-salt note does indeed seem to get pulled further up the paper.  

In contrast to the others in Neela Vermeire’s line, the signature ambery fond is played down in Pichola, providing just enough sweetness to render the sharper notes palatable.

Longevity is not very impressive.

Nose: Bertrand Duchaufour

House: Neela Vermeire

Release date: 2015

Notes (per Fragrantica): cardamom, cinnamon, saffron, juniper, magnolia, neroili oil, clementine, bergamot, orange blossom, rose, tuberose, jasmine sambac, ylang-ylang, benzoin, sandalwood, driftwood, Haitian vetiver.

Ashoka Review

Ashoka’s ‘everything-but-the-kitchen-sink’ approach makes it something of a challenge to classify. The perfume begins life as a sweet, fruity-floral with a big cassis accord hiding some jasmone inflected lily-of-the-valley type green notes. Quickly however, it turns into a sort of gourmandiental as coconutty lactones introduce a caramelic theme that has a spicy and resinous complexity to it. The problem is that there’s nothing to continue all this save a bare base of desiccated, Norlimbanol/Nimberol/Timberol woods and straightforward smelling musks. 

Ultimately unsatisfying. 

Nose: Bertrand Duchaufour

House: Neela Vermeire 

Release date: 2013

Notes (per Fragrantica): fig leaf, leather, white lotus, pink lotus, mimosa, fig tree, osmanthus, rose, water hyacinth, vetiver, styrax, incense, sandalwood, myrrh, tonka bean, fir balsam