Description
Parfumerie Générale is introducing another masterpiece of their collection. This time the house was inspired by former French colonies—Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. Therefore the name of the new edition is No. 25 Indochine.
Famous perfumer Pierre Guillaume was in charge of the new creation. The fragrance itself is inspired by an epic and romantic cruise of the Mekong river in 1920. It offers calmness, a peaceful river and dusk.
The woody-spicy composition of this perfume is built of original ingredients from Indochina, the main among them being benzoin resin. It provides a powdery and warm note to the composition and goes perfectly together with Cambodian pepper, Burmese thanaka wood and honey from Laos.
The package is a classic glass square Parfumerie Générale flacon. The new fragrance, No. 25 Indochine will be available in 50 and 100 ml Eau de Parfum from August 2011.
vin dizel – :
Oh so sweet – yet somehow not sickly. More the heart of a gorgeous living wood infused with spices and still full of resin. This one plays tricks on me: I thought it was laced with caramelised cinnamon, which was probably the mix of cardamom and benzoin; thought I smelled coconut too, but that must have been a facet of sandalwood. But it’s all fine because every trick is pleasing and amusing, not lying in wait to bludgeon you with anything savagely dark. The sweetness also mutates, in waves, into pulses of deeper spiciness sharpening almost to sour, then ebbing back to its calm sweet heart again. Confusing yet fascinating and makes me want to go back to it again and again, to learn its tides and currents. A Southeast Asian sea journey, indeed. Slow boat to Saigon please m’sieur!
King_Devil – :
Oriental, woody. But not catchy, imho.
uyrteyiuyute – :
I do a lot of sampling and usually I have a pretty clear picture of a fragrance and how I feel about it after a couple of days’ wear – even if my opinion sometimes evolves afterwards, I mostly have a pretty good idea about the direction it will evolve in. But sometimes, even using up a full sample isn’t enough to begin to get to know a scent, and Indochine is one of those for me.
I like it, it’s all about honey in an interestingly none-gourmand context, very nice in combination with the soft cardamom in the top and the light resins and woods in the base. It’s definitely one of the more straightforwardly enjoyable scents of those I’ve tried so far from PG, very wearable, but I also feel like there’s more to it that I haven’t quite grasped. I think it might be one of those perfumes that would make a great signature, although maybe not for me personally – one that doesn’t reveal all its secrets at once, one to grow into. It’s also definitely an intimate scent, very hard to overspray, which is unexpected with this list of notes. I personally like to notice my perfume throughout the day, so I’d like it to be just a little bolder, but this subtlety could also be very sexy in the right setting.
Then again, it’s not impossible that all of that is just me being overly generous because it’s PG, a house I love, and I’m just not entirely sure what to make of this one. I don’t think so, but I won’t know for sure until I’ve spent (a lot) more time with it…
EvgenB – :
wow, love at first sniff, resin, woods, cardamon , benzoin. absolutely love this fragrance, can smell sweet tobacco but it’s likely the honey. would recommend.
vhj948intitytek – :
Mi sembra una palese imitazione di Body Kouros di yves saint laurent.
Non saprei che altro aggiungere.
qmx231JeomiWogkig – :
if you know the smell of Dichlorvos (insecticide popular in the past), that’s it
(but probably if you don’t, then you don’t have such associations, and you would be able to evaluate the smell without prejuce)
blek33 – :
This gorgeous Benzoin based Oriental beauty radiates both warmth and tranquility and truly evokes the image of a leisurely river cruise along the Mekong or a Kerala lagoon. It starts off with a burst of cardamom and honey ( and as many reviewers correctly note the smell of an Indian dessert like Rasmalai) and then dries down to reveal the more complex elements like Burmese thanaka wood and black pepper. This is a shimmering beauty of a composition with moderate sillage and projection that induces warm euphoric and nostalgic feelings. Not for those who do not like sweet compositions, and in one word, delicious.
ALEK.ER – :
A lighter version of Bond’s New Haarlem.With some delicious cardamom notes throughout. Quite masculine for my personal preferences. Soft sillage and moderate longevity.
iur4ik85 – :
light, ethereal warmth that glows and hovers with a vanilla’d benzoin that makes me gleeful. sadly it is so short-lived. to me this is a cardamom snoball on a hot summers day from my favorite snoball stand in new orleans named hansen’s. they have the softest ice and make their own syrups. they’re a force to be reckoned with. this perfume is cold and refreshing yet warm and just delicious. too bad it leaves so soon just like my snoballs are always over too fast. slurppp!
Kakashi – :
If you like benzoin, PG25 is a perfume where 1/3 of the composition is benzoin then paired with honey in perfect harmony. The honey brings the overtly syrupy sugar tones whilst the benzoin seems to want to play the spicy notes. Balancing that interplay with the rounded, sharp spice of cardamom is the key to Indochine’s outlook.
Objepaylype – :
The overall theme of this fragrance can be boiled down to three elements in delicate balance: resin, wood, and spice. The opening presents the benzoin note in an unusually forward way, with an almost thick, sticky texture. Lurking just behind that is a sweet, rich heartwood note and a really quite gentle spicy element. As it dries, I don’t get much sweetness, which is actually quite a nice twist on the woody-spicy family of fragrances.
For me, this works best as an accompaniment to an evening out. The dark, resinous structure on which it’s built seems to work better for that than daytime or all-day wear. Accordingly, longevity is moderate (4 hours or so on me), wearing quite close to the skin.
Cherm – :
Pierre Guillaume is a beautiful human being, perfectly melancholic sculptured introvert-face, so no matter which creation from his imagination I test – I see his face in front me, that goes before everything else. Which makes it difficult, to stay on task and think solely of the Perfume.
I already sold about his Praline de Santal and Aomassai – and Indochine is only completely glued me on. Being a French, Guillaume obviously was thinking about the legendary French movie about Vietnam–sweepingly romantic “Indochine” from 1992 with Catherine Deneuve as a plantation owner, during last quarter-century of French rule in Southeast Asia. Love those gorgeous landscapes of Saigon and surrounding areas by the way, – people, street-food, opium pipes and other exotic things to follow.
Indochine as a perfume is quite a journey as well, only more of a spiritual one. By resinous, calm touch of exotic woods to sweetness of smoky benzoin, it always stays deep, calm and reflective. I enjoy, how honey is made, it turns and twirls into some Asian creamy –sweet treat, like a soufflé, yet never slips into gourmand category, because smoky woods are prevailing and sort of “guarding” the fragrance. To me it gives a sense of piece and presence of other reality and goes into “big loves” category.
armeec25 – :
This is so Beautiful.
First whiff is Cardamom and Honey on my skin. Cardamom fades into the background in 5 minutes and its a faintly sweet (but wonderful) spicy… something
Cant put my finger on the ingredients.
heatengine – :
Thick, spicy, somewhat sweet opening. A vague fruit impression hits me, something reminiscent of baked apples. Juicy, caramelised, slightly burnt apples. Quite mouthwatering. And very spicy. But in no way overpowering. I wouldn’t say it clearly smells of apples, more like a subtle hint to it, in the midst of all the spices. A dry wood accord balances out the sweetness of a very clean honey. Quite a linear fragrance except for the creaminess it develops over time. Moderate projection and longevity.
mne2000 – :
This smells like a burst of sour honey and dirt, for the first 35 minutes. Then as it dries, it gets more and more balanced, until finally you have this amazing, creamy, warm heavenly layer of perfumed skin. Unfortunately, I cannot hate how I smell for 35 minutes, so the search continues.
fakymak – :
This starts with the spicy woody base, and for just a moment (or a minute or two) it hovers there in a place where I’m not sure which direction it will go. But as soon as the liquid dries on my skin, the honey explodes and takes over.
This ALMOST gives me a tobacco smell, but I assume that is a combination of the spices and woods, along with the fact that so many honey-centric scents have tobacco in them, so my nose is looking for it.
It’s quite sweet, but it’s also liquid and on the fresh side. This is not dark honey that globs onto the spoon, but light clover honey that is a bit runny. It’s like honey in tea.
As the scent dries down further, the honey becomes part of the overall composition, rather than the screaming lead singer. It is quite a lovely woodsy spicy scent that I expect would be perfect for fall. Because it’s lighter, I would also imagine this being quite nice in the summer and spring.
I feel like this is a really drastically minimized Volutes. A lovely scent that I would really enjoy if I had a bottle. But alas, I only have a spray sample generously sent to me from a very lovely Fragrantican so that I could experience what is probably my only experience of this scent.
Nice, but it doesn’t call my name.
jckeuiahf – :
Peppery, sticky sweet woods dusted with fresh cardamom.
I almost can’t call it a perfume. Just smells like I spilled some Indian dessert on my wrist and wiped it off.
It’s pleasant, warm and yummy smelling, but with linear development and very mild-mannered projection.
I’d wear it, but I wouldn’t buy it.
Сапёр – :
This is a spicy-woody fragrance. The name is rather misleading though, since it doesn’t really smell like ‘Indochine’. Then I would have added perhaps lemongrass and star anise – which is one of the main ingredients in the Vietnamese Pho soup. Can’t say that I sense Thanaka in the fragrance either. It has a sweet powdery woody smell, and it much used in Burmese cosmetics, so not a part of Indochina anyway.
Apart from the misleading name, I like the fragrance. It has good projection and is long lasting. PG seems to be especially apt with woody-spicy-patchouli based fragrances.
Goretale – :
Honey, honey, and more honey!! I do not smell any of those other notes, sorry folks. I like Indochine. it is a soft honey-rich whisper. Soothing like a mother’s hug.
bazilius777 – :
Benzoino latteo mielato, spezie sommesse, una dolcezza quieta. Profumo “da mattino”, per svegliarsi con tutta calma e tempo per pensare…La persistenza è bassa , non supera l’ora, come tutti i PG, purtroppo ( esclusa la sua ultima rosa, Isparta, che riesce a raggiungere le tre ore…Un PG un po’ più intenso finalmente…! ).
Un bel profumo rilassante, elegante, sobrio.
Per chi ama le fragranze lattee e raffinate.
Forse è proprio tutto questo latte che me lo fa collegare ad una colazione di domenica mattina…
Carino.
11alexxx1 – :
I love the inspiration behind this fragrance, I’ve visited the Mekong delta and was really exited to read that all of the ingredients come from Indochina.
This has a surprisingly foody opening, kind of like a spiced bread. I’m not sure I like that part of it. The combination of pepper and the caramel like tones of the benzoin make this smelly gourmand. The benzoin in this glosses over the other notes and is always there bubbling away in the background.
This is really fleeting though and the perfume quickly changes from foody to something more sensual. Once the thanaka wood kicks in a bit (which is supposed to smell very similar to sandalwood) this becomes much more wearable. Think..Madonna’s truth or dare naked but more expensive smelling. Both this and that have the same combination of benzoin and woods which make it smell sexxxxy! 🙂
The spices calm down after a while and this finishes off being a lightly spiced, caramel with sexy woody tones.
The disappointing thing about this fragrance is the longevity and projection. It becomes a skin scent and I really have to sniff hard to try and smell it.
While I ADORE the inspiration behind this fragrance, I was underwhelmed by it.
komar007 – :
Honeyed spices (cardamon predominant) on a resinous woody base. It starts off with a blast of cardamon which blends beautifully with the honey, both sweet and spicy. The smoke and woods come next, bringing me back to holidays spent in the relative quiet and isolation among the paddy fields of Ubud, reclining on a veranda and watching the sun languorously descend, its last rays serenely giving way to the impending darkness, a wistful glow caressing every surface goodbye. The honey is reigned in by the wood and spices and although sweet, Indochine is more of dry, spiced woods than gourmand on my skin. It has a good sillage on me and average longevity.
Merhat – :
This is very lovely, but the sillage is so soft, I had a hard time smelling it. I had a 2ml sample and had to use about half of it just to get a regular soft sillage (I usually go for perfumes with a softer sillage, so I don’t think this is a case of me wanting something too bold).
I have to really press my nose to my wrist to get this, but I will say that when I do, it’s delicious. It’s a predominately honey and benzoin scent on me. Very warming and a touch animalaic.
I wear Haram by Brecourt often, and I feel that’s a much better version of this – with added cinnamon. Mostly because I can actually smell that one easily.
I commented just yesterday about how impressed I’ve been with PG’s longevity, but this one was gone in under 2 hours.
Nice when I can smell it, but far too feint for a full bottle.
drongo22 – :
Spicy-woody-honey gourmand fragrance. Honey is the star than benzoin, woods, pepper and cardamom. This fragrance reminds me of a burnt sugar smell.
It is not to sweet, not too loud, grown-up sugary fragrance.
Dante=) – :
Slightly sweet powder honey with an undertone of wood.
nischenko – :
Gawd, this is GORGEOUS. Spicy without being heavy, sweet without being cloying, warm warm warm, and pretty perfectly unisex. I wear it just fine as a woman but can see it being great on a man. My only complaint is that I wish sillage and longevity were better — within an hour I have to sniff pretty close to get it. I tend to spritz my clothes with it because it lasts better there and I want to be able to keep smelling it! A smell this good shouldn’t be so secretive. Still worth it because it’s just that lovely.
dwersardy – :
Lovely start, all the right tunes, the honey did not turn urinous on me, yet after an hour or so it dried down to a one-dimensional, annoying little benzoin. Thankfully did not last very long.
38694 – :
141) Honey skin
Indochine is a real melting of spices, like a chocolate fondant: dry and crisp on the outside, soft and flowing in the center. And most importantly, delicious.
Its crust pepper and cardamom crackles under the nose with a little something of toast, black and dry. Then benzoin starts slowly to pour the flood of sweet resin, vanilla, powdered, soft like white sand. Already, a first contrast between dark cold spices and enveloping milky balm. Honey is slowly making its waxy and animal facet participant in turn to a new dimension of flavor, more syrupy, which evokes a black licorice slightly aniseed, such absinthe or ageless whiskey.
On the skin, Indochine takes root, its mineral and syrupy animality clings to the skin without looking tacky, with a discreet diffusion.
Like all the PG creations the longevity and the sillage is disappointing.
бог – :
I really love this perfume and can totally smell the good stuff–benzoin, honey, and precious woods with cardamom lingering throughout. I just wish it was stronger. I do catch it drifting up to my nose, so I wouldn’t call it weak, but my personal desire for a perfume like this is that it would be a sillage monster. Nevertheless, I bought it, and I simply spray once more than I normally would. It’s an ambery-cardamom dream on a woody base, kind of gourmand, but not totally. Reminds me a bit of Malabah without the tea.
Berlanvarie – :
“It is called ‘tanakha’ and it has a rich history in Burma being in use for over 2,000 years. It is made out of tree pulp from a perennial tree grown in central Burma and it is sold in powdered form at local markets. The powder is obtained from the bark and roots of the tree and it is said that a tree must be at least 35 years old to bear premium ‘tanakha’ powder.
The powder is placed onto a flat stone and a small amount of water is added. A mortar is used to blend the powder into a paste that is then applied to the face (usually after a bath). Women (and children) use it in daily life to cool and refresh the skin and it also a natural way to protect skin from the sun. The word tanakha actually means ‘cleansing agent’ and ‘cosmetic for beautifying the face’. It is used also in ceremonies as face painting is a sign of cultural significance, nobility and purity.” (c) ChildTRAC on youtube
Tender – :
My goodness! I am very taken by this offering from Parfumerie Generale.
Indochine opens with a resinous benzoin drenched in honey that is so sumptuous it will make your eyes roll back in your head. Lurking just beneath this partnership a peppery accord is detected, but is by no means aggressive or overpowering. Soon after, the wood comes through, but not a wood I’m familiar with. I have no idea what Burmese thanaka wood is, but I believe it the the secret ingredient here that transports you to somewhere warm and exotic.
I agree with others who find this to be unisex. The opening few minutes tends to veer toward the masculine side, but only just, and the honey keeps it soft and sexy.
This is very easy to love, and definitely my latest ‘crush’.
fxAZqpDY – :
Mysterious, unique and beautiful. Melting benzoin and animalic honey coated with smoking dark spices. At the end, I smell a kind of peacefull sandalwood.
It is for ”high temper” kind of peoples…
Unmaguening – :
This is not a girly perfume! It is smoky, and resinous. I don’t get sweet here; for me the honey rounds things out, but is not obvious. This is deep and dark, but a fun woman with confidence can pull this off and make it rock! Definitely smack in the middle of unisex. I love it.
A mother in my son’s kindergarten class wears this as her signature scent. It so fits her. She’s bold, beautiful, full of energy, and her aura just exudes confidence. I thought I couldn’t possibly buy this. It’s so different, she would definitely hate me for wearing her only scent. But I have to have at least a large decant. I promise I won’t wear it to school. 🙂
fitil – :
I was so excited to try this but sadly the honey note immediately turns urinious on my skin. Now I know what Tania Sanchez meant when she said “the rest of us are howling’ when she referred to Serge Lutens Miel de Bois.
Nobody wants to smell like pee!
I generally love all the fragrances in this line. Too bad!!
Sychev Dmitriy – :
Indochine is a more alluring name than Gingerbread, but Gingerbread is what I get. The name for gingerbread in Swedish is “Pepper-cookie” – suits well here. Pepper for sure, but how come ginger is not a note mentioned here? Honey makes it sweet, and sweeter yet in the dry down. Its all more cool than warm, like having your pepper-cake in the middle of Swedish winter. Can’t make this one work with me. (I already have both the cookies and the chill.) All this to be seen in contrast with my too romantic & exotic expectations from Indochines lovely name. Adding: some silage, and pretty good lasting-power.
Andrew1113 – :
licorice!…black, sweet, dry, peppery
DRONSKM73 – :
This is an interesting one. Well, everything by Guillaume is.. However. It starts off very manly. The black pepper is very intense and it’s mixed up with something cold and aftershave-y that I actually find quite pleasant. The deepest part of the black pepper stays close to the skin, so putting my nose against my wrist almost blows my mind. 100% nose tickling black pepper.
When it dries down the powdery, ladylike animalistic sweetness (probably the honey) comes out and creates some kind of Jekyll/Hyde complexity. The sharp, cold, manly aftershave-y pepper is still there but mixed up with this lovely romantic sweetness. It gets very airy in a way, even though it’s a big scent. Strange, but very very beautiful.