Papillon Bengale Rouge Eau de Parfum has a brighter zing of lemony citrus that will get drizzled over thick, uncooked, unfiltered, unheated honey–the sort the place you possibly can inform the place the bees have been as a result of it positively blooms with refined floral notes, however right here it was like a medley of lemony roses and wildflowers. There was a contact of cinnamon however by no means a lot that it dominated. Within the center and drydown, the honey thickened, darkened, and have become much less honeyed and extra resinous and sap-like with vanilla and sandalwood.
Per the perfumer, the perfume is impressed by their Bengal cat, however it’s speculated to be a “re-imagining of the notes that lay upon [the] leopard coat” and centered on “a domesticated cosiness that may embrace the wearer” that the perfumer felt with their cat. The notes are listed as: sandalwood, Turkish rose, honey, vanilla, candy myrrh. Some retailers additionally embrace orris, oakmoss, benzoin, and labdanum.
It opened with a vivid, zingy lemon that was squeezed in a wealthy, gooey dollop of honey. It bloomed with fragrant florals, although nothing I may personally establish as rose, nevertheless it very a lot jogged my memory native, wildflower honey–thick, golden, aromatic, and candy. I can solely think about the rose right here was extra of a lemony rose than a extra conventional, sweeter rose.
Bengale Rouge remained fragrant, filled with vivid, citrus blossoms buried below layers of golden, unfiltered honey two hours into its improvement. The honey deepened and darkened, extra resinous and spiced as extra notes got here into play, virtually like a splash of cinnamon. It was barely animalic, smoky, and thicker because it wore on, nevertheless it was nonetheless predominantly gentle rose and golden honey with spiced myrrh that was velvety and easy, plush however not heavy.
The honey be aware pale to the purpose of being a minor participant after three and a half hours on my pores and skin, and the sweetness was extra resinous with vanilla over a gentle, sandalwood base. Within the drydown–across the sixth hour–the vanilla was a much bigger participant, a darker, virtually boozy vanilla towards a sandalwood base.
Software
For testing, I used 1/3 of a 0.7ml pattern vial dabbed to the underside and topside of my wrist space on my left arm. I used an unscented moisturizer previous to making use of the scent as that is additionally my swatching arm (aka, extremely parched at any given second) as I discovered scent didn’t maintain effectively right here in any other case.
I bought my pattern in January 2022; fragrances are recognized to be reformulated over their lifetime , so be aware of when a evaluate was made, e.g. a evaluate from 2010 could not mirror what the same-named fragrance smells like in 2022.
Longevity
It lasted for eight hours till it was a skin-scent and about 12 hours earlier than it was fairly tough to detect on my pores and skin. The sillage and projection have been reasonable with the sillage dropping quicker than the projection inside three hours of damage.
Private Ideas
Plenty of scents don’t evoke particular reminiscences in my private life–extra more likely to convey a way of one thing I’ve seen in a film or the like–however the citrus and honey have been dead-on for the odor of pouring wildflower honey right into a steaming cup of decaffeinated tea with a recent squeeze of lemon. The factor I solely drink once I’m sick, and one thing I first had once I was sick at my boyfriend’s (now husband!) home, made by his mother, who was VERY beneficiant with the honey! This had one of many extra genuine honey notes I’ve come throughout; it simply had that actual fragrant sense and sweetness that was wealthy however not cloying. Oh, I used to be offered!
Out there Sizes
- 50ml for $210
- 0.7ml pattern for $5
