July Meditation - Bond No.9's Chinatown

In honor of a lovely and fruitful meeting with Laurice from Bond No. 9, today I'll talk about Chinatown. Initially I was a touch afraid of this scent, since some folks mention a bergamot note in there and I am so nervous about The Burning. I try bergamot-laden scents with the attitude of a squeamish older lady dipping a toe into frigid water... and that attitude has certainly served me well in the past!

However, this perfume didn't deserve such treatment. What a lovely creation this is! Chinatown is, without question, a well-done oriental/incense. It starts off with an initial note of warm peaches, but within 10 minutes that loveliness is gone and a stunning floral incense takes over. The light tuberose and more present peony lend themselves particularly well to this composition, rendering a set of dusty wood notes into a lush and complex work. The wood-and-white-floral phase is long-lasting and steady, running throughout the heart notes - the cardamom doesn't come into play until a half hour into the drydown. While in some perfumes cardamom turns a perfume into a gourmand scent, in Chinatown the cardamom adds depth and an eastern-tinged spirituality to the scent. It is a May church wedding sort of scent, or, if you manage to smell the peach in it, a meditation on the nature of July. Without question there's a spiritual overlay to this, balanced by the weight of the florals, with an innate joyous quality that is impossible to ignore. Definitely a scent worth trying. The beauty of the packaging helps as well. ;)