Chembur

Now this is a Byredo -- at least in addition to Accord Oud -- that I truly liked and appreciated, so I'm surprised to see strong negative opinions of this. Yes, it's incense, resins, coupled with amber, labdanum, nutmeg and ginger. Yes, you need to like more smoldering fragrances to appreciate this. Yes, it's priced squarely in the niche category. And yes, this has more than likely been done in some other formulation with subtle differences. However, it still maintains a subtle elegance and remains not-too-understated nor too loud as many incenses would be. I suspect that subtlety may be lost on some and not others, which leads to the strong preferences either way. I found the longevity and projection on this to be just about right -- Byredo seems to get knocked on short duration, but that hasn't been my experience. Moreover, this either has a certain cult following or isn't produced in large quantity, since my Barney's rep has a running list for advance ordering and the stock is usually sold quickly. I'll stop short of saying this is over-the-moon great, but it's a very solid presentation of an incense-inspired fragrance.

Hmm... I'm surprised I don't see patchouli here, I thought I detected it. This is wearing like Kurkdjian's Lumierre Noir pour femme on me (and like Sublime Balkiss by a Different Company) I.e, it has a high ringing, medicinal finish that I attribute to patchouli. I tried this in the evening, adn in the morning still had it hanging on my clothes. I"m now wearing it throughout the day (a different shirt!), and I'm getting better sillage than I did with Bal d'Afrique, and I'm happy about that. Ginger and nutmeg might frighten some people, but here it does not stand out, and everything is nicely balanced. If pressed I would call this a citrus infused chypre and not an oriental spicy. It probably comes down to chemistry here, but if you are drawn to green chypres you will certainly want to try this.

Another lovely offering - this has a dusty smell, which I rather like - It smells to me like old leather-bound prayer books found in a dusty church and yet warm not cold so it's unexpected in composition and, as a result, compelling. Perhaps a church on the Amalfi coast. An extremely interesting and unusual fragrance which is unlike anything I have or know. I recommend this. It's blinking gorgeous.

Now my favourite. Very harmonious aroma which isn't shouting for every day. Good firmness on my hot skin. An incense with a bergamot sound magically. It is pertinent everywhere.

This is a beautiful light incense just as the notes say. Lemon, gingery incense really nice meditative or outdoors scent. Calm and relaxing. Love it on rainy day hikes!

It is strange that no one has written yet that this perfume is very similar to Dzing! L'artisan Parfumeur. The same animalic vibe and circus smell. Magnificent.

It's a warm hug in a cold windy night.

I've a feeling with Chembur I've not totally understood yet. It's shy, not loud, kinda laidback but it's there, and you pleasantly notice. Basically it's a frankincense fragrance but it takes its distance from others scents of the same family (Avignon, Cardinal, Incense Extreme) by introducing a metallic note in the opening that I quite appreciate. It's dry and cold at first, a bit pungent, a bit astringent but never too loud, never too much. The drydown is very gentle and comfortable, almost imperceptible and it gave me the sensation of a room where they burned sandalwood incense sticks (the good quality ones), but two days ago. My aim was to write a "not so good /nothing special" review but having Chembur on my skin that shyly appears with its subtile allure, changed my mind and left me somehow fascinated. I don't think I will never get a FB of this as I usually love darker and warmer church incenses but, if you're looking for something quite distinctive but not too daring, give Chembur a chance. Rating: 7/10

WOW! Recieved this in a mixed batch of samples today. Been looking for a Ginger scent skewed toward a not overly embellished presentation. THIS IS IT! Found it! I find descriptions here too complicated - it smells like GINGER ALE SODA for the first 20 minutes and then settles into a sweet Ginger with a small kick. Anybody claiming there is incense or suggesting it is an incense based perfume is misleading you completely - it is so minute it is not worth a mention. Delicious - one for the 'I need a break from the usual' shelf - so a personal scent rather than for any occasion other than cheering yourself up. Very natural. My first Byredo... and now Byredo you've got my attention. Moderate projection for the first hour then a skin scent. Again not designed to rock the place and clearly not in the super league. Male or female - no problem. AS for the price - weeelllll that's another thing altogether... Unless this is definitively YOUR style it's a decant buy...

This scent struck me , looking at the notes I imagined it to be a strong, very smoky scent, but not, at the opening of to feel the nutmeg and ginger , but after a few minutes the citrus appear and increasingly are taking the lead in fragrance . The bergamot and lemon here are not sour , but refreshing , clean . Incense not delay to give the guys , and divides with the plane of the first citrus scent, but it is not heavy , dark and not even remember the smell of churches , the aroma here it is light and natural , as if it derived directly from wood smoke aromaticas being burned but you do not know where , and can only feel slightly woody , smoky , resin aroma and little sweet. Despite spices and resins as most of the notes , it is not dense , the balance between the citrus notes and spices was very well done , is a clean , light scent , and in my opinion is a varied choice for those who want escape the ordinary place where citrus scents

This is my favorite from the Byredo line although it has not found too much mainstream love. Just ordered my second full bottle. The concept is simple. It is a combination of incense with citrusy notes ( a very prominent lemon) and hints of ginger, nutmeg, labdanum, amber, musk and elemi resin. The resulting juice is a bright, beautiful mystical potion that radiates an aura of actually walking in a South Indian market laden with floral garlands for sale, vendors selling oranges and lemons, and incense emanating from the temples nearby. The perfumer notes that the influence is the suburb Chembur in Mumbai where his mother was born. The markets in Chembur and Matunga near the South Indian temples actually smell like this perfume. Evocative, mystical, perfectly unisex, with moderate sillage and projection this is a lovely composition deserving of love from Oriental fragrance lovers.

@Gigi27: I was scanning through the reviews and I felt compelled to answer because I had a 10ml decant of this to test drive and my fiancée made a similar observation.... Having been acquainted with fragrances for some 20+ years, I'm almost certain that the "dirty" note you spoke of is the Elemi Resin and the Nutmeg (much much less so). In the blending process and even in the spice itself, it evokes a dirty/earthy characteristic depending on what it mingles with... Whereas, the Elemi screams Dill Pickle to me - a nice touch when paired with roast beef or a smoked meat sandwich→ far less appealing on the skin..... I tend to disagree on the lemon observation though, because I think Ben Gorham works very seductively, yet conservatively with the lemon note.... Of course, that's just my silly opinion......

This fragrance would be a perfect start-up Point for a newbie in insense scents. This is NOT a catholic Church insens (that it too intense), instead Chembur opens with a citrusy, "green", "virgin" insense, very light and non-offensive. I don't get assosiation with India, since this is not a Heavy scent at all! On my skin I do not feel that much ginger (on a blotter I feel mostly ginger and not so much insense) and this fragrance has a soft sillage for the 1st hour. It becomes a skin scent after that, and unfortunately, it is gone within 4 hours. For that price it is crime, but nevertheless, I bought a FB because I miss wearing this from time to time. A very injteresting touch upon insense theme for someone that is looking for an office-friendly scent. Give it a try, I would not recomment a blind buy.

In a nutshell I would say that this is a well balanced spicy/citrus/smoky scent. But it's not weird and I would say can easily be worn daily and can be the right persons signature scent. It's not overbearing and has moderate sillage. I have had it on for about 8 hours and it's quite noticeable. More on the masculine side than feminine but can surely be worn for all seasons. Sample worthy for sure but with designer scents such as ADG Profumo that basically give off the same vibe at a more affordable price I can see why this gets rated poorly. Personally I give it a 7.5/10.

This is the best incense based fragrance I've ever had! Light and not so crurchy incense is here throughout the smell, but in the beginning there is such a nice fresh ambery and balmy note. Then it all evaporates and all I have is incense. Nice, gentle, beautiful incense.. This scent has no big sillage, but has a good longetivity. It is more like your private aura of beautiful and comforting scent. My rating: 8/10

Chembur opens up very bright and citrusy, then you get the frankincense. It's not a churchy incense, it's not smoky and dark, it's very fresh and cozy, an incense that put a smile on your face. If you're into incense fragrances, try this. It could easily fit in the incense series by Comme des Gracons

I have a sample from the days it was called Encens Chembur. Been trying it over the past days. It's too ginger'y. It was good during the years it was launched but nothing really special about it. It not bad, but keeping in mind Byredo's price points, you could find something far superior in quality.

This is a now discontinued Byredo fragrance but you're still able to get decants of this EDP from DecantX. I've been wanting to get my nose on [Encens] Chembur for quite some time now as it seemed like a really personal creation from Ben Gorham. The listed notes sounded very promising and what I gathered was a zesty citrus incense. Now worn for a day, I can only describe this scent as 'stale' from beginning to end. The ginger in the opening is realistic but not as potent as I hoped and accompanied by the citrus it comes across like a cleaning solution. It dries down to a soapy incense, nothing more. Quite uninteresting for a something I hoped would capture Ben's love letter to Mumbai and his mother but only came across uninspired and flat.

I get a lot of ginger in the opening, which is what initially made me want to test this scent. The opening smells like popping open a can of gingerale with a lemon slice on the side. It transitions into a woody incense base (I get a dose of Iso-e super, anyone else?). Light sillage and less potent than you would think for the price. Kind of smells like a slightly more masculine version of Jo Malone Nutmeg and Ginger. So far I'm not very impressed with Byredo. Their scents are "minimal" which to me comes off far too simplistic for the price, the sillage is weak, and my skin seems to amplify their more chemical aspects. edit: I've retested this a few times and I keep getting a saliva note that seems to be coming from the elemi.

I blind bought a 100ml bottle of Encense chembur and I think they are the same despite their names. It was terrible. You cannot mix encense with lime and citrus cuz the result will always be shitty. I was really lucky to sell it for 45 dollars.