JANG (장)

I was merely browsing ELOREA's NYC store when I encountered this fragrance, and intrigued by its uniqueness, decided to just spray it it on myself and call it a day. The next day I had a bottle of my own 'JANG' XD ... This is almost a ceremonial scent, reminiscent of the fullness in the air when incense is burning. Strong, a bit uncomfortable, yet so engrossing you lean into it. To me, this fragrance is an olfactory snapshot of a church-goer holding a young jasmine flower in reverence, amidst the thick hazy billows of incense. Upon spraying, the smoked scent enthusiastically hugs you first, just as incense overtakes your senses. But after a bit, the smoke becomes peripheral and fuzzy, and a sweetness of rum meekly pervades out the heart, while myrrh hangs back, presence still known, observing like a parent. This comes together to form a compelling, invitational, deep scent that turns itself gourmand. This fragrance feels almost historical because of its religious and thoughtful character but is not too niche or costumey to be impractical. Maybe because I'm not Korean, but I did not catch the presences of soybean and jinjang (aged soy sauce) within the fragrance experience. It is not particularly savory, but rather smolderingly sweet, like when a guarded, mysterious man slips a genuine smile. It mimics a modest, aged room with thick clouds of incense puffing and fresh flowers sighing. The comparison to jangdok (the clay vessels) seems accurate, as the earthy, vegetal scent of these pots can be akin to the timeworn homeliness of a chapel, mosque, or temple. I can visualize myself in ancient Korea opening a jangdok that emits perfumed smoke smelling exactly like this, or attending a devotional service filled with these scents. ELOREA's fragrances last a while and mesh with your skin and clothes to radiate whatever main notes are of the perfume. To me, this fragrance is similar to a perfumed chrism oil, earthly purity with a strong yin and yang of smokiness and sweetness. It can be quite heady when applied on clothes too close to your nose so be sparing. You will smell and feel like you came out of an ancient blessed service: deeply warm, thoughtful, and solemn. For comparison, this is a practical, tasteful combination of My Burberry Black for Women (candied, stable, deep jasmine) with Snif's Vanilla Vice (thick, smoky dynamic vanilla). This is my all time favorite perfume just after a week of wearing. Recommend if you enjoy these types of profound, warm, and evocative scents! I'm so happy it exists!

ordered this on a lark and received a discount so it was a good value for me to try it at. very much a fan, though. the top notes are a bit heavy and quite perfumey at first - this is where the florals really shine for me - the jasmine and ylang ylang are familiar and comforting, yet in the petrichor-rich fog of the mid notes they begin to smell like something entirely new. as the mid notes dry down you are enveloped in a syrupy, spicy gourmand accord. contrary to what others have said, i find the fermented bean smell to be quite strong, particularly in this section of the fragrance. The full accord recalls for me the idea of sitting outside on a crisp fall morning drinking a strong cup of smoky tea w/ honey. the full dry down is smooth and rich, though it loses some of that virility from the mid notes and the incense does take over quite powerfully here, though the rest of the fragrance can still be found on close sniffs - and i was literally molesting my wrists because i wanted to keep smelling it forever lol. i sprayed this on myself after my shower a few hours before bed, and could still smell it in the morning but i can foresee this being a low to moderate sillage fragrance, which is fine with me as it is an incredibly intimate and unique scent that begs to be underestimated. i am a male but i find this to hit perfectly on the androgynous mark and it wears nicely on my skin, which takes best to either aqueous & crispy or lightly toasted & spicy. while the top notes are quite perfume-forward and hit you on the forehead at first, i disagree that this is an effeminate fragrance, in fact if anything i would say that once it dries down completely it falls a bit more toward the masculine end of the spectrum.

After sampling the timeless legacy discovery set this easily came out as my favorite. Normally I go for fresher, more aquatic scents, but this was the first spicy gourmand I've really loved. On me, I get fairly strong umami notes which when balanced with the jasmine is actually very nice. The drydown was a lot sweeter than I expected which with the lingering ambery soy notes makes it smell almost honey-like in the best way. It's stronger than the perfumes in the Forgotten Words set which is a plus for me. Even on the drydown I find myself constantly searching for the scent on my pulse points because it smells so good. Bought a full bottle almost immediately. Update- Several weeks of wearing it in winter and I'm still loving it! Lasts a long time- I'm catching whiffs at the end of the day even after spritzing first thing after a morning shower or even in the morning after a night out. Definitely need to use is sparingly because of how strong it is

I love a complex spicy fragrance and this is right up my alley. It's very spicy, but not too sweet, which is often my complaint with spice fragrances, and on the other hand it's not bitter and soapy like some spicy fragrances can be. It's a little bit sharp on me upon first application, but it smooths out into a nice, almost gingery, smoky, woody tone with a syrupy quality--that, again, somehow manages not to be too sweet. It didn't develop much for me after that, but I'm fine with that because I love it. Interestingly, I don't actually detect any of the floral notes themselves, unless they're what's driving that syrupy underquality. The only real complaints I have are the same as with the other Elorea scents I've tried: it didn't project much and it didn't really last all that long (maybe three hours) at a detectable level. Nonetheless I like it enough that I'm going to purchase a full bottle.

This Elorea offering can qualify as a potential beast mode fragrance, especially over all the others. I purchased the three sample sets (Forgotten Words, Elements, and Timeless Legacy), and "Jang" was quickly the most memorable and prompted me to order a bottle. Maybe my olfactory discernment isn't as experienced or mature as other fragrance enthusiasts because I get a strong tea note from this fragrance; I suspect it's my sense of smell's interpretation of the combination of soybean, myrrh, and jasmine/jasmine sambac notes. In addition to Jang, Hanok (which is queued up to order), Earth (which I just ordered a bottle of for myself), and Inflorescence (which I just ordered a bottle of for my mom) are also worth checking out. Elorea is a solid house with safe but solid offerings at a reasonable price point.