Gong

Gong walks a sweet-spicy-musky-woody-vegetal tightrope act and does it with aplomb. The opening is both sparkling and cutting, with notes of green pepper and daikon accompanied by frozen blueberry with just a hint of lime. As it warms up, it opens into a warm blueberry compote fuzzed out by musk and ginger. The warmth here is always balanced by the vegetal notes of the opening, which mellow but do not disappear. Eventually, sandalwood, leather, and coumarin also emerge, imparting an air of luxury and helping to marry the fluffy berry-musk to the sharper botanical notes. There is also a salty note in the dry down that strikes me as distinctly JSP. This is a strangely nostalgic scent for me, evoking Dior poison, revlon Ciara, and even the fruity body sprays that pervaded my sister’s bedroom to near-nuclear levels throughout the late 90s. However, the potentially cloying fruity notes of those scents are here married to a chypric vegetal spine. I am also reminded of another perfume in my collection — olfactive studio’s panorama, which takes sharp greens and a novel wasabi note and blurs them out in a figgy haze. Though I enjoy that fragrance as well, Gong treats similar ideas more boldly and also wears more harmoniously, particularly in the dry-down. These references take one the wearer backwards journey through perfume history, beginning as an oddly alluring and strikingly contemporary niche oddity, passing through a bubbly 90s-esque fruity musk, and ending as a classically elegant leather chypre. Like other JSP fragrances, Gong thumbs through fragrance history but forges its own path. The result is a scent that is literate, inventive, and surprisingly wearable.

When sprayed on paper, this smelled bitter and awful. Just pure green bell pepper. When I gave it a second try and sprayed it on my skin, I could actually smell the different notes. The lime and bergamot are sharp but they dissipate quickly, revealing an intense vibrant green scent. The bell pepper is the strongest note by far, but the ginger and radish are detectible. I couldn't smell the blueberry at all. The musk and amber hang in the background after it dries down, adding a very subtle scent that smells clean and almost a little sweet when contrasted with the bell pepper. It's a bit challenging, definitely not something I'd wear on a night out where I want to feel beautiful and womanly. I typically enjoy feminine sweet gourmands and vintage florals, and this is neither, but I'm a little bit obsessed with this. It's just weird enough that I can't stop going back to smell it. It’s such a unique green fragrance, free from any earthiness, woodiness, or cologne / soapy notes. It’s spicy without being dirty—just really fresh and vegetal, with a touch of saltiness. Definitely unisex leaning a bit more male, and definitely not a crowd pleaser. Editing to add that I love this perfume so much I am borderline obsessed with it and I ordered another sample since the full bottles are still sold out. I NEED this perfume!

So gorgeous. I'm really sort of obsessed with it. Spicy and fresh with the ginger and lime. I can't pick up the daikon or green pepper very clearly but I can pick up the blueberry. It's a very realistic blueberry, like you'd experience if you were picking fresh berries. Not at all like artificial candy flavor blueberry. I love the galangal in this too. I will say though that it's almost too much of a good thing. It lasts so long. I've noticed it when I walk into my bedroom even days after spraying it. Someone else mentioned it lasting on clothes even after going through the laundry and I've had the same experience. My partner told me it makes them sneeze when I wear it :( I'm a bit worried about bothering other people with it because it's so strong and long lasting. I love it still. I just exercise some caution.

Was nervous to wear this after spraying the sample on paper. Had a strong bitterness, very green and almost juniper-like. However, on the skin and after the dry down, the bitterness melts away and it takes on a much softer, wearable quality. Quite beautiful. Hint of spice from the daikon and a definite saltiness. Prefer much more on skin than on fabric. I love it but not for everybody.

oh, citrus and aromatics but sweet and powdery, candied; at opening I smelled the green pepper bitterness but then it quickly was taken over by citrus then total sweet fruity berries with powdery powdery beauty; you wouldn't think this would work but oh does it; I want a full bottle NOW, this still has a very green aspect even with the fruit and sweet and powdery, what a unique beauty

Fruity spicy hot like a super duper niche Spicebomb but much better.

Gong opens with an astringent puff of lime, then deepens into a vegetal woodiness, with green bell pepper, vetiver (not listed in the notes), and leather predominating. It's a bit aloof, sharp around the edges. A few hours later, some spice and green pepper linger, with the green pepper being the loudest note, anchored by sandalwood. It is a fascinatingly weird scent--it would make me want to know about the person wearing it, but not exactly comfortable on my skin.

I'm going through the discovery set and this is the 4th one I've tried (on paper) finally! Something worth spraying on to skin. I've tried Serin, Horla and Vaporocindro so far. Obviously I'll update once I've given all of them a proper wear. This seems promising Update: this is an extremely challenging house. None are for me. 😔

The green pepper and radish are so realistic. The opening is extremely herbal and green which gives way to a sweeter green mid. It is Spring in a bottle and definitely worth the buy.

While I don't specifically detect green pepper or daikon notes, it must be their presence here that I find disruptive and unsettling.

Really bitter on paper, all my fellow jews out there know what I mean when I say it kinda smells like jarred gefiltefish and horseradish. I am distraught. Upon further inspection I get nothing but photorealistic green bell pepper and daikon. On the skin, the violet/amber/sandalwood notes come out to play which is kind of nice. And then the entire perfume disappears just as quick. It could be so promising if they focused less on the bitter/green notes and tried to make this a stronger blueberry-heavy scent, with just a kiss of pepper to make things a little crazy. This is a good scent if you are a little strange and want to get experimental with fougeres. but! not for me 3

Powdery bell peppers, cold root vegetable stew and old leather office chairs from the 80s with a lot of dust on them. If you actually like wearing this in public then we're not going to be friends. Turns my stomach, absolutely vile.

So... I dropped my sample vial of gong on the floor and it shattered. Admittedly, my experience with it is not typical, more of an involuntary overapplication as it got all over my hands, clothes and rug. Clumsy me. Two weeks later It's mostly dissipated, but there are still whiffs of it floating ghostly around my bedroom. To sum it up in two words: incense and olives. To elaborate: smoky leather and sandalwood mixed with salty vegetables. In my limited experience, nobody comes close to the salty accords of JSP; they are truly fascinating, an exploration of scent as an aesthetic frontier more than they are an everyday wear. Of the set, gong isn't my favorite, so I'm both relieved and dismayed to have spilled the whole sample at once. It's good art, but not to my taste.

Surprising, astringent opening that follows with familiar blueberry, synthetic almost, which becomes more naturalistic over time. Think blueberry bush. There is then a tug-of-war between the crunchy, green vegetables and the candied ginger/violet, each note sweet in its own unique way. Would love to be able to identify the galangal, because there is an odd element of fresh green spice added. Dry down is pleasant and wearable, with nice staying power. What I hoped Wicked Love would have been.

Quite a sweet, fragrant opening. Then, there's a bitter green notes that comes to the fore -- is it the daikon mixed with green pepper? It's hard to tell. Either way, it's a little too much for me. The weird green bitterness mixed with the floral fruity element makes it hard to enjoy. It's certainly unique, no doubt, but a little too 'out there' for me...

OMG! A green pepper, daikon, bergamot and touch of blueberry love bomb. Spicy, green gorgeousness. I am a fan of greens and this one is earthy, herbaceous and fresh. I kept smelling my wrists over and over. Lasted several hours. It's great alone or add a layer of rich amber to give it some interesting depth.

ever gotten home from a drunken stupor, put in a frozen supreme Pizza in the oven & said fuck I really want to smell like this? Well youre in luck.