Ginseng

I was fortunate to find a 4 oz black bottle, with only a quarter of its liquid remaining, on Ebay several years ago. I kept an eye out for other bottles for some time, but, alas... seeing one seems to be quite a rarity. And this is a shame, as it is a such a beautiful fragrance. I do not smell ginseng itself except perhaps weakly, but what a I do smell is something inspired by Chinese spices, of the type found in 5-spice powder: ginger, cinnamon, the citrusy-green szechuan pepper... these are found here in abundance over an oriental base of amber with hints of patchouli, musk, and a teeny-tiny drop of vanilla for roundness. If you ever see one, please grab it. And send it to me.

I am new to this. Jovan Ginseng was one of my favorite perfumes. I was very disappointed when they stopped offering it. Wish they would bring it back. I still have a small empty bottle that I love to open and take in the fragrance as a pick me up.

Jovan Ginseng came out in 1975. This is a review of the women's version. Although this page is supposed to be for the men's version, the pic of the black cylindrical bottle on this page is the earliest women's version from the 70s (later bottles were clear). The men's version was always a square bottle. I fell in love with original Jovan Ginseng for women when I managed to acquire a vintage Jovan sample set a while back on Ebay. The set had vials of all the old, long-gone Jovan fragrances from the 1970s, and Ginseng was the stand-out. It's very intriguing and lovely. Although Jovan marketed Ginseng as an "oriental," my 1984 H&R Guide correctly identifies it as a sweet lily-based floral. For reference, other vintage perfumes that were in this group were Estee Super, Moon Drops by Revlon, Babe by Faberge, Yendi, Miss Worth, etc. It also reminds me a bit of Ivoire de Balmain. Ginseng is centered around lily, but it has a sharp 'green' component that is unique -- I'm guessing it's that sharpness that's supposed to represent the ginseng. It has a sweetness from the lily and amber, and of course there is musk, and there is also a whack of frankincense in the base, which gives it an unusual quality. This is a very unique scent. ETA: The drydown of Ginseng by Jovan is quite similar to Lady Stetson IMO.

One of my absolute favourites and was very disappointed when they stopped producing it. First smelled it when an out of town volleyball team came to our school and one of their players asked me to hold his scarf. I fell in love with the scent that night and asked him what it was. He said "Ginseng". Went to the drug store the next day and bought my first bottle. I too still have an empty bottle that I take out once in a while just to cheer me up. I have the talcum powder too but it's losing it's fragrance.