Ching Shih

A clever, peppery aromatic I had to go full bottle for. Ching Shih reads more academic-stumbling-upon-adventure than swashbuckling wench. Less Pirates of the Caribbean, more The Mummy. (I think Zappas’s Flaming Creature is the quintessential pirate babe perfume instead). Echoing @antfarm’s excellent review, which called this a water-park scent, the opening minute catapulted me back to the Waterworld stunt show at Universal Studios, during many a grade school field trip. Oiled metal, crackling gunpowder, vapourised petrol. However, the mechanical, pyrotechnic opening is replaced not a minute later by a sepia-toned apothecary. The spices here are healing ones; Ching Shih’s overall texture is rooty, medicinal, and carefully brightened with a peachy flutter of osmanthus. The dry down is pure unsweetened iced tea. Sublime. I love the heel-face turn some of Zappas’s scents do (see Violette Hay), as I don’t necessarily want to smell like a steampunk stuntman for the whole day... but it’s the perfect little powder keg to start my day. Mental Snapshot: An apothecary nestled beneath the eaves of the Grand Bathhouse. Garlands of herbs laze from the rafters, melding with the sweet steam curling from the floorboards. Hidden clockwork churns underfoot while a copper kettle purrs atop a woodfire hearth. (Basically imagine Kamaji's boiler room in Spirited Away). tl;dr: Ghibli apothecary 🍵🏮

Gunpowder, the initial blast is fleeting if it worries you... a fruity osmanthus quickly takes over. I find this quite light on leatheriness. I could be wrong, I'm relatively new to this flower... But compared to other osmanthus perfumes I've smelled, this one is mostly a very soft apricot on spices and smoke.. I actually appreciate that here, because there’s a very d u s t y base that heavy leather could turn into just another blah, ambery smear... It lasts about 5-7 hours, only the gunpowder fades drastically. That + incense leaves a gorgeous, just blown-out candle smokiness, flecked with gold osmanthus and dusty spices. Everything floats in a hazy, dreamy orris from start to finish. It's ambery, but I don't find it thick or gluggy... It's very beautiful... I recently bought an antique cupboard and when I first opened it, the smell inside reminded me of ching shih. I've grown obsessed with osmanthus and these notes are so interesting, it's all so close to loveable.... I've got weird and unfounded hopes for an additional formulation of ching shih in the future... It's just missing something minor for me rn, and I've been testing it for a year. It feels like it could be perfect with time and a revisit... But I like it a lot, it has replaced la divina as my favourite MZ.

This is a Chinese herbal medicine store. Roots, fragrant spices, and a touch of sweetness. There’s no oranges but I am reminded of an orange peel with spices. I’m in love. I find it so comforting and alluring at the same time. The color of this scent is brown and orange. It's definitely a pirate. A pirate who uses traditional Chinese medicine and lights incense sticks to the gods and shoots enemies with her gun. There's also a camphor accord, reminding me a little of tiger balm? There's only a little though, not overpowering. It just adds to the impression of being from an herbal shop. It's just so interesting and comfortable. Not a safe blind buy, not something everyone will like. But gorgeous for people looking for a deep sensory experience.

There's something really juicy at the heart of this that's intriguing. Like a little mouthwatering. I feel like this smells exactly as it should for a character profile of such a legendary pirate and all around bada$$. Unisex is subjective but this definitely lends itself more easily to androgyny. It's on the quieter side in projection and sillage. Also kinda warm and cold at the same time, which I feel like is the case with something spice heavy? Easy for me to love and will definitely be wearing a lot :)

This is the perfect scent for the transition into colder seasons. If you are worried about the heaviness of the notes listed, fear not. There is something about the composition of Ching Shih that reminds me of licorice. The spices have a candied quality to them, but not in a sugary way. I am actually surprised to see this listed with a smoky accord because I get none of that at all. Rather, Ching Shih has a kind of brightness to it. It sits close to the skin with moderate lasting power.

At first whiff the amber-incense-balsam accord hits you like a real Laotian oud. Your nose quickly begins to peel that apart. Spices. Something tangy. What is it?

Ferocious firecracker fizzles to faded foliage ... but wins many, many points for its sheer swashbuckling originality. The notes list and back story sold me 100% on this - what was not to love? A scent to put a warrior queen's iron in my backbone and bamboozle any innocent bystander - sounded like it was tailored just for me. But the unnerving price meant I luckily saw sense and bought a high-priced sample first, just to be sure - which was absolutely the right decision. Any adventure should be tempered by caution and advance intelligence. The opening burst utterly fulfills the brief. Absolutely no-compromise fiery gunpowder almost sizzles and crackles its way out of the sprayer, with shedloads of sparkly (?Sichuan?) pepper and cinnamon and anise, I think, among an array of other spicy notes. Almost took my breath away, in the best way, as it smells so utterly unlike anything else I could think of; while sharing some of the quirk of Memo's Tiger's Nest or 1969's Chinese Tobacco it takes the whole concept further - WAY further - to go pretty deep into experimental waters. I got no orris, but the myrrh and incense fired away admirably and absolutely distinctively. Smells opulent, exotic and a little bit dangerous. A pirate princess indeed. However. The corsair crew run out of puff in a disappointingly short time and the journey steers towards safer territory in a more conventional direction to a less barnstorming tea-osmanthus-myrrh triad within a couple of hours - still very very classy, and lingering for many pleasant hours more - but less astoundingly groundbreaking than that bold open. The sheer audacity and insolence of its inital salvo can't sustain, at least on skin. (Though to give Ching Shih its pirate props, I was amazed to pick up a top a few days after the first wear to find that the myrrh had hung on in there, and was still detectable and delectable for another day). So - sailing in exactly the opposite direction to most here - I shall not embark on buying a bottle, not because it's too strong, but because it softens too far and too fast. However, if you genuinely love myrrh and don't fear being tested: this is something quite amazing - at least at first. I salute it. Aye aye, madame captain!

Ching Shih is one of the most (if not the most) successful pirates in history. She led thousands of other pirates, held them to a strict code of conduct, surrendered on her own, and kept what she earned. This fragrance is very light and atmospheric. The spices and osmanthus blend to create the mental image of powdery, dried flowers. This grassy-sweet-tea-like dryness blends masterfully with the gunpowder and incense. I thought to myself: "smells like gunpowder tea." The orris is waxy and cold, and the myrrh is gummy and rubbery, like the smell of mechanical parts and sparks in the air. Something about this fragrance excited me and made me feel anxious, but it also struck me as nostalgic and familiar. I kept trying to place it. Then it hit me--this smells like water rides at theme parks in the best possible way.

Ooooh, this is unique. There is a really enjoyable push and pull dynamic going on between the fruity osmanthus and the biting gunpowder. Ching Shih is smoky, but also feels light and airy on my skin due to the citrus elements. Myrrh is one of my favorite notes and hums quietly in the background to bring the composition together. Very addictive scent. I cannot stop smelling my wrist. Smells like plunging a lit stick of incense into an orange. I see that most of the votes have skewed in favor of cold seasons, but IMO this is a perfect intermediate season fragrance if you like witchy/goth/dark fragrances and are unwilling to let that aesthetic go for the springtime (this is a self-drag). Can't wait to see how Ching Shih performs in the fall.

A comforting spice market scent. Warm and just savory enough. Very quickly became my favorite of the Redamance collection, but sadly the lightest and weakest of the bunch. Unlikely to buy a bottle of this, but I imagine the rest of my sample will feel welcome on crisp autumn days.

Opens osmanthus forward, with an incense bias propped by the resinous aspects (myrrh, light spices, light orris). Unfortunately, the gunpowder here is lost on me, so much that it’s really acting as a support bias for the profile at best because it does bear a smoky bias—nonexistent at worst. This profile is more like a citrusy, somehow tarty, with a resinous twist that is also faintly smoky. It’s not acrid by any means, but it isn’t particularly unique in itself as a citrus frag. It’s sweeter than something like Bergamask by Orto Parisi, but definitely less than something like American Psycho by Xyrena (crème brûlée). Maybe a good flanker interpretation for fans of this genre but not really something I’d be interested in. I primarily got this to see if it’d be similar enough to Parquet Leather by DSDurga—no dice here.

i think this might share elements w/ Violette Hay, because my immediate impression is again xiangbao, with the addition of smoky gunpowder and a certain spice (anise? cardamom?) that lends a dark reddish-brown edge, the color and texture of tamarind. slight sweetness is that of jujube dates steeped in tea or cooked with meats. it's reminiscent of little sachets of spices you add to 红烧肉, or maybe a gourd filled with spices—in any case, very chinese (i'm impressed).

opens with strong incense, that doesn't fade but morphs into leather bound osmanthus. the osmanthus (and chinese piratess, of course) was my main draw for this perfume, but the osmanthus is only barely present for me, and i unfortunately had forgotten how much i do not enjoy incense. the sweet jammy osmanthus is too covered in leather 3

A+ for delivery on the vision and history. Unfortunately, I don’t like it. I should have known I wouldn’t get along with the gun powder note, but I couldn’t resist just trying! Very cool, just not for me.

Rooty, dry, spicy, something like licorice, spice-heavy - immediately reminded me of a Chinese traditional medicine store. Too savory for my taste, but it's an interesting and complex scent

Leather and smoke - it evokes its namesake the osmanthus is there but it’s barely there in my opinion. It’s strong and maybe intentionally a bit off putting.

Something quite licorice-y and sunscreen adjacent. I hadn’t had much time with her so this is based off of a brief impression.

crumbling leather, fizzy osmanthus, myrrh and something sharp

A lot of menthol to my nose. Weird.

Smells like old wooden dining chairs where the wax has gone rancid so it smells bitter, and the cushions have a hundred years of smoke, dirt, and mildew in them because they were stored in the basement.