Chunga

The glorious Chunga (PdT) is sadly a unicorn: long discontinued, highly coveted, often overpriced when it appears for sale, but the vintage collector knows that patience pays off. After three years waiting for a bottle to show up that wouldn't require maxing out a credit card, one appeared for 100 dollars and I just couldn't refuse. Boy, am I pleased that I did. This is a high water mark of aldehydic florals, opening with a near vertiginous sparkle, with the honey and linden blossom underlined with peach lactones the main focal points for the first hour of this magnificent creation. It is elegant and splendiferous, full of textures: watery, soapy, creamy, bedaubed with spice, deliciously yellow floral. An ylang ylang becomes more evident further into its development, deepening the grooves and leaving the skin begging to be nuzzled. The most palpable element though is a vetiver that carries every element through with a tawny, grassy shade of ambiguity—one of my favorite aspects. Chunga eventually mutates into a musky amber, full on decadent in its dry down, with lingering clove and the vetiver getting stickier and nuttier: vetiver and musks mingling makes me swoon. Though one might imagine this as more suitable in cooler weather, this blooms in the summer heat, developing a sensuous aura around me.

Chunga was the first "adult" perfume I purchased back in the late 1970's. My parents took me on a trip to Vienna, Austria, and a little side trip to Budapest, Hungary. This was before the Soviet Union collapsed and Hungary gained independence. Budapest was a grey, neglected city then, full of grumpy locals and eager tourists. The hotel we stayed at was quite fancy, far too expensive for locals. The duty free store had a lovely crystal flacon of Chunga for sale, and I had enough money to get it. Much later, back at home I dropped the bottle and broke one of the corners. Quite a bit of perfume was lost before I could stop it. A heartbreaking loss, because I loved Chunga! The scent has been discontinued for years now, only rarely will a bottle show up on Ebay. The fragrance is popular enough that another Ebay customer asked me to resell my hard-won auction only minutes after later. I didn't. To me, Chunga is as lovely as the crystal flacon it comes in. A little spicy, a bit aldehydy, it also has a hint of the animal note many Weil perfumes feature. Chunga was my first perfume love, and although it doesn't last long on me, it will always be in my heart. It's the scent I keep to myself, very little sillage, but that's the way I keep all my loves.

I came across this site by accident and searched for Chunga by Weil without much hope of success. I was begining to wonder if I had just imagined that I had ever had this perfume - which I bought in Saudi Arabia. That was certainly a long time ago and as we returned to the UK in 1984! I had a bottle of Chunga to bring home with me then and every time I wore it people would remark (in a good way!). When it ran out I was unable to find it in the UK. Later on when I had access to the internet and searched again - still no luck. So what a pleasant surprise to come across this site and to see that others, like me, really loved this unusual perfume. I am now going to try some Boudoir by Vivienne Westwood (thanks Sablebombe!)

I absolutely loved this perfume and when I used to wear it Weil, I think, were beginning to cease production of it :( The only places I could buy it were Saudi Arabia (had a friend there who would bring me back the odd bottle) and Nice Airport in France! It was a very strong fragrance and as passionate20 said it has a strong amber note but it isn't at all masculine in my opinion! I've just used Boudoir by Vivienne Westwood and this is much the same scent just a little less of the amber - powerful, long lasting with a strong silage! I'm now wearing this to replace my much lamented Chunga!

A powdery floral masculine aldehyde parfum de toilette according to perfume intelligence. So I am in love with a powdery floral masculine aldehyde parfum de toilette than, who is even 3 years younger than me !!!! The fact that one of the Zappa albums called Chunga puts this fragrance into my good books as well.