A Different Sort of Pong

It’s late August, last bank holiday Monday of the season. We’re due rain to see the month out. The huge chestnut tree in the village is much diminished this year. Just too hot for it.

Following on from Tom’s skank-fest last week (no, we don’t coordinate posts but …) a vaguely similar theme but different. I’m sure that makes sense.

It’s been a long while since I’ve worn outright pong – ie, things that announce themselves as serious animalics. For a long stretch I sought them out but when Lutens MKK turned out to be a gentle skin musk on me I decided that for whatever reason this genre just wasn’t to be for me.

That isn’t to say I don’t like pong – I do. But, my pong has had to come from different places. Some leathers can do it, some roses depending on what they are built on (eg, Lutens Rose de Nuit does it). Saffron in stupid amounts is fine (Theo Fennell Scent).

Totally by accident I discovered that an apricot note on me can me serious dirty (again referencing Rose de Nuit in this regard).

This can be the fruit but it can also come from the flower osmanthus.

Osmanthus is a small white flower which appears in clusters. Per the AI popup on my computer this smells of ‘peaches, apricots, nectarines, with a subtle suede-like undertone’. Me, I get gamey, suede-like apricots. Sigh.

Anyway, today it’s a couple of new-to-me fragrances with a strong osmanthus note.

First off, Marissa Zappas’ (who we did last week to not much success – much better this time round) Ching Shih. This is one of three concept perfumes based on strong women. Ching Shih was a pirate queen back in the 1800s. Released in 2022, notes include spices, osmanthus (there we go), orris, incense, gunpowder and myrrh.

This starts spicy, not quite ripe fruit. So, not sweet. I’m thinking cumin up top but cumin when it smells spicy not dirty. Quite quickly we’re into cumin-apricot as the osmanthus kicks in. Boy, is that a good way to start a perfume. You want to glue your nose to your wrist.

In the middle of its development, it’s got the feel of amber – ie, tactile, soft – but not the smell. Amber tends to go sweet on me — this does not do that. It’s more a good, very ripe apricot with some stank and a bit of roughness maybe from the orris.

In the end it maintains that ripe apricot smell with an undercurrent of incense. I don’t know what gun powder smells like but there is a whisper of smoky powder so who knows.

Sadly, this is not that strong. But maybe that’s me and my lower body temp.

Second up is Les Indémodables’ (the timeless ones) Cuir de Chine from 2016. Really nice bottle. Just had to say that (https://www.fragrantica.com/perfume/Les-Indemodables/Cuir-de-Chine-44322.html).

Per the Les Indomodables website, ‘A fresh, elegant and surprising trail paying tribute to suede and precious leather …’.

As the name suggests, leather and other stuff. Notes include alpine clary sage, osmanthus, jasmine, tobacco. Nope, no listed leather note.

But, this definitely smells leather to me, opening as a beautiful, smooth leather-apricot.

I then get leather with apricots and jasmine, with things becoming a bit juicy and the pong amped up with jasmine.

The juiciness recedes and leaves a sophisticated understated leather which very nicely supports the apricot and jasmine fragrances. This is pong but refined (and the leather is nowhere near my beloved Dark Lord nor is it the plushier Lutens Daim Blond).

As with Ching Shih, this is not that strong and it dries down to something somewhat sweeter than CS. Perhaps because there is a fruitier aspect to it.

These are both very nicely done. If you’re looking for a quieter, more refined animalic both  would be worth a try.

Pics: Wiki, Pexels

NB: US perfume imports PSA — I don’t know if readers were aware of the de minimis rule changes for the US. Per Google AI: “The U.S. de minimis rule, which previously allowed duty-free imports of shipments valued at $800 or less, was suspended globally by an Executive Order signed in July 2025, effective August 29, 2025. This means that shipments of perfume and all other goods, regardless of origin, will now be subject to U.S. import duties and taxes, eliminating the previous exemption for low-value packages. This change significantly increases costs for businesses and consumers involved in cross-border e-commerce”.

British perfumer Sarah McCartney (4160 Tuesdays) posted about this on Facebook on Saturday basically saying this means she is unlikely to be able to export into the US any longer – either individual bottles from her website or to the larger resellers. It might be worth investigating if your favourite smaller UK and EU/non-EU Europe, etc, brands could be affected by this. Sarah also noted this shouldn’t affect the availability of larger brands, though she said nothing about potential price rises on items from large producers.

Here is a bit of the maths from her: “On 14th August we found that some of our US customers had already received invoices for the 10% tariff charge, plus state taxes plus administration, charged by DHL.

On a £50 ($68.50) order, the charges were $20, an additional 29%”.

Just a reminder: the purchaser in the US pays these extra duties, not the exporter in another country.

NB No 2, per Huff Post 24/08/25: “The end of an exemption on tariff duties for low value packages coming into the United States is causing multiple international postal services to pause shipping as they await more clarity on the rule … Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Italy said they will stop shipping most merchandise to the U.S. effective immediately. France and Austria will follow on Monday”.