Five O'Clock Au Gingembre by Serge Lutens

Bergamot, Tea, Ginger, Cinnamon, Woods, Patchouli, Honey, Pepper, Dark Cocoa, Amber.

What I've found extremely interesting ( and enjoyable ) about the opening of Five O'Clock Au Gingembre is that everything but the cocoa and amber come rushing out of the bottle on the initial blast.

The citrus, spice and earth tones are readily apparent, fairly substantial and display clarity.. There's a suggestion of wood which I presume is coming from the combination of patchouli and amber, but I could be remiss. The spicy ginger and soft tea note are centered during the initial stages and the accent provided by a dark rendition of cinnamon is a nice touch. There's a semi sweet quality with resin in there as well and as the scent progresses, the resin becomes a bit more noticeable. I suppose this is the result of amber working it's way into the heart accord and within 10 minutes, all obvious notes have merged to form a personality.

I imagine that some people feel this is a gourmand scent and because of the gingerbread associations, it's understandable. For me, I can't say I feel the "food" vibe when wearing Au Gingembre. It is reminiscent of gingerbread, but it's simply not overt enough to make me feel like I'm wearing a dessert. There's other intangibles at work here to make this more versatile than that.

The cocoa rendition is never obvious on my skin in any of the wearings and I think it's tuned perfectly. It adds a dimensional quality once the base and drydown commence. It lends a nice substance to the amber as both rise to the occasion and transform Au Gingembre into a spicy amber with resins. The ginger remains throughout the life of the scent and simply evolves a quieter spirit as the fragrance progresses.

Sillage is good and longevity is 5 hours plus on my skin. Au Gingembre isn't an eccentric frag and can be considered mainstream when compared to the Serge's other releases. Thumbs up from Aromi for the Serge and his gingerbread fantasy.

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