In India, ginger is known for being a hot spice. You start adding it to your chai when the weather gets colder, and it’s probably why we break out the gingerbread cookies around this time of year. My nose starts itching for my gingery perfumes and these are my favourites. I like the contrast of zingy pungent ginger with the warm cozy ambers in the base – all of these are amber perfumes and they’re perfect for fall and winter.
The ginger in these is a top note and manifests differently in each scent.
Discontinued Ginger: SJP Stash. Also the cheapest of the bunch, this 100ml bottle was much less than $100. The ginger is married with a cedar base so this reads dry. Not very strong or long-lasting, but still a great perfume.
Accessible Ginger: Jo Malone Dark Amber and Ginger Lily. The ginger is mellow and smoothed with an almost lactonic fig, a woody incense drydown.
Niche Ginger: Maria Candida Gentile Cinabre. The ginger here is more strong and also sweet. The drydown is a lot of incense. This is a ginger that makes my mouth water, and I’m going to upgrade to a larger bottle when this finishes.
Honorable mentions are Hermes Twilly Ginger which is so yummy but I never needed up buying it, and Eau de Sisley No. 3 which has a spicy ginger note. Have you tried these?
