Fragrance Reviews

Scented Snippets: Neela Vermeire Creations Bombay Bling – Bollywood in a Bottle

03/11/13 11:34:39

By: Ida Meister

I find it fascinating that, when presented with all three Neela Vermeire Creations, my trusted friend of over 30 years [and the reigning Queen of Fragrance at Boston’s Neiman Marcus] Ann Fanning chose Bombay Bling as her immediate favorite of the trio. Ann has an unerring and discerning nose; she is the first sales associate I know of who became IFF-certified years before many even knew what the IFF was. ;)

Bombay Bling [as many are aware by now] represents current day India in all its euphoric complexity as interpreted by Neela Vermeire and Bertrand Duchaufour. “This joyful creation embodies every aspect of the very modern, colorful, eclectic, esoteric, ecstatic, liberal, happy side of buzzing India,” Neela observes. It symbolizes the third era of India—and ironically, the one that took me the longest to love.

I fell for Trayee and Mohur immediately—but that was easily foreseen, I suspect. I am a demented sort of mystic/elderly unrepentant hippie type, a yoga enthusiast when no other 11 year old girl was so enamored. I was powerfully influenced by my Sikh neighbors with ten children: they enfolded me, loved me, accepted me and fed me—and thus began the inculcation and lifelong fascination/affiliation with All Things Indian. Mrs. Singh is Mohur to me, just as Ravi Shankar is Trayee to me—and will always be. To whom was I to look for modern India? I had no inspiration, no frame of reference, no bellwether.

Enter Neela, stage right: a woman with extremities in all camps at once. Charismatic, warm, beyond witty and more than a little enigmatic. A highly educated woman, well-traveled and urbane—but clearly in command of all of her senses, and possessed of a deeper knowledge of what matters. Neela was my bellwether. In Neela I trust.

Is this a thinly-veiled love letter to Neela? In a word, NO. It could easily be, but it isn’t. In order to love Bombay Bling, I needed to feel it through Neela’s eyes.

Gender be damned, I say, I always say. Male, female, I don’t give a toss. One would eliminate a great deal of delight from life if we limited appeal according to gender; let your nose, your heart, your soul guide you. Is Bombay Bling meant for anyone in particular? Do I care? Does it really matter?

The beautiful blur here is the whizzing of bicycles, of riotous color, and glorious dichotomies: old and new side-by-side, vertigo-inducing contradictions of culture. What commences with ripe, luscious fruit culminates in sweet spicy smoke from the happy hookah and sandalwood from which the ancient temples were constructed. The street sweet sellers are present, too… Indians love their sweets. A profusion of blooms—intoxicants all by themselves—take up residence in your nostrils, which flare with certain pleasure. It is dizzying, like a whirling dervish crossing your path. Light, color, sound and odor intersect in this kaleidoscopic fragrance. It is timeless, and timely.

Bombay Bling notes: mango, lychee, blackcurrant, cardamom, cumin, cistus, Turkish rose, jasmine sambac, ylang-ylang, tuberose, plumeria, gardenia, patchouli, tobacco, sandalwood, cedar, vanilla.

Admittedly, in the end Bombay Bling morphs into a lingering smoldering ember on my skin; that is simply what my skin does. The tendrils simmer lovingly as a hot caress. I find myself among the women, singing, dancing, laughing about life and love…

Men, don’t be fearful. You are all invited to the party that is Bombay Bling. It won’t bite you. Try it—you’ll like it.

Please visit the Neela Vermeire website!

Ida Meister (chayaruchama) has been an avid collector and sniffeuse for over 40 years. She adores consulting and collaborating with niche, budding and independent perfumers. Her hypervigilant nose has been of great help in her profession as a neuroscience/oncology nurse, where she often smells fear, suffering, stress, and can identify most micro-organisms, medications, stages of disease, and has written about the amygdala. As a Senior and Natural Perfumery Editor, Ida has participated in many blog events with natural and mixed media perfumers and other writers. She has also been a teacher, translator, opera singer, dancer and caterer.

jeca

You can buy from luckyscent and from Neela's website

Mar
13
2013

rickyrebarco

Where are these available? At Luckyscent? At Neiman's? They sound wonderful.

Mar
13
2013

zoka

This is also my favorite fragrance in the noble trio by Neela Vermeire Creations. Today is a very special day Neelas' birthday! Neela is a very social person and it is always good to meet her on various perfume events from Italy to United States. Also she is very active member of online perfume community.

Mar
11
2013

jeca

These fragrances are great! Bombay Bling! is my personal favorite, because it's so weird, so unusual, I smell traces of my own different experiences (nature, city, dreams)... Mango is so juicy in it, there is also very pleasant, very sensual dirtiness, in a good way. Another colorful world ;o))

Mar
11
2013