Almost Worth The Wait: Evening Edged in Gold by Ineke

Well, finally.

A commenter from my entry on the fourth Ineke, Derring-Do, said,

I have the same issues you do with Ineke.... Relieved to hear you call it like you smelled it, though sorry you wasted your money on the set.

I was starting to feel like I'd wasted my money, too, and wondering who I could foist the batch off on, when I tried Evening Edged in Gold, the fifth in the line, and my instant impression was a loud and simple "Yes!"

The opening of Evening Edged in Gold is glorious, a huge, rich, fruity osmanthus with a complexity I found lacking in the previous Ineke offerings. It briefly made me think of those yummy, oversized eighties floral orientals with hundreds of ingredients. There's a spiciness to it which is presumably saffron and cinnamon, although it doesn't smell exactly like either of these: it's mostly just a little halo of crispness and bite around the big plummy-fruity osmanthus.

It doesn't last: the middle of the scent is not as good as it ought to be, with that very same synthetic quality that I perceive in all the others coming to the surface yet again. After the osmanthus in the top, the main floral notes in Evening Edged in Gold are angel's trumpet and midnight candy, which, in a clever choice by the perfumer, are flowers which bloom and release their perfume in the night. (I have always been a sucker for these perverse night-blooming flowers, and used to grow night-scented stock, which can handle the cold of eastern Canada.) I couldn't tell you what either of these flowers are supposed to smell like, but I'm guessing that those notes are created in the lab: there's nothing wrong with that, but I wish it didn't smell so laboratorial, because it makes me think of a scented product like garbage-bin liners or deodorizing room spray rather than a high-end niche perfume. I want to stress that it's not terrible; it's just not as good as it ought to have been. The base, which starts making its appearance early on (as is fairly usual with orientals), is a lot of leather and a bit of creamy wood to ground it, and it's very pleasant. If only the middle were up to the same standards as the top and bottom!

Once again I have to mention the packaging. I mean, just look at it. Dazzling. If you weren't completely convinced by Evening Edged in Gold, that box and bottle might be enough to push you over the edge into buying it.