Un Crime Exotique 12.1 / Private Collection - Un Crime Exotique 
Parfumerie Generale (2006)

I imagine that this is what Alice in Wonderland has experienced when she opened the bottle that said “drink me”. Succession of decadence pours effortlessly out of Un Crime Exotique, as if the occident and the orient have simultaneously decided to pack their most refined treats into one little bottle, with an endless supply of surreal liquid fantasy.

Star-anise infused pastries. Madeleine steeped in steamed milk. Dim-sum sponge cake soaked with jasmine tea. Gingerbread baking in the oven. Black sesame and honey. Osmanthus incense burning and Japanese body incense sprinkled on a sleepy skin with penetrating camphor and sweet cinnamon and vanilla. Milky bubble tea.

This is a comfort scent if there ever was one. Soft, soothing, mysterious, imaginative and like no other. Uncork that bottle and experience a stream of pouring thick lactonic vapour, floating above, transporting me to a place where there are no worries and only rewards, only tea and desserts and none of the savoury prerequisites. Truly an (exotic) crime.

Notes: Chinese Osmanthus, Gingerbread, Tea, Cinnamon, Star anise, Mate Absolute, Vanilla Sugar, South Sea Island Sandalwood

The spice cabinet has been neglected in perfumery. I imagine this has to do with perfume producers not wanting to be pinned down by the literal, the prosaic, the kitchen. From the consumer perspective, I don't know if there is much of a market for culinary spice perfumery, but the need is probably met by aromatherapeutic products. I know that there are others spicy/bakery/culinary perfumes: Tauer's Eau d'Epices, Lutens Five O'Clock au Gingembre, l'Artisan's Tea for Two, but I've never tried them.

I do see a train of thought that goes from Estée Lauder Cinnabar/Dior Opium to Serge Lutens Arabie to Un Crime Exotique, though. For each of these, the spice is in the syrup. A syrupy quality in perfume usually implies an overt sweetness. Generally, in terms of nose feel, syrup = sweetness + viscosity + flavor. The flavor might be vanilla, maple, cinnamon, cardammom. The ‘flavor' is the spice. Crime Exotique skips the implied syrup (Cinnabar) and the overt syrup (Arabie) and takes the spice in a different direction. The touch of syrup that Crime Exotique gives you is firmly grounded in clove, one of the few cold spices. The chilly blast of clove in the topnotes of the perfume surround you at first but subside by about 80% fairly quickly. The syrup goes the way of the clove hurricane, and Crime is soon revealed as a woody perfume. When not drowned in sweetness, spices like clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, even ginger are shown to be characteristically woody in scent.

Un Crime Exotique takes the wood and runs with it. What appeared to be syrup is actually more of a resinous quality that the perfume builds on to make a rich woody floral. The perfume settles into a cool vanillic range that maintains the drying, antiseptic character of the clove, but links it to a floral quality. Parfumerie Generale list osmanthus among the notes.

Un Crime Exotique flirts with the gift-shop candle vibe, but is just nuanced enough to escape. The opening notes of the perfume are a refrigerated blast where clove overpowers virtually all the other notes. The heart is evenly balanced, and the spicy, woody and floral notes move around one another respectfully. The drydown gets a bit grey, non-descript. It smells like a muffled version of Lutens Un Bois Vanille's cool, woody vanilla. A little blurred, but not bad at all.

from scenthurdle.com

This really is a gourmand work of art. It's overly sweet, but not cloying. Also, there is no dark, chocolaty, coffeesque, caramel notes that I usually expect when I hear the word, "gourmand." The pineapple and rum sort of stick out as well, keeping this fragrance very unique without sacrificing yummy pleasantness.

The overall impression is a dessert table with pastries. There's also fruit for those that don't want a quintuple bypass. There's no coffee, which I would be looking for at any dessert table, but there is tea, which, I suppose, will do.

The "lighter" nature of this gourmand makes me think that it would be better suited on a woman. Although I see absolutely nothing wrong with a man wearing it. In fact, the deliciousness of it was quite confidence-inspiring while I wore it.
Still though, as great as it is, I prefer my gourmands dark and rich, like Oprah.

Oh dear I thought on application, but it definitely grows on you. It smells of honey though I dont see it mentioned. Herbal spicy tea with a large dollop of honey or a boiling cup of honey Lemsip.
I wasn't sure if I wanted to smell of Lemsip, but it's warm and very reassuring

Private Collection Un Crime Exotique by Parfumerie Generale

This name alone creates a sense of..
Heightened DRAMA.....
something will happen or is about to happen
and your in the middle of it .

Intrigued and lured by its Old Hollywood Film Noire name
I ventured to sample it ....

"INDOCHINE"
might have been a better suited name ....

Allow me to set the film up....
The Decadence of the French living in Vietnam and the exploitive evils of Colonialism....
A exotic place all Steamy and Humid!
Languorous visits to hidden
Mandarin "OPIUM DENS"...
All the while you are floating on a "JUNK" on tranquil waters.....
When suddenly you are awakened by the rude shots of a gun....
You feel the wetness of liquid on your chest. the OPIUM has dulled your sense of pain ....
Is it blood ? NO!
The smell of fragrance fills the air ...
Your favorite crystal decanter lies on the floor shattered....
You smile ...
having cheated death one more time ... you return to your revelry.


My review:
I really like this Spiced Tea Infusion scent.

The fragrance is so heady with GINGER and Spice... predominantly Saigon Cinnamon.
Perhaps this mysterious sounding ingredient ..called
"Osmanthus"
which in CHINA is infused with green or black tea leaves, to create a scented tea called guì huā chá (OSMANTHUS TEA)
this might create the "CRIME EXOTIQUE"
in this Potent,Intoxicating and Long Lasting Fragrance....

A 50ml bottle for 100.00 bucks
not bad ...
I'll add it to my Ever Expanding Fragrance Wishlist