L'Eau Par Kenzo Eau Indigo are new flankers to Kenzo's L'Eau Par Kenzo Pour Femme & Pour Homme:
As night falls, L’eau par Kenzo becomes Eau Indigo, a pair of sensual fragrances for him and her inspired by the seductive dance of color and scent as dusk sets on water.
It is customary when reviewing a flanker to compare it to the original pillar scent, but I'm operating in the dark here: I tried the original L'Eau Par Kenzo fragrances (Femme & Homme) a very long time ago, and only on paper. I did take notes, but they're cryptic at best: about all I can say is that I didn't feel the need to own either one. If memory serves, both were lighter fragrances than the new Eau Indigo duo, with a considerably greater emphasis on aquatic notes. Maybe we'll get lucky and someone who has tried the originals and the flankers will comment.
L’Eau Par Kenzo Eau Indigo Pour Femme was developed by perfumer Christine Nagel (the notes: bergamot, mandarin, jasmine, orange blossom, ylang ylang, tonka bean and amber). Eau Indigo Pour Femme is described as a sensual floral, and while it starts out soapy-clean, it does get arguably "sensual" near the end. After a burst of orange-y citrus, it's calms down to a soft, pretty scent with a focus, to my nose, on the orange blossom note — although those of you who normally find orange blossom too sharp will be pleased with how cushion-y smooth it is here. Eau Indigo Pour Femme reminds me of floral-scented marshmallows, although that perhaps overstates the sweetness and the weight: it is more airy than not, and not at all too much for summer. The dry down is a not-quite-light-not-quite-dark woody amber-y musk.
L’Eau Par Kenzo Eau Indigo Pour Homme was developed by Sophie Labbé (the notes: ginger, citrus, elemi, coriander, vetiver, cedar, amber, labdanum and tonka bean). It starts out fresh and spicy, with lots and lots of ginger — it has a wonderful zing to it in the early stages. After that, it's a nice enough, if not remarkably original, woody musk with just a touch of earthiness. Like the women's, it is lent some degree of sex appeal by the amber-y base, but it's distinctly the "fresher" of the two.
When I first tried the pair, I liked the Eau Indigo Pour Homme version much better than the Pour Femme, but subsequent tries changed my mind: Pour Homme teeters on generic after the ginger wears off, while Pour Femme improves the longer it's on skin. I'd wear either one, but I'm not enthralled enough to buy even the Pour Femme. At any rate, they're worth a try, and if you're wavering, Kenzo's picture-perfect packaging (as always) will help inch you along to the cash register: the bottles are lovely, and it's hard to tell in the picture but the curved shape of the front allows them to fit together in one rectangular block.
I am still very curious about the other recent Kenzo flanker, Amour Eau Florale — do comment if you've tried it!
Kenzo L'Eau Par Kenzo Eau Indigo Pour Femme is in 50 or 100 ml Eau de Parfum; L'Eau Par Kenzo Eau Indigo Pour Homme is in 50 or 100 ml Eau de Toilette Concentrée.
The descriptions sound good. I don’t normally like orange blossom but am willing to still give this a try. I do like the other Kenzo scents, although none of them have really been “me.”
It is really only vaguely like what you think of as orange blossom. Seriously, it’s orange blossom-scented marshmallow, but not too sweet.
Marshmallow?! I had the original Kenzo and it smelled just like fresh cold air to me…. I wonder if Kenzo has changed this fragrance completely and just left the old name. I am curious to try this one now, since I liked the original but got bored with it too quickly.
I wish I had smelled the original more recently, but if memory serves, they’re pretty different. Don’t know that anyone else but me would call it marshmallow though!
Really? I love the original L’Eau Par Kenzo. I think I love fresh cold air’s smell though honestly. My best memory of perfume is when Mom came home from work as a nurse and she smelled of her perfume, what ever it was, and the cold wintery night air. the perfect smell of coldness and freshness. I still retain the memory of it, and she smelled great.
a not too sweet marshmallow? Like a sugar-free marshmallow…which would be …air…?
What don’t they get about the concept : marshmallow?
I guess it would be just starch and gelatin without the sugar lol mmm tasty
You guys probably think I’m nuts, but it reminds me of my son’s marshmallow fluff. It’s fluffy, that’s it. And sweet, just not overly sweet.
Marshmallows also have a bit of a powdery aspect to them.
True, but this one is not powdery. I’m afraid it is not going to remind anyone but me of marshmallow, LOL…
Wow! What a mouthful!
You mean the name?
Yes…sorry. 😉 L’Eau Par Kenzo Eau Indigo Pour Femme. I wouldn’t want to have to remember that every time someone asks me what I’m wearing!
No…Eau Indigo would suffice though!
Sounds good for my husband – he wears the L’Eau Par Kenzo as a bedtime fragrance.
Ah, then he might like this one, if he likes ginger.
well, i do own the original eau par kenzo femme, and for a long time it was my signature fragrance, at least, kind of. i still like it, though i do not wear it often anymore. my boyfriend always detects watermelon in it, which i don’t but i get some lemon with a twist of honey and some lily of the valley. it is fresh and perfect for summer days. in a way i hoped the indigo would be just a little darker than the original, the night version as they say. i did try the new indigo on skin, to see if it was anything like the original, and found that it is not. it is not my cup of tea at all, least of all the boring ambery drydown.
Sorry you did not like it! It’s hard, I think, to do an evening version of an aquatic scent w/o making significant changes.
I copy a mini-review I posted when it launched:
“Dear Robin, I can report that I have tried the Kenzos here in Buenos Aires.
They are inoffensive enough, not nearly as lovely (for me) as the original eau.
The women’s seems nicer, very rounded IMHO, and the men’s smells a little anise-y to me, but soft. Think of it as the lovechild of l’eau par kenzo pour homme and Kenzo Air.
Anise is not one of my favorite notes in a perfume, but it is not too upfront.”
I see you didn not find anise. The original ‘eau for men is aquatic and has a weird effect for me: When I was a child, I loved grabbing the metal cap whenever someone opened a Coca Cola bottle (remember glass bottles, anyone?) the cap had a plastic lining inside, and I LOOOOVED the smell. Kenzo L’air pour homme smells like that to me. 🙂
P, thank you so much for posting that again! I would say that I find a bit of anise in the top notes of the men’s but only if I look for it, and the ginger is much more noticeable to me. I certainly prefer Kenzo Air to this, but since I do not like aquatics I’m guessing I like these better than the originals.
Can’t speak to the smell, but I loooooooooved the feel of that rubber! I remember playing with them too. LOL! Would never have remembered it w/o your post, so thanks for the little flashback. 🙂
That’s funny — I remember glass bottles, but not the rubber.
Shame. The rubber was almost velvety.
Yes, yes, I remember that, too! And I LOVE Coke in glass bottles; won’t drink it out of cans or plastic. Here in SoCal, we occasionallly get it in the glass bottles from Mexico, and when they turn up in the stores, I buy every single 6-pk!
Back when I lived in CA, Mexico was still using real sugar in their Coke, so it was SO much better than Coke in the US. Don’t know if they’ve switched to corn syrup by now though.
Just saw something in our local paper last week re: Mexican Coca-cola made with sugar – seems that due to the recent influx of Hispanics into the area, grocery stores have started carrying a greater range of made-in-Mexico food products, including Mexican-produced Coke with real sugar. Which wouldn’t be all that surprising if I lived in, say, Texas – but I’m in rural southwest Virginia.
Interesting — we have a very large Mexican population in our town, and substantial Mexican food aisles in all the local groceries. Will have to see if real old-fashioned Coke is there.
I live in San Diego, about 20 miles from the Mexican border, and our Costco stocks the Mexican coke in glass bottles. Love that velvety rubber lining of the cap too! 🙂
I tried ‘Eau par Kenzo for Men and couldn’t get past that initial sweet smell of sugar and lemons, reminiscent of Minute Maid lemonade… Decidedly unpleasant, I thought.
The Eau Indigo is not very lemony, so must be quite different.
so far the entire line of Kenzo has been quite nice smelling if not amazing or ground breaking. I’d like to try these both if I got the chance.
Yes, I think that’s about right. They’re not generally ground-breaking, but they do a really good job & don’t cost a fortune & are easily found.
Thanks for this review. I tried both briefly at Vancouver airport recently and was very taken with the homme version, probably because of the ginger note. The femme didn’t grab me but I only tried them on paper and promptly lost those items so didn’t get the dry down. I thought they were up to the usual Kenzo good standards inc. packaging but I’m looking forward to trying the new travel one (Madagascar?) when I next hit duty free!
Yes, on my first try I thought the men’s blew away the women’s too!
I would like to try Madagasgar as well…but am never in duty free so there goes that.
I did try both.
Indigo smells on me remarcably similar to Aroma Calme by Lancome, a now discountinued body spray in the family of Aroma Tonic and Aroma Fit. It has an autumnal feel to it and frankly brings to mind Johnson & Johnson baby product for a good night’s sleep.
Maybe because of the lilac color, equally found in the Aroma Calm and J&J. It put me to sleep. Not purchase-worthy, too mild and sleep-inducing for a day fragrance and too strong for a good night fragrance.
Kenzo Amour Eau Florale is a fragrance I was on the verge of purchasing. It is light, white, flowery and milky and reminded me of essence by narciso rodriguez without the metallic screech. It does not develop too much and once the top frangipani note is gone, it fails to hold interest. I think it will sell well.
I was a huge fan of L’Eau Par Kenzo, it’s been my summer fragrance for years.
Thanks — I will have to venture into the mall for the Amour, that sounds like it could be worth having.
L’Eau Par Kenzo Pour Homme was my first ever fragrance. Simply put, I loved it. It was the perfect summer fragrance for tropical Singapore, succulent and fresh and slightly sweet, and I loved how it reminded me of fizzy lemonade. My only gripe was with its fleeting lasting power.
Then L’Eau Par Kenzo Eau Indigo Pour Homme came along. My god was this updated version sexy as! I literally could not stop smelling myself; it was that *good*. And it now lasts considerably longer too.
Glad you love it!
I tried it, but it turned out to be not mine at all…
I just don’t love it. And recently discovered Naomi Campbell’s latest Cat Deluxe flanker and it was similar to Indigo only fruitier. Hm.. that’s on my skin.
Ah well, plenty of others out there…
Bit late to post, as have been on holiday, but I LOVE this one, and am grateful to Memechose for the tip off that it would be nice on me. I do find it sensual, and faintly powdery, and a bit citrussy and a bit sweet and ambery woody. I could almost call it fluffy, but don’t wish in any way to suggest that this is childish or like candyfloss! It is not as fluffy/gourmand as Amarige Mariage, for example.
I love the one pour femme, if that is not obvious… : – )
Kenzo Amour L’Eau Florale was a crashing disappointment, on the other hand – a banal fruity floral that is quite out of character for, and unworthy of, the house of Kenzo. I had to try it twice to make sure I wasn’t dreaming the first time!
Glad you loved the Pour Femme! Agree it is not candyfloss at all — fluffy is the perfect description. Sorry to hear about the Amour, which I haven”t tried yet 🙁
These both sound worthy of a whiff!
Robin, have you ever smelled/reviewed Jungle by Kenzo? One of their more unique offerings, but not one you’re likely to enjoy, I suspect. 😉
I like the dry down of Jungle Tigre but not the opening. Have never smelled the Elephant one. Erin talks about Jungle Tigre here:
https://nstperfume.com/2008/01/29/5-perfumes-for-the-winter-blues/
My grandparents lived on a ranch in Selma, CA. My grandmother wore Blue Carnation perfume and I remember how good it smelled. When we stayed at her house during the summer, she would spray our sheets with the perfume. She was the ultimate hostess in Selma. Her clubs would come to her home and her granddaughters would help serve them lunch. It seemed she always had a litter of kittens at her home when we visited. We would dress them in doll clothes and wrap them in a blanket and take them with us when she went to town for errands. Once she had ordered some seeds for her garden and one of them was growing much taller than the others. One day the meter man was over and told her she had to get rid of it. He said it was a marijuana plant. She was shocked! I have many memories of her and my grandfather, and many funny stories to tell, but I really miss her Blue Carnation perfume
Great story, thanks!