It has been a while since I posted anything in this series. Mostly because I stopped testing perfumes or collecting samples by specific note. But I just happen to accumulate several perfumes with (supposedly) prominent mango note, so I decided to resurrect the topic.

Mango is my favorite fruit. I read that there are several hundreds of different cultivars. Of course, I haven’t tried even a tenth of them, but among those I’ve tried, the best were the mangos I ate in Hawaii. I don’t know the names of those varieties since we bought them at farmers’ markets where they were sold as “mango” – that’s it. But they were fantastic!

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As I was selecting perfumes for my trip to Hawaii at the end of September, I was licking my lips thinking of the mangos I would be eating soon and picturing setups I’d use to take photos of my latest mango-centric perfume, Mango Thai Lime by Jo Loves.

I don’t know how this year was different from previous times we vacationed there, but for whatever reason we didn’t see any mangos at the farmers markets we visited. We managed to find two ripened local mangos at a grocery shop on the last day on the island. We ate them at the airport before going into the departure zone (it is not allowed to bring any fruits or vegetables from Hawaii to the mainland), so no photos happened that day. What about the perfume?

Mango Thai Lime (Notes: mango, lime, black pepper, mint, freesia, vetiver and thyme) starts with a burst of juicy mango, sweetness of which is calmed down by the astringent lime. Fruits are realistic but perfume-y enough to serve as a personal scent. I liked it and enjoyed wearing it, but it becomes a whisper quickly and then goes into nothing within an hour. I will gladly wear the decant I got with my SceentBird subscription, but I won’t be adding a bottle to my collection.

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The second-best is Keitt mango. The interesting fact is that they stay green even when they are perfectly ripe. In California, they are usually available for a month or two in August-September. I always look forward to getting them. As a consolation prize, we were still able to buy several Keitt mangos after returning from the vacation.

My next choice is the so-called Asian mango (I suspect we get different varietals that all are passed under this name). It can be quite tasty. But it is especially good in mango salsa.

I have a favorite meal that I periodically serve for small parties at our place: fried salmon filet with wild rice (or rice medley) and mango salsa. For years, I used store-bought salsa, and it was quite good. But one time when I couldn’t find it in stores, I thought, “How hard can it be?” The result exceeded all my expectations: homemade mango salsa is so fragrant and flavorful that every time I eat it I dream about perfume that would smell how it tastes. For those of you who want to try (and have access to the ingredients), here’s the recipe that I use:

• 3 ripe mangos, diced (I do it with Asian mangos, but any varietal would do – just make sure that they are not too ripe)
• 1 medium red bell pepper, chopped
• ½ cup chopped red onion
• ¼ cup packed fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
• 1 jalapeño, seeded and minced
• 1 large lime, juiced (about ¼ cup lime juice)
• ⅛ to ¼ teaspoon salt, to taste

My least favorite is Kent, the mango variety available in our supermarkets all year round. I don’t buy them any longer because those seem like the wrong rate of calories to taste.

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My favorite mango perfume is Bombay Bling! by Neela Vermiere Creations. I still have some left in the bottle I bought ten years ago in Paris, and I still think it’s amazing – as long as I don’t try to wear it in tropical weather where it disappears too quickly to warrant its place in the travel wardrobe. But in cooler weather or a well-air-conditioned environment, it is such a bright and happy perfume! It makes me smile every time I wear it.

I tried several other perfumes with a mango note.

House Of Sillage Hauts Bijoux (Notes: mango, black currant, grapefruit, Karo Karounde, iris, heliotrope, vanilla, amber and cedarwood) has a lot of fruitiness in the opening: it starts with a lovely mango note joined by black currant. Hot weather suits it well, and it is quite pleasant in development. Hauts Bijoux is harsher than Mango Skin but still nice. The downside is that it is fleeting, which is unacceptable for such an expensive perfume.

Pierre Guillaume Paris Manguier Metisse (Notes: frangipani, sugar, mango, fruity notes, powdery notes, tea and woody notes) opens with candied frangipani and some fruit. I’m not sure I can smell mango. I think it smelled differently years ago when it was in a white bottle. Today it’s too sweet for me, and I don’t think I would want to wear it.

Heretic Parfums Dirty Mango (Notes: mandarin orange, lemon, mango, geranium, musk and white woods) is nice for the first 5 minutes. Then mango disappears. It’s not too interesting. And it’s not tenacious. I’m done testing it, and I won’t need more.

Vilhelm Parfumerie Mango Skin (Notes: mango, blackberry, black pepper, lotus, jasmine, iris, vanilla, icing pink and patchouli) opens with a mango scent that isn’t bursting juicy but somewhat muted, powdered… which probably comes from the iris. It is much more beautiful on my skin in hot weather than when it’s cooler. Mango Skin smells smooth, almost creamy. I don’t need more perfume now, but if I finish the sample I have, I might consider a travel bottle of it.

So, while I have one favorite mango-centric perfume and found one more that I might enjoy wearing, in general, it seems I have a better luck eating mango than finding one to wear.

Do you know any interesting mango perfumes?

Images: my own