Beauty Care: Oriza L. Legrand Empire des Indes Perfume Review

Oriza L. Legrand Empire des Indes Eau de Parfum is a spiced, amber-vanilla with floral, almond, and resinous facets that is heady without being intensely smoky and woody for the majority of its wear. There was subtle, more incense-like smokiness that flitted in the background but well-woven with the other notes, while the woodiness was smooth, creamy, and strongest in the drydown. The fragrance was sweetly vanilla but spiced and dosed with plenty of amber, benzoin, and myrrh that that it didn’t come across as cake-like vanilla.

Empire des Indes Notes

top notes: Ginger & Bergamot
heart notes: Heliotrope, Nag Champa flower and Tolu balm.
base notes: Benzoin, Sandalwood & Opoponax.

What does Empire des Indes Smell Like?

It opened with the bite of spiced ginger, lightly candied and toasted almonds, and a whisper of bergamot at the end of an inhale. There was a balsamic, heady and spiced vanilla from the tolu balsam married with the heliotrope, which gave an illusion of candied almonds served on a soft, breezy cloud. In the first few minutes of wear, there was a subtle floralcy throughout the scent before it grew warmer, denser, and spicier with thicker, more resinous and amber-like facets.

A dark, rich honey oozed in at the 20-minute mark, which added a bit more floralcy while giving the scent a heavier, thicker, and deeper sweet note. The sense of sweet and spiced amber laced with spiced vanilla dominated with everything else a facet, so sometimes it was more gingered, other times almost nutty, and then occasionally, lemon and honeyed.

There were tendrils of smoky incense and smooth sandalwood that emerged after an hour or so of development. Some of the floracy died back, but it came and went, in waves for the first four hours overall. As the smoky and woody facets filtered through, the fragrance became slightly less vanillic, a little nuttier and caramelized. From the second hour through the sixth hour, it sometimes came across as more ambered, other times darker and more resinous with less spice and smokiness. It seemed to get more caramel-like and less vanillic toward the dry down, especially as the woodiness became more apparent in the base.

Longevity

It lasted for eight hours until it was a skin-scent and about 16 hours before it was quite difficult to detect on my skin. The sillage and projection were moderate with the sillage dropping faster than the projection within three hours of wear.

Personal Notes

Based on a friend’s review of the scent and the list of notes, it seemed like a surefire winner for me, personally, which is why I ended up going for a full bottle from the get-go. (Note: this is a bad idea, typically, and my friend absolutely side-eyes me if I do, but she’s usually on the nose for recs!) The floralcy made it a little less like other ambery scents I have and already love! I also liked how much sweet myrrh was in it for the first half of wear.

These are more subjective feelings based on what I like (or don’t like) in a perfume as well as considering the fragrance against other perfumes I own and love.

Testing Methodology

For testing, I used two sprays to underside of my wrist and forearm. I used an unscented moisturizer prior to applying the scent as I found scent did not hold well here otherwise.

I purchased my bottle in June 2022; fragrances are known to be reformulated over their lifetime, so be mindful of when a review was made, e.g. a review from 2010 may not reflect what the same-named perfume smells like in 2022.

Availability

Empire des Indes is available for $165.00/100ml.

If possible, I highly recommend trying a fragrance before purchasing a full bottle because fragrance can wear differently just because of skin chemistry. Skin chemistry can effect not just the longevity of a fragrance but also what notes are prominent or hidden.

Empire des Indes Samples

We recommend the following retailers for purchasing decanted samples (typically 0.7ml to 2ml in size). This is a fuller list, so individual availability may depend on inventory.