Ineke Chemical Bonding
Just bite the sour apple
When I first heard the name Chemical Bonding I was a bit put off by its name. Bonding and chemical sound a bit sterile to me. The image I get is a chemical lab not the romantic idea of two people bonding. Chemical Bonding is based on two people bonding and alchemy as well. Chemical Bonding was launched in 2006.
I bought Ineke’s beautiful Deluxe Sample Collection Set with all of Ineke’s 7 perfumes. One of the samples was Chemical Bonding. The discovery set is an excellent way to get introduced to her whole collection. All of Ineke’s perfumes are categorized by alphabet, an abecedary as Ineke calls it herself. Ineke Ruhland has her own small perfume house in San Francisco.
When I first scented Chemical Bonding I did not like its opening note. It was (and still is) too harsh and loud for me. It smells like sour citrus. Ineke calls it a citrus cocktail herself. Or it could be the tea note in the beginning as I do not like tea perfumes, such as Bvlgari Eau Parfumee au The Vert or Bvlgari Eau Parfumee au The Blanc. After this loud sour citrus burst, surprisingly I got a more mellow clean musky base. Very pleasant and fresh. In Dutch you have a saying to bite through the sour apple to get something nice afterwards. In English the saying is to bite the bullit. It is like this in Chemical Bonding, after the sour part the really nice part of the perfume starts to kick in !
The principle of Chemical Bonding of two opposites attracting can be found within this perfume in the citrus and the more clean mellow musk. I found this quite interesting. The Fragrantica website classifies Chemical Bonding as a floral fruity and Michael Edwards as a crisp citrus fruity. Personally I would classify it as a musky citrus.
Some find Chemical Bonding too mainstream and in general reactions are mixed. Personally I prefer to wear Chemical Bonding on a hot day. On these days it works best on my skin. It smells even better sprayed on clothing. Chemical Bonding will not end up in my top 10 list but I like to wear it from time to time in summer.
Ineke Ruhland just introduced a new perfume to her abecedary, H Hothouse Flower. This based is based on gardenia, one of my favorite flower scents in perfume. I really look forward to trying her interpretation of the gardenia flower.
Notes according to Ineke leaflet with Discovery Box and website:
Top: smooth citrus cocktail, tea, blackberry
Middle: dewy peony
Base: vetiver, amber, powdery musk
Longevity: very good for a citrus, several hours
Sillage: stays quite close to my skin
Origin of sample: my own
Photograph: my own
Originally published July 27th, 2012
Update November 26th, 2014
Youtube: Chemical Bonding by Ineke Ruhland