Indigo Nest 2014

Buy this secondhand if you can; Nest is owned by a member of Autism Speaks' board of directors, and as an autistic individual I cannot in good conscience support this company monetarily due to their treatment of autism like it's a terminal illness. I am a person with a disability, not someone in need of a "cure". If you're gonna buy Nest do it secondhand, and if you're looking for something that smells like it try Blackberry and Bay by Jo Malone.

This perfume smells nice. What else is there to say? I could not be more bored by the fruity sweet composition of figs and the (unlisted) blackberry. Yes, there is some kind of woody musk, but it smells like a BILLION other perfumes out there. "Nothing to say" is the worst compliment any perfume can receive in my mind.

I grabbed this some months ago while on a trip and was immediately drawn to Sephora describing it as a "cool spicy" scent. I'm drawn to spicy scents in general, but warm spice fragrances often disappoint me -- too deeply sweet, too overwhelming, too warm.

Indigo is not any of the above. It starts out sharp on application, almost like taking in a deep breath of cold air, as the bergamot very easily takes the lead with the the cardamom not far behind. The dry-down comes quickly after, where the fresh green tea notes settle in, and where the sweetness of the fig rounds down some of the initial sharpness without extinguishing it completely, and without the scent becoming overly sweet itself. The balance held between the sweet green and sharp spice keeps bringing me back to this perfume. I just love it, plain and simple. It lasts on clothes forever, too; on skin, it fades completely after about six hours of wear.

To me this smells like I’m stirring a spoon of fig jam into a black tea that has now cooled to room temperature. It’s cozy with a distinctly “cool” undertone and dry down like the cooler and silkier side of a fleece blanket. The very jammy opening is more prominent to me in hot weather, whereas the opening in colder temperatures smells more green and fresh.

I tend to wear 2 sprays of this and get about 6 hours of longevity, but at that point it’s long become a fresh woodsy scent that I can only smell when I bring my arm up to sniff. It does tend to stick around for a few days on the cuffs of my sweaters and jackets though. Sometimes I go to bed with this beside me because I want to smell it but don’t want to waste a spray lol.

I purchased a 50ml bottle of this at 40% off when Sephora was clearing out the old packaging (and in my opinion the prettier bottle, so it was a double win for me). Nest perfumes were apparently inspired by artist Mary Delany and her incredible paper tissue mosaics, which I think is reflected really well in the old bottle with the textured botanical art, but the new bottle design looks too flat and modern for my taste.

If I were to finish the bottle, I would absolutely try to buy another one second hand due to Nest’s association with autism speaks.

Got a travel-sized vial and used it until it was bone dry, but I don’t think I’ll be planning on a repurchase. Indigo has great potential. Sticky figs, bergamot oil, inky black tea, cassis compote. A darker, jammier Dear Polly... but it's spoiled by this sinus-stinging spice. It’s some lab-grown cardamom, the Epcot idea of a souk, which cheapens the overall mystique, like a synth solo in the middle of a symphony orchestra. I don't want to use the c-word, but I will. Indigo is cloying. Which is a real shame, for she otherwise might have been signature-tier for me.

Mental Snapshot: A psychic savant, by the name of Miss Indigo. A true modern Cassandra, the Oracle Herself, voice of the divines. Tarot, palm-reading, tea leaves. Unfortunately, she can only be found on daytime television in a purple sequin jumpsuit, predicting celebrity breakups.

tl;dr: a Yankee Candle called something like "Midnight in Alhambra"