Pho Breakfast d'Annam 2023

Herby, smooth, and feather-light, not quite savory but certainly dry, this scent is absolutely an idealized pho breakfast taken before the day has gotten too hot, with a breeze running through your hair. Maybe you're making influencer content as you eat, a hazy filter employed over quiet visuals with a Ghibli track playing as your background. Maybe you're reading a newspaper and don't even /have/ TikTok on your phone but you're beautiful, at any rate, and people would watch you if you did. That's how this feels.

Contrasting this with d.grayi's Pho-Gere is really interesting, by the way. That's a punchier, deeper, warmer scent that evokes more of a full-bodied broth in its savoriness. I feel like Pho-Gere is a more photorealistic pho, but, for what it's worth, all my Vietnamese friends thought Pho Breakfast was more "accurate". Maybe it's the more romanticized version of their memories, and I certainly understand the appeal there.

I thought this would be more savoury and gourmand, but having worked my way through both sets, I'd say the perfumer's taste leans more refined than photorealistic. In light of that, I understand how we got here, but I'd really have liked something that reminded me of pho at all. This is very much a fresh fragrance, heavy on basil and bright zingy ginger, light on anise, which I would like a lot more of. It's very herbal, very perfumey, a little soapy. I would never smell this and think of pho, and it's not my favourite of the d'Annams, but this would be a very safe wear basically anytime and especially in the summer.

This fragrance is a surprising performer considering that it's an aromatic. The opening and heart are dominated by herby notes, namely the combination of coriander and basil. It definitely evokes the side bag of herbs you get with an order of takeout pho; the bean sprouts, jalapenos, and stalks of herbs. The ginger starts to poke out as the fragrance sits, as well as a bit of depth from the cardamom or cedarwood base notes. I see a lot of reviews that call this an interesting fragrance but not one that could actually be worn, but I disagree; I'd definitely wear this one around.

My one comment would be about the bottle. While I absolutely love its design, d'Annam packaging has leaked on me before due to the lack of cushioning inside their boxes and the round, slippery bottle. so fair warning to anyone getting this fragrance shipped to them.

there's bright, sparkling notes of cilantro, basil, and lime that feel as if they are being chopped and squeezed into a fresh bowl of pho

disappointing longevity but i guess that makes sense since the scent profile is light; i do think the name matches well for this fragrance though because it really smelled like all the toppings on a bowl of pho, but at the same time it felt so bright it was kind of hard to imagine a hot bowl of pho since the scent profile leans cold

date tested: 260820; size: 2 ml

first spritz: basil and citrus forward opening; it smells like a bag of fresh herbs; very green and bright and at the same time savory; it really does remind me of pho, specifically the toppings and the noodles but not really the soup

two hrs later: light projection for the former hour but it's already barely there on my forearm but still there on the inside of my elbow; i can smell the basil, cilantro, something minty? probably the patchouli, and a little bit of the orange; i can imagine the bowl of pho, this time mainly the toppings and the seasoned soup, i think because there's something the slightest bit salty about it like it reminds me of a pinch of salt and something that's the slightest bit spicy so maybe that's the star anise and ginger lingering

four hrs later: disappeared on forearm and still slightly there on the inside of my elbow; more fresh and less savory; it mainly smells like a handful of cilantro

six hrs later: the absolute slightest hints of patchouli on the inside of my elbow and nothing else

eight hrs later: scent disappeared

Pho Breakfast definitely has all the ingredients of pho minus the oily, salty chicken and fish sauce. So it`s cool, fresh, and savory, but it is only an approximation of the Vietnamese soup. Is that a bad thing? Personally, I`d rather not smell like fish sauce, but that`s just me. The perfumer has selected the best ingredients to create an artistic impression of the most pleasing facets of the famous dish. Pho Breakfast is zesty, zingy, green and citrusy. It`s a fragrance that can be worn easily by anyone.