Chinatown Bond No 9 for women and men

Sweet, sexy well spiced Oriental. Sensual and niche gorgeous skin scent buy it for the dry down very unusual. Like most Bond 9's this smells very downtown NYC to me (which is also where Chinatown is). 9.5/10.

If you spray this as a man.
Put on a Bra.

9/10 For women
0/10 Men

Cinnamon-stewed stone fruits
Hot-plastic peach marmalade
A waxy tuberose, encrusted in Chinese five-spice crystals
Persicol, chai, incense

Fantastic!

(See update at bottom of this review)

After years of being curious about this oft noted frag, i finally sampled it.

I love Kenzo l elephant, which is the closest perfume i can think of to chinatown. There are striking similarities in the notes, structure, and the finished scents. They truly do smell similar.

But so far, to me, Chinatown just smells like a very poor dupe or inspiration of Elephant. And weaker.

I was extremely excited about the peach notes with the spices, but the peach note (yes, i know, its the flower here, not the fruit) is too subtle. I wanted more fruitiness and a more dramatic contrast. A more powerful and tart peach note would have made this perfume far more exciting (i have long owned a dupe oil of chinatown and the peach is sweet, tart, big and juicy in the dupe oil… i much prefer the dupe to the real deal)

Almost all i can smell is cardamon, frankly.

I will say, however, this does smell intriguingly milky, like the reviewer mentioned below, and to me it comes across as the scent of milk in tea.
I do indeed find this aspect of Chinatown addicting. Chai tea appeal.

I have a piece of fabric ive sprayed with chinatown, and then layered Fancy Love (peach blossom/musk/creamy effervescent vanilla) over it to experiment and find out if this combo will amp the peach to my liking.

The jury is still out. I will let it sit for awhile before smelling it.

But so far, my advice is: Go with Kenzo LElephant if you want something like this, which has a powerful mango peach contrasting the spiciness, and far more depth altogether.

I have several Bonds, all of which i really love, and all of which i find notably unique and worthy of a niche brand, but Chinatown is (for now) a disappointment.

Bond gets a lot of criticism but i really love ILNYFH, Saks, and CPW.

Update:

Okay now i am starting to find the actual independent character of this fragrance without the Kenzo elephant association.

I am finally aware of the white floral that is Chinatown (elephant also incorporates white florals, but they are background players in that fragrance, whereas here, they are central) …. I also pick up some sweetness (i didn't find it sweet at all a few days ago. All i could smell clearly was lots of cardamon, an undefined milkiness, and some mild patchouli, really)

However, i am still dearly missing the strong sweet-and-tart peach note i was hoping for.

Also, not as powerful or projecting as i wish, and i dont smell it on my skin after four hours. Enormous negative on that count.

smells like warm milk & honey, christmas, patchouli vibes. i typically like warm & sweet gourmand scents & i like this scent. the patchouli makes it debatable of whether its too matronly of a scent or not for someone younger. some days i love it, some days i think i smell like an old lady, try it & decide for yourself. this scent is not for men.

Let me paint you a picture.
It's 2005, you just got done with school and you walk to the mall with your friends to smell everything at the perfume counter. Your mom is working, and she won't be off for a bit so you head to your grandma's house after saying goodbye to your friends. At your grandma's, she makes you a quick snack and you sit on her starchy floral couch watching old reruns of Roseanne on the big chunky TV. It's so hot outside, and your grandma's old fan churns away trying to keep you cool. Your mom calls on the landline to let you know she's coming to pick you up. You get your homework done, and when you go to bed, you can still smell the perfume counter on your skin, along with the fabric of your grandma's couch.

That's exactly how this perfume smells. It's floral, woody, nostalgic, mature, a little spicy, and smells like the mall in its heyday. It has 100% been reformulated throughout the years. I purchased a brand new vial of it last year, as well as an original mini splash bottle from 2005. The new one smells MUCH more patchouli and spice forward and is sharper. The original smells more soft-spicy floral. The old one also has a lot more clarity in the notes, because if you sit and sniff it while looking at the notes, you can pick each one out. The new one is blended down pretty heavy, and the notes are muddled. The best way I could distinguish the two apart is by saying the new one smells modern, like it belongs in the 2020s. The old one smells like the mid-2000s, with low-rise jeans and thick orange makeup.

I miss you Megan, I hope you're doing well and still wearing Chinatown. I won't ever forget you.

An unexpected love. Please understand I’m a bond no 9 hater and I will say it loud and say it proud lol. I find all their perfumes to be overpriced synthetic messes but this one is actually really nice.

I’ve just finished a 10ml decant of this & it is so nostalgic for me. It came out in 2005 when I was a kid wearing VS body sprays and Britney Spears perfumes at that time but this smell takes me back to the mall in the early 2000’s. I swear I must have smelled it there as I hung around the perfume counters often.

This is not a perfume for everyone, that I will say. It takes a little getting used to and perhaps my nostalgia with this scent profile is the reason for my love for it. I can see why some might see this as a quote “grandma perfume” because I do get a slight potpourri vibe in the opening but let it warm up on your skin and have an open mind. I think it transforms beautifully into a spicy ultra feminine floral fragrance and really I think it’s all about the wearer because I’ve gotten quite a few compliments on this.

Performance and projection are both great. Could easily fill the room if you go crazy on the trigger.

This will be the only bond I will have in my collection and that is just fine with me. The bottle aesthetic screams early 2000’s as well and just brings me happiness looking at it thinking back to my carefree childhood days. I’m back in my low rise jeans era and this perfume just fits perfectly into that vibe for me. I don’t know how often I will wear this but I don’t care because when I crave it, I want it badly and other times I’ll go months without wearing it because it can be too much some days. Quite the interesting one this is but either way, I must have it in my collection.

The person who said this was Bonds only hit was absolutely right. Bravo bond, you got me on this one.

Would love this as a signature scent but it is too pricey for me. I love the incense and really get cardamom. I agree with Katy Puckrik that it should be reasonably priced on Sephora and wearable at baseball games while eating hotdogs.
It reminds me of the gorgeous red bean buns from a Chinese bakery sold in London's Covent Garden.
It's a good fragrance to wear round the city in the summer when you are shopping round for clothes and records and then meeting friends to watch a film or go on to the theatre. It has the buzz of a long summer day out when you happily go from one exciting place after another and meeting friends.
A perfume to be busy to.
It is a good dupe for Robert Piguet's Alameda though the latter has a heavier dose of patchouli.
Dreamy!

Ultra-feminine-borderline-bubblegum tuberose. Can't possibly see a man pulling this off, and this is coming from one that considers Gentle Fluidity Gold and Soleil Neige unisex fragrances.
I had sampled this before in stores and the spiciness was more prominent. Recently bought a legitimate sample and didn't get any spices, just tuberose and vanilla. It feels tired and definitely from the early 2000's.
Sample before you buy.

It’s okay. Chinatown is nothing special to my nose. Seems like a stuffy and boring white floral. I found this to be quite flat and uninspiring. It doesn’t smell bad, just doesn’t seem like an original work of art.

Stunning, creamy tuberose-based white floral scent but not impressive enough for the price

Chinatown is a pure and sophisticated concoction celebrating the innocent beauty of Chinese florals. A fantasy note of peach blossom leads the way upon initial spray, which is soft and creamy with a surge of soapiness.

This clean, indolic white floral effect is supercharged by the addition of peony and orange blossom. From here, tuberose provides a thick and waxy effect whilst gardenia offers gentle green touches in the background. The base consists of a smooth, creamy and sweet woodiness from vanilla and sandalwood, whilst cardamom adds a warming fuzzy effect.

I’m not a huge fan of fragrances which focus so much on white florals, but if I was then this would definitely be a must have. The quality is fantastic and the overall scent is very enjoyable, just personally not my style.

Wearing this tonight. To me it's sweet lactonic spices with a cedarwood base. I don't get peach blossoms or citrus at all.

Not an office scent. But I love it in autumnal/winter nights. Spray low and conservatively.

This is the ONLY good perfume that Bond 9 makes . The rest are all garbage. The whole house is one big mess of weak crappy boring skin scents, overpriced crap too . Except for this one. They got lucky. Once. I don’t see it ever happening again.

The notes of Chinatown gave me such high hopes. The thought of adding peach blossoms to a sweet tuberose paired with creamy sandalwood and vanilla sounded absolutely delicious. Unfortunately, the combination, on my skin, becomes musty and matronly. It is a very mature scent and a cloying one. There's something about it that reminds me of the smell of vintage makeup. I have not yet found a way to under-spray this fragrance, because even a single spray envelopes me completely.

I would never wear this fragrance, for myself, but I don't hate it, either. It's very nostalgic to me. I can imagine it on a lot of women from my childhood. I would not dislike smelling this on someone else, sitting across from me.

If I close my eyes and imagine where I would smell Chinatown, I can picture myself opening a very old, wooden jewelry box lined with red velvet that had been forgotten in some relative's bedroom for many years. She might have kept some personal mementos in it along with vintage costume jewelry, some old lipsticks, a corsage. This would be what the inside of that jewelry box would smell like.

I haven't tried the juice, but what a pretty bottle!

Umm… thinking …. Umm I really don’t know where to start. I have a love and dislike for this. I even brought the oil because it went away after 2 1/2 hours of wear. The oil did help. But umm… yeah I won’t reach for this much.

When I wear this, sometimes it gives me youthful upbeat vibe, and sometimes it gives me rich aunty vibe. I could be head-over-heels for this scent one day and the next day I couldn't wear it cuz it was too cloying and exhausting. I don't know why. This thing is a vehicle and I'm on this strange ride. I would still give this a solid like tho.

Very mature. Very sweet. Cloying if oversprayed. Well done and smooth but I didn’t feel like myself wearing it. It definitely wore me. It reminds me of someone or something, but I have yet to make the connection.

Unique tuberose, cardamom, peach and vanilla concoction. Very mature on a woman, and daring on a man. Synthetically sweet, to that point that it seems sticky. Like melted sugar. Deep floral nuance. This smells like every sweet flower went through a blender. It’s nice!

Following Catalina Marie, I am wearing La Fumée Ottoman by Miller Harris layered with Chinatown by Bond No. 9. and consequently am prepared for the court of the Padishah Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV.

Gorgeous. Stunning. I just sit at my vanity and smell it sometimes. It’s feminine, sweet, creamy, and spicy. More mature in a I have my shit together way, not in an elderly way. I’ve been a white floral hater for a long time but this doesn’t smell like any other white floral fragrance I’ve ever experienced. There’s something very comforting and almost nostalgic about this. I’d recommend to anyone wanting to expand and mature their perfume taste to try a sample of this.

I might shock someone but to me this smells like an old wardrobe with some moth balls inside/wardrobe freshener. I think it's the white florals that give me that impression. It's definitely a pass.

I love layering Chinatown with La Fumee Ottoman by Miller Harris. To me the smoky incense and cumin of Ottoman works perfectly with the peachy floor wax (and incense-y) notes in Chinatown ... the alchemy turns Chinatown's flowers into a sort of spicy potpourri, and the resulting aroma gives cozy traditional Chinese shop vibes ... the lacquered wood shelves full of salves and teas and herbs and spices, incense lit in a corner, freshly waxed floors, dried wildflower and rose petals in porcelain dishes. It's really lovely.
⁝

A divine perfume that I am late to the party on. I get caramelised apricot/peach, incense, gardenia, perhaps tuberose and some incredible patchouli that keeps it chugging along all day. Wearing this I feel bright and comforted. The blossom motif on the bottle is a bit misleading to me, since when I think of blossom I think of a primarily floral note, whereas this is so much more than a floral. It surprises me to love this, because I had thought am not a fruity chypre person, and definitely not a gourmand lover (which to my nose this tends towards) but I suppose we all make exceptions. 10/10

It is a strong, sharp, floral scent with some incense. Some people are saying it is unisex but I disagree - it is overwhelmingly feminine. I don't know what I was thinking when I purchased this for myself but the woman who I sold it to afterwards seems to like it.

Interesting unsweetened floral that has an exotic incense dry down. The dry down is my favorite part of the fragrance. I can see this working as unisex. But at some point it reminded me of 1 million Paco Rabanne. One of the few from the line that I don’t like. I would still rock this. But it isn’t sexy unfortunately. You’ll end up smelling like an incense shop. Which I kinda like for some reason lol.

I got mine today and I like it. but i have to say they changed that fragrance alot. it does not smell like it used to. still nice but different from the fragrance i smelled 10 years ago.

This is a wonderful early spring perfume. I love the way it’s creamy floral and incense smelling. It’s so pretty! It has an excellent longevity and sillage. Beautiful scent and I will always have this in my collection. Bond No 9 makes some of the best fragrances they were one of my first niche house I owned many years ago, plus I live in NY so…..❤️!

Beautiful white flower fragrance with sandalwood base and slightly spicy accords. The fragrance is strong, quite sharp and unapologetic. Tuberose and gardenia are the most prominent notes for me. I am usually not a huge fan of tuberose, as I find it quite indolic and saturated, but here it's blended beautifully. To me it's similar to the Do Son tuberose or the one in Nuit de Tubereuse. Because the base lacks sweeter accords, I highly prefer Kilian Good Girl Gone Bad instead. The Kilian perfume makes a statement better, in my opinion, due to its slightly sexy semi-sweet and ambery undertones.

I bought this perfume gem because I saw it on Ariana Grande vanity. I’m glad I did.
This is very complex but beautiful perfume. When I first tried it in the store, reminded me of pink, sweet version of Opium. But this has changed.
This perfume has somewhat waxy smell, reminiscent of burning candles. This is very addictive an dreamy. It is also kinda candy sweet and boho chic and Asian. For me, this is feminine scent.

This was the 1st scent I tried from this house...It smells really good...it makes me think of big red chewing gum-
But this smells expensive though...I like to wear this with certain color polo shirts

This is one of the best-known of Bond No. 9 scents, and is a big favorite of Luca Turin, the most famous of all living perfume writers. I was surprised it is marketed to both men and women when I tried it on because it opens with a huge floral blast of peach-blossom and tuberose that seemed very feminine to me; but as it dried down, very quickly the floral notes receded and the whole thing became much more dominated by a pleasant accord of vanilla, spices, and woods (I very much agree with the idea from other reviewers that with those notes added to the peach blossom, this really smells like an East Asian tea store).

This still leans a little feminine to me, but I can see anyone wearing it if they really like it--and as Turin always says, chemical molecules don't have genitalia anyway.

One of my favorite bond scents. It just works perfectly with my skin, and really gives off unisex. The powdery aspect keeps it from going too far one way or the other while the sweet floral (I think it’s the tuberose) gives it that punch I like without trying too hard. Very nice lunch date smell to me

Very mature. Too mature for me but it's pretty for what it is. I'd say it's just ok. HEAVY on the floral honey incense vibes!

I am not a huge fan of so-called Orientals, but this one has enough floralcy to win me over. It’s so well-blended, though, that the transition from the strong floral interlude (featuring in particular the sometimes-sharp peony; a note that can be challenging for me to like) to the spice-laden middle section happens almost imperceptibly, like watching the sunset and hence not realizing exactly when it has become dark outside. Tbh the note pyramid above looks a little busy with flowers — I believe they’re in there, but for me there is no note-by-note detection. I smell gorgeous white florals of an indeterminate source, underscored by a peppery peony.

The cardamom/vanilla/sandalwood comes off more like sweet cinnamon to me. But start to finish, what stands out is a rounded, lactonic peach-creaminess. I find this to have decent sillage and staying power, even on skin.

I have worked backwards becoming a fan of Aurelien Guichard’s compositions by loving his perfumes first and later finding out that they were his works: Narciso, Narciso Poudree, Gucci Guilty, Chinatown. Still trying to figure out what the thread between all of these is, artistically speaking rather than just factually, but there’s definitely something…

Hmmm… it’s a very comforting scent to me. I like bergamot and the opening note was great. Almost made me want to sleep. However, the middle notes to the dry down was a whole different story. The tuberose, patchouli and gardenia combo gave this a grandma vibe. Good thing I got myself a tester first before going for the FB.

This is a sweet spicy sandalwood scent with a powdery woody dry down. Unisex. Makes me think of mulled wine at Christmas. It reminds me a lot of one of the LUSH Christmas bath bombs. It is pleasant but I think it is more of a candle scent than a perfume. Defiantly not worth the price.

Personally I get so much peach from this. Not a flower that will someday give way to a peach, but actual peach and more than just a hint. The cardamom is pretty distinct too and combines well with the peach. I’d really like to smell this side by side with Tom Ford Bitter Peach.

I’ll edit this later if this grows on me more with time which is VERY possible. But for now I’d say this isn’t “I can’t stop sniffing my wrist” good and maybe because it’s missing something to make it more interesting.

Chinatown can easily be pinned as an “old lady” perfume because of the musk, vanilla, floral and patchouli but please be open minded! Depending on how your nose interprets the vanilla and spiciness, this is sweet. This can be worn year round however I bet this shines in cooler winter weather.

I really do like alot of the Bond no 9 frags but this one missed the mark for me...I think its the sweet and spicy that was not my taste. Notes listed of cedar and cardamom came forward for me first with a hint of peach and orange blossoms --- but not enough to suit my taste .

I get mostly cardamom, softed by a hint of floral, but spicy to my nose.

Note For Myself:

Smelled Wonderful On Paper, Very Mature Smelling On Skin.

Absolutely in love with how different and spicy this is. Looking to buy a bottle in the US

I smelled this all the way back in 2005, apparently right after it came out. I remember a soft, expensive smelling blend of white florals. I bought a sample of the current one because I was curious how much it had changed over a decade and a half, and I was completely surprised by the spice, incense notes that I don't remember from the original at all. I'm going to sample it a few more times, but at this point, I'd go as far as to say that the spiciness is completely dominating the white floral. I'm not sure about the blend, honestly it smells as if someone took Hanae Mori and dropped a bomb of spice all over it. I'm honestly on the fence.

For me, this is peach blossom-centric with a dollop of other white florals. I do not get any of the spices described by other reviewers! I love the prettiness of this scent, but I wish it were stronger. Did I get a weird batch?

I had such high hopes for this one, based on the YouTube reviews. I'm getting anise and cardamon. I'd like to smell the tuberose and gardenia but I don't. I can see how some would love this and how it would make a great signature scent. Hard pass for me though.

Aptly named, reminds me of the tea section of the Asian supermarket near my house. I believe I am smelling anise in addition to the cardamom.

Dries down more incense-y, and like someone else mentioned, somewhat reminiscent of Opium (nowhere near a dupe, just the same kinda "genre" of scent.)

There is a gentle sweetness throughout but I don't necessarily get tuberose/florals in general.

Well made but not my thing like I thought it would be.

Edit: I realized another thing it reminded me of! Five Spice! (cinnamon, clove, fennel, star anise and peppercorn)

The top notes were pleasant for a few minutes but then I got incense and it dried down to Opium. Not my cup of tea at all. and the incense wouldn't stop. If you like Opium you may like this as a variant.

Edit 8/2/22 - I tried this again and got a completely different take of it being more floral with spice and not for hot weather wearing. I think I need to try it again in other seasons. I'm beginning to suspect my Eucerin fragrance free lotions, both the regular and the one with sunscreen are making some of my fragrances skew towards having a sunscreen tinge. I will retest again later, on bare and over a couple of different unscented body lotions.

This gives me the sunscreen vibe. Very subtle white floral with a nice wood base and a touch of creaminess and spice. No one element is overwhelming, which is a plus. I don't get a surplus of cinnamon, incense, or cardamom. I'm fairly sensitive about cinnamon being dominant if it's not of good quality. I feel this is well blended and balanced. Seems to resemble a more complex version of Elizabeth Arden's Mediterranean.

A masterpiece in my opinion. Creamy, spicy, sweet, incense-y with hints of gardenia and wood notes.
If I absolutely had to describe what I smell I would say cinnamon incense spilled over a cup of sweetened milk.
Such a unique and adult scent. Complex and well blended, it is difficult to pinpoint solely one note.
It gets me compliments every time I wear it.

This smells like straight up incense to me. I know it’s not in the notes. But it’s a powdery burnt wood smell that can only be described as incense. If you’ve ever walked into a Chinese store where they sell Asian style trinkets, then you know the smell I’m talking about, and that’s what this smells like.

I have no idea who I would recommend this to. I guess if you love the smell of incense and would like that on your skin go for it. I get nothing else from this perfume. It’s linear too. I have no idea why I bought this.

Too many florals for me and not very interesting on my skin. From Bond no 9, nothing has compared with the beauty of I Love NY for all. I will still search for another favorite since they have so much variety, but that one is the bomb forever.

Bond no. 9 Chinatown (2005) - vanilla chypre - This marvel of perfumery by #aurelienguichard shows multiple faces. First, a leather chypre, made creamy with Vanilla. Second, a beautiful fruity white floral accord: Jasmine, Tuberose, Orange blossom. Last is a spicy aromatic accord with Cardamom. As one, it work as a Vanillic Chypre filled with nuances of leather and fresh green notes that give it depth. If you see a bottle, buy it!

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I loved the opening! Sweet, tart, fruity candied creamy floral. Smelled like it had cinnamon in it. Regardless, the cardamom made it interesting in the blend.

But then it dried down to a generic sweet tart candy smell, similar to many mainstream fragrances along these lines. Not sure where the Chinatown comes in, but it doesn’t smell like any Chinatown I’ve been to.

7/10-great opening, but nothing special after, low projection and longevity. Would not repurchase.

Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown.

It doesn't smell what I thought it would smell like. This perfume smells like baked goods, like apple and cinnamon as stated by someone below. There are other scents that I love from bond. I expected this to have a more oriental sort of smell, perhaps something with osmanthus/mate or something a little more refreshing. It kind of smells like a cinnamon croissant. I however love Bond's Nolia, Greenwich Village Astor place, Coney island, scent of peace her, Bond no 9 original, New york nights, Wall st, Sutton place and more.

Such a unique fragrance. It’s sexy and mysterious. I love the combinations of different scents.

I’m normally just a fruity musk/wood type of gal and don’t go for heavier floral/oriental but I love this. It’s creamy and spicy but has enough floral and some fruit to be so pleasant. I love wearing in the winter/

My Mother has never been into fragrance and I don't ever remember her wearing perfume. As a child, I remember she had one bottle of perfume that sat atop her dresser - Tabu, in a glorious art-deco style bottle. She always spoke of liking that fragrance but I don't ever remember her actually wearing it. The only scent that I associate with her is baby powder scented Secret deoderant, something she's still faithful to, today.
Fast forward many years later to me working at a Winners store, here in Canada. It was holiday time and we got in a bunch of Bond No 9 body lotions at a deeply discounted price. Even though my Mother does prefer her creams and lotions to be unscented, I thought I'd take a chance and pick-up Chinatown for her. She loved it and it became her favourite thing to use after her bath/shower.
Yes, it is absolutely a heavier, more mature scent but in a very classy way. This perfume smells of propriety and wealth! A "Grand Dame" of a scent. I consider it to be predominantly tuberose-heavy with other white florals mingling about. It's blended so flawlessly that I have trouble singling out any of the other notes but the overall effect is lush and creamy.
My Mom has a tiny bit left and I know she's going to be sad to see it go.
Lucky for her that I have a bottle of Alien body lotion waiting in the wings, to gift her.
I'm going to make a fragrance-lover out of her yet!

I tried this yesterday at our local Saks . Unfortunately incense does not suit my skin well … and the lingering smell was the vivid image of an elegant older lady. It is not completely feminine , but I cannot wear it.

When I put this on, I get a vivd image of looking down an empty hallway of my old highschool, chewing a piece of Big Red gum, lingering sweet body mist scent in the air. I didn't get to sit with this long, as I began coughing due to my cinnamon allergy. I guess that's the "incense" listed. I don't think this translated a speck of an actual Chinatown to me. But, I can see this being a go to chewing gum type fragrance for someone who can handle cinnamon.

Peach hard candy with a hint of coconut, and a distant waft of spiced cardamom and incense. I absolutely love it, but you really need to like sweet scents! I don't get much complexity, and it is pretty linear on my skin, but the scent is so divine I don't mind. It definitely needs to be sampled before purchase.

I have worn 2 x 2ml samples of this to try and pin it down. It is a complex scent and it has taken me a while to articulate what is going on and how I feel about it.
It is peachy, incensy and it has lactonic white floral. However, I would not say that this is a floral fragrance, or a fruity fragrance or an incense fragrance.
Whilst there is sweetness from the fruit and florals, there is also a non-sweet note that makes this very distinctive. It is not sharp, sour or savoury... more a woody non-sweet. Or perhaps the fresh peach has become dried peach and now gives a tart quality. It reminds me a little of that unexpected note of decay in Lyric by Amouage. Whatever it is, I find it essential in stopping this fragrance from becoming too sweet and cute, and helping it become distinctive and original.
I love lots of Aurélien Guichard's fragrances - from Piguet to Narciso - and I sense his fingerprints: a creamy, lactonic structure and good use of fruit and spices. I second the idea that this takes inspiration from the original Gucci Rush.
This is really good. A hybrid in terms of genre - easy to wear but enough going on not to get bored. It is pricey but I would love a bottle of this and get plenty of wear out of it.

This is truly one of my favorite perfumes out there. I have owned it since it came out and cannot say enough good things about it. Complex, perfect for wear in all seasons, day and night. I get more compliments on this one than any in my collection and it is my go-to perfume for every day. It strikes the nose with complexity at all levels - warm, incense, powder, intrigue - but it is in no way overwhelming or too “perfumey.” Not a floral, not a musk, not “dark” or “light” but something perfectly in between. Buy a bottle and you will never once regret it!

It’s very similar to the other floral offerings from the house, they all have a consistent vibe of a very polished, appropriate, feminine and slightly mature dame.
This is reminiscent of a bygone era, it’s very WASPy and reminds me of a prim lady with no make up, hair swept up into a bun, a tailored skirt just above her ankles and a white, Victorian blouse.
There is a beautiful powdery tuberose with a subtle green menthol accent and beautiful floral accords. It has a very uplifting and soothing character, almost like a mother, but a stern and stoic one, Bree Van de Kamp. Yes, it’s so cold and controlled and alludes to a projection of perfection that represses all ungodly passions.

In a few hours of wear, my feelings of this quickly evolved from nice, to okay, to not at all a fan. At first it was intoxicatingly sweet in a way I could understand, but now it's cloyingly saccharine in a way that makes me a little nauseous. Its strong sillage makes it really difficult to ignore on my skin, and I'm about ready to scrub it off.

I've never been a fan of the aggressively syrupy flower smell in so many modern feminine perfumes, because they were so unavoidable in the 2000s. But the longer I sit with this one, I find that it makes me a little more uncomfortable than most. The name is, unsurprisingly, a misnomer, which is a shame, because the smell of being in New York's Chinatown is so heady and uniquely complex, and it would be cool to see someone do that justice. And at first, I didn't see at all how this perfume was aiming to capture that, because it smelled more like a candied flower garden than anything else. Once I saw other people mention hints of incense, I could understand at least a degree of why this is called Chinatown. This does smell like the incense counter you'd find at a store like Pearl River Mart, or a bodega, but cheap incense, the kind with the uncomfortably horny names. Even then, it would need a little funk in the background to be an accurate portrayal of that atmosphere. Without that, it reveals itself to be a tourist's depiction of a vibrant, but increasingly gentrified neighborhood. This is a white person taking a field trip to Canal Street for the novelty of cheap handbags, K-beauty, and aura photography. It's a rich woman from Soho cutting through Columbus Park on her way to an expensive lunch in Tribeca. Since young people are increasingly nostalgic for the nouveau riche, cotton candy femininity of the 2000s, it reminds me a little of that Bushwick of Chinatown, Dimes Square. It's just another example of rich kids from other cities trying to reshape a neighborhood full of immigrants in their own image. And tenants' rights are strong in Chinatown, so it's been harder to gentrify than most of lower Manhattan, but it sounds like it's getting further away from affordable all the time. You have to go to Flushing for that now, or Sunset Park, though Brooklyn's Chinatown is getting gentrified too.

Following this perfume down that rabbit hole makes me think about the colonial nature of perfume itself. There's still somehow an entire category of scents whose unfortunate name alludes to the practice of pillaging resources from Asia (a name everyone knows is terrible, but still say all the time, as if they're aware of what it implies, but just don't care). The products of those spoils are so often cobbled into shadows of their former selves– hollow attempts to recreate that tourist's high, the feeling of being somewhere else, even as they make those resources harder to access in the places they left. It's the definition of excess, of having everything, and it somehow never quite being enough.

Chinatown is really the only Bond No.9 fragrance I like. It smells beautiful and I enjoy wearing it, but I recommend it more for cooler weather. As with all Bond No 9, try before you buy a full bottle.

A sweet, creamy peachy-floral chypre with a sour facet. It is not a typical chypre, it teeters toward the gourmand realm but I wouldn't call it a gourmand, as the florals dominate. The sandalwood and spices are present but to my nose they do not stand out as much as the floral notes and the peach.

It smells absolutely nothing like Avon Far Away, that perfume is coconutty-floral talcum powder. I'm inclined to say Chinatown smells like a gentler, sweeter, more gourmand take on Gucci Rush. If "niche interpretation of Gucci Rush" sounds appealing to you, definitely give this one a try.

Hello, STRONG! Do you like perfume which maybe merle you think of Dubai? Well, if you do, you're gonna loooooove this gal!

I don't get any of the tuberose or gardenia. I am definitely getting a cinnamon and sandalwood hit.

Honestly, this very well may knock your socks off. I'm in serious like. Lol

I had just about given up on the Bond No 9 fragrances….then I came across this beauty. I’m actually embarrassed about how long it’s taken me to try this & I should’ve tried this one first. I love this juice!
At first it smelled like a delectable Christmas cookie that was bit too lotion-ey. Then, it just became so addicting. I went through a half bottle in two months & thats a crap ton for me. Back-up buy worthy -which is what I did, ASAP. Chinatown & New York Nights are so good.

Oh no! Another Bond bites the dust!
I received a bon bon along with a lovely swap and I tried it today, hoping for something uplifting and exotic.
First spray I was filled with joy… it felt like Christmas! Those olfactory memories kick in at a drop of a sprayer!
But in minutes, I started to get a sickly sweet and spicy smell that just elicited memories of an unpleasantly synthetic smelling Christmas candle!
When I think of the fragrant side of Chinatown I imagine mandarin oranges, kumquats, sandalwood, incense, teas, and flowers such as peony, plum blossom, lotus or orchid.
How beautiful that would be!

The woody base in this fragrance literally reminds me of the smell of sandalwood incense I might associate with a shop in Chinatown. Very long-lasting. To me, the dry down smells like peaches, white flowers, and wood. It's not unpleasant but smells a bit musty. Worth trying if you like spicy scents with a twist! In theory, this is one I would really like but don't love enough to purchase the big bottle (as beautiful as it is) so I'm glad I gave it a road test first!

Let me start off by saying, I'm a man rating this as a perfume I purchased for my wife. I know this is listed as a unisex fragrance, but it is 100% feminine to my nose.

I absolutely LOVE this fragrance on my wife! It is such a stunner. From that warm, sweet opening of peach blossom and bergamot to the inviting floral mid, and finally to that spicy, smooth, woodsy drydown. Just gorgeous.

Outstanding performance. Great sillage. Better than average projection, and longevity was about 8 solid hours. Top notch.

All scent is subjective, but as a guy, I'd highly recommend this fragrance to any ladies wanting to make a solid impression of confident femininity. Chinatown is a winner.

I recently had a sample of Chinatown and out of curiosity tried it. I have to echo the sentiment of others who have said it smells like a waxy cheap Glade plugin or Yankee candle. It has this odd air freshener vibe to it that really does smell like your typical Autumn themed room spray or those gel bathroom deodorizers people use. It was the same on paper and on skin. I tried wearing it twice and both times it wasn't for me. Would not advise buying without sampling unless the idea of smelling like a generic Air Wick apple cinnamon air freshener is your thing.

For me when it dry down, it smell like a light pink silk dress that already worn by "Gemma Chan" while she perform at the filming set for the movie "Crazy Rich Asian". The opening I smell some fresh floral fruity, when it dry down it getting cleaner than I expect which I love it so much.

Listen, y'all have no idea how badly I wanted to love this fragrance.

Luca Turin himself told me, to my face, how great this fragrance is when I met him. The notes are right up my alley. The reviews are superb.

I put it on and it opened with pure Yankee candle, or the kind of potpourri that you'd find in the clearance aisle at TJ Maxx. I waited.

It's been two hours. Still Yankee candle. I will report back if anything changes, but for now, this may be my biggest perfume heartbreak since I started in this hobby. For those on whom this perfume smells as incredible as it should- I envy you greatly and I hope you appreciate what you have!

Edit: It's been eight hours and the scent never got better. I tried going outside in the heat, thinking maybe it was the indoor temperature, but no better, although I'm noticing that the tuberose is weirdly similar to that in Escada EDT.

I'm not sure if anyone else gets this at all, but when I first spray this scent, something about it reminds me A LOT of Cacharel Eden. This is creamier, waxier, and less tropical-esque than Eden, but there's something about it that makes me think of it. I haven't had Eden for a couple of years so I can't compare side by side at the moment.

It smells exactly how I imagined, n yet I find I don't like it after all. It's spicy, a bit Opium, a bit Shanghai Lily, but it's got an added underlying creaminess, that I don't like mixed in with the spicy notes. I think like Stacia79 I find the vanilla quite prominent. That's why I thought it would be a love. I hoping for smooth spicy rather than actual cream, something more like Nu. This is one of the v few scents I don't like myself but can actually see why others would like it, as opposed to just finding something insipid or disgusting. Relieved to cross this off the want list, although the bottle is lovely.
The creamy note dies after a couple of hours.. I might be persuaded..

I had Chinatown on my test list for years. The cute bottle, so much hype about it, even a friend who said she loved it. But when I finally got my chance I was underwhelmed. I was not expecting it to be so sweet. I am surprised the vanilla note is not upvoted more, because it is very candy like to me. I get peach blossom too and maybe a little sandalwood but most other listed notes are lost on this nose. This is like Gucci Rush in the denture years. The peachy candy aspects of Rush without the teeth. A hug from Grandma Rush. I wish I smelled all the nuances I thought I would smell but ultimately this one was just okay.

Absolutely ghastly.

This used to be really popular within the fragrance blogger community about a decade or so ago. It was the only Bond they’d admit to loving. I blind bought it and tried so hard to like it for a few months. This feels like a confessional to say I think it’s incredibly revolting. I think it smells like dusty, suffocating melted crayons in a hot attic. I’m shuddering just thinking of it. It was cathartic writing this so thanks for bearing with me.

Take all the bottles of this and throw them into outer space please. ;-)

I already mentioned my love for this fragrance based upon a generous decant from a Fragrantician. I now own 2 1.7 oz bottles - I purchased it on my own, completely forgetting that I had "suggested" it as a Valentine's gift from my husband. I am fine with that, as I do indeed love it. I am very perplexed by many reviews here, and I'm going to have to chalk it up to reformulation. Having never tried the original, my reformulated bottles smell incredibly beautiful to me. To me, that magic lies in the incense vibe and how it softens to make room for some florals but never disappears. The cardamom is very strong, and on my skin, that in combination with sandalwood are intensely present from the moment I spray it on.

However, reading the reviews here of the "vintage" version has left me desperately wanting to get my hands on a decant! I love white florals, and yet I can't really detect any tuberose, let alone gardenia! It's clear to me that they must have muted the white florals, instead choosing to really amplify the woods and spices, perhaps to give it a more "Asian" vibe in connection with the name. Or maybe I'm so used to white florals that they no longer stand out in the way I'm used to! Vintage Poison is the perfect example of how difficult it is for me to pick out tuberose when many other notes are present. It's considered to be a big, honkin' tuberose, but I just can't find it in there as it competes with other note. And yet, I still love it.

The point of all this is that I get no tuberose and want to sample the vintage to see what, if anything, I'm missing. In the meantime, I will continue wearing it as it is because I really do love it.

EDIT 9/6/2021
I somehow accidentally ordered a big bottle - a tester - and I am almost positive that it's the original formulation. This one has a depth the other one doesn't seem to have. They absolutely smell almost identical but something about my tester makes it stand out more.
I gifted my mom one of my other bottles and reach for this one almost exclusively. Though I don't find myself having to respray often, I keep the smaller bottle in my purse. No matter what, I still find this to be a most extraordinary fragrance!

Smells like a sweet creamy grandma like a product you bought out of the beauty supply store like a Sprites that freezes your hair extra stiff this stuff is stinky it's a no a big no.... it definitely has an oriental smell but not in a good way in a repulsive old lady way like the mean old lady that pops you with rulers but I keep smelling it and it definitely takes me back to beauty supply store hair products

Creamy sweet revisionist Oriental ! a CROWD PLEASER and a safe blind buy! Sampled it at Saks Fifth Ave. after dinner tonight.

Just wonderful , just a bit expensive.

This was one of my first ever big purchases into niche perfumes. It's 2007 and living is beautiful, even if 19 years old and a broke college student. I will be buying 3 decants into this release, 100 ml each, I see no price tag.
Milan, Italy is still at its best: wealthy and glamorous, still no hints of the turmoil that will result from the sub-prime financial crisis.
My taste in perfume is still eclectic. I can bounce from Arabie by Serge Lutens to Chinatown, passing through Endymion by Penhalingons seamlessly. Still Chinatown gathers all the compliments.
It's a lovely night in Milan, we love each other. He is Swiss Italian, reminds me of my family roots and It's unsettling how much love we are burning. Isle of my entrance door, he is kissing my neck. It's inondated in Chinatown. He is inebriated and screams: I love your perfume. We kiss, I can taste Chinatown, sweet somehow edible yet animalic. We don't care, passion takes over.
14 years later, I stopped repurchasing Chinatown long time ago. My taste is different, my memories aren't. Still, to this day, a whiff of it and everything comes back, the soft light, the sweat, the city.
And all this pletora of unrequested erotism to tell you that it is so unisex to a level where makes wonders when a man wears it, makes wonders when a man smells it.

I received my first small decant of Chinatown back in 2012 when I was in the beginning of my perfume journey. Having smelled such a high quality niche perfume in such an early stage you would think that nowadays I would just frown upon all the generic flankers of a flanker's flanker released in the mainstream department, instead of wanting to own every single one of them. That being said, I can definitely recognize the quality in Chinatown and have liked the smell ever since I first sprayed it.

Interestingly, my opinion of Chinatown has stayed the same throughout the years of sampling different perfumes. Bond no 9's prices are pretty high and I've spent almost nine years wondering whether I should purchase a full bottle or not. The thing is that I love smelling Chinatown but somehow feel a little uneasy when wearing it. It has many of my favourite notes including tuberose, vanilla and sandalwood, but also a strong note of cardamom that I tend to struggle with when it comes to perfumes (love the real thing though!).

To me Chinatown would be the most perfect home scent. In fact to me it smells like my favorite eco store with all the milky chia puddings, eco-friendly beeswax-smelling cosmetics, organic dried fruits and fresh spices. To my nose Chinatown smells very organic even though it probably has some synthetics in it because it is so long lasting.

To sum up I would say that I very much appreciate Chinatown but like my florals a bit less spicy and lactonic. Would rush to buy a home candle version though!

Cardamom chypre ★★★★★

In the book Roadside Picnic by the Strugatsky brothers (later loosely adapted as the movie Stalker by Tarkovsky) the leading character takes under an endeavor to find a mysterious alien item, the Golden Sphere, rumored to grant our innermost wishes. After a defeating and harsh journey, the book climaxes with their encounter – a gigantic coppery and entirely smooth sphere glittering under a blazing sun which inspired feelings beautifully described by this direct quote: “Looking at it was enjoyable, that he’d like to approach it, that he’d like to touch it or even stroke it. And for some reason, it suddenly occurred to him that it’d be probably nice to sit next to it and, even better, to lean against it, to throw his head back, close his eyes, and think things over, reminisce, or maybe simply doze, resting…” And so, when I smelled Chinatown for the first time, it felt exactly like the encounter our character had with the Golden Sphere. With a slight unease, inspiring an aura like a reassuring hug or a lap to rest your heavy head on, to simply doze for a while and forget everything.

Chinatown opens with one of the most beautiful top notes I’ve known in my short existence. An utterly immense organ blast of warm lemony cardamom married to a waxy white floral bouquet not too far from the silken tuberose-cardamom of vintage Rochas Byzance. However, the whole is held together by an appetizing lactonic vanilla pastry accord so profoundly curious it’s almost as if you could eat a virtual Pastel de nata with your nose. This was already enough to make a stoic man weep with joy, yet this was merely a starter. As the main course, a full-bodied classic green chypre emerges, halfway between the muted peach of Mitsouko and the hairspray patchouli of Gucci Rush. Amazingly, Chinatown combines the courageous power of chypres with the reassuring warmth of contemporary gourmand notes to yield something that is, simply put, more than the sum of its parts. A big heart full of fondness with a head that knows what must be done, like Gucci Rush grown out of her recklessness yet not lived enough to be the enlightened Mitsouko. I think Chinatown a masterwork and one of the best of the contemporary lot in the sea of brainless cash grab nothing-releases, the sort of thing perfumery truly exists for.

Just like the final thoughts of our character’s when he touched the hard fought for Golden Sphere, perhaps granting him his innermost wishes, so were mine when I inhaled the sweet sweet air of Chinatown: “Happiness, free, for everyone, and let no one be forgotten!”

Soundtrack: Phil Western - Full Moon

If this is unisex then I've got a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell you 😉

Got a small decant and my wife won't wear she thinks it smells very dated.
I think it smells muuuuch too feminine for my taste.

Bond and their "unisex classifications" just seems like a cash grab.

One review said it smells waxy and I 100% agree with what he means. This smells exactly like Airwick Apple/cinnamon candle that I get for 2 euros. It has this synthetic gourmand candle like smell or fake cinnamon smell in cheap products. I am so disappointed to be honest after all the hype. Not terribly bad, its fine but not for me and I don't find it appealing.

Large bottle worthy. I wear this in the house and outside of the house. It gives me this a great feeling of happiness with all of my favorite white floors with that small hint of sweet spice. HG fragrance for sure.

I blind purchased this for a female friend due to the listed notes - she’s a huge “flowery” fan. The flowers and vanilla do provide a subtle powdery sophistication in the opening, but overall this is a straight patchouli bomb. After about 30 minutes it smells exactly like a handful of patchouli incense.

Not complete disappointment as I do like incense and the longevity is great (one spray lasts 8+ hours!). But if you’re hoping for something floral & fruity, this isn’t that.

Beautiful tuberose vanilla amber. No indoles but a touch of musky skank and sparkling peach blossom. The bottle is fantastic as well.

I first smelled this in a Wal-Mart. Imagine walking down the isle , then Bam what is that smell, so you stop spin around to sense where the beautiful oriental scent is coming from...then you notice a lady not far away, being me I asked.....excuse me ma-am you smell Beautiful...what are you wearing? she says aww, wow thanks Its Chinatown...I smile and thank her .We end up in the same line and the Cashier says what's that smell.....it smells so good...right there I decided I had to have this in my Collection......that was way in 2010.....It was challenging due to the price but all so worth it. This is a long lasting scent not overwhelming . Chinatown is unisex but I wouldn't enjoy my Guy wearing this scent, it's not girly sweet just more on the feminine angle.you want be disappointed!!!!

I finally had an opportunity to test this courtesy of a lovely and generous Fragrantician from a recent swap, and I am completely smitten. This is magical and mysterious to me. I have always been a loved of white florals, but with few exceptions, once you've smelt one, you've smelt them all with varying degrees of quality and nuances. I would never call this a white floral of that sort. The first note I really detect is cardamom, somewhat milky and very smooth. After that, it just unravels in so many different directions while maintaining harmony... I don't know. This isn't really a review, and I suppose I should have waited to give more information, but I am thus far madly in love with this fragrance - it's an easy top 10 if not top 5 for me. I will be purchasing it today, and will continue to review as I get to know my new love better!! A true masterpiece.

This was my favorite fragrance purchase of 2020. I blind bought it guessing I would like it from the reviews. For me, it is an extremely comforting scent. It reminds me of my 96 year old grandma in all the best ways, but it is not a granny scent. It reminds me of the Sen-Sen mints she carried in her pocketbook, which smelled like licorice. I don't know what perfume, powder, or bath oil she wore at that time, but whatever it was, was not expensive, and yet smells like this amazing concoction. When I smelled her beauty products in her farmhouse wood closet, this is what comes to mind - the cardamom, incense, a little sandalwood, vanilla, and other mysterious things. This also smells like expensive incense sticks burning in a sandalwood holder, or cones burning in a brass container. All these things wrapped into one perfume make this a must-have love for me.

Absolutely disgusting on me. Smells like a cheap insence stick, bought in dirty small china shop. Extremely overrated. I tried a small amount from a lady, at the start - nice, sharp, sweet somewhat, but after... and the drydown, blehhhh. Never ever buy it blind.

I owned this one for many years and adored it. You can read my review way down below. This is not a full review, just an observation. Recently I have gotten a new bottle from a swap, and I am vey grateful for it. However, in case you wonder, it is not the same. Very similar but not identical to the one I have from many years ago. I think that it has been reformulated. It's not a bad reformulation by any means, but it seems to me that some of the plummy, peachy, and spicy notes are lost, the sweetness is tamed and the white florals are amplified. The lasting power and silage are still good. Still a fantastic perfume, but you should try before you buy.

I hated this perfume, it smelled like how I imagine a once big silver screen star sitting at a bar drinking a martini depressed because some younger woman has taken her place smells. Just horrible, too heavy and old. That being said it might not have played well with my chemistry because I'm 18 and from what I read it's better for those over 30.

This was one of my signature perfume some years ago.
It is a very distinctive scent , it has its character, it’s bold, exotic, opulent and theatrics . I wore this to Royal Albert Hall & Royal opera house and also on several hot dates before I gotten married and became a mom , which is why I stopped using it now because the scent doesn’t suit my current lifestyle now . But I still love it .

Chinatown is essentially a cardamom-tuberose fragrance. Sure there are other notes, but they are SO overpowered by those two, they’re barely worth even mentioning. I had hoped to catch more of the bergamot and peach blossom in the opening, but they disappear almost instantly. The gardenia and peony give the floral bouquet a bit more sweetness, toning down some of the cloying earthiness you sometimes get from tuberose. I do not smell anything woodsy or green AT ALL in this composition. Just a rather flat, sweet-spicy take on a white floral fragrance. It’s like I want the guaiac and cypress to be more woodsy, the bergamot to be more tart, the orange blossom to be more... present! The first time I wore this, it had a faint note of something burning, but I’m luckily not getting that on this second outing. Other than the cherry blossoms on the bottle, I’m not sure what this fragrance has to do with Chinatown - whether the one in New York, San Francisco, or anywhere else. Maybe that burnt rubber note is supposed to mimic Manhattan car exhaust. If all the notes listed were actually detected, this could be a really great fragrance. Sadly, they aren’t. The end result is something that’s just “okay,” instead. Nowhere near interesting enough to justify what it costs.

Bond No 9 Chinatown EDP opens with a moderate projection of sweet, and floral notes. The opening is aromatic, delicate, feminine, and very pleasant. The floral is by far the most prominent note in this fragrance and each seems to contribute with something; the peach blossom brings a mix of white floral and peach accords, aromatic and delectable; the tuberose and gardenia add an intense white floral, dense, honey-sweet with green touches; the orange blossom is two steps behind and its notes are not as intense as the first two. As the fragrance commences to dry-down, the guaiac wood, cardamon and vanilla start developing boosting the fragrance from a moderate to a strong projection, the fragrance seems to catch new energies. The sandalwood and the vanilla create a noticeable, dry, aromatic, projecting, and very sweet accord; the cardamom also creates a noticeable projecting accord without overpowering the floral notes. The fragrance has some interesting opening to dry-down changes, the opening brings mostly peach blossom notes, but it isn’t long before the rest of the notes start developing and projecting, also and towards the dry-down, the fragrance develops a soft powdery but very projecting accord. Once Bond No 9 Chinatown EDP has reached its full dry-down, it can be summarized as a strong projection, very sweet (vanilla, sandalwood), floral (tuberose, gardenia), and spicy (cardamom) fragrance with woody, and faint green accords. The fragrance feels aromatic, bold, casual, comforting, commanding, creamy, delectable, delicate, delicious, dense, dry, elegant, energizing, exotic, expensive, feminine, floral, formal, fresh, high-quality, imposing, intense, invasive, inviting, long-lasting, mature, modern, natural, nicely-blended, playful, slightly powdery, refined, rich, romantic, spicy, very sweet, syrupy, versatile, woody, and very pleasant.

BATCH REVIEWED: 2020.
WOW RATING: 10/10. An impressive and well-blended fragrance.
DISLIKE RATING: 3/10. It is very sweet, and the floral notes are very prominent.
UNIQUENESS: 9/10. The resulting scent is unique.
MASS APPEAL: 8/10. This is a fragrance that most people will enjoy, particularly mature wearers.
PROJECTION: 5/10. Very good, about 5 feet around the wearer.
SILLAGE: 10/10. Outstanding, 10+ feet behind the wearer.
APPLICATION: 4 atomizations.
LONGEVITY: 10/10. Outstanding, about 10 hours with a very good projection for about 4 hours.
SEASONS: Winter, spring, fall, colder days, and climate-controlled environments.
OCCASIONS: Formal events, outdoor gatherings, gym, office, casual, holidays, vacations, romantic, dating, clubbing. This is an office-friendly fragrance.
VERSATILITY: 7/10. A versatile fragrance ideal for any occasion, and any season except summer.
GENDER: Advertised as unisex, the floral notes are very prominent, they lean the fragrance to the feminine side.
AGES: 30 and above. The dense floral notes make it ideal for mature wearers.
RECOMMENDATION: Bond No 9 Chinatown EDP can be purchased for about $120, its performance is outstanding, a unique scent, perfect for those that appreciate sweet and heavy white floral fragrances. This is a great buy.
BLIND-BUY: No, sample it first.
SIMILAR: These are examples of fragrances in the same genre. AllSaints Sunset Riot is a very sweet, amber, orange blossom, and pink pepper fragrance; Amouage Reflection Man's EDP contains white flora, woody, and powdery accords, and it is very good; Bond No 9 Greenwich Village EDP is a fantastic, very sweet gourmand vanilla, praline, musk, ambroxan, white floral peony, water lily, jasmine, and litchi fragrance; Bond No 9 Hamptons, is floral, citrusy, powdery, musky, and woody fragrance; Bond No 9 West Side EDP is a great and projecting, very sweet vanilla, sandalwood, amber, ylang-ylang, rose, and peony fragrance; Cartier Declaration D'Un Soir is a spicy, soft floral, and sandalwood fragrance; Chanel Les Exclusifs Boy is spicy, floral, powdery, and citrusy, but also leaned feminine; Chanel Les Exclusifs De Chanel Jersey is an aromatic, floral, and musky fragrance, leaned to the feminine side; Creed Jardin D’Amalfi features mandarin orange, apple, spices, and woods, a great nice fragrance although very pricy; Guerlain Musc Noble is powdery saffron and musky fragrance with soft woody accords; Mancera Gold Prestigium Unisex EDP is a high-quality fragrance that contains leather, rose, and vanilla notes; Montale Orange Flowers is a white floral, citrusy and white musk fragrance; Moschino Toy Boy is a unique, sweet, ambery, magnolia, woody, and floral fragrance; Grand Parfums Chinatown is an excellent clone with outstanding performance; Bond No 9 Chinatown EDP is outstanding, it features very sweet vanilla, sandalwood, floral, tuberose, gardenia, and spicy cardamom.
SUMMARY: A strong projection, very sweet (vanilla, sandalwood), floral (tuberose, gardenia), and spicy (cardamom) fragrance with woody, and faint green accords. The fragrance feels aromatic, bold, casual, comforting, commanding, creamy, delectable, delicate, delicious, dense, dry, elegant, energizing, exotic, expensive, feminine, floral, formal, fresh, high-quality, imposing, intense, invasive, inviting, long-lasting, mature, modern, natural, nicely-blended, playful, slightly powdery, refined, rich, romantic, spicy, very sweet, syrupy, versatile, woody, and very pleasant.

This one surprised me. I had gotten a tester from Bond No. 9. When I put it up to my nose, I pulled away quickly. It was kinda strong. Reminded me of the smell of incense burning in a Chinese gift shop. What actually came to mind is the movie Gremlins and the shop where the father purchased Gizmo. I imagined that shop smelling like my initial impression of Bond No. 9's Chinatown. Of the Bond testers that I have, this was probably the last one that I actually wore. Applied it, waited for the dry down... Fell in LOVE! Fortunately, the harshness fell away and it softened beautifully! I'm into fruity/floral and gourmand scents. Chinatown is like nothing I've ever worn...or even smelled before, to be honest. This is a very unique scent! I've heard people mention peach when speaking of it but I don't get that at all. Spicy is what I get. I purchased a bottle and, come Winter, will alternate between Chinatown and my previous beloved Winter scent, Flowerbomb Nectar.

Well, in mad crazy love again!! I bought this blind and On a whim, which is only fitting as it's definitely a whimsical perfume. Whimsical, but dead serious when it comes to longevity and projection...Killer staying power and unusually nowadays I can actually smell my own perfume without pressing my nose to my skin. Notewise, I smell tuberose, cardamom, fizzy ginger ale and candles...It's a party in a bottle!! This perfume doesn't make me smile, it makes me grin. Mood elevator!
This is like Poison's giddy little cheerleader sister. And I adore it.

After reading so many great reviews I made a blind buy online. I had very high expectations but unfortunately Chinatown has disappointed me

I guess I should not test this in summer. No, just no.
I will retest in cold.

I will say this about some Bond no 9 fragrances. Many have this DNA to them that is reminiscent of a dirty city. The smell of taxi exhaust, concrete, steal building and all the other smells one would expect from NYC. Many I don’t care for but Chinatown adds just enough floral sweetness to make it worthwhile.

Chinatown has a very distinctive signature, once you smell it you won't easily forget. It's a balmy mix dominated by a syrupy sweet tuberose. The overall texture is lusciously creamy due to the double-dose of vanilla and buttery sandalwood. The exotic cardamom and lime zest liven up the sweetness like a thin veil of spice.

Chinatown is not a gourmand fragrance, but it reminds me of a heavily spiced butter cake topped with whipped cream. It's decadent.

Ultimately, Chinatown is too sweet for my personal taste, and has a tendency to get cloying. It's the kind of perfume I'd like to smell occasionally on others, not taking up my headspace all day and night. Like with all indulgences, better in small doses!

I wholeheartedly recommend Chinatown to fans of Kenzo L'Elephant, Tom Ford Black Orchid, and Gaultier Classique, as these perfumes to me share an exotic-sweet-vanilla-floriental DNA (although they express themselves differently in scent).

I've been wanting this for awhile and finally bought a full 3.3 oz bottle because not only did I love the notes but the reviews seemed to tell me it was a win win...

Is it me, or does this smell like plasticky macerating cherries in balsamic? I guess this is one where I'll have to try on in different seasons. Thus far, not a fan.

Update: waited to try again in another season- cool fall. Now I find it to be pretty flowery cherries and cherry blossoms, it has good longevity 6+, however, it fairly quickly becomes a soft powdery, skin scent, and alas, I don't care for skin scents 😐- sold it.

This is gorgeous. One of my favorite orientals. I love this so much, I have two bottles of it. This is what a floral should smell like.

I just got this. I’m wearing it on my knee. That floral note.. others say that is tuberose? Well I love it and I do get the Chinese belle vibe from it. But it’s diluted with something that repeatedly gives me a notion of the airplane exhaust you can smell from within the airplane on the way to somewhere exciting- Paris perhaps. This evokes thrilling memories for me! Successful blind buy, wow!
Update: I now recognize the spice- it's 5-spice plus tuberose. I still sense the smell of airplanes but not quite as much as I did the first time, since I recognize the 5-spice.

Cardamom can be really tricky. Too much can be nauseating. If it’s too dry, you end up smelling like an old spice cabinet. Here, it’s done just right.
Cardamom and tuberose together is really something special. Spicy, creamy, soothing and yet refreshing. I can wear this in 100 degree heat or in the dead of winter. It just works.
Chinatown is the perfect name for this fragrance (aside from the obvious reference) because it is both urban and exotic.
This has a peachy, lactonic quality that reminds me a bit of Gucci Rush.
I’m pretty sensitive to scents that are cloyingly sweet. While this is lush and ripe, it never veers into candy or syrupy fruit territory.
Love!

I am blown away. This is a perfume that makes me feel represented as a Chinese girl. Not because of the name, but because this is how I imagine Chinese girls smell like on a rainy day while strolling around Chinatown, in their gloriously exotic qualities: slanted eyes, red lips, milky white skin, with cheongsam perfectly hugging and enveloping every curve of their body. Oriental, floral, and spicy. It's like whenever I wear this, I feel more myself more than ever.

I always think of two things when wearing this perfume: the movie titled "In the Mood for Love" and a music video by Alejandro Sanz and The Corrs called "The Hardest Day". Those are two art works that really resonate with this perfume.

For me, this perfume is 10/10.

I'm getting a very distinctive LUSH vibe here. If you ever walked into a LUSH store, or just by it, you know what this smells like. Might be the cardamom. The opening has something really zingy and refreshing hidden among the floral and spicy notes, I am reminded of this medicinal Vietnamese balm my mom used to rub under our noses when we had a cold. But it's lovely, I used to love that smell, exotic and oriental. Smells fresh, spicy and zingy. And expensive! And a strange thing happened, the moment I sprayed it on, the cheapie on my other hand instantly started smelling 100x more expensive too! (Avon Far Away Exotic) Probably just a sensory illusion, but a great one! Overall I'm loving this, with the creamy tuberose and spices. Will check back if FB worthy - sometimes it takes a few days to fall in love.

Update: After an hour or so of wear it's so faint I can barely smell it! Far Away Exotic from Avon on the other arm has already outperformed this one....So looks like a no for me - but if anyone' interested there's a new bottle going for 95 ish £ on eBay.

How do I explain this.. this is one I sprayed on paper, and immediately said nope to. Then someone pushed me to try again, I sprayed on my skin and could NOT stop smelling. Now, it’s like I’m addicted. It is the first time in my fragrance career that I feel this feeling of “this is made for my skin.” I totally understand when people relate this to “doll head” and that normally would make me run for the hills. It’s sweet, spicy, tuberose.. oh my gosh, it’s so unbelievably beautiful. However, the caveat is that I can’t bring myself to wear it out, it’s something I only wear at home. It’s like my secret beauty, and I don’t want to go through people saying anything negative about it (mainly because my husband has said multiple times he doesn’t enjoy it). Anyway, moral of the story, spray it on skin.. and behold.

When you walk into an IKEA and you smell the cinnamon rolls... mmmm

There's no other perfume I've consistently loved as long as I've loved Chinatown. The notes and composition suit me perfectly. I'm on my third 100 ml bottle and we're still going strong. It's like my perfume soul mate.

I get loads of cardamom over top delicate peach blossom (tangy chalk candies), creamy gardenia/tuberose along with incensy woods, patchouli and vanilla. Though it smells complex, Chinatown wears mostly linear. What you get to start with is pretty much what you get the whole time.

It remains simultaneously fizzy, creamy, woody and incensy throughout the entirity of its wear. It turns a little sweeter, less fizzy and more vanillic/patchouli heavy way down deep in the base. It wears all day long with two or three sprays and often goes into the next day on skin. My current bottle is from 2015 or earlier so I don't know about claims of it being reformulated. I hope not.

Chinatown never lets me down. It hits the spot every single time. Even though I know what to expect at each turn, it is a joy ride and an experience and I never get bored of smelling it. It holds a very special place in my perfume-loving heart. Smells the absolute best in colder weather.

What I am finding fascinating about this perfume is the range of experiences people seem to have with it. I have heard it being called candy-sweet and someone even compare to a bear graham cracker. I don't get the sweetness in this at all, only a dry vanilla which gives it its "sweetness," to my nose. I mostly get an incense vibe, but not too overpowering. It is incense in a more woody way rather than "patchouli" heavy. I get a lot of cinnamon and cardamom, which is where I can see people compare it to a graham cookie. The vanilla hangs out throughout in the background without taking center stage. It definitely has an oriental vibe, though I am not sure I would say it is an "Asian/Chinatown" vibe. It reminds me more of what an older, art deco type of hotel would smell like... Like an older, upkept hotel that puts dried flower arrangements in their reception area. It also reminds me of what a theater backroom would smell like... For some reason, this draws up lots of images and memories for me and they're all definitely tied to NYC. I hope to get the candy vibe from it one day.

Some years ago now, I had a moment of random inspiration, and I decided that I was going to start seriously exploring perfume. I had always enjoyed wearing it, and I always had a little rotation of three or four different scents that I picked out mostly on impulse, usually because I read a magazine piece about something that sounded interesting; or, back in the good old days, I tried something random at a department store counter and found something I immediately loved. Considering the randomness of buying perfume before the internet, I had a pretty good batting average; I found treasures like Bulgari Black, Fracas, YSL Paris, Annick Goutal’s Eau d’Hadrien, and the original Parfum d’Hermes just because they were there and easy to find. But then, when I was running out of a treasured bottle of Creed Tubereuse, I realized it was time for something new. I went out looking in the usual places, and it seemed like the variety and quality of perfumes that I used to find on retail shelves wasn’t there anymore. I needed help. So, being the bookworm I am, I went to Amazon and found something to read . The book with the best user reviews had rather pedestrian title of Perfumes A-Z. So I bought it (the Kindle edition because I love instant gratification), hoping for a little guidance and inspiration.

That book changed my life and ruined my bank account, and possibly contributed to the demise of my already shaky marriage. I became obsessed. Before I really dug into the book, I bought—on a whim, unsniffed—a bottle of Prada Infusion d’Iris Absolue, which wasn’t in the book, but even a cursory skim showed that the book’s the authors had a thing for iris, and Prada’s Absolue convinced me that I did, too. Since the book’s authors were right about iris, and even though they dissed my beloved Creed (which I replaced anyway and still love today), I ignored all sensible advice and started buying some of their other recommendations, flying totally blind. Parfum d’Empire’s Ambre Russe blew my mind. Mugler Alien did, too. Clearly something had been happening out there in the world of perfume, and I wanted in.

Along with Ambre Russe, the book’s rave review of Chinatown led me down the garden path to the world of niche fragrance. So Chinatown was my second niche purchase, also bought blind, and it did not disappoint. It was another complete revelation. I had always assumed that patchouli was for stinky Deadheads, so finding it in the context of a glorious white floral in a gorgeously ornamented bottle (no, I didn’t get the Swarovski crystal edition; I could barely afford the preowned tester I got from eBay) blew my mind. II didn’t know a pink chypre from a hole in the ground, but I knew I had found my new favorite perfume.

I’ve always had a passion for tuberose, and Chinatown fit right in with many of my old favorites from the 80s—Poison, Loulou, and my grandmother’s vintage Jungle Gardenia and White Shoulders had all been special loves—so it fell right in with my growing collection of what all the internet perfume reviewers called Big White Florals. But Chinatown had a lot more going on than just its fantastic, neon-caliber tuberose. It was teamed up with a stunning, brilliant peach that added a juicy dimension to its florals, and that irresistible combination was accented with a sweet incense that reminded me of Loulou—and then there was the spicy zing of that formerly fearsome patchouli, which I learned had actually been an element in some of my favorite perfumes all along. It was exhilarating to learn new things about perfumes that I already knew and loved, and even more exciting to find whole new worlds opening up as I started piling up samples, decants, and bottles with all the zeal of the newly converted.

But in those early days of new love, Chinatown became my spirit animal, and the yardstick by which I measured most of my new purchases. On the basis of that one single buy, I decided that Bond No. 9 was going to be the first perfume house I would explore top to bottom, but the timing could not have been worse: Nordstrom was in the process of dropping the entire line, so their selection was severely limited, and nothing else I I could find from the house was even remotely as interesting as Chinatown. Also, Bond’s prices—even for their adorably wrapped samples—made risking any more blind buys from the house prohibitive. Besides, there were literally hundreds of other perfumes begging for my attention and my money. Nordstrom’s decision, frustrating as it was then, turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because it forced me to give up that particular fixation and move on to different perfumes and other houses. And time, experience, and lots of testing have convinced me that Chinatown is still the best perfume in Bond No. 9’s gigantic and extravagantly priced lineup.

Smelling it now, with the benefit of experience, I realize what a lucky purchase that was. Some of the perfumes I bought in those early days haven’t held up, but Chinatown has. When I bought my bottle, word on the perfume boards was that it had been reformulated, and it was allegedly a shadow of its former self. (I suspect that this might have been, in part, because fresh bottles, especially freshly shipped bottles, never smell right, and people are quick to assume reformulated without giving their bottles a chance to settle down ). I don’t know when the juice in my bottle was made, or if it was reformulated or not (especially since Bond’s batch codes are notoriously opaque), but my Chinatown smells fantastic. The florals and fruit have integrated beautifully with the patchouli, which smells spicier than it used to, and to my nose it seems more like a true chypre—now that I know what that’s supposed to smell like—than it first did, with its layers of tuberose, rich peach, and incense all distinct yet beautifully bound together into a delightful, playful, but exotic blend on a classic base of gorgeously aromatic patch. It’s still dazzling, and I find something new to love every time I wear it.

With spring here, I’m putting it into the small group of perfumes I keep out for seasonal rotation, and it still commands the same attention, enthusiasm, and affection I had in my early days of perfume obsession, and smelling it brings back the passion and excitement of new discovery from those early days of a hobby that I now know will be with me for the rest of my life. I’m eternally grateful to Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez for setting me on this road, and I hope that reading this review will remind old hands of their own early discoveries and also encourage newbies to take chances and keep exploring. And for goodness’ sake, get your hands on a sample of Chinatown if you’ve never smelled it, because it’s one of the greats. I think it’s gorgeous on anyone of any gender—its spicy profile works a treat on masculine skin, especially for evening wear.

It easily merits five stars out of five, for being still unique, absolutely beautiful, perfectly composed, performing like an athlete at the top of their game (I’m serious; it’s strong as heck and it lasts forever), and for being so much darn fun. It’s a serious perfume in all but attitude, and a perfect antidote to dark moods, depressing news, and pretty much anything else discouraging that the world can throw at you.

Short, pedestrian (albeit to the point) review:

Remember those Smarties candies?

Chinatown:

Smarties candies + incense/candle shop

When I try hard, or get my hands on an older version, I get loads of cardamom and some rich peach... maybe a flower petal.

WOWSA! What a strikingly, beautiful spicy, somewhat incense-y, creamy, gardenia-type vanilla, sweet fragrance! There are not enough adjectives and exclamation points to describe how much love I have for this fragrance. Many of the reviews are spot-on. The positive reviews are what convinced me to blind-buy this perfume. Let me tell you dear members, I am so happy I did. I love that I could smell it on me throughout the day when I moved. If I wasn’t moving, my nose was stuck to my wrist or sniffing my shirt. Thank goodness my family members “understand” me and perfume quirks. Lol!

The scent journey on my first day of wearing this beauty was like a roller coaster.
After initial spray—coasting up the track in anticipation, hesitant because it’s very spicy,
Scared going downhill, because I’m feeling I wasted my money on another blind buy.
Screaming with excitement throughout the rest of the ride because after about 5-10 minutes, I’m getting it—I’m getting the positive reviews now. It’s absolutely lovely and a keeper! I’ll need to re-arrange my top shelf faves now. It’s definitely worth a try!

the dry down is a bit matronly on paper to me. im 27. my dad said it smelled like an older lady.(i think the patchouli in the dry down is where the older lady scent comes in.) on paper i get warm sweet sugar vanilla scents which i liked but on the skin its polar opposite & not warm but light & airy/powdery. i preferred the way it smelled on paper. the dry down/patchouli i dont like. scent lasts for hours & people will definitely smell u wherever u are

I blind bought this perfume. I should have known better than to blind buy a Bond No 9 (I have learned later with some of their other creations!). This fragrance is absolutely NOTHING like I envisioned... luckily, it's better.

Chinatown is rich, spicy, warm and sexy. The vanilla and cardamom or solid front runners and they are exquisite. To me it is a delicious expensive vanilla chai latte. The florals are there but are more in the background for me, I think they keep the sweetness from the vanilla elevated and light.
Maybe a skim milk vanilla chai latte!

Longevity is at least 5 hours (good for my skin), 12 hours on clothing, and surrounds me in a scent bubble about arms length for 3-4 hours.

I absolutely adore Chinatown so much so that it is a solid frontrunner above my many other fragrances for a winter signature scent.

Over a decade ago, I had a small lotion sample of a dupe of Chinatown. I fell in love and the scent would come to mind every time I thought of that special trip I took when I wore it. This year a friend gave a me a sample of the authentic perfume and I waited for the weather to cool to use it.

Fragrancenet classifies Chinatown as a Oriental Floral. As I wear it, I keep thinking how similar in character it is to a chypre. Mitsouko comes to mind - which I have, respect, and appreciate. When I wear it, I honor the vintage fragrance. Chinatown, with its fruity peachiness, bergamot, spices and woods, reminds me of Mitsouko. But instead of sitting Mitsouko's presence in honor I am reveling in Chinatown's comfort cloud.

Chinatown is both alluring and comforting. It works for a man or woman. It's got a vintage vibe and yet it feels current as well, rendering it timeless.

On my skin, peach is definitely there, but it's warmed subtle, and in the background. So are the flowers, soft and floating. The spices are indeed at the forefront - cardamom is primary, supported by a bit of soft cinnamon, possibly some saffron? There is, as another reviewer stated, a beeswax candle snuffed out smell that is really pleasant, and soft velvety woods.

The notes list patchouli, but I pick up zero.

This scent is so beautifully blended, evoking wonder and reverence, and ranks up there with some of my favorites ever, definitely full bottle worthy. A beautiful bottle, that is.

Chinatown gives me an impression of buttery tuberose, incense, brass, and oriental papers. Maybe it's the cardamom that gives it an incense vibe. Smells just like a Chinese imports store but more floral and soapy. Very different and lovely.

I first tested Chinatown years ago from a generous decant I received in a swap. I enjoyed it immensely and used the last drop of that decant but never bought a full bottle. Yet the fragrance has always haunted me. It’s completely memorable and stands out amongst a relentless sea of new releases. So I finally bought myself a full bottle and can not discern any difference from earlier formulations. It’s still as distinctive as ever and I couldn’t be happier with my purchase.

Peach blossom candy and fortune cookies, creamy tuberose sharpened with cardamom, and a bite of sandalwood on the bottom.

There’s a voluptuous mystique to it, gorgeous but with an edge, the sweetheart next door with a femme fatale secret.

Elusive on skin and lasting on silk.
I love it.

This was a blind purchase for me. My younger sister was talking about it, I ordered it for her and ordered one for myself. I ended up liking it very much. Usually once I am done with a fragrance bottle, I don't repurchase it again since there are so many fragrances to buy and try. This one I have repurchased it 4 times already. My friends like it so much I always ended it up giving it to them. This last bottle I am keeping it because it has become one of my staple perfumes. Ladies, you need this in your life! In my unsolicited opinion, it is one of the best creations from the Bond #9 line. I have yet to smell the new more expensive ones from the Dubai line (I want to try Dubai Ruby) I would hate to pay over $250 for it and end up not liking it.

Take a very modest jasmine, tuberose and orange blossom perfume on a woody base with a decent vanilla note, steep it in menthol and cinnamon and star anise and cardamom...the result is mostly medicinal, part smokey incense...moderate as far as sweetness, and very boldly Oriental. It truly smells like a sweet spicy medicinal salve, with some flowers infused as well.

I like the smell, it is comforting, as I am not Asian, but growing up my mom made salves and teas with lots of herbs and spices, including many used in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Yet I am not fond of smelling medicinal. When the cinnamon and tuberose stand out it is drop dead gorgeous, but just as soon as I smell them Chinatown returns to smelling like a patchouli-based tiger balm-inspired muscle rub. I have to pass.

Wasn't sure about this sniffing from the tester, but love. Has to be on the skin to get the real feel. Sweet yet sensuous.
Edit: after wearing it a few days I really love this scent. The vanilla, flowers and woods are blended so one does not overwhelm. Very intriguing and sexy. I feel a lot of white florals are cloying but this one does it just right.
If you liked Sensi, Elie Saab or Parfum, Samsara or Baiser du Dragon you will love this. Good longevity, Good sillage but not obnoxious.
I'm so glad I tried this on my skin. I think most people will prefer in cool weather but I'm loving it in summer.

This was a blind buy because the wholesale shop carries it, but doesn't have testers, and there are no shops in my city that carry it. All I smell when I wear it is wood and spices. I don't hate it, but I don't love it either. Seems like it might be good for Fall. I'm going to keep it because sometimes your nose changes and you fall in love with scents you didn't like before.

This fragrance has a unique identity. I liked the creamy gardenia. The way the spices tame the tuberose. But the overall impression is actually that of a crayon. A bitter plastic wax that overwhelms all the rest of the good stuff going on here... not worth its price-tag, I'm afraid.

I sprayed this morning. A few sprays on the usual points, a spray on my hair, and a spray on clothes. All in all possibly 4 total sprays. What's great about this is, the scent is so pleasant, that it's very hard to over-spray. I wanted to keep spraying as I loved this beautiful gourmand. The initial is a cacophony of spices (the cardamom), vanilla, coconut (I smell fresh coconut oil for whatever reason), tuberose, and some sandalwood.

5min- The spices remain strong, however, we get a bigger whiff of the vanilla now, and that beautiful incense like sandalwood. I usually dislike incense smells, however, the incense smell in this perfume is addictive.

1hr- The above smell continues and a hint of patchouli and possibly cedar

3hrs- Scent is still strong, the spices subside, and the vanilla, incense, and that coconut smell is stronger.

5hrs- The above vanilla, incense, coconut smell remains, however the incense is beginning to now subside.

8hrs- I can still smell the perfume quite well on my self- not in just whiffs. The coconut vanilla scent is very prominent.

10hrs- I feel like the vanilla has subsided now, and I'm left with a a coconut oil scent, which is fine and comforting.

Had I not changed, I think the scent would have continued to 10 hours. I think this is a lovely smell. It's very inviting. The initial spicy, incense like notes in the initial few hours make this perfume quite sexy. Is it ethereal and beautiful? It's beautiful, but it doesn't make me daydream, possibly because it's so gourmand. However, I love it!

Smell: 8.5 (I loved the incredible beginning (first 5-6 hours or so), but after a while, the coconut oil smell became kind of overwhelming)
Sillage: 7- I don't think this is a sillage monster, however, I like that. People 2 or 3 feet from you can smell you, but I don't think you'll fill up a room. It's very inoffensive. I can't see why anyone would dislike the smell of this beautiful perfume.
Longevity: 9.5- (8 hours solid until I changed clothes, even after I get whiffs of it from my hair at around 10 hours. See my update for new comment on the scent)

I love it!

4/5/2019 Update: Two days ago I used a blanket and immediately smelled this fragrance. I realized I used the same blanket the day I wore this perfume, and sat in my sofa. This perfume is incredibly long lasting. Updating my longevity score.

Intrigued by the box and the names: Bond No 9 and "Chinatown", I picked up the body silk this past fall. Now that it's March I'm wearing it and the perfume sample that accompanied the lotion. All I can say is that it lacks something, perhaps spice beyond the powdery cardamom, a bitty drop of black pepper, clove, or cinnamon, or even sesame, the smallest inclusion of which would make this perfume live up to its name.

However, it is everything peach blossom and creamily floral that Elizabeth Taylor Black Pearls is not. It's not remotely harsh to my nose, not screechy, not offensive, and not disappointing as a gourmandish floral. I am elated this doesn't go into fruity floral at all, as it lacks any orchard fruit or citrus note.

Is it worth buying a full sized bottle? Definitely not, unless it's layered perhaps with one of the later incarnations of YSL Opium or even Donna Karan's Black Cashmere. Chinatown just needs a kick of something to make it whole.

Chinatown is a creamy woody vanilla floral. Smells like candy and I love it. I smell peach blossom, gardenia and vanilla rounded off by patchouli. I can't stop smelling myself. Last a long time on me. Delicious!

Chinatown was my 2nd Bond no 9 perfume then... And it gave me mixed feelings. The juice itself is very unique, there was only one perfume that smells the same as Chinatown, it was my late grandmother's perfume, though i don't know what perfume she's wearing, she wore perfume only for special occasions, and Bknd no 9 Chinatown is a deadringer to her perfume, but i really have no idea what perfume it was, since i was still a little kid and wasn't really into perfume.

So, yeah, Chinatown reminds me of my grandmother, and conjures up happy memories with her. It is really a vintage floral, sweet, a bit incensy, like a chinese potpurri kept in a closed cabinet.

For me, Chinatown and Central Park West are two strongest perfumes from Bond no 9. It could be pure perfume instead of eau de parfum. Initially i wear 6-7 spritzes, but for these 2, 4 spritzes are about enough to fill the room for a day.

I definitely smell popcorn and coconut, nothing else

I have been intrigued by this one since joining Fragrantica more or less, but only just got the opportunity to try it (manufacturer's sample). It certainly packs a punch, but I find myself not being very enchanted. The spicy white flowers leave me unmoved and uninspired, but I was expecting to be transported. I'll be the first one to admit that I don't get it.

I’m thinking this must’ve been reformulated because I don’t pick up the nuances of this scent: all I get is sugar, a plastic take out food container and nail salon gas off. I’m writing a review after only 90 minutes; but I just can’t take it so I’m washing it off.

I waited for all the magic to happen and I’ve been shut out: no big vintage floral for me.

My sample is fresh from the manufacturer. I’m left scratching my head over all the positive reviews. This is just a gross chemical mess on my skin.

A vintage fragrance . It smells like something from my great grandmothers time; a special Asian concoction of white florals incense sandalwood, except this fragrance adds a youthful twist. it gives a sense of mystery but also playfulness. Bubblegum tuberose is reigned in by a spicy powdery cardamom and held together by a woodsy base. A sweet powdery sandalwood with bubblegum tuberose and dash of spiced cherry blossom. It can be worn on any occasion and almost all seasons, although I prefer it on spring summer and fall. Highly recommended for those who enjoy a vintage smelling orientalis but want something more youthful and modern.

I sprayed on some Chinatown and got into a friend's car.

Me: -Hi, how are you?-
Him: -Mmm, you smell like Christmas-

Given the smile on his face and deep inhalation, I'll take it as a compliment.

Happy Holidays to all ;)

Received this today. It is more floral than I remembered, but that is OK. It has a vintage floral vibe to me. My previous samples of this seemed a tad bit more spicy than my new bottle...???...Reformulation...?...
Probably !!! lol.The notes are well blended and there is a somewhat smokiness vibe,although light and underneath.
I own only 1 other Bond scent (Saks Fifth Ave)...and I do like this more...(much smoother).
I get a lot of greeny tuberose thruout the war of this.And it has decent sillag/logevity too.

It's a like from me, but just a like. Apart from my beloved New Haarlem, I haven't had much luck with Bond No. 9. There's something, some isotope or other that they use in their fragrances that reads as "chemical", "plastic", or "metal" to me.

Chinatown still gives me that waxen candle feel at the start, but underneath the wax is buried a spicy floral eden full of creamy gardenia. I love the smell of cardamom and sandalwood kicks in at the base.

It's just unfortunate that there's still something... off for me and I've tried it several times to be sure. But this is still one of the prettiest scents I've sampled from this house.

Upon first wearing, I found this to be quite opaque. It simply smelled "vintage" and vaguely spicy to my untrained nose. After a few more wearings and after sampling some classics in the grand old style, I am starting to crave this one! I love the sweet, syrupy florals with cardamom. I also detect peach, plum, and cinnamon, though they're not listed. This is very cozy and velvety in its later stages.

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that several of my favorite scents are all by Aurelien Guichard after I had purchased and started to wear them: Gucci Guilty, Narciso, Narciso Poudre... Chinatown is quickly climbing to the top of the list!

Questo profumo mi sembra di conoscerlo da sempre.
Chinatown sa di Natale, di abbracci, sa di biscotti, di fiori e di spezie, di musica e canzoni, del tempo che precede una nevicata e che ti invoglia a stare a casa vicino ad un camino o a fare l'amore per riscaldarsi.
Un vero e proprio capolavoro.

<3

This scent seems to me to know him forever.
Chinatown knows Christmas, hugs, knows biscuits, flowers and spices, music and songs, the time before a snowfall and that makes you want to stay at home near a fireplace or make love to warm up.
A real masterpiece.

Working from a sample here -- I have been curious about this one since reading Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez's five star review in The Guide.

This one definitely has vintage overtones. It reminds me of those enticing, amber-colored perfumes on my aunt and grandma's dressing tables. Chinatown strikes me as a rich, bitter, heady, spicy, floral with an incense haze floating around it. Pleasant enough, but I feel as though I've smelled it before in the form of one of those old-fashioned elixirs.

A note about the name: I'm afraid I don't understand the Chinatown reference at all. If asked out of the blue to brainstorm some smells I associate with Chinatown I would have said the clean, milky scent of fragrant jasmine rice; rich, juicy plum; the savory, smoky, delicious smell of meat markets and streetside vendors; some ethereal, watery tea notes.

Glancing over that, I suppose I expected a feast instead which does not a good perfume make (necessarily). But put another way, I'm surprised there aren't more edible things in here.

A young girl’s gateway into the complex world of fruity chypres. It takes the idea of the likes of Rochas Femme and Mitsouko of knitting waxy peach/plum skins together with spicy flowers and leaving them to musty up a bit inside lacquered woody chinese boxes. But it makes that lighter, younger and whimsy with bubbly gardenias and a fizzy bellini while still remaining chypre-level-smart. Mitsouko in a nylon petticoat dress from Betsey Johnson with some serious fake eyelashes doing cartwheels outside of a library during research break.

I just got a sample of this...and im so perplexed.I was expecting a richer spicier scent.But all I get is gardenia.i'm so sad.will give it a few more tries though.

Words fail me with this one. It reminds me of Smarties candies (US candy). Cardamom makes it fizzy and a touch prickly. Underneath all this fizzy, prickly candy is a delicious base of green patchouli, vanilla and wood. Floral notes are not the main focus, but they help make Chinatown what it is. Feminine. The notes are all there and I can pick them out if I focus on each individually, but I prefer to feel it as a whole because it all comes together to create this really unusual fragrance that is extremely lovable and feels like a best kept secret. It's addictive like candy let me tell you. But it's candy for adults! Love.

I just read a professional review comparison kind of article about this perfume. The entire premise of the article was to let people know that if they like vintage Dior Poison that this is the dupe. I've read every one of these reviews on here and have not seen one comparison to poison. Does anybody find this to be true?

I had it from the beginning. I had to get rid of it because it was way to sweet and headache inducing on me. I’m sure it smells lovely on others and yes, this is really something different, than most Bond No 9 scents.

This is a very pleasant scent for mild weather, suitable for spring/summer and early fall, day and night. It leans clearly towards feminine scents. It's not unisex IMO.

Chinatown is both fresh and warm somehow (warmth from the vanillla), floral/spicy/woody scent with dominant tuberose, peach blossom, with a strong vanilla note which caracterize the whole blend, intensive gardenia and mild cardamom. I love cardamom but in Chinatown it's very much toned down. I don't get the usual warm/spicy vibe from it. Cardamom exist only to support the florals. The rest notes are mild. 

Chinatown is a long lasting scent with moderate sillage and moderate projection.

I sooo get the hype with this one, exotic peach blossom and tuberose with cardamom spice and creamy sandal. A bit of plastiky dolls head. This is fantastic! It is also has a very refined and elegant vibe. I would wear this with my favorite Jackie O dress and pearls. I feel like it’s sacrilegious wearing it with hole-y jeans shorts and a lace trimmed tank. Beautiful! Best Bond EVER!

I received this in a swap and I am so surprised by how much I love this! This isn't the style I usually go for but I just can't stop spraying it. It's a spicy white floral on my skin. It has completely captured my heart. I feel so elegant wearing this.

A big, stereotypical waxy white floral-blossom concoction with a touch of smoke to just smooth over the gourmand-ish sweetness. That being said, it really reminds me of an overpowering, cloying air-freshener. But while it is far too sweet for me, I can understand its success and appeal.
Also, the name confuses me. It smells neither oriental, nor reminiscent of Chinatown. Maybe they were going for the 'China doll' association, complete with peony blossoms in her hair, and a peach lollypop in her mouth.

I added Chinatown to my wishlist just by reading reviews and waited so long to try it.it was a blindbuy,a successful one since it's a unique and amazing fragrance.it may look playful,fun and girly at first but you will gradually discover it's different facets,it's complexity and sensuality
All the notes are very well blended,still I can detect most of them.cardamom is definitely there.it's a note I usually stay away from,but in Chinatown it's not invasive or too masculine and it blends very well with peachy white floral cream.white florals are very present without overpowering other beautiful notes.I can see that most people find tuberose the most prominent one but on me gardenia is the main actor.sparkly peach blossom and smooth vanilla,hand in hand with cardamom and white florals create such a delicious and flirty scent which sometimes reminds me bubble gum.but this is not the end of Chinatown's story.there's a subtle base of Smokey woods and a pinch of powder,which give more depth to scent and turn it to something more grown up.
I love the fact that it's a compliment magnet while being interesting.people around me find it lovely and memorable.I'm so glad to find something which is original and is an easy to wear crowd pleaser at the same time.projection and longevity are very satisfying which is another bonu5.it's wearable year round,better suited for mild weather as it may become cloying for some people in hot weather and can't fully bloom in freezing cold weather.I'm sure there are some men who can pull it off but for me,it's a feminine scent.though it was a blindbuy and I'm so glad for deciding to order it,I think it's not a very safe one to buy without test.it seems to act different on different people,some of my friends find it too sweet or sharp,some believe it's just a simple floral fruity.I even have a friend who says it's all about spicy woods and incense on her.but to me it's pure perfection.not something I wear often but each time I crave and go for it,it doesn't disappoint me

A sweet, peach-tinged mix of waxy blooms with a light, sheer cardamom and vanilla background. The cardamom fades pretty quickly, and what's left is the waxy peach blossom scent. It smells sort of like a lip balm or scented chapstick with the waxiness - it's a nice smell, just pretty simple on me. But I love scents with a whack of cardamom, and this one had a whisper.

Chinatown is for me like a very passionate affair with a boyfriend, one that goes on and off for years, one I know he could never be my stable, long time relationship.
Incence-white floral-cardamom, all blended to perfection and I love wearing it, yet some days Chinatown can be too much.
Of note, I have owned many bottles of Chinatown over a few years, all authentic. There were definite variations between different batches. Some were more lactonic, in a somewhat unpleasant way. Others had more of an incence accord. Others were a bit heavier on the white florals.
All of the bottles I have owned were minuscule variations of the same perfume, unless some were slightly turned from aging or a reformulation took place. In any case, I definitely recommend Chinatown, but I would make sure I was buying a fresh bottle.

I usually don't care for masc or femm gender scents. But this is really on the feminine side. And it probably smells good on the opposite sex. There's no tobacco here for sure, to my nose. Just floral, floral and floral. Rose and floral in general are not my cup of tea. Tested it and forgot it. Got rid off the sample.

Katie Puckrik either got it spot on or she frontloaded my perception. Chinatown is chockablock with creamy white floral stereotypica - "tuberose," I suppose? If that's enough, do not pass GO, do not collect $200, go directly to Nebras.

The Bond product justifies its triple digit pricetag with incense and spices that travel over and above the already smile-inducing wave of white. As Ms. Puckrik articulates, a strong and nostalgic aroma of lacquered wooden Asian tableware comes to mind; all those Grant Avenue knickknack shops are brought to the fore of consciousness.

I don't know if the formulators of Chinatown got a little too literal with the lacquer component. The cap has a habit of gumming up on the congealed and solidified overspray.

I don't think it's very unisex. It's quite feminine, but it's also too good for that to impede me from smelling good.

@MixedTastes, the cardamom is listed in the notes for sure.

This is the first Bond I've really liked, and I think it's love. Love at first sniff for me. There's something addicting about it. It's sweet but nothing like a "generic pink syrup" celebrity scent. The blend of white flowers and vanilla with the other florals and spices is delicious. At first I thought it had been reformulated as I had a few drops for a couple of years and that was wonderful ... the new samples and then the full bottle I got smelled a tad sweeter and less "creamy waxy," but it's as gorgeous as it ever was. Don't ever change, darling.

Blind bought a Notino sample and I am impressed.

Delicious, well blended oriental floral with a subtle (unlisted) pineapple. Cardamom and (again, not listed!) ginger give it a cracking spice-kick in the dry down.

Sillage is fair, longevity is awesome.

Full bottle worthy. In fact, I just ordered one (oops!)

"Chinatown" smells (and looks) like the olfactory manifestation of Cyndi Lauper's 80's hit "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun".

A giddy explosion of cardamom, peach and orange blossom, bouncing on a bed of plush vanilla, creamy tuberose and gardenia. It gives me a vivid image of teenage girls with crimped blonde Barbie hair dolling themselves up for a party, a sweet, redolent cloud of hairspray, bubblegum and Cola-flavoured lip balm.

Normally I would find this kind of thing garish and cloying, but there's something charming about "Chinatown" that I just can't put my finger on, something that makes me think 'glitz' rather than ditz.

A dry guaiac wood and patchouli lend a vaguely smokey character to the vanilla and things eventually solidify into a thick, waxy candle note, with remnants of that fizzy, sweet floral opening.
At this point it feels darker, more subdued and sensual. I can imagine the party girls taking a break from the revelment, slipping out of their shoes so they might dip their feet in the pool, the sweet tang of blossoms hanging in the warm summer night air.

This is youthful feminine exuberance in a bottle.

*EDIT*

I also agree with a previous reviewer who said it smells like Nag Champa incense. Imagine a Nag Champa scented candle and you have China Town.

At first sprits i got sweet cardamon which reminded me of kenzo elephant but not as intense. Off to a great start.
It settles on the skin and fizzy peach comes through and as it dries it smooths out more and becomes quite woody and a little smokey, like a candle.
Im so happy i blind bought this finally, it did not disappoint.
Such a complex and amazing scent.

Chinatown is one of those perfumes that I've been waiting to test for a very long time. I had no idea what to expect. From first spray this smells familiar, it actually reminds me of spicebomb but with the added peach blossom and a lighter version. It's a really pretty perfume. It opens with a lot of cardamom and i love cardamom, it always reminds me of warm chi tea. Then out pops the insence and cedar. It is so well blended... cardamom, Insence, cedar and sandlewood. About 10 minutes later i can smell peach blossom. At this point the cardamom isn't the dominant note anymore but insence and peach blossom take front and center. It stays in this phase for an hour or so before it faded out into a fuzzy insenced sandlewood. Projection is soft, sillage is moderate and then becomes close to the skin after 10 minutes. Longevity is 4 hours on skin. It's a beautiful perfume and i adore the smell but I'm still deciding if i should buy a FB or not. What's holding me back? The fact that it's so expensive and doesn't have very good sillage or longevity on me. It is a relaxing, warm, meditative scent.

The most cute niche perfume for girlfriends!
Great sillage, outstanding performance and twelve plus hours longevity easily in any weather.
Peach blossom and lots of white flowers on vanilla. Amazing!

Pure powder on me. Smells like an unlit cardamom incense stick. No flowers, no fruit, very little wood.

I guess it could be lovely on someone, but that someone definitely isn't me.

The beauty of Chinatown lies in how it juxtaposes its notes and textures. You have delicious peach fizz, contrasted against this weirdly artificial accord of spices and wood. A smooth vanillic quality - most apparent when you take the cap off your bottle and smell the nozzle - is juxtaposed with a powdery vibrancy that becomes stronger as it dries down. Over time, the classic chypre structure takes over, which smells like the peaches are rapidly ripening and drying out. Chinatown announces its presence with sprightly cheer, but underneath there is a complexity you'd never expect from something so delicious.

As if describing it wasn't hard enough by itself, this fragrance seems to smell completely different depending on your skin chemistry. Over the years, several friends of mine had a go at my bottle, with vastly different results. Most astonishing was my sister, on whose skin it almost immediately devolved into a dreadful mish-mash of rotting wood.

Longevity is excellent. Same goes for projection, partly because the accord is so unique that you can easily identify it even through the fragrance-laden atmosphere of your local perfumery. Whether it works on your skin or not, this is at the very least a fiendishly clever composition. There is nothing else like it.

It is a unique perfume, no doubt. But too much smoke and incense to my taste. Actually I only get incense with spices, no fruits, no flowers - so sad. I LOVE the bootle, such a pretty thing. But the perfume is almost all base on me right from the start. I've given it several tries during the last years, but still the same.

Yes, I am with you Miss precious orchid and want to add, it smells like a cross between Jungle Elephant Kenzo and a bit of Gucci rush and I also smell cardamom and maybe a little cinnamon?

Love it. The familiar smell, to me, is actually Sandalwood oil from The Body Shop that I used to wear in high school. ChinaTown is a softer, sweeter version of it. Just trying to figure out if it's worth the money though. Maybe I'll swap my Central Park West...

I find myself reaching for this one very often, even though I keep buying new perfumes every now and then, I'm starting to think this one is a love of mine :) it makes me happy in a way, it such a cheerful and easy-to-wear perfume.
I love the peach note in the beginning, and that waxy note is so interesting and playful. Plus, when I put it on in the morning, I can feel it ALL day till I shower. It's one of my best blind buys ever.

Straight up head shop and bubblegum.

I ordered this blindly and I absolutely do not regret it. The opening reads more like cherry blossom than peach on my skin, and I don't get any of the bergamot at all. The tuberose is not shy in the opening, but in my skin comes off more like bubblegum than white floral. As soon as the top notes settle the sandalwood and cardamom appear. Though there aren't any incense notes listed, that's definitely what I'm smelling. Nag champa and vanilla. Chinatown reminds me of my undergrad years at a liberal arts college smoking hookah on the green with my roommates. Totally a hippie scent, but beautifully blended. I'm beyond stoked I found this on mega sale, but it would have been worth it for the memories it brought back.

Edit: I could still smell this in the morning from the spot I spritzed on my wrist. Now I'm getting all the sugary sweet cardamom cake notes other Fragranticans have been mentioning. Longevity is beastly!

I ordered a bottle of this blind, I liked the sound of it but I also ordered a whole swag of others and it was the others that grabbed my attention initially. I literally have had this sitting in my stash since November and haven't worn it until last night (and it's now February). I wasn't a fan sniffing it from the bottle so put it aside and had considered gifting it. Then last night I read a review about perfumes and this one was mentioned as something that needs to be experienced and how right they were! I agree with some other reviewers that it has a bit of the whole Lush store smell or like a teenage girls bedroom but to me it's also reminiscent of a wonderful period of my life, when I hung out with these new age hippies and we would drink chai on the porch of a 100 year old house surrounded by fruit trees and gardenias; guys on guitars or bongo's, soft breezes playing with the wind-chimes, nag champa curling it's way through diaphanous curtains to wrap around bare bronzed shoulders, curtained with patchouli scented tresses and skin musk. It sings to me of freedom, of mystery, of seduction and secrets and I think I've just found my signature <3

One of the few Bonds that works well for me. I love the peach and white flower top notes. It is cool today and a little breezy which works to CT's benefit. I don't get heavy like some mentioned. And of course the tuberose, I am finding that my chemistry and tuberose are simpatico, erotico, (sorry ha! watched Bad teacher last night).

Delicious cardamom cake in a summer kitchen decorated with flowers.

Very long lasting. Faintly noticeable after 12 hours and a hot shower.

Chinatown. I've had this scent for a year but haven't written a review yet because it's a complicated perfume. I've read so many reviews and agree and disagree with bits of many of them, good and bad. It's so many things that are common- sweet, white floral, syrupy, spicy- but the waxy, snuffed-candle feel that is laid over the scent by cardamom and guaiac wood sets it apart entirely. Yes, it's sweet, but the smokiness renders it utterly inedible. Yes, it's floral, but the waxy incense feel means it's better suited to deep winter than fresh spring. Yes, it's peachy and the bottle is youthful, but the hazy cloudiness makes it feel equally at home on a woman with gravitas. It's an unconventional chypre but a chypre nonetheless. It's beautiful yet strange, formal yet comfortable, flirty yet meditative. It's not right all the time, or even half the time(is that a hint of Crayon I smell?)...but when it is, it's so very right. For some reason I associate this perfume with February- the month when quiet, meditative, smoky winter turns its heart and thoughts to sweet spring and unopened buds are weighed down on their boughs by melting snow.

This perfumes reminds of church . I love it thou. It's sweet, warm , feels cosy somehow. Gives me piece of mind.

Chinatown opens rather sheer and vaguely sugary with cardamom adding a strange artificial sparkle reminiscent of a scented mylittlepony or maybe bubblegum soap for kids. It's much lighter than what I've come to expect from a white floral and vanilla affair but there's something quite pleasant and cheerful about this fizzy (cardamom) rubbery (tuberose) and candy-like sweetness. As some reviewers have mentioned, it begins to smell like a mixture of candle smoke and sweet incense midway, but it's less head shop and more teenage bedroom or one of those junk shops that sell lava lamps and magic kits. It's certainly not the sort of thing that would be widely appreciated among women but still kind of funky and cute; the way I imagine Bjork would have smelled circa 90s with her hair buns, eyebrow dots and all. In fact as a 90s kid I think it's possible to make endless endearing youth culture references with this--it smells familiar, it smells naive and happy and awkward right down to its final stages as a waxy crayola scent. Not particularly appealing as far as perfumes go, but with all these nice associations I would wear it to carnivals and outdoor music festivals, that sort of thing.

This is the fragrance that I always avoid whenever I pop by Sephora. Not because I hated it but because of the hefty price tag that comes with it.
Now i have finally tried it..
Chinatown is LUSH store condensed in a bottle. A very well stocked LUSH store in fact. There's alot going on in the fragrance, the bergamot,sandalwood, vanilla, spices and the patchouli note is prominent yet there's balance. I smell LUSH's Karma in it too. Having said that, I like it a lot just not the price tag.

I instantly fell in love with this scent, using it from a decant, I didn't know what the bottle looked like or what the notes were supposed to be. This is one of my top fives.

Spicy and sweet like soft gingerbread or carrot cake with powder sugar together with creamy gardenia, fuzzy peach skin and vanilla, and powdery/sparkling candy tuberose. The base consists of a cozy, milky sandalwood and warm soft spices, especially cardamom, which I feel is a much softer note compared to cinnamon/cloves which can be sharp. All in all, a very sweet, bubblegum-y scent with warm edible spicy cake.

This has a similar bubble gum (dare I say crayon?) effect to Madonna Truth or dare with tuberose, and a similar nostalgic warm Christmasy spicy base to Kenzo Jungle. Add a tad more sugar to those two and you're on the right track. I also agree this has that LUSH feel, especially Lust with it's sweet candy jasmine and Death & Decay with its soft spices. This is without doubt one of my most unique and most loved perfumes, with a lot of character. Definitely one of Bond No 9's very best scents!

Yes I'm a man, and yes this is my signature scent :)

I've spritzed my bottle for the first time (after having doubted wether to sell/swap it) today, and for all of you girls and guys saying it smells like something familiar, I think I have the answer...

It smells like the Lush store. That whaft of a gazillion different Lush soaps, creams and scrubs combined, that you get when passing by the entrance, that is what it smells like to me.

It's spicy, sugary, sweet, floral, vanilla, soap, everything. It's glorious in its own way.

Disappointingly faint and plasticy like so many other so called cherry blossom scents :

So far this is the only Bond No 9 I've ever liked, and in fact, I love it. I never would have thought so, considering I usually detest perfumes with gardenia and tuberose. But this is spicy and warm, intoxicating, not floral. Different from anything else I've ever tried. I imagine it would smell great on a man as well. I'm wearing it in humid summer weather and it just works. Long lasting as well.

I thought I would join so many others and really enjoy Chinatown . . . well I didn't. My skin amps spices and if they are not blended just right, the spices will inevitably take over. This is the case with Chinatown as the cardamom and vanilla takes center stage. And while I can handle cardamom as a minor supporting character, not so much as the star. While Chinatown is sweet, warm and creamy, this is actually also rather suffocating and claustrophobic to me. I've never had a fragrance make me feel like that, like being in a small room with this smell and no windows or a/c . . . I would panic. There is nothing here that awakens my "happy place" or gives me a breath of fresh air. No peach blossom no gardenia no orange blossom. A total scrubber for me. :-(

What strikes me the most each and every time I spritz Chinatown is that I get a lot of sandalwood upfront. Then comes a lot of spice and syrupy-sweet peach. Somehow this all adds up to a scent that is like incense. Think Buddhist temple, not head shop. I am not picking up any florals, although word on the street is that they are supposed to be here. What a crying shame it seems to evaporate from my skin so quickly. I get very weak sillage and think I need to try this out in the cold weather when the heat doesn't evaporate my perfume so readily. Bond perfumes are always like that on me. I might still purchase a bottle because I love this particular type of incense so much and have never smelled it in perfume before. I am used to the frankincense and myrrh perfumes, not this wonderful Eastern incense.

Im in love.Something in this perfume seems familiar.Such a lovely and soft scent and to me really feminine. It's like i have smelled it before but many years ago.

Tried this for a couple of hours before I had to wash it off, not only for my sake, but my husband's and children's who thought I smelled like "a campfire with rotten food cooking over it," and a "crystals and candles type of store." As for me, I just think I smelled like my old college dorm: heavy incense and smelly garbage. Not for me!

i need you in my life period.
you and i are gonna be best friends once i get my hands on a 50 ml bottle , i didn't understood you until i tried the juice on my skin and then like a revelation i get why chinatown is so popular

Excellent scent, my favorite bond no 9 perfume. Very long lasting love it.

To really understand Chinatown, you have to have at some point visited New York City's Chinatown (not San Francisco's or any other... Specifically NYC). The color scheme and design of the bottle capture one aspect: the eclectic decor of the neighborhood and also the porcelean "Ming Dynasty" type wares sold all over the place. The stuff inside captures another. The smells you may encounter--specifically the pastries.

This is a true, true gourmand. And (in my humble opinion) it stands almost toe to toe with Shalimar in that regard. Just a masterwork of the wonderful perfumer Aurelien Guichard. If you like vanillaish fragrances, this one's for you (the vanilla here isn't candy-sweet but more smokey. Quite complex).

Here are my thoughts:
-Forget what the other reviews are saying about this not being unisex. Yes it is. It's also ageless. Young teens to the older set can rock it.
-Suitable for any season except summer.
-This is one of those scents that make you think. You may not like it right away-there's a significant amount of complexity to it. You have to live with it a bit... Give it a chance.
-It's not overtly sexy. Think attractive librarian. Or adorable nerd. It's certainly not for the club or anything like that. I'd say this is best as a signature scent. It's quite unique.
-Is this suitable for Date Night... Hmmn... That's a tricky one. If your goal is to get laid, I'd say no (guys, if you wanna get laid, try "La Nuit de L'Homme" by YSL. Girls, look into the J.Lo fragrances). This is more for folks who value themselves on the inside. Someone educated, pensive and artsy. It's more of a fall-in-complex-love number than a panty-dropper.

Cons:
-It's so freaking expensive. If you can get this for 150, you're getting a good deal. And that's what I can't stand about Bond No. 9 releases; they're not very accessible despite having that "hipster" vibe. But I guess that falls in line with the whole "hipster" hypocrisy. Hip, cool and for the people, as long as you're Ivy League educated and have lots of discretionary income.
-No gift set really, although there is a (60 dollar!) lotion. I love gift sets =(

I don't have anything clever to say nor do I have a comparison. All I know is that this is such a comfort smell for me. Like a soft blanket and a hot coffee and a night in. I'll admit though, that I'm happy to feel such lovely emotions from a scent. I have an emotional tie to NYC because I received two shiny new hips there in effort to take a dreadful genetic disease. Sadly, I couldn't add a bottle of this to my hospital bill! I don't think I'll ever justify buying a FB but goshdarnit I sure want one! If anyone has one they're not super attached to, feel free to let me know

This is an extraordinary fragrance. It is the exact smell of a small, exotic new-age shop I go to that has a wall full of incenses and essential oils and scented candles and this scent is the exact same incense-profusion smell. I feel like I am walking into the shop when I smell this on my skin! If I imagine all the scents of the strongest incenses from India and China, with musky products from India and China on the shelves, emitting their Oriental musky scents, that is this perfume. I do not find it spicy so much as incense-centric. It starts out very strong, with all the strongest incense notes, from nag champa to sandalwood and cedar to peach and vanilla. But the patchouli is ever-present, an underlying base that holds all the other complex incenses on your skin. It has a strong projection on me and does not go through a lot of changes, at least not on myself. The top notes fade, but the patchouli & sandalwood remain. This perfume is so much like going into an incense/tarot card reading/gypsy shop that am a bit in awe of this perfume's ability to evoke a particular kind of place. A Chinatown incense shop. My allergies do not act up with this perfume, in spite of its strong presence. It really is an amazing scent, in my view.

Another scent which works so well in winter! Sweet but not too sweet; smoky; golden; like gunpowder tea; oriental; floral; warm; amber; unique, addictive. Finishes up as an exquisite floral musk. Genius. My favourite from Bond. Start saving up :)

After I saw that K. Michelle rocked this scent (at least in the pic I saw), I had to give it a try and it's pretty damn spiffy! It smells expensive but it doesn't grab you the way a few other unique scents I know would/do i.e. opium, paris, lou lou, eternity (for example) - these defined an era, moment, person that I instantly recall whenever I smell them. This scent is very mature yet fun and "stable" but I wish it packed more punch!

During the summer my Chinatown gets neglected and I forget about it. When the weather gets cooler I take it out and get reminded why it is still one of my favorites.

I get a completely different take on this perfume than lots of people, my first sniff is black pepper, which isn't listed, but I love it. The notes take a topsy turvy journey through the rest of the notes from spicy to floral and ends up as black pepper again surrounded by the tuberose.

This perfume always comforts me.

An addictive smoky accord cozily wrapped in a creamy peachy blanket. An immediate attention grabber. Reminds me of China - but not a stereotypical noisy and stinky quarter - real China smelling of Buddhist temples and peaches blossoming in April.

I own two Bond fragrances, this and New Haarlem. This is spicy. Sometimes I wonder if it's too spicy. It just depends on my chemistry for the day. I hate being in menopause. Sometimes I love a fragrance, and then it turns on me :( Having said that, Chinatown still plays well. I myself, love the bottle. I love all the Bond bottles, easy to grab, heavy, some are so gorgeous! I can't pick out a single note. All I know is this is a cold weather fragrance. I think it would kill me if I tried to wear it in the warmth of spring or summer. I love it. Shame that bottle just sits all summer. My daughter and I have gone through about 5 bottles of this over the past 3 years, and that's saying a lot! She has 2 on her dresser, and I have 1. So that should at least let you know how much we do love it. Hopefully you'll be able to test it if you have not yet! And as always, which sometimes is hard to do, try before you buy. Try this in winter! She is so fine to dance with then!

What they said below.

Judging by the number and length of the reviews, Chinatown has a strong presence. And it does, in its own urbane way.

Chinatown -- the place, in San Francisco, Vancouver, B.C., NYC, Los Angeles, London -- has always conjured memories of dark shops with shiny baubles and an alluring back room that seems to be the source of an indescribable incense. There's the smell of sweet-musty polished wood, old wood. And a bit of tobacco.

Chinatown, this glorious brew, evokes those memories, especially in the woody dry down. The first blast of sharpness put me off, but after 10-15 minutes, Chinatown was doing a dance on my skin, evolving minute by minute, moving hither and yon among its notes: now fruity, now white floral, now incense, now woody and back again. Amazing!

(Sheisedo's original Zen had the Chinatown-the-place notes I was looking for, too, but it was softer and different with its strong orris root presence. I mourn the loss of that beauty.)

Btw, the bottle is gorgeous, whimsical and pretty. Hold on to it: in 50 years or less, Bond No. 9 bottles will be collector's items!

And another thought about sillage and longevity. Regardless of how the various notes work for you, fragrance also lasts at different rates, too, depending on skin chemistry and whether you spray on your clothes or not. Also our noses get used to a fragrance after a while; people will tell you you smell sooooo gooood, and you say "Huh?"

Also sillage is so subjective. I've seen reviewers complain about the "poor sillage" of an olfactory megaton bomb (Caesar Woman comes to mind ... gaack). For me, I don't want anyone smelling my fragrance unless they're within a foot or two of me. No clearing out the theatre with my fragrance!

This is a beautiful floral that dries down to a sweet, woody incense. It is a divine, gourmand yet delicate 'one of a kind' fragrance. I wish it came in a different bottle! I have to decant it into a travel atomiser when I fly (it's too heavy and made of glass) and I find the design of pink and white blossoms kind of tacky for such an exceptional scent. This is the only Bond No. 9 fragrance I like and it seems like a far cry from all the others (with the exception of New Haarlem).