Good Smells For Equality (Scent Review: Bond No 9 I Love NY Marriage Equality 7.24.11)

Bond No. 9, to put it mildly, is not my favorite perfume house. Someone once told me that all their perfumes are copies of Creed, and if I were to copy anything, Creed would be the last house I would crib from. I have (I think) 2 Bond no 9 scents from my wardrobe, and I like them fine, but I won't die if I lose them. I have sampled a couple over time, and I have always been underwhelmed. I mean, they do nice, well-made scents with good materials, but I am never wowed. I have never had that LAFS (Love at First Sniff) experience with any of their releases....until now. I guess now would be as good a time as any. And what do you know, it's from their I Love NY collection, specifically the one for Marriage Equality. how fitting, indeed. I was at Sephora and was looking for something to sample, and as usual, slim pickings for me there, until I saw they had a Bond No 9 section - since when? - but they only had samples for the three I Love NY series. I remember sniffing the His and the Hers and was underwhelmed, so I went ahead and sprayed the Marriage Equality one. Well, color me shocked. Color me flabbergasted, actually. It is wonderful : the top notes are plum, ginger, nutmeg, and myrrh. Wow. The plum is a stewed plum, and very reminiscent of a Serge Lutens creation. If you close your eyes, you may actually think this is bu Uncle Serge. It's very spicy, but it's that warm unique spice, and the incense definitely makes it smell niche. The ginger rounds it up so it's not as "Oriental" smelling. And it's fantastically blended. I remember being on my way home and had that strange feeling, of my heart beatign quite fast in excitement. The heart of the scent stays mostly the same, with the ginger and the plum getting richer. It is really quite wonderful and I kept on wanting to pinch myself to ask, is this really a Bond no 9 perfume? And to make matters better, the perfume is well-finished - it doesn't have the artsy-bohemian roughness of a Lutens perfume. This one screams "luxury product" so it doesn't smell "weird." I am willing to bet that one would get lots of compliments with this one. The only setback is that this is a very "autumn" perfume with all the brown spices - this would make a fantastic Halloween or Thanksgiving scent. And the best part ? No Republican would be caught wearing this scent, as it supports Marriage Equality. So really, it's best of all possible worlds!