Product Review: NEST Fragrances Indigo Perfume

Around a year or two ago, one of my strongest types of beauty product loves--fragrance-- rose to its highest peak to date. Though I don't have a total on the number I tried, sampled, and bought in that period or throughout my life, I can say that it is a lot. But once the whirlwind of perfume-sampling ended late last year, I started using more of the bigger bottles and travel sizes that made up my more permanent collection. A standout in this smaller lineup was NEST Indigo.

This perfume was introduced in 2014, and I did buy a travel rollerball when it first came out. Yet at the time, I remember thinking that I liked it but, for no real reason that it was just an "extra" in my collection and was being unfairly neglected, so I passed it on. Yet, in the more recent years of my frenzied perfume trying, I felt compelled to get another travel-sized one of it and try it again.

This time, it has become a collection staple.

NEST Indigo is an unconventional mix between what is a sweet perfume, a spicy one, and a vaguely fruity one. It is often marketed and reviewed as being a fig fragrance (one of, if not the only fruit note I really care for), but on my skin at least, the fig is not so prominent. It just adds to the sweetness and slight sugar present in all facets of the fragrance and maybe a bit of warmth, but none of the grassy earthiness that fig notes of other perfumes tend to bring to their composition. But on me, mainly I get fizzy, vaguely lemon- flavored bergamot that is fresh but not to soapy or sour that adds the slightest hint of a citrus twang, while not veering it into cocktail-like territory. Throughout the perfume's wear, there is a sheer note of black tea that adds an earthy, maybe even slightly wet, but not dank, quality to it. The most prominent, and most divine-smelling note on me, is a blast of spicy, effervescent, cardamom, which gives a lot of interest and really pushes this perfume into the exotic and one-of a-kind category.

If this fragrance were a person, she would dress in bohemian style blouses and dresses. She would love painting and crafting things with her hands. Her hair would almost always be worn down and loose and untamed by any kind of product, even a brush, and it would move freely when she dances. And she loves to dance, especially outdoors. I don't know why, but I get a very free-spirited and artsy vibe from this fragrance but one that does not fall into the traditional patchouli-dense, hippy-style vibe. This is a zingier but still as evocative take on that theme. This perfume makes me feel energized but very sensual.

Currently at the time of this article, Indigo will run you $27 USD for 0.28 oz, and their only large bottle is 1.7 oz for $74 . This perfume lasts decently well on me 4-8 hours in warm to hot weather and 6-8 hours in cooler. It wears fairly close to the skin but projects an average way's away for about the first half of wear-time. But in terms of wear and wear-time, it really varies from person to person for any perfume.

I hope that this review is helpful in, really, two ways. If it inspires you to give NEST Indigo a try (or another try), then I hope you fall for it as I have. But I also hope that hearing of my little journey with it may inspire you to try something again that may have become a distant fixture in your memory but could deserve a revisit. You never know when a sudden re-acquaintance might grow into a lifelong love.