Dark Chocolate Fudge Taffy Pull - Violette Market

First sniff: 
Just lots of chocolate.

First applied: 
Chocolate and something a bit watery, sort of reminds me of Tom Ford's Black Orchid. There's a definite floral note but I can't place it - something delicate. This is quite faint too - I slathered a bit but the sillage is not at all high.

After 30 mins: 
A watery floral with a bit of a chocolate base note, pretty but not at all what I would expect by the name.

After 3 hours: 
The base has deepened a little and it's slightly more chocolatey than it was at the 30 minute mark; the aquatic floral is still there and seems to be the main focus. The perfume overall is quite faint now - this one doesn't hang around too long.

Longevity: 
Two to three hours. 

Actual notes/description: 
Dark chocolate fudge with hints of Bourbon vanilla, vanilla cream, pink sugar cane, lemon blossom, orange cream, raspberry truffle, blueberry and caramel. 

Availability: 
Violette Market
Limited Edition - State Fair 2012 
No longer readily available. You might pick it up in private sales.

What Larks! - Arcana Soap

Details:
What Larks! 
Great Expectations
Arcana Soaps (bought from The Rhinestone Housewife)

Notes: 
A happy blend of English strawberries and salted milk caramels strewn across polished wood. 

Hmmm. The thing about caramel with me is that it often treads dangerously close to vomit. This perfume really teeters on the edge of that for quite some time. And maybe that's just me, because I know a lot of people love caramel scents and they are really popular in things like candles. The beginning is super sweet caramel and I never really did get a distinct note of either strawberries or wood.

It did mellow after a while, but never really changed all that much - the dry down was more of a sticky date pudding kind of caramel than the lolly kind. Perhaps that was the wood after all, warming it a little. The sillage is quite high, and I was pretty careful about only applying a smidge because it smelled so strong in the bottle. It lasts a really long time - it was still quite strong on me at the end of the day, and I could smell traces of it the following morning before I had a shower. I think I'm going to put this one away for a while and see if the sweetness mellows out a bit.

Rating: 
3/5 

Day 223!

Euphrosyne - Deep Midnight Perfumes

Details: 
Euphrosyne
Fantasy, Legends, Lore
Deep Midnight Perfumes

Notes: 
The Three Graces, or Three Charities, of Greek mythology were Charis, also known as Aglaia, Euphrosyne, and Thalia. They were the goddesses of joy, pleasure, grace, beauty, festivity, adornment, dance, and song. Daughters of Zeus and the sea-nymph Eurynome, they were also the attendants, or handmaidens, of Aphrodite and Hera and protectors of vegetation. Euphrosyne, (yoo-FROS-uh-nee), comes from the Greek and Latin, meaning “mirth,” “merriment.” Her scent is a myriad blend of tropical fruits, fresh pears, red berries, cream, figs, Sicilian orange, pummelo, caramel, lily of the valley, and a barely hidden note of red licorice. 

In Greek mythology, Euphrosyne didn't do much except dance around with her sisters having a good time. She was kind of frivolous and a teensy bit pointless - an early Kardashian, I guess.  This perfume is also kind of frivolous. In the vial I can smell fig, orange and a faint alcohol scent I attribute to pear. I thought I caught some marzipan too, but I think maybe there's a dab of cherry in there - I often confuse those two in the first seconds of smelling them. Once applied it's a bit of a messy fruity blend, with a strong note of berries. It's very strong and the sillage is high. The caramel comes out in the dry down, but it's that kind of caramel note that borders on smelling like vomit. If someone took a younger Kardashian into a lab and said, "Blend together the things you like the smell of and make a perfume", this is exactly what I would expect them to come up with. It smells like a cheap, trashy celebrity perfume. Gross.

Rating:
1/5

Day 82!

Cafe Mallowmel - Solstice Scents

Details: 
Cafe Mallowmel
Solstice Scents

Notes: 
Rich Coffee Flavored with Decadent Caramel & Sweet Marshmallow Cream

In the vial all I get is coffee - and once applied it's much the same, aside from a slightly sweet, vanilla-ish note poking through a little. I love the smell of coffee but it's such an overpoweringly strong smell that I much prefer it in a candle or a home fragrance than a perfume. When I wear it I just feel like I'm walking around with an open jar of Nescafe 43 Bean. The coffee does subside a bit as it dries down, and the creamy caramel/vanilla note is more apparent. The sillage is medium - as I said, anything that smells of coffee tends to be reasonably strong. It lasted a long time - still going strong after 6 hours. 

Rating: 
3/5

Day 63!

Carnival - Alchemic Muse

Details:
Carnival
Alchemic Muse

Notes: 
Relive the days of swing sets and carousel rides with this fun-loving scent from childhood. Sweet pink grapefruit, cotton candy, and lemon drops afloat a heart of sticky caramel, red berries, and fig leaves in a warm, comforting base of bourbon vanilla and white musk.

Whenever I see any kind of carnival or fair scent in a perfume shop I have to buy it. I am obsessed with them, and I love to see what different interpretations perfume creators have. Sometimes they're sweet, like toffee apples and fairy floss, sometimes they're warm and salty like popcorn. I rarely wear them, as they're almost always very 'young' perfumes, but I still love them.

In the vial, this perfume is sweet and citrusy, like orange sherbet. Once applied, the citrus becomes more tangy - I assume that's the grapefruit. There is a definite lolly smell, but it's not at all sickly. Slightly lemony, but I don't get the caramel or the berries.

As it dries down, it doesn't really change all that dramatically; it morphs into a sweeter, sticky candy/vanilla smell, but one of the better ones I've come across. It has a medium amount of throw, and lasted about 4 hours before I needed to reapply. 

Rating:
4/5 I really like this one a lot. Thumbs up! I think it would be an awesome soap, too.

Day 3!