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.

The All Chocolate Dinner - Possets Perfume

First sniff: 
There's almost something medicinal about this at first - I think there is supposed to be mint in there? To be honest, it smells like chocolate-y bandaids.

First applied: 
That weird bandaid note is still there but it recedes into the background and the top is all chocolate and coffee. There's something slightly fruity as well - it smells a bit like... apples? Caramel apples, maybe.

After 30 minutes: 
It still smells mostly of coffee, or at least a mocha. I guess there's some chocolate there but it's really not standing out. The bandaid smell seems to have disappeared but now there's a slightly dusty note.

After 3 hours: 
Dusty coffee, fairly faint. Can't smell any chocolate.

Longevity: 
About 4-5 hours. At the 6 hour mark it was very, very faintly there - I could barely smell it even with my nose pressed right up against my wrist.

Actual notes/description: 
To round out the wicked foodies this Yule, it's time for an all chocolate dinner. Bring on the milk and dark chocolate and while you are at it, haul out the rum to wash it all down. Make that a rum toddy, with a nice fat pat of butter in it. Mmmmm. What an evil indulgence!!! Well, you only can get it once a year and this is it! Enjoy.

Availability: 
Possets Perfume
Limited Edition - Yule: Dark Revels 2012
No longer readily available. You might pick it up in private sales.

Catch Up Post #8

Delightful Rot Poisonous Dream - The blackberry musk of of a sweet dream, distorted by cool mint and black oud.
This is a synthetic smelling soapy perfume. It smells like an old lady rose-scented soap set that's been gathering dust on the shelf of a country chemist for at least 10 years. Sillage is fairly low and longevity is low to medium. It was gone in about 4 hours, and I can't say I was sorry to see it go. 2/5

Deep Midnight Perfume Nivens - Nivens will lead you down a rabbit hole to tasty helpings of sweet creamy pastries, cakes and sticky puddings, topped off with plump wild berries and a touch of spices and soft florals. Fresh, sweet, and delicious!
This smells really synthetic to me, as most of Deep Midnight's perfumes tend to do. The smell is nuts, coffee and cream to my nose and it's all a bit sickly. The dry down is a slightly sickly creamy milk scent. This was pretty gross, to be honest. And of course, because I didn't like it, it hung around for ages - about 8 hours. Thankfully the sillage was lowish, so I wasn't inflicting it on anyone else. 1/5

Solstice Scents Violet Truffle - Dark chocolate, violet, violet leaf and vanilla absolute.
This is a sweet chocolate floral that reminds me a bit of Serendipitous. It goes a wee bit dusty in the first few minutes but doesn't stay that way for too long, maybe 10 minutes or so. I was just starting to decide that I didn't like this at all when it morphed into a vanilla base and became quite perfumey and pretty. The dust note was still there, but low key. In the end I liked this one quite a bit after the first half hour, but I doubt I'd buy a full size. 3/5

Possets Lovechild: Sweetbaby - Vanilla concentrated with lavender and amber.
At first this is sickly sweet - all lollies and baby chunder, and I almost washed it off. However, I stuck it out for the cause and it mellowed after half an hour or so to a sweet, creamy vanilla - somewhat similar to Courtly Love though more foody and not quite as perfumey. This one had average lasting time on the wrists - maybe 6 hours - but I also dabbed a little in my cleavage (oo-er missus!) and it really stuck around in there.  I was catching whiffs of it 12 or more hours later. This one's a clinger. 3/5


Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab - Regan A deceptively sweet orchid vanille with a faint trace of stephanotis.
A very heady powdery floral, pretty and old-fashioned, but nothing remarkable. I feel like I've smelled versions of this a million times. Sillage is highish and it lasted most of the day - not really an office perfume. Meh. 2/5


Days 217 - 221!

Chocolate Macaron - Candida Virgo

Details: 
Chocolate Macaron
@CandidaVirgo

Notes: 
Unknown. My guess - chocolate, coconut, almond... maybe vanilla or something else sweet. 

Well, this was a bit exciting. I had a DM from Candi a couple of weeks ago asking if I would test some perfumes for her. Never one to turn down the opportunity to try new smells, of course I said yes. And oddly enough, after being completely over foody perfumes for a while now, I've just started getting back into them now that the weather is cold and I want cosy smells. Timing!

In the vial this smells quite heavily of almond, with the chocolate there but not front and centre. There's something else there too. it's quite sharp and I can't work out if it's just the almond being potent or if it's another note entirely. Once applied the almond settles down and is almost imperceptible in minutes. The chocolate comes out, then the coconut, and soon it smells like a rich, dense, moist chocolate mud cake. I tried this out after dinner on a cold night, and as I was sitting on the couch sniffing myself compulsively I seriously considered getting up and making a chocolate self-saucing pudding or something for dessert. (Laziness won - it didn't happen.)

The dry down is still heavy on the chocolate and coconut but something sweeter as well. Maybe vanilla, though it isn't a specifically vanilla-y note, and it's not sugary either. Whatever it is, I like it - it adds a nice balance. Sillage is medium, as is longevity. I could still smell it when I went to bed 6 or so hours later. I like this one a lot, and I think the blend would be really nice in bath and body products as well.

Rating:
4/5

Day 185!

French Chocolate Macaroon - Deep Midnight Perfumes

Details:
French Chocolate Macaroon
Deep Midnight Perfumes

Notes: 
Victorian ladies love Paris – and French pastries and treats! Enjoy the scrumptious smells of creamy chocolate, toasted coconut, and tantalizing vanilla.

Guys, I'm totally over chocolate. I know, right! I never thought it would happen, but I have completely chocolated myself out over the past year, I think. In the vial of this one I can smell chocolate and coconut, which does make me kind of want a Bounty, I have to admit. Once applied nothing much else happens, though it does get a bit sweeter as it dries down and the vanilla come out. 

There's nothing wrong with this perfume - if you're a chocolate fan you'll probably like it. But there's nothing that makes it jump out from all the other chocolate scents either, and I'm just..... zzzzzzzzzzzz

Rating: 
2/5

Day 149! 

Chocolate - Enchanticals

Details:
Chocolate 
Enchanticals Perfume

Notes:

Chocolate perfume?...yes you bet! I can find few things in life more fabulous than Chocolate, and smelling like Chocolate all day? What could be nicer! You'll find I do quite a bit of Chocolate blends in my perfumes, and that's because it makes a truly excellent base. This one really smells so much like a fudgey milk chocolate bar that it just might ward off the munchies! Scrumptious!

 

Well, sometimes things just are what they say they are. This smells like chocolate. In the vial, on the skin, 6 hours later, 12 hours later. It's chocolate. I love the smell of chocolate, so I am not objecting, but because I love it so much I have way too many chocolate perfumes already. If I didn't, I'd buy a full bottle of this - it's a pretty true chocolate scent. And it REALLY made me want to eat chocolate. Sillage was medium, longevity was excellent - lasted all day after applying at about 6am, and I could still smell traces of it the next morning.

Rating: 

4/5

Day 110! 

Black Forest - Solstice Scents

Details: 
Black Forest 
Valentine's Day 2012 (now permanent)
Solstice Scents

Notes: 
Agarwood, Nagarmotha EO, Tobacco Absolute, Dark Chocolate, Chocolate Mousse, Cocoa Absolute, Maraschino Cherries, Black Cherries, Hay Absolute, Sandalwood EO, Whipped Cream & a drop of Pink Peppercorn Essential Oil

I have plunged face first into enough black forest cakes in my life to know what one smells like, so I was surprised to find that this perfume was nothing like I expected. In the vial, it’s quite dark. The chocolate is very bitter and leaning a little to the masculine – it’s not at all foody. On the skin, the cherry comes out strongly, and that’s more the classic gourmand cherry note I would expect, but the darkness of the chocolate tempers its sweetness. I thought I was going crazy because I could smell something smokey, and I couldn’t imagine how on earth that was worked into a black forest cake, but when I looked up the notes, there it is – tobacco absolute. And lots and lots of wood. Ah, so that’s what gives it all that depth. The wood comes out much more in the dry down, when the cherry has pretty much disappeared, but that bitter chocolate still hangs around in the background.

This is a unisex scent that leans quite masculine, and I’d say it’s the perfect chocolate perfume for people who don’t like chocolate perfumes. You will definitely not walk around smelling like cake wearing this (not that that’s a bad thing!). The sillage is medium – it is strong at first but the dry down is closer to the skin. Longevity is good – I could smell it for a good 7 hours or so, and the following morning (I applied early evening) I could still smell traces of the woodiness on my wrist. 

Rating:
3/5 I like it quite a lot, but even though it’s different from most other chocolate scents I own, I still have too many chocolate scents. I doubt I’d buy this in a full size.

Day 83!

Belle Epoque - Black Baccara

Details: 
Belle Epoque
Black Baccara 

Notes:
Inspired by Marchesa Luisa Casati, one of the most fascinating women of the 20th century and the Queen of the Belle Epoque. This blend captures the decadence of the time period and the sensory delights that might have surrounded the eccentrics of high society. A feminine yet bewitching blend featuring an unusual combination of florals and gourmands. Deep florals of hyacinth, geranium, carnation and a touch of rose make up the floral bouquet, which is blended with a decadent brew of tobacco, chocolate, vanilla, anise and black pepper. As the scent unfolds on your skin, you may also catch glimpses of strawberries and rum as it settles into a complex chocolatey floral. Belle Epoque is a soft, yet extremely seductive and enchanting blend reminiscent of vintage perfumes of days gone by.

This perfume is so tightly blended that I struggled to pick out any specific notes. It smells like an expensive, slightly old-fashioned perfume of the type I could buy in the less tizzy section of the David Jones perfume department. One of those ones that has a classically heavy cut glass bottle. In the vial it's floral - nothing stands out, just a bouquet, as the decription says. Once applied I thought I could detect vague snatches of something smokey now and then, but every time I tried to sniff it properly, that note disappeared. After 20 minutes or so the perfume deepened - I guess the chocolate and vanilla warmed it up, but I honestly could not detect either of those notes in themselves. It was just... a warmer, deeper floral than it had been minutes before. Several hours later they become more apparent - it's still a floral blend, but the chocolate and vanilla are there, faint though they may be, and the rose has finally dominated the other flowers. I did not get either strawberries or rum. Sillage is quite high when wet, it almost made me a bit headachy at first, and I don't know whether this was more caused by the cold I am currently getting over, but for the first 10 minutes or so after I applied this I was sneezing like a mofo. It lasts quite a long time - I have had it on now for about 6 hours and it's still chugging along. It's definitely an 'older' perfume; I could see this being more suitable for someone 35+ than a teenager or young person.

Rating: 
3/5 I do like this, but it's nothing amazing.

Day 80!

I Tricked Your Treat - Enchanticals Perfume

Details: 
I Tricked Your Treat
Halloween 2012
Enchanticals Perfume

Notes:
A bag full of goodies with candy corn, butterscotch, chocolate, a hint of fall apples & oranges, spiked with buttered rum and a few other cauldron filled secrets ;) Super yum!

In the vial this is sweet, slightly lemony vanilla pudding. It smells so delicious I want to eat it. Once applied, it's sweet lemon pastry. It's super foody, but in a way I really like. It reminds me a lot of BPAL's Eat Me and The Garden Bath's Lemon Chiffon. I am a sucker for a perfume that smells like dessert!

This goes a bit dusty on me after about 20 minutes, something about the heart of it doesn't work on me very well. Thankfully that doesn't last long - just when I was beginning to get disappointed and think it was going to turn out to be a scrubber after such a promising start, it mellowed to a warm, caramel vanilla scent. The specific notes listed don't really come out on me - I don't know what actual candy corn smells like anyway. I don't get apple or orange, though I do get that slight lemony citrus. Buttered rum and butterscotch could be that caramel vanilla, I guess. Basically, it starts off on me as crème anglaise and on the dry down it turns into sticky date pudding. Either way, I want dessert now. Sillage and longevity are both medium - it stuck around for about 4-5 hours.

Rating:
3/5

Day 76!

Alize - Enchanticals Perfume

Details:
Alize
Enchanticals Perfume

Notes:
White Chocolate covered Raspberries and Cream!

In the vial this smells of milk chocolate, which is slightly odd as the notes state that it's white chocolate. On the skin it's chocolate and raspberry, with the berry dominating and making it more tart and fruity than other chocolate berry perfumes I have. There's a 'perfumy' note in there too, something I can't quite put my finger on, but it makes this scent not quite as foodie as I'd expect. Several hours later it's mostly chocolate, with the berry dying down a bit. Sillage is low to medium, but the longevity is good - I could still smell it after 6 hours.

Rating: 
3/5

Day 60!

Bliss - Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Details: 
Bliss
Bewitching Brews
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Notes: 
A shot of pure, self-indulgent euphoria! A scent that is very, very wicked in its own way: the serotonin-slathered scent of pure milk chocolate.

Well. It's chocolate. Aside from a very faint herbal note in the vial, there's really nothing more to this than rich chocolate all the way through. If you like chocolate scents, you'll probably like this one. If you don't, you definitely won't.

I wasn't overly jazzed by this, but I have been buying and trying a ton of chocolate scents lately and as much as I love them, I'm kind of over them for now. I need to put them all away and come back to them when the weather is colder. The sillage was medium - not crazy, but I could definitely smell it in the air around myself for quite some time. It lasted quite a long time - at least 7 or 8 hours.

Rating: 
3/5

Day 54!

Vice - Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Details: 
Vice 
Sin & Salvation
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Notes: 
Voluptuous and indulgent! A deep chocolate scent, with black cherry and orange blossom.


In the vial this smells like chocolate and something medicinally herbal – it’s quite masculine. Once applied it becomes... well, I don’t know if anyone else has this experience but there are quite a few BPAL scents that just turn into a generic mash of smells on me, and this is one of them. It smells of nothing in particular, it’s neither pleasant or unpleasant, it’s just there. The dry down was the same – I couldn’t pick out a single note or compare it to anything aside from the other BPALs that have this effect on me. Sillage and longevity was medium.

Rating:
2/5 Not a scrubber, so I wouldn't give it a 1, but... meh.

Day 48!

Blood and Donuts - Deep Midnight Perfumes

Details:
Blood & Donuts
Deep Midnight Perfumes

Notes: 
Dark Egyptian amber and gaharu wood, well blended and served with creamy vanilla, cinnamon spice, rich chocolate, and a splash of turkish coffee. It's.... to die for.

In the vial I smell chocolate and vanilla. Once applied it’s spicy vanilla coffee. I don’t drink chai, but I imagine this is what it smells like (although is chai coffee? I’m not sure it is...). The synthetic note that a few of the Deep Midnight perfumes doesn’t show up in this one. The dry down starts as a fairly strong amber, which goes a little dusty for a while, then mellows to a slightly spicy vanilla amber. Sillage is low to medium – I caught a whiff of it now and then when I moved my arm but I wasn’t aware of it otherwise. Longevity is medium – about 5-6 hours.

Rating:
2/5 It has all the notes I like but it doesn’t really do anything for me.

Day 46!

Vaudeville - Nevermore Body Company

Details: 
Vaudeville
Nevermore Body Company

Notes: 
Freak shows, concert saloons, carnival show and Vaudeville captured in one fragrance of sweet chocolate base with spicy pepper, fresh brewed Espresso and a mouthwatering Merlot wine bouquet of wild grape, strawberry stems and a hint of spice.

When I test a perfume, I like to know as little about it as possible, as if I'm already aware of particular notes, I find that influences me and sometimes I start imagining I can smell them, even if I can't.Luckily, I have the memory of a goldfish, so when I order a perfume online because it sounds like something I'd like, by the time it reaches me, I've forgotten what the notes are. All this is a roundabout way of saying that what I got from Vaudeville, and what the notes tell me I should have gotten are two vastly different things.

What I expected from the name was a carnival-type scent, some concoction of popcorn, candy, fairy floss, etc. In the vial I can smell chocolate and wine. Once applied, I got an apple smell - sort of cidery and alcoholic. A couple of minutes later I sniffed again and got a big whiff of liquorice. Now, these are both notes I'd expect to find in a perfume called Vaudeville, but imagine my surprise when I looked it up and found neither of them mentioned. The alcohol can probably be explained away by the Merlot (though it really did smell distinctly apple-ish), but where's that liquorice coming from?

A couple of hours later it was almost gone - the sillage is quite low and the lasting power... meh. I reapplied and this time I got the coffee. I wonder if that's because now I knew the coffee was there? I swear I did not smell coffee the first time I applied it. How odd.

Rating:
3/5 Interesting, and I like it, but I don't think I'd buy a full size of it.

Day 41!

Breathless - Twyla Perfumes

Details:
Breathless
Twyla Perfumes & Apothecary

Notes: 

A scent inspired by the Jean-Luc Godard movie; a little romantic, a little smutty, a little noir and very very French. Red and white rose, vintage patchouli, myrrh, cacao absolute, bourbon vanilla, and sandalwood. This scent is absolutely beautiful, with neither the rose nor the patchouli overwhelming, balanced by a healthy dose of deep, dark chocolate.  The rose is steam-distilled and very smooth, the patchouli vintage and ultra-dark, complex and wine-like in its scent and body. The myrrh adds depth while and the cacao is rich and bittersweet.  Bourbon vanilla adds a lovely non-cloying and richness only real vanilla can achieve while sandalwood rounds it out with a lovely woody creaminess. You don't want to skip this one, even if you think you don't like patchouli!

In the vial I smell bitter dark chocolate and patchouli. It’s very dark and somewhat masculine. Once applied, the rose is detectable, but the patchouli really amps on my skin, and it almost gets to the point where it’s too much for me. As it dries down, the chocolate comes out again, but it’s smoother this time, still dark but not bitter, warmed and softened by the vanilla and sandalwood. Like the majority of Twyla’s scents, this one sits close to the skin, but the lasting power was pretty good – I could still smell it 6 hours later. I liked this quite a lot, but probably not enough for a full bottle, as that patchouli would no doubt get to me after a while. I think this would be an amazing scent for a man, and once again I must lament that I don’t have one to test these kinds of things on. SAD FACE. 

Rating: 

3/5

Day 38!

Coco Violette - Deep Midnight

Details: 
Coco Violette
Deep Midnight Perfumes

Notes: 
Reminiscent of old fashioned violet candies and sweet childhood memories. This is a wonderful scent for grown up ladies too! Old fashioned violet, milk chocolate, and a hint of creamy vanilla.

In the vial this is a chocolate floral with a sharpish green note. Once applied it's violets and that green note still hovering. The chocolate is very much in the background on the skin, although it comes back again in the dry down, which is a chocolate floral sweetened by the vanilla. Like some of the other Deep Midnight scents I've tried, that odd synthetic note is there, and I'm not keen on it. I wanted to like this, as it's my kind of thing, but... no, it's not happening. Sillage is lowish - it's not super close to the skin but doesn't have a lot of throw. Longevity is medium, it disappeared pretty much entirely in about 6 hours.

Rating:
2/5

Day 33!

Circassian - Darling Clandestine

Details:
Circassian
Darling Clandestine

Notes:
Carefully blended and infused by me in small batches in vintage green glass wine bottles, this is a warm chocolaty fragrance with intriguing notes of amber and blossoms. A dozen different scent elements and several days of methodical alchemy make Circassian no ordinary scented oil mix—it's a truly inimitable fragrance.

It's weird that the label of this has nothing written on it. I received it from Su, so I don't know whether there was maybe a tag attached that has been removed or what. It would be confusing if you bought a whole bunch of them, though.

In the bottle I smell chocolate and coffee, a deeper version of Haus of Gloi's Vice. Once it's applied the chocolate recedes and the coffee really comes out strong. There is also a note in there of something a little sharp and green, and something slightly floral. The dry down is a chocolate floral with a dab of amber  sweetening it up. On paper, this is my jam, but there is something there I don't like, and I cannot put my finger on what it is. It wasn't a scrubber on me, it was just.... not what I would have expected.

Rating: 
2/5

Day 28!

Screamin' Mimi - Midnight Gypsy

Details:
Screamin' Mimi
Midnight Gypsy

Notes: 
Sticky sweet cotton candy with vanilla musk, cherry lollipops, a bite of chocolate.... and a splash or three of bourbon.

I got this in the mail a few days ago and I cannot stop playing with it. In the vial it's boozy, but a bit sweet, not that booze note that makes you reel back. First applied it's still sweet (not sugary) and boozy, and ever so slightly smoky. There's a hint of vanilla but I wouldn't call it bourbon vanilla - the sweet note is more of a confectioner's vanilla. It makes me think of trifle (my favourite old school dessert) - I don't get the cotton candy at all, and barely register the chocolate, but there's cherries in syrup, vanilla custard, and cream. This is a gorgeous gourmand with a bit of a kick.

Screamin' Mimi has medium sillage - it doesn't really scream its presence (heh), but you're definitely aware of it. It also lasts a really long time on me - I applied it twice in the early evening, and both times I could still smell it on my wrists well into mid-morning the following day.

Rating:
5/5 I absolutely love this, and I am definitely getting a full bottle the moment my January No Buy is up.

Day 6!