L’Essence de L’Ardeur

[Iceblink]

L'ESSENCE DE L'ARDEUR
Centifolia rose absolute, tea rose, bourbon vanilla, bittersweet chocolate, champaca resinoid, myrrh, nutmeg, pomegranate, and benzoin.

In the bottle: dark chocolate, rich vanilla, rose, and nutmeg are what I smell.
Once this hits my skin I pick up the benzoin and champaca and a zingy pomegranate! This is one of those oils where every note listed makes an appearance at some point...it's incredibly rich and heady, but not overwhelming at all.
The drydown is primarily pomegranate and nutmeg and myrrh...really nice, although I wish that gorgeous chocolate note had lingered a little more. There's still a little rose floating on top of it all.
This is *really* gorgeous and decadent--I'm glad I took a chance on this one.

[VioletChaos]

In The Bottle: Vanilla, chocolate, pomegranite, all very strong. Like chocolate covered fruit.

 

Wet On Skin: What?! where'd all those notes go??? NOW I'm getting all the roses and maybe some of the champaca- nothing else. All those sweet foodie notes have vanished!

 

Dry Down: Ahhhh, NOW it's coming together. I get vanilla, rose (both kinds), benzoin and myrrh. So, lost some and regained a few.

 

In All: This scent is a real morpher, and whenever I encounter a scent with so many notes, I always think that it's better to let it sit a while and age, give all those notes a chance to better get to know each other. So that's what I'm going to do, then I'll check back in with this bottle in a few months.

 

Jury Is OUT!

[angelicruin]

The chocolate and pomegranate notes pop out on my skin immediately after application. The rose note is very understated on my skin.

[JasminDreams2010]

beautiful, subtle. I didn't expect to like it as much as I do. I bought it out of sheer curiosity. Roses are iffy on me, but this scent is grounded, soft and not too foody, or bitter from the flowers.

It's a smooth blending of all the notes. I can't pick out the champaca or nutmeg, but maybe they just add to the richness. Pretty, and I think it fits the title.

[tativa]

I picked this one out for v-day as all the notes (except the Myrrh) have correlations to my huni ^^

 

I am not disappointed at all. Its a lot smoother than I expected. Like silk made from chocolate pudding

 

I think I need another bottle before they poof! It layers great with the bath oil... which smells to me exactly like chocolate pudding (cept fancy ones made with roses), where as the perfume by itself is a little sharper and not quite as rich and decadent as when it is layered. So get ye a set!

[OctoberGwen]

This is lovely, a classic perfume: demure, rich, ladylike. The tea rose is most prominent on me and lends it a nostalgic air, but it's a deep and rich blend with a lot of subtlety - not straight up rose by any means. I'm not getting the bittersweet chocolate at all as a separate note.

[symphonyinsilence]

Biggest disappointment of all the Eros Inquisitions.

 

This started out so beautifully...rich chocolate.

 

Then rose, rose & rose. Then washing powder. Then *poof*

 

[Incendiare]

In the bottle, this is on the gourmand side. I get the chocolate and vanilla, followed by the pomegranate, then myrrh, and then nutmeg at the very end. No florals, at least not yet. Yep, I just knew it. As soon as I applied this to my skin, the rose fell from the sky and is already starting to take over. After only a few minutes, this is 95% rose on me. Hello, Ampville. Most of the notes got scared and ran away. Too bad since the rose in the bath oil behaves very well and is almost not even detectable through and through. It's weird going back to the vial and smelling it, because the scent in the vial and on my skin are worlds apart. After fifteen minutes this reminds me of these rose petal soaps my mom had. I actually like rose but this is just way too much for me. Oh well.

[whataboutprom]

Love this! I don't have a great track record of buying bottles unsniffed, but somehow I knew this would work for me, despite the fact that I rarely wear any of these notes. Something about the combination of them all spoke to me. This is first and foremost a rose perfume on me, but the other notes make it more complex and sophisticated. Champaca is the only single note I can identify, but it seems everything is working together beautifully to compliment the rose. This is rose with a bit of incense, and while it is strong, it's not overpowering.

 

I'm really glad this scent is able to take me out of my perfume comfort zone of woods and resins!

[countessmouse]

I had such high hopes for this one but, thus far, I have been disappointed. Almost immediately, it's all chocolate and pomegranate. Where is the floral? More importantly, where is the vanilla????

 

And, for god's sake, after two hours - where is the scent????

[theseagrows]

oooh i am pleasantly surprised by this! i love rosey-sugary scents, so i had to give this a try, but i am wary of nutmeg, pomegranate and chocolate, as i am not really into very foody or fruity scents, HOWEVER, the chocolate in this is nice and subtle and i get a perfumy rosy chocolate-vanilla scent from this. there is a bit of sweetness from the pomegranate, but nothing too sweet, so i am liking this a lot. i wish the rose stuck around longer, like it did in the beginning, but now this is mostly a perfumy pomegranate. still pretty though and i will keep my imp.

[Ghost of a Rose]

My imp is a decant from the generous azurephoenix.

 

In the imp: Perfume is a deep, rich, golden yellow. The fragrance is strongly chocolate and vanilla, with some pomegranate and the faintest breath of rose and nutmeg.

 

On me, wet: Chocolate is the primary note, with vanilla and pomegranate. I don't notice the rose. As it begins to dry, within the first couple of minutes the chocolate lightens up, allowing the most beautiful floral fragrance to shine, and bringing out the first hints of the incense notes.

 

After 10 minutes: Florals and pomegranate. The floral is only subtly identifiable as rose, it is more just a lovely floral note.

 

After 20 minutes: This is OMG-gorgeous now! The rose has come into its full glory, and is now definitely rose. Balanced equally with pomegranate, and with the incenses whispering in the background.

 

After 30 minutes: Same as above.

 

After 1 hour: Same as above.

 

After 1 1/2 hours: The rose has faded, which leaves the pomegranate as the main note. I don't love it quite as much now. The incenses are still around, though, which does help to keep it from being obnoxiously foody.

 

After 2 hours: Pretty much the same as above, except that it is more faded, and the pomegranate has turned a little plastic-y (red fruits always do that on my skin.)

 

After 3 hours: Faint traces of pomegranate, vanilla, and incense.

 

Verdict: I wasn't so sure about this at first. The initial scent of chocolate, vanilla and pomegranate is delicious for sniffing, but I don't want to walk around smelling like I've been eating chocolate truffles all day! But the foodiness was very short-lived, and once the rose kicked it, this became drop-dead gorgeous for the next hour. The late drydown is nice enough, but doesn't equal the beauty of the first hour. No matter, I can always reapply if I want to keep the gorgeousness around longer.

 

My rating: 5 stars

[Celtic Goddess]

I grabbed a bottle of this one because the notes sound very intriquing and, on the right person, they would be. Unfortunately, my body chemistry amps up roses. All I get here are roses, roses, and more roses. Apparently, this happens with all rose blends and I'll just have to stay away from them. Though this isn't a hit for me, it's still a pleasant floral for those days when I feel like roses. None of the other notes stand out, but together they give a hint of something sweet in the background of all those red roses. It's roses with a tad bit of oomph...not bad but not my cup of tea.

[midnight_aeval]

If my decants hadn't arrived today, I probably would have bought a bottle of this unsniffed (Chocolate! Vanilla! Nutmeg! Myrrh!); needless to say, I'm really thankful they came today because this blend turned to dryer sheets within 30 seconds of being on my skin. So weird! Even in the vial, it does smell gourmand. Pity

[mistressfizz]

Sniff: Thick, rich chocolate with an almost musky base

 

Wet: Mostly chocolate with hints of citrus and sweet myrrh. It's almost foodie, but there's some bitterness and smoke which smudge the blend into darker territory. The flowers are lurking in the background, just a tiny whiff every now and then.

 

Dry: This one really morphs on me! As it dries, the chocolate fades and this ends up all dusty rose and tart pomegranate. Where is the chocolate? Where did the myrrh and darker notes go?

[zankoku_zen]

Rose, chocolate and a hint of spices. This to me, is a primarily rose and chocolate blend. I would categorize as a classic romantic foodie blend. Because chocolate + roses is textbook classic.

 

If you like either, I'd give this a whirl.

[Little Bird]

I really don't like rose when it's mixed with chocolate or spices, so I was hoping this would be more on the side of the rose, vanilla and resins. But no, this is mostly a perfumey rose sweetened with spiced chocolate. It feels like eating chocolates and accidentally getting perfume oil in your mouth, and the warm spices just smell wrong mixed with the rose for me. For a while, I get a bit of tart pomegranate, but then it settles into a spicy rose perfume scent. Only lasts about two hours on me, at least.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: Really unusual. The resins are marginally dominant, with chocolate a close second and rose a close third. The vanilla and champaca are softer and about even with each other. The pomegranate is next. Nutmeg is softest, but just discernible. This is well blended, and everything seems to go well with the resin mix. Wet: The individual components pop more on the skin, while still playing well together It morphs a lot. I think the benzoin, chocolate, nutmeg, and roses are strongest. It manages to slide back and forth between resin, foody, and floral, restlessly refusing to settle firmly into one category. Dry: It ends up a sexy benzoin, myrrh, rose blend. Not even vaguely me, but lovely.

[ami226]

On the skin: Definitely getting some chocolate. And pomegranate? Kind of a weird combination at first. It kinda smells like some savory chocolate entree. Really, if I had something set in front of me that smelled like this, I would definitely eat it.

 

Huh. I don't think this one is for me. It just smells too much like dinner. Mole maybe? Chocolate heavy mole?

 

-ETA-

Wow! A bit later the chocolate completely vanishes on my skin! Now all I can smell is some tart pomegranate and rose. Sadly not for me.

Edited July 22, 2012 by Catseyes

[milo]

This is definitely a lovely counterpart to the bath oil, which I adore, but this one is a bit more rosey and a little less chocolatey. Because of this, I like the bath oil more, but this is quite nice. A soft tea rose with chocolate that fades quite quickly. I'll have to try the oil and the essence together, maybe it will hold the chocolate more. I guess I like roses and chocolate, even though I'm not much of a rose fan!!

[vanilla323]

In the bottle: I get what smells like white chocolate and maybe some rose

 

Wet: The chocolate is there and so is the rose first. Then I get pomegranate and nutmeg coming out. It's a nice mix but maybe there's too much going on for me because now they are starting to blend together and I'm not sure what I think of the mix.

 

Drydown: When it dries down I think I get the myrrh because it gets a little perfumey and not sure what's doing that. I think the white chocolate I smelled earlier was from the bourbon vanilla mixing with the chocolate note.

 

This had good staying power though and a powdery throw.

[filigree_shadow]

I was completely bowled over by this scent for the first 20 minutes or so. Sweet, gourmand rose. Absolutely lovely. I'm super picky about rose scents, and I was thinking that this would probably become one of my favorites. But then it dried down and it turned into almost entirely pomegranate. Which I don't like. Definitely not a favorite note of mine. I'm disappointed because it started out so fantastic. But I just don't like pomegranate and I never will.