Dark Chocolate with Sun-Dried Tomato, Pink Peppercorn, Thyme and Comfrey

[Gwydion]

DARK CHOCOLATE WITH SUN-DRIED TOMATO, PINK PEPPERCORN, THYME, AND COMFREY

In bottle: Sweet dark chocolate dominant. Comfrey turns out to go beautifully with chocolate. The sun dried tomato gives a soft, unexpected tang to the chocolate. The pepper gives it a hint of edge. Thyme is extremely understated. Really, this seems to be about giving more support and complexity to the chocolate than showing off the other notes. Wet: The comfrey is stronger on the skin, almost coequal with the rich dark chocolate. It’s a lovely effect. The peppercorn and thyme separate out a little, but play well with the dominant scents. The thyme brings a little more of the tomato out as it emerges, making it a touch more savory on the skin than in the bottle. The result is quite lovely and unusual. I love the way the sweet and savory work together, and can only marvel at the cleverness of the brain who thought to combine these scents, not usually associated. Dry: The dark chocolate fades to a ghost haunting the comfrey. The thyme fades back to just present, and I can’t find the tomato at all. Comfrey turns out to make a nice enough scent by itself, but this is not as exciting as it was wet.

[Innocuousmold]

At first I couldn't stand the smell of this. It smelled like an asian spice isle with chocolate and was just completely overwhelming. I was worried about my purchase, but after about a half hour it dried down to a really nice gender neutral chocolate, which is really cool because I can't think of a lot of chocolate scents that men can wear (or maybe would be willing to wear lol).

 

So, all in all I am pretty happy with this after dry down, but I'll probably either sell off a few decants or see what happens to it after a year or two. I haven't quite decided yet but I do see myself wearing it.

 

ETA: I just tried this again and I love it! I'm really glad I got this despite it sounding risky.

Edited March 27, 2012 by Innocuousmold

[zankoku_zen]

Chocolate with a hint of pepper and tomato. It's oddly foodie, and not that sweet. It's an herbal sort of chocolate and puts me in mind to some of the older 13 out there.

[milo]

Dark, herbal chocolate. Both dark in the sense of the chocolate, and dark as in a 'dark' blend. It really reminds me of one of the `13`s a year or two back, I think it was Feb 09 or 10, the one with the black label. I like this blend, but not sure how it smells one me, if that makes sense. In other words, I don`t know if I`d wear it out in public. I like chocolate in perfume as long as it`s not too foody, and this is dark and sultry. I`ll certainly enjoy the imp in cooler weather.

Edited May 17, 2012 by milo

[Little Bird]

I was curious about the tomato in this, but it's mostly chocolate, pink pepper and thyme to my nose. Kinda reminds me of the August 2010 Thirteen with pink pepper (which, unfortunately, smelled like scented markers and spicy bubblegum on me), but the chocolate feels darker and less artificial, and the thyme gives it a green, herbal edge. Warm, spicy, strange, herbal chocolate. I'm happy that I got to try this, but it's not something I'll need to track down more of.

[mymymai]

ITI: It reminds me a little of one of Lush’s chocolate facemasks (Cupcake, I think). The chocolate is so dark that it almost has a coffee-like quality. As I finish my inhale, the top of the scent, like a ripe cherry, is the earthy tomato, and it is sun-dried. I actually like this combination.

 

Wet: It’s very similar to the ITI scent, although I’m getting more of the comfrey.

 

Dry: Dark chocolate, something berry-ish, with wafts of almond. This will be a chocolate scent that I keep!

[WidgetAlley]

I really don't like chocolate scents, but I am completely in love with the Feb. 2009 13-- in fact, it might be my number one BPAL. So when I saw the comparisons, I had to try this!

 

Bottle: Deep, dark, vegetal chocolate. Smells like slightly sweet baking chocolate with a big hit of dry herbs, olive oil, and a tiny pinch of tomato. Actually, it smells like my spice cabinet (which is also where I keep my cocoa.) Not edible, but unusual. Love it so far.

 

Wet: Opening salvos of heavy green comfrey and dusty, wonderful thyme. Then pepper, and that distinctive dried-tomato-in-olive-oil smell, all backed by a rich, thick, almost woody chocolate. This is my kind of chocolate scent for sure: kitchen-y but not actually foody. All that being said, there might still be too much chocolate in here for me to wear it comfortably.

 

Dry: After a while, the chocolate backs off and I'm left mostly with dry green thyme, rooty comfrey, and hints of pepper, olive oil, and tomato. The chocolate is present far in the background as a woody brown fuzz. I like this! I like this even moer than I expected to. That said, it's such an odd amalgamation of notes I don't know how much I'd actually wear it. I'll keep it around for now and see how much I reach for it.

[Magycmyste]

In the bottle: Deep, dark chocolate, and a whiff of tomato that goes almost cherry.

 

Wet on skin: Sweet herbs with a touch of syrup. The tomato is still there, but in the background, faint.

 

Dried down: So, I think I'm mostly getting the comfrey now - mostly because I think I can identify the others. It's a little like straw, or a bit of hay, and kind of weird. I am getting whiffs of the pink pepper if I try hard enough. If I sniff REALLY hard, I get a few flakes of dried coconut.

 

Throw: This does have some delicious, chocolatey throw on me. There's a bit of comfrey in there, too, but not too much.

 

Verdict: *** 1/* You know, I'm not sure. I like it for the chocolate which keeps going in the throw, and because I think it's an interesting blend. But I'm not sure I'd reach for it very often. I'm pretty sure I don't need more than my half-bottle here.

 

ETS: Ok, I really need to learn to be more patient. That dried coconut has blossomed on my skin - I think it's the combination of chocolate and comfrey, and it is freaking gorgeous! So....... **** 1/* now. Still loses half a star for the comfrey weirdness in the drydown stage.

Edited April 6, 2014 by Magycmyste

[Lucchesa]

I received a sniffie of this in a decant circle, and I dug out enough to skin test because gosh darn it, this is the only blend I have with sun-dried tomato in it.  And this is an oddball.  At first, I'm not a fan.  It's chocolatey in a way that doesn't seem to go together with the savory ingredients.  I wouldn't choose this to eat except for curiosity, and I wasn't buying it as a scent.  But it got less weird and more interesting the longer it wore.  The chocolate gets less sweet, and the thyme and comfrey get to shine, with the chewy dried tomato note tying together the rich dark notes.  I don't need any more of this -- I have no idea where I would wear it -- but my initial distaste transformed into admiration.