Cacao & Clove

[zankoku_zen]

Dirty raw chocolate

[VioletChaos]

In The Bottle: Rich, bittersweet dark chocolate and straight, uncompromising clove, in equal measure.

Wet On Skin: Same. It's like overtime my nose tries to pull one element over the other, the scent shifts again.  

Dry Down: Upn drying, the sharpness of each note smooths out a bit, becomes softer around the edges. Which is great, as both notes can be a bit jarring and acrid when they're at their most intense. This is like the other side of the coin of Wednesday's Child Is Full Of Woe: that one is clove and vanilla, which made the clove sweet and lightly playful. The strong cacao when paired with the same clove note, makes something a little more sultry. The scents are like day and night in terms of when I'd wear them. Both are lovely on their own, delivering exactly what I'd hoped for, and I suspect they will layer well with each other. I also suspect that layering this scent with a drop of dirty patchouli or smoky vetiver will provide some additional fun options, especially as we start to tread into that most sinister time of year, Autumn.

Total win! Glad I blind-bottled a backup! 

[aquazoo]

Spicy chocolate! I sometimes mix creme de cacao and star anise infused rum, and this is close to that. Now I want to try it with a clove infusion and see how it tastes, because the scent is amazing.

[zankoku_zen]

Dusty clove, and a whiff of dark chocolate. This is mainly clove on me. UGH. Delicious. Good throw and wear length.

[Soupy Twist]

Liquid cocoa in the bottle. Goes on as spicy! cocoa. I would totally drink this. It softens into a nice clove powder; the cocoa rounds it out and keeps it from going harsh like Low-Key Lyesmith. This continues until it’s a lovely single-note clove.

[samanare]

Almost all clove on me. Spicy but almost fresh smelling. Can't pick out the chocolate on its own, but it gives the scent a certain sweetness to it (without it being foody).

[Little Bird]

The clove in this is a little dry and powdery on me, with a sharply spicy tone, but still recognizeable as warm clove.  I love clove, but I prefer a sweeter variety and this is coming off a little too sharp for my tastes.  The cocoa is barely there, like a light dusting of cocoa powder underneath the clove.  I think I wanted this to be more like the blend The Avenue, but The Avenue is more creamy, sweet and (of course) complex.  

[doomsday_disco]

In the vial, I smell the cocoa along with the clove, but on me, it is mostly CLOVE with a little bit of cocoa lingering in the background. This is a dusty, yet sweet clove, not as bold as black clove, and not cinnamon-ed like the Indonesian Clove SN.

 

I think this is nice, but I am glad that I did not leap for a bottle of it when I already have Sweet Clove SN.