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Arlecchina

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This is the darkest berry blend! The black musk is slinky a bit smoky, and the leather is smooth and dark. The blackcurrant plays second fiddle to these notes, but is tart and rich and juicy. With time, however, the blend becomes more berry prominent while the musk and leather retreat to the background. Arlecchina is a gorgeous vampy surprise!

Edited by ellocentipede

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Cade leather! Surprisingly, I get a cade-juniper scent as the first impression, and a little smoky leather follows close after. Not a berry to be found (sadly). 

 

After a few minutes, black currant creeps out, but it's shy and hides under the leather. I love the Lab's black currant notes and always hope for a black currant-heavy blend that works on my skin. The leather has become the most prominent note in this by now, with just airy hints of cade and black currant.

 

Later, I get more of a leathery, dark berry black musk. The berry remains faint, though. This one may fill out with time.

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This is one of those scents that has me scratching my head because I smell something in it that's not there, according to the notes.  I smell amaretto in this.  Light, and backed up dark fruits (a dark cherry with a sort of macerated quality stands out), but amaretto all the same.  I'm sure it's some combination of the notes confusing my notes, but here we are. 

This whole scent reminds me of a cousin to Countess Willie of all things (hear me out, folks; my nose is interpreting this one strangely, apparently.)  Willie had her chocolate plum and amaretto and here I'm getting amaretto plus a sort of macerated dark cherry with maybe something almost like faint chocolate, that's probably actually leather?  This is lovely (though I hate amaretto), but confusing.  I don't smell any of the listed notes at all, unless the "macerated cherry" is blackcurrant (though I don't think so as it's not a new note to me).

For what it's worth, I asked my husband what he smelled and he said "sort of a dark cherry thing with something behind it."  He agreed that what he smelled was what I was smelling, but our interpretations were just a little different.  He said that it was like the "dark cherry thing with something behind it" and "chocolate?" and I said sort of an unexpected macerated dark cherry-amaretto mixed with faint chocolate or maybe some sort of leather.  His overall impression was a good one.

I'm undecided on this one in spite of multiple tests, so I'm going to sit on it and see what it turns into as it grows up.

Edited by Penance

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I had super high hopes for this, as a long time ago I posted in the 'whats your dream scent' thread, and I had put down blackberry, black musk, leather, and ceylon cinnamon. So I was super excited to see something that so closely resembled that.

 

Wet: Blackberry musk. Luscious, rich, with just a hint of black leather underneath. Am thrilled. 

 

Dry: it went to a weird combo of piney smelling leather with the blackberry and musk and current booking it out of there without so much as a goodbye. Just *POOF* they were gone. 

 

With my nose pressed right against the spot, it faintly reminds me of Jareth.

 

😭😭😭😭 I'm heartbroken.

 

Update: I broke this out again on 1/21/21, because I so badly did not want to give up on this one. The Cade has gone less piney, to a more smokey quality. The blackberry is coming forward more now that the Cade isn't so smothering. It's the same goopy, thick blackberry as Blackberry Jam and Scones, and it's now noticable on the throw, although still faint if I press my nose to my skin. I think I may either buy a bottle or several more decants to age out.

 

 

Edited by Larinessa
Updated review

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Sadly, this one didn't work for me, as it reminds me too strongly of grape juice. There is some leather lurking there and other notes that might deepen this and make it into something beautiful for others, I just can't break the grape juice association. 

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This wasn’t what I expected, but it is nice — like some others who posted it seemed like a holy grail scent for me, blackcurrant and blackberry and leather and cade wood. I didn’t get too much leather for the first half hour or so; it was a super sweet, juicy, blackberry drink scent. The leather makes an appearance and mellows it out after that.
 

I think this will be a fun scent to try layering with! It’s a happy, fairly simple one. It reminds me of a spray I had in high school, and I also think it’d be a great scent for someone younger.

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LEATHER. 10 minutes later I start to smell the lab's blackberry note. I bet the leather will soften up with some age. Right now, its just too overwhelmingly black leather with a touch of berry.

Edited by HerbGirl

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The blackberry is very prominent at first, sweet and a little juicy, but the leather comes up underneath it very quickly. The cade moves in too, kind of dark and tar-like. It's not a particularly smoky cade on me (I was actually hoping for a bit more smoke) leaning more towards the woody tar of cade. I'm definitely getting the black musk as well, a murky inky blackness just sitting still and foreboding underneath everything else. The berry falls to the back as the other darker elements come forward, but it's still in there giving the musk/cade/leather combo a hint of dark red/purple fruity sweetness.

 

I get a bit of a variable throw thing with this, where I like it more from further out, when it's a kind of dark murky smell with a hint of berry, and don't like it as much up close, where the berry comes in a lot stronger. 

Edited by Ythik

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BLACKBERRY! 

then quickly shifting to black currant.

nothing else really, which is a shame as I was REALLY hoping for some leather...though it feels like something is underneath supporting the black currant I can't pick it out at all

 

that being said it's really nice. Not too fruity. Good throw. Would recommend trying. 

It's not something I would reach for to wear with regularity, but I may keep my decant to dry a couple more times, more than just a wrist-test at least

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In the decant, all I could smell was the leather which put me off initially. But luckily, the blackberry showed up once I applied it to my skin with the black currant peeking through as it begun to try. Despite the initial scent, this turned out way nicer than I hoped! The blackberry and black currant do a good job sweetening up this blend but not completely overpowering the leather note.

 

Not sure if I'll get a bottle yet, but this is for sure a contender, especially if that leather fades a bit with age.

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In bottle: Blackberries crushed into the sidewalk, covered with dirt and starting to rot. (I think that's the leather) 

Wet on skin: Black berry/black currant, it sort of smells like a grape popsicle? The leather is very prominently in the background. 

Dry: Blackberry and leather/cade. I'm not a huge fan of the undertones, it just reminds me of fruit rotting in the summertime.

Onto the swap pile with you! 

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Received as a swap. Smells like an evil spiked car. Or a sweet but tough scent. Really enjoy it! All I get is berries & leather. My son keeps sniffing me. Lol

Edited by Rane.

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Arlecchina has aged beautifully, kind of a vampy Bewitched sort of scent that has the dark juice of blackberry and the dark, dry quality of black currant, combined with a deep darkness from the smoky cade, earthy leather, and a musk that's underlying everything. For me, it's a similar leather to the one in Artist's Entrance, but much less prominent, taking a backseat to the dark fruits in Arlecchina, whereas Artist featured the finished woods and canvas leathers pretty prominently amidst the sparkly amber.

 

For all that Arlecchina is fruity, it is not terribly sweet. I'd describe it like a good smoky cabernet with notes of black currant and blackberry. Not that this smells like wine, but it has that dry, earthy quality that cab does, without a lot of juiciness or tartness. I'd wear this when I want to feel the sexiness of plum without actually wearing plum, or a blackberry that is more sophisticated and elevated. I think a ton of people would like this, especially if Bewitched or Artist's Entrance was your thing. Love my bottle!

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