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Elysium
Helpful Review
3
The Shape of Dark Chocolate
After having successfully tested two Les Senteurs Gourmandes Oud cologned, namely Amber Our and Black Oud, I opted this time for giving Vanille Chocolat a try, and blind bought it. I was astounded when I tried it on from a decent package. I instantly fell in love. In a nutshell, I got delicious praline, vanilla, and musky honey... Delights have hidden behind a huge wall of cold, metallic patchouli.
I cherish this. One of the sexiest dark perfumes I have ever encountered. It has the mysterious quality of Thierry Mugler Angel's DNA imprint with that filthy animalic patchouli, but with the cacao and chocolate amped. I'm a huge fan of original Angel and mainly because of the earthy bitter patchouli bite that it has. Vanille Chocolat is indeed very similar to the original but with subdued patchouli and amped up chocolate instead.
If Angel is cotton candy, this is an aged wine. Drier and darkly sweet than syrupy or sugary, and nothing plastic about this chocolate - it is rich, warm, dusty, rubbery, and deep. A very grown-up gourmand, and not an easy wear for everybody, but if you love Angel and her flankers, this scent invites people in and keeps them there, and cuts through cold winter air amazingly.
When I unboxed the scent and sprayed it twice on my backhand I discovered an oriental tasty accord. It opens up with an intense aroma of bitter chocolate warmed by the sensuality of the sweetness of honey. I got cocoa powder thrown into the mix and it smells exactly like chocolate liquor, you know, the bitter dark chocolate. There's a touch of something minty, maybe the patchouli is attempting to rise from the very beginning. I get a tiny amount of cacao which smells more like, as is common I understand as a base in this type of scent, patchouli and some florals to create the effect.
It's all about the cocoa, and yes, it really is bitter cocoa. The opening is a gourmand, and it's sweet, but think of a sophisticated truffle rolled in cocoa powder, not a common chocolate bar. Or maybe don't think of candy at all, it's less dessert-like than you might expect, and to drive home that point, the recipe associated with the fragrance is not a chocolate cake or some such. The bitter cacao is evident in the top notes but takes a back-seat relatively quickly and the heart reveals earthy patchouli still wrapped by the luscious honey.
As times goes by, the earthy heart blends into the richness of a base with herbal vanilla and mild tobacco accents. The natural vanilla extracts from Madagascar and Mexico and cocoa develop a complex perfume formed of several hundreds of different aromatic compounds loaded with emotion. I'm a sucker for tobacco scents, yet it is not overpowering here. Interesting to see that nobody has likened this to Tobacco Vanille by Tom Ford. This will carry out for several hours the tobacco is hinted but not extremely prominent, just the perfect mix. It dries down to smooth chocolaty vanilla tobacco at the base and is just a pleasure all-throughout... I enjoy this one a lot!
I'm thoroughly impressed with its dirt cheap prices and simple, linear perfumes that aren't going to require a second debt to explore! Who doesn't love a bargain? You can't go wrong here. A must-have for gourmand lovers. All in all, if you love Angel, you'll love this too.
For the daring gentleman, like myself, who is willing to look past the labelling of "for Women". This is very much unisex - IMHO a bit more on the masculine side. Suited for winter time, I recommend it for evening and night out. Both sillage and longevity are above the average.
-Elysium
Top Notes 
Heart Notes 
Base Notes 
Itchynose
