In Greek mythology, dark, irresistible Eros joined with Chaos to create the whole human race. Bittersweet cocoa absolutes from France and Cote d’Ivoire, black tea leaf, mallow root, blackseed, vintage patchouli, and a drop of overripe strawberry.
This one scares me! Just look how dark the oil is. There's all kinds of sediment that needs shaken up and mixed in, which is a bit hard to do in an sample vial - much easier in the 5 ml, I'd imagine. But let's soldier on anyway, because adversity builds character.
In the imp, Eros is patchouli and chocolate strawberries. It isn't very sweet - bittersweet is exactly right. Wet on skin the chocolate fades to the back and the strawberry takes on a greenness, like fruit that's not quite ripe. It's definitely not a sweet, juicy strawberry note. The patchouli is there, but I don't hate it - it's not a stinky head shop patchouli. There's something a bit creamy - I'm guessing the mallow root - and a whiff of black tea.
As it dries down the strawberry sweetens a little and the bittersweet cocoa rises back up, actually becoming quite a bit sweeter itself. Once it's fully dry the chocolate and strawberries are the most prominent notes, and although it's much sweeter than on cold sniff, it's still not terribly sweet. This isn't a sugary, gourmand kind of scent at all. Think strawberries dipped in dark, dark chocolate. And patchouli. Which sounds like an awful combination, honestly, but it's not at all. And I am Very Anti-Patchouli, so that's saying something. It just really works here.
As an added bonus, this one lasts. I put it on before bed last night, around 11:30 or so - it's now nearly 12 hours later and I can still smell it on my wrist. That's impressive.
Would I buy it again? Surprisingly, yes. I fully expected to hate this and ended up liking it a lot.
Available from: Wherever Arcana oils are sold - Magical Omaha and The Soap Box Co among other places, or you can order direct from Julia using the contact info at Arcana Soaps. Eros was part of Arcana's Valentine's release, and is still available as of this posting.
I´m not particularily fond of chocolate scents, but the chocolate and patchouli combo has charmed me before. Believe it or not, I´ve experienced that combvo twice before, I believe. I enjoy patchouli a lot! I have never quite been able to understand the aversion many people have for it. It's like hating amber... or vanilla... ;)
ReplyDeleteBut I do hate amber! I am the worst. With amber, it's just a case of it not working very well with my skin chemistry. Patchouli is something I don't much like the smell of - it's too strong and incense-y to me. It definitely CAN work for me (as in the case of this perfume), but it's rare. Now vanilla, that's another story.
DeleteIt must be difficult to either hate the smell of or have a bad skin chemistry reaction to such fundamental perfume notes... I absolutely adore the scent of amber and all ambers I have incountered have worked well on me. Patchouli too, my skin seems lo like it and mellow it somewhat. And, yeah, vanilla just never fails to be fantastic! Musk on the other hand is one of those very common notes that can go either way on my skin.
DeleteIt's kind of annoying, I will admit, and it can definitely ruin scents for me. Solstice Scents' Snowshoe Pass was terrible on me because it was ALL AMBER, it just annihilated everything else. I do have lots of blends with amber in them, though, it's just hit-and-miss so I need to sample stuff first. It also works better if it's not one of the main notes for obvious reasons.
DeleteI always think it's funny how skin chemistry works - it must make blending scents a little frustrating, because how it smells on you is not how it will necessarily smell on anyone else.