Jicky EDT Guerlain

Desirability: A full bottle

Source: basenotes.net

Jicky EDT (bottle as above) was one of the first classical Guerlain perfumes I got my greedy mitts in the early days of my perfume craze. I didn't appreciate it much back then, my attention instead being focused on all sorts of gourmand and heavy oriental scents. Times and tastes have evolved since then. These days when life gets a bit more challenging, Jicky is one in a special "emergencies only" line-up I reach for to calm and recharge simultaneously. 

Slightly bitter, herbal green and citrusy, the first notes are loud and bracing (with a hangover one would practically think it's shrieking), not quite everyone's cup of tea I would imagine. Patience pays off quite quickly as the opening notes step aside and a gorgeous lavender conjoins with an even more gorgeous creamy vanilla and a touch of bittersweet almond/tonka...all members of the special guerlainade list of ingredients that weaves a linkage between various Guerlain perfumes. Jicky projects well with a couple of sprays but unfortunately doesn't last above the four hour mark on me. Even then, this elegant and timeless beauty is one that deserves leisurely sampling ( a quick spray and sniff won't do it justice really).

Body Made Luminous Scent by Alexis

Desirability: Full bottle and back up

Source: Fragrantica

Smoke and chocolate.

I waited a year for Body Made Luminous to be available again and I must say it is definitely worth the wait. I like this more and more with each wearing. There's plenty of chocolate in Body Made Luminous but I won't label it a gourmand, maybe an oriental gourmand with the oriental genes predominant.

The sweetest it ever gets is on the initial spray and even then it isn't very sweet at all, nothing candy coated here. At first it made me think of dark chocolate truffles covered with a generous dusting of rich unsweetened cocoa powder. Body Made Luminous has no vanilla in it, just straight up good quality chocolate that has no need of additives. There's something dry and woody as well, as if the truffles are some fancy artisan creation presented in hand crafted wooden boxes. Biting into one truffle and relishing the bittersweet warmth of the chocolate, you encounter the rich amber filling, balmy, resinous and smoky with a certain je ne sais quoi.

This may sound strange but well using eye make up as a metaphor, I think of Body Made Luminous like a "smokey eye". Dark, mysterious and sensual. In comparison Gourmand Coquin would be a "kitten flick", Café Cacao would be a "natural eye" and Chocomania/Choco Musk would be like a pop of something bright and happy on the eyelid. Other examples of "smokey eyes" would be Anima Dulcis or 1969. Anyway back to Body Made Luminous. It gets a very enthusiastic thumbs up from me for projection and longevity and is a great investment for olfactory pleasure.

Clara Bow. Source: pincurlmag.com/clara-bow

Battito d`Ali Profumum Roma

Source: www.profumum.com

Battito d'Ali. The beating of wings.

That Profumum Roma fragrances are of good quality and amazing longevity if not always sillage, (I'm thinking my almost love Dulcis in Fundo) cannot be disputed. However there is enough overlap with existing fragrances from other brands that so far I've only added Vanitas to my closet.

Vanitas may soon be joined by Battito d'Ali.

I was in a bitter chocolate/cacao mood one day and Battito d'Ali was recommended for a cacao scent. On me it's more about orange blossoms than cacao. I love orange blossoms, be they ethereal and dainty, soapy or skanky. I had been satiated for a little over a year but I recently reignited my search for new orange blossoms to fall in love with. I tried Love by Kilian which was a total candied orange blossom that was too sweet for even my gourmand-inclined tastes. Then came Battito d'Ali and her dreamy self.

Battito d'Ali isn't a dainty orange blossom like Elie Saab's Le Parfum, not a chic one like Maison Francis Kurkdjian's APOM Pour Femme nor is it heady like Luten's Fleurs d'Oranger. It doesn't have the salty sweetness of Tauer's intriguing Orange Star nor the honeyed sweetness of L'Artisan's Seville a l'aube. It's a citrus-tinged white floral that balances the sweetness of a creamy vanilla with the bitter smokiness of myrrh. Starting a little like a candied orange blossom, the sugary beginning dissipates and the scent evolves into a bittersweet balmy treasure that stays close to the skin and lasts what seems forever and a day.

I'm missing the cacao note that many have mentioned, on me Battito d'Ali started out as a gourmand white floral and blossomed into a heavenly soft oriental. Quite otherworldly.

Anima Dulcis Arquiste

I love a good chocolate as much as the next gourmand lover but these days it takes a little more than just chocolate to rock my world. Anima Dulcis does just that. 

The opening of Anima Dulcis is a peppery, dry dark chocolate that smells like it's 90% dark with that raw cocoa taste and low on sugar. The vanilla and cinnamon slowly make their way in and the chocolate turns to a more creamy milk chocolate, the spices keeping it from being overly sweet and giving it a more grown-up feel, away from chocolate scents like The Body Shop's Chocomania and Guerlain's Elixir Charnel Gourmand Coquin that smells like a rosy Lolita bingeing on rum and Godiva chocolate hearts, a delicious scent but that price-tag, really? 

As it further evolves, Anima Dulcis loses some of the vanilla and gains back more dark cocoa with its bittersweet earthy flavour. The overall concoction smells realistic and organic, I can almost taste it. The edible version of Anima Dulcis would be Lindt's Chilli Dark Chocolate, as strange as it sounds it's pretty good stuff, semi sweet dark chocolate with a subtle spicy flavour to give it that extra kick in the taste buds. 

Lindt Chilli Dark Chocolate, image courtesy of Flickr.

Anima Dulcis dries to a dusty spiced chocolate, reminding me of making hot chocolate from chocolate powder, but this time with cinnamon and maybe some cardamom and chilli flakes? The scent has a moderate projection and very good longevity, my cardigan from last night still smells delicious after 24 hours. 

Spicy Hot Chocolate, recipe below, courtesy of www.shape.com

Since this is probably triggering cravings, I found an interesting recipe on shape.com for spicy hot chocolate and have included it here.

Ingredients:

1/2 pound butternut squash (about 2 cups cubed)

Cooking spray

7 cups nonfat milk

8 7/10 ounces Mexican or semisweet dark chocolate

30 1/2 ounce semisweet chocolate

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon grated nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cardamom

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Peel squash and cut it into 1-inch cubes. Arrange squash on a baking sheet in a single layer and spray lightly with cooking spray. Bake for 30 minutes, or until tender.

2. In a blender, puree squash with three cups of milk until smooth. Stir remaining ingredients in a large saucepan over low heat, until chocolate is melted.

3. Add pureed squash mixture to pan and continue stirring until it's heated (do not boil). Strain mixture through a coarse sieve and serve.