By Donna
Shelley Waddington of En
Voyage Perfumes is well known for putting her own spin on
traditional perfume styles, and now she has taken on the gourmand
family with great success. This much anticipated (and now multiple
award-winning) trio
of scents lives up to it billing, evoking the sweetness of
classic favorites with an original twist.
I love vanilla in perfumes, from light
and airy to dark and boozy, it's all good. Indigo Vanilla brings
out an aspect of it that is new to me; thanks to the inclusion of
sugared violets and a creamy, buttery musk, the vanilla has a cool,
milky character that is very appealing and different. One of the
great pleasures of baking is mixing the ingredients, and smelling
this is like making my favorite cream cheese and butter shortbread
cookie recipe, and topping them with violet frosting. Even so, it is
not sticky-sweet like all those candyfloss vanillas, so it is very
wearable even in warmer weather. Something fruity peeks out as it
develops perhaps thanks to the hint of milk chocolate in the mix,
which only adds to the hedonistic experience and gradually becomes
more apparent in the long drydown. If I could make a dessert that
tastes like Indigo Vanilla smells, I would soon need a new larger
size wardrobe.
I have been waiting for Shelley to do
an amber perfume, knowing it would have the warmth and radiance that
is so characteristic of her work, and Captured in Amber is
indeed marvelous - dreamy and hypnotic, so rich and deep that it's
downright indecent. My immediate impression was that this fragrance
was composed with a very high percentage of natural ingredients.
Labdanum, tonka bean, vanilla, resins and spices form the “ancient”
smelling amber accord, which is combined with silken dark chocolate,
bitter orange and yes, real ambergris, the latter of which is
extremely rare in today's fragrances, even the high end luxury
scents. It's hard to describe what effect this magical ingredient
does for a perfume, but everything is smoother, rounder, more
finished somehow, like a stone that's been tumbled in a river and
becomes as polished as a jewel. I will compare it very favorably to
the hard to find Chocolate
Amber from the Italian natural fragrance company La Via de
Profumo; if you have ever tried that one, Captured in Amber is akin
to it but spicier, more complex and not as sweet, and they are both
wonderful.
The ultimate combination of coffee and
chocolate for this mocha lover is Café
Cacao, which combines top shelf perfumery materials to make what
is perhaps the most decadent fragrance in the group. Along with the
real ambergris also found in Captured in Amber, it flaunts a parade
of sensuality; in fact, there is not a single note in this perfume
that I don't adore. Vanilla, rose, cardamom, bergamot peel, espresso,
dark chocolate, steamed milk and whipped cream, amber accord, musk,
ambergris – who could ask for more? It all comes together
seamlessly and even though it has all those gourmand notes, it is not
too sweet or cloying, so the rich bitterness of the coffee and
chocolate can be enjoyed as a counterpoint to the dessert
ingredients. I prefer a gourmand fragrance that leaves room to
breathe, and Café Cacao
is a great example. The only problem with it is prying my nose off my
arm when I wear it. Apparently Marie Antoinette liked to have
ambergris in her hot chocolate; that is not an option for most of us,
but with this fragrance we can get an idea of what that must have
been like.
These three fragrances are also
recommended for blending with each other to make your own delectable
“recipes.” For me, Captured in Amber tends to overpower anything
else, and its longevity is incredible, but the other two make a
perfect combination. No matter how you wear them, the result is the
same – pure pleasure!
Image
credit: Candied violet and chocolate eclairs via Pinterest, original
source unknown.
Disclosure:
I received samples for testing purposes from En Voyage Perfumes.
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