Silk, Lace & Chocolate

Finally, a chocolate I can wear! 4160 Tuedays' iteration doesn’t arrive with the brute-force sugarbomb heaviness that so many so-called gourmands do. No syrup-soaked synthetic cocoa butter, no cloying fog of thick candy-floss musk. Instead, it breathes. Airy ribbons of truffle-dark chocolate, somehow cool and soft at once, folded into the silk of a real, elegant Tahitian vanilla, slightly floral nuance. Ganache but whispered. You get the strawberry, yes, but not bubblegummed into submission like so many failed “fruity chocolates” of the 2010s. This is strawberry cream, not so much jammy as folded into white chocolate, with a creamy-smooth, delicately tart sweetness. More like skin than dessert, this is the flushed-cheeks kind of sweetness that glows pink, not neon red. But the real genius here would have to be that bergamot. Thar clean, ephemeral touch of brightness really just manages lifts the whole composition above the mud of cliché. It flickers gently through the richness, like a glint of silver on velvet. Prevents the descent into stickiness. A gourmand, yes, but silk-spun, fondue-laced air rather than food. Creamy without being creamy-sick. Deep, but not heavy. I’ve long had a tragic relationship with chocolate fragrances. Promises of velvet and heartbreaks of wax. Unventilated musk, oh dear. Not this. This is the first one that knows elegance with a sweet tooth. Like someone who knows when to stop stirring the ganache, who lets the perfume rest in softness, not excess. To lean close to someone and let them smell not dessert, but something quietly decadent? Sign me the fuck up. Chocolate, done right. Finally.

Good grief, this is good. I bought 100ml direct from 4160 Tuesdays in their New Year sale - my first scent from this house. It is currently £45 (50ml is selling for £60 - oh dear, it made more sense to buy the larger bottle...). It arrived today, beautifully packaged and with a small free sample of Captured by Candlelight; I think I am going to like that, too. On the literature which accompanied the fragrance, the listed notes are: chocolate, strawberry, bergamot and vanilla, the last of which has been omitted by Fragrantica. I am sure I can smell patchouli in here, although it's not listed. This is rich, warm, creamy, spicy, gourmand chocolate heaven. It is not sweet; the bergamot tempers any sweetness from strawberry and contributes to the fragrance's spiciness. Vanilla is imperceptible to me, but may be causing the creamy aspect I sense. I have other chocolate perfumes: Montale's Chocolate Greedy (which I love), but SLC is creamier and slightly less "dusty"; Al-Rehab Choco Musk (a solid "like" and sweeter and quieter); Thierry Mugler Angel Le Gout du Parfum, which I also love (but is unmistakably Angel, an inescapable heritage). 4160 Tuesdays Silk, Lace and Chocolate is now my favourite chocolate fragrance and should assuage my cravings for the edible stuff. Sillage is moderate - not sure yet about longevity, but I suspect it will be good.

I confess I sampled 4160 Tuesdays Silk, Lace & Chocolate a few times casually before realizing it was right for me. A gourmand lover, I can be both easily receptive to and picky toward gourmand fragrances, and admittedly this one seems to have a bit of a mixed reception. Still, Sarah McCartney excels at gourmands (or at least semi-gourmands), and it's no surprise to me that she does well with this. SLC involves a relatively simple blend of chocolate, strawberry, and bergamot. The first two are obvious and make up the bulk of what stands out, at least to me, a dessert duo that walks the line between refreshing and decadent. The bergamot, however, is perhaps the key ingredient, as it lifts up the blend from being a heavy gourmand to something more in the middle. Certainly apt for cold weather but not so dense for a little warm weather to be prohibitive, SLC is a well-blended gourmand. It's in the usual price range for 4160 Tuesdays fragrances, $135 for 100ml and $90 for 50ml at Perfumology and Luckyscent in the US. 8 out of 10

Lol@raw umber, here is what I think of this scent... I am generally not a lover of chocolate scents so I approached this sample with caution. Very pleasantly surprised here. On the first sniff I am immediately transported to a York chocolate factory where the master chocolatier is preparing fresh dark chocolate truffles with fresh strawberry cream fondant filling. Mmmmmmmm.....absolutely delicious...yum yum yum. Makes me want to eat those truffles and I don't even like dark chocolate or fruity fillings. Chocolate strawberry note lingers for a good while and eventually dries down to a yummy base very similar to the Sexiest Scent but sweeter. Longevity is very good too. This is one chocolate scent I would definitelly shell out for.

What a gorgeous perfume. For times when you want to feel cosy and a bit decadent! First off, this chocolate is not bitter or sweet, but beautifully creamy. The vanilla adds to the deliciousness but the touch of bergamot stops it from becoming sickly and too rich. The hint of strawberry brings to mind that lovely aroma of when you take the lid off a tin of chocolates...strawberry cremes, toffee fingers, creamy fudges. I can't stop inhaling it! This is the first FB I have bought from 4160 Tuesdays; This is one I plan to rebuy and get a big backup of because I don't want to be without this!

Gosh this such a delicious chocolate and strawberry fragrance. Definitely one to wear for a romantic occasion. Please dont assume that this is a sickly sweet or heavy cloying fragrance. Its beautifully smooth and balanced. The strawberry note is very real life. There is also an almost a boozy note but it could all be imagined by me. I love gourmand fragrances and this is definitely in my top 5 chocolate fragrances. Moderate sillage and longevity. Its another man magnet.

A chocolate-covered strawberry. First thing to come to my mind on initial blind-sample spray despite my typically-horrible sense of smell. I generally stay away from strawberry fragrances but this one got me in a choke-hold. There's a thick layer of chocolate (not too dark) on top of a ripe sweet strawberry. While not exactly photorealistic, it is gorgeously delicious in cold gloomy weather. Moderate projection. I get roughly 4-5 hours of wear.

very interesting. i've about used up my sample - this has grown on me. Silk, Lace, & Chocolate reminds me of good quality Japanese pencil erasers from the '70s - which is not a bad thing! initially, something biting and almost burnt is there, but very quickly, i'd say after about 15-30 minutes, the chocolate and strawberry meld to form a soft, fruity, powdery cloud.

Longevity update: THREE days on clothing and still going strong. Incidentally, I left a comment on 4160 Tuesdays Facebook page about the perfume and mentioned that I thought I picked up patchouli. Sarah replied immediately and said that there is definitely no patchouli in here, but that the vibe could be coming from the cocoa, which does make sense.

this one smells like chocolate covered strawberries with bergamot tea!! i love it so much especially because im already a huge fan of scents with bergamot. the chocolate definitely adds a creamy sweet addition to the scent.

This smells like the first bite into a chocolate covered strawberry. Delicious and sexy. Absolutely love it, but not sure what occasions I’d wear it for, other than spraying myself before slipping into bed.

For me Silk, Lace & Chocolate is absolutely delicious! Very sweet & yummy The strawberry balances out the chocolate really well I wouldn't recommend blind buying & definitely not for non gourmand lovers

Smells legit like the Strawberry Creams in a Christmas tin of Quality Street sweets. The chocolate is dark and rich. Delicious. Christmas in a bottle!

This made my eyes roll back- wow. Chocolatey but the bergamot keeps it from being overly sweet or childish. Delicious.

Quiet, delightful scent. Excellent mix of strawberry and chocolate.

So my initial thoughts were chocolate ..., cedar? ..., tart ..., strawberries with no sugar. I am beginning to think that there will never be anything that I can dislike from this house. Over the Chocolate Shop is a favourite of mine and I quite like Rhubarb & Custard. I was worried that the strawberry note would come across here as imitation flavouring. It does not. I gave this fragrance several hours to do its thing. There are elements of Over the Chocolate Shop, (the notes that are used for chocolate at 4160 Tuesdays.) There is no sweetness, those strawberries are tart. I mulled over the name of this fragrance and think that perhaps lace could be renamed tweed. There is nothing frilly about this fragrance to my nose. Verdict? A cool weather love for me.

Got this about a week ago as a blind buy. On me, it has none of the chocolate, sweet or spice smell. Just synthetic and messy with some powder, nor is it long-lasting on me. I got about 3 hours, where as the Angel Comet blind buy I finally tried (after having it a few years sitting around), was still noticeable, though barely, 16 hours after 1 spritz. So very disappointed in this. I have got to stop doing blind buys or find out why so many have not smelled very nice on me. I guess the one I need is called "over The Chocolate Shop". Time to start saving up again! LOL and smh @ the same time. ;)

Pure chocolate limes! Like opening up a bag of these sweets from my childhood! And then come juicy strawberries with a hint of something alcoholic, like a syrupy sweet and very fun cocktail. There are also marshmallows and something warm and woodsy in the base. I'm not usually into fragrances that smell like candy, but this is an unusual fruity gourmand and I'm a fan. It completely disappeared in the high heat of the summer, but is gently lasting in the cold. It didn't go down well with my man, he said it smells like flat cheap off-brand cola, but what does he know??!

I picked up a sample of this a few years ago and initially hated it. In my notes, I wrote down, "Chocolate scratch n sniff sticker." Today, on a lark, I tried it again, both on a blotter and on my skin, and my experience couldn't be more different. The high-pitched fake-chocolate smell is gone; this is now real milk chocolate with a strawberry cordial filling, and a sprinkling of bergamot on top. Despite the notes, it's not cloying or overly sweet; it's a soft, introverted gourmand. Maybe a touch too soft and introverted, though, because I stop being able to smell this after an hour.

This definitely smells just like the strawberry cream Quality Street, especially when you first spray it. My issue with this scent, however, is that it is very powdery and light, and has an apparition like quality to it when it dries down. When I wear this, I think I can catch whiffs of it at times, and I find myself moving towards the scent so I can smell it properly, but it's just so damn elusive that it escapes me, leaving me wanting more. I have a travel spray of this and will use it up, but I won't repurchase. The scent bubble is just not strong enough for my liking.