Cacao

"I create the chocolate alcohol (that is the foundation of the perfume) by tincturing deeply aromatic cocoa beans with very floral Tahitian vanilla beans. Using both grandiflorum and sambac jasmines, their richness marries well with the full chocolate base." Seems everyone is getting something different from this lol With me it starts with rich orange chocolate (that only lasts 10 min), then indolic jasmine & powdery vanilla dominates while the ghostly chocolate wafts in and out; interestingly, it does smell like Tootsie Roll during the transition! If the short opening kept its strong presence throughout the wear, it would've been my favorite of the brand.

This is by far and away the best aroma I have ever smelled. I was in a chocolate shop when I first smelled this product and I actually swooned. I could bath in it if it wasn't so expensive. I got a bottle for Valentines Day, a teeny tiny bottle that I only unscrew the top on and smell it. The scent does not last on my skin but I could smell the bottle all day. It is addicting!!!

216) Orangette Confit de pelure d'orange (sanguine) enrobé de chocolat noir (mais cette note de chocolat est presque inexistante). Miam! Ce parfum est principallement de type fruité, avec l'acidité du pamplemousse et du jasmin frais très présent. Le chocolat et la vanille apporte juste une touche comestible mais sont peu perceptibles.

This smells like an orange tootsie roll pop. I find the this smells like feces comments bizarre.

I'm sure there's someone on whom this is tolerable, but it's not me, and I know many other perfumistas who dislike this. Read the reviews on MUA before buying this. The jasmine note is so strong and indolic, the overall effect of this perfume is a fecal. When I first tried it, I thought it was a joke perfume. I'm not kidding. Do not buy unsniffed!

If you want to smell like a chocolate orange candy bar that has gone bad by all means buy it. Huge let down from this house, glad I only bought samples.

My fourth sample from Aftelier, after a difficult and frustrating struggle with the first three... Middle age male, moderate frag experience, always prefer naturals, and specifically botanical naturals (nothing animal). Have wanted to try Aftel for many years. Finally obtained four samples. These samples were long awaited. I love the artistic concept behind this brand and was looking forward to the samples for a long time. I unfortunately ended up struggling terribly with the first three, for easy reasons: I'm ok with anything "indolic," as long as it's a "dirty earthy" thing. ...when it goes animalic, barnyard or outright fecal, it's an absolute no-go for me. Pretty much zero tolerance. The very rare exception would be if it were blended so well as to be undetectable, which I know is possible under some circumstances. This applies to various inherently unpleasant scents for lots of well-blended perfumery, where it can just work, and even work really well. Is it just me, or, am I discovering in this almost ten year journey now, that many female perfumers have an attraction for/towards fecal scents...(??) I'm asking because I've noted this with another well-known independent perfumer or two. That said, I read the reviews below before posting this. This test was unquestionably the least...if not completely absent...fecal fume of the four I've tried. Based on the age of the reviews below, I'm leaning towards the idea she has changed the ingredients to eliminate the poop...OR...(and I really hope this isn't the case)...after three other heavy-excrement samples, my nose is welcoming the radical reduction of poop in this, that I'm not noticing it. (?) I really don't think that's the case. I think there are not any fecal components in this perfume. And thank goodness for that. FINALLY. This is pretty great based on that. Even had the unique experience of having a third party, one normally never interested in my fumes, come into my office where I have my test plate (I douse a paper plate with everything I test and leave it in a room for 24 hours to experience that skinless effect, since I don't apply anything directly to my skin anyway) and noted "are you testing a perfume?" To which I let them know I was, and I too could smell the wafts of it a few rooms away; it has the effect of projecting the non-cocoa elements, a spicy-ness as best I could describe it, very subtly, at a good distance for an all-natural. And is very pleasant, so much so this non-frag-head was enjoying it. They sniffed the plate up close and said "Yup, that's it, just without the chocolate that I get when I sniff the plate up close." And that is exactly the experience I'm getting. I want to try her rose scent, very much so. But am a little freaked out; I couldn't bear getting another fecal thing in a rose scent. I don't *think* there's anything in her rose scent description that indicates there'd be anything "animalic/indolic/etc" so...and IF so...I'd love to give it a try. Because THIS one gives me hope. After the first three of four smelling like a dirty unwiped butt, and this one smelling really great in comparison, I think I'd be willing to get that rose and give it a go. If it is absent poop, and has this level of quality, it's likely pretty great. Not gonna give up. I would not wear this, but I'd definitely use it as a room fragrance again. It's unique and very pleasing. And again, no fecal-anything with it in mid-2023. I have to assume she's changed the formula to compensate. All this talk about pooping and feces is making me have to use the bathroom.

(A review originally posted on MakeupAlley in 2006, I wanted to re-post it here now because I do not use MakeupAlley anymore [but have many fond memories of using it] and I am trying to get back into writing reviews, using old 'work' as inspiration...): Simply, and apologies for a review lacking in content, but this is a holy grail for me...cacao and jasmine (neroli?)...BEAUTIFUL and complex, fbw for sure, price not withstanding. I really like Mandy Aftel's style, somehow "US American", very particular, refined, evocative...this for me is a sort of tropical chocolate mmmmm Amazing.....wearable and doesn't make me "hungry" in a negative way the way some cheaper chocolate scented candles do, this is a Perfume. More later....thank you Mandy!

I ordered a sample of this, and I'm not sure if it's my chemistry or what but this smells like dog poop on my skin ( and I'm not joking ), I even let others smell this on me over and over again, and everyone else agreed it's the smell of DOG POOP. Even out of the decant it smells terrible. When I first put it on and sat in my car both me and my husband were just sitting there and kind of looking at each other, then one of us said, do you smell this? I smell poop where is this coming from, well it was coming from my arm, the fresh smell of dog poop. Definitely try this first before buying, cause I was totally going to buy a full bottle before trying and I am so glad I didn't.

Overdosed jasmines and blood orange. I just realized that Mandy's stamp is the jasmine as almost it's everywhere in her blends beside the ambergris. Now "Cacao" is about the burst of jasmines & bloody orange with hints of cacao as it should've been named "Sweet bitter jasmines" instead of "Cacao", so the indolic jasmines conquers the blend. It's cute but it's almost the least beside "Sepia" that i liked from this house. Fair.

Orange/grapefruit/blood orange hybrid citrus note on the opening, then it slowly transforms into a Terry's Chocolate Orange scent. I'd probably like this except for the bubble gum note that clouds the composition. Perhaps this is because it's a natural perfume? Palimpsest was my first foray into Aftelier and it had that same powdery sweet lack of clarity.

Very good deep chocolate and citrus highlight with a little jasmine (it is slightly dirty which I like, adds interest factor to straight forward gourmand). I had same thoughts as review from robinadair below. This is a bit more gourmand and feminine than I thought might be, have a 6mL avail if interested. Longevity is pretty good!

This is one of the best chocolate scents I've ever smelled, and as a gourmand lover, I own quite a few! It opens like a warm glass of Grand Marnier - with a bright orange note over a boozy chocolate. It quickly dries down into a just lightly indolic jasmine over a warm melted chocolate orange ball. This is like Heaven in a bottle.

Top notes remind me of a Tootsie Roll. Not quite chocolate, not quite a candy, but something a bit unnatural (ironic, considering this is THE ICON natural perfume house). Then the sharpness of the citrus comes in and the eponymous ingredient fades to the back completely. This is a journey.

Loved the beauty of intense cacao note at the beginning, melting into the intense floral after 15 min. All her fragrances have this kind of indolic vibe, bordering sexy. Quite an intimate scent, almost skin.