Volta

Put on your dancing shoes, and a frilly dress that swooshes when you spin, but bring a wool sweater, the nights are chilly on the Atlantic coast. This feels like disco balls and hardwood floors, old and new. electric and accoustic. Your partner brought home a bouquet of fresh picked peonies and roses before the dinner party, now the wine glasses are empty, the lights are dim and you're dancing in the kitchen after all the guests are gone. It's warm, cozy, familiar and sweet, with a familiar, intoxicating depth that draws you in closer. It feels like a mental snapshot of a memory, it smells like laughter and being pulled in close by someone you love, the comfort of knowing what comes next but the thrill of a new exploration ahead. I got this as part of the sample set, and I honesly can't wait to wear and review all these unique, atmospheric scents that capture something raw and real, the essence of rough and wild Atlantic coast. This collection feels like coming home, makes me feel seen in a way only receiving the head nod and quick wave hello the locals give can accomplish, I'm smitten.

When I was looking at the notes of Barre’s perfumes I immediately was drawn to Volta as a lover of woody scents and florals, and baby I was right. On first spray it’s rose, patchouli and sandalwood, the black current note is present as well. It’s hard to pin down. It’s very vibrant, the florals make my mouth water. It’s reminiscent of receiving flowers from a lover, perhaps after a fight, you let the flowers dry and wilt before apologizing. Or journalling all they things you wanted to say but never could. It distinctly brings up memories of going to the theatre and dance performances, whether in the crowd or behind the scenes, dance and art classes too. It has a dark and sultry quality too, it smells like wearing a fur coat. Truly beautiful, I can’t wait to keep exploring it.

i got this in a sample set and was prepared to not enjoy it as i’m not a big rose lover, but this actually is my favourite scent out of the collection.. the spice notes really bring it away from “old lady rose” and instead gives a beautiful feminine expensive aroma, this slightly reminds me of rose water rather than rose, it has a bit more of a clean wooshy rose smell rather than a static like rose, which i for sure didn’t expect. combining spice and rose immediately made me imagine a very sharp “kiki” type scent, i’m pleasantly surprised by the roundness. this might be the full size i buy from the sample set after all

A striking mature rose mingled with warming spices of peppercorn, clove and cinnamon. Bergamot lifts and brightens. Vivacious pink peonies spark up shortly after, girlishly blushing, eager to impress the imperial rose. The florals project well off the skin: dimensional, like a richly detailed Victorian pop-up book depicting a gothic glass and ironwork greenhouse planted for precisely for olfactory pleasure. Later, now-muted florals are joined by patchouli, sandalwood, and soft musk. Remains engaging and contemporary while taking on the antique motif of dark incense rose blend.

super evocative fragrance – it smells like my beloved grandma's facial creams (like there's a powdery and almost plasticky vibe to it), so much that i can almost taste it at the back of my throat. if you know the sensory experience of cacharel's eden then you will surely know what i mean. please note that this unique quality does Not make it an unpleasant fragrance; on the contrary, this is very cute, very demure, and dries down into the most delicate & wearable vintage-inspired flower bouquet of adorableness ♡

reminds me of a smoky russian tea room... cozy, nostalgic, the rose note makes it feel a bit nana-like, the sandalwood and patchouli make it feel like incense. this is an extremely strong fragrance, i had sprayed some in an upstairs bathroom and when my housemate came home they could smell it from the downstairs entrance. overall very crazy and interesting and fun for me.

Pleasantly surprised. Bought samples of Volta and Creep, expecting Creep to be the winner. The initial blast of will knock you sideways, but after the drydown, hmm, there's just something about her. An aloof and delicious high femme bouquet, I am won over

I really get a distinct peony petal from this at the opening. The spices feel very cooling, rather than a warm clove/pepper. The rose and peony pink florals give it a sharpness that feels vintage. I feel like I can taste the florals on my tongue in a dry way. There's an ever so slight dirt quality to this that grounds the florals.

I'm not an experienced sniffer, but I've been alive for long enough and known enough ladies older than me to have a pretty good sense of what I don't like in a perfume, and one of those things is heavy florals and rose in particular (most of the time - I'm always open to being surprised by a deft artist). I bought the Barre discovery set as a gift to myself to start my journey down the rabbit hole of fragrances, and then after consulting the website and the reviews here, I hear a pretty good idea of which scents I wouldn't like and which ones I hoped I would. Volta was on my list of "I probably won't like this" and I wasn't entirely wrong. I smell a lot of Rose, and it's not for me. That being said, it is a very pretty scent and I think it settled on my skin in a nice way, so if I liked rose scents, I probably would have liked it. It feels a bit old fashioned, like potpourri, and I think the right person would absolutely adore smelling like grandma in the 80s.

This perfume smells very common. I ordered a few 2ml samples from BARRE, and they all have a similar aroma of cheapness despite the high price tag. On the day I wore Volta, I had repeated sneeze attacks and was wondering what the cause was until I realised it was the perfume. 2/10