Gateau Blackout

This is my first post and I am glad it is for this. To get it out of the way, I think this is a phenomenal scent. It was a blind buy as it is limited edition and only available via D.S & Durga and thankfully, I absolutely adore it. For me, it resembles exactly as D.S describes and as per the listed notes. The opening starts with the cherry and chocolate with a fresh pine which then slowly fades into the incense and smoke with the cocoa and musk enveloping it all. As has been written, it is a complex scent and evolves over time and I would confidently say that this is a pretty safe purchase and not very controversial like some others in their range. Performance: I sprayed once on my wrist and once each side of my neck and longevity is remaining at +7hrs for me. Projection is closer to the skin and gives a lovely warm bubble around you. If I wanted a bit more I could imagine this would work well on clothing. From the other comments here it does seem that skin chemistry may play a part as there are some differing opinions, so I tested this on my partner as well. The overall DNA of the scent was the same however on her the incense was more prominent and on me the chocolate/sweetness was a lot stronger. She wished we had it in reverse! This is going to be an amazing comforting wintery or night time scent that I'll be excited to reach for and I wish I had it in 100ml! I hope this works well for the brand as I think this type of scent is missing in their line-up and can imagine those who try it would fall for it. This is a hit in my books and I'm glad to add it to my DS&D collection so far of Bowmakers, IDKW & St Vetyver.

I watched the video DS and Durga made for this fragrance and ran to the website to buy it. First of all, when I am sad, I always buy a slice of Black Forest Cake from the fancy grocery store down the road to make me feel better. Second of all, when I was 15, I spent a summer as an exchange student in the Black Forest and it changed my life. This perfume reminds me of a day we spent at a festival somewhere outside of Stuttgart. It was July, but it was pouring rain, so we sought shelter in a circus tent, which had been turned into a makeshift hookah bar. We smoked cherry flavored shisha and waited for the unseasonable storm to pass. When you first spray this, it is pure chocolate and smoke/fireplace. It is *not* however, s'mores. After about 10 minutes the cherry notes come out, which is unusual, because on my skin, DS and Durga's top notes pretty much disappear immediately. This is not the kind of in-your-face cherry that Tom Ford has popularized. This is a whisper of cherry. The smoke all but fades, and the lipstick-ish Orris and incense are left. As well as the highly controversial seeming "friend's musk", which to me just smells like that comforting sweet warmth of a familiar friend. Honestly, it reminds me of my mom. This perfume basically settles into a scent that says "boyfriend's borrowed sweater after a night at a bonfire". That Orris makes it lean slightly feminine for me, but I think this would smell totally yummy on the right guy. This is definitely Black Magenta's sister, if Black Magenta spent a weekend in a cabin with a wood burning stove.

This is my first try of Gateau Blackout, one of the most recent releases by the Brooklyn-based house of D.S. & Durga, a limited-edition “studio juice.” Its semi-gourmand blend includes notes of black cherry, cocoa, vanilla, pine, incense, jasmine, iris, musk, and a fireplace accord and the perfume very much smells like a blend of all of these notes. It’s sweet, woody, and a bit smoky and resinous and floral, a bit of a fall/winter delight that’s gourmand enough to satisfy gourmand fans but not so overwhelmingly sweet as to turn away those that just want a cozy holiday-type scent. It delivers in terms of the well-blendedness and sophistication and is something I could see myself either wearing a lot or saving for special occasions. Gateau Blackout is priced at $210 for 50ml, actually a bit lower than most of their studio juice offerings of late (generally $250for 50ml), in EDP concentration, and performs pretty well, though not nearly as strongly as some of their mainstays like Amber Kiso. 8 out of 10

A blind buy that really paid off. This bottle is insanely complex with forest and smoke notes orbiting the cherry. There is a brief pop of camphor on opening but it quickly fades. The smoke is more complicated than with other fragrances. It's not simply smoke but... the ghost of smoke. A place that has been steeped in smoke and taken it in as a part of itself, so thats its become something else. The incense ties it all together. Its amazing that such wildly different notes ehance each other, yet work seemlessly together in a really intoxicating way. The cocoa arrives slightly later, as part of the ensemble, not the star of the show. I disagree with comparisons to Black Magenta. Had these fragrances not been released in such close proximity, I don't think this would be a conversation. While they share a warm sweetness to the ultimate dry down, you wouldn't mistake one for the other. So glad I risked this one and can't wait for more Perfume Quest bottles to release.

The lovely folks at Nolita's DS & DURGA helped me hunt down one of the last bottles in the city... I've worn the brand for years now (Amber Kiso, Cowboy Grass, Notorious Oud are all shelf staples) but this is one of my top favorites from them. I feel almost guilty bragging about owning something now off the market. Heavy incense over black-as-night chocolate, waxy cherries, warm skin. It is a storyteller, a spell caster. It is comforting and bewitching. I feel powerful entrenched in a cloud of it and find myself with my nose glued to my arm when I wear it. It is vampiric and I welcome it to suck the life from me. Yes, I wish it projected a bit more. But it is entirely worth it. For fans of: BDK's Rouge Smoking, Clue's With The Candlestick, Stora Skuggen's Mistpouffer PS - I'm also quite a fan of IDLES so I'm tickled the frontman's abilities also dazzle in the olfactory world