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

this was a blind buy and my first ds&durga scent. every note intrigued me (save jasmine, not a huge fan) and i love gourmand scents, so i pulled the trigger. it’s not exactly as i imagined, but it’s so interesting. this is like eating a cherry-chocolate dessert recipe from the 1400s in a forest witch’s cottage. it’s not exactly sweet, and it is what it says it is but it has more to tell you than that. there’s bitter chocolate and sharp, bright boozy cherry, but it’s also smoky and deep from the fire in the hearth, the cold bite of pine trees, the powdery earth floor and flowers hanging to dry. it’s not a juicy scent, or even gourmand really, but it’s mysterious and alluring and smells like indulgence.

Jolie Laide at its finest I am very enamored from the beginning middle and end , listen to her and let her soft sweet song envelope you with her gentle but memorable kiss .

I wouldn't classify this as a gourmand, as it's definitely not sweet. Reminds me a lot of Deep Dark Vanilla, a bitter, medicinal vanilla. Gateau Blackout shares a similar medicinal DNA to DDV. I think of what vintage coca cola might have tasted like at the drugstore soda counter, back when coke was first marketed as a remedy for stomach ailments. There's boozy cherry and cocoa up top, but the entire thing is subsumed in a smokiness that initially struck me more as rubber tire on asphalt than campfire. I would have liked more German black-forest cake dialed up. Rather than cake, you get cola, lipstick, car exhaust, and cold leather — a retro idea of 1950s, "rock n roll," Rebel Without a Cause, etc. It's fun. There is something cozy about this that will wear well in cold weather. It's not a love, but there are elements I like. It may have become a love if the sillage and longevity were stronger. This performs like a skin scent on me. I wanted it to be louder.

This is DS & Durga's answer to a gourmand. As gourmand of a fragrance that they've ever released. It opens with a tart, sour cherry with a vanilla heart, and the same sweet candied base as Salem Gothic. He re-used this same accord. Only problem is longevity--potent for the first 30 minutes, fades quickly after that. It faded into a skin scent 4 hours in. I feel that this is a crowd pleaser--one of, if not, the safest blind buys from this house. Nothing groundbreaking, but very well done and wearable.

Medicinal, smokey, candle wax dripping over cherries surrounded by pine-y woods. Definitely a dark, almost witchy smell (which I generally LOVE) but I have a strong distain for medicinal smells. It calms down toward the dry down but the cherry in the beginning smells like straight up cherry cough syrup. I don’t really get a lot chocolate or vanilla from this either. Meh.

Opens with pine/fir, chocolate, musk, and a hint of smoke. There’s absolutely no cherry or “fire” note to be registered, and it reads woody patchouli overall. 😐 Extremely disappointing with the woody vanilla patchouli dry down reminiscent of Myrrh and Tonka by Jo Malone and Estrella De La Mañana by Une Nuit Nomade. Oh, and It’s also discontinued.

As I expected, a lot more smoky than gourmand. How dare someone soil the good name of Cherry Amaretto, she is nothing like this

I happened to stop in the shop the day this was released and was excited to try it after reading the description. It was a huge disappointment. I strongly believe this is just Black Magenta, which was just released, reformulated with some different top notes. The dry down is identical after a very short period and leaves a strange lipsticky amber scent which I find unpleasant and gross. I have bought a lot of DS & Durga over the years, but this along with the accompanying video just seems like a weird cash grab. The fragrance notes listed are pretty much complete marketing nonsense. This does not smell like chocolate cherry cake, unless you paid too much money and want to convince yourself you are smelling german chocolate cake. When DS&D hit, they hit, but this is unfortunately a huge miss. What is with people writing reviews that haven't experienced a fragrance? What's the point? Literally wasting time and space.

Having just received this fragrance, this review is more of a quick take on it. Straight out of the bottle I definitely get the smoke and the pine, the cherry nicely represented by a strong scent of kirsch at first spray, though this quickly dissipates into the smooth chocolate note on the drydown. I'd say this perhaps starts out as a black forest gateau, cream and all, but fades into a smooth (if a little generic) smoky wood fragrance really very quickly. Longevity seems fairly poor, and it sits very close to the skin regardless, but it's probably a pretty safe blind buy and it's a fun scent profile.

YES. YES. ALL THE YES. I have to try this. But why does it seem like all these fall and winter fragrances are coming out right before spring and summer? There is a lot of them too I’ve noticed. I mean where what you want when you want, obviously, but this seems like something to wear on a cold late autumns night. That said, I’m here for this note break down. But side note what the hell is a “friends” musk? Like “brokeback mountain” type of “friends” musk? Like going on a weekend “camping trip” with a “buddy” where you most definitely don’t have sex with each other type of “friends” musk? 😆

people should definitely check out the youtube DS&Durga put out on there youtube channel about this. This fragrance was made for someone. interesting watch.

This one looks interesting, but i hope there are some unknown notes because it could just smell like a synthetic mess and kinda basic

If anyone is willing to sell a sample / decant of this, please let me know

Very unique, warm, unexpected, enigmatic and mysterious.