Blackwood & Bourbon

This is a gorgeous fragrance and one of my favorites in the line. Very unisex It starts off quite masculine and boozy warm spicy and very woody but as it dries down you can really get the white florals in this that night blooming cerus starts to shine through And it becomes more feminine in the dry down. It's a little woody a little warm spicy a little white floral a little powdery. Very sexy in my opinion would make an excellent date night fragrance for fall and winter evenings. Has a very cuddly cozy element to it extremely approachable but still very sensual. It's funny I'm getting Christmas vibes holiday vibes with this one but also tropical vibes because of that tropical cactus floral that's in here. I could see wearing this during the holidays I could see wearing this for date nights on a honeymoon trip in like the Caribbean. I could see wearing this just staying at home on a cold chilly evening curled up on the couch watching movies. It just has a catch-all feel to it. A feeling of being appropriate in most situations. It would be appropriate in a more formal setting and it would be appropriate in a more casual setting. Very elegant but still extremely cozy. Approachable likable and sweet without being too sweet. Spicy without being too spicy. It's just very well blended. A definite love for me with this one and my husband. Great for both genders.

Woody-spicy at it's finest. I get a little bit of a tea vibe from it. Very clean core. Spicy, then clean, then woody. Get a spray sample, not a dabber, as I didn't love it with a dabber. The clean core is what gets me. I'm a huge fan of (soapy) CLEAN fragrances. My fave from the house is Verdeau, then Time & Tide

This fragrance is insanely beautiful. I’m not usually into boozy fragrances, but this is definitely an outlier for me. Smokey, powdery lavender, pipe tobacco, dark rum, cafe au lait, a touch of very high quality cinnamon and star anise...spectacular.

Sebastian "The Perfume Guy" did a review on Cafe Avellana by Elysian Perfumes, in which he raved about the fragrance. So, several months back, I blind-bought a 50 ml bottle. Cafe Avellana completely transformed me; I was awestruck by just about EVERYTHING regarding the fragrance. The Elysian Website allows customers to place together sample sets. So, I chose six fragrances that spoke to me and ordered my sample set! To put this in perspective: I've currently been on a rather lengthy, vanilla-caramel-coffee-slightly floral-lactonic gourmand jag. I was hoping that one of the six fragrances I sampled might hold a candle to Cafe Avellana's heavenliness. I purchased six fragrances, each in a 3ml vial with atomizer: Blackwood & Bourbon, LaBelle Vanille, Charmante, Temple of Echos, Sombre Douceur and Black Gardenia. From the six samples, Blackwood & Bourbon is probably the fragrance I like most. Although not a gourmand fragrance, this WOULD approach full-bottle-worthy from this house IF the beautiful CEREUS and other lovely florals took center stage and persisted longer throughout the perfume's development... Sadly, they do not. Blackwood & Bourbon opens with citrus top notes that quickly give way to gentle, spicy (anise & cinnamon) notes and some florals. The florals (cereus, I suppose...I detect other florals) are GORGOEUS but remain as supporting players, extremely weak players throughout the wear. This fragrance is all about woods, spices, vetiver, vanilla and bourbon. The dry-down is blackwood, oak and amber with gentle florals peeking through. There is clearly light vetiver and a wee-bit of labdanum in the base. The wood and vetiver are evident until the fragrance is no longer. True to its name, Blackwood & Bourbon is a woody, deep (but not dark, not dense), bourbon fragrance that is more about the woods than it is about the bourbon, vanilla, brown sugar, or florals. IMHO, Blackwood & Bourbon is a WOODY fragrance brightened with some citrus & floral notes. Not at all floral, or sweet enough to be an Oriental fragrance, I'd classify this fragrance as a drier, mossy wood fragrance. This fragrance wears VERY close to the skin with fair longevity (2-3 hrs) and limited silage. As with nearly ALL the fragrances I sampled, my choices seem completely unisex, if not masculine leaning. The extremely woody drydown lends to this fragrance's masculine lean. I like Blackwood & Bourbon. I just wish it was a wee-bit more feminine to suite my tastes.

The house DNA that runs through all the perfumes leaves this one going clean again. Very soapy. Like a light rosy English soap. Smells rubbery up close. Reminds me of a farmhouse B&B bathroom scent. Not a bad scent, but it’s not worth wearing.