Cocaïne

I bought this scent because it’s been on my radar for years, and seeing it compared to one of my all-time favorite scents, Orchid Soleil, was just the nail in the coffin on this year’s perfume budget. I blind bought the damn thing, and while I don’t find it to be a suitable dupe for Orchid Soleil (it’s not by any means of the word) I can understand why people often recommend this scent as an alternative to OS. Let’s start with what they DO have in common: Tuberose, which has many different facets of white floral it can present. There’s the bubblegum sweet, the heady animalic- sometimes downright fecal, the buttery, the nondescript, the creamy, and lastly, the medicinal. Cocaine has that same medicinal vibe that is found in Orchid Soleil that turns many off. In the latter, it comes across as corn tortillas and Vicks vapor rub. In the former, it’s more fruity flavored Colgate and Icy Hot. The sweetness is amped all the way up to 11 in Cocaine, it’s excessive and decadent no holds barred dripping in sugar which I suppose you’d expect with its namesake. It’s eating a piece of funnel cake dipped in strawberry syrup and whipped cream after you just brushed your teeth behind a nightclub. Orchid Soleil is more of a slow burn to the ever so slightly edible dry down, but it makes you wait several hours to get there. Once you do, it’s a posh Mont Blanc tart on baccarat crystal dishware by the glow of a setting sun by the ocean. I get lily in both as well, but it’s the fresh bar soap lily in Cocaine, think Victoria’s Secret or something slightly highbrow, but still mall chic (The Body Shop?) In Tom Ford, it’s a billionaire’s foyer exploding with fresh bouquets that have only just slightly began to rot. If these fragrances were adaptations of movies, Orchid Soleil is 50 Shades of Grey and Cocaine is 13 Going on 30. Now please don’t think I’m saying that Cocaine is somehow an inferior release of the two, I love both of them despite owning this one for less than 24 hours, and the Tom Ford since the year it was released. I just don’t consider them even remotely suited for the same occasion or mood. This is a perfect example of how two fragrances with similar note profiles and “scent categories” on Fragrantica can run totally parallel to one another without ever crossing paths. Please don’t buy this expecting an Orchid Soleil dupe or you may be sorely disappointed. If you love that one however and have an appreciation for the kitschy outliers of white floral releases on this site, don’t turn your sniffer up to this. Maybe don’t pay nearly $200 for a blindbuy on a full bottle (But if you do, I won’t judge). It’s worth the minuscule hype it gets on the forums, and then some. Franck Boclet, you have officially landed on my radar, can’t wait to get my nose on some more of your product. (Distasteful pun, intended)

Finally! It arrived in the mail today. I've soooo been looking forward to sampling this scent. One single spray on my inner forearm: Whew! Wow...INDOLIC, super mothballs! I've tested enough fragrances to get excited when I smell something this noxious. It means something verrry interesting is coming. (Well, most of the time. Sometimes it means you need to seek fresh air before you die.) In the next few minutes as it dries down, it's starting to smell a bit more astringent. The citrus and floral notes are juuust detectable. About an hour later I smelled something sweet, and a few seconds of curiosity passed before I remembered I was testing Cocaïne. From arm's length, I'm getting whispers of light yet syrupy sweet floral - like licorice and chamomile tea. Up close, it's thicker and there's more vanilla. I wouldn't say tabacco - but I get why it's listed. It's like eating crème brûlée in an opium den. THIS should be "Opium". If you haven't smelled actual opium - it has a sweet, earthy, slightly indolic scent very similar to this but less vanilla and more incense-ish. I find the whole seasonal and daytime appropriateness thing absolutely silly. The only reason that might matter is whether something performs well on fabric vs sweaty skin, etc. If you have to ask yourself whether something is appropriate for the office - it's not appropriate. Even the best scents become annoying and headache inducing in an office. I digress... Two hours after the initial spray, I now agree that Cocaine was the right name. Although it does smell similar to actual opium, it lasted about an hour and I've found myself obsessively sniffing my arm, trying to again experience that euphoric sensation I felt when all of the notes collided and melded into a warm sunny syrup that was dirty in the best way possible but...it's gone. I wondered if I had simply become anosmic so I asked someone to "tell me when" as I brought my arm closer and closer - only when I was centimeters away did they smell it. I'm going to spray again - more this time to see if it lasts!

First I want to mention that the notes are right here. Addictive (like the name tells) exotic blend which differs nicely from other Tuberose scents. First of all here is not Jasmine or Orange Blossom which are both commonly combined with Tuberose but there is Lily and Orchid together and those flowers bring freshness to this overall sweet juice. Secondly the opening of this scent is a unique mix of sweet and bitter nuances and all notes can be smelled separately but in the same time it doesn't feel unfinished. After the opening top notes are blending more with each others and that smell is lingering delightfully until the dry down together with a floral heart. The base with soft Vanilla, earthy Patchouli and slightly Coconut smelling Monoi makes this excellent choice for summer days even if this would have been considered as a scent for colder weather. For me this is really much more beautiful in hot than in cold - I never wear this in cold, not even in springtime tough - only in hot. Otherwise so many notes seems to be hidden and the blend doesn't feel so rounded. The warmer it is the sweeter Cocaine comes and somehow this works so well like that. Despite of Caramel and Vanilla here is many refreshing nuances and I think this is definitely one of those scents which you have to test on your skin in different temperatures. What comes to the notes, on my skin Tuberose and slightly dirty Tobacco are dominating over the others and the magic is the warmth which tones the dirtiness of Tobacco down and the sweetness of Caramel up. There is something unique in Cocaïne, it’s bold and evocative, even a little bit strange (but in the good way) unisex scent. You can choose how this develops on your skin and I choose the most sugary character in which this “split personality”. Thank you for reading, I hope my review was helpful. I would appreciate a lot if you want to follow me on IG and/or YouTube (English subtitles): @ninamariahperfumes It gives me a lot of motivation to write more. 🤗

Its been a long while since Ive ran accross a fragrance that is gigantic and will rip your face off 80s style. I laughed in delight if Im honest. We dont see these types of beasts anymore. The juice is red because of the tuberose absolute. Its behaving just like TA because its a little bit spicy and not clean. Monoi from the base gives this a fatty haze and the accord called Craven- a tobacco vanilla that was first used in Amouage Portrayal for women. Amouage went with elemi and solar type jasmine. Cocaine runs head first into indolic sweetness, tuberose, lily and orchid. This will engulf you. I used 3 sprays and its as heavy as a fur coat. It has this wonderful attraction, dirty repulsion but cant look away thing going on. No doubt its challenging, but when was the last time you wore something this ballsy? Maybe Black Orchid comes to recent memory. Most people will be in the its waay to much camp,but I dont think this was made to please the masses. The person that rocks this has a strong sense of self and wears this precisely because many wont. That being the case, Im not sure if this is a daily driver scent. If your wearing it as a daring night out, reactions be damned, this is the pick. Its unique, I love it and kinda hate it. If youve worn Tom Ford Orchid Soleil, Bubblegum Chic, Moramanga,Portrayal etc this should work for you. I did not get the corn chip note as I did with Tom Ford, but it may happen.. A fun ride. I have no idea what to do with it. 🤣 And thats great in my book.

This stuff is nuts! I had no idea what to expect, heavy tuberose, musky and smokey and just a lot of florals running alongside a cocaine accord; I get lily, heavy jasmine, orchid, and some kind of menthol cigarette note in the opening. Reminiscent of a messy night out in the early two thousands--indie bands, and scene kids in a dimly-lit dive run wild amidst the drunken strobes of a poor DJ, a scratchy celebration of youth and the dead. Cocaïne is a hallucination of love at first sight before it vanishes into the smoke leaving the record skip of a ghost leaving the record skip of a ghost leaving the record skip of a ghost. This is a funeral and a wake, this is a sickly tequila french kiss with a girl dressed in her grandma's clothes, this is giggling, bizarre, and a must for any collector. God grant me the serenity, but fuck this brings me back to the--rare--highlights of a snippet of time--in /my/ life, /my/ youth, and the people I've loved at a glimpse whose names I cannot remember. 10/10. Love. Lust. Drugs. Life. Death. Raw. Beauty. I need a full bottle. Edit: I gave this to a friend to sample who almost threw up and immediately scrubbed it off her hand. Judging by this visceral reaction and other reviews, this is clearly marmite, I'm not sure I can own a bottle if I'm gonna be making folks throw up; some people see a white and gold dress. Others, blue and black. Sex Panther vibes right here. Fun. Still love it.