Gateways

Interesting that most see this as 'gourmand lite'. On me that's only in the opening; a blast a sweet, rich and delightful tuberose and vanilla that sadly doesn't last longer than 30 mins or so. After that it's very dark in a spiced woods way. Though not familiar with muhuhu, as that is the only wood here I'm getting a lot of that alongside a peppery type of vetiver. There is also the tiniest bit of dark chocolate (think spicy Mexican chocolate) and maybe a touch of earthiness & tobacco. The tiniest hints of sweet vanilla are detectable to me later on but the woods and vetiver are the most obvious by far. Sillage is medium, longevity about 4 hrs with 2 sprays this time, though detectable with my nose up close for a long time.

So I've reached number 5 in the series and this one has been suprisingly good. Not that I didn't look at the notes on here first and think 'hmmm...interesting?' but I wasn't sure I'd like the soil tincture element which in some perfumes I find hideous. I'm not sure whether its because I'm not used to pure purfume concentration but this was awful when I opened the bottle and first applied it...really awful...extremely earthy and unpleasant. Takes a little bit to even appreciate what it is? but then the gourmand accords of chocolate and vanilla shine through, with the smoothness of Amber, oud, and vetiver underneath. Its dark (not too dark) and sumptuous with a lovely dry down, it's nice. An interesting fragrance.

I get the delectable chocolate up front, deep rich dark, then the earthy patchouli-tobacco quickly follows suit. It is actually a 'clean' patchouli, some patchouli (especially natural based) gets that acrid or cloying soil that dominates all the other notes, not here, it's surprisingly harmonious. Gateways brings saturated yet smooth tobacco and patchouli full and deep and incredibly light (slightly green), neither takes the spotlight, it is evenly shared with the lightly sweet, rich dark chocolate, and, as time goes on, you get a little more creaminess by a fatty tuberose combined with the elegance of a really finely blended aoud. Longevity was 5 hours.

Interesting, pleasant woody-gourmand. At first Tuberose, cacao and woody notes stand out the most. Then white floral fades away leaving cacao and woods. On the end - woody scent only. The fragrance feels sheer and lightweight but not diluted. I could smell it on my skin for several hours.

Chocolate and soil tincture? You've got my curiosity.