Cocoa Woods

Got this on sale at Sephora for the rollerball. I love it! It smells so close to Aquolina Chocolovers, one of my favorites that was discontinued over a decade ago. It's a warm, rich cocoa, dark chocolate fragrance with a slightly floral sweetness. It's like a fudgey, spiced brownie, nearly on the edge of cloying-sweet but not tipping over to be too much for me. I used to chop up candied ginger and bake them into Ghirardelli triple chocolate brownie mix to make ginger brownies, and it makes me think of that as well as Aquolina Chocolovers. Because it's a rollerball, I would say it's intimate to moderate in sillage. I'm surprised people find its longevity to be weak because I've worn it on the back of my dominant wrist, and I wash my hands very frequently, but have still smelled it throughout the day and overnight to the next morning. Just now reading see_u_space_cowgirl's review and their first paragraph is spot-on to me in terms of the notes! I think we used the same descriptors and I agree as one who can't recognize the sequoia note. Despite not having a ridiculously long note-list (unlike some frags out there!), it feels pretty complex, deep, and very well-rounded. I'm sad if this is being discontinued because I do enjoy it as a fall-winter fragrance, might have to snag another one.

This is my absolute favorite perfume I own. It’s my signature scent. I love how it wears and how unique it is. I would wear this perfume for any occasion, day or night. But I would say the general population would classify this as a more cold weather/nighttime scent. This was a complete blind buy for me during it discontinuation. It is a beautiful woody fragrance that contains some powder from the white florals, but has a sweetness to it from the cocoa. The initial spray is a powdery cocoa and then as it wears on me the woods come through in the dry down. The cocoa keeps the woods at a nice creamy level for my chemistry that doesn’t make it too masculine or pull like pencil shavings/hamster cage. Overall, perfection for me.

Chocolate woods for sure...and underneath is a blanket of light tiare flower and sandlewood...This is an "odd bird".....and...I am LIKING the oddity !!! Very different IMO. Has some sweet spiciness going on,yup! And this borders gourmond,but not full-on. I would say it IS unisex for sure. I am very inclined to own this unusual scent. I will say...the sillage and projection are average..but if it were higher..it could of become cloying. I can see some similarities to Pinrose Gilded Fox, but the Gilded Fox smelled way more synthetic/metallac to my nose. EDIT: Went thru my Sephora sample of this....and....I miss it !!! I will buy a full bottle A-S-A-P !!! Unique...unusual....brilliant.

I really like this fragrance. It’s floral, powdery, slightly musky intertwined with nutty bitter cocoa notes and a woody base. This is NOT a gourmand chocolate or sweet scent. It’s more powdery than expected, and I normally don’t like powdery scents but this works. I’m happy to find a more mature, woody, but still feminine scent. I think it works well as a unisex fragrance although Cocoa Woods is heavy on the floral so it leans feminine to me. If you like unisex scents like Nirvana Black, 7 Virtues Vanilla Woods — you might like this! For age group, I think late 20s and up might appreciate these notes and lack of sweetness.

This has been my fragrance since summer 2021. It is so good and long lasting!! I like sweet scents but this surprised me, the ginger note reads peppermint to me and my skin brings out the cacao into a dark chocolate sort of depth. Of course great for winter but this scent is a surprise hit for the summer <3 stays on my clothes for days. I feel personally attacked that nest discontinued this. Beware trying to find cocoa woods online: it smells even better macerated and I will fight you for it. Going rate is 50$ (opened, no box) - 100$ (bnib).

I absolutely adore this perfume and it has been my most complemented perfume of all time! It is the perfect winter scent! The perfume is woody and spicy without being insanely overpowering and heavy. It works well as a daytime scent and I find that it lingers on my skin and clothing hours after spraying it on. It is rather dissapointing to know that it has been discontinued. Not sure I would categorize this as a gourmand, perhaps a bit powdery. This was also my first ever proper perfume and it was an excellent purchase!

Cocoa Woods is an excellent example of a fragrance that is layered, mysterious, and intriguing. If it were an article of clothing, it would be a nicely fitted but not too tight velvet dress; if it were a food, it would be a dark chocolate torte with a surprise kick of spice. I like that it is deep and feminine without trying too hard to be sexy. This definitely gives me a deeper appreciation for woods, especially when they can be so balanced with other tricky notes like cacao.

Creamy, elegant white florals melting into a deep, earthy cocoa. Supple in a way that coats the senses. Like having a chocolate picnic in a small forest clearing full of redolent white flowers. It's an unseasonably warm autumn day, and your chocolate repast melts gradually on laid out platters as you lounge on a blanket, relaxed and drowsy. It's well-balanced, with a dense, slightly unusual gourmand elegance.

I have just a little of this left in my rollerball, and I will be so sad when it is finally gone. Thank goodness a little goes a long way! I love the sharpness from the sandalwood & sequoia paired with the creamy cocoa. This is a lovely cold-weather scent. I wore it for the first time in a while today and kept wondering all day what smells so good... spoiler alert, it was me.

So soft and cozy! I was pleasantly surprised by this one. Often cocoa is marred by patchouli, but in this case it's all cocoa, woods, and a nice subtle sweetness. It's not a sugar bomb, but rather a warm, fuzzy sort of sweetness that's well balanced with the dry cocoa and woody notes. I think this is the best and most unique of the Nest line.

Shame this one is being discontinued, but I probably wouldn't have gotten it is if weren't on sale. It is such a lovely woody chocolate scent. On me, it is slightly sweet without being sickly. 11/10 would recommend stocking up on this one.

This is such a treasure in my collection. Great for the cold weather! The bottle is beautiful, and the juice is earthy, cozy and sexy. Gourmand, but not cloying. Imagine dried cacao inside a wooden case, with a sprig of flowers nearby.

This is an underrated gourmand fragrance for those who love Black Phantom and Velvet Haze, but for a fraction of the price. I own all 3 and reach for the Nest fragrance more often. Highly recommend.

I am still working my way through my Nest mini rollerball set, and yesterday’s perfume of the day was Cocoa Woods. Cocoa Woods begins with a heady dose of bitter, rich dark chocolate topped off with a light dusting of ginger spice. I can pick out a sandalwood note and something sort of like a dry patchouli, but as I’ve never smelled a sequoia note before, the woody accord remains somewhat unintelligible to my nose. Throughout the next 15 minutes or so, a slightly creamy tiare flower blooms and fades, allowing the cacao notes to take a backseat and watch. The tiare is thankfully less sharply synthetic than many of Nest’s other florals. Unfortunately, 15 minutes is about all I get before the cacao and floral notes disappear, along with a lot of the woodsy backdrop. What remains is an unidentifiable wood note spiced slightly with ginger sitting extremely close to the skin, which disappears fully around 30-45 minutes after first applying. Sillage is poor as well. Cocoa Woods is a charming little vignette in a bottle. Unlike Midnight Fleur, which I reviewed yesterday, the bottle and name really do fit the scent inside. When I wear this, I imagine myself leisurely walking through a cocoa tree forest during evening’s golden hour, the setting sun illuminating the flower-scattered ground beneath me in a warm glow. I wasn’t expecting to like this fragrance as much as I did, but I also wasn’t expecting it to have such abysmal longevity. The path through the cocoa forest is short - I find myself back where I started much too soon. I am lenient on longevity/sillage when it comes to perfumes, but 15 minutes of fragrance is pushing it, even for me. I really can’t make excuses for how bad it is. That being said, I rated Cocoa Woods highly in spite of my disappointment because I really do find it lovely, unique and evocative. I’d like to try layering it to hopefully coax more performance out of it. In a better formulation, this would easily be full bottle worthy, but as of now I’m happy with my little rollerball.

Nest Cocoa Woods is one of the better cocoa fragrances I have tried. Especially if you are looking for cocoa, more than chocolate. Many fragrances I have tried with chocolate or cocoa notes are very synthetic and cheap candy smelling or the cocoa is drowned out by stronger notes making it just a supporting player. In Cocoa Woods that is not the case as the name would imply cocoa is the star of the show. The fragrance is pretty linear. It starts out as rich woods with dry, bitter cocoa and a generous dose of ginger spice and stays that wear to the end of the wear. The tiare flower adds a creaminess that ties all the other notes togeather.The cocoa is a true cocoa smell, not chocolate. I has none of the sweetness of chocolate and is not at all gourmand. I find this a very unisex fragrance, maybe it leans just a hint masculin with the strong, rich woods and lack of sweetness. I love this as a fall fragrance, perfect for mid to late fall when all the leaves are on the ground and everything smells dry and woody and the air is crisp and cool. I get solid performance with Cocoa Woods. Nest fragrances in general are decent to good in the performance department for me. This on lasts at least 8-10 hours on skin and stays on clothes until they are washed. I love to smell this one on my scarf for days after I initially wore it. The projection is pretty good as well it has a solid moderate projection of around arms reach for 4-6 hours then stays closer to the body. I can smell this all around myself for the whole day when I wear it. A lot of the projection later in the day comes from my clothes and hair. The artwork on Nest bottles is always lovely and matches the fragrance beautifully. Very good quality for a reasonable price. Unfortunately Cocoa Woods has been discontinued for a while, so a little difficult to find.

I didn't care for this the first time I wore it. The notes were harsh and discordant and I didn't get any cocoa or depth, just a sour-sharp opening I thought was bergamot (must be the sequoia and ginger) and syrupy tiare. It was a complete turn-off. So I set it aside to give away. However, I kept thinking about it and finally decided to spritz it on before bed one night about a month later, and that time I loved it. I think the difference was weather and temperature. This is absolutely a cold-weather scent on my finicky skin, which has a tendency to turn musky and woody fragrances animalic and nauseating in hot weather. The harsh woodsy opening notes smooth out, and the tiare flower loses some of its sickly sweetness. I also get an earthy note that must be the cocoa, even though I can't identify it as such. After 2-3 hours I'm left with a light fragrance that evokes the pleasant memory of walking over a carpet of dry pine needles in the woods on a crisp late-fall day. I will say this is not a fragrance with great depth, sillage, or lasting power. It needs to be reapplied every 4 hours at least. And try as I might, I still can't grasp the cocoa note in this one. Imagine a woman wearing Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess Eau Fraiche hugging a man wearing a one-dimensional woodsy cologne. The resulting combination that lingers on each wearer's skin for the next half or or so would be Cocoa Woods. The notes are still rather discordant, but somehow on a dry cold day it works. Overall not one I'd purchase in full size, but I can see myself revisiting the sample on a winter day.

This is from someone who generally doesn't like gourmand fragrances. With a name like Cocoa Woods, I probably never would've tried this. I received a rollerball sample with a perfume swap, so I gave it a try. The first moment is a blast of smooth, warm cocoa. Deep and sultry, sweet but not in the in-your-face-sugar-cookie-milk-chocolate way that I've noticed in a couple other chocolate scents. And then, after a few minutes, the cocoa settles onto a gorgeous wooden base. I can see why kiraagold feels it is masculine, but on my skin, it's still a little on the sweet side to neatly fit under a "masculine" or "feminine" label. I think, depending on skin chemistry, it could be comfortably worn by both any gender. Longevity is non-existent, but I find myself reaching for this just before bed. As I climb into bed, the smoothness and warmth of the cocoa is incredibly comforting, and as I get comfortable and start shutting my brain off for the night, that wooden base is so soothing and helps me drift off. It actually reminds me a little of Angel Etoile des Reves. It's not INCREDIBLY similar, but has a similar vibe. Warm, smooth, comforting, and soft. Definitely a great bedtime fragrance for me. And it seems perfect to invite long cuddle sessions.

Wow just tested this and it's like an updated, fresher Neonatura. Neonatura had a dusty, old books dryness that lacked any freshness at all. Cocoa Woods starts off dry and dusty just the same, just fresher (as in a fresh batch, not juice that's had years to brew in the bottle ). By the middle phase taire livens up and washes away most, not all of the dust. This floral heart is subdued but has a hand in what's coming next... By now it has all comes together and takes a turn towards reminding me less of Neonatura, and much more of the original Boyfriend! Wow! Wasn't expecting this at all from a recent release, let alone from Nest. Basically it opens as a less stale Neonatura Cocoon and closes as a very close dupe to Boyfriend. I sprayed a hefty dose on both arms and after 30 minutes it turnes into a soft, very warm, comfortable scent. No sharpness about it. It has an earthy element of patchouli, and a definite resinous quality, though not listed. I will buy this for its striking resemblance to the 2 late great cozy winter fragrances that can no longer be obtained easily or cheaply. Nest may not even realize it, but they revived two very well loved, highly mourned over fragrances in this one. I would have never guessed.

Does exactly what it says on the label. I get the cocoa note much stronger now than when I first bought it (blind). I get something fruity in the top as well, it may just be the ginger note working alongside the chocolate. This has a very familiar smell to me, like something I wore as a teenager. Was it the orginal Vampire by Body Fantasies? Or their Va Va Voom body spray perhaps. Something cheap and chocolatey. The woods are also there. This smells quite synthetic, but I like it. I might not ever wear it out of the house, but something about it gives me nostalgic vibes so I’ll keep mine and use it up. I don’t recommend seeking it out though unless you liked the other two scents I mentioned or you’re in middle or high school yourself and find this severely discounted, because for the price I do not think what you get is worth it.

I don't see patch listed in the notes, but wow, it's there and it's loud. The only juice I really love with this much of a patchouli scent is Coco. This was a blind buy and luckily it was very cheap and unisex, so my son is getting it. He likes it. Sillage is close and longevity is non existent. Edit 2/22/21 I'm so glad I tried this one again. I didn't give it to my son and I bought another one from Sephora. Unfortunately they are just rollerball size, but discontinued. This time around, it was a creamy, floral, chocolate scent. Long lasting and so comforting. Skin chemistry is the weirdest thing in the world. I'll be using this one up soon, but I'll enjoy every minute of it.

Lasts practically five seconds on me, but gosh is it a warm, sexy unisex scent! The cacao, sandalwood, and tiare flowers stand out the most on my skin. With wear, however, the tiare flowers, ginger, and sandalwood take the main stage. I’d enjoy a man wearing this though it’s not as musky as many would prefer. Cocoa Woods is muted seduction in a bottle. Simply gorgeous. This is a like because CW’s price tag is a bit steep given its short wear time. PS: Pair this with Vaseline’s cocoa butter petroleum jelly and Cocoa Radiant lotion for cocoa overload. Occasion: Cold evenings Longevity: 5 hours max Batch: 2016

This is the first woodsy fragrance I have really loved on myself. Normally I prefer woodsy notes on my man, but Cocoa Woods has really won me over! While I can't really smell the cocoa, I do get woods and ginger, finishing off with sweetness, which I'm guessing is tiare flower? Unlike other Nest scents which have had decent longevity on me, this one does fade within a few hours. However, it is so lovely that I really don't mind. Living on the west coast this scent is very cozy and homey to me, and reminds me of many forest hikes with a thermos of hot tea. I like it a lot! Shame it's been discontinued.

dry cocoa powder, no sugar added. i really enjoyed this ! i'm not familiar with sequoia as a note, so i can't quite find it, but the dry cocoa with the creaminess of the sandalwood is a treat. i'm coming to admit i really like some overt gourmands as long as they're not sugary. agree that lasting power was disappointing, but frankly i think it's the initial blast that makes it such a pleasure, so i'd be happy with just getting the travel spray and reapplying whenever the urge strikes ! got multiple compliments while testing this one -- beware, someone may want to eat you up.

What a unique scent, I love the cacao mixed with tropical white flowers, without any of the sweetness that is typical of chocolatey fragrances. It reminds me of the tropical section of a greenhouse where you may have a cacao plant growing along with flowers and a kind of steamy warmth. To be clear, it doesn't smell green or leafy, just wood, unsweet cacao, and flowers. I think this is a standout among the nest fragrances, a few of which smell pretty similar to me. A winter treat.

I agree with the review from aeterna. The top notes are pungent and almost medicinal, very sharp and synthetic. Fortunately they don't last long for me and the dry down is very earthy with the Sequoia scent lingering. It reminds me of hiking in the forest in NorCal. Woody, mossy and a hint of green like freshly walked upon pine needles. This isn't a scent I find myself reaching for often but it is quite nice on a dreary fall/winter rainy day when I'm stuck in the house.

I deleted my previous review and am adding an updated, more informed review. The smell out of the bottle is amazing, and when I put the rollerball on my skin I get a wonderful aroma of ginger supported by woods (the sequoia is stronger than the sandalwood), with cocoa powder at the edges. Lovely. However... extremely poor longevity. Probably the worst of all the Nest fragrances I've tried thus far. Barely two hours. So while it's lovely, I will not repurchase.

The opening of this one smells exactly like the Jewish bakery on Montague Street on Hanukkah, the windows fogged with the scent of chocolate and poppyseed hamantaschen, and red jelly donuts-- --but then the sequoia note pulls it out of feminine gourmand territory and gives it nice depth. Good sillage, and the dry down is amazing--a masculine woody cocoa powder that lasts forever on clothes. My new favorite of the Nest line.

It's like a warm hug from a loved female relative. It's feminine, soft, powdery, flowery, and slightly chocolatey. To me this doesn't lean masculine at all and I do not detect any woods. I think it's a bit too mature to wear on its own but layering this with something else that's sweet would make this perfect - it would definitely refine a perfume that's too sweet/juvenile/boring and make it more comforting and complex.

My wife glommed onto this one at a local Sephora and said she liked it. Always anxious to please, I got a sample. Yes, it's dry cocoa powder and some undefined woody notes. It's not bad - cuddly and likable, in fact - but as other reviewers here state, projection and longevity are tragic. I sprayed it on my shirt and an hour or so later I can barely smell it. I don't detect any ginger at all. Pretty, unique bottle.

I did not like this at first when I test sprayed on the box. I put it in my closet and just came back to it a couple months later after falling in love with Cafe Tuberosa from Atelier Cologne. This is a bit like the base notes of Cafe Tuberosa ... just lighter and without the smoke. A version I can wear to the office. I think it is a bit overpriced. I feel it should be in the $45 dollar range.

i wore this perfume in the fall and winter of 2019. i was obsessed with this scent. it wrapped me up in chocolate, but it didn't last too long which i did not mind. i enjoyed reapplying this scent with a rollerball throughout the day to get a hit of a decadent rich gourmand scent. i layered this with a scent that i can't remember that i stole from UO.

I cashed in some reward points at Sephora and got a sample bottle of this. The name pretty much sums it up. Lots of cocoa powder and woods with some sweet tiare flower. I didn't detect any ginger but wish I had. This is an interesting fragrance and I like it, but soft sillage and poor longevity will prevent me from buying a full bottle.

Gentle, mostly linear sandalwood. On the initial spray you get a whiff of cacao, then the rest of the time sandalwood with a hint of sweetness (tiare?). Only when I sprayed on clothes I got a woodier accord. The sandalwood note is really reminiscent to the one in Vanilla Fields by Coty (at least in the bottle I had 15 years ago).

I had hoped the Cocoa/Cacao would be the lasting component of this fragrance, alas...it was not. The "Tiare Flower" in this has all of the power. You will smell the chocolate for a good 2 minutes...then it's all Tiare Flower for the next few hours. Passing this one along to the wife...

Goooooorgeous! For 15 minutes. This is a dry and woody cocoa, exactly as named, and as others have pointed out, not a gourmand, but earthy and dark. It is absolutely delicious, definitely unisex, but fades so quickly that it's a real shame. I guess you could keep reapplying?

I had this back in the mid 2010s when it came out. I remember loving it! I thought it was discontinued, but found a bottle at Nordstom rack and decided to grab it. Maybe it should've stayed in the past...seems quite linear and bitter for me. Update, sold it.

I think Angel Muse is pretty close to this one, they both are really gourmand and chocolatey. Definitely not a blind buy. I am not a fan of gourmand on the skin but I would love to buy a candle from Nest with this smell one day...

Yummy yummy warm Cocoa nib smell. It has a rounded warmth smell to it that is very calming for winter and cooler days. Lasts about 5 Mins and doesn't have any sillage but is a nice skin scent if you keep reapplying constantly

pleasant and safe. i get cocoa in the beginning. now it’s ginger and sandalwood. glad i picked this as a sample from Sephora. i don’t love it, but i like it. it’s a nice departure from my usual sweet tooth stuff.

VERY STRONG woody notes. The cocoa is there (dry dusty cocoa) but there are loads of sandalwood and woody sequoia that really stand out and stick around. Unisex all the way. I like. Would be nice for winter.

It comes to my nose very similar to Ylang Ylang Espresso from floral street although they have totally different notes. I love it but the longevity is a shame, so will not risk buying a full bottle.

The fragrance is nice, but like another reviewer said it only last on your skin for a few minutes. You would literally have to keep applying it constantly to smell it. And it’s a skin scent

This is pretty nice when the sandalwood & cacao are what’s most prominent but eventually spice & something weird become more noticeable. I’m assuming that means I don’t like sequoia notes.

Very similar to Pinrose Gilded Fox, except this one is tempered by the floral notes. I recommend combining both with Secret Genius.

As described. Dry cocoa powder and woods. Pleasant, but doesn't stick around long. Could be better.

I can’t smell it on myself really but did get a big burst of cacao at first

Such a beautiful scent, too bad it only last about 10 minutes.

I blind bought a roll-on because this was supposed to smell like Yves Rocher Neonatura Cocoon and I would have liked it if it had any performance power. When I first put it on, I get the powdery cacao, and what I believe is the strong note of the sequoia. A bit of tiare comes along and balances out the earthiness, sweetening it up, but not much. I don't get the ginger. Because it's so weak, I layer it with other perfumes to make it last. The scent does remind me a teeny bit of Neonatura Cocoon but it can't compare to Neonatura Cocoon's power and overall beauty. I wouldn't buy it again.

Comparable to Brownie Demeter, but has the inclusion of woody/floral notes, to some degree. So you can say its more of a mature scent to apply compared to a singular note of grossly sweet and processed "chocolate". It basically smells like diluted chocolate syrup with a bit of sandalwood and some kind of flower- to put it in the simplest way possible. I would like to believe that it doesn't fester in your skin like Demeter does, but I would not know since I haven't skin tested it- just smelled via paper it every time I visit Sephora.

I wanted to love this more. Leans more masculine. Dark chocolate, powdery, woody. Not sweet by any means. It is discontinued and has me intrigued but I prefer to layer with something a little sweeter. Layered it with Cocoa Cream by Boy Smells. And I like this combo a lot.