Darkly Audacious

I was wearing Darkly Audacious earlier today. I read some reviews on LS and I don't get anything they are talking about. Heady and floral? No tonka/ vanilla etc. I don't know if it is my body chemistry but after 4 hours I find this a beautiful woody oriental, sensuous and provocative. I love the plum and rosewood opening. I have never tried " cashmere wood" ( so I don't know what to look for) ... but the whole woody accord is so smooth and inviting. I am not sure if I would call it dark or audacious but I would associate it with a bright maroon draped velvet. The dry down is creamy and the coumarin really enhances the sensuous feeling. Lovely.

The name is unfortunate because it sets up expectations, and if they are not met, the perfume is considered to be a disappointment instead of being judged by the scent alone. Nope, I don't get anything dark nor audacious. I tried so very hard to put the name aside, and here is what I think. It is a slightly synthetic vanilla that is plum-heavy on top; I fortunately get the lovely floral notes in the heart; and then it dries down to a woody-vanilla-amber. I enjoy it, much more than Dame Perfumery's Mexican Vanilla, which I view as a linear, amateur vanilla. At least this doesn't smell like a candle, nor too teenagey a la Justin Bieber or Taylor Swift, and has nice development. But it is nothing out of the ordinary either, along the lines of Viva La Juicy perhaps.

Extremely alluring and longlasting. I find myself deeply inhaling the air around me and wanting to make out with random inanimate objects. The first time I tried it, I thought it smelled familiar. Then I realized that it very slightly resembles Vanilla Fields... only a Vanilla Fields created with the highest quality ingredients and no cheap alcoholiness. It's a vanillic, woody, velvety, dusky-hued beauty and is totally swoon-worthy.

Darkly Audacious opens sweet and boozy with a slight medicinal edge. It calms down after 20 minutes. I get a strong amber note from the beginning to the end. My nose also picks up rosewood, vanilla and some jasmine. The drydown is less powdery as I've expected. Overall affect: sweet goumand amber. Not "dark" in my olfactory dictionary.

Not sure what is dark or Audacious about this one I get a soft ambery plum with hints of patch/incense Its nice but I was expecting more?