Heraud

FINALLY. Finally I have found a chocolate scent that works for me! Reader, I have searched high and low for something like this. Dark chocolate, milk chocolate, chocolate with violets, chocolate with fruits, chocolate with cream, chocolate with booze... No matter what I tried, one of two accords always seemed to emerge: burnt rubber or Cocoa Puffs. Either an excessively dark, charred, bitter and wholly overwhelming experience, or something akin to Tootsie Roll flavored lip balm. Heraud defies this. It’s a perfect balance between milk and dark chocolate, never straying too far in either direction and, because of this nuance, never becoming cloying or juvenile. It’s absolutely sweet and densely sugary on account of the dates, but is tempered just enough by the darker elements (the cocoa and woods) and a mature, creamy vanilla that it never ends up in toothache territory. I can’t say I detect the white blossoms, but there is something just slightly bright and buttery in the background here and maybe that’s it. The bergamot, too, is fleeting, but it serves as a nice citric introduction to what becomes a rich but entirely wearable gourmand. If you’re like me, and you’ve struggled to find a chocolate fragrance that’s just right, definitely give this one a shot. It does not disappoint.

I am a fan of Taur fragrances- I have been buying his elixirs for years and have had ay least a sampler of most of them. So I decided to splurge on a bottle of this when I received the email that it was out. The description of delicious cocoa sounded incredible. I have received it today and WOW, I'm so glad I got this! It smells like chocolate all the way down. Not in a sweet, cloying way. I am easily overwhelmed by sweet scents, but this is more of a dry chocolate with a hint of sweetness. Initially it opens like a burst of sweet cocoa, then it dries down to a more cedar vanilla base. The dry down is a bit similar to Atelier Vanilla Incensee. Not that it smells the same but it has the same dry vanilla sense to it. I think this stands out from other perfumes that Tauer has done, so even if you don't usually like his style I would give it a try. If you don't like the smell of chocolate though, I wouldn't go for it! Thank you so much Tauer! Another gem. Well worth the price.

Heraud becomes a realistic and perfectly balanced chocolate perfume on my skin. The scent spotlights rich chocolate notes, dried fruits, and creamy milky vanilla. This is a decadent composition, where the smooth, buttery chocolate blends beautifully with the sweetness of dried fruits. At the same time, the vanilla adds comfort and a milky touch that makes the fragrance feel very pampering. Furthermore, in the dry down, you could feel the Tauer ambergris accord that feels like dusty cocoa with spicy woody notes wrapped in a vanilla cone waffle. This perfume is a Gourmand very exquisite. It's unisex, wearable, and not cloying. It develops sensually and radiates without being too potent. It reminds me of Sorriso by Profumum, but with a wonderfully natural chocolate smell. This fragrance truly stands out from Tauer's other perfumes. Also, please give 5 minutes at least in your skin before deciding if you love or despise.

I just got a sample of this, and there is definitely a bottle of Heraud in my future. It's so delicious, but the dry, dusty woods temper the sweetness of the cacao and dates just perfectly. I'm not really getting much in the way of florals except as an undercurrent that balances the denser notes, but that's fine, no one is going to buy this perfume for that reason. I've been kind of obsessed with date notes recently, and I love to eat them too; this is definitely a gourmand, and unabashedly so. This fragrance will satisfy anyone in search of either dates or chocolate. Yet another winner from master perfumer Andy Tauer!

Powdery woods, plenty of Iso E Super, which gives the impression of powdered cocoa rather than syrup or cake. White flowers perhaps add a clean touch and the date note feels like more of a support to the cocoa. Tauer often uses ambergris notes but I have never gotten any unpleasant animalic notes off my skin, and this is no different. Ultimately it's a sweet powdery woods composition featuring some kind of difficult to acquire cacao ingredient, it will be fascinating to some but others may balk at the price. I enjoy it a lot.