Dark Chocolate, Rum, and Vanilla

I will add my 2 cents for whatever it's worth. 2 cents, I guess :) I am in horror (yes horror) that Guerlain discontinued this. Maybe they will bring it back now. They will see how much cash they are losing. I will admit, I love Guerlain's GC, and this is pretty darn close. So I will buy it, and continue to buy it until Guerlain brings the original back. The price point on Dua is more expensive than I would like it to be. But I am missing the scent so much, I will pay it. So hats off to Dua, and shame to Guerlain. If they can make it, surely Guerlain can bring it back. There just isn't anything too new out there nowadays that grabs me. I try too! However, Chanel Le Lion is absolutely fab. Try that if you want a winner that lasts 2 days! Glad I found Dua though. Oh, and yes, it is very oily. I don't mind, just mind your clothes.

What a difference a few weeks make! After letting it macerate, it's come out smelling closer to Gourmand Coquin! Before the maceration, all I was getting were cacao and dark chocolate - nothing like GC. But now, it comes out smelling sweet along with the chocolate. In comparison, GC comes out with a short blast of cacao that quickly turns sweet, which later becomes rose. The rose is very faint in DUA, which also smells a tiny bit synthetic, but as a whole DUA is close enough! Just let it macerate for a few weeks. Also, the longevity is decent, and the sillage great! I'm happy. 😊

THE CLOSEST. 90% SIMILAR to Gourmand Coquin. Fabulous dupe. (especially since Gourmand Coquin is pretty much discontinued) I bought this first of summer and let it sit until now..when I am testing side by side to GC. (the only difference I find is that the Gourmand Coquin is the teeniest more refined, if you will, and I only notice it in the very end dry down).

This chocolate note is so realistic. It's very powerful in relation to the other notes. I can detect a smidge of the rum and vanilla but what you get here is mostly a rich dark chocolate note. The drydown gives you a sweet, less rich chocolate scent as the vanilla emerges and the rose note really starts to shine. The pepper even sticks out a tad more. The rum note doesn't really stand out much for me, maybe it's just masked by the other notes or maybe it's what gives the chocolate its richness early on. This is definitely the ultimate chocolate lover's gourmand fragrance, and a mass pleaser in my opinion. Performance on this is wild. I did 6 sprays on my torso and it was enough to choke out the receptionist when i went to the clinic, and she had a mask on. 4 sprays on your torso will get you a solid bubble for sure, anything more and you're playing with fire. I can't speak for the accuracy of this dupe, but do note that Dua fragrances are weird in that they need time to sit on the shelf before they "pop". Try a couple sprays initially when you buy this, then let it sit for a month on the shelf and try it again, you might find certain notes (like rose) have developed more.

I was apprehensive about buying this perfume, but the price is affordable and I got it used. I was so afraid of this vomit accord people are smelling, and I have to say I smell it too. However, it only lasts about 20 minutes and doesn't project. In the air, I smell something reminiscent of a yellow cupcake with boozy chocolate frosting. The vomit is only when I put nose to skin in the first 20 minutes to half an hour. The vomit smell also lingers a little longer on clothes. So maybe prance about naked for a half hour after spraying? After that yuckiness is gone, the cupcake situation stays pretty linear. It just gragually becomes a bit less chocolate and a bit more vanilla. I like it. It's not going to be a favorite though. I'm back in November 2024 to say that layering this over Nest Seville Orange oil is ah-freaking-mazing! It adds a beautiful freshness and zestiness, and I cannot get enough of it. Love love love love love!

DUA’s interpretation of the beloved Gourmand Coquin is actually pretty good. I have both & have tested side by side. Dua has a bit of synthetic sharpness & for the price it’s not a complete deal breaker. I probably won’t repurchase because of that synthetic “burnt” note I get but it’s a decent dupe in my opinion

Sprayed a few times, then let it sit for 30 days. Now it’s a beautiful, rich chocolate.

Yeah, initial spray is dreadful... then it changes and is pleasant.

coming from someone who isn't crazy about gourmand coquin (there's something in it that bugs me, something heavy that makes me a bit nauseous), this dua inspiration smells completely like vomit in the opening on my skin. If you can imagine human vomit, the opening is exactly reminiscent of that. The dry down however is an spot on recreation of gourmand coquin! I would not want to spent money on a bottle of gourmand knowing how much it costs right now, and for someone like me who just wants a taste of the fragrance but isn't as in love with it as everyone else, this completely fulfills the purpose. I would recommend this to anyone who doesn't own a bottle, or is looking for something close to the original BUT IS ABLE TO STAND THE VOMIT OPENING.

The opening of DUA "Dark Chocolate, Rum, Vanilla" is wild. The opening is an insanely intense, boozy-liquor-rum accord that is practically overwhelming. Not sure what it's giving but the first few minutes of the opening smell dirty and fecal. With time, the perfume softens into a pleasant, likable, boozy, chocolate-centric fragrance. I never owned, or experienced Guerlain "Elixir Charnel Gourmand." I cannot speak to any similarities between this DUA Extrait and the OG. I like the perfume; it's not a love. Must wait for the drydown but it's worth the wait. Definitely not a versatile fragrance. As a lover of all types and genres of perfumes & fragrances, I'm not sure when/if I can wear DCRV. UNDER-SPRAYING seems key. And FWIW, husband hates it.

I wanted to love this because it does smell good but there's this note and I find it in all of the DUA perfumes I've tried so far (I have 4). It's an artificial plastic kind of smell. It's something in the opening that really ruins Dua for me sadly. It could be that the perfumes just don't play well with my skin and that's unfortunate. I smell the chocolate and vanilla notes and it's almost great but that artificial smell ruins it. I've tried letting it sit for a few months and it didn't help. This is just my experience with it. The potential to be great is there it just didn't work for me.

This is supposed to be a dupe of Elixir Charnel Gourmand Coquin Guerlain, and I agree with the comment below....it smells like vomit. It's repulsive. I have a sample from the dupe brand Julianna's Perfume of the same take off and that smells completely different. This is such a miss. I also purchased several others from The DUA Brand and they are either "okay" or a complete miss. Caramel Brandy is also equally horrendous. These are really bad. I'm not sure why Youtubers are raving about this brand. I can only assume they are getting paid because even the ones that are okay like Desire II still are just "Okay". On a positive note, now that I know that I like Desire II which is a take off of Cruz del Sur II I know I should be able to safely blind buy it. Another positive about this company is the shipping status is def on point, I had no issues questioning if and when I was getting my package, and it came within 2 days of me purchasing. The negative...just be aware that the 5 star reviews are probably not accurate, they are probably hiding anything negative, because I left a 2 star review and it didn't post. And this is why I love this site, because people can leave legit honest reviews.

I just can't with DUA, every perfume I've gotten was a disappointment. The longevity is abysmal too. Way overpriced for the product they are selling. I donated this one.

I should mention that I’ve never tried the original. I wanted to like this so badly, but it smells like vomit on my skin. I literally had to take nausea medication after I sprayed it. Maybe it’s got something to do with a past experience involving too much rum... 🤔 Either way, it’s a “nope!” for me.

Smells like cheap, very ARTIFICIAL chocolate. I haven’t smelled the Guerlain one but I don’t believe for a second it smells anything like this. You know kids toys that are chocolate scented, that’s what this smells like. It’s awful, I’m glad I only ordered the sample.

Team vomit here! It really made me nauseous in the first sniff, I was so disappointed. I have an artifical food flavor (white chocolate) which I use for my oatmeal or plain yoghurt and it smells excatly the same vomit note :D But it tastes fantastic so I simply don't smell it before adding. Anyway, the DUA, thank the lord, doesn't smell like vomit for long. I don't know if I can take the opening on a daily basis, but I'll give it a try because after couple of minutes it passes for good. And then the nice, chocolaty, deep, cocoa and spices notes come out. It reminds me a lot of Black Phantom and Insomnia without coffeee notes. The drydown for my nose is almost the same. Opening ruins all unfortunately and if I had to choose between those 3, would never buy DUA.

There is a chocolate factory in my hometown, and when you walk next to it, it smells EXACTLY like it, and some people do find it nauseating, because it is an intense chocolate overdose. I wish there was more rum, but no, it is just linear chocolate/ cocoa powder scent, reminded me slightly of Montale's Chocolate Greedy. I think it might need to 'sit' for couple of weeks, as with many Dua fragrances. They have 'Chocolate affair' perfume which is way more expensive (their own blend), which is absolutely amazing and beats many other chocolate scents on the market, it is not on Fragrantica yet, but worth exploring. (it is like a boozy chocolate liquer with orange).

I bought this because Dua was having a sale and I’ve always wanted to try the famous and coveted Gourmand Coquin but that’s nearly impossible. So, I thought, “Why not?” At first smell I thought, “Oh no, I smell the vomit.” But after a while it morphed into something amazing. 🤩 This is deep, rich, chocolate but it’s more than that. There’s pepper which I usually don’t like but when mixed with the other spices, booze, and chocolate it becomes this toasted, foodie, strange, but kind of addictive smell. Interesting, I’m glad that I at least got an idea of what Gourmand Coquin might be like.

I got a little bottle of "A dark chocolate, Rum and Vanilla Symphony" I guess it's the same scent? anyway. It smells fantastic. Like a piece of spiced chocolate cake that has been soaked with Rum. Like my mother's spiced Christmas chocolate cake with nuts, fruits, liquor. I love this. It smells so good! not like a candle, it smells like a nice, well done perfume that happens to be super rich and delicious!!! Unfortunately the longevity is not so great. You will need to re-apply it every 3-4 hours. I do not get any vomit smell at all.

Ok, so I got a 10 ml of this fragrance in the mail today and all I'm getting is the note of BARF (lol)! I can even speak to any other notes in here because the smell of vomit is so overwhelming, especially in the opening. However, I'm not giving up on this just yet. From what I understand wtih some DUA scents (this one in particular) needs some time to macerate in order for it to really come alive. I think I will leave it alone for a few weeks or so and then give it another try. But as of right now...it's a NO from me dawg (lol).