Black Cat

It is completely coincidental that I have been introduced to Black Cat in the month of October, close to Halloween, otherwise the name would not have phased me. But this is the most Halloween-like perfume there could ever be! As soon as the perfume is applied to the skin, it takes me back to childhood memories of trick-or-treating, dumping out my basket, and opening up all the candy. It smells like that euphoric mix of Hersheys, candy corns, and the vanilla nougat inside a Charleston Chew. I get a hint of blood orange that adds to the hodge podge of candy, like an orange Mike & Ike. I love the aniseed. It gives the fragrance an extremely unique, subtle, aromatic spiciness that is irresistable. Smells borderline like black licorice, but it is not quite that intense, just subtle. The drydown is creamy and smells like candy corns. Black Cat is perfect for Halloween, but it's a gourmand that I can easily enjoy throughout the year. Honestly, I prefer it to Guerlain's Gourmand Coquin, which I owned and sold. It's more interesting.

I love cats! And I love these Velvet & Sweet Pea's Purrfumery perfumes!! Beautiful idea!!! And Black Cat is purrfect!!! I love it. It's a gorgeous aniseed/vanilla/blood orange/cacao/banana delight!! It's really delicious!!! Whatever aniseed myrtle is, it's delightful in this perfume. I love this!!! It's a gorgeous chocolate trifle!!!!! And I also LOVE black cats!!! They're my favourite, and black is my favourite colour too!!!! (I wish the bottle were black - THAT would be purre purrfection!!!) But it's a purrfect perfume nevertheless!!!!

This is my go to perfume underneath everything. I layer this one as the base. Laurie the pefumer behind this masterpeice is a genius and sweetie pie. I cannot be without this especially come fall time, the blend of cacao, anise, blood orange is devine. This is a dark carnival with something sweet lurking with in.

This perfume has been sitting on my test list forever and I finally decided to remedy that. I have to preface this by saying that I prefer alcohol-based spray perfumes over oils & that's part of why I hesitated so long before ordering a sample of this, but I do love the fact that all of Laurie Stern's fragrances are cruelty-free and all natural and help support endangered animals; I love the fact that her perfume house is named after her cats, and I love the great degree of care and the personal touch with which she fills orders. Shipping was lightning fast and I received a total of eight different samples when I'd only ordered three, so I can't recommend the Purrfumery highly enough! With all of that said, though...I really wanted to love Black Cat more than I do. It's definitely sweet and gourmand; my first impression was of orange slices lightly dusted with cocoa, but I seem to get the orange the most distinctly, especially on my skin, and that's not the note I would prefer to get the most as I'm not a big fan of citrus. When I sniff it from the vial, I like it much better; it makes me think more of the scent of New Age shops with a hint of a cola vibe, as if there's a soda fountain nestled in among the crystals & incense. I get more of the cacao and a nice powdery accord, too. But on my skin it doesn't take long for it to turn to almost pure orange, so sadly I'll have to pass on the full bottle. I'm still happy to have finally tried it and to have helped support what I feel is a wonderful house whose values (and love for animals) I share.

cocoa and anise; not too sugary sweet, more balsamic and a bit herbal like a cocoa powder and ground anise from a spice rack. The anise is not licoricey but more keeping the cocoa out of the sweet and a bit into the minty. In the drydown, it almost gets this cola syrup quality.