Cocoa Tamarind

A delicious dark gardenia. I do detect a little tuberose in Cocoa Tamarind also. Dry cacao, mature white floral notes, warm gentle spice and a tart, yet sweet backlit amber glow. The final accord reminds me of an Italian dessert: have you ever eaten spumoni ice cream? Nutty, cherry-pistachio flavorings, bright yet earthy, somewhat floral. A little reminiscent of Jo Malone Sweet Lime and Cedar too--both employ tamarind which is a common ingredient in Thai cooking, and also the lovely gardenia note. Only here, it is much better balanced. Borderline too gourmand to wear--at least for my fussy liking, but the floral notes are prominent and beautifully rich enough that this makes for a unique full-bodied floral perfume.

I came home today to my first open daffodil and my Voluspa samples. I'm not sure which is a more welcome first part of Spring. This is a pretty pure white floral with lots of excellent gardenia and (I smell it too, Sherapop) tuberose. What makes this smell special to me is the tamarind, which has a strong acidic note that balances the gardenia beautifully. The cocoa doesn't last all that long but it's lovely while it lasts. This scent pulls the neat trick of being very glamorous and very warm. Highly recommended. Sillage: very good 3-5 ft Persistence: excellent Fabulosity: gin rickeys on the lanai Price to value ratio: excellent 9/10

I'm probably just trapped in the vestige of a long-refuted belief in meritocracy, in spite of more than ample empirical evidence found everywhere in recent political history. Nonetheless, there's always this question which arises whenever I encounter a product which is very inexpensive: Is it also cheap? Basically, it's the old "fifty-cent whore" problem. We begin with a negative assumption when something does not have a high enough price tag, wishing to believe that you really do get what you pay for--no more and no less. When I first learned of Voluspa, I steered clear for another reason as well, thinking that they were primarily geared toward home fragrance and candles. But then I remembered that those were the humble origins of Diptyque as well, and I figured: why not? I am always fascinated by the fact that some all-natural niche perfumers sell dilute bottles of their wares for triple-digit dollars, while others sell strong, viscous perfume-like edps for a fraction of that cost. Enter Voluspa, whose COCOA TAMARIND I am happily wearing today. COCOA TAMARIND is a big white flower fragrance with a twist: the white petals have been dusted with cocoa! This is a rich, thick, voluptuous (Volu(ptuous)spa!) perfume that I have to say is a genuine pleasure to behold. I was sure that I smelled tuberose here, but maybe when gardenia mingles with tamarind and cocoa it becomes tuberose-like. In any case, this really does smell like a big gorgeous bouquet of very fresh and natural white flowers scented lightly with cocoa. The cocoa actually fades quite a bit in the drydown, but it makes for a very unique opening. COCOA TAMARIND is wonderful creation, with good longevity and the big sillage typical of this genre (white floral, not fruity, and gourmand really only in the opening minutes, before the cocoa starts to fade...). I highly recommend this composition to white floral lovers. Others need not--and should not apply!

Soy hombre y me gusta,es un olor poco comun, muy original; es dulce, pero no escandaloso, tiene buena longevidad y proyeccion. 9/10

The concoction of cacao, citrus and tamarind blast out in a candy-sweet blend upon first spray...The cacao is most certainly easy to pick up, unlike other perfumes with choclate/cacao that are heavily masked by vanilla or other gourmand notes... There's a touch of clove simmering in there, and the sweetness of vanilla swirls upwardly in unison with the other notes until it unfolds in gourmand fashion... As the notes burn off during the first hour or so, the floral notes gently bloom as the gardenia and musk notes interplay... A must for those who love sweet scents...