Spell Caramel

Briar Rose Lay Under The Wicked Fairy’s Spell Carabosse is the evil fairy godmother from the classic “Sleeping Beauty” fairy tale. We call her Maleficent in the 1959 Disney adaptation of the fairy tale. Carabosse comes from a similar character in another fairy tale, Madame d’Aulnoy’s “Princess Mayblossom”. Over time, the name Carabosse was applied to the evil fairy from Sleeping Beauty, and, as such, she was mentioned in Tchaikovsky’s famous ballet. Regarding spells, Sleeping Beauty, or Briar Rose, is the first fairy tale that comes to mind. The story tells of a king and his queen who had a pretty little girl that the king could not help himself with joy and gave him a big feast. Among the guests were also wise women. There were thirteen in her realm, but since she only had twelve golden dishes to eat from, one of them had to be left at home. The Magi Women gave the child their magical gifts: virtues, beauty, wealth, and so on, with everything you could wish for in the world. When eleven of them had made their promise, suddenly, the thirteenth entered Carabosse (Maleficent). She wanted revenge for not being invited, and, without greeting or looking at anyone, she cried aloud: “The king’s daughter, in her fifteenth year, will prick herself with a spindle and fall dead.” Without saying another word, she turned and left the room. And, without saying another word, she turned and left the room. But the twelfth, whose goodwill was still a deep sleep of a hundred years, into which the princess will fall. Back to the perfume, Jordi Fernández is the senior perfumer behind the fragrance, the same as Tobacco Sublime in the same collection and Full Moon over the Desert in the previous one. I’m not surprised that the rating is relatively low, given that the nose primarily works with niche houses whose scents do not appeal to the masses. Spell Caramel belongs to the family of oriental sweets, with a boozy slant, fusing cool cardamom, hot pimento, and indulgent caramel, and opens with a spicy and dense citrus accord. It’s dark like syrup; the blood orange juice is as vivid as homemade freshly squeezed juice. The syrupy nuance is gooey, like molasses, caramelised but not overly burnt. This blend hides spicy and mentholated ingredients. Ginger appears fresh and spicy as its root, while the minty side is due to the green seeds of cardamom. The aroma of these seeds also extends into the heart of the perfume. Initially, Spell Caramel is sweet, then I smell something smokier. The opening is a well-balanced melange of warming spices, more spice drawer than #Spicebomb. However, the perfumer excellently made it, and within a minute, it flowed smoothly into the most realistic gooey salted caramel scent I’ve had the pleasure of knowing. I need help with caramel representations and other notes that can appear overly sweet. It can make this task even more difficult if you include vanilla. The fact that Jordi Fernández has avoided this in his composition is remarkable. It is entirely due to the salty note of the amber and the sandalwood and tobacco found on top. Fear not, this is not a cheap caramel, rest assured. The caramelised accord here resembles that of creme brulee, where the sugar is melted at the moment with the flame. If I put my nose quite close to the skin, I can catch the bitter and black aura of the liquorice root. When Spell Caramel approaches the dry-down, it does not change too much. I found it similar to Tender Amber during the initial test on the blotter. But after having worn it on my skin, I still catch the same ambroxan vibe, but Spell Caramel has that smoky tobacco and creamy sandalwood twist on it. On my skin, the caramel is deep and musky. This musk is quite seductive, and I don’t know if it’s my nose, but it smells like dirty musk, not the clean and laundry kind, and the caramel is almost burnt now. Warm spiciness, saltiness, and creaminess are what make the final trail. I can surely catch the spicy vanilla but immensely miss the powdery osmanthus. There is a smidgen of dustiness, but not as much as I expected. Instead, I get booziness in the opening and a slight woodsy vibe behind the spiced gourmand goodness. Despite the bold notes, Spell Caramel does not scream and sits close to the skin. It is a personal winter gourmand to be worn by an individual who wants a touch of luxury in their own home. Definitely, for the cold months, evenings fall and all days winter. More for leisure time than office. If projection and sillage are moderate, longevity is average, still detectable the morning after if applied in the evening. I'm formulating my feelings on a bottle I've owned since August 2023.

First impression: it is gorgeous, complex and unisex! It opens with a somewhat burnt red orange (I guess it is so beacuse of the cardamom), the opening lightly reminds that of For Him Red Edition, but the ginger and the background of caramel create a somewhat gourmand feel (gingerbread and the likes come to mind). There is a strong vanilla that backs it all, and it truly was spellbounding to me because it smells exactely like Vaniglia from Compagnia delle Indie, a vintage vanilla one may say, almost oriental, that one was my very first bottle of fragrance and I am so happy to smell again something similar. Licorice, davana and osmanthus create a magical feel, it is almost witchy in a way, perfect for the coming Fall. Dry down has still a base of caramel (which by the way, from the start, it is not so sweet but airy and refined, it is in the middle between smoked caramel and creamy caramel), the vanilla is toned down and more floral, the presence of osmanthus still noticeable. There is a balsamic feel to the composition (probably from davana) and it is lightly powdery. I like very much, a must buy for me. This fragrance captures for me the spirit of Halloween, probably because on me is quite balsamic. Gelly candy and the typical autumnal sweets come to mind.

This is an extremely underrated Zara fragrance. Sand Desert at Sunset gets a lot of hype but I feel like this one is underappreciated. It nowhere near smells generic and has a pleasant sweet and spicy smell. The name checks out as it does smell like a sweet caramel with added smokiness and spice. It is not listed in the notes but after the drydown, there is almost this woody and smoky oud smell which pairs well with the sweet caramel and vanilla notes. I'm not sure if I got a super strong batch but mine is really loud and projects within the first 1-3 hours. I've gotten several compliments on this cologne and even had a worker from Walmart compliment me on my cologne which caught me by surprise because I was about 10 feet away which means the cologne must have left a good trail. Longevity with Zara colognes is usually the 4-6 hour mark but this one seems to perform a tad bit better with more sillage. I believe that this is more of a Fall or Winter fragrance because of that spicy sweetness. It can be worn for multiple occasions and it is a unisex scent. This is definitely a scent that I hope Zara does not discontinue because I will be using this in rotation again. The price of 35 bucks is also unbeatable. Highly recommended 10/10.

This fragrance holds a special place in my heart, as it was my first true winter fragrance/gourmand. However, I will try and keep it objective and unbiased. When you first get it, Spell Caramel is poorly blended and a bit of a mess, a harsh opening where blood orange burns your nostrils will abruptly turn into a caramel and vanilla bomb in the late stages of its life. However, after buying this fragrance back in 2024, I noticed that it got much better after maceration. The blood orange settles down a bit and makes way for the cardamom, before smoothly transitioning into a light airy vanilla with caramel in the background. Drydown smells oddly similar to Khamrah in it's late stages, but for some reason nobody ever noticed that. I wouldn't say that my nose is well trained, but its tough for a lot of people to distinguish side to side, or I imagine it would be. For under 50$ CAD this is a ridiculously good fragrance and I strongly reccomend for those who want to get into sweeter fragrances without breaking the bank or buying a dupe

Zara Men's perfume department has yet again proven to be full of interesting unisex options. I tested Spell Caramel yesterday; it was a rainy, humid day, typical for fall season on the Croatian coast. I bought this secondhand because the notes seemed nice, and I enjoyed two other perfumes from this line - Majestic Green and Sand desert at sunset, both pretty good unisex scents. I sprayed just one spray, and the scent filled up my entire car. For the rest of the day, I smelled a persistent scent bubble around me. The perfume itself is quite interesting, starting off spicy and turning more and more peachy and sweet as hours went by. Something about it smelled familiar - there were moments when it smelled similar to Bitter Peach and Scandal pour Homme. Lasting power is unexpectedly strong, as I can still smell it on my hand today despite showering and washing my hands in the meantime. All in all, this is a good choice for anyone who wants a strong and sweet scent with a masculine twist.