The first time I “wore” this, it was by accident. I was wearing shorts, I tried to spray some on a test strip, missed, and got my leg instead. I couldn’t get it off for the rest of the day, and it interfered with my testing of other fragrances. I took a shower, but it made little difference, and then my bathroom smelled like it as well. I’m not kidding when I say this stuff sheds all over the place. Several weeks after the aforementioned incident, I was still catching whiffs of it around the house randomly.
This would have been a traumatic experience if it weren’t the fact that, fortunately, I find this fragrance beautiful.
Heavily sweet fragrances give me sensory overload and I hate smelling like food; based on the reviews I very nearly didn't order a sample. However, it turns out this fragrance is neither heavily sweet nor gourmand on me. Instead, it’s a very bitter white floral with notes of what I perceive to be sandalwood (not the dill pickle kind thank goodness), coconut, milk, and white rice...and perhaps a hint of sensual skin. It reminds me of a type of coconut biscuit I used to enjoy, which comes with a sheet of ricepaper stuck to the bottom. Despite this association I still don’t perceive it as edible. The sillage is mostly sandalwood to me, and in fact it was this mystery sandalwood note that pervaded the entire sample parcel when I opened it, causing me to sniff each atomiser in turn trying to hunt down the fragrance responsible.
To me, this belongs alongside
Datura noir Eau de Parfum in the category of “sexy white florals that smell slightly dangerous”. Blanche Bete lacks the green note that I love so much in Datura Noir, but it’s also much less sweet and powdery, which makes it more wearable for me.