Caveau des Innocents Alkemia 2014

Caveau des Innocents is a multilayered hedonistic dream. The opening is all spiced, sugared, rum-soaked pear with a hint of sweet citrus. Anise, clove, and coffee rise up alongside golden resin, and over the next hour the boozy pear sinks into caramel, vanilla incense, and labdanum. While I don't love anise (and it is very strong here), it adds just enough astringency to stop the whole thing from becoming too sickly sweet, and it's actually a very nice accent. As it develops further, the tobacco joins in, rich and spiced, and then polished wood. Finally, several hours into wearing, opoponax rises up and envelops everything in its thick, dark, rich, resinous cloak until that's all I can smell.

There is no stage of this that I don't love. It is definitely a fall/winter evening kind of scent. It is not versatile, it is not conventional, and I once had someone tell me that I smell like weird root beer. But for someone of any gender who wants something dark, bold, and decadent, this is it. Sillage is fantastic for an oil, and longevity is very good (though I attribute some of that to the fact that opoponax never wants to leave my skin, ever).

One note: I do prefer this one fresh. That boozy sugared pear top note is one of my favorite aspects of this, and with aging (over a year) it becomes weaker, and the opoponax becomes much more aggressive than I would like. It is because of this that I am rating it an 9, and not a 10. But, as I noted above - opoponax really, really likes my skin, so this might not be as much of an issue for someone else.