212 VIP Black Elixir Carolina Herrera 2025
1
Meeting the prettiest boy in school 10 years later at class reunion
The initial cloud is cute, though to me it feels more powdery than creamy. But then it quickly begins to bloom. Lavender, juniper, grapefruit and liquorice (pretty sweet by liquorice standards, sugary). And something... synthetic? Hm. It's weird.
There's something obviously artificial in this composition, but I can't understand what exactly it is. It feels like a completely separate secret "synthetic" note deliberately added to dilute an otherwise pleasant combo of herbs and spices. And then there's saffron. Saffron, as usual, just smells like burning plastic to me.
I really loved the original 212 VIP Black Eau de Parfum, but this one feels completely different. In a rather unfortunate way. Long gone is the playful fresh absinthe. Elixir is thick, heavy and sweet. And spicy in the same way a sticky fly trap is ( • ᴖ • ｡)
Took ~1,5 hours to settle in my immediate vicinity. At that point my partner commented that I smell like a pastry as he was passing by. Up close – I felt more like I bathed in insect repellent. With a prominent burnt twist.
Around ~3 hours later it finally settled on skin. Vanilla, lavender, a bit of liquorice and burnt rubber. At that point – not too bad. Decent? Unnecessary. I feel like I've encountered this scent hundreds of times on the streets before, and quite a few of those encounters did it better.
In ~2 more hours it began to fade and suddenly became dirty. Vanilla and a scent of your father coming back into the house after spending his whole day off out in the sun, tinkering with his old car. Faint, as if he's still outside the door, but you can already smell him before you see him – grime, machine oil and layer of dust thick enough to absorb most of his body odor.
Looking back, I did not hate the experience. But it didn't spark joy.
My partner felt curious after smelling it in passing, so he asked to try it the very next day, only to immediately become just as disappointed. Said that it somehow smelled completely different and much worse on him. It smelled exactly the same. The only difference was that he was now the one stuck in the middle of it.
So there's that. It's not that bad, and it probably has a target audience that will be happy to wear it. Unfortunately, looks like we're not a part of it.
There's something obviously artificial in this composition, but I can't understand what exactly it is. It feels like a completely separate secret "synthetic" note deliberately added to dilute an otherwise pleasant combo of herbs and spices. And then there's saffron. Saffron, as usual, just smells like burning plastic to me.
I really loved the original 212 VIP Black Eau de Parfum, but this one feels completely different. In a rather unfortunate way. Long gone is the playful fresh absinthe. Elixir is thick, heavy and sweet. And spicy in the same way a sticky fly trap is ( • ᴖ • ｡)
Took ~1,5 hours to settle in my immediate vicinity. At that point my partner commented that I smell like a pastry as he was passing by. Up close – I felt more like I bathed in insect repellent. With a prominent burnt twist.
Around ~3 hours later it finally settled on skin. Vanilla, lavender, a bit of liquorice and burnt rubber. At that point – not too bad. Decent? Unnecessary. I feel like I've encountered this scent hundreds of times on the streets before, and quite a few of those encounters did it better.
In ~2 more hours it began to fade and suddenly became dirty. Vanilla and a scent of your father coming back into the house after spending his whole day off out in the sun, tinkering with his old car. Faint, as if he's still outside the door, but you can already smell him before you see him – grime, machine oil and layer of dust thick enough to absorb most of his body odor.
Looking back, I did not hate the experience. But it didn't spark joy.
My partner felt curious after smelling it in passing, so he asked to try it the very next day, only to immediately become just as disappointed. Said that it somehow smelled completely different and much worse on him. It smelled exactly the same. The only difference was that he was now the one stuck in the middle of it.
So there's that. It's not that bad, and it probably has a target audience that will be happy to wear it. Unfortunately, looks like we're not a part of it.