Goes on smoky, but the smoke has a little bit of the choking quality to it that I recognize as benzoin. A creamy underside shows up soon afterwards. At about an hour and half the smokiness has dissipated and the creaminess has tamed the benzoin, leading to a warm, but weighty, comforting scent with very faint citrus, like you were smelling a giant fluffy cushion. It waxes elegant, and by three hours in, the feel is one of relaxed opulence – benzoin and maybe a little musk with some sort of citrus. It’s blended quite well. The projection is now down to a skin scent, though. Hour five the scent reveals the usual vanilla base, followed by a weird interlude of Scotchguard/cream/aridity. By eight hours, it’s a slightly creamy vanilla, and it stays there for the remainder (11 hours at least), surviving even light workouts.
The Cobra and the Canary is a curious fragrance, one that tells a story of another life lived in stages, like Memoirs of a Trespasser. We begin as a youthful racecar driver who stumbles into some kind of fortune, and then adds the allure of high culture to his brash charisma. It's Fahrenheit-esque, but a Fahrenheit of an earlier time.
Overall, I found the scent interesting and well-blended, but it didn't connect; that feeling -- of a near miss -- is what I get from other fragrances of this house as well. It's like I was almost kissed.
