California Chocolate Olympic Orchids Artisan Perfumes 2013

This smells so much like a Toblerone chocolate orange, if not nearly identical. The patchouli pairs perfectly with the dark chocolate note.

If Chocolovers were made with actual oils instead of synthetic ingredients, I imagine it would smell a lot like this.

I wouldn't wear this out and about because it would be too cloying in warm weather for me; but it's one of my special treat scents for wearing around my home.

This one is certanly for those who like their gourmand fragrances as close of the literal as possible. Everytime i smell the opening i can see in front of me the image of a delicious dessert. It makes me think of an specific one we have here in Brazil which is called Pavê (very similar, from what i found, to its Scottish cousin called Trifle). It's made of cream, layers of ladyfinger biscuit and the flavor that you pick. In this case, i see a chocolate and orange pavê. It's very mouthwatering, and just before that you think you'll get overwhelmed by the realistic impression the scent relaxes on the chocolate sweet edge and favors a fresh citrus part which cuts some sweetness and which is completed by a gorgeous boozy aspect. The scent dries into something more musky, woody, and discreet and that works after the intense opening. It's from the Olympic Orchids fragrances i tried the one that i instantly liked. It speaks deep and directly to my inner child that loves desserts but it's able to dialogue with my adult side too :)

surprisingly spicy!! Initially I get a lot of the bitterness from dark chocolate and then a lot of citrus, I wasn't to sure how I felt about it at first but it's slowly grown on me and I think the dry down is sooooo sexy. I ended up buying this for my partner and he actually really liked it!!

Man, how long have I been eyeing this scent, how long has it been on my wish and reminder list, how often have I thought about whether I should order it after all, how long have I speculated about what it would ultimately smell like, how many times have I checked if a sharing was starting for it...?!

I have been pondering all these thoughts for what feels like an eternity.
Until recently, when my patience wore thin and I organized a sharing, yes, even a blind sharing.
According to opinions on this, it should be a beautiful scent, if not the most beautiful chocolate scent there is, with a distinctive orange note. I would surely regret only reserving 10ml for myself, they said.

How excited I was, it finally worked out. What a ceremonial process the decanting would be. I imagined how wonderfully chocolatey-orange this scent would smell. How others would turn around and think "are you crazy, what smells so delicious?!" while I would happily hop through the streets.
Do you know those candied orange slices covered in dark chocolate? I love them very much. One of the best sweets for me. Just as those orange slices taste, this scent must surely smell too...

Then it finally arrived and lay in my hands. The elongated bottle with the promising reddish-brown liquid. I was a bit afraid of the vanilla contained in it, which I don't like in scents, but what the heck?! Full of joy, I sprayed the first two sprays on my arm, grinning as I buried my nose in the cloud of fragrance, inhaling every molecule that lingered in the air until my lungs threatened to burst and... I was petrified...

No matter how I tried, turned, and twisted, using my friend as a guinea pig, the scent remained a peculiar brew for me.
To me, it smells like not particularly good punch tastes: a bit of alcohol with unidentifiable fruit aromas and feels quite flat and bland to me.
In the back of my mind, I hear Heidi Klum's squeaky voice: "today I have for you no orange chocolate..."
Unfortunately, I can't detect any chocolate at all, nor patchouli, which can faintly smell like dark chocolate when dosed lightly. And no oranges, especially not juicy ones, and certainly no candied ones.

My mom came to mind, who used to make her own mulled wine every New Year's Eve. A similar smell was now in the air.

But one thing must be said about the scent: it is persistent. After hours of airing out, it could still be perceived in the apartment.

You probably all know them... sticks made of milk chocolate with a sugar-crusted filling with a citrus flavor. You either like them or you don't. No, they were never my thing, even though I like most sweets, except for jelly bananas, dark chocolate, and of course the aforementioned refreshing sticks. The combination of citrus and (brown) chocolate is simply not compatible with my palate. My mother knew this well and therefore preferred to buy them for herself - they were safe from me, as I often snatched the chocolate-nut bars in purple wrappers that she also loved.

But as a fragrance, it's a different story! I don't mind this combination. So I was glad to receive a sample based on my wishlist. In fact, I can initially recognize both poles, that is, citrus and chocolate, quite well; from my perspective, neither dominates. On my wrist, the scent soon loses intensity but remains present. The fragrance feels citrusy-gourmand, but without being overly sweet. Over time, the orange note does prevail on me, but the chocolatey aspect remains as a more cocoa-powdery background. I also find the comparison to Jaffa cakes or candied orange peels covered in dark chocolate (which I also don't like to eat for the reasons mentioned above, only the oranges with white coating) quite fitting, but the refreshing sticks simply came to mind more.

As the fragrance develops, it unfortunately loses a bit of points on my skin. It feels a bit stale.

Still worth testing for fans of unusual gourmand perfumes!