Black Sugar Pink Sugar 2013

The best news first: Black Sugar plays its cards openly, and given its name, no one can claim they weren't warned. The opening is simply incredibly sweet. Within a minute, there is indeed a scent reminiscent of slightly heated, dark sugar, if you will. The already mentioned cotton candy is unfortunately a similarly good tip.

After that, I perceive a fruit-leather mixture, as if Black Sugar were a member of the branched Tuscan-Leather clan. Fortunately, this largely fades away within a good hour. In any case, the intensity of the fruit note is then gone. This let’s-call-it-fruit is still present, but now it resembles less a fruit juice drink from the nozzle, and more like a sticky syrup (honey sounds too nice!).

Consequently, the fragrance changes families and now joins some sweeties that I have recently encountered. Kalemat, Raghba, the final part of More than Words: lush sweetness with an oriental touch, made bearable by a bitter addition, here a bright leather note. Those who enjoy such things will be well served.

After five hours, I imagine soft sandalwood. Also something floral. Perhaps just a tiny trace of rose geranium of the…uh…spicier kind, which mingles with the vanilla. Suddenly, I feel faintly reminded of amber. But it is no more than a hint, and I am not even sure about that. It wouldn’t be bad: If there’s vanilla, then please with an addition that creates distance from pudding. However, it’s silly that a mere vague impression seems so noteworthy that it gets the longest paragraph of the comment.

The promised smokiness remains very subdued for me, which may always be due to the fact that I like corresponding bombshells and might be somewhat dulled. But I don’t believe that. Throughout the afternoon, the fragrance fades into a creamy-bright wood-vanilla note.

Ultimately, I find myself (for once) not sharing the same opinion about a fragrance as Ergreifend - for which I thank them for the sample. I do not find Black Sugar overwhelming, constraining, or flattening. Rather, worse: I find it simply boring.