Sand Dance Stéphane Humbert Lucas 2022

I initially bought into the hype surrounding SHL with "God of Fire | Stéphane Humbert Lucas," which was actually quite decent, but somehow also felt very synthetic. Unfortunately, a similar truth emerged with "Venom Incarnat | Stéphane Humbert Lucas." But what about Sand Dance?

Let's get into it:

- At the beginning, I get a - in my opinion - unfortunately synthetic smelling ... hmm... yes, whiskey-like note..., which also brings a good portion of lightly green spice from the coriander. The mandarin unfortunately gets a bit lost, and I would have wished for it to be a bit more present, as it feels alcoholic but somehow also dry and bitter.

- Then cocoa and vanilla jump into the fray, and yes, the cocoa is almost exuberant, giving the feeling of being in a chocolate factory. Not an ordinary chocolate factory, this one produces rather dry, rough chocolate or hmmm... maybe more like chocolate powder.

- As it develops further, I then perceive a nice sandalwood note, which adds a bit of warmth and a creamy texture to the fragrance, but the tonka together with other accords leads the scent to end up as a chocolate brownie; even though I can't deny that this dry character combined with the resinous quality in the drydown minimally "saves" the fragrance, it unfortunately wouldn't make it into my collection.

... yes, it is a nice, intriguing scent, but it also feels a bit too synthetic again, and despite the exciting, dry texture, I unfortunately don't warm up to it.

Anyhow, I think the fragrance is far more interesting than many other scents, and therefore I'm sure it will find its following.

PS: The performance is typical for SHL, quite decent and above average...