Elysium
Very helpful Review
5
In Search Of Forbidden Pleasure
I have tried so many cherry scents, and nothing has stuck to me but “Joop! Homme (Eau de Toilette) | Joop!”, which is sad because I love cherry. I think it is hard to find a scent that is this true to cherry. I always think of the cherries in alcohol that my grandmother used to prepare from the cherry trees in our garden when I was a child. It tasted so fresh, boozy, and bittersweet, something I’ve never found in a perfume. And this caught me by surprise. So, when I read the cherry in the name, my first thought was that it would have more of a pie or a scent of baked dough, clafoutis, and a French baked pudding. I had the pleasure of testing it in the ZARA shop, and my second thought differed utterly from the natural Cherry Smoothie scent. It’s a delicious Cherry Crush macaroon scent I wish I had. It is special. I have never smelled such a smell. Or at least nothing that smells like real cherries and not cough syrup. And so I bought it.
The cologne is a fruity oriental bombshell, gourmand, full of edible notes, yet not annoying. Synthetic, sure, but with a true scent of cherry and black cherry fruit. It’s a contrasting scent that reveals a tempting dichotomy of playful, candy-like shimmer on the outside and luscious balm on the inside. When desire becomes insatiable and creeps into the soul in search of forbidden pleasure.
It opens on a blast of fresh, sour, and boozy jammy cherries and black cherries, reminiscent of a cherry liqueur. It is A very lasting start that settles only after a few minutes. Let the alcohol evaporate, and a punch of bitter and teasing note exhales, almondy, slightly medicinal, as bitter as the seed of an apricot kernel. Wow, this is the first time I have caught such a bitter accord in a perfume. Apricot kernel oil gives Disaronno and other amaretto their almond-like flavour. As soon as almondy notes appear, they become stronger and stronger until they counterbalance the fragrance with a bittersweet game. The syrupy fluid melts with woods and burnished spices. A luscious aroma of black cherry is immediately apparent, complemented by a touch of bitter almond that is slightly raw and green. The flavours are mouth-wateringly delectable.
The heart explodes in cherry waves of sweet and sour. A cherry syrup expresses the structured maceration of voluptuous fruits as breathtaking rose blossoms. Then, bitter almond-like hawthorn and talc heliotrope penetrate my senses. I take stewed plums with a hint of star anise and toasted almonds. The scent intensifies with a jam rose that inserts forcefully. The rose adds a metaphorical viscosity that is enhanced when the cherry syrup oozes onto the scene. I love how the bitter notes balance the gourmand decadence of the black and ruby red fruit. The olfactory profile of the intermediate phase is powdery, like a vanilla meringue with the help of almonds.
You should know that the blending of individual notes sometimes brings an unexpected chord, and here I can detect wet pipe tobacco and aged Scotch whiskey. The ultimate unpredictability comes to the bottom when Peruvian balsam, vanilla and toasted tonka come into play. When mixed with an unexpected melange of woods and spices, the finish reaches sublime levels of insatiability, with a kind of smoke and alcoholism. Vanilla appears out of nowhere, with a more alcoholic smell than regular sweetened coumarin.
What else to say? Cherry Smoothie is a spicy scent of grown cherry, unique and alcoholic, with almond and a touch of pink - edgy but delicious. When you wear it, it becomes much hotter, spicier and cosier. The fruit nuance dissipates and leaves me with a spicy vanilla aroma. It’s not an overly sugary fragrance; it just has that warm, delicate sweetness. The projection is intimate to moderate, and I can’t stop smelling myself. The scent doesn’t last long on my skin, but long enough to suit an evening and night out. This perfume will become one of my favourites, especially for the autumn and winter. It is a sweet but not too sweet fragrance, a scent similar to a red fruit candy that reminds me of my childhood. It’s like smelling and eating cherry gum without actually eating it. It is available in the women’s department, but the perfume is unisex, with no feminine cut.
I base the review on a 100ml bottle I have owned since February 2022.
-Elysium