Dark Chocolate, Vanilla Absolute, Black Pepper, and Bulgarian Rose

[Jenjin]

No Additional Scent Description. 

[RoseThornAndOak]

I got two Lupers: Jovial Tengu and this. Ever since trying Akima Botanicals Pepperose I've found how beautifully pepper and rose can roll together. 

 

 It's gorgeous. Dark chocolate with a slight peppery kick, and a nice reddish pink, nonpowdery rose, voluptuous and rich.

 

Dark chocolate: compared to the fudge note, it's darker, less sweet. Compared to cacao: smoother, sweeter, less dry. I suppose there's vanilla in this, but kind of like when you eat chocolate vanilla ice cream you think chocolate more than vanilla, the same goes here. This doesn't smell like ice cream, just used here for explanation. This isn't foodie in a sweet, bready, or savory way at all. As with most chocolate notes, this fades quite a bit throughout wear. 

 

It's classy and romantic! I got a smol spray of Dries von Noten's Raving Rose, which is pepper + rose, and this is up there with that in quality. This is quite softer and less aggressive on the pepper. I would say on the spice/grit scale, this is quite a few degrees lighter than your lightest of light white patchouli, which barely smells like patchouli to me to begin with.

 

If you like the idea of chocolate and rose together and want a note to add complexity, intrigue, and groundedness just a smidgen, yet want something different than patchouli, dirt, cinnamom, woods, or incense, this is your bae. The pepper is perfectly placed here. Also, this didn't burn my skin. 

 

Well done Lab, well done.

Edited March 23 by RoseThornAndOak

[becca_s]

This is a gorgeous dark chocolate and rose scent on me, with a hint of pepper to give it some complexity. I'm not getting alot of vanilla, but my guess is that its melting into the chocolate note. The chocolate is not the sweet, milky kind, this is definitely a dark chocolate. I agree that this is a classy and romantic scent. 

 

[samanare]

The pepper is not playing nice on me. I'm getting the three other notes, the chocolate being slightly stronger than the others, but they're all clearly there. The vanilla takes the chocolate to a more milk chocolate territory. The rose is noticeable, and a headier pink rose on me. Just unfortunately the pepper is too much. More than spicy or sharp, it has an almost powdery, biting quality. On me, it reminds me too much of a spilling the pepper shaker on bougie chocolate.

[doomsday_disco]

The dark chocolate is the strongest note out of the gate, and it truly does smell like dark chocolate, not a milk chocolate, or a cocoa powder sort of chocolate. It is accompanied by the rose and black pepper, but there's not so much black pepper in here that it will have you sneezing like anyone at the Duchess' house in Wonderland.  I agree that it adds some complexity to what would otherwise be a straight-up flormand. Bulgarian rose is one of my favorite rose notes, and to me, it's a bold red rose with a bit of a smooth, sweet aspect to it. The vanilla emerges after the scent has been on for a while and gains strength over time, and it's one of those vanillas that tends to bloom on the skin. Eventually, the vanilla does go somewhat powdery on me, but not in a bad way, and the other notes never disappear, although the chocolate is not nearly as strong by the time the vanilla is a main player. If you've tried Cacao and Sugared Roses, this is quite different from that in both the chocolate and rose departments, so I would say you could get this without a worry of it being too similar.

 

The decant is a keeper, but I'm going to have to give it a full day of wear to see if I need more of this one, since I have so many rose scents. But I do enjoy this!

 

[Little Bird]

Musky, perfumey, red rose that leans a little sour and dry, a waxy chocolate note that's sweeter than I was expecting, and a little bit of sharp black pepper.  The rose amps way up on me and I don't get any of the vanilla or any creaminess.  I rarely enjoy rose + dark/milk chocolate, though.