The Black Temple Burlesque Troupe

[MadameGorgon]

Cacao, black musk, and tobacco absolute.

 

I initially got this when it first came out in 2012, but for some reason, didn't review it. I remembered not being fond of it, but couldn't remember why. But I was just frimped a tester from the sweet Seussala, so giving it another go!

OK. I'm a weirdo. I know. I am not really a sweets person and even then, I prefer vanilla to chocolate. But I LOVE to smell like a walking dessert tray, so anything with cocoa or chocolate gets a try.

In the Imp: gulp. Chocolate delousing powder? Not at all what I was expecting. On she goes.

On the skin: Yup. Chocolate delousing powder, heavy emphasis on the powder, with something off-putting lurking in the background that can only be the black musk. This seems to change quite a bit from wet to dry, starting off lemony as others have mentioned, then damn it puts the POW in powder.

The cocoa eventually pokes out its fuzzy brown head and tobacco makes an appearance in the form of a hand-roll blend I used to use when I was way to young to smoke. I think it was Drum, but I swear it was something that came in an orange pouch, but that was a long time ago and I digress. This stage was amazing. Sexy, naughty, utterly lickable.


Then that stage was, as another reviewer put it, "smothered by a black musk pillow". Crap. Super-crap. Craptastic.

It does eventually dry down to a nice powdery cocoa scent, but I'm not sure I can manage the black musk strangler in order to get there.

I will try it again, just to be sure, but it seems that musk and I aren't on very good terms at the moment.

ETA: The hand-rolling tobacco I was searching for was Bali Shag Red Pouch. Oh god I want a cigarette.

[Teaker]

I've worn this a few times now and I like it a lot, but it's kind of a weird scent to describe. It's not foody, and not nearly as chocolatey as something like Velvet. I guess that's the difference between "cacao" and "cocoa."

 

It's very musky, almost aggressively so, but it's not a heavy or oppressive scent. The musk is quite biting. I don't get the lemon association that some people have described, but it's a very clean smell to me. Kind of a sharp skin smell, like someone who just scrubbed themselves really well.

 

On one hand this is a fuzzy, velvety, slightly sweet and hazy scent, and on the other its sharp and musky. Like if Velvet had a naughty sister that smoked and occasionally slapped people in the face. I like it!

[theredkilt]

This is a review for the 2009 release.

 

This is very reminiscent of Haunted to me, except it's not fuzzy and lacks the ambery edge.

 

TBTBT is black musk rounded with some cocoa and faint tobacco, but it all comes down to black musk in the end.

[mermaidsdream]

Cacao? Check. Black Musk? Check. Tobacco Absolute? Check.

 

All these notes should make this a no-brain winner on me.

 

In the bottle: I get some cocoa and not much else. I dip a toothpick into the partial bottle, hit the bottom of the bottle, and swirl a little. Pulling it out, I discover the cocoa has sludged. I dip a second toothpick into the full bottle I have, and discover it's sludged in the full bottle as well. Not a surprise, as both bottles are a year old. I proceed to test the partial bottle after rolling it a bit to try and mix some of the cocoa back into the rest of the oil.

 

Applied: within seconds I get something that's a cross between wet wood, anise, and cat pee. WTF? Skin chemistry, what the heck did you do? Seriously, this is bad enough that I'm not even waiting for a dry-down. I immediately wash my wrists.

 

Several hours later: I'd washed most of it off, waited an hour or so, and went to bed. I woke up at some point in the middle of the night, and could catch faint whiffs of the cocoa, which was pleasant. But man, that applied stage? Forget it.

 

I honestly don't know if it's a skin chemistry issue (which is more what I'm thinking) or if both bottles went bad. I don't get the woodsy/anise/cat pee combo out of either bottle - just delicious, sweet cocoa. Needless to say, I'm not keeping either.

Edited January 8, 2014 by mermaidsdream

[cinnamonster]

2009 bottle. It's a dark oil, skin stainingly so. Given that, I expect more chocolate when I apply (a tiny dot) to near my inner elbow. There is chocolate there, a little and a teeny bit of tobacco and a lot of dark musk which gets louder and louder until it drowns everything else out. Think Bonnie Langford in Bugsy Malone. I like black musk, but this won't see a ton of wear from me as my bf recoiled, and it's so strong I would never, even using daily, finish a bottle.

I don't hate it though! It's a bit like you took ivanushka and got her to take you to her father...a giant black stag. This is kinda how he'd smell.

[vanilla323]

2012 Version:

 

On me this is sexy sweet smokey chocolate. It has tons of sludge too, but I love it!

 

EDIT 1/27/14: oddly enough I started not digging the cocoa in this. Love all the other notes but may not keep the bottle and just use up my decant.

Edited February 4, 2014 by Ichigo

[Serena Reverberi]

in the bottle… all the cocoa! This smells like a bittersweet hot chocolate, but with a darker, more complex undertone. There is a slightly herbal sharpness that I assume is the tobacco.

When applied, first thing to notice is that the color of the oil is very dark, like spilled coffee; it's a bit sticky too.

The smell on the skin is much fainter than I imagined at first, but I can still clearly detect all the three notes and they are beautifully intermingled.

The cocoa disappears quickly though, and what's left is SHARP, very sharp musk and tobacco. wow, this was unexpected.

I think I'll have to retest this in a scent locket, because the wet stage was good.

Edited August 28, 2014 by SereRev

[Psuke]

Powder...all powder.

 

It seems that cocoa and musk, or cocoa and amber do not play well together with my skinistry - which is sad because some of my favorite scents have these elements, just not together.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Omg, this is so good. As described, all three notes sing in harmony, and it's glorious.

 

 

Dry: Wavers back and forth between powdery and sexy as hell. Somehow I get something almost anise-like from this....weird! I wonder if that's a colour suggestion thing because the oil is so dark? Hmm. Either way, I like this, not sure if I love it. But I like it.

[Lucchesa]

Black Temple Burlesque Troupe started off badly on me. There was something about the tobacco note that was going wrong, kind of the way that Snaky-Hair'd Moirai goes wrong on me. But within 15 minutes, it had smoothed itself out and was playing background to the cocoa and the black musk. This is one of those lovely, lemony black musks on me, so much so that Burlesque is close to what I was hoping Delight and Consternation would be, a musky dark chocolate-lemon scent. It also makes me think I should keep Snaky around to see if age tempers the tobacco issue. A temptress shimmying up and down a pole in a dimly lit club. Delicious!