(Sorry, no picture at the moment. Blogger's being a pain.)
The notes in Datura Noir are myrrh, bitter almond, tonka bean, musk, osmanthus, heliotrope, mandarin, lemon flower, tuberose, datura flower, vanilla, coconut oil, and apricot. This is a magnificent blend of scents. One of the things I find unusual about this scent is how cooling I find it at the top. The opening (when I didn’t have the notes in front of me, I seriously thought I detected absinthe) is so refreshing, and in fact this fragrance is chilly on me, but not in a bad way. (Or maybe I just think it’s chilly because they feel the need to keep the office temperature hovering at about 58 degrees F.) Under the chill, a powdery sweetness comes through.
Nothing dominates here; this is an ensemble cast in the truest sense. It’s not creamy, not tropical, nor is it bright and sunny. It’s actually rather dry.
Words fail me.
For what it’s worth, when I smell Datura Noir, I remember sitting in the shade in Las Vegas at the Wynn, on the patio at a little sandwich and coffee shop, eating gelato. Dry bright heat combined with cooling water from surrounding pools, the slight cloying sweetness of gelato on my tongue, the smell of other people’s espresso and coffee drinks, the glass canvas of the hotel reflecting the majesty of the desert.
The only thing that concerns me at this point is how long it might last on me. Again, I only applied this lightly (Read the post on Now Smell This about perfume at the office, by the way…some interesting thoughts and comments.), and now it’s almost lunch time and the scent is quite faint on my wrists. I know I had enough on for Bob to tell me how good I smelled when I left this morning, though, so timidity might not be the reason for this fading floral. But if I test it again and it lasts, I might consider a bottle.
