Darling Clandestine Floral and Sweet Perfume reviews

Darling Clandestine's floral and sweet scents are as original and unexpected as the rest of their line (except perhaps Tilt-A-Whirl), so if you prefer smelling typically feminine these scents will add more intriguing note than your standard perfume.

Floral:

Pistolas
Gardenia, lavender, city sidewalks, tobacco leaf
Gardenia, not a sterile, sweet petals-only white floral, but the whole living plant. The etherial fragrance of the flower against the backdrop of leaves and life. Beautifully feminine, innocent but not naive, a fragrance for a unicorn or fairy.

Sadly my local florists didn't have any gardenias in stock so...
Source: northernstarkidd on Photobucket

Bete Noire
Peppers, florals
This is what I'd call a dark floral - definitely feminine but in an adult and mysterious way. It's inspired; the essence a James Bond villainess would leave clinging to the pillowcase. 

Black and white iPhone photo from the florist's - so artsy

Blue Valentine
Hyacinth, violet, poppy, fig, whiskey, bitters, musk and mint
Blue Valentine is another scent I just can't place - it's halfway between a floral and something savoury, it's dark, slightly moody but with a crisp clean edge, tangy and maybe ever so faintly minty? This scent is one that's really grown on me as although it's pretty sweet it's very interesting, to be honest it's probably the blue note that I'm loving. 

Friday Night on Bourbon Street, New Orleans

Mad As Birds
Pear, mint, amber and marigolds
Opens the tiniest bit tart/green and blue but quickly dissipates to a soft clean sweetness like honeyed florals, I love this scent which holds solid for about 15 minutes - the lightness keeps the sweetness from being sickly or the florals overwhelming; this is a very girly yet adult scent. Especially straight from the bottle every whiff of this scent brings out different yet harmonious notes, however the glorious juxtaposition of a multitude of light and sweet scents is lost after the 15 minute mark and all I'm left with a a flat vanilla-like bland sweetness. If only the the 'original' scent stuck around on my skin this would be the first and only sweet floral perfume I've ever loved.

I wanted a bright picture of a gorgeous summer picnic for this scent, but it's equally appropriate to wear for girly cocktails on a roof terrace. Which, when you think about it is like the adult version of an afternoon picnic...

Tapadero
Sage, roses, smoke, leather
I wasn't sure where to categorise this scent - it's sexiest thing I've ever smelt, feminine yet strong. It's warm, sharp, deep, fresh, clean and comforting - it's everything, utterly unique and devastatingly beautiful. Hardly a floral but since Evonne rarely lists floral notes in her scents this seemed the most appropriate place for it.

 I wish I knew what type of flower this is: I probably should've asked

Sweet:

Pyrotechnik
Spiced cantaloupe, bold black sky, sweet woods, earth
Opens initially with cantaloupe - so distinct huge orange melon slices were dancing before my eyes. However a myriad of spices break though within seconds giving the candy sweetness depth and distinction. It appears to be a contradiction: the almost sickly sweetness with the smoke and the spices. However it really works, and almost feels like an instant classic pairing - like oranges and cloves or lemon and honey. Against all odds I actually really like this perfume, despite the fact I don't particularly want to - it smells too delicious for my taste.

Source: legendproduce.com/fruit/cantaloupe/

Tilt-A-Whirl
Citrus, passionfruit, sage
Opens sweet but tart, fading after a few seconds to tart but sweet and finally settling to equal amounts of sweet and tart. Really, that's all this fragrance is - it has a distinct candy-and-candle thing going on, and is probably DC's least interesting and complex fragrance. This is definitely a little girl scent - sickly sweet with a bit of sass. It's really just nice - nothing more and nothing less.

I had a pretty adorable duckling phase with shark teeth

Dewlap Valentine
Strawberry, banana, greens, reptile
After the initial gagging sweetness of artificial fruit it fades to an almost tolerable sweetness, overpowering something earthy, damp and ever so slightly green.  It's sickly sweet, cloying, and heavy with an air of decomposition. Although this is hands down my least favourite DC scent to date, I have to admire the fact that Evonne really has captured a little fruit and veg loving reptile's terrarium odour.

Source: flickr.com/photos/62438660@N03/5911538750/

Hellbender
Ginger, amber, vanilla
Initially Hellbender is all gorgeous warm ginger (not the nose-burning tingly kind) with beautiful deep sweetness conjuring a warm kitchen and baked goods. However the sweetness overpowers the ginger a few seconds out of the bottle and settles to a rather boring sweet scent. It's a lovely scent, but sadly not particularly exciting or interesting, and the final dry down smells almost identical to Mad As Birds' and Carny Wedding's without the smoke.

Source: hidethecheese.com/hide_the_cheese/2009/05/candied-ginger-scones.html

Carny Wedding
Butter, sugar, wood, smoke
What makes Carny Wedding interesting is the fact the creamy sweetness and the potent smoke intermingle with every sniff - it's not just sweet smoke or smokey sweetness, the two scent elements dance over and around each other with every inhalation like two separate scents carried on the same wind. However after a few seconds the opposing forces settle into something intriguing, unique, reminiscent perhaps of a 1930s circus, the air heavy with the push and pull of life. A strange scent, and not altogether appealing to me.

A fantastic book and entertaining movie
Source: latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2010/12/preview-review-water-for-elephants-pattinson-witherspoon-trailer.html

These scents were particularly interesting to review as I don't have a particularly sweet tooth nor like gourmand perfumes, and find most generic and commercial floral scents distinctly boring  - thus it was more of a challenge. However I love all of Darling Clandestine's florals as they are infinitely more original and alive than the usual flat floral, and Tapadero is one of my all time favourite scents. Of the sweet scents Pyrotechnik is definitely my favourite, and Hellbender would be vying for that place if only the warm ginger scent lasted longer than a few minutes out of the bottle. I'm not sure if it's my skin chemistry that transforms a lot of Evonne's carefully blended intoxicating sweet scents to something akin to a flat vanilla after 15 minutes, but it definitely prevents me really falling in love with Mad As Birds.


Love,


Saskia X