I like candy, but in general, I'm a chocolate kind of person. I love dark chocolate, the darker the better, but I'm not a snob about it: I also love Hot Fudge Pop-Tarts, and several other treats that might more properly be called "chocolate food product" than "chocolate". Fruit candy doesn't interest me at all — to eat or to wear as perfume — so the recently released Demeter Jelly Belly Collection didn't seem like likely to wow me, and by and large, it didn't. The fragrances are based on Jelly Belly recipes, which call for popping a specific group of flavored jelly beans into your mouth to produce the desired taste effect.
Not surprisingly, my favorite from this set is Hot Fudge Sundae, the only one of the 6 that isn't particularly fruity. Here is the jelly bean recipe:
According to Demeter, "while the dominant note is chocolate fudge, you will find whipped cream, vanilla and Jelly Belly Very Cherry blended subtly into the mix". I have to say that none of that resonates for me in the least — what I smell is straight-up chocolate brownie mix. It has the same dusty-dry opening that you'd get if you smelled brownie mix straight from the box, and falls squarely in the "chocolate food product" category. It does get more vanillic as it dries down, but other than that it is largely linear, and the cherry is, as described, subtle, in fact, a couple of times I thought I might be smelling cherry, but I wouldn't swear to it. I'm quite sure I never would have noticed it (or dreamed I noticed it) if it wasn't in the list of notes.
It is a fun scent (my son's verdict: "cool!"), and the lasting power is decent for Demeter. Several good sprays made it through a couple hours. Demeter also makes a Brownie fragrance, but I've never tried it so can't say how it compares to this one. I'm hoping Demeter will follow up with a few more recipes from the Jelly Belly website: Mud Pie, Tiramisu, Chocolate Covered Cherry and Cherry Cola all sound perfect.
The Demeter Jelly Belly Collection fragrances are $20 for 30 ml Pick-Me-Up Cologne Spray or $39.50 for 120 ml, and are also available in Calming Lotion and Bath & Shower Gel. Right now, Demeter is running an online special: spend $25 or more, get a free 11 ml Sex On The Beach and a 30 ml Grapefruit Tea. For buying information, see the listing for Demeter under Perfume Houses.
More chocolate: see reviews for Serendipitous, Aquolina Chocolovers.
Love chocolate sundaes, love brownie mix.
Need to smell like it?
Not so much.
But I have to write that you almost got me with the cherry cola
Hmmm…I guess I don't need to smell like it either, if it comes to that — but it is awfully fun to wear. Same would be true of Demeter Gingerale, which just about makes me laugh out loud. Cherry cola, I'm guessing, would do the same
I used to live in the part of California where Jelly Belly is made. Tours of the plant are available (though I never went). A few months ago I got a body lotion at Bath & Body Works that was supposed to smell like fudge. After a couple of times, I decided it was disgusting. My husband was relieved; he'd already come to that conclusion.
For me there's no perfume chocolate like Borneo.
You can bet if I had lived there, my son would have dragged me on the tour!
I've never found a really great chocolate lotion either. My son likes Palmer's, but chocolate seems to come out better in shower gel than lotion.
For me – Borneo 1834 smells just like your description of 'brownie mix straighht out of the box'…it is my fav' choc scent. Will have to sniff the Demeter one soon – sounds promising.
Aha. Patchouli and I do not always get along — sad to say, if I smelled anything like Borneo 1834 in a brownie mix, I'd assume it had gone bad and would throw it away in short order
Chocoholic that I am, I am on full alert! I want it! I've just been reveling in Aqualina's “Chocolovers” recently, so this certainly would interest me. Now, can I get it in the UK? That's the question. I'm continually frustrated with Demeter as they only carry certain fragrances in their line here.
Well, you already know how I feel. For someone as much in love with chocolate as a food (or food product) as I am, I have yet to fall in love with a chocolate fragrance. This one smelled fine (I don't get any cherry, either, and to me it's more like warm fudge sauce in smell) but my guess is I won't be wearing it… am I the only person on the planet who doesn't get chocolate from Borneo?
I'm afraid I'll be no help on the UK issue — but maybe check the Demeter site to see if they have a store listing?
I most definitely get chocolate from Borneo, but it doesn't help matters much, LOL! Very nearly at the bottom of the heap for SL, in my book.
I'm terrified of that thing. I know there's a decant lurking somewhere in the house (I actually bagged it up and moved it out of my perfume closet because the smell was so awful) and meant to toss it, but didn't. I keep thinking I'll run across it some odd place (behind the cookie sheets? Back of the closet where I keep the wrapping paper?)
Zippity doo dahh daay! I found it at urbanapothecary. I will sit by the door…;)
Have you tried Aquolina's Chocolovers Souffle Body Cream?
Bond No. 9 So New York is a very refined fragrance with a distinct chocolate note, but it's not a brick of choc over your head. Have you tried it?
Way off-topic here, I just got my first TDC estagnon. Those little metal tips, are they meant to be used as funnels? Like, tip them into the 48h containers and pour from the estagnon? Is the estagnon bottle lip spill-proof? Or are they to be screwed or snapped onto the estagnon in some way? It's not obvious to me, and at the price, every spilled cc would be like blood leaving my body.
I would use a plastic disposable syringe but the whole enterprise smacks of wrong-doing … you just don't take a syringe used to clean out a dog's mouth to a JCE creation. Something so criminal about that!
BTW I covet that little leather case with three 48h bottles. Why can't I find that anywhere??
Yes! And I do like it, but it doesn't smell like chocolate to me — and certainly won't pass muster with my son, who wants his chocolate unadulterated with nuts and what have you.
BTW, the Demeter is *nothing* like the Aquolina — not as rich or creamy at all, and much more “basic”.
The So New York was too fruity for me — if they'd left out the plum, it might have been a contender. I did like the expresso part.
And sorry I can't help with the estagnon — I split one of Bergamote, but the other party did the decanting and I never saw the bottle in person.
And I want that darned leather case too! Saw a picture of it once, but never saw it in person — don't even know if it was ever sold in the US, and perhaps better if I don't find out
LOL — the first time somebody sent me a decant of Angel, I had to quarantine it in the basement.
My fave JellyBelly beans are the pear ones – but I think I'd positively loathe that as a fragrance, either by itself or in combination with other flavors. On the other hand, I'd be curious to see what Demeter would make of those curiously disgusting yet nevertheless delicious “buttered popcorn” flavor beans, though, heh!
K, the Blueberry Muffin fragrance is made up of blueberry + buttered popcorn jelly beans, and I have to say that the result was easily my LEAST favorite of them all, in fact, I found it absolutely horrible. But literally just as I was wearing it and thinking I ought to wash it off, I read a favorable post about it on MUA. So perhaps it works if it is the sort of thing you might like, LOL…
I was hoping that you had smelled Demeter Brownie so you could compare them. I do have the Brownie, and here's what I get from it: at first, an extremely dark, fudgy chocolate-brownie smell that's almost wet–I suppose it's more like the batter than the cooked brownie, but whatever it is, it's a very convincing scent. After a few minutes, it reveals a faint synthetic aroma that suggests, believe it or not, chocolate-covered cherries. (It still smells like brownie batter: maybe you mixed the choc-cherries in before you baked it?) Based on your description of Hot Fudge Sundae, it sounds as if the two scents are one and the same, to be honest.
The whole thing vanishes in less than half an hour, but we do not expect longevity from Demeter scents.
You son sounds like a tough audience!! haaaa!! Check his veins for chocolate!!
Thanks! I'm curious to see how I'll react to it, but I expect I will like it. And Demeter we all know is not exactly known for it's staying power. But you did note this one seems to last longer then some of their other scents, so I'm hoping it performs a bit better.
They do sound very similar — maybe Hot Fudge Sundae is the brownie mix before you add liquid, Browie is what you get after you add liquid
LOL!
It arrived and has been given a test run. It's a big, fat, fudgey wudgey experience that eventually becomes a wee tootsie roll encounter. I love it and only wish as I always do with Demeter fragrances, that it would last longer. But this one does hold up better then most of their other ones.
LOL — perfect description! Yep, they don't last all day, that is all there is to it. If they did, they'd probably cost more and since they are “fun” rather than “perfume genius”, I'll live with them the way they are
Well it's interesting to note that the label refers to it as a “pick me up” cologne, which falls in line with what you are saying.
Wow, I really hope they get this perfume here soon — they just recently imported a collection of Demeter perfumes, and being a total chocoholic, I'm looking forward to this one… if they ever get it, that is. So far, I'm absolutely in love with the ones they have here, especially “Pink Lemonade” and “Sex on the Beach”…
Hope you'll get to try it soon then! Did you see that they just released a Tootsie Roll perfume also?