BLACK FOREST (General Catalog)

This scent starts out woodsy, chocolatey, and herbal, with just a hint of cherry. I really like this beginning stage, it's such a complex scent. After it's been worn a while it fades a bit, and on me smells very similar to Witch's cottage (except without the buttery pastry and spice). Actually, after they've been on for a long time, the two smell almost identical on me, and it's just the opening notes that are different. I haven't seen many other comments about it being similar to Witch's cottage though, so maybe it's just me?

Got a sample of this and I like it! I rarely like cherry fragrances but I have been pleased by the cherry in this and Cherry Cordial. It also has what smells like the pipe tobacco from vanilla pipe tobacco in it, so if you like that you might like this. It doesn't go funky on me...smells true.

This one took me a few months to come around to. I've had it for about 6 months, and until last night I thought I didn't like this one. Chocolate notes aren't my favorite and often don't work on me, so I figured it wasn't meant to be when this didn't smell like I thought it should. I tried it last night to get it fresh in my nose for a review, and oh my goodness, it smells like eating rich, fudgey black forest cake while taking a midnight stroll through a dark forest in late fall or winter--no leaves or greenery of any kind, just fragrant woods and cool air. Gorgeous, weird, atmospheric, foody.

I typically am not crazy about gourmands - the idea of cherry in a perfume would usually turn me off immediately. When I think of cherry, I get the sense that the perfume would be immature, synthetic, or too sweet. I tried Black Forest not expecting to like it at all, but ended up buying a full bottle almost immediately. The notes are so well blended that the effect isn't so much gourmand as it is more the effect of the actual Black Forest itself. There are woody notes, dry and dusty chocolate, dry leaves, wood, and of course the dark, natural cherry. I never did go visit the Black Forest, but I did spend some time in Munich and Neuschwanstein castle, and as weird as it seems, this perfume reminds me of that magical, wonderful trip. It's a mystical perfume that conveys the atmosphere of what I imagine the Black Forest to be. I do regret not going to the Black Forest on my trip, but at least I have this bottle to console myself.

The Black Forest extrait is interesting.  At first glance, the idea of chocolate and woods doesn't seem like they would go together, but somehow Angela makes it work.  =)  This smells so good when it first goes on, one of those scents that smells like you can eat it.  There's a rich delicious German chocolate cake in the opening, soon joined by resinous dark woods.  The cake and the woods stay about equal for awhile, then the woods begin to come to the fore, with nice notes of pipe tobacco wafting about also.  And this really is the Black Forest, not sinister at all, but rather, old, majestic and substantial.  The woods are rich and dark, dense and earthy, with a subtle smoky quality, as of the smoke from the fireplace of the German forest cabin where the cake was just made.  And the whole thing has a really nice smoothness to it, and everything smells natural and high quality.  Longevity is, once again, very good.  The intense woodsiness keeps the scent from being too foody or drifting into pastry territory where it would become too feminine for a guy to wear.  It's a finely balanced act.  Where you have the resinous woods making a strong statement that guys who prefer heavier colognes would like, and yet the sweetness of the cake that many ladies will enjoy seems to linger on into the dry down, softening the edges.  For those that like sweet or woodsy or dark type scents, this one is a must try.