Mancera Paris - Choco Violette EDP

Choco Violette (“CV”) is an oriental vanilla offering released in 2016 from Montale.  With its wear on me, it easily slips into the gourmand category.

CV opens with a puff of cocoa powder and candy.  The cocoa powder is rich and intense and I can almost feel it on my tongue.  It’s very much as if you’ve opened a jar of a gourmet powder to create a luscious hot cocoa.  The candy note is very reminiscent of a candy necklace or parma violet candies so popular in the UK.

After the first initial opening impressions, the cocoa powder note seems to fade back.  In comes an equally delicious orange-bergamot blend.  The floral is stronger than the citrus; which lays back and seems to simply add more sweetness to the perfume.  Underneath this note, I get a hint of hazelnut.  The buttery nut note adds richness to the fragrance.  About an hour and a half into wear, I get a creamy vanilla.  Again, the vanilla seems to add more sweetness to the continuing violet candy florals.  Finally, as CV begins to dry down, a very light musk comes into play.  The musk helps to create a smoother landing for the fragrance as it settles amongst the gourmand floral accords.

Choco Violette wears on me with moderate projection for roughly 8 hours.

Notes:  orange, bergamot, hazelnut, dark chocolate, violet, Madagascar vanilla, white musk

Perfumer: Pierre Montale