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Maison Tahite Carnal Cacao Eau de Parfum is a more floral scent with a gourmand note, but it was significantly less cocoa compared to other fragrances from the brand that focus on this note. For me it was mostly floral, with tuberose enhancing the strength and longevity of neroli, but between tangerine and neroli the flowers seemed more orange blossom-like overall. The finish showed a slightly spicy, warmer woodiness but was still quite floral and didn’t have any massive shifts from opening to finish.
Fleshy cocoa notes
It is described as “tuberose meets the gourmand sensuality of cocoa”. It contains the notes:
- Top notes: Tangerine, CO2 LMR Red Pepper
- heart notes: Tuberose absolute (India), Neroli essential oil (Tunisia)
- base notes: Cacao Absolute, Ambroxan, Mosses
What does carnal cocoa smell like?
It opened with a ripe, juicy tangerine, dripping in the late spring heat while sweet orange blossom danced in the background. After 10 minutes, soft tuberose added hazy, diffuse white floral facets with the sweetened neroli blossoms. From here it stayed linear for the next two hours. The cocoa absolute seemed to add some body and depth, but wasn’t really noticeable as “cocoa” to my nose.
While the tuberose was clearly there, it supported the intensity of the overall floral facets of neroli, which can often fade over time, but instead the neroli bloom of Carnal Cacao lingered and lingered well past the four hour mark. There was a subtle, darker sweetness – maybe amber, maybe cocoa, too blended for me to pick apart – that weighed on the flowers a bit.
After seven hours, the base notes seemed to intensify, leading to a slightly spicy, resinous and woody base note with blurred and blended floral facets of tuberose and neroli.
longevity
It took five hours before it was a skin odor and about eight hours before it was quite difficult to detect on my skin. Sillage and projection were moderate, with sillage falling off faster than projection within the first hour of wear.
personal notes
I was surprised at how the cacao note was reflected in this scent, whether it was faint or more supportive, I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I definitely expected more of it to permeate. As I’m not very attracted to floral scents, especially white floral scents, this wasn’t a winner for me, but it wasn’t difficult to wear.
These are more subjective feelings based on what I like (or dislike) about a perfume as well as looking at the scent in comparison to other perfumes I own and love.
test methodology
For testing, I used 1/3 of a 0.7ml sample vial dabbed on the bottom and top of my wrist area. I used an unscented moisturizer before applying the scent as I found the scent didn’t linger well otherwise.
I bought my sample in January 2022; Fragrances are known to be reformulated throughout their lifetime. So remember when a review was created, e.g. B. a review from 2010 may not reflect how the perfume of the same name smells in 2022.
Availability
Carnal Cacao is available for $120/100ml.
If possible I highly recommend trying a scent before buying a full bottle as the scent can feel different just based on skin chemistry. Skin chemistry can affect not only a fragrance’s longevity, but also which notes emerge and which are hidden.
Fleshy cocoa samples
We recommend the following retailers for purchasing decanted samples (typically 0.7mL to 2mL in size). This is a more complete list, so individual availability may depend on inventory.