NCD: April Fools 2024

Back for another year of NCD's annual April Fools collection! 

Thank you as always to Forest and Josh at Nui Cobalt for letting me test these samples out in exchange for reviews. I'm delighted to be able to try these scents, as they're truly a collection I know I can look forward to every year! 

Perfidious: Wine Poached Pears - An elegant scent to soften the edges and ease communication. Delicate d’Anjou pears simmered in a subtly spiced rosé.

Oh this is absolutely mouthwateringly delicious. I'm deeply in love with NCD's pear notes as they really capture the ripe gorgeousness of D'Anjou pears because of how syrupy sweet they are. I adore the opening, it's really just honeyed slices of pear, with soft mulled and spiced pear. I don't quite get any rose from this, but the soft simmering spices of the mulling spices here give a thorough haze of warmth to the scent, leaning into a mulled apple cider type scent. On me, this scent slowly shifts on my skin as more of an apple pie note after the pear note fades, but on my co-tester, this one ends up being far more fruity and almost pineapple/apricot adjacent type scent - it's almost tropical and sour at points, compared to my tendencies to amp sugar. That said, this scent reminds me a lot of my all time favorite NCD scent, Mourning Dove, but in a more maple heavy gourmand package, and it's really a lovely treat. This is also a comparatively heady and intense blend, just a drop of this lasts hours, and my co-tester was smelling pear for hours even with just the lightest dab. 

Swindle: Frosted Lemon Cake - A simple confection to restore balance. Tangy-sweet lemon pound cake with vanilla royal icing.

Having loved Poppycock, the most perfect rendition of a lemon meringue pie, I was a little apprehensive this potentially being a very similar scent, but I was pleasantly surprised by how different this is. Much like Poppycock, the lemon here is extremely saccharine, it's only ever so slightly tart, like lemon cream and sugar, it's soft and pastel yellow, but cheery and bright. While I do wish this was a little more zesty, it's a perfect shade of lemon to match with this gorgeous yellow cake scent - it smells freshly baked and deliciously indulgent, with a distinctly caramel like quality like the crunchy sugary edges of baked goods, and the faintest whiff of maple syrup. I haven't quite tried a cake accord like this, and it's very similar to the cupcake note in Phenakism, but it's very true to life and extremely hyperrealistic, and I really adore this combination of lemon icing and rich yellow cake. For me, this actually reminds me a lot of Bongo Poppy Cake (MooScents), with the same complex richness in its baked goods note, but what it lacks in the lemon, it makes up in the caramelized sugar - BPC is one of my all time Moona favorites in any case, and I'm happy to see Swindle join its ranks whenever I'm craving something slightly less loud. This might not be most people's idea of a sleepy time scent, but it's definitely mine. 

Phenakism: Faerie Cakes - A whimsical olfaction to honor Spring’s return. Tiny cupcakes conjured from lavender-infused sugar, maple sap gathered at the Vernal Equinox, fine almond flour, oatmilk, and rainbow sprinkles.

I'm in love with this one - the opening of this is magical, like the warmth of freshly baked yellow cupcakes and a smear of creamy vanilla icing, and a giant jug of maple syrup. Although the scent has nuances of light herbal lavender just creeping around the edges, and an almost sharp amaretto leaning almond, these fade quite quickly in the presence of the golden maple syrup. For me, the maple is the heaviest note in this blend, but I find that NCD always does a gorgeous maple - although this one is even more sticky and richer than their usual wares. The only note I have on this is that although I usually don't have a huge issue with NCD's almond accord (almond usually is a bit of a death note for me), I find this one ever so slightly sharp and a little too biting for my taste, but it's quickly tempered by the heavy maple and the yellow cake. I'm almost reminded of sweeter take on Pumpkin Craves Bread (Arcana) with this scent, especially with the heady maple candies and the scent of sweet baked goods - it's an unexpected favorite from the collection but I'm besotted with this one. I found this one very linear in wear after dry down, but this one had an impressive throw and wear time compared to some of the other NCD blends I've tried. Just one drop will have you smelling like freshly baked cupcakes for the whole day. Between this and Swindle, there's definitely a bit of an overlap, but I might pick this one simple because the light touch of lavender just gives an extra something special to it for me. 

Mendacity: Horchata - A comforting creation to soothe the soul. Classic horchata made from jasmine rice, demerara sugar, and true Ceylon cinnamon.

I have complex feelings about rice notes. That is to say, I love rice, yet it seems a lot harder than I imagined it would be to find the perfect rice note - the same subtle sweetness from the wafting steam of steamed rice. To me, rice is warm, soft and sweet, but sometimes a lot of renditions of rice are oddly sharp and prickly (amaretto adjacent), or far too much musk and nothing much in between. 

This scent is 'fragrant', in the way that it feels more like an amaretto adjacent rendition of rice, and it's a note that evokes an abstract swatch of marble colored nuttiness, cold and static. The cinnamon here is slightly reminiscent of a discontinued favorite, Scare Tea Cat (Luminous Star Perfumes), but it lacks the same warmth, and despite the spices, Mendacity is a a surprisingly 'cold' scent for me. Having tried this on both me and my co-tester, I found that my skin amped more of a white sugar and rice combo, whereas it went surprisingly savoury and salty with the combination of the cinnamon on his skin.

For comparison - having tried Wool Over Your Eyes, the house's rice pudding scent, I found it a little too heavy on the cinnamon/cardamom/nutmeg, which is to say, a little too sharp - and while I have loved the brief spots of rice in Virtuous, it's overshadowed by its less than foodie fellows. For those who have tried it, this is virtually a less spice intense version of Wool Over Your Eyes, very much a fragrant take on a spiced rice concoction. I actually think this reminds me a lot of The Block Party (Sixteen92), but to be honest, it's not a scent I'd reach for when it exists on the same shelf as Madar and Soft (Poesie). I really do wish I liked this scent more, but YMMV - I imagine the spice fiends will love this one as a warm, cozy scent for autumn to wear with beige linen and starched cotton sheets. 

Knavery: Fig Clafoutis - A seductive aroma to attract that which you desire. A fluffy, oven-baked pancake bursting with richly flavored fruit. Hints of port wine and bright orange zest accentuate this decadent dessert.  

The opening of this scent is gorgeous and luxuriously fruity - it's fresh creamy fig, before immediately settling down into a combination of honeyed dessert wine and sticky port, drizzled on top of sweet pancakes. The fig isn't quite as dominant, yet the subtle sweetness of the fig syrup clings on strong, dotting the edges of decadently buttered pancake. For me, this is a delicious simple blend of figs and pancake, and it's a very hyperrealistic piping hot pancakes, before easing off into more of a light fruity syrup for the rest of the wear. This is one of the rare scents that doesn't feature any of the heavier maple profiles in it at all, and I relish the simplicity and refreshing sweetness of this one - definitely worth checking out if you're into pancake notes (which I very much am). The pancakes here also reminds me a little of The Nice List (Sixteen92) although without as much maple syrup, and I've been looking for something similar for a while - it's definitely worth checking out! 

Pseudology: Pistachio Gelato - A luxurious blend for sensory fulfillment. Creamy-smooth pistachio butter, chilled fresh cream, and an abundance of sugar.

I really love how this collection has seemingly reinvented their nuts catalogue here - just like the almond, this pistachio accord seems especially pronounced and utterly delicious. I'm extremely partial to pistachio gelato myself, and I can definitely tell you this is by far the best, most hyperrealistic take on pistachio I've ever had the pleasure of trying - it's nutty, while still retaining that little bite of green grassiness at the very end. If you've been looking for a good pistachio, do yourself and check this one out. However, this lovely scent comes with a caveat - depending on skin chemistry, the pistachio will either flourish or flop on your skin. As I tend to amp sweetness in scents, while the opening of this scent is lovely and gorgeous, post dry down, the scent is far more of a tempered, subtly nutty sugared cream, flecked with chopped pistachio, but a friend I tested this scent just amped the roasted nuttiness of the pistachio on their skin, and definitely went full pistachio gelato. I am definitely sad that this isn't quite as beautifully true to the pistachio note on my skin, but I can always dab a little bit of this in a scent locket, or whatever other method that avoids it interacting too much with my skin chemistry. Nevertheless, I love sniffing this one. 

Artful Dodger: Chewy Pink Candy - The distinctive scent of popular pink candy chews that shall remain nameless but are definitely not a reference to a supernova.  

This is an interesting scent, but one that really benefits from a little bit of rest. On my first wear, I found myself wading through scrubber territory, a clash of strawberry hard candies submerged in a puddle of white florals and oceanic musk, but upon revisiting this, it's mellowed out wonderfully, softening into more of a simple watermelon hard candy scent. It's relatively linear with both application and dry down, although the watermelon eases off into more of a indistinct fruity sweetness during the later parts of wear. Personally, I think NCD has one of the loveliest watermelon accords I've tried, and I was a big fan of their discontinued scent Yemaya, which has a really fresh and juicy quality to the watermelon, although this one reads a little more like artificial hard candy, which definitely works in favor of the scent. As I mentioned, it's rare for the house to come out with more of the fresh, fruity and lighter types of scents as there's usually a more complex richness to their blends, but this one was a lovely change of pace after it settles down into the skin - just to cheer yourself right up. It's not my favorite of this line up personally, but I can't deny its charm.