Nui Cobalt: April Fool's 2022 Collection Review
Is it really that time of year again already? It's hard to believe I've been collecting the entire line of Nui Cobalt's April release for 4 years already, but honestly, it's my favorite release of the whole year, and definitely a highlight of my indie calendar. I was kindly provided a few press samples for this release, but I ended up impulsively full sizing a few as I really loved the sound of this year's releases!
About my order:
I placed my order on the 26th of March and it was shipped on the 28th of March, well within the stated TAT! Nui Cobalt is always incredibly efficient with their TAT, and they always include a lovely handwritten card in every order. I believe they must have responded to other comments about their packaging for the 1ml samples, as instead of being haphazardly scattered inside the bubble wrap in the box (as they used to), they now come packed and slotted together in a little row and secured with bubble wrap. All 5mls also come with bubble wrap, and I've never had any leaks or breaks across both 5ml and 1ml vials. It's not the most luxurious of packaging at all, but I appreciate the eco-friendly aspect for sure. International shipping typically costs $19, but this order was slightly heavier, at $26USD, which is relatively affordable compared to some other houses which start at $26. USPS has also resumed shipping to Australia with the help of Global Post, so tracking and shipping has resumed to more or less normal (albeit a little slower than usual).
Scents:
Hornswoggle: Apple Fritter - The warm simplicity of slow-baked apple, deep fried dough, and spiced brown sugar glaze.
I've been looking for an apple pie scent for a while, and I think this is it. I am absolutely devastated I didn't end up full sizing this one. Apple notes are always miss the mark a little for me, but this one absolutely knocks it out the park, a warm, baked apple, complimented with maple syrup, brown sugar and a sprinkle of cinnamon, and baked pastry and fried dough. Each note is such a stand out in its own way, and you can pick out the buttery baked pastry, the glazed apple and the sugar very easily. I truly love this, I only wish the apple note stuck around for a little longer, but listen, it's delicious. I love this.
Wool Over Your Eyes: Rice Pudding - A delicate blend of fluffy jasmine rice, precious saffron, vanilla-infused sugar, almond milk, nutmeg, cardamom, and a scant sprinkle of cinnamon.
I was really looking forward to this, as I'm a big fan of the lovely rice note in Virtuous, which is truly delicious and reminds me a bit of Soft (Poesie), although I've always found the rice a little too soft for me. With this scent, I have a similar experience - the opening strong spice mix in this is almost overwhelming, and is very similar in opening to Tall Tales - lots of sharp vanilla essence, almond extract and herbaceous saffron, without any of the rice. This takes a while to settle down on the skin, around an hour, melting into a soft nutty vanilla cookie scent. It's not quite the rice solinote that Soft is, but this is still very firmly a sweet vanilla foodie vibe. I imagine aging this will really mellow it out, like with the strong sharp vanilla sugar from Making Snow Angels (NCD), as NCD blends age very well. I can definitely see this as a sleep scent after you work past the opening, but I can see someone who loves spices in their rice pudding really loving this.
Des Bobards: Almond Croissant - The crown jewel of the patisserie, the perfect harmony of savory and sweet. Weightless layers of warm buttery bread embrace an impeccable almond frangipane.
It's always a pleasure to see almond done in a softer, sweeter way, and I think this is one of those examples. Although the opening is a little prickly (almond extract territory), the generously decadent sweetness of the butter and bread really tempers it, into a beautifully gentle scent - warm bread, sweet butter and a touch of almond peeking through. This reminds me a lot of Roguery (NCD), but I have to say, I really enjoy the added almond that just adds a little nuance and interest to the scent. I really enjoyed the way this wore on my skin.
Tall Tales: Carrot Cake - The ridiculously authentic scent of home made carrot cake spiced with nutmeg and ginger, dotted with rum-soaked raisins, and crowned with decadent cream cheese frosting.
On my first meeting with this scent, I was really taken aback. This is an incredible explosion of spice, I twisted the bottle open to have a sniff and was greeted by a cloud of spice, burning the back of my throat through my nose. It's a mix of nutmeg, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, just all vying for my attention, and it stays sharp even during the first hour of wear. Afterwards, it mellows out a touch, slowly lurking back until the rum soaked raisins creep in around the edges, and at around 2 hours on my skin, it settles into a tamed, docile cake scent. I find it very similar to Codswallop (NCD) due to the darker, sugared notes of the raisins, and I can't really detect much carrot at all (although, it seems to be a hard note to capture). I believe lots of people will want to compare this to Little Brown Rabbit (NCD) as that's what is usually described as the 'carrot cake' scent, but I personally don't find them very similar at all - I think LBR has that soft maple-y cozy subtle sweetness to it that I associate with carrot cake, but Tall Tales is truly a loud and dominating presence of spices, rummy raisins, and a decadent slice of cake. I think they're both lovely, but very different scents. I would love to layer them in the future though!
Bluffing: Bananas Foster - An indulgent potion of perfectly ripe bananas sauteed in molten brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, and Caribbean rum, served over vanilla ice cream.
I like the banana note here, but the mixture of notes here makes this scent go ridiculously smokey on me. I'm attributing this to the Caribbean rum note, but it almost smells like smoked wood on my skin, a semi salty concoction punctuated with butter and sweet mashed banana. This goes a little funny on my skin, and I can only hope that aging will mellow this out, as it's not fantastic. I had a similar tragic experience with the banana note in Bollocks (NCD), but Tiki Bar's beautiful banana note is really lovely, so I'm very suspiciously eyeing the rum note on this scent.
Fibbing: Coconut Cream Pie - A luxuriant confection of tender coconut baked in rich vanilla custard with a toasted almond crust.
I don't think I've ever had coconut cream pie, but this scent isn't super heavy on the coconut at all - it smells more like smooth coconut milk, with a touch of sweet sugar and caramelised pastry. The overall scent is also quite similar to Roguery (NCD), although this has more of an 'atmospheric' twist, like a bakery/cake store, with all the sweet buttered pastry being baked in an oven just simmering in the air. This shares a lot of similarities with the other buttery/pastry based scents from the April Fool's line up, so while this is a lovely scent, it's not my stand out pick.
Prevaricating: Lychee Rose Gelee - A lovely bouquet of tart lychee, sugared rose, and a sprinkle of lime zest.
Listen, I don't know what else to say besides perfection. Lychee is one of those notes that are very few and far between, and it's hard to get right, especially as a more dominant note in a blend. This is gorgeous, a twist of rose syrup, crushed Bulgarian rose, paired with fresh lychee and lychee syrup - its exactly what it says on the tin and I am thrilled. As a big fan of the Ispahan macaron (rosewater buttercream, rose macaron, lychee and raspberries), and the use of florals in desserts, this is sort of a simpler version, and anyone who enjoyed Paris Royale (Poesie) will probably enjoy this blend.
Comments
Post a Comment