White / Noel Blanc
Ava Luxe

Well i had hopes for that. Aquatic always sounds appealing to me. But here i can get no aqua no orieantals. Just cacao essential oil of the low quality and vanilla and nuts all end up smelling like a wafer box left at the high shelf for months and months. Nothing nice about it.

Classified by Ava Luxe as a gourmand oriental, White starts off with a whiff of what smells very much like cocoa butter. But, unlike any other gourmand I've tried, it morphs into a cool, almost aquatic scent, before finally revealing a gentle musky base. Like most scents, this has very little projection on me, even though today was a hot one. The overall impression is clean and slightly soapy – nice for daytime, but not really evening wear. I've become a big fan of Ava Luxe over the last couple of months, but White, though pleasant, isn't really me.

Noel Blanc is interesting; it opens with a note that is reminiscent of Aqua Net (the old, aerosol hair spray), but is tempered by a deeper, sweeter white chocolate base. I also get a hint of brown sugar, ginger, nutmeg, and possibly raspberry (or some sort of tangy fruit). Nice, but I will need some cold weather before I can make sense of this one.