SOTD: Rochas Tocade

I want to love Rochas Tocade. It's near-universally loved, it has Luca Turin credits, it's inexpensive, it's in that whacky bottle. It has everything that should make it a"See? Great perfume doesn't have to cost a fortune!" example.

But, no. I sprayed on plenty again today, and it's still no more than Perfectly Nice.

Review Roundup: Is here.

Image: Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: Rochas Tocade

I've never understood the appeal of Rochas Tocade. Luca Turin loves it. Everyone else seems to love it. And it's inexpensive, so I bought a bottle unsniffed, and was disappointed - in everything but the whacky bottle itself, which I love. Today, I sprayed lots on with the expectation that I would add Tocade to the giveaway list.

Maybe overspraying was the key to success. On previous wearings, I smelled this as uninviting synthetic rose, fading to nonspecific "Yeah, there's still some perfume there" basenotes. This time, the dubious rose was veiled by better things - I got more of the vanilla, and something else that might be the magnolia and lily of the valley. As the flowers faded to the background, the end was musky powder, something that I normally hate, but not this time. Maybe the overspray gave me enough patchouli and cedar to reconcile me to powder, just as the coconut and sandalwood in Cadjmere lead me to love the powder in that fragrance.

So I'm declaring it to be a powder-musk-wood fragrance, not a rose scent. Using that definition, I enjoyed the last few hours, and I can imagine that with a few more wearings, I could grow fond of this. So I'm keeping it. And I still love that bottle.

Review Roundup: Is here.

Image: By JM Suarez. Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: Rochas Tocade

I bought this unsniffed. Bad me.

On the other hand, this one is very inexpensive. A decant would have been a large fraction of the cost of the bottle.

And it has good recommendations! Apparently Luca Turin liked it very much, and it went on to totally unanticipated success, thus giving Luca Turin a reputation for a sort of fragrance-business clairvoyance. At least, that's how I remember it - the story is in The Emperor Of Scent, by Chandler Burr, which I recommend but unfortunately don't have on hand. So it's, y'know, got history, as much as a new scent can, anyway.

Anyway, I got the bottle. Unsniffed. Bad me.

It's a wonderfully ridiculous bottle. I'm too much in fear of the Trademark Police to actually show you a picture in this post, but you can see it here. I love this thing.

When I first sprayed it on, I was disappointed - it was an average "perfumey" rose scent. Then the sharp perfumey notes burned off and it's a nice rose and vanilla. I can see why many people call it a comfort scent, though it's not really comforting me - my comfort scents usually involve tea.

I must confess that I'm not excited, but perfumes in the comfort scent category often have to grow on you, so I'll we'll see. It is improving as the minutes tick by.

Meanwhile, here's the review roundup: Perfume-Smellin' Things and Perfume-Smellin' Things again and Now Smell This and Basenotes and Muses in Wooden Shoes and ScentSate.

Edited to add to the Review Roundup.

Photo: Mine