‘How did I miss this?’ Monday: Huitieme Art Sucre d’Ebene

“Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down,
The medicine go down, the medicine go down,
Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down,
In the most delightful way.”

Count your blessings that you’re not hearing me sing this “Mary Poppins” tune in person, folks, ha! Now many of you Posse readers may recall that I am frequently a fan of gourmand scents, and am fond of some sugar, some spice and some buttery caramel and vanilla. (Mmm … I could go for some deep, dark molasses ginger cookies right about now.) I realize that that genre is not everyone’s cup of tea though. Anyhoo, while poking through a batch of samples sent me by a lovely perfumista, I came across one that piqued my interest and wondered why it hadn’t crossed my sweet-tooth radar before now: Huitieme Art’s Sucre d’Ebene. Well, no time like the present, says I, so I spritzed some on immediately.

It’s sweet to be sure, but not in that often sickeningly overpowering way, thanks to the benzoin, giving it an almost burnt quality, not unlike the crispy-crunchy top of a crème brulee. Shortly in, I detect a tang of something almost medicinal, likely the witch hazel, which gives the scent a bit of bite. Whatever it is, it bridges the sugary sweetness and the resiny benzoin ever so nicely.

Sucre d’Ebene doesn’t jump through dramatic developmental hoops as some scents do, but holds a fairly steady course that’s comforting, cozy, and yet with enough interest to keep it from being boring. It’s moderate in the sillage department, not loud or overpowering, but whoa — the longevity on this thing is amazing. I put it on one morning and could still detect nice echoes of it well into mid-evening.

I do believe I will happily use up my sample and consider putting this on the FB-worthy list (which never seems to see any action, but still … ).

The Huitieme Art site (or rather, the Parfumerie Generale one) lists these notes: brown sugar, witch hazel, orange blossom, vanilla and benzoin.

Notes per Fragrantica: woodsy notes, sugar, benzoin, hazelnut

Luckyscent lists brown sugar, witch hazel and benzoin.

And another site, Les Senteurs, presents these notes for Sucre d’Ebene: sugar cane, brown sugar, benzoin, amber, vanilla orchid, tonka and witch hazel.

So what about you — have you tried any scent lately that made you sit up and say, “Whoa – how did I miss this?” And do any of you have one of the Huitieme Art bottles? They look very interesting, but not sure what they are made of and what they feel like. Some sites show white bottles for the Sucre d’Ebene; the official fragrance site has black, so I’m not sure what to think. Thanks!