Over The Chocolate Shop

Over The Chocolate Shop is exactly what its name promises: the gloriously rich aroma you catch walking past a confectioner as the first batch of pralines is melted in the early morning. It opens with a blast of dry, dark cacao powder, the kind used in baking rather than the sticky sweet sort, lifted by roasted hazelnut so the first ten minutes read like a freshly opened Snickers or a canister of European cocoa. Through the heart a nutty praline core warms and rounds the chocolate, lending a caramelised, slightly creamy texture that keeps it from turning flat. As it settles, coffee climbs out of the base and increasingly takes over, pairing with a soft, dark vanilla that peeks through to sweeten the dry-down, while a faintly woody, almost ambery facet emerges from the blend even though no wood note is listed. Performance is divisive: many find it weak and skin-close within the hour, others report a good six to eight hours with whiffs all day if oversprayed. It is unmistakably a cold-weather scent, cosy and edible without being a sugar bomb, and reads cleanly unisex thanks to the dry, mature cocoa rather than a candied one. It sits next to Montale Chocolate Greedy and Mugler Angel Muse on the gourmand shelf, but trades their density for a lighter, more photorealistic chocolate-cafe portrait. For the gourmand crowd who want true cocoa, not Tootsie Roll.