Uncle Travelling Matt

[MCS4096]

Dark chocolate, figgy vanilla, pear, and quince.

Juicy sweet fruits and a hint of chocolate. As it dries the fruits become less obviously sweet, a little more floral.. still very light on the chocolate. This isn't something I'd normally choose to try, but I was intrigued by the figgy vanilla Unfortunately I get none of it! I personally feel the Lab's chocolate note blends better with resinous and dark notes.. with lighter, higher notes the chocolate IS grounding but winds up smelling kind of flat and cheap to me

[Invidiana]

YUM. This is as deep as Uncle Matt thinks he is, and somehow still lighthearted in all its delicious foodiness. I'd say the fig and vanilla are the most prominent notes on me, followed by a dark and earthy chocolate. I wouldn't say this is a chocolate-dominated scent, but you can tell there is a cacao note in there adding to its body. The pear and quince that sweeten it up just enough but not too much. Sometimes I've had bad luck with pear notes going cloyingly sweet, but gladly not in this case. It must be the type of pear that likes me, like that one in The Vine. Winner!

[bellumed]

Deeply fruity with chocolate in the background, a true chocolate rather than cocoa powder. orata hit the nail on the head:

 

those Cadbury fruit and nut chocolate bars: a little bit of dark chocolate, and a lot of something sticky, dry-fruity, almost boozy-smelling, and dark like raisins

 

are exactly what comes to mind. As soon as I put it on my skin: BAM explosion of gummy quince, pear blooming underneath. Soon it all comes together into indistinguishable but very tasty fruitiness. Any traces of chocolate are gone.

 

I like this a lot, but not for the reasons I thought I would. I was hoping to be on a chocolate and vanilla cloud, but instead I just got a delicious fruity blend. Downsides are the throw and wear length, as UTM faded pretty quickly from my skin.

[neuilly]

Well, this was again not at all what I expected! Although I found a surprise love in Tokyo Stomp, I find that chocolate tends to make scents feel unwearable to me.

 

For the first few seconds this had a strong chocolate not but then it fades quickly to the background. This ends up mostly as a slight boozy pear and (what I assume is) quince. I'm actually really loving it! It's a warm rich fruity smell. I'm not very familiar with quince, and perhaps it normally smells like the slightly boozy scent I'm getting? I do get some vanilla too. All the notes are there, just not in the proportions I was expecting.

 

I'm not generally a fruity girl but I'm loving this. I will have to try the decant a few more times, but I'm thinking this may have to be a bottle!

[BuxomM]

I was most looking forward to this fraggle. Wet, it's sweet juicy Pear and sweet syrupy quince. I don't get any fig or chocolate. I was hoping for chocolate. I love pear and quince so this is amazing to me. It satisfys my sweet scent craving

[arlith]

This sounded so fabulous to me. Luckily, I decided to get a full set of decants rather than go straight for a bottle. Chocolate is sometimes a little iffy on me. (The lab's cocoa tends to work a little better with my skin.)

 

I suspect it was the quince that turned on me. It definately went very weird. It went fruit and a bit sickly sweet; I had trouble washing it off.

 

Uncle Traveling Matt does not play well with me...good thing he's far away and just sending postcards.

[milo]

At first, predominantly dark chocolate, only it smells rather fake. After a bit, the fruit comes out, and the chocolate is there, but in the background. This doesn't smell very appealing on me, though I don't like fruit/chocolate combinations. I was hoping for more figgy vanilla. Blech.

[mistressfizz]

Sniff: This is straight up vanilla cake in the bottle

 

Wet: Yum, vanilla dusted in confectioners sugar, with a creamy fig filling. There isn't a very strong chocolate note here. It's mostly vanilla and tart fruit, with a soft sweetness that isn't overpowering.

 

Dry: This gets darker as it dries. The sweetness fades and becomes almost spicy, taking on an overall dusty note. It reminds me of old school potpourri, the kind with various dried plants & fruits which you had to simmer over heat to release the essential oils. It has that kind of hazy faintly sweet & fruity effect. I'm not totally in love with this one, but I do find it very interesting.

Edited September 17, 2012 by mistressfizz

[PumpkinGuts]

I smell jammy apricot (does quince smell like apricot?) and dark chocolate, and it is delectable. I just wish this lasted longer than 20 minutes on my skin!

[tziporra]

Tried this at BedlamBedlam today while picking up an order.

 

At first I could not figure out why the fig didn't go all dusty and wrong on me like in every other fig scent on the planet. Then I get to reading the notes and I see it is "figgy vanilla" which kind of makes me want to go make some pudding. Right now.

 

 

Okay, back.

 

Dry, this is a very dark fruity scent, without being the least bit plummy, which is nice because while I like my fruit dark and melancholy, it's nice to have a break from plums every once in awhile. I don't get a lot of chocolate in the drydown, but I feel it is what is blackening the pear and quince so they are all moody rather than their usual happy bright selves. _Not_ a sparkling pear, in case you weren't reading that already.

 

Ultimately, it doesn't read as a springtime scent to me, and it is very similar to one of my box o'chocolates, so I'm not springing for a bottle today.

 

The future though..... Looks like next fall will be an Uncle Traveling Matt kind of season!

 

Tzi

[filigree_shadow]

I had very high hopes for this based on the notes, but it smells weird on me. It smells strangely high-pitched and acidic at first, and then what it settles into is fig and pear. And those two notes... kinda don't go together very well.

 

I'll just stick to Freak Show for my BPAL fig scent. That one works a lot better on me than this one does.

[Atrous]

If Uncle Matt smells this way I want to go travelling with him.

 

In the bottle this smelled like fruity candy.

 

Wet, its figs dipped in chocolate.

 

As this dries the fig dies down to almost nothing but now I'm getting quince and juicy pears. This is a strange scent because I'm getting something bubbly yet something creamy swirling around the fruit and chocolate. This is delicious

I most certainly need a bottle or three.

[TorchedEarth]

I was expecting something similar to dark chocolate, fig & tamarind, but instead ended up with lots & lots of quince! I like it... A lot.

 

The quince is loud & a little sharp, but in a good way. After a few minutes it tones down a little bit.

The rich chocolate of dcft never shows up, but it's a gorgeous blend nonetheless.

[AlectoFurious]

Dried figs dipped in chocolate with just a touch of a fruity tartness. Slurpable.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Candy! Super sugar sweet apple candy. Quince seem to read as apple on me. I don't actually know what a quince smells like, so maybe they are similar.

 

Dry: Oh fig, how I adore you. And it's a good thing too because I amp it like crazy. This needs a full day test, but I think it's bottle worthy. I was hoping for more Cocoa though.

[unxolve]

YEP FIG with a little creamy chocolate ;o; yayyyyyyyy so nice. Fig is a christmas spice store and I looooove it.

 

Already fading, though. ): Please stay, little fig smell )8 ~ </3

 

Okay there's a little faint yummy warm chocolate smell that's left. I'm okay with this.

Edited May 16, 2016 by unxolve

[tacey]

This bottle has aged BEAUTIFULLY! Pretty sure I bought it near release, in 2012, and I never quite loved it, though it got some wear. Broke it out today in a fit of 'must re-try all the figs in my box!' and OH MY! This has turned into a beautiful, sweet chocolate, perfectly balanced between a dark chocolate sweetened by vanilla and a blend of fruits. I can't pick out the fig, but the pear and quince are swirling together just perfectly. It's foodie, but not? Delicious!

[dementia_divine]

In the decant: Fig, chocolate, pear, and quince, Sometimes, I get more of the fig and chocolate, but other sniffs result in more pear and quince.

 

Wet: Figgy dark chocolate accompanied by pear and quince. But as the scent sits on my skin, the pear and quince become more prominent and end up as the dominant notes.

 

Dry: This is all about the pear and quince, with the quince being the strongest note on me. The dark chocolate note resides in the background, and I am getting the vanilla aspect of the figgy vanilla now (which is definitely figgy, but not as figgy as before). It makes me think of a fruit platter with quince and pear slices and two dips for the fruit.

 

After a while, the dark chocolate and figgy vanilla end up reasserting themselves and becoming the dominant notes, but the quince isn't far behind.

 

Verdict: A curious combo for a curious Fraggle! Uncle Traveling Matt smells pleasant, but smelling like fruity chocolate isn't really my jam. So glad to have been able to properly try it, though!