Centzon Totochtin

[MaritzaCardona]

The Four Hundred divine rabbits of the Aztec pantheon that preside over parties and drunkenness. Bittersweet Mexican cocoa with rum, red wine, and a scent redolent of sacrificial blood.

In the bottle: Whoa that's strong! All I get is booze and cocoa!

Wet on skin: Now it's all cocoa. Strong, dark cocoa.

dry-down: The cocoa starts to mellow and...do I detect the booze?

After a while: The scent mellowed a lot. The cocoa is ever present and there a smokiness coming out. I think it's a strong sensual scent.

When I first tested this scent I hated it. Giving it a second chance I now quite enjoy it. I don't think I'm purchasing a bottle but I think I'll enjoy my imp.

[Suu4LC]

@_@ In the imp, this is sort of a dirty, dark cocoa scent. A very weird combination.

 

Yeah, this is such a weird combo on me-really does smell like dirty dirty cocoa. Maybe a little booze in there. It's hard to tell O_o Ugh, as it dries, it smells...really not good on me. For whatever reason, my skin is morphing this into an almost rotten/vomit kind of smell. As it continues to dry, I get that corn tortilla scent that someone below mentioned O_o

 

It kinda stays like that on drydown-like a mix of cocoa powder and corn tortillas. Don't know what happened to this on my skin but it just did not work!

[Honey]

One of the first imps I ever got. Only smelled in the imp itself a couple of times, never used. Tonight, I am going out, and I will be wearing this "blindly".

 

Imp: Very strong waft of alcohol! Like port wine and coconut rum. Also very fruity, like cherry or plum. Sweet and strong.

 

Wet: Still very strong. Port wine and coconut rum. Cherry overrules the plum (plum scent seemed stronger than the cherry in the imp).

 

Dry: Just like red wine cake. The alcohol has taken a step back but it's still a very fruity and sweet scent. But more "dark sweet" than "candy cotton sweet". Cannot put my finger on the cocoa. Does not have a distinct chocolate-y smell to me at all. More port and rum with plum.

 

 

Veeeeery heavy and dark. Seems like a perfect autumn/fall scent. Or if you are in a pirate mood. Don't get any South American vibe from this, more Caribbean or, well, Germany in October. But I like this. Not one of my favorites but it seems daring and fun for a night out.

Edited July 7, 2011 by Honey

[Ella LaRose]

chocolate coffee, for a long time, that is all I smelled, though my friend smelled the wine. After an hour I smelled the wine. This was a very sweet rich scent!

[angelicreprieve]

It smells like creamy, spicy, cocoa. I'm glad I tried this one. I'll probably swap it because I can't see myself reaching for it very often. It gets earthier and richer as it dries down, but there's still a hint of sweetness...

[Brighid]

Booze and chocolate wet. Booze and hot chocolate dry. Doesn't morph much....which is perfectly all right, because it smells delicious just the way it is.

[juniperus]

bottle: sweet cocoa, hint of spiced rum

wet: the same

dry: the tang of the blood is behind a more pronounced scent of rum. cocoa is warm and balancing the rum nicely

later: although I usually can't manage red wine notes this is surprisingly mellow and hasn't gone oddly sour. It's really rather pleasant on me - a nice surprise!

[Lanolin]

In the imp/wet: Chocolate rumballs made by someone with an overenthusiastic pour!

To me, this part is a Christmas scent (reminds me of a disastrous batch I made one year) - all it's missing is the coconut.

 

Drydown: The rum eases off and the cocoa gains more depth - this is a seriously nice cocoa. Very dark, with only the slightest sweetness. The wine and blood balance it out well, emphasising what little sweetness there is.

 

It's nice to sniff from the imp, but I don't think I'd wear it again. Boozey smells aren't really my thing.

Edited June 28, 2011 by Lanolin

[milo]

Wet, very fruity red wine and something foody, like spiced cookies or something. Dry, a spiced red wine, full bodied, but not too alcoholic. Kind of reminds me a bit of Gluhwein, but this is more of a fruit wine rather than a red. Maybe it's the blood note? Whatever the case, it's nice in the dry phase, the wet is a bit muddled. I think I'm getting a bit of warm cocoa now. I like this, but probably not enough for a bottle. Will certainly enjoy the rest of the imp though!

[JLH]

On me this is mostly rich, spicy rum and dark, sweet red wine. There's also a bit of bitter cocoa and maybe some coffee, but it's mostly booze. I don't get any tobacco. This scent manages to be food-like without being foody and sweet. It's dark, sexy, and sensual. This is on my list of bottles to purchase.

[theredkilt]

on skin: smells like cocoa dipped in ammonia, dare i say pee

 

drying: i get a cocoa hazelnut vibe from it and the funk totally disappeared

 

dried: powdery dark cocoa with hints of hazelnut

[ephemere]

Dark chocolate over the most beautiful, floral red wine. I was a little worried when I first tried this, because I couldn't seem to smell the chocolate at all! But this time around it's this beautiful dark velvety cocoa blanket over the plummy flowers of the wine. So in love with this. It's definitely going on my bottle list. So far all chocolate BPAL scents have been so good; I can't decide whether I like this or El Dia de Los Reyes 2007 more.

[biocarolyn]

This smells like cocoa in the vial, with something alcoholic underneath. Once on the skin, the red wine comes out and there is some sort of sharp metallic thing underneath...really an interesting scent. Very cool!

 

ETA: Also, bunnies!

Edited September 27, 2011 by biocarolyn

[Aisha]

In the imp: I pick up a bit of cocoa and booze...but mostly I smell vetiver. Maybe it's just a really smokey, deep, bitter chocolate, but it sure does smell like vetiver. Normally I translate vetiver as "place directly in swaps pile," but I'm gonna go out on a limb here.

 

Wet: Couldn't have told you there was wine specifically, but there's definitely a dark, sweet, somewhat boozy fruit. There's also raw, bitter cocoa. What I get mostly though is a rich, woody, smoky scent.

 

Dry: As the hours wore on, this only got better and better. Less vetiver/woodsmoke kick; more well-roundedness with the wine and cocoa.

 

Verdict: This is what The Most Interesting Man in the World's study probably smells like. The smoke from a roaring fire (real wood freshly chopped from the forest, of course - smells like wildwood smoke). Wine and dark chocolate smeared on a hardwood desk from some sexy-time. The tiniest tinge of blood from his last adventure.

 

The hell with a bottle; I want to buy this by the bathtub.

Edited December 12, 2011 by Aisha

[mymymai]

Bittersweet Mexican cocoa with rum, red wine, and a scent redolent of sacrificial blood.

In the Imp: Sweet cocoa followed by spicy chilly (rum?) and just a bit of raisin.

Wet: A bit more floral on my skin. I still smell the cocoa mainly, but I get an odd whiff of green notes.

Dry: After 12 hours, I smell a bit of boosy chocolate. It's an interesting scent.

[Incendiare]

Ok, I thought this one was going to be a winner. Bittersweet cocoa and wine? Those notes are always winners for me. And rum is usually a good team player too. But you know what it smells like to me? Like someone threw up onto a platter of fail. I even took one for the team and tried it on and it was the same. My mom, on the other hand, could smell the cocoa in the vial, and it turned to dry wood on her, so go figure.

[kaltomere]

It's all dry cocoa and incense on me and it is lovely!

[brilliantcat]

In the imp it's heavily red wine, slightly sour. On me, it's a nutty cocoa with a hint of spice. Absolutely lovely so far. Warm, spicy chocolate with hints of wine and a touch of blood and smoke. Definitely going to need a bottle of this one.

[mymymai]

ITB: The notes are thater clear here. The cocoa is a darker variety infused with rum and the winee is a dark almost merlot. I normally don’t like foody scents and wine notes are hit and miss, but this does smell promising.

 

Wet: Milder red wine and cocoa. It’s sweet and boozy.

 

Dry: The staying power of this scent is rather minimal. I applied it last 4 hours ago and I can barely smell slightly boozy chocolate, but I have to concentrate to really smell it.

 

Both my husband and my other guy friend responded very well to this scent. It may not be something I wear all the time, but it does seem to get a response.

[Alia Kaitan]

Took a chance and bought a partial bottle of this unsniffed. The bottle has an older style label, so safe to assume it's aged a bit.

 

Wet, this is sweet, fruity cocoa, which is nice, but dry is where this one really shines on me. The sweetness backs off just enough, letting the rum play with the cocoa over top of a rich dry red wine. The cocoa in this is the good stuff: not too sweet, not too bitter, beautifully smooth and drizzled with just a little cream. At first whiff it's the scent of a king's dessert banquet... but wait. Underneath the bounty of chocolate and booze, this unsettling, slightly salty, more human scent. It's delicious and downright disturbing and I love it.

 

Definitely one of my favourite GCs. I might even get a back up to age while I use this one.

[hexnut]

CENTZON TOTOCHTIN

 

 

In Vitro Very strong sweet booze. Like opening a door and going, "Woah!" strong.

 

Wet I immediately identified the boozy note as rum, which is funny because I've never tasted the stuff. It was a bit sweeter at the end of the inhale. After a minute I smelled something "darker" in addition.

 

Drying The same and still strong, with a throw like a boom box. My brain insisted on labeling the dark note as tobacco, although it was more of a color than an actual tobacco scent. Still sweet and not intrinsically unpleasant, but it began to annoy me through sheer persistence. After an hour I was ready to wash this off but it wasn't actually sickening and that would have violated my test protocols. So I stubbornly stuck it out, like a weary guest retreating to a corner with a book hoping the party would end or at least quite down, but it keep going for hours. Stupid rabbits.

 

I was looking forward to Centzon Totochtin because the description made it sound like fun, and I'm glad I got to try it, but this didn't work for me.

 

UPDATE 11 August 2013: I received a frimp of Centzon Totochtin at Will Call in February and tested the scent without looking at the label first. My impressions were very similar to the original review, although this time I thought I detected almond at one point in the drydown, and I identified it as CT not far along. The overall scent was less off-putting this time - I even wrote, "rather nice if not 'me'" - but I won't be getting a bottle.

 

16

Edited August 11, 2013 by hexnut

[sunlitgarden]

Got this as a lab frimp in my recent order.

 

Imp: This makes me think of a rum-raisin dessert. I often seem to have "raisin" association with the BPAL red wine note (wine = grapes = raisins? I dunno.)

 

On my skin, I'm starting to get a bit of the cocoa. It's not a foody, desserty cocoa - it's somewhat dry and bitter. Overall, this scent reminds me of some kind of cocktail or fancy liquer. Smells good - but not something I want to wear as a perfume.

[Caerphilly]

In the imp: Coffee and caramel. Almost like Bailey's. There is a slight damp wood smell, sandalwood maybe. My fiance said it smells like a bakery when I opened the imp.

 

On the skin: Sweet coffee

 

After an hour: Smells slightly smokey, a bit like church incense, with a spicy smell in the background. Almost like cinnamon, but this doesn't burn my skin like cinnamon does. It fades really quickly. The smell is barely there.

[AlectoFurious]

I recently got this as a frimp and boy am I glad I did!

 

In the imp I got a very heady wine note. Boozy but not overly so.

 

After a liberal splash (I'm a slatherer) the cocoa note came to the fore. But this is not a sweet cocoa, a bitter almost powdery cocoa.

 

After a bit the cocoa is still faint and I get a very irony wine smell. Very mineral and grown up. Can't wait for my bottle to arrive.

[fufu_berry]

I loved the cocoa in Tezcatlipoca, so I was excited to try this. The cocoa was very soft and earthy, and it definitely got overpowered by the wine initially. The wine note didn't really smell much like wine on me, but it was bright and fruity and not sour like some of the reviewers got. It wasn't my favorite, but I didn't dislike it either - the fruitiness of the wine didn't go crazy on me like some fruits do (peach especially was bad). After an hour or so, the wine dried down and the cocoa came back a little bit. This wasn't my favorite, but it was pleasant enough.