Atelier Cologne Advent Calendar: Day 1 Cafe Tuberosa

Disclaimer: I purchased this.

Long time, no see, huh?  My computer died and I lost a lot of photos, plus other technical difficulties and an overwhelming work schedule meant the blog went on hiatus. I'm evaluating just what I want to do with the blog anyhow, but I still find myself taking pictures and documenting my daily makeup choices with pictures. Clearly I'm not quite ready to give it all up :-)

Part of my somewhat modest Sephora VIB haul was this Atelier Cologne advent calendar. I really enjoyed using the bareMinerals advent calendar last year, but I could not find a makeup advent calendar that excited me this year. I seem to be on a fragrance kick at the moment plus I'm a big fan of Atelier Cologne, so this is the item I'll be partaking of daily in the led up to Christmas. I think a new fragrance each day sounds just lovely.

Day 1 of the calendar starts with Atelier's newest offering - Cafe Tuberosa.  Atelier loves telling stories to frame their scents, and Cafe Tuberosa begins as:

Based on that, I picture a cafe with vases of fresh flowers on the tables, where the scent of the flowers mingles with freshly brewed coffee. The  top notes of bergamot, tangerine and cardamon provide a bright burst that is followed shortly by a surprisingly fresh take on tuberose, which can be a very indolent bordering on aggressive white floral (Fracas comes to mind, obviously). The coffee note comes out fairly quickly, and it's a realistic, almost wet coffee grinds take on the note. The dry down is a creamy vanilla cacao that has me sniffing my wrist frequently. The progression through the notes happens fairly quickly, so it's a good thing I find the final stage of Cafe Tuberosa to be so pleasant. I'd describe it as a gourmand and while it's on the more feminine end of the unisex range, it's not sugary. Perhaps more of an unsweetened cafe latte with a bit of vanilla-cardamon spice sprinkled on top? I'd be remiss if I did not mention that several reviews mention cigarette smoke in the mix as well. I get what they are saying, although it would not have come to mind if I had not read it in other reviews. Don't let that put you off, as it's not an unpleasant note in the mix at all, and if anything adds to the whole public coffee shop olfactory experience. 

• Top notes:  Bergamot from Calabria, tangerine from Sicily, and cardamom from Guatamala
• Middle notes: tuberose from Inda, Damascena rose absolue, coffee espresso accord
• Base notes: patchouli from Indonesia, vanilla from Madagascar, Ivory Coast cacao absolue

Something to know about Atelier is that they specialize in fragrances that feature citrus notes, so each cologne  has citrus top notes which lend a crisp freshness to them. Atelier created what they call a new olfactive category: cologne absolues, which means a citrus-based scent (the original meaning of “cologne”) blended with unexpected ingredients in an “eau de parfum” type of concentration.  

Source: Atelier Cologne

Don't let the fact that these are colognes and not perfumes lull you into thinking they don't have lasting power. Or at least on my skin they do. These cologne concentrations are higher at between 12%-20% (5% is common for most colognes), which gives them more impact.  I can still smell Cafe Tuberosa on my wrists a good 8 hours after applying, although it's definitely a skin scent by that point. 

So would I purchase this one?  Yes, I definitely would.  I'll probably go for the mini-sized spray ($26 for 10 ml), as I rarely stick with one fragrance long enough to finish a full-sized bottle (scent attention span of a fruit fly, definitely), and a 30 ml bottle would set me back $85.  It takes me forever to even work through a vial sample, so a mini will do me just fine for now. Cafe Tuberosa is a great start on my fragrance count-down to Christmas!