Maison Tahité
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The rum strikes first with spirit-forward warmth, its caramel undertones immediately interrupted by pink pepper's aggressive spice and raspberry's tart punctuation. Within three minutes, you're holding something alive and volatile—boozy, fruited, and definitely not a safe gourmand.
The cocoa absolute emerges around the 45-minute mark, creamy but distinctly unsweetened—almost dark—anchored by jasmine's indolic prettiness and that subtle powdery narcissus accord. The spice recedes into background smoke whilst amber wraps everything in honeyed warmth, creating an almost enveloping quality.
Benzoin and oakmoss take the stage, transforming the sweetness into something resinous and subtly woody. Salted caramel provides a final gourmand echo—salty, complex, lingering—whilst saffron adds a whisper of peppery earth. The fragrance becomes quieter, more intimate, settling into skin with creamy-woody composure.
Vicious Cacao announces itself as a calculated hedonism—less innocent gourmand, more decadent indulgence with a knowing smirk. Luca Maffei has crafted something that refuses the saccharine predictability of cocoa fragrances, instead threading a vein of austere spice through its creamy core. The rum opening carries that fermented warmth of Caribbean sugarcane, immediately complicated by pink pepper's peppery bite and a tart raspberry note that prevents the composition from melting into mere dessert. This isn't a fragrance that wants to smell like chocolate cake; it's the moment before the first bite—anticipatory, slightly dangerous.
What makes Vicious Cacao genuinely compelling is how the heart layers cocoa absolute (rich, slightly bitter, unmistakably authentic) with jasmine and narcissus, creating an almost floral counter-tension. There's a powdery quality here—that 52% accord—which lifts the sweetness away from cloying territory. The amber acts as a stabilising force, adding warmth without torpor. Benzoin and oakmoss in the base provide an earthy, almost tobacco-like undercurrent that grounds what could easily have become frivolous.
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3.8/5 (854)