Beauty Care: Loree Rodkin Gothic II Perfume Review

is a boozy, rich vanilla with earthy, chocolaty patchouli and a dash of spiced clove with tendrils of nag champa incense swirling in the background. It has the notes of: Madagascar vanilla, frangipani, sandalwood, clove, incense, Tunisian patchouli, and Indian patchouli.

It opened with boozy, bourbon vanilla, spiced cloves, and dark, earthy patchouli that shifted to powdered cocoa after a few minutes on my skin. The booziness dissipated, taken over by sweet nag champa incense with a hint of citrus florals blooming a mile away. It continued to be a richly sweet–a very dark vanilla–with heat and subtle spice from cloves, dry chocolate from patchouli, and fragrant, sweet and floral incense.

Gothic II ended up having a linear progression with little change over the next two to three hours. It seemed to get less floral over time with the vanilla and patchouli being the more dominant of the components, and the patchouli’s chocolaty note turned creamier, milkier, and sweeter by degrees. The drydown was primarily rich, thick vanilla with subtle patchouli.

Application

For testing, I used half of a 1ml sample vial dabbed to the underside and topside of my wrist area on my left arm. I used an unscented moisturizer prior to applying the scent as this is also my swatching arm (aka, incredibly parched at any given moment) as I found scent did not hold well here otherwise.

Longevity

It lasted for six hours until it was a skin-scent and about 12 hours before it was quite difficult to detect on my skin. The sillage and projection were moderate with the sillage dropping faster than the projection within the first hour of wear.

Personal Thoughts

Like Gothic I, I liked the drydown the most, though I enjoyed it throughout, just that the drydown made me want to sniff my wrist constantly! There is something particularly rich and lovely about the vanilla component used in it. I’ll have to do a side-by-side with Gothic I sometime, which I did end up buying.