Over the Chocolate Shop
4160 Tuesdays (2018)

Smells like milk chocolate, in candy-bar form. Has a buttery feel. The coffee smells nutty, even slightly woodsy. Vanilla is buzzy, fizzy, nearly resinous. This, is a chocolate accord-scent that is classy - not juvenile like some can be. This, is for adults. Well done!

4160 Tuesdays Over the Chocolate Shop is perhaps the best-advertised of Sarah McCartney's numerous gourmand or near-gourmand fragrances, so with a month of anticipation, I had high hopes upon receiving my sample and giving it a first try.

The note listing is humbly small, a simple-ish nod to gourmand lovers like myself: only cocoa butter, the nuts of praline and hazelnut, coffee, and vanilla.

Fittingly, the chocolate takes center stage from the onset, not a more familiar dense semi-dark chocolate but rather, almost exactly as another has put it, like milk chocolate cocoa powder, somehow at the very intersection of sweet and dry. It's plenty sweet but not over the top, and the sharpness of the cocoa powder is somehow there. Another similar analogous experience is the smell of a milk chocolate bar when first being unwrapped. A brilliant capture by Sarah.

The praline/hazelnut mix starts to emerge in the background quickly after application. Hazelnut alone is more familiar, and I like to think I would've pointed it out without knowing about it ahead of time, but the addition of praline makes for a more nuanced and alien blend, albeit very desirable and certainly not taking much away from the cocoa-dominance of the fragrance.

I can't really pick out the coffee and vanilla individually but certainly they could, respectively, enhance the sharp and sweet touches of the fragrance.

Overall, I'm delighted that Over the Chocolate Shop gives me something new, slightly unexpected, and not just a near-copy of another chocolatey gourmand I've smelled before.

The "dry cocoa powder" aspect of it makes it unique among the chocolate fragrances I've smelled, and as often, I'm impressed by how polished the finished product is.

It's definitely a standout entry in the 4160 Tuesdays lineup and an all-star gourmand, a must-try for gourmand lovers, especially lovers of cocoa.

In addition, it performs very, very well, I dare say exceptionally, even among other similar cold-weather-leaning fragrances in the house that are generally strong, its dark juice selling its strength fairly convincingly. Its boastful projection of a few feet for at least a couple hours followed by a good scent cloud thereafter, suggests high value.

Fortunately, the pricing is rather in line with most of her offerings, at $110 for 50ml, and is sold in the US at Luckyscent.

In conclusion, I'm dazzled. Over the Chocolate Shop is a fragrance that I smell and want to keep smelling over and over again, among my favorite of Sarah's creations. Bravo!

8 out of 10