Totem: Raccoon

[Beccah]

 

Totem: Raccoon

We cross paths with the wily raccoon quite often, as they cleverly integrate themselves into urban life for the benefits of interdependence within our ecosystem. Their determination to co-exist and enjoy the benefits of humankind provide a great example of how we may further our own abilities and opportunities. Raccoons are highly intelligent and communicative, with a discerning palate and long memory, and this gourmand-based scented totem recalls their distinctive appearance and adaptable nature in equal measure. A sweet chocolate-caramel swirl – in tribute to the raccoon's tail – blended with delicious notes of green apple, walnut and acorn, accents of spiritual sage and sturdy oak, upon a base of deep black amber EO.

 

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Magickal Meanings of Ingredients:

CHOCOLATE/COCOA ~ Lightens emotions, evokes feelings of love.
CARAMELIZED SUGAR ~ Attracts love, luck, sweetness and riches. Lust inducing, wishes granted.
GREEN APPLE ~ Love, healing, fertility, good luck , happiness, immortality, fortelling spells.
ACORNS & OAK ~ A wood of masculine and projective energy.

It symbolizes endurance, triumph, strength, power, prosperity, and heroism.
WALNUT ~ Wishes granted, strengthens the heart, enhancement of mental powers. Dark earthly powers.
SAGE ~ Healing, prosperity, cleansing. Wisdom, longevity, protection, wishes granted.
AMBER ~ Fertility, creativity, love, luck, riches.

[NuTrix]

I think I wants it....

[Bella15]

This one is yummy!! The caramel and apple really give it kind of a Candy Apple Cutie feel, but the chocolate in there makes it darker, and SO AMAZING!

[luna65]

In theory I loved this immediately, and I don't not like it, but at first there's something sort of on the periphery which goes kind of sour on me, like one wrong note in a concerto; I think it might be the sage being a little too dank with my chemistry. In the drydown it all blends together much better. This is very dark on me - it is sweet - but I get the darker aspects of the woods and amber primarily, I think. Like I don't get the apple as such (and I wish I did), it's more of an undertone. I'm just not quite sure if it really works on me.

[BlueBear]

In the vial, this is a wonderful caramel apple scent, with hints of chocolate. On my skin it's very interesting. Very rarely will my skin accept the chocolate, and first on, it started to go that direction. I spend about five minutes smelling like an apple flavored tootsie pop. Then the chocolate starts to meld with the oak and turn into this rich, slightly nutty wood note. It almost starts to get smoky! The apple fades away to just a hint of tartness to keep things light. This is something that I would wear in the fall.

[luna65]

It almost starts to get smoky!

Yeah I got that too, sorta.

[BlueBear]

Accept the chocolate! I love that. I might have to tell my BF that my vagine is not accepting visitors next time he comes looking.

 

 

LOL!!!!!!

[hearts]

I'm getting the caramel apple but with hints of dark chocolate. The apple is tart and very green. As it drys down, the woods and nuts come out. It's settled into a darker chocolate, with rich woods and hints of tart apple peeking through.

[Black Cat]

I didn't expect to love this one, somehow, but apparently chocolate caramel apple is just what I have been craving. I usually don't go for apple scents but I think the greenness of the apple is what makes it especially compelling; I get such a sense of tartness to balance the sweetness. This feels like glorious fall, foliage at its peak and bright sharp blue sky with a tinge of woodsmoke from a nearby chimney. Very very nice!

[tyvey]

This is utterly delightful. Its feel is quite like Wink at the Moon -- creamy thick foody and yes somehow fresh, very cheerful, perfect for yet another zombie day after little/poor sleep. Useless-nose could identify precisely zero notes, could only proclaim "FOODY & FRESH!"

 

It threw hugely at first and receded surprisingly quickly but my skin is quite dry.

 

Like blackcat, I didn't know what to make of this on paper. Like almost every TOTEM I've tried so far, I couldn't get my mind's nose around the combination of notes, But once it's on, it "Just makes sense" (yes that's an olaf reference)

Edited May 12, 2014 by tyvey

[LadyVictoria]

I totally get what you are saying. It's like those top chef people when they get all those crazy ingredients and you're like what???

How is that going to happen? Then it just DOES.

[NuTrix]

Oooo! Yummy! Apples, nuts, sugars!

 

This one could definitely be a full bottle! What a delightful treat! It's like a deliciously candied apple covered in crunchy sugared nuts on a sturdy wooden stick...all I need now is a napkin...because I think I'm drooling a little

[Guest cutie.pie]

I'll need to retest this one because right now all I can smell is amber, amber and amber

[Wanderlust]

This is such fun! Chocolate dipped apples..serious fun! Chocolate and crisp, juicy, tart apple for tem solid minutes! My mouth was watering. Somewhere around 20 minutes, the apple faded and the sage came through. The oak, acorns and walnuts must have been hidden by some pesky squirrles. They never made their way to the feast. The amber made it, but it overtook the cocoa-y gourmand concoction for the duration of the drydown. Amber and sage got into a bit of a tangle on my wrist. Then the cocoa-y note started to find a way back into the mix.The finish was a chocolate sage combo, which came off smelling like semi-detached melted chocolate does, with a sprinkle of sea salt. I'd like to eat this!

[SirenSong]

I had a sniffee of this and finally bought it in the sale. I think this is the perfect Autumn scent despite there being no pumpkin. In the bottle, I get a sweet apple in the forest. Freshly applied it is still that bright tart green apple in the forest. There is also a hint of chocolate in the air. It has it all going on – woods, apple, candy – I smell a little caramel, but I like that the apple is bright and crisp and doesn’t make the scent real sweet. You later get some more of the amber and caramelized sugar, but it pretty much stays the same. While I was trying the sniffee, my daughter came downstairs and said “What smells like Halloween?”.

[LaVolpe]

Love this. I was once told by an old gypsy woman in barcelona that I "reminded her of a raccoon"- I've always had a little extra affinity for the animal.

And this is a fitting tribute scent to the creature (we raised several growing up).

I don't know if you've ever tried "caramel apple pops" (my favorite candy as a kid), but it very much reminds me of those at first blush. Think of a sweet/tart jolly rancher apple candy, with just a *touch* of deep, dark chocolate and caramel. Very rich, but subtle. But you're eating this confection... in an herb garden. I love it.

On the drydown, bizzarely, I get coffee above all else- probably the sage/choco melding together. I'm totally cool with that.

Fantastic fragrance. This one's a keeper, and will be on my permanent list. Reminds me of *me*... and much of my childhood.

Edited November 1, 2015 by LaVolpe

[Bella15]

Great review!

[IndieAna]

Totem Raccoon on me is caramel apple dipped in melted chocolate and covered in crushed nuts. Yes, it's gooey and messy, but oh-so delicious! After wear time, I still get the faint wafts of apple, but now it's more of a baked apple than the fresh, with rich chewy amber. So good!

[reincarnated]

Cocoa, apple, wood, caramel. A lovely everyday autumnal/winter scent that is richer and deeper than the innocent label suggests.

[Juliana]

A little goes a long way with this one. It's a robust fragrance with a good amount of throw. In the vial and for the first few minutes after applying, it smells to me like a hodgepodge of ingredients that don't belong together. It made me skeptical that this one would work. But it does! Somehow it all melds together really well. I get sweet apple and caramel mixed with bitter chocolate and walnut. It definitely feels appropriate for autumn.

[cheeseburger79]

This is not something I would typically go for because at first glance it looks a little too foody for my taste, with chocolate being a note that can go off kilter for me. But I was feeling risky, and I do like this one alot! Luckily, the chocolate is dark, the Apple is tart and green, not overly sweet and the woodland notes really hold it down and keep it from going all BBW Candy Apple on me. It's pretty unisex, honestly. The chocolate even comes off smelling like black coffee on me for the first couple hours. Nice and strong, good sillage which is always a plus. Smells like October. I think it will be EXTRA suitable when the weather turns. Will have to wear it longer and once more before I give it a full review. I haven't hit the long drydown yet.

Ok,, it's a little later and now I am getting a fair blast of sage! It's very nice! Its become Pretty much all woods, nuts and lightly sweetened sage. It's very unique! Don't judge it too much wet, because it comes into it's own after about a half hour on the skin. It's a bit of an acquired taste at first, but it mellows into a very nice unisex Midwest forest kind of scent.

[SirenSong]

Wore this yesterday. I really like it. I chose it over Sweet! which I haven't really worn yet. Smells great in the bottle, like a deep caramel apple. Gets kind of weird after applied -- all that woodsy stuff. But...it turns into a deep woodsy, caramel with a hint of apple and chocolate. And it carries. A co-worker came over to my cube and said "It smells like syrup over here." I guess the caramelized sugar.