Monster Bait: Closet

[porcelina]

Bourbon blackberry buttercream over red velvet cake.

YUM. blackberries and sweet, rich cream! this is delicious, like the richest and creamiest of cupcakes topped with a sweet berry sauce. mmm. Edited September 22, 2008 by porcelina

[pinkstardust420]

Wow...this is everything I hoped it would be! I paid a lot for this little baby, and it was very worth the $$! First note I get is a slightly sharp bourbon note, and juicy blackberries...you know, those blackberries you can get smothered over your pancakes in the morning.....

 

But, alas, I digress. About 2 or 3 min in, I get the scent of buttery blackberry buttercream cake coming into the picture, and the bourbon note takes a backseat, as I hoped it would.

 

Result: Gorgeous.

[Suu4LC]

The description of this blend is enough to make a foody lover like me weak in the knees. I never thought I would be able get my hands on a blend, but I was so lucky to snatch a bottle at the DarkDel trunk show.

 

It really is THAT good. I freakin love red velvet (hasn't helped my bf has been on a red velvet cupcake baking rampage lately). Red velvet is sort of a hard scent to pin down because it's not vanilla-y or super chocolately-chocolate. I cannot believe how well Beth really nailed that unique red velvet yumminess. And th bourbon blackberry buttercream...holy moly-just exquisite. Sweet without being saccharine, with the perfect amount of bourbon and blackberry make it such a unique addition to the cake.

 

This blend is good enough to eat. True foody paradise!

[jencallisto]

Fresh on the skin: Kind of... chocolatey, in that fake-chocolate way. Must be that red velvet cake. Blackberry on the sillage. Rather nice, actually.

5 minutes later: Blackberries and vanilla cream and a tiny bit of cocoa. Chocolate and cake are both notes I'm generally suspicious of, but this turns out the be pretty darn good, somehow.

30 minutes later: Blackberry-chocolate-vanilla cake, fairly delicate. Nice!

1 hour later: Fading, but nice.

2 hours later: Very very faded.

 

Verdict: I like this a surprising amount, but perhaps not enough to track down a bottle.

 

One phrase: blackberry chocolate cake.

[diamondstars]

gemgem very kindly picked this up for me; I feel so lucky to have a bottle!

 

It has definitely lived up to expectations! Wish I had enough to wear it every day forever!

 

It's like a really gorgeous grown-up version of Eat Me; more cakey and cherryfied than Eat Me though, if that makes sense!?

 

[Tess]

In the bottle - This is cake with a berry frosting. If it were a food giving off this scent, I'd be eating it FAST.

 

Wet - Buttery note coming out to play, oh dear.

 

Drying - My skin is ripping this appart. The butter is doing that terrible rancid thing that it sometimes does and it's taking a terrible toll on the berries.

 

Dry (2 hours) - Again with the smelling like the little fake plastic foods kids get. The S.O. likes it on me, at least. But it's faint, so very faint.

 

Overall - This one just didn't get as much description as most of my reviews, ack. I blame it on the foodiness factor. (ie. I have issues telling between different "food"scents.) But it's lovely in the bottle, it really is. Makes me sad I can't really wear it.

[fairnymph]

In the bottle: Rich yellow oil. Buttery frosting, cake, loads of juicy blackberry fruit, and a hint of cocoa. It's rich enough to be boozy, but I don't get a bourbon note really.

 

Wet: A little less sweet/buttery/foody, though still very fruity. More cocoa, almost chocolately. I get blackberry leaf, an herbal sort of note, as well as the fruit. A strong vanilla note.

 

Dry: More perfumey as it dries, almost floral - less and less foody. The blackberry is intense and just like real, ripe fruit, stems, and leaves all crushed.

 

Later: The vanilla note holds - though it never goes fake and cloying and never amps wildly, and that light cocoa too, but the buttery/cakey notes dissipate nearly entirely.

 

Summary: The bourbon, slightly boozy vanilla enhances the centre-stage blackberry fruit/leaf note here so beautifully. Because this is ALL about the blackberry. Beneath, the dusting of bitter-earthy cocoa grounds this blend. Fabulous throw, fades noticeably.

 

One of 2 foody-in-the-bottle scents that I can wear (the other is Eat Me).

 

 

[TheOneTheyCallLuna]

All of the other Monsterbaits, with the exception of Underpants and Tokyo Stomp, have been far too sweet for me to wear. Actually, scratch that...even Underpants (blasphemy!) and Tokyo Stomp are too sweet for me on occasion! I still felt compelled by the force of BPAL legend to spend a ba-jillion dubloons to track them down and try them all anyway, but I honestly really did not expect this blend to work. But it does. Hoo boy, does it ever!

 

Luscious blackberry mingles with the richest, darkest chocolate cake note devoid of even the slightest hint of cloyingness. It's really that simple, but yet also somehow complex. This is fanfuckingtastic!

 

I am going to be SLATHERED in this blend all late spring into summer until this baby is all gone!

 

:love!:

[sprocket21]

Closet fades pretty quickly on me, but while it lasts it's DELICIOUS. I don't pick out a lot of individual notes, just a sense of delectable berry cake. I tend to struggle a lot with foody scents - sometimes I amp a note to the point that it's sickeningly sweet, other times there's a certain note in there that's just not agreeing with me (I'm looking at you, Eat Me!). But Closet has neither of those problems. It's become a comfort scent more than anything - if you think about it, it's pretty hard to stay sad/depressed when all you can smell is a fantastic cake!

[sirensea]

In the imp: Cake. Delicious cake. Red velvet and blackberries.

 

On my skin: Buttery with a hint of berries. Very foody, in the way that keeps you sniffing your wrist for a long time after you've put it on! Definitely something I'd want more of.

[thewondersmith]

In the imp: Cough syrup. Cloying "cake" note ala Beaver'versary and very, very strong berries. Hm. Not too promising.

 

On my skin: WOAH, hellooo blackberries! Mm. This is absolutely scrumptious. It's syrupy and cakey and sweet but not cloying. Great for colder days. One of the only scents where butter hasn't turned into blue cheese or rancid plastic on me.

 

Dry: Oh man, this is so damn gorgeous. Red velvet cake and smooth icing, smothered in boozy blackberries and topped off with a delicious dollop of cream. I knew it was a bad idea hunting down decants. I need to treasure mine very very carefully, because hey, what's the chance of me scoring anymore? Ahh, better to have loved, I suppose

[quinctia]

I have to say, this is probably my favorite BPAL ever, and I don't know if there's a way to oust it. (If there is, it involves a magical blend of raspberry, the honey from Skuld, bitter almond and chai spices that is as of yet unknown to mankind.)

 

I get a very tart berry note in the bottle, and once it's on me, it turns into the most delicious blackberry-drenched cake in the world. One of the worst days in my life was when I accidentally spilt a good portion of my bottle. Luckily, tracking down a replacement wasn't too difficult at the time.

 

If this ever gets resurrected, I'm buying more, and I only keep one bottle of a scent generally. It's that good.

[scrappy]

On my skin, Closet is a very tart blackberry sweetened up with a hint of chocolate cake. I wish the cake notes were a bit stronger though. I'll try a full slather next time and see if that makes a difference.

[BuxomM]

This blackberry with a bit of buttercream. It has light throw and doesn't last long. It's not as good and sweet as I hoped. I prefer lady una for sweet blackberry.

[Andrea912]

Oh yum....it's like a dark Beaver versary...maybe that's the bourbon...I love it!

[ElectraV]

I would never have thought to try this had the lovely sunshinedaisybliss not sent me a frimp of it.

 

In the imp: Boozy blackberry

 

Wet: I'm getting a really strong cake note. It's more cakey than I was expecting and I'm impressed. I can still smell the blackberry as well.

 

Dry: Bourbon, blackberry and cake. The buttercream came through after a few hours.

 

This is gorgeous and so edible smelling. I'm going to have to try and get hold of more of this. It's also made me really look forward to trying Cake Smash- I'm hoping the red velvet is the same.

[brownbear]

Sweet. I am getting the blackberry note, but not the specific cake one. It is like a combination of tart blackberry juice with added sugar and something else that I can't place. It is good, but I am not getting any wear out of it.

[cfrancesca]

Mmm..to me this is pure buttery pound cake, sweet ripe blackberries and whipped cream.

[Invidiana]

Of course, another BPAL cakegasm. This really is exactly what it says it is: I get that tiny hint of cocoa from the red velvet cake, thick buttery vanilla cream and sticky blackberry gloop. Simply put and simply delicious. Something in this was ringing a bell from the moment I put it on, and I couldn't place it until I finally realized it must be the vanilla from Underpants! It's definitely the same vanilla note in Underpants, which becomes a lot more evident on the drydown. It also has the staying power of Underpants; I'm going on 8 hours straight right now with no touch-ups yet!

[saralaughs]

Very blackberry with a hint of buttercream. I don't get too much cocoa though. Just a really rich berry icing.

[Venneh]

In the vial, I'm getting bourbon blackberry and the red velvet cake. Mmm. On my skin, I'm getting the red velvet and bourbon, not so much the blackberry, though it's there underneath. We'll see what this does. Liking what it's doing, going onto a second skin test after work and a possible comparison to Cake Smash.

Edited June 18, 2010 by Venneh

[krazyanjel]

I was super excited to try this one, and it fell flat on me!

Wet, it's very much like Beaver'sary. Rich, creamy with a deeper berry kick. Like the older, cooler sister of Eat Me.

Upon drydown, the buttercream dies away, leaving me with sharp, tart blackberry that hates my skin. Curse you, chemistry! Curse you!!

 

This pretty baby is on its way to a great new home. It was just too pretty to sit hidden in my box. On someone else, this will be incredible. On me, sharp berry and not a whole lot of anything else. *sigh*

[sirensea]

Someone said that MB: Closet is a dark Beaver'versary, and I agree! Same sweet icing, same foodie goodness, but with a nice helping of booze to round it out.

[Andrea912]

Love it! It's Beaver Moon with bourbon, Cake Smash with dark smoke...it's sexy and sweet and gawgeous!

[mxtine]

I debated on buying a bottle of this after reading the reviews, since they were all over the place. Since I'm a sucker for blackberry and I lovvvve Red Velvet, I went for it.

 

Upon initial application, I get a buttery cupcake smell that scared me for a few seconds. Then the blackberry intensified and I was in love. The blackberry was sweet with just the right amount of tartness, as if the foody notes kept it from turning it cough-syrupy.

 

The bottle art is super cute too. I'd give this a 3/5.