Midnight on the Midway (2006)

[marzstar]

Lightning splits the sky, illuminating the skeletal skyline of the carnival rides: sugared incense and night-blooming flowers.

first quick whiff from bottle_
sweet and good with somthing on top that's sharper

second whifF_
hmm soapy :\

tried on_
instantly turned blechy. jasmine? soapy. too flowery.

not at all what i was expecting or wanting. i love the original midway and though if i try really hard i can smell that scent in the distance, overall, motm is nothing like it.

don't like.


will update if i change my mind. will give it another chance. and if i still don't like it, to the swap pile... maybe i will appreciate it later in time, if i ever get over my current aversion to jasmine, since i used to like it and i suspect this one would be a good one with the yummy sweet base. but definitely not now. hmm oh well.

[Celenth]

In the imp: Cotton candy and a tiiiiny bit of incense, flowers.

 

Wet: Oh my god, it's cotton candy. Pure cotton candy on my skin, absolutely delicious.

 

Drydown: The cotton candy fades after a minute or two, the strong scent of nag champa arises. It's definitely sugared incense, it's very sweet and gentle. Great, strong throw to it, and it lasts several hours. It's a lot more 'feminine' and playful than a lot of the other incense scents, which makes it absolutely wonderful and wearable for me. I don't get any floral out of it, but the mix of sweetness and nag champa is just divine.

[moon_lemming]

Initially, I was afraid to try this because I always suspect "night-blooming flower" to mean HAHAHA WE'VE GOT SOME JASMINE OF DOOM FOR YOU KAREN.

 

Sometimes I should listen to myself. Although there's no horrible detergent effect here, there are some florals in here that my skin amps. This smells SO GOOD in the imp, like sweet sugary fruit, but on me, it's Ivory soap. Oh, florals, why must you hate me so?

[ragtag]

oooh, this is great. this is one of the first BPAL scents that i've tried, and is actually the reason why i ended up placing an order. in the bottle it's a sweet floral - it definitely reminds me of candied blossoms, atmospheric smoky nighttime, and cotton candy. on the skin it stays sweet - and as it dries, the floral mellows out a little. you can really smell the smoke/incense in the drydown. it ends up sweet soft smoke and sugar. sadly, i've never smelled the original midway (but i will be trying to track down at least an imp!!), but i can imagine the sweet funnelcake note in it when i smell MotM.

 

this is a really unique and gorgeous scent. to my nose, it's a bit similar to Viktor and Rolf's Flowerbomb, only less 'commercial' and fruity smelling. and about $70 cheaper and longer lasting, i might add.

 

i lovelove love this scent! cartoony, sugary, smoky beautiful floral.

[theseagrows]

i get a sugary-sweet lemon floral from this. i can't seem to pick out notes but it's definitely a fizzy lemon scent with a floral backdrop. i like it quite a bit!

[edenssixthday]

Midnight on the Midway - Oh gosh, this is such a pretty scent! It is quite possibly the prettiest floral BPAL I've encountered so far. It's a very "pink" scent, mostly from the way the sugar blends with the nighttime florals. A smoky plume of incense rises up from the sugary florals and creates a somewhat ethereal air about the scent. I wish I could put into words how pretty this blend is. It's be far my favorite from the first two acts of Carnaval Diabolique. Sadly, the scent doesn't last for a very long time and I find myself having to reapply regularly -- not that I mind, as it seems to smell the most beautiful when it's first applied and fresh on my skin, but still, I think I'd go through a bottle of this very quickly for that reason. Still, it might be worth buying a few bottles. It's just such a lovely fragrance.

[Tess]

Night blooming flowers? Oh dear, this could be bad. I can only pray that the sugared incense (yum!) holds it all down.

 

In the vial - Oooo! I'm not get any of the usual scent I normally do with jasmine! In fact, all I'm getting is the sugar and the incense part of it, with a touch of honeysuckle. I like!

 

Wet - Ah, there's the floral. Still not jasmine, but something extremely soapy.

 

Drying - This is almost all soap on me. A very sweet floral soap. It really makes me wonder what florals are in this, as it's normally rose or apple blossom that tend to go soapy on me. I'll have to give it more time. I really, really want that sugary sweet nag champa scent back, darn it!

 

Dry (1.5 hours later) - Well, the soap is mostly gone, but so is most of the scent. It's back to that super sweet nag champa smell, but I have to press my nose to my wrist to get it.

 

Overall - Oddly, it had great potential, but the soap just kinda killed it.

[Reedsong]

In the imp, this smelled like bubble gum, and I was immediately wary. On my skin, though, it transformed into the exact description: flowers and sugared incense, and it's lovely. I expected to like this one the best of the CDs, and it's lived up to my expectations.

[supremegoddessofall]

This is pretty! I get a light jasmine and lilac, sweetened up a bit. Something darkish in the background - the incense? Very light and feminine. Not much throw.

[Toby]

Soap, soap, and more soap. This smells like the 'triple-milled' soap that you get in hotel rooms, which is sad, because I'd been looking forward to this. Oh, florals, why must you hate me so?

 

It's such a lovely scent in the imp, though -- warm and slightly floral -- that I might have to buy a scent locket for this. Argh!

[Donnababe]

I never tried Midway, so can't compare it to that but I was worried about it's jasmine potential. So far, my success rate is laughable.

 

From the bottle it's a surprise, this is a quietly floral Chaste Moon! Wonderful!

Initially on the skin it's identical but after thirty seconds or so here come FLOWERS!

I decide to stick with it because although it's a bit overpowering it isn't jasmine, just an overall blue floral smell. After a few minutes the mega floral subsides and the Chaste Moon smellalikeee peeks through. And that's how it stays. I haven't noticed incense specifically, but maybe that's what I'm smelling when I think I smell CM.

 

 

A surprising, glorious winner. Another bottle is extremely likely!

[zombiegrrl]

In the bottle and wet it smells kind of like jasmine, bubble gum, and cotton candy --- but in a more pleasant combination than that sounds like. Once it dries down it smells a lot like nag champa, which makes me quite happy.

[Naamah_Darling]

This just smells odd. Quite odd and quite beautiful. In the bottle this is sweet and incensey, with a freshness to it that might be the flowers. They don't come fully out until it hits the skin, though. Then, watch out! Because the flowers are quite strong. The sugar is there in the background, blending in with the sweetness of everything else. It's hard for me to pull notes out of this. The incense is very nag champa to me, a sort of gently golden and vaguely floral incense, smoky and sweet. The florals are harder; jasmine perhaps, and maybe honeysuckle.

 

This is a tad soapy on me, but not as bad as most florals. It's not what I'd call a complicated scent, but it is very well blended. The individual notes harmonize so beautifully that it's difficult to pick them out one at a time. The whole is a very perfumey scent, with just enough incense to lend it some mystery and just enough sweetness to keep it warm and friendly. Very girly.

[neuilly]

This is quite the morpher on me! In the beginning I thought I smelled vanilla?! It quickly changed to a rather dark and heady floral. Thern there was a powdery stage. Now it's a soft feminine and slightly powdery floral with a sugar edge.

 

I keep wavering on whether or not I should keep it. It doesn't seem very "me" but I do keep sniffing at my wrist.

[tempestteapot]

very very sweet, but there florals tame it down and take it into a new direction. It's quite a lovely balance.

[azhure]

In the vial: Very faint incense.

 

Wet: This is a close skin scent for me. Still faint incense.

 

Drydown: The florals come out to play a little, but they turn the blend into something headachy. I'm glad at this point that this doesn't have much throw.

[Dymphna]

In the imp: Flowers--jasmine is definitely one of them, but it's not the only one--and a bit of sugary candy.

 

Wet: Mostly floral, but a bit soapy. Not in a sharp way, but a bit like an expensive floral-scented shampoo or soap. It's pleasant, but more incidental, like a nicely scented toiletry item rather than a perfume. The candy scent is nowhere to be found.

 

Dry: Gag. Once fully dry, this becomes a *really* bitter, soapy floral. It's actually giving me a headache and making me sneeze. And I'm starting to wonder if this bitterness is from orange blossom. I don't think it was listed in the description, but I can't think of anything else that gives me this combination of headache and nausea.

[Rheliwen]

This smells like antique lace meets nag champa with a slight more floral quality.

 

I really like this. The floral is ripe (almost in a fruity way) and sweet. It isn't cloying or heady at all. It does get a little soapy but remains sweet and incensey at the same time. I smell night-blooming jasmine, not jasmine jasmine and some other night florals in here...very lovely!

[The_Witching_Hour]

In the bottle: sugary, a little incense and a soft floral that reminds me of the wysteria vines we had in our backyard growing up.

 

On my skin: this is 'night blooming jasmine'? Maybe there IS a jasmine that doesn't turn rank on me! The sweetness is starting to taper off and the incense kicks up more at this point.

 

Drydown: after about an hour this went mainly soapy but with more interest than most 'soapy' drydowns, if that makes sense? Will keep this one for when I want that shower-fresh scent.

Edited December 23, 2006 by The_Witching_Hour

[Voleuse]

On first sniff, this is sugar and perfumey florals. It's pale and sweet, but the blend soon turns to fancy soap on me. Alas! Off to swaps with this one.

[alliekat13]

In the bottle, MotM smells like that cherry flavored tylenol that they used to give me when I was a kid. But on my skin it becomes cotton candy heaven! During the first hour or so it is a melange of cotton candy, sweet tarts, taffy, cherry lollipops. Then it morphs into a nag champa smell, which compliments the sweet sugary smell perfectly. I don't get any of the night blooming flowers, which I suppose is a good thing, based on the other reviews. Anyway, I love this scent, and I intend to buy another bottle or few before the carnivale leaves town! LOVE IT!

[talula_fairie]

This reminds me a lot of gypsy queen, but with jasmine instead of rose. Another shocker is that I really like it, even though I am not usually a fan of Jasmine. It's true that this scent is a bit soapy, but it's soapy in a lovely fresh just-came-out-of-the-shower sort of way, and mixed with the incense notes, it makes for a really unsual and well rounded scent. I love it! I plan to hoard several bottles since it is in the same vein of gypsy queen and gypsy queen is impossible to find as of late.

[sookster]

straight sniff from imp is light, sweet, breathy florals...

 

once applied this gets a tad soapy but that diminishes after 5 minutes or so...

 

then it is all sugary floral...yum...a wonderfully modern fragrance

 

this is the most gorgeous floral and works beautifully with my chemistry so

a big bottle will be on order~

[inkdarkmoon]

On first sniff this is very sweet, very pink fluffy candy, but that changes as soon as it hits my skin. Imagine if the cotton candy machine were puffing out smoky clouds of nag champa spun sugar, laced with tiny jasmine flowers that barely tickle your nose with their scent.

 

This is really very beautiful, very me. I love it!

[filigree_shadow]

Straight off it smells like incense. A sweet, floral incense. I usually like night-blooming floral notes pretty well, but I'm having trouble with these. The scent keeps flip-flopping from being sugary (which is nice) and smelling like a bathroom spray (not nice). When it's totally dry it smells faintly of very sweet incense. It's so light it's almost not there. How come this doesn't smell like cotton candy on me? *pout* I need to trade in my skin chemistry for a new one.

 

Sigh. It's not gonna work. It's too bad, because I was hoping to like this one.