Carnaval Diabolique

[Circaea]

Straight from the twisted alleys of Dis, by way of the City of Angels: opium smoke, lemon flower, heliotrope, tuberose, black musk, vanilla, coconut, apricot flower.

Source: decant.

Wet, this smells so much like dill that I'm immediately desperate for pickles. It must be some combination of one of the florals with the strong lemon. Dry, the coconut, (creamy but not sweet) and opium smoke come out and I get a citrusy coconut that smells tropical, in a subtle, sophisticated way, like expatriated English colonials sipping exotic beverages in white jackets and evening gowns on a torch-lit verandah in the opening scenes of a black and white film that is about to turn violent, as the voodoo priest summons a zombie slave to abduct the fainting and delicate heroine.

This is nice. Sexy, but not overtly sexual. I will wear it.

3 months later, ETA: my decant is almost gone, and I have more on the way. This just gets more delicious, the longer I wear it. No powder, and whatever "tuberose" is, it doesn't translate as rose of doom note on me. I am happy to have made its acquaintance. Edited December 10, 2011 by Circaea

[Mechanical Death]

I don't remember if I had reviewed this one before, but if I had, it's not working for me now.

 

I love every single note in this blend. It should be the perfect fruity citrus tropical blend.

 

It is absolutely gorgeous in the bottle. A well rounded scent and everything I expect it to be.

On my skin it turns into lemon meurange quickly, which I'm fine with-- if it had dried down to that I'd be okay with that. It may not be a go to, but I'd wear it when I'm feeling lemony.

 

The coconut showed up, which was a welcomed addition, and then things turned bad.

 

Somewhere along the way, things turned into burning lemons, apricot, and BO-- yeuch!. There *is* a hint of something pleasant underneath, but the stink of armpit hovering on my wrist is making me lose all hope that it will turn into something pleasant eventually, and doesn't make me want to endure to find out. >.<

[mymymai]

Reviewed after aging nearly 2 years from the previous review.

 

ITB: It's bright and clean - not what I was expecting. I can pick up the lemon flower, the heliotrope, and the apricot flower.

 

Wet: It's really pretty, even on my skin. Lemon and apricot flower, tuberose (faint), and bright heliotrope. I get the impression of vanilla, but it isn't strong at all.

 

Dry: The opium and mus now surround the apricot, lemon, and heliotrope, softening and adding some complexity. The lemon is still the most pronounced, but the vanilla gives everything a creamy tone, which is oddly relaxing.

Edited June 23, 2013 by mymymai

[Aviatrix]

This was one of the Carnavals I was most excited to try, and it did not disappoint, although it is a little different from what I imagined. I think I imagined the opium smoke to be very dominant, and it really isn't. It just sort of makes the whole blend a little dark and smoky, along with the dark musk.

It's really what I would categorize as a dark floral perfume, with the lemon flower being the most prominent on me. So it's also a little fruity. There is also a background touch of coconut to the whole thing.

It keeps fairly close to the skin, but not so close you have to huff your wrist to get any hint of it

 

I might actually try to get a hold of a bottle of this one, it's very beautiful and mysterious, but still a recognizable floral. Floral with a twist, maybe!

If you also enjoyed Midnight on the Midway, you will probably like this one, too. It also feels a little reminiscent of Bewitched, with the slight fruitiness and deep, dark muskiness. Though this one is a little less playful than Bewitched, but they could be cousins.

[GoddesShel]

Source - decant from a lovely forumite. Pretty much all I get is the dark musk and opium smoke. Very dark and alluring. I'll be anxious to try a fresh batch when the Carnivale returns.

[bellumed]

It feels more than smells like smoke and musk, somehow. Cloudy. What’s underneath that is quiet but feminine. On my skin, whoa, lemon just exploded! Then it's allllllllll heliotrope. This reminds me a ton of Lolita, I think I may not be such a fan of powerful heliotrope notes.

[DiesMali]

In the bottle: Strong, sweet, floral lemon.

 

Wet on my skin: In this stage, it's very reminiscent of Shoggoth on me. Lots of lemon and flowers, almost effervescent.

 

Dry: The predominant notes in this are lemon and the flowers at first, and it maintains that resemblance to Shoggoth for about 15 minutes. After it's dried and starts warming on my skin, the lemon subsides a little bit, and the opium and coconut come out to play. The black musk is almost absent, giving the other notes a slightly "darker" feel instead of being a prominent note in and of itself. Once it's been on for a while longer, the lemon fades even more, and it becomes a creamy vanilla-coconut with wisps of smoky flowers. All in all, it's quite pretty.

[Haltija]

This is lemon and vanilla cream pie for about the first hour and then it becomes something oh so intriguing. The smoky flowers mingle with the sweetness so wonderfully that I find my nose being attached to my wrist and never wanting to leave. It stays gorgeous from the start to the very finish.

 

It brings to my mind the opening credits and the song from AHS Freakshow. I don't why, it just does. The whole scent is kind of like that entire opening sequence. Dark yet whimsical and a lot sinister.......... Precisely what the Carnaval is as a whole. I love this so much. Thank you Beth (:

[Gateau]

Wet, this is SUPER LEMON! It's a lemon curd kind of lemon, very confectionary and strong.

 

Drydown -- the lemon is still very present, but I'm starting to get tropical flowers as well.

 

Dry -- This has morphed into a very lovely, smooth floral. I get mostly heliotrope and tuberose, and the opium smoke blends very beautifully with the richness of tuberose to add a smokiness. I can't really pick out the black musk, coconut, apricot flower, or vanilla, but they're all contributing to the overall smoothness and warmth, and I'm not getting any of the powderiness I get often with black musk. A hint of lemon remains, which brightens it up and keeps it from being murky. It reminds me of a darker, more tropical version of Manhattan, with the floral and the lemon and the darker notes.

 

I really like this, but it doesn't evoke anything like a diabolical carnival midway to me -- it's more a going on a dinner date on a posh beach vacation. But since that's at least an equal fantasy of mine, I'm fine with that!

[dementia_divine]

2015 version.

 

In the bottle: Sugared lemon, maybe like a lemon drop.

 

Wet: Yeah, the lemon in this one is pretty intense. Past reviews mentioned it being pretty lemon-y, but this is even more lemon than I had imagined. I can smell a little bit of the coconut note, but mostly, it is just LEMON LIKE WHOA. The opium smoke and musk start to emerge as the scent begins to dry down, as well as the floral notes (though they aren't as strong). The lemon still reigns, though.

 

Dry: The lemon has calmed down, but it is still the dominant note. The scent is rather faint now, and it is difficult to distinguish the notes, but the opium smoke, musk, and floral aspects of the scent are present. The vanilla is as well, but the vanilla note is so close to the skin that my nose has to be really close to my wrist, and I have to inhale really deeply to smell it.

 

Verdict: I'm undecided on this one. The wet stage is too lemon-y for my liking, but the dry phase is more promising (if only the scent weren't so faint by that time). I think I will hold onto this one a little longer, just in case it improves with some aging, but I may end up putting it up for swap or giving it to a family member if the other notes don't come out more.

Edited September 11, 2015 by dementia_divine

[Atrous]

2015 version.

 

Wet: Uber Lemon. Not a nice lemon either. Smells artificial.

 

Dry: Yikes! Smells just like lemon Pledge. Not what I was expecting at all

[agirlnamedfury]

This is rather true to the scent description, incense and lemon. It's very musky on the skin, but the citrus brightens it up so it's not overly heavy like some musk/incense blends can be.

 

I like this, but I own a lot of similar scents so I'm not sure it'll be a full-bottle purchase for me.

[LizziesLuck]

2015 version, from a decant.

 

I tried this right after receiving it. It came from a decant circle, so it's not as "lab fresh". I had hoped that I had given it enough time to settle.

 

Initially it smells mostly of sweet lemon. Not candy sweet, but sweet enough. There's something faintly floral mixed in, but the lemon is dominant for sure. I don't get any vanilla or coconut, which is what I had hoped for most.

 

It's gone completely after half an hour, so I can't say what it would be like dry on me. Rather disappointing, but you can't win 'em all.

 

ETA: I am going to age this and try again.

Edited October 3, 2015 by LizziesLuck

[Floria]

Sweet but not in a candy way, a bit citrusy, with a bit of a haze of something lightly smoky, but not like campfire or barbeque smoke. Reminds me a bit of the top notes of Belle Epoque, probably because of the vanilla/citrus/opium combination. My mom, whose nose tends to pick up different aspects than mine does, said it smelled like "grown-up perfume."

[milo]

I remember trying this one back in the day. It may be a little more lemon heavy than previously, but it's still pretty much the smoky/incense/lemon blend that I recall. It's OK for me, but nothing to write home about. There are other citrus blends I like better.

[Nemi]

This smell strongly of lemon in the start. And that is all I get from it.

 

After a while, other notes come out, and I like it better. But by then, it is extremely faint.

 

Sadly not a win for me. For a lemon scent I personally like Lemon scented sticky bat more.

[LexieBlom]

Carnaval Diabolique imp

 

Wet/Bottle - LEMON, opium smoke and a hint of coconut with but a trace of floral. I say LEMON because it's like WOW, it smells like there's a whole cut lemon in this decant, which usually means it's going to smell like i doused myself with Lemon Pledge.

 

Wet/Skin (5 minutes) - It smells like a hotboxed room, that someone used Lemon Pledge to cover up the smell of drug smoke. Smokey, but almost sour, sticky and nauseating like walking past someone else's room while they're smoking weed.

 

Dry/Skin (30 minutes) - This hasn't changed at all since it was wet on skin. I can't deal with this one.

 

Sorry, I don't want to smell like someone else's sour weed. I'd rather use Ask The Nearest Hippie for a nice Cannabis note.

[sarandipitee]

Sharp, floral lemon. Heliotrope and black musk are present, but overall this is way to much for my head. Headache's arriving, off to wash this off.

[lady_pandora]

Carnaval Diabolique starts out with the lemon dominant. It's sweet, not harsh as lemon can sometimes be, so one of the other notes (likely the vanilla) is softening it even though I can't smell it individually yet. It takes about an hour for the mega-lemon to settle down, and then...it's glorious. It becomes a vanilla-floral-slight lemon scent that is bright and sweet and just divine. The florals in particular are really well-blended and it's hard to pick them apart. I can reeeeallly huff and be like "Hmm, I think that might be heliotrope, and maybe that's tuberose," but I really have to concentrate for that. What's really important is that every time I moved my arm anywhere near my face, I just thought "WOW that smells good." There is also a "toasted" note that occasionally surfaces and might be the coconut, or it might be my skin or nose being weird, because a lot of things have smelled like that to me lately. I agree with Floria on the Belle Epoque comparison. I think this would be an amazing scent for the warmer weather. Probably a bottle purchase at some point.

[zankoku_zen]

2015 version.

 

CD 2015 starts out as very lemon dominant. I get lemon curd, coconut, tuberose, and something that smells like salty popcorn and smoke. So yeah, this smells like a state fair. Which is apropos since we're talking about a carnival. I don't remember what the original Carnival Diabolique smelled like but I don't think it was lemon curd and salty popcorn.

 

It's fun, but not my style.

 

Salty, lemony, state fair.

[Allumina]

I actually love lemon, so I was really hoping for the overpowering, drowned in lemon lemon some reviewers were getting. Sadly, that was not the case. There's a bit of floral lemon rush at the beginning, but that fades quickly to merge into a pretty, warm tropical floral, with the apricot flower dominant on me, and just a faint wisp of opium. It's a nice floral-for-those-who-don't-like-florals, but some note in it (the black musk, probably) is not playing nice with my chemistry and giving a very faint rancid-y note. Low-medium throw, low-medium staying power. I might try one more time before putting it in the swaps box....

[Lydialove]

When I first received my imp this was pretty much ZOMG LEMON KICK TO THE FACE. While this isn't necessarily bad, as lemon apparently get along very nicely, it wasn't what I was hoping for.

 

After giving it a chance to age a bit, the lemon is still prominent but I'm beginning to catch the barest hint of smokiness, a hint of floral sweetness and the barest bit of creamy vanilla. I'd be ecstatic to get some coconut but I don't smell it at all.

I can see this being very nice during the warmer months. I'm starting to think about buying a bottle, just to see how it ages further.

[Kmye Chan]

I have an aged decant of this that I bought from a lovely forumite - not sure which year, but the label is all brown, so several years old.

 

In the imp: I get none of the lemon everyone is describing. Soft flowers, tuberose and musk.

 

Wet: again no lemon. Strong tuberose, musk, a bit of opium smoke and some coconut underneath. It's a little sweet, a little smoky - it reminds me of a less woody version of Intrigue.

 

Dry: the opium smoke amps up. This reminds me of a theater backstage smell, the slightly woody and musty smell of a costume room and stage smoke devices - and the flowery smell of tuberose.

 

Throw: this remains close to the skin.

 

Lasting power: dials down pretty quickly around the hour mark, although I can still smell it faintly for a few more hours afterwards.

 

I like this as an evocative smell, although I'm not sure I'd like to wear this as a perfume on a regular basis. It does however seem that my aged decant smells nothing like the fresh brew. :/

[Soupy Twist]

2015 decant.

 

Lemonheads candy. Pretty much all I get. Some faint floral after the drydown before, like every other BPAL citrus, it vanishes completely in less than 15 minutes.

[Missy_killer]

2015-version.

In the imp: Sweet and mild lemon. It's lovely pale yellow and makes me think of early spring or summer.

 

On: Lemon zing and vanilla softness. In the imp it is so careful and mild but on my skin the lemon has a bite to it. There is something swirling around to help the lemon get milder, but I can't put my finger on what. None of the listed notes seem to fit, as most of them has a strong scent on its own and this is very gentle. One side of my wrist smell sweeter and more like apricots while the other has the bite of lemon.

 

About 15 minutes later there's a dab of coconut.

 

CD doesn't change much at all. I get teeny tiny rose and musk in the sweet mix, but the big star here is the lemon/apricots. Nice and soft, good for a warm spring day or summer.