Mania

[brilliantcat]

The personification of insanity, Mother of Manes, Goddess of Night Spirits, Mistress of Undeath, She Who Gives Life to the Dead. With Mantus, she rules the Etruscan underworld, and her scent is roiling chaos and churning madness, but because she is the mother of the Lares, benevolent household spirits, her perfume also bears an underlying gentleness, and, like madness, a strange sweetness. Screeching white musk collides with a howl of red musk, with sharp white grapefruit and pale strawberry leaf.

 

In the bottle: Musk with a hint of grapefruit.

Immediately after application: Awesomely musky with just a touch of acidic grapefruit.

Warming up: Just the musks now. Kind of like Smut without the smut.

Fading: Musky and delicious.

Faded: Average throw, average to long wear.

Overall: This is going to be my GC go-to if I ever run out of my beloved Smut.

Rating: 4/5.

[Kamanjah]

I received an imp of this, hoping for wonderful musk. All I got was strawberries. Nice juicy strawberries. 30 minutes later, still juicy strawberries with quite a throw.

 

Not for me.

[jkfagtongpun]

Holy crap! This was my favourite last summer and I haven't reviewed it - eejit!

 

In the imp it was juicy, red musk.

 

On wet it was musk and a delicate sweetness I'm assuming is the strawberry leaf.

 

Dry, it's still gorgeous musk, I get more red than white, and a bit of sweet tang that I suppose is the white grapefruit.

 

I love this scent. Someone in the office came up behind me while I was wearing this and said, 'something smells really sweet and cute, like candy hearts'. I took this as a compliment!

[melrose]

God-awful horrible on me, and I don't know why. I love all musks, love grapefruit, and can't imagine that strawberry leaf would be the reason for the super-sweet, nausea-inducing smell I'm experiencing.

[loubric]

Oh my oh my oh my. I thought this might be too musky on me but it's a very pretty pink/strawberry/fruit/sweet/bubblegum/musk. Reminds me of the Lampades but is a more sweet subtle way.

 

Lovely

Edited August 27, 2012 by Lilly

[LiltingLauren]

Mine started out very musky, with only a touch of sweetness.

An hour later though, the sweet/fruit pops out beautifully w/ still just enough musk.

Love it!

[boomtownrat]

It surprises me that I haven't reviewed this one, considering how much I was wearing it during the warm months. One day this past spring, I decided to buy a bottle of this unsniffed, thanks to the musks and my love of strawberries. I'm so glad I did, because it's a perfect spring/summer scent for me.

 

Mania is tart strawberry with underlying light musk - simple and beautiful. Its throw is pretty potent on me sometimes, but then on some days it stays closer to the skin. I usually reapply within three to four hours because I just love the early stages, so I don't really know how long it lasts.

 

One thing that seems worth pointing out: fresh from the mailbox, for the first couple of days after I got it, the musks were stronger than they were after it settled. It only took a few days for it to settle and mellow into a more fruit-heavy blend in which the musks were really the supporting players. If you're wary of the musks for any reason, that might be something to keep in mind.

[mymymai]

In the Imp (ITI): Super sweet - the strawberry leaf is really just strawberry with a touch of green. There is something that smells like cherry, but I don't get tart grapefruit at all. Granted, the red musk might be what I'm smelling here.

 

Wet: It smells like fake strawberry and sweetened grapefruit with a little musk. It is a little young on me.

 

Dry: It smells like strawberry soap, but not the harsh, overly sterile kind, but a moisturizing soap variety, like made out of goat's milk. The musk is still rather strong and there is just the lightest touch of something more acidic from the grapefruit. It's much prettier when dried.

[starfish327]

Full confession: I wasn't expecting to like this one. At all.

 

In the imp: sweet (as in fruit sweet) red musk. It does feel very...fresh. I didn't know that red musk could come in fresh.

 

Wet: The strawberry leaf is reading as berries, but actual berries-sometimes the lab's strawberry note reads like hard candy on me. This is actually fruit. It smells like I'm canning. I don't get that much musk out of it, but white musk can do horrible things on my skin and red musk has turned a lot of blends that should have been phenomenal on my skin to meh. "Not much musk" in this case isn't a bad thing.

 

Dry: I do in fact like this one. I like it more and more the more I have it on. The red musk comes forward more but the fruit is keeping it in check. I can sense more than smell the white musk, and I think it's keeping it from being way, way too sweet.

 

I think this one is actually a keeper-which is actually a suprise. My department tends to lean towards fruit-sweet for perfume, and this one would work without being obvious.

[bellumed]

I don’t know about screeching and howling—what I’m getting is a nice strawberry musk, strong and just a little sharp. Not too sweet either. On my skin, the strawberry leaf and the white musk become more noticeable. I liked this better in the vial; I think I’m learning that white musk doesn't work too well on me…

[Zii]

Boozy and saccharine... YIKES! Washed this one right off.

[Erinofhere]

This is a very grown up strawberry smell. To me I am not picking up any candy resemblances and if I am...It’s very very little.

At first Mania reminded me a bit of cough syrup mixed with Smut.

On the dry down it changed for the better from cough syrup to a strawberry musky deep scent. It's pleasant and not too over powering. I'm not picking up any grapefruit, maybe I am...and this is why the strawberry isn't registering as candy strawberry as most strawberry tends to smell to me. ??

Mania would be perfect for summer.

Staying power was average but the throw was very good.

On my list of maybe's for a big bottle

[Lethran]

In bottle: This has a hint of bubble gum about it. The grapefruit lends the strawberry accord some bite and they do go surprisingly well together. The musks infuse everything with a bit of sex appeal. The combination looks a bit odd on paper, nut makes perfect sense to the nose. Wet: Very strawberry bubble gum, with the other notes dancing in the background. This scent is way too young for me, but would be excellent on a young woman. Dry: Smells like rose. Is rose part of the strawberry accord maybe?

[AmyO'Shields]

Dark Strawberry Smut. I adore Mania! I broke her out for Spring (!!!) and decided to wear her to bed...this bottle has aged well and might not last the year. Good stuff.

[Veronica]

In the bottle, this is red musk and strawberry. Dried, it remains much of the same, musk-y and sweet.

[kajacana]

Received as a frimp from the Lab.

In the imp: bubblegum.

Wet on skin: strawberry Starburst.

Initial drydown: Not bad! A little hint of artificial candy flavoring, but there's something in the blend that tones it down -- the musk, I guess.

Drydown after several minutes: I'm getting just the tiniest hint of soft grapefruit, and the scent as a whole has mellowed into a really pleasant, sweet, fruity scent. Not strawberry Starburst anymore, not even candy-like anymore -- just sweet musky goodness that maybe is reminiscent of strawberries if you think about it hard enough.

I like this one. Not sure it's "me," per se, but I'm definitely going to keep the imp and wear it in the summer.

[agirlnamedfury]

Yep, this definitely smells like bubblegum. With a little bit of something floral. I'm not really getting any musk at all, actually.

 

This does seem fruitier after it dries, I guess I can get grapefruit and "strawberry leaf" from it. I don't think this one will be a favorite, but it's interesting enough for me to keep the imp... for now.

[lizabelle]

In the imp this is dark and a bit fruity, but once it hits my skin it utterly transforms. I get the feeling this is now what it's supposed to smell like(?), but on me it's warm, syrupy strawberries, like you might find in pie. No grapefruit here at all, unless it's amping up the tartness of the strawberry. There's definitely nothing "screeching" in here, though. Surprisingly wearable, especially considering I rarely wear fruit-heavy scents.

[sunlitgarden]

This probably came to me as a frimp from the Lab, but I'm not sure how old it is.

 

In the imp: Musk and sweet strawberry. I wasn't sure how strawberry leaf would compare to strawberry fruit. It smells a little bit greener, I guess, but still smells sweet and somewhat candy-like-- I can see how other people have mentioned bubblegum.

On my skin: More pink bubblegum and some musk (smells more like red musk than white musk). I don't really smell the grapefruit here, specifically, but I am guessing it is helping to balance out the scent and keep it from being too overly sweet. It just doesn't have a particularly sour, sharp, or citrus smell to it. I like this. Probably not enough to get a whole bottle, but it's worth holding onto the imp. I like The Instructional Manual better for strawberry and musk but this is a possible GC alternative.

[Spaztic]

This one is musky berries on me, I really like it

I don't get a screechy white musk like it says, both the red and the white are nice a smooth on me

[torikitty]

I have to agree about the bubblegum smell, and the "gentle, naive quality" that someone else mentioned. They are both really good points that I think aptly describe this. Very sugar, pop, bubblegum, happy teenager vibes. It's nice if you want a happy, uplifting scent, but I wouldn't attribute musk in any way to this description.

[roseus]

Was hoping for a musky grapefruit, but I got strawberry bubblegum. Not for me!

[bluethorn13]

I was intimidated at first by the description " Screeching white musk" I like musk, but not screeching. I am so glad I gave this a try. As many others have said it is fruity and sweet but light.

Wet is very sugary, citrus and strawberry. I'm glad it wasn't bubblegum on my skin! It dries down and the musks start to creep in, but they never did go all out screeching, they were just there in a delightfully subtle way. Decent throw, I've been wearing BPAL for a few weeks now and this is the first time coworkers have commented. I had a male coworker say " woah! what is that? it reminds me of something from back in the day" Coworker 2 chimed in agreement, neither could figure out what it reminded them of but both agreed it was a nice smell and that they only picked up on it as I walked past in the morning. While I wont be rushing out to get a full size bottle of this anytime soon, it may move into the box of favorite imps.

[Coldfire]

Imp: Sharp Grapefruit tempered by a dark sensual musk
Wet on Me: Grapefruit-y musk!
Drying Down: less grapefruit and more red musk and I swoon with each inhale
Dry: by ALL of the gods I wish to bathe in this. This is sex. This is lust. This is frenzied sensuality. This is lurve!!!!!

[Casablanca]

On the wand, oof, red-fruity red musk and citrus.

 

On my skin, this is an initial burst of musk-soaked strawberries. (I love strawberry notes, but the lab’s version of red musk turns to nasty BO on my skin before long, so I’m not looking forward to what’s to come. Trying it anyway for science.)

 

There’s a side dish of grapefruit, the bright freshness of which quickly starts to clash with a growing body-odor stink of heavy red musk. Then the grapefruit abruptly winks out. The strawberry leaves remain, but subdued under the tyrannical red musk’s fist. The red musk amps up like 80s glam metal on my skin; the white musk never has a chance, and soon all the fruits are drowned out.

 

Yup. Still can’t do lab red musk.