Carnivàle

[Belladonnastrap]

Bright, intoxicating, hectic notes masking a twisted, corrupted core: sweet wild berry, spicy carnation and heliotrope layered over deep amber and musk.

Initial thoughts:
Definitely a bright scent! I can smell the musk and berry more then anyting. It reminds me a lot of Cirque du Soliel...playful and yet you can sense that there's more. It seems very much a deep scent if that makes any sense.


After wearing it:
So far the strongest scent as in it's stayed on me for over 10 hours without losing any of its potency whatsoever. The amber in this is very strong on me and reminds me a bit of Victoria's Secret Amber Romance but not as flowery. I'd classify this as a very warm scent with just a bit of sweetness. If it had a look it would be Butter Pecan ice cream. I can't really smell any of the berry though. I love this though...recommended if you like warm scents and especially if you adore amber.

[jj_j]

I hate it when I come across a BPAL I don't like, and this one, unfortunately, was one of the few. I get the impression of a wad of Juicy Fruit gum laying in a backed-up sewer. Apropos of Carnivale, to a degree, but not something I'll be able to wear.

 

I will say that everyone else I know who's tried it was much more pleased with the scent. Perhaps a body chemistry thing, so don't rule it out.

[Nadirah]

I liked this one when I put it on, it has a black cherry with a musky smell to it. I had to sample the bottle before I gave it to a friend for xmas ! Shhh don't tell.

[shriekingviolet]

Initial Impression:

The berries are very apparent here. Bright and wild and just a touch spicy. Deep and decadent.

 

After Wearing It:

Rich tart berries dominant the early stages of this fragrance, before spicy carnation notes come out to play. In it's middle stage, both the carnation and berry notes are extremely prominent, but as it wears down to its dry down stage which has blended to a single scent: smelling softly spicy, powdery and berry laced.

 

Final Thoughts:

Very nice, I'd wear this again!

[Shollin]

First sniff: Warm, sweet, bright. Slightly sharp.

 

Wearing: OK, I thought Carnivale smelled like cough syrup, but maybe that’s just because I’m sick at the moment. After the initial coughsyrupness it’s pleasant - warm and sweet. Will have to try again when I can smell properly. Either it wore off REALLY fast or I’ve lost my sniffer again.

 

Second wearing: Still a little bit coughsyrup at first, but that very quickly warms up and gets spicy… it’s almost a holiday sort of scent after it sits for a couple minutes! Holly berries or something. After a while there’s an undernote that goes weird on my skin, probably the amber. I do so wish resiny scents liked me better. Apart from that it's very pleasant.

[viciousviolet]

I'm a big fan of both amber and musk, so it's little surprise that I adore Carnivale. I was surprised to find how very interesting and complimentary the deep berry notes are. It was a bright, juicy scent on my skin at first, and the drydown faded the brightness a little, to a velvety amber with a hint of sweetness. This may overtake Haunted as my favorite amber blend!

[lorajc]

I'm noticing my tastes are similar to Shrieking Violet and Vicious Violet more and more...good to know. I love amber, musk, carnation and berries, so again this is a fav of mine. Top notes are berry and then it dries down to a carnationy, musky scent. The amber is lurking in the background. This is beautiful with Potion lotion from Lush....as a matter of fact if you love Potion (my lovely Lushies), you must get this. Perfect complementary scent.

[Alice Aforethought]

Carnivale is very juicily, tartly sweet at first, but with an underlying richness from the deeper notes. It soon mellows out to a powdery, almost violetty, slightly spicy scent.

 

Lorajc is right about the Potion - it definitely doesn't smell similar in the first stages, but once it's been on a while there's that familiar, luxurious spicy floral scent, but with a deeper edge to it.

 

This is one for dusk in the sweet air of early summer - knowing, seemingly innocent but with hidden depths.

[twistygirl]

Very odd smell in the vial, but dries down to a very lovely carnation/musky/spicy smell. My first thought after smelling the dry-down was "this smells exactly like Lush's Potion," and then I read lorajc and Alice's comments, this is a must for Potion lovers.

[paperdoll]

Initial Sniff: This is a bright berry with interesting amber/musk undertones. It is very bright and happy in the bottle.

 

Wearing: When first applied, this scent is chaotic to the point that it is distracting. It quickly calms down, though, and goes through that baby powder phase that I hate so much (I HAVE to figure out what it is that does that on my skin!). Dry it is sweet and slightly musky.

 

Final Impressions: I'm still undecided about this one. I actually wore it twice before reviewing it because I didn't really know what to say. Maybe by the time the imp's ear is gone I'll know whether or not I like it!

 

edited to add: I am a Potion lover, and this smelled completely different to me. On my skin, Carnivale is not at all spicy - in fact I wouldn't have known there was carnation in it at all if it wasn't in the description. Body chemistry's a crazy thing, eh!

Edited February 25, 2004 by paperdoll

[Gothabillywench]

Ditto- I adore Potion & Carnivale went "Juicy Fruit" on me too. I normally love all the ingredients in this but it just didn't work with my bod, smelt like overripe fruit on me.

[Polexia]

3 hours after application and I still smell like warm berries. This scent is amazing...I was worried it would be too sweet but its fabulous.

[Becky]

when I first sniffed this in the bottle I thought it smelled like bubble gum. not like I thought it would smell, but I loved it! on it still smelled kinda gummy, but faded into a soft, sweet berry smell. even though I used it with Potion, the carnation really didn't come out much on me. I really wanted to like this one, but after about 1/2 an hour the scent was gone! even if I put my wrist right up to my nose I could barely smell it at all! I kept reapplying, but it just vanished! smelled great but just did not last on me.

[Ms. MSGirl]

first, in the vial, a juicy raspberry smell,

 

then I smeared about a TON on me ,

then it started to smell like one of the Lush soaps or bath things I really really love, though I can't place which one -- maybe Snowcake! I didn't *think* that yummy "lush" smell I recognize was Potion, but judging from what everyone else says it might be (I've always thought I was immune to the smell of Potion and can't pick it out from the other things in a lush shop).

 

edited to add: it's definitely snowcake. The middle of the drydown period of this on me is a gorgeous soft almond candy smell.

 

This is YUMMY -- SO sweet and not at all sharp, I want to eat my arm!! It's mainly the initial burst of berries and then the warm kind of candy/almondy smell on me. I love it! I'll say more about it when I'm not sick.

 

After this has been on a while, some warmth comes through -- but it's still so beautifully blended with the berries and the soft sweetness. To me this is a very round scent -- none of the notes sticking out at all, all blended into a perfect spherical red candy aura. I felt surrounded in yumminess all day.

Edited March 14, 2004 by Ms. MSGirl

[Pandorra]

Again SWEET. BERRIES. Maybe berries does not agree with me since I was not happy with Maenad yesterday either. This was the number one scent I wanted to order because of the claims of similarity to Potion. But alas, it was not even close to Potion at any time on my skin. Berry sweetness was overwhelming durings its short stay on my skin. At the end it became powdery and I had that feeling of something catching in the back of my throat. It disappeared completely very quickly on me. If you like like sweet fruity candy scents. You will love this.

 

This will be a swap.

[Joey]

I wore this yesterday and the only thing that I could smell was a soapy scent. No berries or anything. I could smell it the whole day though and it was such a nice clean scent. I put some more on last night to see if I could smell berries and it was on for about an hour before I could smell them. It still had a soapy clean scent to me. I liked it though, it was just different from what I expected.

[TygherRayn]

One of Jason's picks, but it was on my list of 'wanna try', so it's all good. And we got a bonus extra, which I'm adding to the half dozen or so going to my best friend!

 

In the bottle: Rather sweet, but in a very good Bordello way. WE all oohed and ahhed over this one, and just had to try it.

 

Wet: It's very nice .. on the boys it stayed very sweet, but on me it rather quickly had a smoky/spiciness too it that I loved. I can still catch the amber, but it's the spicy note that's lingering most.

 

Drydown: This dried at first to something almost-but-not-quite too spicy for me, and I was afraid I wasn't going to like it. But lo-and-behold, after about an hour the amber really came out .. and I -love- amber. And this had just enough of the spice left to it to be a really nice scent.

 

I've decided that this one is definitely a keeper. It's floral without being cloying and well .. bouquet-ish, with a smooth warmth of amber that just makes me purrr. Rather what I imagine Carnivale should be, in fact.

[Vaniclion]

Candy, pure and simple. Very similar to Bewitched, actually, fresh out of the bottle although not as herby.

 

The berry is what I think it is that smells like the candy. It disappears quite quickly with this, which is surprising on me because with Bewitched it intensifies. Darker notes are coming through now, and I'm sad to report it going ever so slightly soapy. But that's me. I go soapy/powdery/sweet. I think what I'm getting is a combination of the musk and amber mixing in with the bright heliotrope. Maybe. Anyway, it's not a bad scent at all. I like it very much, and can certainly imagine times when it'll be just what I'm in the mood for.

[fairywingmaker]

The spicy carnation and musk are very apparant on me. The berry smell didn't really come through for me at all. Isn't it strange how body chemistry effects the oils! I really love this, and will be ordering a 5ml.

[foolssilver]

i'm so glad carnivàle works on me! it was the first bright scent that really captured my interest. i get in ruts sometimes, and i assume that certain scents will not work on me, but i could not stop sniffing my wrist when i tried this!

 

the individual notes do seem as though they would clash, but they go together just like the colors of carnivàle. you'd think that purple, peacock blue, red, and gold would be awful together, but context is everything.

 

i'd recommend carnivàle for people who like resiny scents, but who need some fun, too! (and other people as well...duh!)

 

ETA: this was on such heavy rotation during my recent trip to key west that my 5mL is almost dry!

Edited August 19, 2004 by foolssilver

[diabolique]

first sniff, i can smell the berry and the heliotrope. this is very warm, smooth, and sweet.

 

while drying, it's very chaotic and hectic. the musk, amber, and berry are all choking each other to claim the spot as the top note. it never stays in one place for too long. every time i try to pin it down, it moves. it's definitely not the smooth and sweet comforting scent it was when i first smelled it.

 

occasionally, the berry peeks back out. i think i've learned my lesson, i definitely need to stay away from anything with amber or musk.

 

ETA: i just layered glitter on over this one. heliotrope is niiiiiice. mm. i don't think i'll be able to wear carnivale alone. it smells pretty nice with glitter, but i may have to put this one in the swap pile with o and caterpillar.

Edited August 25, 2004 by diabolique

[k00kaburra]

In bottle: Berries and carnation for sure; maybe I could describe it as herbally berries with a hint of spicy floral?

 

On me: The berry and carnation mingling reminds me of warm berry pie. I never thought this would be a foody scent but it's making me hungry... After half an hour the carnation is becoming dominant, but it isn't a pure carnation scent. It's blended very well with the other elements of the scent.)

[Effluvia]

in the vial: (throws arms up over head in celebratory mannor) PIE!!! Mmm, nummy pie. Nummy berry pie with nummy crust. Maybe a berry crumble thing. I take it the carnation is mimicking the smell of the slightly spiced crust.

 

on my skin: The pie smell quickly fades ("aaaawww.", arms go down. ) . Now I'm getting the whole Carnivale vibe. Fortunately for me, it fulfills my scent fantasy about smelling like the Carnivale HBO show. (squee!) I can see the old red and white swirly tents and lights and freak shows in my head. The berry smell darkens and sparkles. It's darkened musty gold and deep purple-ish blood red. It's bubbly, sparkly and sinister at the same time, with definite sensuality at the heart of it. Ooooh, I really like this a lot. A LOT, A LOT. I have an obsession with 1930's carnivals, so I might be a bit biased...

[Ina Garten Davita]

First Impression: Carnation and cloves, smells a bit like Alice.

 

Second Impression: On, Carnivale is a whole different story. I wanted this because of my love for heliotrope and it has not disappointed. The clovey carnation smell soon steps back and lets bright heliotrope, warm amber and juicy berries play wonderfully together.

 

Final Analysis: This wasn't love at first smell, but the third time's the charm. Bright, juicy...warm and charming. Beautiful!

[Astarte]

This is incredibly vibrant as a scent, you can really smell the juiciness of this one at first. The berries add a lot to a scent I think, then the carnation comes out to play. I dont know why but carnations to my nose always smell a little orangey.

 

Amber normally doesnt agree with scents on me but in here, it's adds a lot of character to the blend.

 

I have to admint even though its a gorgeous mix of all the elements, the carnation turning a little orangey makes me a little nauseous so I'll have to try this one again.