Monster Bait: Ventriloquist Dummy

[requieminblack]

Menacing, maniacal, and slick with the one-liners ... this guy does it all with a wink and a smile! Savage apricot, depraved dry woods, and psychopathic patchouli covered by a disarmingly sweet mishmosh of caramel, brown sugar, hazelnut, and butterscotch. Be warned: this oil will instigate possession in most puppets, including some marionettes and the occasional finger puppet.

First sniff out of the bottle I get mostly patchouli, hazelnut and something that would be the 'dry wood' but I can't pin point what that is...cedar maybe? After I slather it on my wrists and let it sit a minute something sweet starts to mix in with the wood but it is nothing 'slap yer momma' sweet, it is a very subtle and faint sweet. I want to say it is the brown sugar mingled with a tinge of caramel?

After 15 minutes it has faded a lot on me. The patchouli is almost gone and I mostly still smell the slightly sweet hazelnutty cedar. I'm not getting any of the apricot or butterscotch jumping out at me. This is definitely not a foody/desert scent (on me) but more of a sweetened cedar chest sitting next to a bowl of hazlenuts smell. It's a masculine scent IMO, maybe a little too much so for me but Holy Hell this would be teh sexy on a guy! Well done Beth!

[filigree_shadow]

The patchouli and dry wood are most prominent on me at first, with a little bit of hazelnut. The caramel and brown sugar come out more when it's dry, but the apricot seems to be elusive. I can't smell it.

 

This is a lot more woody than I was expecting -- I was thinking that the caramel and foody notes would be really strong, and they're not.

 

This is a sweet, deep, rich scent on my skin. When it's dry it doesn't seem quite so woody, it's more like a sweet skin scent.

 

If the other Monster Baits have been too foody for you, try this one. It's more subtle than the other ones.

[Brianne]

In the bottle:

Oh noes! Wood!

 

On me:

I got this against my better judgement. Wood notes just don't work well on me, and I had a feeling that this would be the same, but I just didn't want to miss out on trying a Monster Bait. Sadly, I get nothing BUT wood with this. There is no caramel, no brown sugar, no hazelnut or butterscotch. It's nothing but wood.

 

Final note:

Wood notes just don't work for me, so if you don't have chemistry like mine that makes wood take over, don't take my review to heart. After wearing this for a while I get what I think is a faint sweetness, but it's so faint that I really don't know if it's my imagination or not. Mostly, this is just wood on me. Bye bye Dummy!

[Heavenlyrabbit]

Apricot-Butterscotch hard candy in the bottle.

 

On me, the woods are VERY much to the fore. I guess a V.Dummy is made of wood, yes?

[nikkoblue]

This is hazelnut, wood, and something salty with the lightest touch of sweetness on me. In the bottle I could very vaguely sense something fruity, but it completely disappears upon application.

 

First few minutes were screaming WOOD!!!!! Then the hazlenut came in and the lightest touch of salty caramel. This is verrrrry reminiscent of gluttony or Tiresias on me.

 

edited: put this on my husband this evening. it totally works on him; if you don't like it on you, try it on a male friend or partner etc.......this serously smells incredibly sexy on him. yay!

Edited April 15, 2007 by nikkoblue

[sixthsentinel]

I really didn't expect to like this much, but surprise, surprise!

 

Mostly I get the woodiness, but this is no mere twigs-n-branches--no, this is the smooth, polished wood of a dummy who has been pain-stakingly well-cared for, even loved. Spiced wood, reminding me of Mum Moon a bit, though they really aren't all that much alike.

 

The other notes are just there. It's like the ventriloquist had an apricot tart sitting on the kitchen counter that he was looking forward to having for breakfast, but the next morning all he found was the dirty tart dish & the dummy sitting in the corner with just a smudge of gooey goodness at the corner of his wide, silent mouth.

 

I really, really like this, and I am so glad I picked up a bottle despit having serious doubts.

[Tramp]

Caramel covered pencil shavings - yes it does smell as odd as that sounds. I guess I am a total moron for thinking that a blend named after a creepy wooden puppet would smell like anything other than - oh - wood. Dur. For the record ventriloquists dummy's freak me out - and so does this monsterbait. Oh well, can't win them all.

 

It goes on as slightly sweetend wood shavings and pretty much stays there, not a lot of morphing going on. Though there is something to be said for the caramel factor - if it was just a tad sweeter on me I think it would work.

[steffanina]

Monster Bait: Ventriloquist Dummy

 

In Bottle: Oh! Spices and candy and--Do you know what this smells like?? This smells exactly like walking into the Bulk Food Warehouse, with all the bins of spices and candies and such!

 

Wet: Very strong wood smell. Nice, though, not too cedarish (I don't like "hamster cage" smell).

 

Dry: Caramelly wood, like the box that was used to store caramels. This is a very neat dry scent. Not likely to be one of my frequently used, I don't think, but it's quite a neat novelty. I swear it smells exactly like the Bulk Food Warehouse.

 

Overall: Novel and I like!

[dronzeka]

Hmm. In the bottle, I smell mostly wood of some variety, and caramel/butterscotch. Neither are especially great on me, but what the hell...

 

On: Initially there is a lovely whiff of apricot, but it's rapidly swallowed up by the patchouli, which initially really dominates. I'm iffy about patchouli, so I'm still very much on the fence about Ventriloquist Dummy (which I want to abbreviate as VD but that just feels so very wrong...). Okay, as this dries the patchouli's calming down a bit, and I get a little bit more caramel, as well as possibly cedar. Hmmm. Yup, cedar...

 

Actually, you know, requieminblack's review at the opening of this thread pretty much sums up my own experience. VD does seem fairly masculine (which isn't what I usually associate with caramel! but of course, this is BPAL, so anything goes), and it does fade a bit. It's funny, cedar isn't usually that good on me, but there's something about the patchouli that's redeeming it, and usually hazelnut and caramel are horrible, but they're not here. It's not horrible (what a ringing endorsement, sorry!). Actually, it's really interesting and I think quite well done, and like someone earlier said, it does remind me of Tiresias, in the way it feels on me (even though there's no tobacco note). It's not even that it's misbehaving on me, I think it works, but it's not really a me scent - I'm not much for woods/patchouli (and yet, I bought the bottle anyway. Gotta love addiction!).

 

Anyway, while I think I was hoping for more "savage" apricots to make this a fruity-sweet wood scent, like Tramp says, it does make sense that a ventriloquist's dummy would smell like wood! If you are a cedar/patchouli fan, don't let the sweet notes in this scare you off -they just add a kind of complexity or depth, and aren't at all overwhelming. I don't think it's for me, but it is a fascinating and wonderfully balanced scent.

[jade_starlight]

MB:VD is mostly woody (something cedar like, I think) with a really nice hint of hazelnut on top and a chaser of caramel afterwards. It's not foody at all, and the caramel just sort of lends a hint of sweetness to the wood. I don't love it, but I do like it well enough.

[shelldoo]

in the bottle: faint, desserty scent.

 

wet: woods. strong, dry wood. w/ a hint of patchouli, and something peppery.

 

as it dries, it is peppery and woody, and dark. a scent i definitely can see myself wearing. the only time i get any of teh foody/sweet scents is in teh bottle, and i never get apricot.

Edited April 14, 2007 by shelldoo

[midnight_aeval]

This was the one MB that didn't work for me. I was hoping for a foody version of Depraved, but all this ended up being was pickles.. same thing that happened with the puppet CD scent. After a while it did get more woody, less pickley (I'm all about making up words today), but still not something I would wear on any given day.

 

Sorry Ventriloquist's Dummy!

[luna65]

All praise and thanks to the Lab.

 

Bottle: This reminds me of Hearth in the bottle, that same smoky savory quality.

 

Skin: The patchouli gives this an interesting character, a lovely spicy wood type. The type of wood utilized strikes me as primarily cedar.

 

Drydown: I get more of the sweetness over time, although just hints of it weaving through the patchouli and woods. I never caught the apricot, I'm guessing it was a very brief top note. But I really enjoy this, it's yet another example of the wonderful things Beth can do with patchouli.

[dawndie]

In bottle: pleasant musty patchouli

 

On skin: oof, this bowls me over with very strong wood mixing with the patchouli. The combination reminds me of wood that's been marinating in soy sauce, then lit. My eyes are almost watering

 

Half-hour later: of course, because I'm amping the wood so hard, this stage is lasting forever. No apricot, no nice creamy-foody-yummy base of caramel goop, ugh

 

In conclusion: Finally, after 3 hours or so, it sweetens a bit, but holy cow. I'm really hoping the wood and patchouli are so strong because this is brand-new from the Lab. I'll be eyeing this one suspiciously until that combo calms down.

[sookster]

straight sniff from bottle is angry patchouli with lots of dust...whoa!!

 

once applied an extremely sweet sophistication comes forefront...then it

reverts back to that dustiness as most recognizable from the rat king...

black peppery too...

 

this is a truly unique blend and lasts forever on me...i like it very much...the

sweetness/dryness combined with the patchouli makes this a pure work

of genius from our beloved beth!!

 

i can hardly wait for the twilight zone episode "the dummy" again now that i

have tried this ...truly classic!

[xoe]

Unlike anything I've ever tried. The apricot and wood blend together perfectly and then the caramel is drizzled all over them. the patchouli adds a touch of darkness to this. it's really great for a dummy! and it reminds me of my relatives' sauna deep in the woods in northern michigan. I totally love it!

[maribouquet]

I can barely make out the apricot, and the butterscotch, hazelnut and caramel take a backseat to the strength of the gorgeous woods. I like the muted nature of the foody notes and the patchouli in Ventriloquist plays very nicely on me! However, this is VERY woody, and on me it wears too masculine for my tastes, I'm afraid.

 

That said, I think this is unique and beautifully blended.

[eanewsom]

This was pure wood on me, which I guess isn't a surprise, since my skin will find and amp any wood scent in a five-block radius. I ordered it hoping that the apricot and caramel would take over, but I didn't get any at all. I tried putting on a little March Hare and Creepy with it, and that smelled great- it was what I was hoping to get when I ordered it. Sadly, it set off my allergies and within an hour I felt like I'd snorted cayenne.

[eternalargus]

In The Bottle: I smell the caramel and the hazelnuts, with a spicy woodsy scent.

 

 

 

On Skin: Wow, the sweetness lasted all of two seconds on my skin, and I'm left with a blast of spice.

 

 

Drydown: Overwhelmingly spicy, my skin must really hate this because it just smells like a spice mixture Dante likes to use on his steaks. I'm getting the same cayenne-snort experience that Ahania had.

 

I fear that I must send it to the swap pile. I really wanted to like it too .

[Athenae]

I ordered for brown sugar and hazelnuts. I ended up with pencil shavings. I like woody scents, but I have two bottles of Drosselmeyer already, and this just isn't sweet enough for me. Bummer. Off to swaps it goes.

 

A.

[kraken]

In the Bottle: Caramel candy sweetness with the dryness of hazelnuts and wood.

 

Initial Wet: Spicy caramel-butterscotch. Sweet, but not cloying, and the woods begin to come through very strongly.

 

Initial Dry: Oh, my... it's all spicy woods with a brown sugar sweetness underneath it. It's not overwhelmingly sweet like other foody scents, in fact I would hesitate to call it foody at all after it dries down.

 

Drier Dry: More spicy and less sweet, though the butterscotch scent is still there.

 

Overall, I love this one. Foody + Woodsy = Love

[Clockwork]

In the bottle it reminds me a little of what marionette building would smell like if you removed all the toxic chemicals, the costic liquids, and that warehouse smell. Then added that funny smell you get when eating a candied fruit in that same environment. Slightly sweet, and very hard to place but it seems to involved melted plastic. O_o

 

Wet: brown sugar and warm spices. I'm not getting the wood yet which is interesting because normally I dry things out instantly. Luperci '06 turns to completely wonderful brittle mossy super masculine love. And anything with anything that has that slightly woodsy bitter smell to it turns heavily and pronounced. Hearth also smells TERRIBLE on me. It smelled like burnt toast on me. Yet somehow I can smell the hazelnut in full force on this one. I can even smell the apricot now. Though that isn't as suprising. Apricot sticks to me like glue. March Hare lasts literally for days.

 

Dry: Now I can smell that woodish smell. The apricot is still barely there in the background with a lot of spice. It's like it's dried apricot though, not a jam or a fresh fruit. I really like this smell. It's very neutral though at the moment. Not super feminine or masculine and it doesn't even smell like a person smell. It's more like the way a room might smell. It's beautiful.

Edited May 3, 2007 by Clockwork

[GypsyRoseRed]

I have to agree with some of the other reviewers - MB: Ventriloquist's Dummy was all woods on me. I barely even got a whiff of hazelnut. After about fifteen minutes, a dry, dusty note appeared which is what my skin does to certain blends. Bah. A total no-go on me unless I want to smell like an empty dresser.

[Kimocean]

I've been so excited about getting this bottle after sniffing it at will call last month. It's not exactly as I remember it, but it's still really gorgeous. I got a lot more wood from my bottle than I got at will-call. At will call it was all brown sugar and patchoulli for me but now I've got the dry raw wood and even the hint of apricot mixing with it all.

 

I like this one a lot on me and I think I would like it on a guy too. It's a really neutral scent to me.

[skye]

(sigh)

 

In the bottle: Patchouli & cedar.

 

On me: Patchouli & cedar.

 

Fate of the bottle? See eBay.