Velvet

[lemonlye]

Envelop yourself in the soft, sensual embrace of gentle sandalwood warmed by cocoa vanilla and a veil of deep myrrh.

Once again I end up with the strangest nose and/or chemistry... to me this smelled almost nothing like Vice (which smelled mostly like bubblegum on me), but very very close to Bliss. However, I prefer Velvet - in fact I think it may be my favorite chocolate scent so far! I do sense the dusty-wood note, but I like it. It grounds the foodiness just enough that I might actually want to order more of this one. (Despite being a chocoholic I haven't quite decided whether I want to *smell* like chocolate at all times...) Quite yummy. Good work!

[Theravada]

I've been in love with Velvet for a long time...I have a 10ml of it. But I haven't posted a review because everyone else has done such a fantastic job of capturing Velvet in the previous reviews.

 

But I decided to finally add one more loving praise of Velvet to the list!

 

The one thing I will say is that this scent smells much different after the drydown period than what you smell in the bottle. In the bottle Velvet smells very thick to me. Almost too thick. But on, Velvet is simply luxurious. The vanilla that Beth uses in this blend is nothing at all like the vanillas you smell in Snake Oil or other blends. This vanilla is sweeter but not nearly as cloying. I know that seems like a contradiction, but this vanilla is a subtler scent than the thick vanilla used in Snake Oil. If you're usually wary of "sweet" "vanilla-y" scents, I'd urge you to try Velvet anyhow. It's really not sticky or sickly sweet. It's just subtely sweet enough to tone down the bitterness of the sandalwood.

 

The sandalwood is really the most prominent note. Velvet is a very bitter-sweet scent and the myrrh has a tendancy to make this an "incense-y" smell. I know some people don't like that but I think it's lovely.

 

Velvet is a complex, bitter-sweet, smokey scent that is perfect for someone who wants a sophisticated yet sexy non-floral perfume.

[pkwench]

Velvet:

 

I am in love. Hopeless, unadulterated, passionate, endless, naughty LOVE. Bliss was nice. Gluttony was nice. But I haven't found a chocolate-ish scent that really said "wear me!". Velvet takes the cake and, in my mind, in no small part due to the myrrh and the sandalwood. I LOVE myrrh and sandalwood. They give it a smokey, woody depth that's just godlike since the cocoa is tempered by vanilla. It manages to be smooth and soft as well as been dark, sophisticated, and somewhat mysterious. This is truly an incredibly beautiful scent. I must have a big bottle of it.

[kimmer]

Velvet

 

Oh my god this is beautiful.

 

In the bottle I get pure cocoa. Not sweet, but warm and rich.

 

As it warms to my skin, the vanilla and sandalwood start to come forward, resulting in one of the sexiest scents I've ever owned. What a lovely combination.

 

Naked flesh under a velvet comforter. I need a big bottle.

[Ishtar]

Another Velvet convert here!

 

I was a little nervous about trying it at first, because neither Vice nor Bliss had worked on me. They both turned to a dusty, acrid nutty smell that was anything but nice.

 

Velvet, however, is pure rich bittersweet chocolate on my skin. It is really strongly chocolatey and it takes a good two hours for the sandalwood to come through. Even then, it only imparts a sweet powderiness to the chocolate, as if it were cocoa powder. It is only hours and hours later that Velvet mellows down to a beautiful resiney woody fragrance that is both comforting and sexy.

 

I usually think of chocolatey scents as very little girl-ish, but this one is definitely on the sophisticated side. Wonderful.

[phaedrine]

Theravada loves this one SO much that I just had to try it.

 

Heh. It smells like ABQ sometimes in the middle of the night, when the General Mills factory is making cereal. It reminds me almost exactly of a bowl of cocoa pebbles. I think it's too chocolately for me, but I'll give it a wear to see if I like it.

 

On, the cocoa smell does fade fairly quickly....but turns in to a pretty blah sandalwood. I do like sandalwood, but this one just didn't really do anything for me. I think I'll give it one more chance, just to be sure, but I have a strong feeling this one will be going into the swap pile.

[fairywingmaker]

Velvet is gorgeous. Everything I love...Cocoa, vanilla, and myrrh...then add the softness of sandalwood, and its sheer lovliness. I consider this my comfort scent right now. It's a warm scent, perfect for the fall Thank you Beth for another glorious oil

[tart]

Velvet! This is like a more sensual Bliss. It isn't very sweet, but leans more towards incense from the sandalwood and myrrh. I think this would be great on a guy for its warmth.

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

I received a lovely decant from Fairywingmaker's bottle o' Velvet. Mmm. You know how you can buy Swiss Miss instant hot chocolate in different flavors? Well, one of my favorites is the vanilla-flavored one. Velvet smells like a super-deluxe version of that vanilla cocoa. Very sweet, but complex, and there is a dry/powdery feel to it--cocoa in the packet, not after you mix it up. Nice myrrh on the drydown.

[Elanya]

Hrm, I thought I'd posted my review here a little while ago, but it isn't showing up, so I'll try again!

 

This smells, both in the bottle and on me, like chocolate cookies. The chocolate-covered mint girl guide cookies. I *know* there isn't any mint, but that's the best analogy I can make. Mmmm... cookies...

 

This smell makes me want to gnaw my hands off at the wrist!

 

Slightly more seriously, I can pick out the sandalwood, but it is very much subsumed by the chocolate-vanilla scent, and winds up making me think of baked goods, even after a few hours. I really like this scent, but I don't know if I will wear it much as a perfume, unless I am trying to attract boys who share my love of cookies. It's good to have common interests!

[Diana]

in the vial: chocolate. almost a hint of something hazelnutty, like nutella.

 

wet: smells... oily. like faint chocolate overlaid with baby oil. a slightly powdery scent, which is presumably the sandalwood.

 

drying: the sandalwood is coming out, very light & powdery.

 

later: this is pretty much a straight sandalwood scent, slightly woody. i can't really detect any other notes. i never noticed any myrrh at all, and the cocoa went away almost immediately. not really what i expected, but i really like sandalwood, so i'm ok with it.

[rhubarbbear]

another velvet lover

 

i got this one in a swap with metalrocks6480 and as soon as i opened the imp i was in love. and drooling. coconut, chocolate, myrrh! i put it on my wrists and sat at my desk and sniffed at them with a goofy grin. then i drooled some more. very foody!! husband laughed when he came upon me in this state (but in a nice way).

 

the foodiness fades, though, and after 30 minutes or so i'm left with a slightly bitter, cocoa-ish sandalwood. bitter in a good way! its sweet, deep, warm, and sophisticated without being too grown up to have a good time. the sandalwood actually smells like real sandalwood, too, which is a lovely change after all the fake smelling sandalwood i encoutered before bpal.

 

yay for velvet!

 

ps i don't even like chocolate that much (for eating)!

[FireInCairo]

This stuff is so damn amazing. Sandlewood & chocolate- who would have thought? But it is just breathtaking. Very very sexy...smoltering stuff. Beware of men when you wear this blend!

[nevermore]

I so wanted to like this one, but again, the curse that is skin chemistry strikes again. Chocolate and cocoa turn plastic-y and artificial on my skin, and it overpowers any other notes in the blend. Velvet sounded like something that I would love, but unfortunately, my skin hates it. I can't smell any vanilla or sandalwood, only the bad cocoa note.

[Lit Chick]

Whooo-ooo!

 

This took a while for me to test, as in the vial it was way too much. The chocolate smell was so melted rich that it gave me a hint of a stomachache (sniffing first thing in the AM, before breakfast).

Today I was ready for the plunge.... and YUM. All the notes are there, playing happily on my skin.

Today is a snowy winter day, and I feel like I'm snuggled up with a cup of cocoa by a fire, instead of plodding along at work. Yay!

[Ailgwyn]

Now why is it that all these scents with chocolate in them end up smelling faintly of tobacco on me?

 

Eh, regardless, Velvet smells heavenly. In the bottle in smells like drinking a cup of hot chocolate while being wrapped in a quilt and sitting before a fire; this lovely warm cocoa scent with a hint of the vanilla and sandalwood in the background.

 

On me, it started out pure chocolate. Oh bliss. Oh heaven. The sandalwood came more and more to the surface as time went on, and about an hour after I applied it, the tobacco-y scent emerged. Happily, it was only a faint tobacco scent and still delicious.

 

Velvet is one of my new favorites. I like to slather it on and rake in the compliments (which are mostly people wondering out loud "Mmmmm, is someone drinking hot chocolate?").

[isyche]

in vial: Delicious. This smells exactly like a warm milk chocolate hazelnut bar. Wow.

 

On me: More of the same at first. Then I start to smell the sandalwood underneath the chocolate, and as it dries it becomes more dusty-cocoa-myrrh-sandalwoody instead of chocolatey, which smells good in a different way – more sophisticated, less foody.

 

I don't think Velvet's an everyday thing for me, but it's different and I quite like it. I'm curious what it would smell like in a burner.

[inkstone]

This was a giftie from the Lab.

 

In the imp: Chocolate!

 

Wet: And even more chocolate!

 

Drydown: Urk. I'm starting to smell the myrrh more and more. That note usually doesn't play well with me and it's mingling with the chocolate in an unattractive fashion.

 

Final thoughts: Um. No. This goes to swaps.

[Falathwen]

I smelled the cocoa alone for a minute after applying, then it wed inseparably with the myrrh. This blend is quite warm and exotic. It is not a foody scent at all, which was surprising. It really does feel embracing. The sandalwood emerges more clearly as this dries down. All together, these notes evoke a shadowy room lit only by firelight which gleams off of wood, rich fabrics, and skin. It is seductive. It lasted a few hours and faded slowly to a close-to-the-skin vanilla scent.

[e_miche]

This is the first imp I ever fell in love with, and the first 5ml I purchased!

 

I'd worn Serendipitous and its cocoa/orange/vanilla combo was nice for a while, but too sweet in the end- Velvet came in as a perfect substitute.

 

The sandalwood and myrrh give the cocoa a sensuality that so many other chocolate scents don't have. I don't even feel like I'm wearing cocoa- just something beautiful and sexy.

My bf always says that he smells pipe tobacco when I first put it on, though that's not a complaint (thank god).

It's definately a comfort scent, but it can also be a quiet seductress when it wants to be.

[luxuria]

I LOVE this. LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE I cannot express my love enough!

 

..Okay, onto the reviewing part.

 

I get the cocoa vanilla and sandalwood, and a bit of myrrh on the drydown. It's very warm and smooth and sweet (but not sickly sweet, and not as..densely sweet as Bliss, if that makes sense.) I also swear I smell something like coconut?? I don't get a "brownie" vibe, and I'd sooner stick with "cocoa" instead of "chocolate" because of the candy association with chocolate. This is just utterly heavenly. Chocolate is a note that works very well with my skin chemistry and this is no exception- nothing goes wonky from imp to my skin.

 

Luckily I never get any incense from this. One of my top 3 now!

 

[edit] Uh..so I got a bottle.

....

DIFFERENT would be an understatement. UGH it smells so much like an entirely different perfume that I want to cry! It's alllllllllll MYRRH which in a large amount like that just smells crappy and soapy on my skin. I smell the barest hint of cocoa vanilla when it's wet but it's gone shortly thereafter. to put it bluntly, I HATE this version of Velvet. I've had the bottle about a month now and I haven't noticed the faintest bit of difference in aging, so I'm really at a loss about what to do..

Edited March 6, 2005 by luxuria

[Moonpuff]

This one smells fantastic in the bottle. As other people have said - It makes me feel warm and snuggly. It gives me the same feel as when I'm cuddled up with a blanket and hot cocoa on a cold winters day.

 

Unfortunately, after I apply it only takes 10 minutes or so until the Sandlewood overpowers everything else. Altho I'm not particularly opposed to Sandlewood I don't really need to smell like it all day.

 

However.... a hour or so later and I like it again. Weird. It didn't get it's lovely bottle scent back but it's closer to it. I'm kinda enjoying it. Hmm....

 

The decision: I really can't decide if I like this one or not. I think I'm going to have to put it thru more testage to decide if it's bottle-worthy.

[sarahjay]

I love this it's just a beautiful blend.

 

I was a wee bit wary of the chocolate at first, but after it dries the myrrh and sandalwood becomes more apparent and it's just so lovely on my skin. I've always loved sandalwood (and so does the husband) and now I'm seeking out more blends with myrrh...

 

I hope my 5mls hurries up!

[grrrlennyl]

at first: this was a freebie from the lab. nice, dry cocoa, with the myrrh making it more interesting and a bit less foody.

on: wow. fabulous. this is like a dark chocolate version of bliss.

4 hours later: still chocolate, but floral, too. an odd combination, but nice.

5.5 hours later: i mostly smell the myrrh, but the cocoa smell is still there. i really like this.

overall: this is like a more sophisticated version of bliss. it isn't as overtly foody as bliss and, luckily, doesn't make me hungry. a wonderful scent.

[scourgeotheseas]

Velvet

 

In the bottle: Cocoa, good vanilla, and exotic spices. Wow! Now I know why people think about eating this one...

 

On me: Begins as mostly cocoa. A different chocolate than Vice, which smells of bug spray initially to me. But oh, here comes sandalwood. I recently discovered my skin adores this, and wants to tell the world about it. Yep, I can't smell cocoa, or vanilla, or myrrh. Just sandalwood.

 

Well, it might go for a spin in the oil burner. Or it's off to swaps, because I simply don't like to smell of sandalwood all day.