Velvet Clown

[voodoocatwoman]

Rum-soaked cotton candy, boot-stomped licorice whips and circus peanuts, scorched marshmallows, a dribble of corn whiskey, cigar smoke, and greasepaint.

This is just vile. It is super sweet but there's a very sour smell in the background. It gets very peppery and then I smell grease, and this happens all the while that super sweet rot-your-teeth candy dances about. And then, there's tobacco.

The combination of notes is freaking me out just a bit. I'm expecting someone to whisper "We all float down here."

[filigree_shadow]

Foody + rum but it doesn't smell fresh. I guess that's the cigar smoke and greasepaint. I wanted to say something like this smells a little dirty, but it doesn't smell dirty, it smells like the absence of fresh. lol. Not dirty per se, just not particularly clean.

 

I don't think I smell any licorice in here, mostly sweetness and rum with some smoothness underneath. It's not a bad scent, and my husband says he likes it, but it doesn't suit me personally. If someone sitting next to me on the train were wearing this I wouldn't object at all. It's just not what I want to smell for several hours in a row.

[pinkstardust420]

this is very sweet with a tinge of booze and metal. interesting. not sure if it's a keeper, but glad to try it!

[glitterlips]

Wow, I was getting drunk on the fumes until it dried! Wet, it was seriously boozy and I was questioning the wearability of it, especially at work! Once dried, it has a nice caramel & cotton candy scent that I am liking quite a bit! Kinda wish I could smell the greasepaint note because I'm a makeup artist and that would be a fun touch but ah, well.

 

**Edited to say that I spoke too soon! Greasepaint is there now and I am elated!!

 

 

Melanie

Edited March 22, 2010 by glitterlips

[stitchpirate]

Velvet Clown is very interesting. I don't mean that in a bad way. But it is a very odd collection of notes, and I have a feeling that you either love it or you hate it. Personally, I really like it. It goes on VERY boozy. I read the reviews here and really didn't believe how much. Think about how boozy you think it smells. Have an idea? Okay, triple that. It's a little weird. I don't like it straight out of the bottle. I's like some sort of cherry cough syrup, with cherry tobacco. But once it dries, it's really fantastic. Primarily, it's candy sweet (I definitely get a little of all of the candies in the description; cotton candy, licorice, marshmallows). There's a faint "other" kind of sweetness, almost floral but not: the greasepaint. A light haze of tobacco and smoke. It's really cool. Maybe I like it because of past associations; my father, godfather, and a lot of family friends were circus performers. Just add leather, dust, popcorn, and musk; it would be a circus back lot in a bottle.

[cherrycherry]

I've decided to re-write my review of Velvet Clown because it's in my top three all-time favourite BPAL blends ever and before I didn't quite do it justice

 

Velvet Clown was one of the first blends I experienced from the lab and was most certainly the first one that grabbed my attention and made me join the forum. My curiosity was fired the moment it was held under my nose and I knew that I would have to acquire a bottle as soon as possible. It was love at first sniff!

 

Though I can see why some people wouldn't like this sort of blend, to me it is a sinfully sweet and darksome concoction that really grabs you. This is not the sort of clown that entertains children with songs and balloons and dances - this is a very adult sort of clown, the type that might cause some people to feel uncomfortable. The booze is there from the off - not something one might ordinarily connect with clowns. The rum is pink to me, a bright and juicy pink, mixed with that luscious red-rope licorice and cotton candy. The marshmallows and peanuts add a gourmand texture that genuinely makes my mouth water. The scent stays true on my skin - smelling exactly the same way it does wet in the bottle.

 

I use this sparingly, wanting to savour every drop of every bottle I have, and each time I use it it's nothing less than an olfactory delight. It has me call to mind many varied things - from the travelling fair that visits our city each October to standing in a sweet shop as a little girl, watching the man behind the counter place strips of licorice into a small paper bag for me to take home. It's like the original Midway went bad and became a cocktail-guzzling harlequin stripper.

 

Absolutely delicious.

 

Beth, I salute you.

Edited February 19, 2011 by cherrycherry

[Suusje]

This is one of the weirdest scents I've ever tried. When I first applied it I almost literally felt sick to my stomach, it was just nasty. The mixture of smoke, licorice, booze and sweetness really didn't work for me. But instead of washing it off as quickly as possible, I just let it sit and dry. And surprisingly, I actually really like it dry. The nasty mixture completely vanishes and leaves this very sweet scent behind. Very nice!

[grrrlennyl]

Velvet Clown

 

On: Wow. This literally smells like everything in the description but the greasepaint. Crazy.

1 hour in: Mostly circus peanuts and a bit of something spicy.

7 hours in: Vaguely sweet.

Overall: This is a cacophony of scents at first, but fades away to nothing on me.

[Ajila]

In the bottle - Bubble gum and musk and possibly some sort of sickly sweet liqueur

 

Wet on me - Really bright sickly sweet bubble gum with a hint of almost dry ozone beneath

 

Dry on me - A smooth creamy almost green vanilla note

 

Overall - A really unusual blend. I like it, but I'm not convinced I'd wear it