CD023

[Invidiana]

Wow. This is basically an olfactory orgasm of the candy store variety, and not the all-sugar kind of candy store but those old-fashioned ones that sell stuff like ribbon candy and giant swirly lollipops side-by-side with cookies and fudge. It's basically an amalgamation of buttercream, vanilla-flavored sugar candy (no fruity candy here), yellow cake, cotton candy and powdered sugar with an undertone of--dare I say it?--cocoa powder. At least what I get as cocoa powder really adds a unique and delicious dimension to this, and only keeps blooming as it continues to dry down. If you're a hardcore foodie like I am and your skin chemistry generally behaves with buttery notes, vanilla and cocoa, you need this stuff.

 

I'm wondering what this was a prototype for...was it the step before what turned into the Confectionary proto? Either way, I'm really glad Beth ended up with enough to bottle up.

Edited March 16, 2010 by Invidiana

[Suu4LC]

I believe I was at the DD event where this was offered and somehow it flew under my radar, which is just crazy because it so sounds up my alley according to the other reviews. Thankfully I was frimped some of this from a lovely decantress and I am so excited to get the chance to give it a try!

 

In the imp this is definitely a sugary/bakery kind of smell to my nose. Vanilla cake batter perhaps? Maybe a little fizzy? There's an undertone of something-chemically or boozy..it's hard to tell-I am curious to see how this is on my skin.

 

Huh..there is something sharp underlying the cake batter scent-it...kind of smells like Play-Doh O_O How odd...that is totally what this is reminding me of-usually bakery scents and I do so well together but this is straight up salty playdoh (I won't lie, I may have tried to eat it once as a kid...*cough*)

 

Will definitely have to pass this along to someone who will enjoy it more and who has skin that won't turn it into playdoh!

[myth]

1st try: Nail polish remover? Hrm, drying to scented toilet paper. WTF?

 

2nd try: still a little weird but not as bad as before. Some vanilla, possibly ginger or maybe one of those spices that is foody but not a typical spice, like saffron or cardamom or something. It's foody but not really buttercream sweet. It's familiar somehow, but I can't place it.

 

3rd try: still coming off like some scented toilet paper... some kind of vanilla definitely. Not thrilling me.

 

I really tried to like this one, but it did not like me back.

[Xymoxed]

A testable decant of this was wonderfully frimped to me by the lovely Scrappy. :wub This is fail though. It's not fail for the reasons you might think though. It is fail because this is a DELICIOUS, creamy buttercream on my skin. It's that light and fluffy buttercream note I love so much in Milk Chocolate Buttercream. I want to eat my wrist, right now. It makes me think of Angel Food Cake. Pure spun sugar! Light & airy! Wundervoll.

 

I can slightly see the comparison to original Midway though (I owned 320482058 bottles of it, 2006, & Resurrected) other than the foody connection, it's definitely not a Midway replacement - to me Midway was a bit more complex. Also, Midway had a tendency (as much as I adored it) to go a bit plastic/chemical on me (and for that reason I had a scent locket!) but never went play-doh. This doesn't either. I also don't get lemon.

 

Wet & Dry it retains that wonderful vanilla buttercream fragrance that I adore. So, overall, it's light, stays close to the skin, but has a long wear length. Now if I could only score a bottle - if wishes were fishes...

 

[Venneh]

In the bottle, there's a vanilla sugary powdery note to this, with an odd touch of the nail polish remover myth mentioned further up thread. On my skin, this translates to a far more sugary bakery note.

[Penance]

Origin:

 

5mL bought on LiveJournal.

 

Preconceived notions:

 

I've read the reviews, so I'm expecting a gamut of carnival treats (funnel cakes, cotton candy, marshmallow, candy) and incense/wood. I was never a foody fan (at all) until I tried Midway, so I'm hoping that this one will be another winner since it's in the same vein.

 

First sniff:

 

A very strong blast of combined buttercream and cream cheese frosting. There's something sweet and sugary (could be just sugar--white, not brown--or it could be cotton candy) in the background, but it's overwhelmed by the frosting I'm smelling here. It actually reminds me a bit of Monster Bait: Closet, but without the red velvet cake or fruit.

 

Wet on skin:

 

Hello, cream cheese frosting! It's even stronger on my skin than it was in the bottle, which is saying something. This is foody in the extreme, rich and buttery with that slight tang I associate with cream cheese frosting (rather than buttercream).

 

Dry down:

 

CD023 starts to morph almost as soon as it hits my skin. I get an intense cloud of cream cheese frosting for about 10 seconds and then I get a strong undercurrent of funnel cakes, heavy on the powdered sugar, and a little bit of cotton candy. The longer it sits, the stronger the funnel cake smell gets until (at about the 1 hour mark), I suddenly start getting salt water taffy mixed in. It's not any particular scent of salt water taffy. It just smells nearly identical to a store full of different flavors, melding together into a sweet haze, but layered over the smell of hot, fresh funnel cakes caked in powdered sugar.

 

It's drier and less intensely, tooth-achingly sweet as Midway is, with a more pastry-like feel. I swear I can even smell a little bit of deep frying oil (in a good way) from the funnel cakes. The salt water taffy note is a nice touch, too, because it's sweet and yummy without being cloying. I don't get any of the incense smoke and wood that others have noted. They would have been welcome, since I'm a lover of both, but their absence doesn't make me love CD023 any less. This is a beautiful scent. Sweet and sugary and foody, but light and airy and not at all cloying.

 

I've heard that a lot of people believe that this was an earlier prototype of The Confectionary (which I haven't tried), which makes me a bit sad, if true, because the reviews for The Confectionary mention fruity candy (which doesn't work for me at all, at least in principle; I'd still give it a shot if some came my way to test, just to see).

 

I'd love to see CD023 released in the form that's in this little bottle. It's amazing and I'll be carefully rationing it since I know there's very little chance of the final product being more like CD023 than The Confectionary.

 

The bottom line:

 

Is this a replacement for Midway? No. It's better than Midway.

[Klepz]

I bought a bottle of this on LJ from an absolutely wonderful forumite. I expected something super foody, but it definitely turned out differently on me

 

CD023 is powerdery and incensey without being heavy - it's a very golden incense on me. It almost has a fruity feeling (it's juicy in that way), and hints at candy, and is very velvety. I don't get the comparisons to cake, but my skin amps anything remotely incense-like, so perhaps it's under there somewhere. And while the velvety golden-candy incense is nice, it's not really me.

 

I definitely had the spare change for it, but I feel awful that this didn't work on me. I hope I can find someone who really loves it to give it a great home.

[cfrancesca]

There are very few bpals that I'm completely turned off by, this happens to be one of them. I get a cloying and nauseating chemical sugar powder, cream and dry sandalwood. This sounded like it would work based on the reviews since I normally like sugary, creamy scents but this was a disaster.

Edited April 26, 2011 by cfrancesca

[mxtine]

I got a 1/2 decant of this on LJ and was expecting cake, cotton candy, marshmallows, cream cheese, funnel cakes, etc. I love Midway so I've been dying to try this.

 

Well, this decant smells diluted in the imp and on skin. It smells like borderline rancid oil with a drop of the perfume because I can BARELY get a hint of the sweets. I gave this time to "bloom" and re-tested to no avail. Very disappointed.

 

ETA: New decant...

Now I smell it. It's mostly a white cake with a bit of cream cheese. No marshmallows or funnel cakes. It has a little bit of a plasticky smell. I'll stick to Midway for my carnival goodies fix.

Edited May 9, 2011 by mxtine

[saralaughs]

A slightly powdery confectioners heaven. Sugary sweet cake (maybe funnel?) with rich vanilla frosting. There may be some amber in here as its a bit resinous to me as well. This is a sugar that does not play well with my skin though as it's a bit high-pitched and sharp; plastic-like almost.

[Alshneato]

no one else smells patchouli in this??? very in the back but I swear it's there!!!

[astarinel]

This is definitely one of my favorites ever. Since I just scored a backup on etsy, I feel like I can finally give my adoring, glowing review without fearing that it will make everyone else keep it from me.

 

Although a lot of other reviews mention a sort of mountain of sweets and sugar scent, I don't find this one to be overwhelmingly sweet. On me, it smells slightly like soft vanilla buttercream, mixed with something ambery and perfumey that makes it much more wearable than a lot of my foody blends. Despite being soft and not having tons of throw, it lasts forever.

 

It's a light and almost golden vanilla scent, not overwhelmingly or cloying, but creamy and soft. This would make an amazing day to day scent for someone like me who loves foody scents but worries about their work-appropriate-ness.

 

I almost bought two backup bottles, it's that amazing on me, but I figured I should let someone else enjoy it.

[JazzieCazzie]

Frimped with a sniffie of this in a swap. It was on my lengthy wish list but not a holy grail scent, just one I was curious to try.

 

Very interesting how far down this thread was and how long it's been since someone has reviewed this scent, since it seems to be on a lot of people's "available for swap or sale" list.

 

IN THE IMP: First a whiff of perfume but then spun sugar.

 

Dabbed on wrist and in crook of arm.

 

WET: Pretty much what other people have said. It's very sweet and sugary, like white cake or cotton candy, but I like it ... it's not plasticy or burnt or cloying like a lot of the marshmallow scents tend to go on me.

 

DRYDOWN: This is really nice. Just nice. Pleasant. And if that sounds like I'm damning with faint praise, it isn't. There is nothing that makes me think "wow, this is an amazingly gorgeous and complex scent that I will reach for to make my signature scent." Rather, it's an "ingredient" scent ... a lovely, light, sweet, candy scent with nothing nauseating, cloying, fruity or boozy to my nose.

 

OVERALL: I wouldn't wear it alone, but I would definitely keep this on my wish list to get another imp or two because I think it would be something I'd really love to try layering with other blends that need that extra touch of sweetness.

 

On a scale of 1-5, a 3 alone but a keeper because of the magic I think it could do with other blends.