The Velvets

[milo]

Smooth inky musk, cathedral incense, ylang ylang, violet leaf, rose-infused amber, red sandalwood, and iris.

 

This is a tough one to describe. At first, this blend is quite sweet, but 'dark', at the same time. It's almost fruity in a sense, though I'm at a loss to describe which fruit. Whatever the case, it disappears, and this is mainly a musk dominated blend. Slightly sweet, warm, and woody, but still maintains it's inky darkness. I'm kind of at a loss why I'm not very excited about this blend, as I love sweet, woody and dark. It does kind of smell like BTBT, but it really feels like something is 'missing', in The Velvets. I do like it, but I don't think I'll be upgrading, unless something sensational happens.

[lunaticana]

that is just weird. >>sour snake oil

[zankoku_zen]

This one started out as dusty, slightly sour rose powder. But as it dried, the musk came out, the sourness dropped off and it was more of a dark, slinky powder. The powder is probably either from the sandalwood or violet (violet being the most likely culpit).

 

It's the baby powder that Marilyn Monroe uses. You know, it's not BABY powder. It's more like LADY SEX powder.

 

From the reviews, I can see that this is a hard blend for some skin chemistries to pull off, mine included. But I can also see this as being lovely if it doesn't go to powder.

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Dry amber and musk with incense in the background.

 

Immediately on skin: This scent is very powdery to my nose. It smells of dry amber and musk with a bit of ylang ylang. It’s mostly powdery, but also has a bit of a floral feel.

 

After a little while: This is still a very dry, powdery scent on me. I get lots of musk and amber, with the ylang ylang adding a thick floral edge.

 

Overall Impressions: This scent is too thick and powdery on me, unfortunately. I think it’s the musk and amber, but none of these notes are really that fabulous on me anyway.

[crebbsgirl]

Something here smells a bit... off. I blame the ylang ylang, which is notoriously hard for me to wear. Otherwise, this is a soft, powdery musk on me. With floral overtones of course. There is an almost fruit-like sweetness here as well.

[theseagrows]

hrm, i have mixed feelings on this one. i get a mostly incensy oriental-floral from this, where everything is so blended, it's difficult for me to pick out individual notes. it does smell nice, but because it's so blended, it smells like a lot of other scents i own(ed.) i mostly get amber, incense and musk i think. i wish i could sense the rose, violet and iris more. i like this, but i may swap it, just because i have similar scents that i like better.

[grrrlennyl]

On: Tons of red sandalwood, which tends to go bad on me, and a lot of dark musk.
1 hour in: Dark musk and sandalwood, mostly, with a bit of incense.
7 hours in: A slightly sweet, powdery musk.
Overall: This dries down to a nice, pretty scent on me, but it isn't remarkable.

[Vega]

Sniffed: Musky and incense like. Smooth and deep (but not heavy).

 

On skin: Oh, this is velvety alright: a soft, full-bodied scent that is all rounded without edges, thick but not stifling, a touch powdery (must be the amber), darkened but with the gentlest hint of brightness from the florals. The Velvets is quite a complex dark musk/incense/dark floral blend, but I can't pick out any individual notes. It's cozy, "muffled" and enfolding, but remains enigmatic and elusive to my nose. Colour impression is very dark blue-purple velvet with a sheen.

 

Verdict: This is a unique blend that defies my attempts to describe it. I've never read Neverwhere, but this fits to a tee the description and name of The Velvets. Not a favourite, but fascinating. I think I will try more black musk in the future.

[cuervosueno]

Hmm....this looks awful floral. Why did I want it again? Those were my thoughts after reading the notes. Well, ok, let's try it anyway.

Oh, what a surprise! In the imp this is really lovely: tart, though I'm not sure from what...maybe the violet leaf, which I imagine is different than violet? I can't really pick out the notes. It goes soapy rather quickly, though, which sometimes happens with me with iris scents. Soapy and dry and too floral. Too bad: I liked it at first. Next?

But wait! About 1/2 hour later, I smelled it and it was gorgeous! A really lovely incense like scent that is sweet and pretty but not at all foody. Reminds me of something,b ut I'm not sure what. It doesn't smell like violet to me, but if someone said this was violet amber incense, I'd believe it. It reminds me just a tiny bit of violet candy + incense, but whatever, it is a lovely, sweet, incense scent that I can't stop sniffing. It's a keeper as an imp....maybe a bottle too?And it does suit the name: while I don't think so much of The Velvets per se, it does remind me of a scent that would cling to a piece of antique velvet when you pull it out of a cedar chest: sweet, elusive, haunting. I like Vega's review quite a bit, and I agree with it, and while I don't know if I really do need more, this is a fascinating scent, and is a morpher.

[filigree_shadow]

I thought this would be more floral than it is. Actually, I wouldn't call this a floral scent at all. It's a soft and musky, with a light incense over the top. It does seem slightly powdery too -- some ambers do that on me. It's sweet, and it's definitely what I'd describe as a skin scent. You know, those ones that aren't strong and don't have any particular note that stands out, they're just kind of soft, a little bland, and not obnoxious at all.

[calivianya]

The Velvets starts out surprisingly high-pitched on me considering the woods, incense, and musk. I pick up the florals right away. The florals tame down after about five minutes, and allow the woods, incense, and musk to peek through. Oddly, as it dries down further, it just starts smelling like a plasticky wood. The violet leaf may be the culprit as that doesn't always play nice on my skin.

[Ghost of a Rose]

In the vial: Sandalwood and ylang ylang are the only notes I can distinguish. The rest merge seamlessly into a complex and sophisticated blend.

 

On me, wet: Pretty much the same. The sandalwood/incense is strongest, but the ylang ylang is also making its presence known.

 

On me, just dried: Basically the same, except that now I am picking up the amber note clearly. This is a warm scent, and even this early on, subtle and discreet.

 

After 20 minutes: The ylang ylang has already vanished into thin air. There is still a faint floral undertone that may be the rose, iris, and violet leaf, although it isn't strong enough to identify them specifically. (Not that I know what violet leaf smells like anyway.) Smelled up close, it's all incense, but the floral note is hovering in the air a few inches away.

 

After 45 minutes: Amber and sandalwood incense with a gorgeous powdery floral and a hint of musk. Feminine, and very classy.

 

After 1 1/2 hours: Powder - not baby powder, but luxurious upscale floral-scented body powder for a grown woman. It has that understated quality of true elegance.

 

After 4 hours: A faint lingering hint of amber.

 

Verdict: I never did pick up the rose, so this isn't the rose blend I was hoping for, but this is a gorgeous 5-star perfume nevertheless. It starts out as a dignified and discreet incense-type fragrance, like something you'd choose for work; but then morphs into a very feminine floral fragrance. It's beautiful, soft, and understated, in all its stages.

 

My rating: 5 stars

[mxtine]

Dark, powdery Snake Oil soap. It smelled like a sweet sandalwood soap I had once, then it morphed. I love incensy-powdery perfumes, and I'm glad this isn't a floral mess. I think the florals are just making it too soapy for my tastes.

[parrot_suspect]

I adore this scent. It's sweet, ambery, musky incense with a powdery drydown. The oil suits its moniker very well -- it seems "velvety" and dense. A pleasure to wear, especially in cold weather.

[sidhenecromancer]

I love this scent.. the incense amps on me, but with a musky slightly floral woody undertones... made me feel amazingly sexy.

[pinkgyrl]

This is *so* difficult to describe, but I can't stop sniffing my wrist. It literally is sex in a bottle - and it does smell velvety - I imagine a dark black velvet that almost looks purple. It's freaking amazing, and I can't believe that I missed trying this for so long. Note-wise, I can only pick out what it does on my skin - a mixture of amber, musk, and a hint of incense. This was definitely not a scent that I would have ever chosen based on the notes.

 

Adore.

 

Naughty Rating: Dirty, dirty...did I mention dirty....sex - hee

[heathercaley]

I have sniffed a lot of sniffs, and for the first time ever, I understand what pencil shavings smell like. It's nice pencil shavings though. Top of the sniff - pencil shavings, underneath - very pretty smokey flowers. I blame the sandalwood. ::shakes fist at the sandalwood::

 

 

Edit 3 hours later: Pencil shavings are gone, now I smell just the beautiful smokey/incensy floral that sticks close to my skin. I will test with a bit more juice to see if once I bypass the pencil shaving phase if there could be more throw.

Edited June 11, 2013 by Purrsnikety

[Monday]

This is an aged imp of the Velvets.

On my skin wet: Damp-smelling soft musk and some wood. The dampness is unexpected but not unpleasant. So far it reminds me a bit of Ozymandias.There is some spice amping and I'm getting the rose and amber, it's really dusty now.

On my skin dry: It's pretty much all dusty rose when it's dry. The musk is far in the background.

I don't get a lot of the notes listed, either they're very well blended or they've disappeared with aging. Hmm I'm probably not going get a full bottle of this.

[BlueberryPie]

ON ME: I only got a sniffy with very little left in it to test. Either there simply wasn’t enough to slather, or this is a very faint perfume, but after wearing, I still can’t say what I feel about it. Mostly because most of the time, I can’t even smell it. Every once in a while, I’d get a generic perfume smell wafting up to my nose, but in general, this was just a whole bunch of nothing to me. The only note I can remotely identify is rose and amber, and only because those two are my favourites, so I’m pretty sure my nose if fine-tuned to them. I don’t think I can be bothered to hunt down a full decant of this.

SCORE: 2/10

[JazzieCazzie]

Received an imp in a swap which turned out to be quite less than full (sad face and I wish I had checked levels by removing label before I gave high marks on feedback but that's water under the bridge). Was an item on my wish list.

 

IN THE IMP: Flowers and Chinese food. No, I'm not sure why either. But that's what it smelled like.

 

Dabbed on wrist and in crook of arm.

 

WET: Eh. I get all the individual notes but don't love them. The florals dominate, making it much more perfumey and less complex and interesting. I get vague hints of the musk and incense and amber but stronger ones of the iris and violet.

 

DRYDOWN: Just meh. I won't say "department store" perfume but not something I'd choose to wear. And then as it dries down something decidedly stinky on my amps up. Oh well.

 

OVERALL: While I was unpleasantly surprised, once I removed the label which covered the level, to see that this came in at less than 3/4 of an imp, in the end, it doesn't really matter since I won't keep it (though now I'll have to put it in my partial list instead of as an imp I'd feel comfortable swapping for another imp. Chalk it up to "I won't change feedback but I won't swap with that person again" experience. No harm no foul, I guess, since I don't love it.)

 

On a scale of 1-5, a 2.

[savage_rose]

Very light, pretty scent. It smells like a light floral layered with Snake Oil, smudged with incense. Not much throw, but really nice.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Sweet, dark musk. hints of amber. Iris (which isn't turning horrid yet, yay!). It's much lighter than I expected, given the notes, and I am having to really slather it on for a good test. There's something very familiar about this, but I couldn't tell you what it is.

 

 

Dry: I have no idea. Pretty familiar with all of those notes, but having a hard time really picking any out! It's not bad or anything, but it's really not wowing me either. Was hoping for more musk.