Vice

[Rackham's Vanity]

Voluptuous and indulgent! A deep chocolate scent, with black cherry and orange blossom.

I received Vice in a swap, and it has not disappointed.

Vice is a very true scent on me, changing very little from application to drydown. (That having been said, I have learned not to wear scents anywhere on my arms, as the skin there seems to do strange things to scents after a very short time. I swipe the oils onto my neck and also daub a little into my hair. Works best for me.)

From the outset, Vice is a clear, bright, cherry-berry scent with deep chocolate undertones. Most of the sweetness of this scent comes from the fruit notes and not the chocolate, which keeps it from being cloying. It's a summer scent for me, despite the chocolate, as the fruits always stay near the surface.

On a side note, Vice received a thumbs-up from my five-year-old nephew, who, last week, threw his little arms around my neck and whispered, incredulously, "You smell like chocolate!"

[arabella]

First impression: Smells a bit "funky" to me - kinda like sour feet - but that passes fairly quickly.

 

Dries down to: Sour chocolate and cherries, as opposed to chocolate and sour cherries. Maybe, it's the orange blossom getting in the way. Finally, the "sour" goes away and leaves lovely chocolate with a cherry glaze.

 

Lasted: 3-4 hours

 

Rating: 3 out of 5

[gingersnapp]

Rancid "cherry" medicine.

[Carmencita]

In the bottle Vice smells to me like Jolly Ranchers, anise, candy, and oddly windex.

 

At first application it immediately loses the "Windex" smell and instead is very lemony and sweet.

 

After a couple of hours it still smells like candy but a slightly floral scent comes through. Also, I'm finally starting to get the chocolat escent. Very faint but somehow still pervasive.

 

 

Overall, I really, really like this scent and am considering getting a 10ml amount.

 

Addendum: My boyfriend loved it. It made him nostalgic, reminded him of a candy from his childhood.

[Whippoorwill]

i swear i get the strangest things out of blends that no one else gets...

 

this has been on my wishlist, but hadn't made it into an order yet. i got it as a freebie with my CT2 order.

 

in the imp, this is a sickly sweet, synthetic smelling chocolate. like gross lip balm or something. but i know not to judge it by that smell, so i swipe it on.

 

orange comes out immediately and it smells just like those chocolate oranges that come out around the holidays and are so yummy smelling and tasting. very sweet and MMM!

 

now... after it has dried down it is still chocolaty, and yet... i get... pez. scrumptious little crunchy tart pez candies in an easter basket filled with chocolate eggs and bunnies. maybe the cherry is making that happen? i don't know, but it's tasty smelling!

[DarkMouse]

In the imp: eww.. what is that? It smells like orange kitchen cleaner and chocolate.. I'm going between being repulsed and attracted. The labs chocolate scents do this to me every time!

 

On my skin: Oh, there's the chocolate- how yummy.. I smell like those candy coated chocolate eggs you get at easter time. As it dries down it smells really familiar and I can't place it... oh wait.. I know... its Tootsie Rolls!! I smell like a Tootsie Roll.. all chocolatey & sugary stickiness. After it sets a while it gets very soft.. but still reminds me of a faint Tootsie Roll candy smell. (I just looked back in the reviews and other people had this reaction too)

 

In general: I like chocolatey scents, but this one isn't mindblowing enough to buy a 5ml. Its a little too soft - but I'm definitely going to use it until its gone.

 

edited to add: I put on more of it, and the orange blossom does NOT like my skin at all. This gives me a headache. Off to the swaps with you!!

Edited July 21, 2005 by DarkMouse

[LiberAmoris]

Dood, Vice is so totally old-school BPAL, and I am so excited that I got it as a freebie in my last order because I have never tried it!

 

Wow, the first blast of wet Vice is that green top note from orange blosson mixed with cocoa. Once that dries down a bit, it's a chocolate cherry, like the kind you're lucky to stumble across in a box of assorted chocolates, with the cherry lolling about in a bit of syrup. Ultimately, Vice becomes the yummiest cherry on my skin. What fun!

[lissamc]

Wet: Some of the generic wet perfume scent, but under that is the holiday orange slices in dark chocolate. It immediately starts morphing together, and the orange comes out. Oh--here comes some cherry, too. Nice.

 

2 Hours: Melded together. The chocolate lays a rich warm base for the orange to meander through. I love this one.

 

4 Hours: Fading, but still absolutely lovely. I need a bottle of this!

[Chrysis]

If you took the darkest, sweetest cherry and wrapped it in syrupy goodness and drowned the whole thing in the finest dark chocolate THEN

 

Turned it into glinting lead crystal confection, AND

 

Broke it open and inhaled

 

Vice would be what you smelled.

[zankoku_zen]

In the Bottle: I can smell the sweet chocolate and the orange blossom, which seems a bit bitter.

 

On Skin: The chocolate smells bitter. I get the floral note of the orange blossom predominantly. There is a sweetness to the entire fragrance.

 

On Drydown: The scent fades fast from my skin. I can still catch whiffs of the orange blossom though.

 

Verdict: I was hoping more for a chocolate/orange scent. This is pleasant but not me. Off to the swap pile

[OriginalWacky]

Bottle (Imp): Cocoa and flowers.

 

Just On: Flowers and cocoa.

 

An hour or two later: Hmmm, a little soap, and cocoa.

 

Around 6 hours: Soapy cocoa.

 

12 hours: A touch of soapy cocoa.

 

Overall: If my skin wouldn't have ruined this, it would have been awesome. As it is, I like it well enough.

 

After reading other reviews: I'm so disappointed. I never got oranges, or cherries out of this. It smelled like someone took soap, and sprinkled it with cocoa. The coca was nice, but the soap was the yucky kind.

[joseybird]

Definately chocolate-orange-cherry! This doesn't give me a "Bliss" feeling--it smells a lot more wearable and less like an actual dessert--more reminscent of a desert, actually. Very nice!

[Monster]

I thought I was really going to like this one, usually anything with black cherry and chocolate smells nice on me.....I think it was the orange blossoms that made this one seem too masculine on my skin.

The chocolate was also a bit overwhelming for me.

The scent is very nice, just not for me, it doesn't mix well with my chemistry.

[Essay 28]

In the bottle: boozy cherries.

 

On skin initially: very dominant boozy cherries. I've noticed that cherry syrup makes me think "booze" in scent, so it's the cherry that is giving me the booze impression.

 

After an hour: Finally a hint of orange creeps in to tone the cherry down, but I still smell rather like I'm wearing cherry syrup, like they use to flavor slushes or snow cones. Not a hint of chocolate, which is odd, as chocolate tends to show up loud and brash when it is in a blend I've tried. Vice is cute, but just not my kind of scent. Swap pile for it.

[voodoobaby]

In the bottle: Chooocolate. I was expecting that weird cocoa note from Velvet and Tezcatlipoca, but this is nice, sweet chocolate through and through. It's not just chocolate, though, it has a little cherry. Yum.

 

Wearing: It's a chocolate covered cherry! I used to eat those things when I was younger, I remember the smell vividly...and to be honest, now I'd rather smell one that eat one. It's dark chocolate with the cherry in the middle and the creamy, sickly sweet stuff surrounding it.

 

Later: It's mostly cherry now, though it's different from most of the cherry scents I've smelled. It's richer and deeper than the others, and smells more like a real cherry. The chocolate provides a subtle grounding for everything and blends in perfectly.

 

Overall: This is a much better combination than I thought it would be. I didn't think it would work, but it really did. Very nice.

[sun_set_bravely]

Vice

 

In Bottle: Sharp waxy chocolate, at first. Maybe that's the fruit flavors coming out funny. I also smell a hint of a chocolate orange here.

 

Wet, On Skin: Chocolatey but cleaner-ish, too. The cherry is powerful, reminding me of hotel soap for some reason. The chocolate is so subtle that I can't really discern it from the other scents.

 

1.5 Hours on Skin: Smells like a Strawberry Shortcake doll (again). The chocolate never really emerged as a dominant scent on me; it's mostly citrus. Again - my skin blasts citrus scent like a bad car radio.

 

Drydown: Still plastic mixed with citrus.

 

Conclusion: Alas, it went the way of all citrus scents with me -- plastic and soapy.

Edited September 6, 2005 by sun_set_bravely

[slugbait]

Got this in a swap with Essay 28. Thank you!

 

First sniff this smells like chocolate punctuated with bright juicy cherries. I'm impressed!

 

On my skin this warms up and smells like chocolate with gooey cherries. While drying down this gets a sharp citrus note and smells like lemons and chocolate. The cherries vanish. Oh no! I waited it out a little bit, and that note disappeared, and the cherry returns. Its all chocolate covered cherries from here. It smells a bit creamy. It wafts off of me and its giving me chocolate cravings... Mmm-mmm good! I definitely want a BIG bottle of this!

[erikasilverstein]

BOTTLE SNIFF: Some chocolate, but primarily a medicinal cherry scent. Very strong!

 

WET ON SKIN: Pungent. Smells like black licorice. Making my nose itch.

 

DRYDOWN: Someone else mentioned a bitter herbal, or sandelwoody scent. Getting the same thing. Eventually fades back to that medicinal cherry scent. I can barely detect the chocolate, though it becomes more noticable as the scents wears on.

 

FINAL THOUGHTS: Not for me. I love foody scents, but almost every chocolate based oil has failed on my skin -- except 13.

[Phaedra]

This was a frimp from the Lab in one of my recent orders. Wet it smells like chocolate and orange. When first on there is a very sharp, bitter herbal note- blech! It is overpowering the chocolate but fades quickly, leaving a soft chocolate note with a hint of cherry. At this stage it smells very familiar- like "Angel" by Thierry Mugler which I absolutely can't stand the smell of. I don't like this stage of Vice at all. After about four hours it softens to a faint chocolate and cherry blend. This is an interesting blend but I can't handle the earlier stages enough to wear it.

[lookingglass]

I wanted to love this. I love chocolate and fruity... But the associations are too great...

 

The orange blossom is very apparent, and I had a body wash that I used during the time of a very uncomfortable breakup...(I don't want to think of that daily)

 

If you love orange blossom, get your hands on some while you still can.

 

The cherry is almost medicinal, and I have just spent too much time with children's tylenol these days...

 

But the chocolate note is lovely!

[sophia_helix]

In the bottle:

 

Rich chocolate with an extra sort of fruity sugar.

 

Wet:

 

Dark chocolate, with the fruity smell coalescing into definite cherries (these are sweet cherries, like maraschino) with a whiff of orange blossom in the background.

 

Drydown:

 

Lost the orange on drydown. For a while this was straight chocolate-covered cherries, with an interesting resinous note at the end, pulling it out from the straight candy arena. Almost too yummy -- I wanted to eat it -- but as time when on it just got sweeter and sweeter.

 

I think this is definitely a skin chemistry issue, since I'm learning my skin sweetens up almost everything. Eventually this was just very cloying chocolate-cherry, but not a fake candle scent. I think whatever that resinous scent was did it.

 

At any rate, the final stages means this probably won't be a keeper for me. The throw was very strong, though, and it lasted a good long while.

[jewelbug]

Bottle: This smells like the chocolate oranges we get at Christmas. Upon initial sniffing, I have lofty plans of putting this on after my LUSH sonic death monkey showers. Mmmmmm….

 

Wet: So far, this is the same as the bottle. Chocolate oranges. I could lick myself, but I know it wouldn't taste like it smells.

 

Drying: This takes on a more floral note, and now I can also smell a hint of dark cherries with the chocolate. The floral is keeping it from being too foody, which is a good thing. Its also turning out to be one of those oh so interesting scents where wafts smell of chocolate and proximity sniffs smell of flowers. This dualism continues, so that in about 10 mins, up close is a syrupy sweet floral with little chocolate, and far away is a dusty dark cocoa. How fun--this chocolate is like a star you can't see clearly until you're not looking directly at it!

 

Later Dry: This is cherry up close now and chocolate and blossoms from far away. Its also slightly bathroom cleaner on me--you know that wonky cherry bathroom cleaner some places use? Hrm.

 

Overall: I'll give this another shot in a week or so, to see if my body chemistry changes. The initial chocolate orange is great, so even if this turns to clean cherry bathroom cleaner on my skin, it might be a kick-ass room scent.

 

Edited to add that this was relatively short lived on me--2ish hours?

Edited September 13, 2005 by jewelbug

[maewitch]

The orange blossom dominates for the first half hour, which basically smells like orange flower water on me. Nice, but hardly what I look for in perfume.

 

I'm hoping for some rich deep chocolate to take over soon, but alas, it is not meant to be. The orange fades, the cherry refuses to show up, and the chocolate merely darts and flits around. I wanted the rich, melty luxe chocolate from Bliss, and instead I got musty, forgotten-at-the-back-of-the-goodie-drawer cardboard chocolate.

 

Sadly, to swap.

[PixieSkull]

In the imp: Not quite a citrus, but a fruity scent with a sugar undertone

 

Wet: The fruity scents mingle and the chocolate underneath swirl in the air, not blending too well but not horribly unpleasant.

 

Dry: After literally a minute, the milk chocolate scent comes out and it's like one of those chocolate oranges and chocolate raspberries... it's really decadent and lovely.

 

Overall: Didn't think I'd like the sweet foody scents, but I love the way the chocolate comes out of this one. Lasted for a while of shopping with my dad so it may stay... unless there's such a good deal in a swap that I can't miss out kinda thing.

[brownbear]

In the imp this one is delicious. On my skin it fades pretty fast though. Will I ever find a long lasting chocolate scent?

Anyway, it is chocolately and a little fruity. I think there is the tiniest hint of something a little woody in there, probably the orange blossom. It's a bit candyish. The cherry never comes out too strong. The orange blossom comes out more as it dries. I really like this one, I just wish it lasted longer.