Halloween: Las Vegas

[mxtine]

HALLOWEEN: LAS VEGAS
Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.

On Halloween in 2007, surrounded by our loved ones, I married the man of my dreams in Las Vegas. True to the nature of our relationship, it was a costumed event - a pirate-themed wedding - and it was as merry, strange, and wonderful as a Halloween wedding should be.

Ted, I love you. You are the poetry in my soul, you are the dreams of my heart. You are everything I need, and I love you with a passion that transcends all time, space, and logic.

The aftermath of piratical nuptials: walls smeared with red and black frosting, copious amounts of spilled red wine, the leftover contents of three full bars, dry leaves and desert flowers crushed into carpet, tobacco smoke, and champaca incense in a cloud of body-heat amped Snake Oil and Dorian.

This is Cake Smash all grownz up. It has the same elements: Red velvet cake, Dorian, and a bit of Snake Oil. But there's also ruby red port and a fresh cigar thrown in. I love love love this so much, and I'm thrilled to have a scent that represents awesome Beth & Puddin's pirate wedding.

[Poenari]

I agree totally with mxtine's review. Cake Smash grown up describes this perfectly!

 

On the drydown, the Snake Oil amps up on me along with the tobacco, but there is still a sweet boozy cake. This scent is fuckawesome!

[moosue]

This one was a morpher on me, but all stages were great.

In the bottle and for the first 2-3 hours on the skin, it's sweet, slightly tart red wine, something lemony (probably Dorian) and a slight hint of sweet vanilla cakieness (which could be Dorian and cake). Not bad at all.

After the 3 hour mark this turns to something so, so beautiful. Snake Oil, who hadn't been present at all before, shows up and makes this a deep, warm cakey blend. Frosting comes out more, wine backs off, and it's just a warm, cozy, blend that smells like Snake Oil is having a party and Dorian is invited.

Throw is reasonable, and it smells so, so good. I wasn't quite sure about this one because of the smoke notes, but luckily I get none of that. Glad I have a bottle.

[Ashmedai]

LOTS of wine initially. It doesn't smell boozy, more like a thick, sweet grape or blackberry note, accompanied by cake and lots of it. Intensely sweet. After a few minutes, I definitely smell Dorian, and later a very smoky scent like cigarette smoke. Not stale ashtray, this really is like fresh cigarette smoke and I'm kind of amazed at how well (and nicely!) it complements the other notes. The intense fruity note dies down as it dries, and the deeper notes emerge like the dry leaves note I think I recall from October, dark musk and that smoky note. They all hover around the scent of cake and vanilla (and this is actually a vanilla that doesn't turn to plastic on me...never thought I'd see the day), give it a really great depth and keep it from getting all too foody.

[sarahmarie]

The proto I tried at NEWC smelled like red velvet cake on me, mostly, so I was a bit surprised to find that the bottle I ordered smells very very intensely of honeyed, boozy snake oil when first applied to my skin. Like, really intensely, you guys. As it dries, that blends with a more identifiable wine scent, definite tobacco, and the slight scent of dry, warm florals. It takes a while before anything discernably cake-y or frosting-like emerges, though I'd say I can pick that up now. At this point it doesn't throw honey like crazy, so my husband may actually be able to be in the same room with me (poor fellow, he hates honey scents). Regardless of the honey, this scent is really gorgeous. I'd even go so far as to call it FUCKAWESOME. You want some, you really really do.

[Sangria2]

In the bottle: Amazing...red wine and frosting!

 

Wet: The frosting is what I get the most of, sort of hovering over the entire scent. Each breath brings a new scent experience, cake, leaves, incense, wine, light spices and vanilla all mixed together as though in a dance. Not getting any smoke, cigarette or otherwise.

 

Dry: The dry stage is pretty similar to the wet, only better blended. It doesn't so much morph as much as it turns, showing off different facets of the notes. It has tons of throw and I've had it on for seven hours now and it's still pretty strong. One of the girls where I work was walking past my office and had to stick her head in to say how great it smelled.

 

This oil is unbelievably gorgeous. Words can't even express how incredible it is, sexy, comforting, delicious. I want to make something that smells like this just so I can eat it, it's that good. If H:LV were a person, my husband would be in trouble.

 

LOVE IT.

[Rshields]

I was hoping for the red velvet cake, that I read so much about pertaining to this scent. I'm smitten

with red velvet cake, so when I heard it mentioned many times in the will call reviews page, I had to have this.

 

In the bottle this is a rich, smokey-vampy scent.

 

On me this drys down to a sweet,absolutely sugar laden red wine with wafts of smoke and incense.

I detect a faint whiff of snake oil lingering in the background. If only I could get the red velvet

cake that others found. Pretty good, not back up worthy

in my case.

[Viridian]

On me, this smells like my box of imps smells - it's familiarly bpal-esque. Must be the Dorian and Snake Oil giving me that sense, plus the different kinds of notes all blending together.

 

It's not actually overwhelmingly foody on me at all. It starts off sweet fruity red wine with some vague sweet notes in the background. After an hour or so I get more cakeyness and some Snake Oil. I don't get booze at all from the wine, just grape. It's like I layered a bunch of fruity sweet things over Snake Oil. I can see how people get red velvet cake out of it, but it's defintely less cakey than, say, Sprinklecake.

 

Not sure how much I love it, yet. Worth another wearing after it's had a while to settle, because I want less of the grape and more of the stuff underneath.

[AmyO'Shields]

I loved how this smelled in the bottle at Seattle Will Call - yum Red Velvet Cake and Snake Oil! So, I'm not sure how much the final version changed (or if it even did) from the Proto, but wowza...no Red Cake at all in the bottle I bought, just a touch of Snake Oil, lots of smoke/booze. I'm glad so many people are loving this, but it's definitely not for me.

[Iceblink]

The main thing I smell here is Dorian! A faint grapey/wine note at first but then DorianDorianDorian...after a while I pick up the cake and just a hint of Snake Oil and smoke. I don't dislike it but would like to smell something besides mostly Dorian here; I'll give it a full day's wear and see how it goes.

[b00cat]

MMMM...like birthday cake right after the candles are blown out. I get sweet icing and a little bit of smoke. After an hour I can really pick out the champaca which is one of my favorite scents.

 

Definitely needs slathering and stays pretty close to my skin. I wish it had a bit more stay-power and throw because I just want huff my wrists all day long. Definitely a keeper.

[Blood onmy hands]

Halloween: Las Vegas is like a darker, sexier, grittier version of Cake Smash... like Cake Smash with more Snake Oil & smoke and less Dorian. The Snake Oil, tobacco smoke, and incense add a dark, slightly spicy, smoky quality to the foodie/sweet parts.

 

On me, this winds up smelling like spice cake with thick vanilla frosting, left to dry out in a dark room full of tobacco and incense smoke. Which is actually rather awesome

 

It's a sweet, smoky, dark Snake Oil.

 

I really like how this one plays out on my skin <3.

[jamcde03]

HOW CAN I LIKE THIS SO MUCH. SERIOUSLY. the foody and boozy elements should have killed this for me but

 

i get the frosting- definitely agree with comparisons to cake smash- and the boozy note right underneath- but the cake and the booze are inside this big bubble of smooth, spicy, smoky sexy yummyness. i can't pick much out individually- actually, can you believe i've never sniffed dorian?- but i can't even remember the last time i found such a MAJOR instant win. this should age even better. i want bottles!

 

eta on further wearing i would put this in the same family as the illustrated woman- same smoky, sexy slighty foodiness, but this is a bit sweeter.

Edited October 28, 2011 by bonny

[femmefatale]

Love love love this! Thankfully, I don't get a cake or foody impression from this. On me it smells like a mix of booze, incense, a bit of smoke, and snake oil. Dh said it smelled like a sweet vanilla incense (in the best possible way).

 

It's absolute love though and will get a ton of wear this fall and winter.

[stellans]

Oh man. I was really, really hoping the other notes would overpower the incipient foodiness of this blend, because food is really only mentioned the once (icing) - well, maybe the wine could be considered food. But unfortunately, this blend is almost all cake to my nose right now. I was so hoping for champaca, the Snake Oil, and the Dorian! As with Halloween: Los Angeles, though, I am going to hang on to this one, and hope that aging will make it better for me.

[kattharia]

Something in this oil is not playing nice with my skin. Maybe the wine? In the bottle , I do smell a grapey wine, and it's very pleasant, odd, I get none of the other notes. But when it hits my skin, it screeches a high pitched almost menthol type scent, that gives me a headache. At about an hour this settles down to a rather nice scent, but I have to stick my wrist up my nose to smell it. I wonder if it will get any better for me if I hang on a few months. Odd, by the notes it should have rocked my world.

[mistressfizz]

Sniff: Vanilla frosting and cake, sweet and floral with hints of smoke and booze.

 

Wet: So many layers to this blend! The sweetness of frosting mixed with tobacco, light florals, and a sharp alcoholic bite. There's also dry, earthy incense which tempers the sweet nicely. I was afraid this would be all foodie, but it's actually quite evocative and complex - no single note dominates.

 

Dry: The sweetness and booze burn off. Now there's a pleasant hint of vanilla, and this blooms into a desert scent; dusty and warm, with dried spices and smoke and flowers hazy in the distance. The wet phase is pretty, but I think the drydown is even more gorgeous.

[Gateau]

When I first read about this one, while loving the overall spirit of it, I assumed it wouldn't work on me. I love foodie smells, but find they often go plastic on my skin, don't love incense or tobacco smoke, find wine turns sour on me, and am a little scared by the intensity of Snake Oil. The more I thought about it, though, the more it intrigued, and I ended up ordering a bottle unsniffed. Then a partial decant arrived with my Weenie decants and I WAS HOOKED.

 

I get a boozy, smoky tobacco (not the smoke, the delicious rich leaf) at first, then a winey grapiness that's neither too sweet nor too sour. The cake and frosting swirl in, as do the incense, Snake Oil, and Dorian components. "Swirling" is the best word I can come with for it -- there truly is a sense of many things happening all at once, as if you're going through a room with a big party in it and encountering different smells along the way. It ends up with remnants of red velvet cake -- that perfect blend of vanilla and cocoa -- and the wonderful dregs of the party.

 

It's sexy, it's delicious, it's rich, smoky, and heady, but all without being overpowering. I ordered more, I want to have this around for a long, long time.

 

Happy anniversary!

[MonkeysInk]

This is a scent I was sure wouldn't work for me, but I had to have an imp of it, just for fun. Foodie scents and tobacco never work for me and make my stomach feel squicky. But Pirate Wedding scent? I had to give it a try.

 

I definitely got some red cake and booziness straight from the imp and initially on my skin. As this dried down, I smelled Snake Oil with some lemon woven through it, which I really liked. This morning, I could still smell it on my hand, with a sickly-sweet sugary frosting and smoke scent all that was left - it was like when you open the cake box the morning after a party to get a taste of the dried-up frosting.

 

I won't buy a full size of this, but wearing this last night gave me a little taste of what fun Beth and Puddin's wedding must have been and I'm so glad that I gave it a try.

[Incendiare]

Totally not what I was expecting in the bottle. Initially, I am hit with a medicinal fruity note, probably from the wine, but the more I sniff, the more I can detect the cake and frosting in the background. Wet, there's something about it that makes me think of ginger ale? And the smokiness is coming out a bit too. After about fifteen minutes, it becomes spicier. At this point, it reminds me so much of mulled wine. It's mind-numbingly gorgeous in the bottle! So glad I have two.

Edited November 1, 2011 by Incendiare

[mamoyer]

This one is truly FUCKAWESOME.

 

In the bottle, I was a little scared, because it smelled like grape drink got spilled all over a cake. Then, immediately after putting some on, it smelled like I was in a room full of people eating red velvet cake and drinking fruity red wine. Then, after an hour or so, the cake (and a hint of Snake Oil) became the forefront, with just a hint of wine. It's like Cake Smash is now a gorgeous 30-year-old wearing a little black dress, sipping on wine, and rolling a fresh cigarette. Further on, it reminds me a LOT of Black Lace, but minus the cotton and most of the smoke, and adding lots of red velvet cake. It's totally wearable and gorgeous, and instantly shot up into my Top 20 (perhaps Top 10 when all is said and done).

 

I also have a feeling it will age very well.

[ladyflash]

Ooh, my first review. Please be kind :3 I got this as a freebie in a sale from Leopard403, who provided me with other wonderful 2011 Halloweenie scents. I also lived in Las Vegas for 12 years and (still) have a love/hate relationship with it. I had to have this.

 

When I first put it on, I smelled very fruity red wine that's been sitting out all night, the faint scent of beer, & old stale casino carpet engulfed in old cigarette smoke from the past 30 years. The fruitiness dries down after a while, but I can still smell everything else.

 

You know that scent you smell when you're standing in the middle of a row of slot machines inside a casino? (Aside from the thick cigarette smoke, of course.) I can smell that exact scent about an hour later, with a little more of that cigarette smoke.

 

Unfortunately, it doesn't last as long as I want it to...it's gone in about four to five hours, and towards the three-hour mark I can only smell a powdery, incense resin on my skin.

 

Works very well in cooler weather, and it's not too sweet for me. I ordered a bottle of this after wearing it tonight (my first 5ml!), because I feel like I would wear this quite a bit.

[rinster]

I may have been unduly influenced by ladyflash's review, but when I sniff this I totally get the visual she portrays. I'm even seeing the crazy carpet pattern that all casinos have to prevent you from looking at the floor and keep your eyes on the tables and slots.

 

Honestly, I wasn't crazy about this wet, although it's completely spot on to the description. I'm getting stale wine and cigarette smoke and remnants of cake.

 

Later, it melds together nicely which is great because although a 3D olfactory image of Vegas like this is astounding, I'm not sure I feel comfortable wearing it!

[ljaylh]

When I first dabbed this one.. my initial thought was "Sugar Skull, is that you?" - because it had that same burnt sugar/boozy thing going on. And I was not happy, because burnt sugar is not my friend.

 

So I wait five minutes, because I'm just uber cool like that (give perfume a chance, I say - as would John Lennon have said, had he lived long enough to experience BPAL, but I digress..) and behold! The burnt sugar stink-o-rama is gone! And what do we have here... hmm - red velvet cake, but not the red velvet cake your grandma made for your sweet 16th - oh no.. this is the red velvet cake that Keith Richards had at his 60th. Rich, boozy, ridiculous.

 

Ten minutes in, and I notice that Snake Oil has slithered on to the scene, because now there's a gorgeous smoky/spicy vanilla wafting around. Is there any Dorian here? I dunno.. maybe, but if so then he's being rather quiet. Can't say I blame him really - this is still a pretty gnarly scent right now, so maybe it's best to lay low for a bit.

 

A full thirty minutes in, and everything's changed again! Now it's all tobacco and incense, dark red wine and vanilla. And that burnt brown sugar/boozy thing has reappeared - not as strong as it was on initial application, but it's definitely back. And the overall scent develops a slight 'stale' tone over time, which is not all that great really - it was a much nicer smell earlier on in its timeline.

 

Ya know.. in the end analysis, this is a pretty awesome scent, and it's probably just as I would imagine a debaucherous pirate wedding in Las Vegas to smell. If I ever imagined such things, which honestly I don't. My imagination is filled only with butterflies and rainbows. But I feel some sort of kindred spirit now with the cleaning staff at that particular Las Vegas establishment - the people who had to clean the room after the event, because this is probably how that room smelled. Except this is better, because it's perfume. It's like Monsterbait: Closet on acid, or Cake Smash on steroids. But I'm not sure whether I will actually ever wear this - it's kind of scary. Yummy, but scary. Actually - I will wear it! When I get invited to Keith Richards' 70th birthday party in December 2013. Yep.

[CreamyJade]

In the bottle: Sweet red wine (almost like mulled wine), tons of cake-y vanilla

Wet on skin: Sweet! Vanilla and red wine still, but spicier and smokier.

Dry on skin: Incense and sweet wine, the Snake Oil vanilla drydown with very light leafy and florals undertones.

Final thoughts: This is excellent! Finally a red wine scent I can wear! I tried it first at the New England Will Call and was (at first) a little overwhelmed by the sweet red wine note. I decided nonetheless to get half a bottle through a decant circle and now I have another one from the Lab on the way. This grows on you! I think I must've reapplied three times today. Definately my favorite Halloweenie scent of the year.

Try if you like: Snake Oil, A Game Called Yes & No, Smut

Edited November 11, 2011 by CreamyJade