Halloween: Las Vegas

[milo]

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.

Wet, sweet red wine with a touch of cake. Dryer, more spice than wine, though it is still in the background. I'm thinking the spice is the incense vibe I'm getting? This is quite lovely, spicy, voluptuous red wine, (though it doesn't smell boozy per se). The sweetness may be the cake in the background, but it is very subdued at this point. Very glad I have a bottle, and looking forward to how this one is going to age.
Later on, the cake comes out more, so as others have mentioned, this is a 'grown up' Cake Smash. I love it, and a back up is already on the way.

[angelmecha]

In Bottle: I get red wine (and man is the wine a really true likeness here! Take a whiff next time you're sitting with a glass of Cabernet Franc and this is what you'll get) and white cake.

Wet: The desert flowers start coming out; a very distinctive floral that I am familiar with having grown up in the desert. It's the sort of floral you find walking into a quaint Santa Fe gift shop. The wine and cake are still the dominant notes: and I love that this is a blend where you can sniff "for" something and get it very clearly. There's a little bit of extra booze peeking through, and I think I sense a little bit of the citrus and tea from Dorian. No Snake Oil yet, though. This is the kind of foody I can handle: enough interesting, dark and dirty notes to balance out the sweet cake.

Drydown: Mmmmmm. A wine/foody scent I can love!! It's a sweet and spicy blend; the wine and the sugary cake both behave themselves and play very nicely with the other (brilliant) notes. I do also detect a hint of Dorian as it dries off (though never any Snake Oil!) Yum!!

Verdict: Glad I got a bottle!! 4/5

[edenssixthday]

Halloween: Las Vegas - When sniffed in the bottle, it totally smells like wine and cigarettes with a hint of other hard liquors underneath. It kind of smells like a wino. As soon as it touches my skin, I can smell the sweetness of frosting and the vanilla-cream of Dorian. As it warms up on my skin, I can also identify the dry leaves and florals. It's a complex scent and incredibly evocative. But on me, it just doesn't do anything special, sadly. All of the notes swirl around me, but don't blend together to create a more unified fragrance. It's a bit cacophonous on me, unfortunately.

[ami226]

On the skin: Wow! This is AMAZING! Sweet and yummy, yet there are deeper notes in here that keep this blend from becoming too sweet. I can't really pick any one note out. It's just a lovely, yummy blend!

 

This one is a keeper!!

[zankoku_zen]

Red velvet cake and wine. I get hints of Dorian and incense. This is cake on a debauched night out.

 

You know the kind of night. A lot of bump and grind, fueled by sugar and alcohol.

 

Smoky, sexy, sweet.

[thekittenkat]

In the bottle: Sugar, wine, Dorian, and Snake Oil.

 

Wet: Much as in the bottle, but more with the Snake Oil on the sweetie.

 

The dry-down: From first to last, this scent stays true to itself on me, Still more Snake Oil on him, though. Might layer with Dorian for an added kick of tea.

[suki]

In the Bottle: Lots of wine, and a follow-up of sugar.

 

Wet On Skin: the wine has become sweeter now, a bit more grape-juice-driven, and I'm absolutely getting the frosting part too. so far this is like the adult, parental version of Sprinklecake, which seems very fitting indeed

 

Dry Down: This has become the bastard child of Tzenton Totochin and Sprinklecake. Or, Sprinklecake with booze and wine. Anyway you put it, I think I like it!

 

In All: low to medium throw, a sweet, food-related scent without being overtly "foodie". A good daytime scent and seriously, a good alternate if you favor Sprinklecake (which I certainly do!)

 

Glad I picked up a bottle!

Edited December 20, 2011 by VioletChaos

[crebbsgirl]

I was a little worried about the wine and cake here. Wine tends to go over sweet on my skin and take on a "juice" or "syrup" scent. And cake can end up plasticky. In the wet stages, the wine does go a little syrupy on my skin, but it quickly blends into the rest of the scent. The Snake Oil comes out more. I'm left with an incensey cake and a hint of booze. I quite like this!

[tativa]

I wish I was getting Cake Smash from this. As that is one of the blends I passed on, was frimped a sniffie of, and loved.

 

For the first 30 mins... all I got was wine and tobacco... at one point I had to check my computer, because it smelled like it might be frying. But no, just the perfume.

 

Finally after 30 mins... I start getting a bit of licorice frosting, with the wine from Wanda.

 

This is going to need some aging before I try again.

[filigree_shadow]

Not much wine in this for me, but sweet cake, a little bit of Snake Oil, and the sorts of desert flowers that smell like some of BPAL's Mexican inspired florals. From the description I was worried this would be boozey and tobacco-smokey, and end up smelling like stale smoke in a bar. Nope! Not at all. Sweet, sugary, sexy.

 

I did not order a bottle of this but I wish I would have. I've worn it at least 6 or 7 times from my decant, and I've loved it every time.

[Circaea]

Ah, sad. This goes on sweet and cakey: red cake, too, which is all kinds of yummy. Then the wine comes out, and it's all I can smell. As I huff, trying to get back the cake, or detect the Dorian, dried leaves, crushed flowers, smoke or Snake Oil, my heart starts racing. I think I'm allergic to something in this.

[Helas]

I didn't love Halloween Las Vegas at first sniff, but it's slowly grown on me. It starts off strong on the tannic red wine, with a sweet undercurrent of vanilla buttercream icing. The bitter wine fades a little after a while, and the scent becomes dark and smoky, while retaining the sweet vanilla-buttercream fluff in the background. I don't get any Dorian, but I do get a touch of Snake Oil. Halloween Las Vegas makes me think of a drunken cake-fight - a silly, indulgent, but still grown-up scent, proof that children don't have all the fun.

[yakiguri]

I definitely understand the references to this scent being a grown-up cake scent, though I've never tried the oft-mentioned Cake Smash myself. H:LV starts off as a sweet cake and frosting scent shot through with spicy, dark wine and thick incense. It pretty much stays that way all throughout its dry down, though more of the spices come through. Every once in a while I get the tiniest whiff of Snake Oil and Dorian. I'm glad I have a tester as it's definitely interesting, a "wish I had been there"/"whoa, where have you been and what's the story behind it?" kind of scent. I just wish it lasted longer, or else I'd be hunting down a bottle.

[Gin]

Halloween: Las Vegas starts of with wine. So much wine, I'm almost put off, but then it goes right into cake and smoke, and more importantly, cream cheese frosting. It dries down to ... cake smoke? I think this is an amazing grown-up twist on Cake Smash, but it makes me sneezy. I'll take my sugar smoke-free.

[Monster]

I purchased a partial of this on the forum. After testing it for a day I ended up tracking down a full bottle. This stuff is SO GOOD!

 

I completely agree with the "grown-up Cake Smash" description. I think that about sums it up pretty well This is berry sweet, cake and frosting at first. As it settles into my skin the smoke note comes out a bit more. As the day goes on this gently fades into a sweet incense scent with a good amount of throw. In fact, the first day I wore this the drydown reminded me a bit of Freak Show. Wearing this just makes me feel joyful

[porcelina]

i moved to las vegas around halloween last year so naturally i had to order halloween: las vegas.

 

on my skin: rich, rich cake frosting, dark snake oil and sugary-smooth dorian, boozey red wine and the barest hint of smoke and something that reminds me of tenochtitlan (the desert flowers, maybe?). it's very sweet, pretty playful, but musky and warm.

[mymymai]

ITI: Yeah, that's re wine. To my nose, it's the smell of a check box wine mixed with Robitussin I do get the sugary sweetness of frosting, the vanilla aspects of Snake Oil/Dorian, and some musk.

 

Wet: Boozy cherry wine, stale frosting, tobacco, musk and vanilla. I'm makes me a little uneasy for some reason.

 

Dry: Wafers, stale red wine, vanilla, musk, incense no longer burning, and sugar from the frosting. It's better now, but I don't think I could put up with the dry down on a consistent basis.

[Mechanical Death]

in the bottle all I smell is wine-- like a deep merlot. Impressed!

 

On my skin I get more cake and icing mixed with the wine.

 

as it dries the wine quickly fades.

 

Later, I *think* I smell a hint of Dorian, but it fades too

 

dry-- all I get is a faint smell of white cake.

 

I want to love this so badly. I love every single note in the description-- this should have been an absolute win. I hunted this down desperately. sigh

 

I'll have to test it again on, and slather it on. Otherwise, off to sales/swaps with this one.

[brilliantcat]

Wet, sweet wine and cake. It smells so good! I begin to get hints of vanilla and cream. It's melded so seamlessly that I can't pick notes out anymore. All I can say is that I really really like it!

[littlebeky]

This smells like a sexier, more "red", boozy and sweet Samhain on me. Samhain was apples and spice, this is berries/wine and cake. Both have that earthy, dirty, sensual smell behind them. Maybe I am in the minority here. But it it the first scent that popped into my head. I will have to do a side by side test.

 

Overall, I quite like this!

[Ajila]

In the bottle - Blackcurrants, red musk and booze

 

Wet on me - A smoky, hazy tobacco scent, like a more masculine Perversion

 

Dry on me - A smooth warm red musk that fades quite quickly on me

 

Overall - I was ready to love this and nearly did, but it just disappeared on my skin

[unlaced]

After owning this bottle for so long, I'm finally getting around to testing it.

 

In the bottle: Very grapey, fruity red wine and something that smells like... leaves? Autumn leaves not spring leaves.

 

Wet: Still super fruity red wine but now there's just a little hint of Snake Oil weaving its way through the blend. There's also a kind of wood note that I can't quite place. There's no alcohol scent in this. Like, the wine smells grapey and fruity and distinctly red wine. But it's missing thr alcoholic edge that you'd smell if you were actually sniffing a glass of wine.

 

Drydown: As it dries the Snake Oil gets stronger and more present and a dusty kind of note shows up.

 

Dry: The fruity red wine is still the strongest note here. Underneath it is a sort of warm, polished golden wood note. And, of course, the Snake Oil.

 

Long wear: I got zero cake or frosting or anything sweet really out of this until it had been on my skin for half an hour to an hour (I wasn't keeping close track of the time.) The drawback being that I either got used to this scent really fast (and can't smell it anymore) or its staying power is not that great.

 

The wine note in this really reminded me of Giallo from Dark Delicacies' horror movie line a few years back. I put Giallo on my other arm to compare and the wine note is pretty much where the similarities stop. Giallo is deep and smoky-incensey, definitely a dark purple scent. While Halloween: Las Vegas has that similar wine but it's much lighter and sweeter. But, if you like one, you should probably check out the other.

[KakashiMorph]

I have no idea what half the notes smell like, so let's see how this goes. Also, this imp is aged.

 

In the bottle: Incense that reminds me of church ( must be the burning brush?) and a hint of tumbleweeds.

On my skin: Mmmm, glorious incense. It is heavy and slightly smoky and does remind me of church but it is such an amazing, lovely note that I would happily wear it as a SN. If something else mingles with the incense I am not sure - since I don't know what most of the notes smell like. All I know is that I like it. I also feel a hint of a honey touch - I don't know which note it comes from, but it is there.

Drydown: Smoky and honeyish, it is a scent I will enjoy wearing.

[tinyvulture]

I get vanilla incense a la Snake Oil, mixed with bold, fruity red wine and white cake. And there's also a Dia de los Muertos vibe from the desert florals and tobacco. Sweet, foody to the max, comes on strong, but then softens to a beautiful soft, sugared incense. My new love!

[Numanoid]

In bottle: Yum....I get a sweet yet soft cherry wine. Usually the Lab's fruit notes (cherry or strawberry) end up smelling like cough syrup or plastic, but this, so far smells real good!

 

On Skin: Got a bit of pipe tobacco.....at least to my nose. Might be the wine that makes the tobacco note smell pipe-ish. But it is very nice so far. No cough syrup!

 

Dry down: OOh....this gets real lovely. I can smell everything....the hint of frosting, wine, soft tobacco, and yes....that Snake Oil sexiness! I am glad I was able to get this and try it. I was worried about the tobacco and wine since those, too, can go wonky on me, but this blend works. Definitely a fall/winter scent. Nice throw and rich!