Mouse Circus

[cinderfallen]

A toodle oodle of pink cotton candy noses, vanilla spun sugar fur, scattered kernels of popcorn, and a touch of polished golden wood.

Actually, surprisingly, Mouse Circus dries down to smell very similar to Midway after the initial popcorn blast. Not a fan of popcorn (SUPER not a fan of popcorn) but the note fades away within about 10 minutes to a light vanilla.

[Balame]

Welp, I was initially drawn to Mouse Circus due to all the talk of it drying down to a sugary vanilla, though I was weary of the very obvious "popcorn" note. I gave it and shot and sadly it did the opposite of what I wanted. On me it's essentially caramel popcorn which, while very nice to smell when you're eating it, is not something I want in a perfume.

[doublehelix]

Wet, I get pure buttery popcorn, and I swear there are some circus peanuts in here even if its not in the description!

 

On the drydown, it's more like buttery popcorn and vanilla, and I get a hint of the candy note. It reminds me quite a bit of Haus of gloi's ghost puffs! Yum!

[Suusje]

Strangely enough it's sort of like a dry sweetness. I think it's the wood that's making it dry. It smells like the wooden cotton candy stick. I really reminds me of Midway but more dry.

[NikS]

In the bottle: Toffee nut popcorn, does that exist? It does now anyway...this is definitely a major foody/sweet scent that I wouldn't normally go for but surprisingly I'm loving it!

 

Wet: It's predominantly a strong toffee nut popcorn scent at this stage and it if happens to stay like this all the way through it could possibly make me feel a litle bit sick

 

Dry: Ahhh, thank goodness the popcorn has decided to calm down...it's not completely disappeared but it's there at an appropriate level, and oh my for the really good part...a sweet musk starts to take to the forefront of this scent and I love it!

 

Overall: Once you get through the popcorn blast at the start of Mouse Circus, it develops into a nice grown up sweet scent and I can see myself wearing this a lot, the one downfall with this perfume is the fact that I have to reapply a few times during the day as it didn't stick around for long, other than that it is beautiful.

[Monster]

This starts out caramel popcorn and peanuts. As it dries, the fresh, pink cotton candy notes comes out. In the final dry down I have a dominant cotton candy, supported by caramel popcorn and a small amount of dry wood in the background. This is FANTASTIC! Mouse Circus sort of reminds me of the Trading Posts Midway Plaisance Atmosphere Spray (without the apple note).

 

This is such a wearable scent perfect for every day, work, anywhere. I just love this. I can see why it's such a popular scent.

[deleahrium]

Beautiful hot buttered popcorn at first sniff, but the drydown is similar to Obatala, though not quite as sickly sweet.

[Victory]

Whoa, that is some serious popcorn! Mouse Circus starts off like a headlong dive into a vat of buttery popcorn, then has brief wisps of cotton candy interspersed with the popcorn, and then returns to popcorn by itself. I love butter popcorn, but I'd rather eat it than smell like it.

[vanilla323]

This is the cutest label ever!

 

This scent in the bottle and on my skin wet is sweet and salty popcorn! It's like buttery popcorn with sugar on top of it which I really like! It's so sweet and comforting and CUTE!

 

BUT...

 

Then the drydown happens and the wood note comes out and while it's not a bad scent it is super strong and takes over all the popcorn and sweetness! It's just a polished wood scent after that! It does last but only the wood note! How sad and weird! Why couldn't the popcorn stick around??? So sad.

[hroki97]

In the bottle: Caramel corn

Wet: Caramel corn

Dry: Caramel corn with a bit of nuttiness ?

 

I keep trying to wear this hoping to smell cotton candy but it's just not working out I feel very stupid smelling this and only getting one note when I see so many reviews that rave about the vanilla and spun sugar…

 

 

[DevilsCandyCane]

This is not what I expected/hoped for at all, but OMG I adore it just the same! I wanted cotton candy, but I get almost none of that. Instead, to me it's all nutty buttery toffee popcorn, and it is gorgeous Not something I would ever wear to go out, because it's a bit weird to smell like a movie theatre food stand, but for at-home use I'm constantly drawn to it, it's just so comforting and happy and childlike - really brings back memories of going to the cinema as a little kid when it was so exciting, and I would get so wrapped up in the film that when I left the cinema I hardly remembered how to act as myself in my own Real Life (I was an odd child! ). I don't have that many good associations with childhood, so it's really cool to find a scent that to me just perfectly captures the good bits - me and my brothers, in the 80s, getting greasy buttery popcorn fingers and watching movies and going home to play Sonic on the Megadrive!

 

On me, this stays true all the way down - caramelised, salty-buttery toffee popcorn ...very occasionally I get whiffs of cotton candy, but it's way in the background. I'm so glad I have a full bottle of this!

[LizziesLuck]

Immediately there is a note in there that reminds me of Midway, and I get super excited.

 

It's not Midway though. This is nuttier, dryer. I kind of think it's trying to turn to plastic, which I haven't had anything do for a while, and it's making me sad.

 

 

This fades pretty quickly. It didn't actually turn plastic, thank goodness. Still something about it is reminding me of Midway. I think this needs a full day test.

[Teaker]

I'd been dying to try this forever and finally got an imp of the forum. I LOVE the wet stage, it's literally hot buttered popcorn. So realistic, I have no idea how the lab does it. I'm always worried about scents turning salty (I've had a few bad play-dough experiences) but despite the butter note this isn't salty at all. There's a hint of sweetness underneath, which becomes more prominent as it dries.

 

Dry it goes a bit funky- it's sweet but has a kind of sour/plastic thing going on. So unfortunately I can't wear this one out in public and won't buy a bottle. But still, you've gotta love the wet stage.

[FeralFae]

Bottle: Aged, 2013

 

MC has the cutest bottle art, I'm absolutely in love with it <33 as for the scent, I just have to mention that i'm an AVID salted popcorn eater, I hate the sweet kind, and this smells just like beautiful, buttered, salted popcorn <3 ughhh it's so yummy. There's obviously a lot of sugar on top as well which makes it more wearable I guess, and also a lot more delicious.

 

I really don't care if I smell like a movie theatre, I'm wearing this out.

[Cali]

Yep, I see how this is a bestseller. I ordered this, and a week later I went to see Cirque du soleil's Amaluna, and if you step into a Cirque big top you're met with this loud but lovely popcorn scent. So then and there I was hoping that mouse circus would smell like that - and it's very close to the same. The cotton candy's a nice background note. I've been compulsively slathering this on because I want to imagine myself back there again, heh.

Unfortunately it only stays on my skin for about half an hour and then the popcorn is gone.
I was also really anticipating this because, well, it is a bestseller after all, plus I absolutely adore the movie (Coraline ofcourse) so yes, very very good. Such a happy smell.

[bellumed]

I love Mouse Circus SO MUCH. It just smells like joy! Kettle corn with a little woody edge in bottle. Just really pleasant and fun! Polished wood comes out more on the skin. It still has some sweetness but it’s a lot less femmey and gourmand, wood glazed with popcorn-sugar. There’s a certain wafting puffiness that I do associate with cotton candy.

 

Primarily kettle corn but not a straightforward foodie, as that comforting (not at all chemical) clean wood smell comes out to give it some complexity. I wear this in my apartment more than out, but either way, drool.

Edited May 12, 2016 by bellumed

[Elspethdixon]

I blind-bottled this because the description reminded me of my cat (who has a pink nose and white fur, and who for some unknown reason thinks unpopped 'old maid' kernels from the bottom of the popcorn bowl are god's most perfect cat toys). I was expecting more of a sugary-vanilla-wood scent, like a sweeter Antikythera Mechanism without the tobacco, but instead this is pure popcorn.

 

Opening the bottle, it honest-to-God smells like Beth somehow liquified hot butter popcorn and then bottled it. Incredibly realistic - it even smells salty, and even oils with salt as a listed note rarely do that on me.

 

Once it dries, the buttered popcorn gets sweeter, closer to the smell of fresh kettle corn being made. After the first few minutes, it becomes softer and more gentle and the wood note starts to emerge (I think the 'polished wood' might be teak?), making it less of a pure popcorn smell and more of a gentle-gourmand-with -a-hint-of-popcorn. I don't actually know how long the wear length is because I usually apply it in the evening before bed.

 

It's wonderful. Cuddly and salty-sweet and actually a pretty good perfume for evoking my goofy little orange-and-white kitty. And unlike some of my other favorite BPALs, my wife likes it, too.

Edited September 12, 2016 by Elspethdixon

[jarcher3]

the kettle corn, popcorn is smoothly strong and potent in the bottle. Once it dries down the popcorn scent turns into a candied nutty sugar smell. It's not fruity, it really does remind me of wearing a candy. I really love this one...

[Nilbog]

In the bottle I was instantly wary. It is insanely Trix cereal. Like 100% Trix cereal to me. Unluckily I never liked Trix cereal. On wet, it remained the same. Thank goodness on the dry down it mellowed out. I am very confused by this fragrance. I assume what I smell may be the popcorn but I have no other popcorn blend to compare it to.

I wanted to love it more because the mouse circus scene is so gorgeous. However I don't think I'll be keeping it. The throw and lasting power is also pretty weak.

Edited July 20, 2017 by Nilbog

[Missy_killer]

In the imp: Popcorn and pink sweetness. I would say the pink is more chewy than a light and airy spun sugar smells like to me, maybe it's a pink marshmallow? There's also a warm and slightly buttery vanilla.

 

On me: Popcorn! I absolutely popcorn and this smells just like the real deal. It mingles with the sweetness of the spun sugar/marshmallow (that doesn't smell pink on me) very well and creates that perfect "air-of-a-carnival-fair"-smell. At this point I don't pick up any vanilla or woods.

 

It stays sweet sugar and popcorn for a couple of hours and then the sugar takes over. I am a little sad that the pink aspect never showed up on my skin, but that's about the only negative I have for this.

[Juliamon]

In the imp: popcorn and a hint of wood. Maybe a wooden bowl holding the popcorn?

 

Wet: Popcorn and more wood. A lot of wood. Vanilla is starting to peek out.

 

Dry: The popcorn was eaten and the wooden bowl washed and put away. Now all that remains is vanilla cotton candy. It's a nice soft pink sweetness, but a bit too childish for me--it inspires vague memories of those cupcake dolls from the 90s. I might wear it as a bedtime scent.

[Lucchesa]

Mouse Circus is adorable! I can see this being gateway BPAL for a preteen. It's pink and fuzzy and sugary and salty -- all kinds of junk food for your nose. I don't get much wood at all, just cotton candy and popcorn -- it really does smell like the midway where they're spinning cotton candy and popping corn and frying up elephants' ears. And even for an adult, it's quite pleasant, though not my everyday kind of scent. It brings a smile to my face and lasts quite well.