Midnight on the Midway (2015)

[Ryan Hemphill]

Lightning splits the sky, illuminating the skeletal skyline of the carnival rides: sugared incense, flickering blue musk, and night-blooming flowers.

This was the first thing I tried when my CD order arrived.

At first when I applied Midnight on the Midway, I was a little worried because I was getting such a strong flower scent that edged on soapy. But even then, it was a dark, lovely floral (I'm not typically a floral girl--so I'm a little picky about that).

Thankfully, upon drydown it smoothed out and the sweet incense came into play. I have tried many incense scents in the past and haven't had too much luck. This one was my first winner! The incense stayed strong when it normally fades on me quickly.

The flowers, musk, and incense blend together so beautifully. I am excited that I took a risk on this. I think it is because most florals and incense dont work for me that when I do find a winner it really wows me.

It's been about 7 hours now and I am still getting the sugary smoky incense.

I could definitely see myself wearing this often. Totally perfect for an evening scent, especially an outdoor evening event.

It's a definite keeper!

[ltrittipoe]

Wet, I get florals and sweet incense. As it dries down .... Dryer sheets. Darn ozone!

[Lycanthrope]

This is just as I remembered it, even as a reformulation. It reads as a slightly lightning-kissed (without the sharpness of Lightning), atmospheric, sweet night floral (more... phlox and moonflower, not jasmine-heavy!) with a wisp of smoke. A smoky, hazy floral. When I first encountered Act I, I only bought one bottle, then I think the original was discontinued and I had been hoarding my lonely half bottle. I like this a lot, and those with the original will also find it extremely similar (at least on my skin!)

[Hattress]

So far, I've only sniffed this from the decant (I can't skin test any new scents today; my head is killing me and being stuck with a perfume wafting around me all day is a no-go), but it smells an awful lot like Necco wafers. Which is to say that there's something vaguely sweet, and I think the florals are combining to give the almost chalky wafer smell somehow.

 

Not the most useful review, but really. In the decant, it smells like Necco wafers.

[Aviatrix]

I should start by saying the original Midnight on the Midway is something like my holy grail scent. I love it to bits.

This one went on rather funky at first, and it made me sad and worried. I'm not sure what it is, but something just didn't sit right on my skin. I left it on, though, and after some drying down it turned into the lovely incense-floral smell that I love from the old version. I am not sure I am actually detecting any influence from the blue musk - and perhaps there was even blue musk in the original, who knows?

At any rate, if you love the old version, you will likely love this one, too. If the wet stages give you pause, give it a little time to settle!

And if you're just curious because of what you've heard about the original, this one is very close in nature, so it's a good bottle to invest in, in my opinion.

For all lovers of sugared incense and dark flowers!

[claudia6913]

This is a beautifully soft and sweet scent. There's just a hint of ozone. I never tested the old. The blue musk is so interesting in this blend. I really like it! The flowers are super soft and not overwhelming, but neither is the sugared incense. It's all very well blended. It's a close skin scent with only a hint of a throw.

[Larinessa]

In the bottle: Strong floral. Reminds me of orchids?

 

Wet: this went straight to old fashioned soap. Very... Dove or Ivory soap? I had to resist the urge to wash it off.

 

Dry: still very slightly soapy. But the sugar/incense is coming out, and its turning sweeter.

 

An hour later: I think this is going to need to be applied very sparingly. The huge throw is actually leaving a soapy taste in my mouth

[agirlnamedfury]

testing location: left inner elbow

 

in imp: very floral, though i can't quite pick out varieties. violets, maybe?

 

wet on skin: light and sugary, but not too sweet and the florals aren't as heavy as I feared. this is actually kind of nice and subtle. something about it almost reminds me of juicy fruit gum.

 

dry: unfortunately this has become a rather musty, generic floral about an hour after applying. don't think this is a keeper for me.

[annemathematics]

this bottle definitely needed some time to settle in and develop. freshly mailed (possibly freshly made as well, for all I know) something--maybe the flowers and ozone?-- was too much-sharp, high, dryer sheet/soap evoking. but after a few weeks this scent has become yet another incredible winner from the CD lineup.

 

MotM opens with white flowers (gardenia meets lily? Magnolia? Orchid?) and ozone, giving way to sugar and incense (mostly soft frankincense). the beginning is bright and elegant and certainly pretty enough, but it's the drydown that really hooks me. just enough warm and sweet and it seems to layer beautifully with everything. very addictive.

Edited September 30, 2015 by annemathematics

[astarinel]

I really liked the old MOTM, but I find this one fairly different and it might be aging or the balance of the notes or both. I found the old one to be something of a "night" version of Fairy Market, which is one of my favorite "magical outdoors" scents, I guess you could say.

 

On wet this is very floral, not particularly sweet, kind of ozoney. Ozone has a strong tendency to dryer sheets on me and that's what I'm mostly getting here.

 

Both the "sugar" and "incense" seem to be missing entirely on my skin. If I sniff hard, I get a little bit of that sweet outside air that I liked about the old version, and as it dries the incense starts to poke its head out a bit, but I'm kind of disappointed.

 

I'm going to keep the decant around and test it to see if aging brings around the magic I remember, but I guess I'll have to dissent from the other reviews that found this one similar to the original. The ozone balance is just different enough where my skin chemistry turns it overwhelming, especially in the wet stages.

[milo]

At first, soapy to the extreme along with incense. Dry, less soapy, vanilla, incense and blue musk. The previous version is more 'pink', while this one is blue. This is comforting, like being wrapped in a fuzzy blue blanket, with wafts of blue vanilla. a bit childlike, but I still love it. My daughter said I smelled like dryer sheets, but I don't mind. A bottle will be mine for sure when I make my big CD order when the Snakes come out.

[Teaker]

Dryer sheets. Pretty and sweet dryer sheets, but not wearable as a perfume for me. They're might be some rose in here (always turns to soap on me), or the culprit might be the blue musk. Either way it's not a winner.

[hiddentwilight]

This was definitely mostly soapy/floral on me, which dried down to a soft floral. Although I didn't get any of the musk, incense, or sugar (*sob*), it smelled totally different on a friend of mine. She had the floral, but on the dry down the sugar came out in a fantastic way - it smelled almost like caramelized sugar. So, your mileage may vary on this one.

 

sigh

 

/edit/

 

Ok, one month later this is definitely starting to settle a bit. The soapy/dryer sheet smell (based on other comments, probably the ozone?) has died a bit and now it starts out as that soft floral, with a dry down of the musk and sugar. The dry down is fantastic now. THIS is what I was hoping for with the blue must and sugared incense. I wore some recently and when I smelled my wrist after it dried down I had to do a double take (double smell??). I couldn't believe it was the same scent. I can't wait to see how this one continues to age. I have high hopes.

Edited November 21, 2015 by hiddentwilight

[sarandipitee]

Dryer sheets. Sweet and soapy dryer sheets. The blue musk is lovely, but goes very soapy on my skin. It does pair very nicely with the sugared incense, but unfortunately, this is not wearable for me.

[lady_pandora]

I was sooo worried when I started seeing mentions of ozone in the reviews for Midnight on the Midway. I should have known it would be there from the mention of lightning, but I think I thought that was just the Lab being poetic. So I adjusted my expectations downward a bit...but I needn't have. I LOVE this. This is a bottle. This is a Miracle BPAL that Breaks All the Rules: an ozone scent I can wear.

 

Not really much of a morpher, it does pretty much this on me throughout: sugary sugary incense (I think it might be frankincense, since it's light and feels "yellow," but don't quote me on that), bit of musk, some floral floating around, and the ozone/dryer sheets smell kept on its best behavior by the sugar and incense. I've never had ozone behave this well. Ever. And the sugar is just divine.

 

It brings to mind a memory that hovers just out of my reach; I can't pin it down. It does remind me a bit of how Smut was when I first tried it, before I started amping the red musk so much. I also think it smells a bit like an old, old Dia de los Muertos I used to have a decant of. That actually makes a lot of sense when I look at those notes--incense is there, candy is there, and it has cereus which is a night-blooming flower and might well be in MotM.

 

I just *huuuuuffffffff* love this and find it *snnnaaaaarrrfffff* amazingly comforting and lovely and kind of *hhufffffff* nostalgic.

[zankoku_zen]

Sugared incense and starry blue musk. This smells like incensey dryer sheets. I am totally amping up whatever ozone note this is. I feel like there's either lilies or orchids in this blend. It does give you the notion of "twilight", and the sugared incense is an amazing component. Sadly, the ozoney blue musk just throws everything for a loop.

 

Sugary, ozoney, musk.

[Astarial]

I'm also getting soapy dryer sheets. Not an unpleasant scent, but not one I want to wear on my skin. After a few hours of drydown, the soapiness goes away and it's a soft sugared kind of scent, but I'd need to retest to get a better description.

[stellamaris]

This is so incredibly evocative and beautiful, and the incense is that perfect incense, I can hardly imagine a scent more lovely.

[Musamea]

in the imp: blue musk and sugared florals with a bit of ozone, not really getting any incense or smoke – I'm not entirely sure what I'm smelling because everything is so well-blended and it's so different from other scents I'm used to from the Lab, but this is delightful!

Wet: Oh dear, this goes straight to soap the moment it hits my skin. Expensive, French soap, but soap nonetheless

Dry: thankfully the soapiness fades back a bit here. Initially I get I get sugar and ozoney musk and maybe a teeeeeeny tiny bit of incense if I search for it. The sugar keeps warming up through drydown with drifts of floral and incense in the far background until it's almost pure caramelized sugar on my skin. The only problem is that an hour after application my skin has pretty much gobbled up the oil, and I never got much throw to begin with. This is… nice? But not mindblowing in the way I was expecting from all the hype.

[LizziesLuck]

Received this as a lovely frimp

 

I love incense, but I hadn't gotten a hold of a decant of this because I was worried the "night blooming flowers" night be jasmine, as they sometimes are.

 

 

Wet: Maybe not jasmine, but something similar. It doesn't amp to high heaven on my skin though, the way jasmine always does. The incense is lovely, but the whole thing wants to go to soap so badly....it's just teetering on the edge. Could go either way.

 

Dry: Soap. Really really strong soap. Great throw! Lol. If you have chemistry that doesn't turn this to soap, I imagine it would be a nice strong scent, good lasting power. As for me, it's so strong I have to scrub it off. Glad to have gotten to try it though!

[Cali]

In the bottle, it's almost a bit medicinal, a bit of smoky incense and jasmine/florals.

On my skin the medicinal thing buggers off and I'm getting that dusty sugar thing, musk and an odd type of soap.

Hm. I had really high hopes for this but it just turns out not to work on me. I might just hold on to this and see how it ages because I really don't hate it or w/e but I'm notoriously impatient. The incense is so good in this mmm.

 

2018 EDIT: I... keep finding myself coming back to this, craving it. Decided to go on the lookout for after all this time.

Funny how these things go.

Edited February 13, 2018 by Cali

[Casablanca]

Bottle: The blue musk I remember from (and loved in) Night Scene, sugary incense, and pink lotus bubble gum. Two men sniffed this perfunctorily and said, "Baby powder." This isn't powdery while in the bottle. I can see some other nearness to baby powder, but it's not much like that scent to me.

Wet: Deep, sugary blue musk on a sultry-hot summer evening. The bubble gum in the scent (presumably from lotus) smells to me like the exact pinkish-purple color in the art, and this is the first time I've been happy to have that note there. It supports the blue notes well and fits the theme. The sugary note contributes to the ozonic sense of lightning (which might have a little grapefruit?). The sugar and ozone work well with the night-blue musk and what seems to be a little supporting jasmine. The incense -- is there frankincense in it? Seems like it -- adds a hint of carnival-gone-askew.

Dry: As this dries, the bubblegum fades and the blue musk takes the stage. This also finally goes powdery on me once dry. In this case, it doesn't bother me -- I think the blend has already evoked its images for me and they're firmly in place!

This is a fun scent for a summer night: playful, dark, and just a little wacked.

[Blood onmy hands]

The original Midnight on the Midway didn't turn soapy on me at all, but this one does, and it smells watery from the blue musk. The original was a lot sweeter. I don't care for the new version.

[lucycat]

In the imp, it’s sweet creamy musk. I don’t think I’ve smelled blue musk before, but this is very close to the pink musk in Vasilissa, which I like a lot.

 

Funnily enough, the musk, which usually lasts on me, dissipates pretty quickly, and Midnight on the Midway becomes sweet incense and flowers. I can’t pick out a specific flower. On my hand the incense predominates (lovely!) and on my arm it’s more floral.

 

This scent grows on me the longer I wear it. It stays close to the skin, and after a few hours has really faded. I need to retest my decant now that it has aged a bit.

[Scarlet Woodland]

Alas... ivory soap SN. Suspected this would be the case but had to try as the notes sounded so perfect. Will try now and again just in case.