Midway

[cranberry]

A bombardment of edible carnival indulgences. Funnel cake, caramel apple, cotton candy, salt water taffy and sugar tart.

Damn! Beth is amazing!! Despite all the rave reviews, I really didn't think I'd like Midway. I just didn't see myself in a sweet, foody scent. I was so wrong.

Midway is wonderful! It totally evokes all the glorious treats to be found only at a fair. Funnel cake, sweet candy, touch of butter and vanilla. I've worn it a few times now, and sometimes (but not always) I would initially get a slightly plastic note but then it would burn off quickly and just leave a wonderful sweetness that makes me want to knaw my arm off. Everyone I've shared it with (sharing the love) just adores it! I still have yet to try a few of the CN line, but overall CN is an amazing series!

[k00kaburra]

In bottle: The smell of fried food, and vanilla. Sugar sugar delicious food! Caramel and cotton candy - man, this is great.

 

On me: On my skin the scent becomes rather like cotton candy and waffle cone, or spun sugar and caramel. Either way, this is heavenly. No one else shall even touch this bottle!

Eeew, that makes me sound greedy.

[spanishviolet]

At last I get to smell the goodness too! I delayed ordering this because I was put off by earlier reviews reporting coconut, but that doesn't show up for me.

 

Midway is pure funnel-cakey, cotton-candy, bit-of-salt yumminess. I love the undertone of vanilla, the beautiful label, and everything about this bottle - except maybe only having one of it ...

[Brianne]

In the bottle:

WONDERFULLY delicious funnel cake goodness!!

 

On me:

Okay, first two points I think I should make with this review.

 

1.) I do NOT consider myself a foody scent person. I enjoy slightly foody scents when it comes to a body wash once in a while, or a candle or maybe even a lotion sometimes. But I would have never considered wearing one as a personal scent. I like sniffing them, but not really wearing them. Midway is the true exception to this rule.

 

2.) Of all the Carnaval Noir scents, I was excited about almost all of them EXCEPT Midway. It didn't sound great to me, and I didn't even include it in my initial CN order. I only included it several days later, on a whim!

 

That being said, Midway surprised me. In a very good way. When it goes on, the first thing I smell is delicious funnel cake. It's warm, slightly sweet, and slightly buttery. None of it is overwhelming in the least. In the back of that scent I can smell a tiny hint of cotton candy. It's not in your face cotton candy, it's a wispy, light, breath of spun sugar. Beyond that I smell something slightly salty. Not the way that Jolly Roger is salty, the way that a soft pretzel is salty. It's a nice little balance to the sweet, and I also smell a little bit of taffy.

 

This scent is surprisingly light. Not in the sense that I can barely smell it - in the sense that with all those foody smells, it is not heavy or overwhelming. It's intensely comforting. This scent also has incredible throw and staying power.

 

Final note:

Midway is a true winner in my book. In fact, it ended up being my favorite of all the CN blends. This is a real comfort scent in my opinion, I love to put a little on a blanket and curl up on the couch at night. True bliss!

[-Jamie-]

Midway is incredible. I bought a decant of it off the forum and it arrived on the very day the CNs were being taken down. I'm so relieved it showed up when it did, or I might not have ordered a bottle at the last minute, and then would have spent a very long time kicking myself. As it is, I wish I'd ordered more than one.

 

Wet, it smells almost like straight vanilla.

 

Dry, it settles into a more sugary vanilla with something warm and buttery and just a little bit salty underneath. It's heavenly. I can't stop sniffing myself after putting this on.

[Avery]

Hmm. I'm starting to think that these wildly popular scents just aren't for me, as every one I've tried has been no good.

 

I must say, though, that this is a very interesting blend, and definitely a work of art. On me, it just doesn't work though. The thing that I must give it is that it TRULY does smell like the midway. In the vial it promises to be everything that everyone was raving about, from funnel cakes to salt water taffy to cotton candy and carmel apples. However, on my skin it goes directly to cotton candy and . . . this is the amazing part, DUST. It's the dust of the midway, the dirt that everybody is kicking up walking around, and that which permeates the sweetness in the air, with the sound of the carousel and roustabouts yelling in the distance. I am extremely impressed by this. The transferrence of that experience to a bottle... well, that is incredible, and I love it just for that.

 

But, as a perfume, it's just kind of blah on me. it smells more like dusty sugar than fresh cotton candy, and that makes me sad. I am glad I trusted my initial instinct and didn't buy a whole bottle, though I am torn about whether or not I will hang on to this imp. It truly is wonderful, just for what it is. Just not when I'm wearing it. I sure hope that FreakShow, Snake Charmer, and Kunstkammer turn out better on me! *waiting patiently* *sigh*

[laochodia]

Plastic and sugar on me

[carolinachiquita]

I can't resist the sweet foody scents even though I hate wearing them!! Midway I actually like wearing though - its a really gorgeous sweet scent and it actually lasts!! I've been smelling it all day as I got a bit on my top yesterday.

 

Scrummy! I wish I had bought 2 bottles now

[Monster]

I was DYING to try this one. I have a bottle on order but got my hands on an imp before my order has arrived

 

Midway was a little dissapointing to me. I was expecting something stronger, and with a few more notes. This smells sweet, almost like pure vanilla with the tiniest hint of cotton candy. I'm not smelling funnel cake or any of the other notes mentioned. As it dries down it smells sort of like a tanning oil I once had. There's a slight hint of coconut in there now as well.

Midway definilty reminds me of summers at the fair or vacations to Disneyworld.

It's very light and fades fast on me. I don't see myself wearing this one all the time, it's more of a scent I'd use to sweeten up another scent.

 

Overall, I really like this one and I'm glad I have a bottle of it. I was a bit dissapointed though. I think there are some other BPAL foddy scents that are better than this one.

[Ajila]

In the bottle - sugar, doughnuts and something slightly sharp in the background.

Wet on me - very sweet coconut

1 hour later - it switches between the sweet coconut smell of sun tan lotion and ashes, fortunately the ashes don't settle in long enough to spoil the blend.

3 hours later - sweet creamy custard of the sort used in pastries

[AliBabble]

this one has become so addicting. it's so sweet and rich (salt water taffy...sugary..vanilla...) yet light somehow - it's an airy sweetness, like spun sugar. what makes it for me is the butter, though - it's really buttery! salted butter. you know how when you make a dessert, like a custard, you're supoosed to put a pinch of salt in (also with hot chocolate..), and that somehoe enhances the sweetness. yes! that's what makes midway so good! it's really a happy, carefree scent. adddiiiccttiinnggg....

[ladymissspyder]

It's a lovely cotton candy and funnel cake smell (and a great alternative to those sticky-sweet cotton candy sprays at the drugstore) , but it seems to require slathering to have any strength.

 

I want to try layering it with The Star.

[star811]

Midway

 

In the Bottle: I have clear images of the county fair and amusement park upon sniffing this in the bottle. Very sweet and true funnel cake.

 

Wet: It smells better in the bottle. It smells much like other etailer cakey scents on my skin. I was slightly disappointed.

 

Drydown: It doesn't mix too well with my chemistry. It tends to smell sweet and stale and the same time. I found that it works well when layered over unscented lotion as the scent stays truer and more similar to how it smells in the bottle. YAY!

 

...and I love the label on the bottle!

[Cleolinda]

I got the entire CN set last night ("No, seriously, I can sell whatever I don't like..."), and this is the first one I put on. I thought the idea of an oil that smelled like carnival food was dumb. Well, O me of little faith, because it's not this cacophony of greasy food; it's cotton candy and cake. Mmmcake. I can smell plain sugar underneath that, kind of the way I smell it in Shub--what's that, the sugar tart? Other than that, it's very harmonious and well-blended. And like they're saying, it's very true. What you smell in the bottle is what it smells like on, and it doesn't change much, if at all. And that's a good thing.

[maewitch]

Damn you, coconut. Thankfully this doesn't go plastic, but the coconut pretty much tackles all the other notes in the blend and kicks the stuffing out of them.

 

This is coconut, and dust, and something like burnt sugar. It actually smells like The Star minus the lime crossed with the dusty-sweet drydown of Miskatonic University. It's like smelling something sweet and a little dry in the air the day after the carnival leaves, rather than all those foods overwhelming me at once. It's actually very nice.

[AlaskaSnows]

In the Bottle: Salty buttered popcorn and caramel.

 

Dry: A soft buttery sweet smell. I like a lot of foody scents, but this is too foody even for me. if I get real close to my wrist a very sharp turpentine smell comes out.

[Galen]

In the bottle I can smell all the promise of cotton candy and errr, burning rubber??

 

Once it's on my skin, the burning rubber is accompanied by a layer of sweet coconut.

 

The burning rubber does kind of, well, burn off after a while, leaving me with sweet and coconutty goodness with just a hint of the dryness of the BPAL coconut note and the occasional plastic note.

 

But it's not enough to make me sit through the burning rubber phase I'm afraid...

[riddel]

Midway

 

Hm, have I not reviewed this one yet? I guess not.

 

I was really hoping I'd be able to smell the caramel apple and salt water taffy in this, but alas, I can not. Still, Midway is pretty nice, not to mention surprisingly addictive. Most foody scents tend to smell burnt and heavy on me, but this smells light and fluffy. It brings to mind freshly spun cotton candy and light, airy dough treats that have been rolled in shredded coconut.

Edited October 8, 2005 by riddel

[bodegaselkie]

In the bottle Midway smelled a lot like Milk Moon to me -- sweet, creamy and a little coconutty. But once I put it on, it smells almost entirely vanilla-cakey. I agree with others here who say it smells similar to other cake-like scents on the market. It's pleasant, but I'm not sure how unique it is. I wish it smelled saltier, and I also wish I could smell the caramel-apple scent mentioned in the description. On me it's pleasant enough but doesn't have much depth. I can't decide whether I like it or not. :-/

 

ETA: Several hours later, it smells like amber. Sugar and amber. This is not a bad thing.

Edited October 10, 2005 by bodegaselkie

[Firewaver]

Lovely as it is, and as much as I love it... ths is pretty much a cotton candy smell to me. I don't get a ton of complexity, though perhaps this would age well?

 

I did notice that if I slather this on, rather than dab, I do get a salty note.. though it's not noticeable unless I stick my nose up to my wrist and take a good whiff. I also don't smell the cake that everyone seems to smell, maybe I'm just misinterepreting the cotton candy smell wafting off my wrist.

 

Overall, I really like this, it's fun and sugary, I wonder if Trick or Treat will be comparable or better! Midway is great and fun, but i don't see it being an everyday fixture.

[~AmusedMuse~]

This is all the food at the midway that you love and know you shouldn't eat too much of. I can smell the buttery carmel corn, funnel cakes and candied apples. As lovely as this is. It makes me hungry.

 

Edited October 11, 2005 by ~AmusedMuse~

[mandalinn]

This is one of the most wonderful scents EVER!!!!!

 

In the bottle---warm funnel cakes and a hint of sugar

 

Wet, on---vanilla, cotton candy and all things nice and sweet. Goodness this is tasty.

 

Dry----even better, a bit of fruit and more cakey goodness.

 

Bravo!!!!!!!!!

[shayelea]

Okay, I can see how this is definitely a scent that reminds people of a carnival, but the county fair I always attended smelled more like grease, hotdogs, grass and cow pies. Maybe it's just a shoddy county fair, I don't know. *g*

 

For me, this is the scent of walking through London for the first time, guided by my friend K. and being taken to Covent Garden Market, where I had to know what that DELICIOUS SMELL was. We wandered around sniffing the air for awhile, and then stopped to watch a string quartet in the gallery below.

 

Later, I hunted down Covent Garden Market again, by myself, and sat my aching body down for the BEST WAFFLES IN THE WORLD. Belgian waffles with clumps of sugar in the dough that turn to caramel as the waffles cook. So when I open this bottle and immediately get an amazingly warm, rich sugar smell, with whiffs of caramel, Covent Garden Market is what I think of. Considering that it's been nine months since I was there, and I'm still talking about those waffles, this can only be a good thing.

 

Sadly, I do get the plasticky note immediately when I put it on, but the odd (and good) thing about it is, I can only smell it when I literally put my nose to my wrist. If I pull back just a few inches, I get no burnt plastic, just wonderful, rich, sugary caramel waffles. It stays very true to this through the many, many hours that this scent lasts on me. In fact, after four hours or so, the plastic goes away entirely, and the scent is still going strong. Great throw, too, which is fanTAStic.

[quinkel]

Oh, this is a yum scent! I love it already to bits!. Om me it is egg nog but 10xstronger. And that;;s a good thing because I swapped egg nog because it was to weak on me.

It's warm vanilla candy scent, melted sugar and honey mixed with vanille and cream! I have never been to a Fair, but if this is how it smells like i will book my tickets today!

 

ETA> It stays really close to my skin but last a full 24hours

Edited October 27, 2005 by quinkel

[synique]

In bottle: Coconut, dear goodness, it's coconut.

 

Application: still coconut

 

20 minutes drydown: buttery vanilla with a touch of caramel and a whiff of cotton candy. Begin arm-gnaw process.

 

2 hours (approx): Caramelly with a bit of the buttery vanilla and a little bit more cotton candy. Still arm-gnawing.

 

I initially resisted buying this one, due to the super foodiness, but so glad that I caved and decided to snag this one. I don't have the OMGHAVETOHAVEIT response that I did with Bearded Lady and Snake Charmer, but this is a damned fine smell.

 

-Jen

Edited October 14, 2005 by synique