Hollywood Babylon

[wrestlingentropy]

The essence of innocence shattered: glittering Egyptian amber and heliotrope, infused with the sweetness of strawberry and vanilla - dragged into debauch by lusty red musk and a dribble of black cherry.

This one just keeps growing on me. I got the imp because of the vanilla, but was taken aback at first sniff by the cherry/strawberry. It was striking me as way too air-freshener-dangling-from-the-rearview-mirror. Something kept drawing me back to it, though. I think it's partly the inherent humor embedded in the storyline of the scent, but it's also the devastatingly warm and creamy and spicy way it melts and mellows after a few hours. Now I've come to even embrace the fruity note at the beginning, too! I think I'm going to have to get a bottle of this after I continue to explore a bit more (I'm new here!).

[Veronica]

At first, this was far to sweet and sticky, I could barely stand it. After drydown, however, this morphed into a beautiful musky vanilla, sweetened by the strawberry and cherry. Absolutely lovely! I actually tried this on one wrist and Glowing Vulva on the other, and its a near dead ringer for me (thankfully, because I love GV, but no way can I afford it!)

 

edit: retest--cherry is waaaay too strong, like cough syrup.

Edited April 2, 2015 by delighted

[Gwydion]

In bottle: This has red musk and cherry, which means there’s no point skin testing. It’s mostly red musk and cherry to my nose, though the strawberry/heliotrope combination is quite nice under there. I do like trhe way the various elements work together, but given that it’s the very elements my skin massively amps are strongest in the bottle as well, there is no chance of it working for me.

[kunoichi]

In the vial this is a sweet and spicy mix rather complex, dark and delicious overlaying a deep musky scent. On my skin, a fruity scent starts to come through over the top of a musky amber, amping the deliciousness of this scent. After a few hours, the fruit and musk disappear and the scent becomes a sweet vanilla amber; lovely and feminine but very soft and subtle.

[Yoginispirit]

Oh how I wish this worked on me!

 

I looove candy and sweet scents but my skin doesn't. This starts out wonderful and perfect- like strawberry jolly rancher candy, then over the course of five minutes, turns musky with a hint of cherry at the base. I don't know what note it is but it turns to something really warm and murky and dark on me and the juiciness is no where to be found.

 

Perhaps it will work it a locket.

 

Edited as I looked up the notes: Ok it must be the mix of red musk and amber. The only red musk blend I can wear is Scherezade so that is probably the culprit. Especially mixed with amber.

Edited February 1, 2010 by Yoginispirit

[aquazoo]

It starts with the amber, a honey sweetness, but then misc floral jumps in. Finally that bit of cherry pops in, rather distinctive. It tap dances on the edge of soap, but does not quite go over.

[stardreamer]

In the imp and fresh on: Floral! All I'm getting is the heliotrope.

 

Drydown: Still floral, but it's a sweet floral; that's probably the strawberry and vanilla underneath the heliotrope.

 

Long-term: After a few hours, the amber starts to appear. At six hours, it's pretty much faded into an amber/vanilla configuration. Red musk and black cherry never put in an appearance at all. Staying power is good -- after 9 hours, it's still very present on my wrists, and much more pleasant than the opening stage.

 

Bottom line: This isn't an unpleasant scent, but it's much too floral for my taste in the early phases, and not distinctive enough in the later ones to be worth keeping. Someone else will like it better.

[CitizenBree]

In the vial, this smells like very strong candy strawberries.

 

Once on, the vanilla comes out to make a strawberry cream scent, very much like a Strawberry Shortcake doll. Sweet, innocent, childlike, yummy. Seems to last a decent amount of time.

 

This smells really good but it's just not a scent that is really me, right now. I think it is too girly and young. It is more of a summertime scent so I might try it again in July to see what I think.

 

[bippityboppity]

i read the reviews for this scent and from all of the good things i read, i went ahead and got a 5ml... big mistake! i dont really smell any of the good juic strawberryness that i read about. in the bottle it smells like pixi stix in the middle of a new age shop, really powdery and incense-y. when i put first put it smells like baby wipes, and after it dries then it kind of smells like my mom's old strawberry shortcake dolls after they had been stored in a shoebox in the attic for 30 years. artificial and dusty. it reminds me of baby lolita and old ladies, like something bette davis would wear in whatever happened to baby jane (which i suppose is exactly what it is supposed to smell like!). it is starting to grow on me but i feel like i'm not old enough to wear it. oh well! at least i learned my lesson-- always buy imps first, always always always!

[SophieCedar]

This is growing on me in a sick twisted big girl that likes to dress up in babydoll dresses way. I can't really say I like the initial burst of strawberry and cherry, but as I hang in there these mellow. The throw is pretty small so I had to reapply a few times to really get it to stick. But whoa when it did I smell frikkin goooood. Funny, the previous description of strawberry shortcake dolls in a new age shop... that's exactly what I like about it!

[voorishsign]

Frimp from the Lab. Hmm, sounds intriguing, I like all the notes - especially amber, musk, vanilla & heliotrope - but the cherry and the strawberry could kill everything. Going boldly now where no man . . . well, okay, a few noses have gone before!

 

In the imp - why hello, cherry and vanilla.

 

On wet - cherrycherrycherrycherry. That does it, my skin amps no note as badly as it amps cherry and it always ends up smelling like cherry coughdrops. Whyyyy?

 

Drydown - well, at least the cherry goes away a little . . . after that, creamy vanilla with musk and amber. The cherry remains though, and throws off the whole thing for me . . . without it I think I would've liked this blend a lot more. It's very rich and luxurious and if you, unlike me, happen to like cherry, this is a great, delicious, compelx scent with ample of it.

[INFJ4w3]

Sweet. Yes, it's candy-sweet. Cherry candy, strawberry candy and light vanilla. It's a soft, close-to-skin scent on me. It's not bad, by any means, but not for me. Very, very girlie. Young girlie, mostly. It's not terrible. 3 stars out of 5.

[fairestrocza]

In the Imp: sweet red musk and cherry

 

Wet on Skin: very sweet, with a touch of spice which must be the amber

 

While Drying: There is a hint of Cherry Chapstick, but not as much as I remember from the first test.

 

After a Little While: The throw is lovely red musk with a hint of cherry. The skin-close scent is spicy cherry chapstick (or is that strawberry? It is the note from Aunt Caroline's Joy Mojo, in any case).

 

Later: My attitude toward HB wavers between love and like as the wafting scent changes from red musk to cherry and the amber appears and disappears. Many hours after application, the scent is skin close and reminds me of those hard strawberry candies with the soft centers. (The strawberry candy scent lingers forever).

 

Final Thoughts: There are other red musk scents I like better (like Smut, Fenris Wolf, etc.). I like this much more this time around, but the cherry/strawberry is a little too fruity-sweet for me, and the chapstick scent is a bit annoying. I think I would prefer this with a touch more of the amber. But I can't stop marveling over the lovliness of the red musk, and as long as I don't sniff close to my skin, the chapstick doesn't intrude. If my experience with the chapstick aspect of ACJM holds true, I suspect that HB is far superior aged than fresh (this imp is at least 3 years old).

Hollywood Babylon earns a 3.5/5 on my skin. It would be a 4 if not for the chapstick.

[jizatt]

My first go-round with this one was in my Bpal infancy, and I barely let it touch my skin, it was too bright and candy to my nose. What I smell now is complex and sweet and fruity. Its definitely not innocent, and definitely not candy sweet. Wet, I get the strawberry and cherry in a big way, but complicated with the heliotrope. After some drying time, the amber comes out to seduce me. And I am willing =)

Edited March 28, 2011 by Shollin
Removed Lab description

[mari4212]

Initial thoughts/hopes on reading the scent description after this was frimped to me: Ooh, amber, vanilla and heliotrope? All good scents on me. Cherry? now I'm worried. Strawberry and red musk I've yet to try often enough to know how they'll go.

 

On wet: This starts off as a strawberry/cherry mix, but avoids smelling like cough syrup.

 

Initial drydown: The strawberry has gone into hiding, and the cherry is perilously close to cough syrup on me, but there's something sweet going on behind it that's so far keeping the scent out of cold medicine territory.

 

Full drydown: this is a cherry-vanilla scent, primarily. I think I'm picking up on a bit of the strawberry or heliotrope, because this is also almost candy-sweet.

 

It's a bit too sticky of a scent for a day like today, it only makes me feel more hot and sticky myself. I'll try it again after the weather cools down for a longer tryout, to see if the amber and vanilla come out more.

[starfish327]

this must be strawberry week for me. this was the imp i had left out to test last night not realizing that i had already tested a strawberry blend yesterday...

 

in the imp: gum. strawberry gum. very young.

 

wet: wow. the strawberry gets dirty. but i'm not sure that i like it. it's very musky and there's something under it that i can't really identify (the amber and the vanilla from the notes description).

 

dry: okay. i had put this in my swap bag but i may have to go pull it out. it's straight up red musk on me with a hint of vanilla. periodically i get whiffs of the strawberry. this is closer to what i wanted smut to be. this isn't sweet on me at all which is what saves it.

[hkhm]

imp: sweet red musk.

 

wet: sweet, fruity musk and amber. this reminds me of a cross between kabuki and aunt caroline's joy mojo.

 

dry: as this dries the musk strengthens and improves, it's sweet but not overpowering. bottle-worthy.

[Seamyst]

In the imp: Sharp and lusty - I can pick out strawberry (smells like strawberries and cream oatmeal, which is odd), musk, and maybe amber.

 

On me, wet: Same as in the imp, plus cherry. It's not a hot cherries smell (like Bastet is for me), but rather of fresh, slightly overripe cherries.

 

On me, dry: I can pick out everything but the heliotrope (first scent with heliotrope in it, so I'm not sure what it smells like). Sexy, bawdy, sweet, everything blending well together. I love it!

Edited March 28, 2011 by Shollin
Removed Lab description

[Incendiare]

Hollywood Babylon is quite a straightforward blend to my nose. It's cherries and musk in the imp, and cherries and musk on my skin. I am starting to get a bit of amber as it's drying down. The cherries kind of remind me of the kind that you can find in lozenges. This one is really burning my skin too. Overall, not bad, but I won't miss it once my imp is gone. I'll probably use this one in my hair on occasion to avoid the burning sensation.

[Altaira]

Overwhelmingly artificial strawberry. Like those hard candies with the wrapper printed to look like a strawberry.

[HerbGirl]

Hollywood Babylon = for me. So, there is a company called Spirit Veil that shut down for a while...and I collected almost all of her sprays because they were so good. This was back in 2005-6. When the company came back, most of the older scents were gone, including one of my favorites called Celestia. I can't find my scent notes on that blend, but I got my sample of HB in the mail yesterday, put it on, and OMG it's almost identical to Celestia!!! I can't tell you how excited I am...

This is a delicious, mysterious blend of fruity incense on my skin that sparkles. Not a dark fruity incense like All Souls, but a bright happy fruity incense. I don't get any fake vibe from it.

Multiple bottle worthy, and now my tiny bottle of Celestia spray will last a bit longer. 5/5

[venusinfurs]

In the bottle: Cherry Cough Syrup. YUCK.

 

Wet on skin: It's actually nice wet. Cherry, fruity, and spicy. It smells a bit like a fruit incense.

 

Dry on skin: Powdery incense. I don't get any good vanilla or strawberry from this like I had planned.

 

I might give it another chance, but it's looking like a disappointment. I don't think amber agrees with me, though--O goes to straight powder, so that may be the culprit here, too.

Edited March 2, 2011 by venusinfurs

[frecklestars]

In the bottle: surprisingly light and girlish for such a dark oil. I smell candy-like strawberry-vanilla mixed with black cherry soda. the florals are hardly there at all. this is definitely lusty, and uber femme. reminds me of various Victoria's Secret scents.

 

On my skin: the strawberry/vanilla/black cherry come through strongly on me, with musk and what I think is heliotrope as afterhints. it's engagingly juicy, but definitely a little too girly for me to wear on a regular basis. it mellows to a pleasant strawberry vanilla. I think strawberry is the most prominent note on me, and it's a light summery sort of strawberry.

 

Last thoughts: sweet sweet sweet! I'd definitely have to be in the right mood for this one, but when that mood hits, I know I'm going to crave it.

[Ella LaRose]

this smelled like a very sweet spiced strawberry, I couldn't smell the amber at all.

[Teaotter]

Wet: Strawberry vanilla cream.

 

Drydown: The red musk comes out to bring the sweetness down to below candy levels, and the cherry comes in to tone down the brightness of the strawberry.

 

Overall: This is the first "red fruit" blend that I've ever liked. Honestly, I may love it. It dries down to a spiced cherry-vanilla musk on me, with a lot of sweetness but not really a candy or foody sense to it.