Mad Sweeney

[ellebelle]

Barrel-aged whiskey and oak.

 

When I put this on, it smelled so astringent and so much like grain alcohol, I almost scrubbed it out without letting it mellow and dry. The first whiffs were eye scrunchingly terrible. Now that it has been drying for a while, it smells like old wood and sweet whiskey. It's not bad, it reminds me a bit of Kill-Devil in its foody/boozy-ness. But I will never wear this again.

 

ETA: Tried it on my boyfriend and it is this sexy, smoky sweet scent. Those looking for men's options, this would definitely fit the bill.

[devilot]

Mad Sweeney

In the vial: Booze. So much whiskey, it burns the throat!

 

Verdict: Erp, the verdict is that I'm too damned scared to even skin-test this sucker! It's just so boozy, and I love boozy scents. Or at least, I thought I did. Until Mad Sweeney told me otherwise. Glad this is going to a new home!

[aquazoo]

I get pepper and butterscotch. Ok, I can see the whisky and oak, and it's interesting, but I'm not crazy about it.

 

[Penance]

Origin:

 

Partial 5mL bought on LiveJournal.

 

Preconceived notions:

 

I love boozy scents (with the exception of wine and gin-based ones), although I'm not really much of a drinker. I honestly didn't know what whiskey smelled like when I bought this, but it turns out that I should be familiar with the scent, since bourbon is a type of whiskey (I thought that that was the case, but wasn't sure if there was a distinct difference in scent between the two) and I'm very fond of bourbon scents.

 

I have to admit that I'm a little intimidated by Mad Sweeney, though, based on the reviews. It's making me a little nervous about the first sniff (and worried about whether even tracking this one down was a bad idea).

 

First sniff:

 

Definitely boozy, but I don't get the "singe your nosehairs" effect that other people seem to be getting. Either my nose isn't as sensitive to booze notes (which is possible) or my bottle has aged a bit and lost some of its harshness? I don't know how old mine is, so that's just conjecture. Opening the cap is a bit like opening a bottle of liquor. You get that whoosh of alcohol scent and then it settles down just a bit.

 

What I'm getting here is a fairly smooth, but definitely alcoholic, booze scent with just a bit of wood underneath. Weirdly enough, it makes me think "pirate ship," even though I normally associate rum with pirates, rather than whiskey.

 

Wet on skin:

 

Basically the same as in the bottle. It smells like I spilled someone's drink (neat whiskey, evidently, since this is strong and not at all watered down) on myself, but with a touch of wood added in. I like this, but I think I'm going to like it better on the drydown, because that's the way it generally goes with booze scents (for me).

 

Dry down:

 

Oh, this smells good! Liquor scents do this on me. They smell somewhat harsh and very alcoholic when they first hit my skin and then they settle down into something smoother and richer. At least they do most of the time, and Mad Sweeney's not an exception. Once it dries, I get a super smooth, slightly smoky, vaguely sweet and spicy booze scent with a background of aged wood. It's a very grown-up scent. Yes, liquor scents should smell "grown up," but there are liquor scents that smell mature (even sophisticated) and then there are ones that smell like a frat party. This is the mature variety. No keg stands involved.

 

Honestly, I don't think that I would believe a person wearing Mad Sweeney had been drinking. It smells more like a room where people have been drinking, rather than the liquor itself (or the drinkers themselves). At least to me.

 

The bottom line:

 

I really, really like Mad Sweeney. A lot. This is another good winter-time, "curl up in front of the fire" scent for me, although it's not really a seasonal scent. I'm going to have to get another bottle or two (since I am the BPAL backup bottle queen.)

 

ETA: Looks like I have similar skin chemistry to ellebelle's boyfriend. It's definitely a "sexy, smoky sweet scent" on me.

Edited December 8, 2010 by Penance

[HighPriestessIce]

DAFUQ? I am getting banana bread. Strong fluffy banana bread. It seems someone's dipped a slice in a bit of Jack Daniels. I don't even right now. Definitely not what I was expecting at all. As it dries the booze lightens but the strong banana bread smell stays. My mother has just confirmed that I'm not insane and that it is indeed banana bread.

 

For the record I do not skin test because my skin often hates me. I tested on a strip of sketch book paper.

[WidgetAlley]

I could have sworn I'd already reviewed this, but perhaps not. I got a bottle of this for my boyfriend at the time, and on me it is all alcoholic bananas (the whiskey note) and a strong, green, bitter oak note. Pretty, but definitely not for me!

 

On him, it's whiskey, masculine cologne, and wood. Fortunately, we're still friends, so I still get to smell it!

[ladymeag]

I got a decant of this from someone on the forum a few years ago. I'd been putting off buying a bottle (even though it was a lovely whiskey-barrel scent) because it's so close to a single note that I was worried I'd never wear it. However, my lab-fresh bottle arrived this week and...

 

In the bottle - Bananas?! Really? Did I get the wrong scent? Oh, other reviews say fresh bottles smell like bananas. Interesting.

 

On the Skin - Woodsy, slightly boozy banana bread. I'm allergic to bananas, so the smell is making me nervous and worried about itching. I certainly hope this banana business ages out because the decant I have is gorgeous and that's what I was aiming for.

[mymymai]

ITI: I don't get whiskey and oak as much as I get strong acetone plus cherry brandy.

 

Wet: There really isn't much of a change once applied to my skin. Although as soon as I give it time to start settling, the cherry aspect begins to die down while the whiskey clearly ramps up.

 

Dry: I'll give it credit where credit is due. It's a morpher. Now it's whiskey, clove, nutmeg, and oak. It's rather pleasant once dried. It's just getting there that's the problem for me.

[Atrous]

In the vial: Ewwww...Nail polish remover & fruit.

 

Wet Stage: No more fruit and the acetone scent morphs (after a few minutes) into booze.

 

Dry Stage: This is pretty much Oak SN with only a hint of whiskey. After reading some of the reviews I was afraid I was going to smell like an old lush but there really isn't much of a boozy scent. Only when I get my nose real close. It's not a bad scent but doesn't exactly make me do cartwheels.

[galahad]

In the Vial:

Straight up whiskey

On the Skin:

Very astringent oak with whiskey. So interesting but I'm not sure it is appealing.

On the Drydown:

Literal and linear. The initial harshness mellows out and becomes quite spicy. I am almost tempted to buy a bottle for the genius but I doubt I would wear it much if at all.

[LizziesLuck]

I'm testing For The Joy of It on the other arm too, as I expected these would be quite similar.

 

 

Wet: Really smoky, almost sour whiskey. Much less sweet than For The Joy on my other arm. Much less pleasant as well.

 

 

Dry: So, there's clove in here somewhere. And because I amp clove to high heaven, this is now a clove single note, but with a hint of smoke still. It's actually lovely. It smells like a night of whiskey and clove cigarettes. I think I have other smoky clove scents I like better (at least one) but I do really like this and will have to have a think on whether I need more.

[dramedy65]

Bottle: I think I'm drunk. What is this.

 

Wet: OH THAT SNIFF WAS TOO CLOSE. I feel drunk. and my nose hurts. something boozy but ok? ish?

 

Dried after a bit: *looks up notes* It's whisky. Oak whiskey. Very. Masculine. Very. Strong.

 

How can I love a booze so much and yet not enjoy the scent? It's like reverse coconut. And I've always been more of a soft sweet whisky drinker than a fancy oak barrel kind tbh.

 

Too strong/manly for me (I prefer the unisex scents tbqh) and hubs isn't into whiskey. Boop, into the sale/swap pile.

[achildoftime]

I was slightly confused about this one before I read some of the other reviews. I, too, get whisky drenched banana bread when it's wet. I thought I was losing my mind until I saw some others seem to have the same experience.

 

When it dries, it does lose some of that banana bread-ness and became much more like whiskey in a barrel. I also get some clove now that the banana stepped down. I like it dry way more than I was expecting to. I'm not sure where I'd wear it, but it's a surprise keeper for me.

[Elspethdixon]

Mad Sweeney starts out utterly awful, but dries down into something truly delicious.

In the imp - Strong, sweet whiskey. Smells a little bit like bananas foster and a lot like alcohol. I can literally feel the fumes in the back of my throat.

Freshly Applied- whiskey mixed with nail polish remover. Does Mad Sweeney drink rubbing alcohol?

Fifteen Minutes in - rich, deep whiskey and oak. Starting to smell good now that the rubbing alcohol topnote has burned off. Several inches of throw. I probably smell like a distillery. Or a Jack Daniels commercial.

Half-hour in - A rich, manly aftershave that's what an imaginary cis-male me would smell like if I grew a beard and wore a rugged brown leather bomber's jacket and got a job doing manly carpentry and woodworking. In my manly barn/wooden airplane hanger built with oak beams and filled with leather flying apparel and chewing tobacco and rich, seasoned wood and toasted sawdust. Where I burn pretend-whiskey-and-mahogany/teak-scented candles. (Over the course of the first half-hour, this has gradually morphed from almost entirely booze with a faint hint of oak to being oak dominant, but a richer/thicker and less-dry oak than Antikythera Mechanism.) By forty minutes in it smells divine, like the sexiest wood-paneled sauna ever, if someone threw a shot of good whiskey onto the hot rocks to hear it sizzle. Amazing. I’m seriously considering a bottle.

I want to try layering this with Bulgarian Tobacco SN.

[follis]

I tested this on both myself and my partner. 

 

Me:

Bottle: smokey bourbon
On: maple, tobacco, strong.
10 mins: as above, maybe underlining bourbon but not as much as I'd like 
30mins: less tobacco, more bourbon woo! Sweet tobacco on the back of my nose. It reminds me of a smokier version of Perversion. 
After an hour it fades into a definite bourbon. Lovely. 

 

Him:
On: very sweet tobacco, almost citrus, still smokey. He thinks it smells more like sweet gin and juice than bourbon. 
30 mins: thankfully, bourbon, smoke, a lot of the sweet faded (he amps sweet). 
1 hour: fades quicker on him, unfortunately, but ends on a nice soft bourbon scent, wood smoke.

[biggnerd]

Oh, Mad Sweeney, you are boozed soaked and lovely. 

 

I slathered this the other day and had a moment where it took my breathe away a little. The fumes are quite strong. They burn off quickly, like how you get used to the burn when sipping a nice whiskey neat. The scent settles down into a peaty, caramel, butterscotch with toasted, warm oak. It's like giving a good whisky or scotch a good sniff. Once the scent melds with my skin, I smell like a boozy butterscotch hanging out in a dark, oak box. It's a snuggly, cozy scent perfect for cooler weather. 

 

Be careful if you slather though. Take it easy on application. 

[torischroeder9]

I feel like I tested this once long ago, but I did not review it then. Also, I am now definitely re-testing since having seen the American Gods TV series (unfinished as it is).

 

In the decant: Straight up smooth oak whiskey. Like, I am going to put this on my skin, and my husband is going to wonder why I'm drinking at ten o'clock on a Sunday morning, it's that distinct.

 

On my skin:

 

Wet, the oak actually amps up a lot, smoothing out the fiery whiskey edge of the scent. As it dries, I get a little  of the whiskey back, but it's predominantly smooth -- almost vanilla-smooth -- oak.

 

My tiniest nit to pick is that this seems way smoother and more elegant than any iteration of Sweeney I've imagined or seen. But. The scent itself is gorgeous, and I would consider needing it in larger quantities.

[Cali]

Ohh. Oh woe is me- this is a gorgeous sexy, smoky boozy wooden perfume, beautifully spiced. However, the smell of whiskey will always be the reminder of a bad memory, one of those from the past, that i just cringe when i do smell it. Unfortunate, because this is gorgeous.