Monster Bait: Ventriloquist Dummy

[MadameGorgon]

Menacing, maniacal, and slick with the one-liners … this guy does it all with a wink and a smile! Savage apricot, depraved dry woods, and psychopathic patchouli covered by a disarmingly sweet mishmosh of caramel, brown sugar, hazelnut, and butterscotch. Be warned: this oil will instigate possession in most puppets, including some marionettes and the occasional finger puppet.

I like the notes listed and I love the description and artwork. I've always been creeped out by ventriloquist dummies, especially since I saw that movie. You know... The one where the dummy comes to life and starts killing people. There's only one of those, right?

But I amped this fragrance to the point of nausea. It's sad, because after I washed off as much as I could, I really liked the faded, soft wood scent. Tried to use just the tiniest dot and still a fume factory. The smell was so strong for me that I could smell it through 2 closed doors and a tightly capped bottle. And for reasons unknown, my Id decided that this scent was highly disturbing.

I gave it to my 60 y o mother to try and it smelled good on her. It still smelled the same to me, but not overwhelming and not disturbing. Now, she's hooked!! She took my sample of another BPAL ( I should say, she hounded me until I gave it to her) and asked me how to find it on the interwebs.

Yeah BPAL!

[Skygal]

hmmmmmmm.....

Got this one on e-bay and I thought I'd like it based on these reviews. Well. Let's see,

 

In bottle: celery salt

Wet on my skin: celery salt

10 minute check: faded celery salt

 

I cannot figure out which note in this is becoming celery salt!

Also, I can usually pick out notes in a fragrance, but this seems to me like a single note of- you guessed it- celery salt!

 

I mean, I love celery salt on my Chicago hot dogs and 'round the rim of my bloody marys, but in my perfume? Nope.

 

Tossin' this one onto the swap pile as I head out for brunch and (yup) a bloody mary!

 

PS- I do love the creepy label art.

[bpalscentsual]

Guess what I amped out of this? If you guessed patchouli, you are right. Guess what note haunts my nose, makes me feel slightly sick, and doesn't generally please me all that much? Again, if you guessed patchouli, you are right.

 

Patchouli, my old enemy, we meet at last. I am sending MB: VD off to better pastures. Someone else is going to love this like I don't.

[brilliantcat]

The listed notes sounded AMAZING so I bought a bottle unsniffed. Boy was that a mistake.

 

It smelled so gorgeous in the bottle, slightly fruity with sugar and woody notes. On me, it turned to cedar. All cedar all the time. I barely got a whiff of any of the other notes. It reminded me of my gerbil cages when I was a kid. UGH. Not what I want to smell like So disappointed.

[mymymai]

ITI: Hazelnut and sugar, followed by peach – it’s a strange first impression.

 

Wet: Woods, dirty, earthy patchouli, a touch of peach, brown sugar, and caramel – wow, this is a dramatic change from in the bottle.

 

Dry: Now, it smells like patchouli mixed with brown sugar and a little caramel. It’s sweet and foody, but that patchouli makes it much more bearable.

[Electric Maenad]

Okay, so when I bid on this during one of the Lab's eBay sales, I was only looking at the caramel and brown sugar and hazelnut and butterscotch. Especially the hazelnut, because man, I do love me some hazelnut latte. But this is... it's kind of like Miskatonic University, only less with the library / Bailey's / tweed vibe and more of the campfire coffee / burnt marshmallows / freshly-sharpened pencils vibe. A little more rugged and outdoorsy than Misk. U., but still sweet and woody and not particularly scary at all. The only downside is that the hazelnut tends to go away rather quickly, but overall, I'm really liking this and am glad it's not all-sugar-all-the-time.

[LizziesLuck]

Ok, so I'm a little obsessed with the Monster Baits. I picked up Closet and Underbed straight from the Lab in 2006, but I was on one of my many BPAL hiatuses in 2007 when this one and its mates came out. I am determine to try them all! I was so excited when this popped up on the Lab's Etsy! I bought it straight away.

 

 

Wet: Slightly gnarly patch, followed by caramel and hazelnut. Interesting! The patch has turned drier, it's no longer gnarly, which makes me happy, I prefer a drier, earthier patch. The caramel note has that almost burnt sort of Crème Brule edge. I wish I was getting more apricot, I know from Depraved that patch and apricot is an amazing combo. But this is all patch and what I think now is actually the brown sugar rather than the caramel. I quite like it.

 

Dry: A very dry scent. Primarily dry patchouli, nicely sweetened by brown sugar and caramel. I quite like it! So different than the other Monster Baits. I am not sure how "me" it is, but I really like. I will have to test again to see if it is something I will wear, as I have discovered there are lots of scents I really like, yet somehow never reach for.

[PersimmonSeeds]

I am still pretty shocked I got my hands on this.

I never thought I would own a Monster Bait at all!

After testing this a few times I have to say it is easily in my top 10!

It just smells SO GOOD ON ME. Like please, everyone sniff me!

I have never gotten so many compliments on a bpal blend before (it got more than even The Bride!)

 

That said, I think this did so well on my skin because it contains patchouli.

I can't attest whether patchouli haters will outright despise this or not because my skin usually pulls patch and does great things to it. I gloat I know, but I just can't help it. My skin chemistry turns patchouli into something delicious!

I've never had anyone comment that it was 'smelly' or unpleasant.

The butterscotch, apricot, caramel, and brown sugar all compliment each other divinely! It's mouth watering... I'm not great at pinpointing notes, but everything is this is so self exclamatory and well blended!

This isn't an extremely desserty blend, I don't feel like I am overloaded with sugar at any point. The hazelnut does remind me of the creamer I use in my coffee, though. Not that that's a bad thing!! The apricot seems to give all the sugary things an earthiness, but doesn't make things extremely fruity. You go apricot!

The wood(I want to say cedar but I'm not getting 'gerbil/hamster cage like others have. Its a slightly warm cedar if anything) stays mostly in the background, it and the patchouli really makes it kind of dry and spicy, especially at the dry down! I see people thinking this is a sweet, masculine blend(maybe that's just my skin though). To me everything is unisex, so I don't like slapping labels on anything.

In the dry down its a dry patchouli with a slight sweetness hanging on. I am so in love...

Edited June 21, 2016 by PersimmonSeeds

[Aveya]

Oh. My God.

 

So I've been dying to try this, with no luck finding. And it was on the lab's Etsy shop randomly so had to grab. So, I'm reading the other reviews and everyone is saying Cedar. I don't... get cedar at all? Is there Cedar in this? I'm wondering if this is an aged bottle from the lab and maybe something changed since release?

 

This scent closest reminds me of their GC Goblin. In that sort of mixed muddy delicious patch. Their most beautiful patchouli I looooove. LOVE. I think it's tempered black patchouli. Then it does have a soft "woody" undertone, but on me it's more like Miskatonic University (amusingly they added as a frimp in my batch, what good pairing they do ). Not too strong or too cedar, just hinted at. Present but not imposing. I think the hazelnut keeps things at bay.

 

I don't get strong sugar or apricot notes, which I was really excited about - I was hoping for like a glorified Depraved. But it does all whirl together into a dirtier version of Dee for me. They almost mimic a sweet soft leather. It's like the dirty partner to Dee -s lightly more feminine because it's got this barely-there hint of sweetness. I agree - I could see this smelling fan-freakin-tastic on more masculine people. To fit not just the smell but the whole atmosphere. I can sport it pretty well, but I have to be in the right mood. I'd slather it on my boy, but his skin literally eats scents. Just a waste :|

 

I'm probably going to try to layer this with a sweeter single note to see if I can girly it up just slightly. But I love it . Add to the list of fantastic patchouli's from the lab. THANK YOU.

[fairybites]

I mostly picked this decant up for the name since I love old toys, but this scent is the opposite of what I expected. The only scent I'm getting is the woods. No sugar, no patchouli, nothing else but wood. It could be due to aging why I am not smelling anything else because I can smell those notes in other blends on me.

 

I will say I guess it's true to the name, I definitely smell like a ventriloquist dummy! And on one hand the wood isn't awful, but I can't really stand it on its own, I would have to layer it with something else to truly enjoy this. Viewer beware, you're in for a scare if you dont love woodsy notes!