Monster Bait: Ventriloquist Dummy

[slave1]

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.

VENTRILOQUIST DUMMY

In Bottle: Dry woods and nuts

On Skin: This scent is very dry and dusty. I would say the “depraved dry woods” are the donimant notes for sure. I don’t smell any apricot in the slightest sadly… I LOVE apricot and was looking forward to it here. The caramel and nuts add a –slight- foody quality but also add to the dry and brown tone of the scent. I also get pepper. I know it’s not a note listed, but theres that tell-tale nose tickle I get from pepper. Hmm… Much too woody for me and not nearly as foody and sweet as I’d hoped for. If you like woody notes, try this one. If you’re afraid of foody notes, also try this one because it really isn’t a foody scent no matter what the notes in the description say. Not my kind of scent at all. Off to the swaps. Medium throw and long wearlength.

[Loligo]

Man, I wish I had waited to read reviews before ordering this. I bought it for the apricot, and there's not a lick of it, that I can smell. In fact, this blend has the biggest disconnect between listed notes and actual smell of anything I can think of. You know what it smells like? Chinese medicinal herbs. And I don't just mean vaguely reminiscent, I mean I have a bottle of K'An Herbals "Curing Formula" in my cupboard that smells almost identical to this.

 

It's not a bad smell -- an interesting combination of sweet, pungent, dusty, and green -- but it's just not perfume to me, it's medicine.

[devilbunnyart]

If I was going to make my Milk Moon update order all over again, I might have gotten a bottle of Bloody Mary instead of the Dummy. (For my own tastes.) You know what, though? It's still a success! Though it's not for me, it smells really wonderful and sexy on my husband. This one is great on men. Really really yummy on men.

 

Smells very foody in the bottle. Once on the skin, though, it goes to mostly wood. It's a strong wood scent with a desserty and sugary edge. Yes. Desserty and sugary wood describes it best. I'm sure this could work on the right woman, but it's definitely masculine to my nose.

 

Excellent throw and long lasting.

 

In conclusion, I love it! I'm just mildly jealous that I bought my husband a bottle when I meant to get one for myself.

[QueenFae]

In the bottle: sharp, dry wood with patchouli

 

On my skin: Immediately after I applied this I sniffed a sharp wood note and a lingering hint of apricot. The apricot is gone really fast, and there is not a trace of fruitiness left. The wooded notes in this are super sharp, much sharper than I bargained for. They remind me of the wooden note in Pulcinella and Teresina. The patchouli note is quite prominant as well. There is a sweet undertone, with hints of caramel and sugar. The undertone is not as foody as I expected it to be, but rather just a generalized soft golden sweetness.

 

This is not quite what I had hoped for, and I am just devastated about it. The sharpness of the woods is just not working on my skin. I will try this at a different time and see if it grows on me. It's a very strong and long lasting scent.

[supremegoddessofall]

In bottle: Very foody, with a gingerbread-like top note.

 

On me: Very foody, but not overwhelming. Reminds me of how the streets smelled in Baroda during the Ganesh festival. It's not a sweety foody really at all, and the patchouli is strong in this one, too. Very nice.

[savage_rose]

Smells like sweet wood...the way that cherry wood smells kinda. A little touch of tobacco almost with this one though, too. At first I thought it was way too masculine, but it's growing on me.

[myth]

I love dark and woody, and this was everything I hoped it would be.

 

In the bottle it is yummy carmelly hazelnut over wood and patchouli. It morphs lightly over its wearlength becoming less foody and more patchouli/wood as it goes. This one stays around forever on me, and has good throw.

 

This is definitely not a sweet foody, and I get none of the apricot [yay!] If there was such as a thing as semi-sweet caramel this would be that, it's got a dry edge to it like a dark chocolate [it doesn't smell like chocolate, I'm just using the difference between dark and milk chocolates to try to explain how this caramel is!]. I think it's the hazelnut that's roughing it up a bit. So this caramel glazed hazelnut is sitting inside a dark wood box with some patchouli, and MB:VD is what you smell when you open the lid.

[Eemia]

Thick, dark caramel at first with a very strong woody note. It's sweet and buttery and very rich, almost knock me over rich. A little goes a long way and I didn't think ahead and just slathered it everywhere.

 

More of the wood notes come out as it dries and the sweetness is less strong. I love the hazelnut here....I don't think I have any other scents with hazelnut in it. It smells so good and nutty. The patchouli is very strong too. I haven't noticed even a breath of apricot....I'm a little disappointed b/c the apricot and hazelnut combo sounded like something I would drool over.

 

It's almost all sandlewood and hazelnut towards the end. Borderline spicy and incredibly woody, not a trace of sweet anywhere. It feels a little masculine for me, but maybe I just need to give it a few more tries or let it age. I do love how it is exactly fitting with the description since I can easily picture a little wooden dummy dancing around in this.

[vylit]

Wet: I smell cedar. I know there are other scents, but they are so subtle that it's hard to pick up on them. The cedar is the most obvious, strongest scent. It's the smell you get when you open up a cedar chest.

 

Dry: It stays very woody for the first two to three hours with an occasional hint of sweetness, but around three hours after it was applied, it changes. The caramel and brown sugar come to the forefront with the wood and herbal scent in the background. It's really lovely at this stage, and it'd make a good scent to be worn - rather than the room scent it would work for before this stage - but three hours is a while to wait.

[Keslynn]

In the bottle, VD (snicker) smells like wood shavings with a creamy caramel touch.

 

On my skin, it's mostly wood scent. This is the kind of wood smell you get in a place where there's new construction. I keep sniffing my wrists because I can't believe that scent could be captured in a bottle. Only Beth could work such magic. This is very cool. The only problem is that I wanted a little more of the sweetness that I smelled from the bottle sniff. I'm not getting any of the foody stuff, and it's somewhat disappointing.

 

Verdict: Wood shavings with only the barest sweetness. I wanted more of the foody, but this is still a very unique scent. I find it strangely fascinating. I'll probably keep my bottle.

[euterpe414]

Like everyone else, I am getting a very sweet wood scent. I don't smell the apricot in the bottle or on my skin. As it dries it gets a bit drier and spicier. The hazlenut is more apparent. It has a lot of throw and lasts a long time (it even lasted through an hour of working out, too) I really love woody scents, so this one is a big hit, although, like most others, this smells nothing like I thought it would.

[girl_android]

Ok, a couple of hours of domestic pottering has had my hands and wrists in water enough to give me more testing space! This completes the set of monsterbait decants in my most recent package - I'd picked out the other two, and thought that this one would be lonely if I didn't also have it take the trip to me too ... my mind, it doesn't make sense at the best of times!

 

In the imp, I get... very strong pencil shavings and patchouli ... ! But, it's as if the pencil shavings have been dipped in butterscotch. I got a bigger brown sugar scent from MB:BM than I do with MB:VD ...

 

Wet on skin, I get a teeny bit of apricot, not much, mixed up with the pencil shavings dipped in butterscotch. It's not fresh apricots, more like semi-dried apricots, with that kind of leathery fruit kind of feeling.

 

Dry, and I get burning woods, tobbaco, something that reminds me of chinese herbal poultices that might be used to treat joint injuries, but with a sweet edge.

 

Well, at least I gave it a chance?

[smallvoice]

On me, this is pretty much what Skye said (Patchouli and cedar), and I'd also like to echo the herbal poultice reference GA made above, oddly enough. It is strikingly masculine, and not a bit sweet, nor is it hazelnutty- pencil shavings in a headshop. The patchouli gets stronger as it dries. Yeah, this one is NOT a hit with me. I'm glad I got to try it, or I would've wondered endlessly if I might've loved it.

 

I have to say, though, this one is unique among the Monster Bait line, somehow. Does anybody else get that? It's not quite the same, somehow.

[spanishviolet]

First on, I get a burst of apricot, and then it mixes with the rest of the scent & becomes like I'm sniffing a really good-smelling wooden box. Very cedary - I love that smell! Previous cedar Bpals have gone wrong on me for one reason or another, but this does not. As it dries, I can smell spice & patchouli mixing with the dry woods. It's spicy, sweet woods on me, and I'm really liking it. Most bpal woods are just too woody on me, but this is just foody-influenced enough to be great. I'd say more brown sugar than caramel, which is good for me, since most caramel notes are too thick for my tastes.

 

My review seems to be wandering all over the place, but basically, the things other people don't like about this scent are what I'm really liking about it. It's halfway between two categories (woody and foody) that are often lesser scents on me, and somehow takes the best of both of them. I'd agree with cordia in her review - it doesn't seem as foody or cakey as the other Monster Baits. But the only other MB I've liked enough to keep a bottle of is Underpants, so that's fine by me!

[Aredhel]

Rating (on skin): 2/5

Summarised in a few words/smilie: Sweet wood.

 

In the imp: Dry woods and patchouli. Nary a trace of anything sweet.

 

On skin, wet: Patchouli and deep, solid woods, no more, no less.

 

On skin, dry: A sweet, spiced, smoky wood. The wood is sweet, but in a general, non-descript way, which is to say, I can't pick out caramel, brown sugar, hazelnut, or butterscotch separately from the sweet quality of the wood notes.

 

Conclusion: A nice enough wood blend, but too dark for me.

[ribcaged]

As soon as I got this I had to open it. A peppery, sweet and woody scent. Out of all the notes, in the bottle I can smell the brown sugar, caramel and wood. No apricot!

 

Still not apricot when I put it on but it does smell creepy! I like it. I can vouch for the smokeyish comparison with Hearth but hearth is more sweet than the earthy spicey wood I think. This gets sweeter as time goes on with the caramel and hazelnut playing around with the peppery wood (edit: Like gingerbread!). The strength of the patchouli resides a bit although it wasnt really that overwhelming either. I used to hate patchouli but in this and Tezcatlipoca, it's beautiful.

 

My boyfriend loves it, he says it's his favourite he's ever smellt and reminds him of museums. It smelly fuller amd darker on him whereas it goes sweet on me.. then again pretty much tipped it on himself then asked if I still wanted it. NOOO! You can't have it dear. My dummy!

Edited May 15, 2007 by ribcaged

[wikkidraven]

cedar, cedar, cedar...maybe even sage? i had to wash this one off, it wasn't what i was expecting at all.

[Em-]

Dry dry woods, dry dry dark patchouli. At first this is mostly cedar, sandalwood and dark patchouli, with a splash of fruity sweet and a hint of something more. As it warms on my skin, the sugary notes sort of breeze by - this is the perfect scent for people like me who *want* to like the other Monster Baits, but find them too cloying - there's a whiff of sugary caramelly puppetry here, but not enough to make me feel like I'm wearing a bakery.

 

Just delightful!

[outofrhyme]

In the bottle:

Patchouli and woods jump out... and then some quiet foody notes, especially the brown sugar. Yum.

 

Wet:

Oh god. Yum. Yum. Yum. I don't want to take my nose off my wrist. Utterly delicious woods. This is woody to an extreme. Very dry - almost like sawdust, but not that dry. Maybe cedar, maybe sandalwood, maybe pine - the pine boards you would buy in a home improvement store, NOT living tree pine. There is no living tree in this at all. Sawdust. Still a hint of patchouli, but the food notes seem to have backed off somewhat.

 

Dry down:

The same sawdusty wood and patchouli, with faintest hint of the sweet foody notes and maybe the slightest waft of the apricot - barely there, or maybe I'm just imagining it.

 

Final thoughts:

This is really nice. I realize that "sawdust" might not *sound* nice, but, yum. It's very pretty with the patchouli. I only wish the foody notes came out just a little more. Perhaps with age? I wish I'd gotten a bottle instead of a half-imp

[Myotis]

I had such high hopes for this one.

Unfortunately, all I get are dry woods and something very spicy ontop of that...and not in a good way.

Even opening the bottle and sniffing it...my nose wanted to run away.

But I braved it, dabbed a little on my skin in hopes the sweet notes would come through.

No such luck.

Sorry Ventriloquist's Dummy....you're movin' out.

[Jenesis]

Two words: OH NO! Because this goes immediately to dry, dusty, choking woods (even my eyes started watering after a big sniff).

 

See my blog for details, but I basically ended up getting two bottles of this. Now both of them are going to have to go on the swap pile I feel like such a tool...

[impadua@aol.com]

I was swooning with desire reading the list of sniffs in this Dummy. How yummy could it get!

So I get myself a bottle, and slather it on.....

YIKES! WHERE DID THAT SMELL COME FROM??

Smells like a bad salesman with a cigar addiction.

I should have known, looking at the label artwork. Clowns and marionettes give me the heebejeebees.

Too bad. Maybe it will age well. I will give it 6 months and sniff again.

Edited May 21, 2007 by Esscentual

[purplemoonshoes]

In the imp- woody caramel

 

wet- nutty, with some caramel; kinda like smelling a candy bar

 

drydown- patchouli comes out now, and woods

 

dry- light woodsy patchouli smell, with a hint of caramel

 

I like it, but I won't wear it a lot- it's not really my style.

[tinyvulture]

at first i smell a buttery graham cracker pie crust... filled with pencil shavings! is this a foody or a woody blend? well, it's both. the soft, dry cedar and sweet, mouth-watering caramel and butterscotch don't seem like a match made in heaven, but they combine really well. it's long-lasting, too. later on, the dark patchouli comes out more, but i never do smell any apricot. a truly unique scent. i have a feeling this imp will disappear in no time!

Edited May 24, 2007 by tinyvulture

[Little Bird]

I was so sure that I would love this. I adore anything puppet-inspired, I love the lab's apricot and black patchouli, and I'm generally pretty fond of woods. Unfortunately, the apricot and the patchouli don't seem to survive the blending.

 

In the bottle this is cringe-worthy. It's sickly sweet... too much brown sugar, hyper caramel, and sugary butterscotch. It's like someone had too much sugar and then threw it up on a pile of pencil shavings.

 

On me, it's thankfully not that tooth achingly sweet. It just makes me smell like pencil shavings. Definitely dry woods. Unpleasantly dry and a bit dusty.

 

I hoped that this would morph into something fantastic if I just wore it for a while, but it smelled lightly of pencil shavings for about a half hour and then disappeared. My skin eats this.

 

I'm going to keep my bottle around for aging and re-try it, but for now I'm just sad.

 

Edited December 30, 2007 by Shollin