Velvet

[bigeyedgirl]

Envelop yourself in the soft, sensual embrace of gentle sandalwood warmed by cocoa vanilla and a veil of deep myrrh.

Oh Velvet, how I wanted to love you.

I opened the bottle and mmmmm cocoa. Lovely deep cocoa, but on...and dried and left to sit you are nothing but stale pipe tobacoo. No sweetness...nothing.. *sob*

[gingersnapp]

There is very little cocoa apparent when I wear this blend, but the warmth of the sandalwood is pleasing enough. I never really got to smell the myrrh either.

 

This lasted a very long time on my skin, and had a substantial throw.

[sookster]

I keep forgetting how very much I adore sandalwood and this scent just proves it to me yet again!!

 

The cocoa essential oil that Beth uses in all her bewtiching brews works BY FAR the best out of any other I have ever had the pleasure of trying......astounding, as a matter of fact.....I have always had such displeasure with cocoa scents but Beth has turned me around completely!!!!

 

So getting back to this marvelous scent....warm and sensual.....like a big, thick, plush, soft sweater on the coldest of a winter day.....I get all the aspects of this concoction.....cocoa, sandalwood and myrrh....they come shining through so perfectly......this is a definite purchase for my next order.....

 

Perfect for Autumn and Winter months.....hooray!!!

[Savannah]

I love and adore chocolate, but I've never yet found a chocolate fragrance that worked for me, so it was with a mix of jaded cynicism and tremulous hope that I swapped for an imp of this.

 

Another poster put it very well: "Strongly cocoa, not chocolate--there is no milky smoothness that the cocoa butter brings to chocolate." I don't like milk chocolate, so I thought this would be a good thing for me, but it turns out the smoothness from the cocoa butter is a really important ingredient of the chocolate experience for me, because without it, the sweetened cocoa smells to me like chocolate flavored candy. Not a chocolate bar, mind you, but one of those hard candies flavored with chocolate, like the outside of a brown Tootsie Roll Pop. This is much more sophisticated and healthy and organic and real, of course, but still. It's too sweet for me, and unfortunately, the incense and wood are doing nothing to cut the sweetness. They just linger smokily and sultrily behind it, like beautiful female backup dancers to an unsubtle and self-aggrandizing male singer, making me wish he would shut up so I could absorb them more fully.

 

That said, this is a beautifully crafted scent-- I pretty much end up thinking that about every BPAL oil I've tried so far, even the ones I send off to more loving homes. I think this will be one of those. Off to find a lover of sweet cocoa.

 

ETA: Okay, a few hours later I caught a delicious whiff of sandalwood. Seems the girls pounced the dude and started snogging him enthusiastically. Er... I mean the notes really... blend on drydown. Very lovely and much less sweet. I might actually have to keep this one around.

Edited July 14, 2005 by Savannah

[Ajila]

Wet on me this was cocoa and powdery orange. As it dried the sandalwood came out, although the cocoa was still predominant and became slighly boozy. As it faded the sandalwood lasted longest and it became more and more like pencil shavings. Even though this is foody, it's also very dark and grown up.

[PurringPulsar]

Velvet

 

In the imp: mmmmmm! Chocolate brownies!!! Reminds me of 13 but this is more like milk chocolate.

Wet on skin: the chocolate note is still there, but now I think I can smell the sandalwood, a rich, deep sandalwood.

Dry on skin: oh, this is sublime! The sandalwood is rich and full here, sweetened nicely by the vanilla, cocoa and myrrh. This is yummy. It's also quite subtle, close to the skin, and indulgent.

After a while: the vanilla is really strong in this. It has a tendency to overpower the other notes, but in here it works nicely, and is balanced out by the sandalwood.

Verdict: this is the ultimate comfort scent. This is a really indulgent and delicious scent. the only problem is that the vanilla in this gets amped up a lot on my skin, but here, the sandalwood grounds it nicely. The cocoa and myrrh deepen the scent. It's very sweet and smooth, like good quality chocolate. I'm not sure if I'll get a bottle, but I'm definitely keeping the imp.

[Carolyn]

This started off as a minty, cool, refreshing chocolate. Then the sandalwood moves in, and I immediately thought, "This is Sage's Pearl! Only it's about 30.00 cheaper than Pearl!"

 

I love it when I can find dupes of some of my favorite scents less expensively. Pearl is a sandalwood and vanilla scent that is 45.00, I think, for a 1/4 oz. This is just as good! I'm getting a 5 ml. as soon as I can.

 

ETA: This smells sooo much like Tombstone! Almost too much. I'm not sure I need both. Velvet is a little more chocolatey and perhaps has more cedar, but still, they are VERY much alike. I love both!

Edited April 1, 2006 by Carolyn

[pekeana]

Mmmkay, this one's just not for me. It's the sandalwood.

 

Velvet is nice and pretty and everything -- all chocolately vanilla with a hint of mint and wood -- then it hits my skin.

 

And foul chocolate powder with a woody undertone is the end result.

[Eros]

Sent to me from a lovely forumite

 

In the imp, Tootsie Rolls!

Once applied, I get a lovely cedar-like scent w/a hint of choclate & very light sandalwood(a bit powdery but not bad). No sign of the myrrh, though.

Very very nice, but my chemistry doesn't want to hang onto this one very long. Maybe 30 minutes or so and it's all gone. Lovely while it lasts, though

[OriginalWacky]

Bottle (Imp): Chocolate!

 

Just On: Very very chocolate.

 

An hour or two later: Chocolate yumminess.

 

Around 6 hours: Barely there chocolate.

 

12 hours: Gone. Gimme chocolate.

 

Overall: I love love love this.

 

After reading other reviews: I got much more chocolate than wood out of this one.

[QueenFae]

Definitely very chocolatey on me, but I get an almost minty undertone. It's bizarre. My fiance sniffed it and said "candy canes." Combined with the chocolate, this one comes out smelling like a toned down Spooky on me. I really like it, and I'll definitely enjoy my imp.

[Electra]

Initially: Dark chocolate, and something that's tricking my nose into thinking it's mint.

 

Drydown: A very strong cedary scent, still with something a touch cooling - like menthol. Not me, but nice. Dark. Could be worn in both warm and cold weather.

Edited July 30, 2007 by Electra

[Lycanthrope]

In the Bottle or Imp:

Delicious cocoa, chocolate and vanilla. It's really nice here. A touch of nut?

Wet, on Skin:

Mmm... chocolate. Oh... wait...

Drying/Drydown:

Dry sandalwood appears here, and the cocoa vanilla fades.

Over Time/Longterm:

The chocolate doesn't return... it's mostly a dry and powdery sandalwood now.

Final Verdict?

Applying this to my clothes or to a burner maintains the scent much better. It's not for wearing on me however...

[AliBabble]

i've been enjoying this one...wore it to "charlie and the chocolate factory" last night. it's got that girl scout cookie thing - what are they called" thin mints" or something? or the "grasshopper pie" with the chocolate cookie-crumb pie shell. anyway, yeah - chocolate mint. but the thing that saves it, or makes it nicer is this almost dry, dusty...chalkiness, almost. it's not a gooey chocolate mess, it's a dry, dusty, dusky cocoa thing. smoky even. sandalwood gives it a secret, invisible softness, instead of a screaming chocolate syrupiness.

[Cagedflame]

In the imp and wet, I can smell all of the delicious notes. After the drydown, though, the sandalwood and myrrh overpower the cocoa and vanilla. I think I'll experiment with layering it with a vanilla single note oil and a dark chocolate oil to bring those notes back a little. The sandalwood and myrrh are very, very nice sandalwood and myrrh, smelling just like expensive essential oils at a local shop, but it was just better with those two other notes. If I can get my layering to work, this will be right up there with Snake Oil for me.

[ShadeauSkye]

First Time review... of my first oil.

 

In the Bottle:

 

OMGChocolateKisses! I was slapped slightly in the jowls by the sweetness of the cocoa in this blend, I thought YUM! I found myself oddly thinking, "this stuff might taste good if someone kissed me on the neck". I resisted the urge to find out though...

 

After I let it float around my nose a bit I started picking up the sandalwood and the myrrh very faintly.

 

Wet:

 

Chocolate still, but more like the smell of a brownie cooking to me. A bit heavier and still incredibly sweet, the Myrrh and Sandalwood scents didn't show up on me when the oil was still wet, only the Cocoa and the smidge of vanilla.

 

Dry:

 

There we go! The Myrrh and the Sandalwood peeked out at me. Like two kids showing up last in a race, all out of breath, but happy to be done.

 

All of the scents blended together nicely for me. It made me feel cozy, and out of my first few Imps this one I've decided is my most favorite "After Shower before Bed" oil...

[sideviewhotel]

This is absolutely so freakin fabulous. I'm so glad I ordered an imp of this. I was worried the chocolate wouldn't work with my chemistry after hearing how it went to shaving and whatnot on a lot of people. But, OMFG. This is amazing.

 

In the imp and wet I get a strong scent of frozen Thin Mints. Cool and minty, and just a little sharp. I want to lick myself. I just reapplied because I didn't think I'd put enough on earlier.. and I wanted that cookie smell back.

 

After a while, it fades down a little, becomes a little softer and the myrrh & sandlewood come up a bit. Not enough to interfer with the chocolate, but enough to mask the mint a little.

 

I'm thinking about layering a bit of this vanilla scent I got as a gift imp in an lj purchase, just to see what would happen.

 

Edit: This, layered with Vanille Coco (from Dream Essescents, I think? I'm not sure that's the correct spelling, but it's some play on 'scents', I believe), is simply devine. I smell so freakin good right now. o_o

Edited August 18, 2005 by sideviewhotel

[DarcyPennell]

Wet: It’s strong. Really, really strong chocolate. I only dabbed it on with the wand, but it has a lot of throw. There’s something weird going on: If I hold my wrist to my nose, it smells like cedar chips. But if I leave my arms at my sides, the scent wafting around me is beautiful dark cocoa. I can also smell a touch of vanilla. It’s making me think of chocolate cake.

 

The cedar chip smell settles down as it dries. After a couple of hours it’s a lovely cocoa warmed by myrrh and a touch of sandalwood. Oh man, I smell good. I’m going to have to have a bottle of this.

[imaginepageant]

In the vial: Strong chocolate and cocoa, but it's a very fake smell, like scratch-and-sniff stickers. I smell a hint of sandalwood in the background.

 

Wet: The chocolate is still prominent, but the sandalwood is much stronger on my skin, and I'm also smelling something deep and musky which I assume is the myrrh. If I try really hard, I can pick out the vanilla as well. The scent isn't as overwhelmingly fake anymore, but it's still hearkening back to the elementary school trend of sticker books.

 

Dry: The chocolate and sandalwood are about even now. The woodsiness is very sharp and pungent. This is starting to feel like an autumn scent... walking through dry and decaying woods whilst sipping hot cocoa. It's a very warm and comforting scent. However, it's still a little too fake for my liking.

 

An hour later: The sandalwood just keeps getting stronger. That sharp and pungent scent has actually turned into something quite fiery, like burning wood and smoke. Roasting smores over a bonfire on the last camping trip of the season, when the trees have already turned golden and you need to wear a sweater at night.

 

Overall: I love how it ends up being so autumn and woodsy, but I can't get past that fake feeling of the chocolate. If it weren't for that, this is a scent I'd be wearing all autumn, but alas, into the swap pile it goes.

Edited August 22, 2005 by decemberine

[herdivineshadow]

In the bottle, it smells thick and chocolatey - as if you could make actual velvet from ferreo rocher.

 

On my skin, the sandlewood and myrrh really stand out and it stops being so wonderfully chocolatey.

 

Though saying that, it's a really nice sort of incensey smell.

[Xiabelle]

Ooooh, nice stuff.

 

I slathered this on before I went to work this morning.

 

In the imp, it smelled exactly like Thin Mints to me. Not sure where I got it from, but it was gorgeous and yummy and it made me hungry.

 

Fresh on, more loveliness. It wafted chocolate at me, and the mint mostly went away. It's not dry cocoa like some other chocolately blends, but it's warm and soft.

 

As it started the dry down, I got a much fuller scent -- the chocolate went away. This isn't bone dry cocoa, oh no. Even the sandalwood and -- is that myrrh, that warm fullness? -- myrrh, I guess, make it almost.. fruity to me. Or something. It's a similar note to what I get in Intrigue and I quite like it. Very yummy. When I went to lunch, just the walk across the street to the mall heated it up and brought it to life again. Mmm.

 

I really do like this. I think I still prefer my bottle of 13 for chocolatey goodness, but I'll certainly use this imp up. It's warm and sophisticated, and really quite gorgeous.

 

Not sure how long it lasted, but I could still smell it a bit when I got home after being at work all day, but then I washed it off so I could try some other scents.

[Miss Lynx]

I ordered this one partly out of curiosity, since it seemed like such an odd combination of ingredients. And it's certainly unique, and a bit of a mindfuck -- my nose can't figure out whether to interpret it as food or incense.

 

There do seem to be some odd elements in it that aren't accounted for by the notes listed in the lab description -- it has a sort of minty edge, especially when freshly applied. Looking at the past reviews, I see I wasn't the only one who got that. And later when drying down, there's an odd, slightly unpleasant aspect to it that seems almost grain-like, but a little off. Maybe fermenting grain? I don't know, maybe that's just my skin chemistry playing tricks on me.

 

It's not really as rich as I'd have expected, either -- there's a sort of dry blandness to it that's reminiscent of why I didn't like Incantation.

 

Overall, interesting and worth a try, but not something I'd really wear on a regular basis.

 

Grade: C

[BlueStar]

I haven't worn this myself yet. I think it is more fittingly female but I will likely steal it a few times from Leigh before the bottle is done.

 

In The Bottle: Yummy Nestle Chocolate Quik™

 

Wet on Skin: Ok there is something happening to my senses and to my pants. What is that? Oh my goodness who knew chocolate cake could be this dirty. I am ashamed to say I have always felt chocolate cake was sexy. The myrrh really starts coming through over time as it drys along with the sandalwood but they both lurk in the shadows of the scent very sinister.

 

Drydown: Oh how well and how artfully thou hast bewitched my senses with Sandalwood and Myrrh and lured me here with your delicious cake. What games shall we play Mistress? Do you want me to wear the Waiter's apron again and you canbe the naughty baker?

 

Verdict: This one is definitely a keeper. Made me chase Leigh around the house for another sniff as well as give me dirty thoughts as mentioned above.

[judas_kiss]

Okay, I ordered a bottle of this unsniffed. I obviously do not need to give the boy's impressions as he posted above.

 

In the bottle, chocolate, but expensive and almost boozy chocolate. Oh gosh, I do not want to smell like a black Russian. I was feeling very tentative at this point.

 

On: Oh dear sweet Beth, you are a genius. The initial sock of COCOA wears off very quickly and leaves me with a sweet, spicey, woody chocolate smell. The sandalwood brings a depth to this that, combined with the vanilla/cocoa, makes me feel just devine! I feel hedonistic and sensual. There is an almost floral sweetness to this, but don't let that scare you off because it very quickly fades.

 

Hours later, this was very much like Snake Oil, but chocolatey. Spicey, woody, but the vanilla comes out more and the cocoa note is here throughout.

 

Overall..I am SO glad I bought this unsniffed. This was everything I wanted CSP's Amor de Cocao and Bvlgari's Omnia to be. For the oriental/gourmand lovers out there, this is a must-try. I will be keeping this little darlin' in my arsenal for years to come.

[lookingglass]

First wiff from the bottle: chocolate MINT (!?)

 

Wet on skin: the mintiness is not as prominent. Bittersweet chocolate...mmmm

 

Drydown: the myrrh and the chocolate are fighting for attention...A very stong visual of a church basement bakesale comes to mind.

 

Then the sandalwood emerges...smooth and deep...

 

Dry: This is very close to the skin...delicious...the resin, wood, and sweet gourmond melt into my skin. It is like making love after dessert! Ughahh!

 

6 hours later there are still traces of it on my wrist. It is like a little secret I have been carying around all day...

 

Definately a keeper...

Edited September 2, 2005 by lookingglass