Velvet

[Teaker]

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

Can't believe I haven't reviewed this yet, it's definitely in my top 5. I didn't like it when I first got it fresh from the lab, as it was extremely dry and almost made me sneeze. But even a few weeks lets it mellow out a bit into perfection.

It's predominantly sandalwood when wet, but you can pick up the sweetness from the cocoa. When it dries it's a snuggly and soft sandalwood sweetened with clouds of rich dry cocoa and perhaps a hint of vanilla. I struggle with bpal vanillas because without fail they turn to nasty play-doh on me, with the exception of Velvet. I've never had a single issue with this scent, yay!

It's very warm and comforting. It doesn't scream "chocolate" or "foody", so it's appropriate for work AND play. I suppose you could technicaly call it unisex, but I'm not sure... it'd be interesting to smell it on a man. I personally think it's more feminine, due to the sweetness. It's really fabulous, a total winner!

[lucycat]

In the imp: Rich cocoa with sandalwood in the background.

 

Wet: Cocoa, very sweet and heady. At this stage it’s almost purely foody.

 

Dry: As this dries, the sandalwood becomes stronger and stronger. Velvet was almost too foody for me at first, but I suspected that my “all the wood notes, all the time” skin chemistry would bring out the sandalwood, and I was right. However, the cocoa takes the edge off the sandalwood, keeping it from being too sharp.

 

Velvet is a more complex cocoa/chocolate scent than Bliss, the only other chocolate BPAL I have tried, and so far I prefer it. It’s a warm and cozy scent. Judging from the above reviews, it also ages well, so I’ll have to revisit it in a few months, if not sooner.

[october]

Now that I've had this scent for almost a year, I can also add that this fragrance ages very well. I smell the sandalwood a lot more than I did when I first got it. For me, it has a nice strong chocolate scent when I first put it on, then the sandalwood really comes out when it dries down.

[Aevajohnson]

From the bottle: Cocoa, lots of cocoa with a bit of sandalwood.

 

On Wet: Cocoa, Vanilla, and the sandalwood seems to turn to hazelnut on my skin. Really delicious.

 

Drydown: Wow this changed fast. As soon as it dried on me the cocoa almost completely disappeared and this became predominantly sandalwood with a bit of myrrh, and of course this has turned a bit powdery on me, as my skin LOVES to do. I still like it but far less yummy and complex than it was on me when wet.

 

I'll keep wearing this imp but don't see myself buying a bottle.

[WickedSage]

This reminds me of the HERSHEY'S GREAT AMERICAN CHOCOLATE TOUR RIDE. The part where you get to smell that strong warm cocoa scent during the ride. Perfect for hershey fans! I get cocoa the strongest with vanilla. The sandalwood really comes out more in the dry down. All in all you get a warm, cozy, delicious cocoa vanilla sandalwood scent perfect for fall and winter.

[doublehelix]

Wet, this smells very strongly of dark chocolate! As it begins to dry down, I get the sandalwood and vanilla. Have to agree with the above user about this being a fall scent! Once dry the cocoa is actually very faint, and it smells more like woodsy vanilla.

[icecreamcone]

Velvet starts off chocolatey and after about five minutes a vanilla woodsy scent comes out.

It's kind of sweet and delicate but also has a powerful edge. Curious if it would be a good out-on-town scent.

Edited December 26, 2022 by icecreamcone

[DiesMali]

In the imp: Warm cocoa.

 

Wet on my skin: This specifically smells like a specialty hot chocolate I used to make at a cafe where I worked. Ghirardelli cocoa, vanilla syrup, and hazelnut syrup.

 

Dry: I love this. It's so warm and fuzzy and sweet and it smells delicious! The cocoa and vanilla mingle perfectly, with a bit of a spicy/incensed note to the mix. It's a comforting sort of scent, and I'm so glad to have this imp.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet this is beautiful deep rich cocoa. Which immediately gets weird as it dries and ends up smelling really woody somehow. After a few minutes though, the cocoa and vanilla come through again, and it's lovely. Doesn't last very long on me, unfortunately, but I'm debating getting a bottle anyway.

[doomsday_disco]

In the imp: I get all of the notes in the imp! The dusty quality of the sandalwood and the deliciousness of the cocoa vanilla are the most prominent, and the blend is deepened by the myrrh note.

 

Wet: The cocoa note reigns at first, but I'm getting more of the resins the longer the scent sits on my skin. The vanilla note sweetens the blend, preventing it from being a really dry and dusty chocolate and resin combination (which was my experience with Gelt). As the vanilla sweetens the scent, and the sandalwood emerges more, I'm somewhat reminded of Kit from the OLLA line.

 

Dry: Yes, this is very Kit-like now, as the cocoa note hides in the background. The myrrh note becomes stronger over time, making the blend drier, but it gives off the impression of a velvet tapestry hanging in an old library (with some cocoa powder is sitting open on a nearby table because someone is about to make hot chocolate, of course).

 

Verdict: I like this! I don't feel the need to upgrade this one to a bottle (since I already have lots of chocolate scents and two bottles of Kit), but it's really nice.

[Kmye Chan]

In the imp: mostly cococa - not chocolate, but dry, bitter Dutch cocoa powder. Something slightly woody underneath.

 

Wet: Uuuuuuurgh. This smells like warm plastic - like the inside of a car that's been in the sun for a while. It's stomach-turning to me.

 

I tried keeping it on for further review, but this one was awful on me and I had to wash it off. Sorry Velvet, but you'll have to go. :/

[Cleolinda]

I'll be honest, I hated this when I first tried it years ago. Very sharp, loud sandalwood back then; I immediately tried (tried!) to wash it off. But I reorganized my stash this weekend and pulled the imp out again to see how it had aged--I'm not sure how old it is, but several years, certainly. Now it immediately goes on very calm and smooth; I think maybe I can smell the vanilla, but hardly any cocoa at all. It's mostly a very soft, mellow sandalwood that starts to get pleasantly powdery as it dries down, with a sweet myrrh that gets less perfumy as it goes. If the cocoa vanilla is still there, it's more that it rounds the scent out. (I wonder what it would be like layered with Bliss.) So yes, maybe hold on to this one, forget about it for a few months, and try it again.

[HeidiSaysStuff]

I just got Velvet, and on me it does smell like a sophisticated incense with something warm and chocolatey hovering in the back of the nose, not too bad and worth the price of the bottle. On my husband it smells SO SEXY, just the right blend of sandalwood and chocolate with something almost ambery about the myrrh's powdery sweetness. I just want to lick him.

[Soupy Twist]

Cocoa in the bottle, and on application, but the incense and sandalwood soon come out to pick a fight. For the life of me I cannot imagine why anyone would want to put these notes together.

[maudlinrose]

Wet: chocolate with depth...cocoa, not a sweet chocolate.

Drying down: sandalwood, which has turned into pencil shavings on me. The vanilla is too loud ...

Dry: sweetened sandalwood. The vanilla has finally come out and developed, the sandalwood is less sharp. My imp is quite fresh and some aging could make this even better.

 

Definitely worth keeping a big bottle tucked away for a couple of years.

[roseus]

Been frimped this before not sure how I haven't reviewed this. In the imp this smells just like cocoa butter lotion. Which is a scent I love for sure. It's rich, and light on the cocoa. Dry it still smells like cocoa butter, but very refined. The sandalwood and myrrh add a nice warm and sophistication, with a nice sweetness from the cocoa and vanilla.

[Casablanca]

My first impression of Velvet is swirls of chocolate vanilla with sprinkles of myrrh, like a lighter Candy Butcher. This is like the Candy Butcher reformed into a slightly nicer and more gentle person. After a bit, it seems like the chocolate vanilla with myrrh sprinkles has been poured into a sandalwood cup. The myrrh and sandalwood are still just framing a gourmand at this point.

As Velvet dries, its sandalwood comes forward -- very pleasing. This is a good blend and would be fun to test directly against the Candy Butcher. I'll probably store them together.

[Lucchesa]

Mmm, Velvet is gorgeous on me. It's a deep dark cocoa (the Lab's milk chocolate note goes sadly off on me) sweetened with vanilla. The dry sandalwood keeps it from being foodie, and the myrrh adds this beautiful dark depth that had me huffing my wrist almost constantly the day I tried this. It would have been an instant bottle purchase except that it is quite similar on me to Gelt-Smeared Dreidel, which I have a bottle of (cedar instead of sandalwood, amber instead of myrrh), so when that one is about halfway gone I will buy a bottle of Velvet and start aging it. So good!

[goblingrin]

In the imp and while well it smells very chocolate and warm. After a bit of dry-down n it remains chocolate but takes on a nutty tone almost like nutella. It's not really a foody scent though, especially after a few hours when softens out.

[torikitty]

Chocolately, spicy nuts. So good!

[garbagewitch]

At the start, Velvet is pure chocolate, with just a hint sharp sandalwood. I almost want to call it powdery, but that's not the right word, it's just very dry—not chocolate, cocoa powder, straight from the tin. As it settles, the sandalwood comes forward more, accompanied by the shadowy rasp of myrrh. The cocoa smells exactly like the main ingredient to hot chocolate, but the sandalwood and myrrh keep it from ever feeling truly edible.

 

Though it started out almost all cocoa, the drydown ends up mostly sandalwood, with the cocoa just softening up the edges and the myrrh lending some weight and shadow to it all. Velvet is the perfect name for this scent, it’s dry and soft and warm, everything velvet should be.

 

Something about this scent makes me think of a church; it’s dark and somber and still, but at the same time warm and peaceful—like pews carved from dark wood and draped in the silence and shadow of night. It would be eerie, but there's such a sense of safety, the quiet can't be anything but calming. It's a gentle touch hiding behind austerity, it's peace dressed in the formal garb of ritual, it's finding comfort in supplication.

Edited July 7, 2018 by conflagrantThief

[DryFrogPills]

Tested from an aged frimp.

 

In the imp: Dark, dry chocolate and hints of vanilla.

 

Worn: At first, quite yummy and edible, more foody than I expected. The chocolate is definitely in the forefront. Over about a half hour, it blends down and merges into the sandalwood and the myrrh, although neither is distinct. I'd call it 'soft textured', with hints of something vanillic. It sounds like it should be pleasant, and yet... It's not. There's something vaguely bitter, or sour, that seems to linger underneath and never goes away, taking it from something I should like, to something that makes me keep sniffing it and going '... What is OFF with this?'. I'm gonna assume that there's something that goes weird with my skin chemistry and on me, it's just a definite fail.

[RedPersimmon]

So good! Dry cocoa powder wet, then lovely vanilla, sandalwood and myrrh drydown with a bit of cocoa powder rounding it out.

[torischroeder9]

In the imp: Beautiful, dry cocoa on the first whiff, with a gentle wood behind it if I keep sniffing. 

 

On my skin:

 

Immediately, the sandalwood comes to the surface, vying with and then dominating the cocoa scent even before the oil is dry. 

 

After a few minutes, the cocoa disappears, and the myrrh enters, lending an edge of heavier wood to the scent. 

 

Given even more time, the myrrh too settles down, allowing the dusting of cocoa to be once again detectable along the edges of this woody scent. 

[clockworkcrypt]

Wet on this is a rich deep chocolate, but the longer it's on the drier and sweeter it gets.

On wear this is a sweet chocolate with a swirl of vanilla, schmeared over a woody almost sacred feeling layer. 

It's sweet and comforting, but not overpoweringly foodie, it's calming, like a bit of a hug in a scent, or how churches must smell to the people of candyland.

This was a lab frimp, and I never would have tried it on my own, but if you get a chance give it a shot, it's suprisingly nice!