Velvet Dogs Playing Poker

[tarotgirl99]

 

Smooth wood, sweet pipe smoke, tonka, and Irish coffee.

 

I suspect many people (including myself) bought this one hoping for a close variation of Pinched with Four Aces. Since tonka replaces cinnamon in the scent, I was even more excited--I LOVE tonka!

 

In the bottle, the Irish coffee dominates, which is just how I like it. But within seconds of application, the pipe smoke takes over...and it doesn't seem all that sweet to me.

 

After a few hours, the coffee returns and the scent is perfectly lovely. Wear length and throw are both average.

 

All in all, this is not the Return of Pinched for which I was so devoutly praying.

 

I suppose you could say this is closer to a straight than a royal flush. It's definitely not two of a kind.

[msbcozad]

Velvet Dogs Playing Poker

 

I want this to be sweet pipe smoke and coffee. Instead, it's polished wood and something astringent. Maybe with a little rest and a little age, the smoke and coffee will appear.

 

Added 4/17/09: Okay, it's been a week and I finally get this scent. After she dropped out, my sister worked in a bar across the street from the university. The place was fairly old and had worn wood floors. I'd occassionally visit her in the afternoons before happy hour started. When the bar was empty except for my sister and another employee, it smelled like the worn wood floors, stale cigarettes, and burned black coffee. That's exactly what this perfume smells like. Unfortunately, I do not want or need to smell like that bar.

Edited April 17, 2009 by MelanieSuzanne

[angelicruin]

Sniffing the bottle, it's mostly coffee and smoke to my nose.

 

Wet on the skin, it's still smoky but now with spice. The coffee note is nowhere to be sniffed on my skin.

 

Not really getting the wood note, even as it dries...

 

On dry down, I can smell the Irish coffee once more and the smokiness remains, but this is not really a sweet smoke note, at least interacting on my skin chemistry. And still quite spicy...I assume that's the Tonka.

 

I like it, but it's not the Holy Grail scent I thought it would be. I do think this might get better as it ages...I think I will tuck it away for a few months and see what happens.

 

 

[femmefatale]

At first this smells like a good coffee shop with the coffee, woods, etc. Very yummy!

As it dries though it smoothes out and becomes a bit from the tonka.

 

This is even better than I expected! I loooove it. I recently got a sniffie of Bah! And as far as coffee scents go, I actually prefer Dogs. I will be needing a back up bottle.

 

 

ETA: So a couple hours later I'm walking around wondering where the delicious smell is coming from from and then I realize....it's me! The pipe tobacco came out more, though it's not a heavy smoke scent. More like the lingering smell of pipe smoke on a sweater. That mingling with the creamy sweetness from the tonka and the subtle coffe scent is just heavenly.

This doesn't smell like Misk. U to me. That can be too sweet at times, where this has just the right amount of sweetness to balance the coffee and pipe tobacco.

Edited April 11, 2009 by Femme_Fatale

[VioletChaos]

to me, this is almost a dead ringer for Pinched With Four Aces, only a little...richer? is that the word? Whereas Pinched tends to fades sweetly on me, this set of Dogs seems a little more hard, robust. but that same gorgeous combination of tobacco and coffee are there. i was worried about it being too heavy with it being Irish Coffee and all, but unlike Eggnog Latte, this coffee is rich, but perfectly blended with it's other components, from start to finish.

 

definitely need a backup bottle!!!

 

 

 

 

ETA: after giving this a more thorough second wearing, i change my mind a little. this is like the love child of Pinched and Black Lace. it has great elements of both, its definitely an option for all genders and it gives me that same feeling of being comforted by a kindly old alcoholic uncle in a funeral parlor. total win.

Edited April 14, 2009 by VioletChaos

[hkhm]

bottle: coffee and wood.

 

wet: strong coffee and bright, polished wood. i'm not getting anything smoky but there might be a hint of tonka sweetening this scent.

 

dry: yep, more tonka as this dries. the coffee and wood are harder to separate. i think aging will suit this blend well.

[greenranger]

I can smell the Irish coffee, tonka and pipe smoke, but, I am getting a lot of the wood as well. LOTS of wood.

 

The tobacco seems much smokier than the tobacco in Velvet Bandito. The Irish coffee isn't dominant enough on me to really think of this as "foodie." I'll have to come back to it later, and hopefully it will be better without 15 other scents competeing with it...but, I think I am happier with Eggnog Latte and Bah for coffee, and Velvet Bandito for tobacco. Perhaps the combination wasn't meant to be for me.

[twilighteyes]

In the bottle: Sweet tobacco and a somewhat creamy vanilla scent on the verge of coffee but not quite. Some woody smell but not sure what kind.

 

On my skin: Hardly any throw. Not a morpher. Did not stay long.

 

Will need to let it age and skin test again.

[scrappy]

In the bottle: Woody coffee.

 

On my skin: WOOD!!!!!!! ...and a hint of creamy coffee. Lots of throw. Unfortunately for me, the wood notes were overwhelming, so I had to wash it off after about 30 minutes.

[heavywhitewove]

Wow! Got this shipment in fast.

 

In the bottle: creamy coffee

 

Wet: Cigar smoke and a faint weird chemical

 

Dry: Coffee returns and mixes with the cigar, faint weird chemical goes away (wheww). This is not the bitter grounds coffee smell of Misk U (which I did not care for) but far richer.

 

If you liked 2008 Pumpkin IV or any other tobacco scent - this one is for you. Sweet and dainty? Not these dawgs. :smite:

 

FYI: this does not have a huge a throw, so you will need to reapply often if that is your thing.

Edited April 13, 2009 by boggy

[AnArtfuldodger]

In the bottle: dark smokey wood, milky coffee

 

On my wrist wet: COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE -- it's like Misk. U, but without the caramel-note that sprung up on me, much less sweet. Straight-up coffee with a little milk and such. However, as soon as it dried, the coffee mellowed...

 

On the drydown: LOVELY cedar and tobacco, like a cedar box holding cigars, with the faintest whiff of coffee.

 

This is lovely -- a good professor sort of scent. Distinguished and mature, and either gender could wear this very well.

 

Later: The coffee has mingled beautifully with the wood. It's a very rich scent.

Edited April 13, 2009 by AnArtfuldodger

[cometgirl21]

In the bottle: Coffee and tobacco. Love.

 

Wet: Much the same.

 

Dry: Mostly a nice, sweet smell. Can't quite place the notes. Not coffee or tobacco or cedar, but a nice mix of all of them. I'm in love.

[nursekins]

It is a sweet coffee scent on initial application...the woods come out very quick but it more a natural wood scent...bark like more than the refined polished wood in Miskatonic University...the tobacco is coming out and it has a nice smoke edge...nice dry scent..however that sweet note is morphing into celery salt...this on very rare occasion happens in sweet scents on me...just a select few...my chemistry can be frustrating...It comes around as a sweet smoky scent of tobacco with a rustic wood note...the sweet still has that celery vibe on me so it will need a new home...someone with better chemistry than mine.

[GoldenRubee]

Velvet Dogs Playing Poker opens up with a wood note but I find it to be almost a greenish wood. For the first few minutes it smells very good and the tonka and Irish coffee are pretty strong. After five minutes though, it's like I have a perfume on that I am trying to remember what exactly I applied this morning (it is probably my skin chemistry that is doing this).

 

I thought this would be more like Dogs Playing Poker only richer, it is a cousin, a third cousin. It is still very good but it is lacking the richness of the original I believe. Maybe this just has to age a bit and it will turn into a first cousin.

[ladyjc]

I must be the first this one didn't really work for. I know, I know...I shouldn't try perfumes fresh out of the mail and review them, but I know without waiting that these dogs just won't work for me. The coffee note is translating to toffee/caramel on me...and I definitely cannot do caramel

So sad!

[Teggy]

Bottle 1) Wet: Wood and tonka. The wood reminds me the one used in Arcana's Burlesque. Where's my pipesmoke? That was my selling point. Drydown...still the same...no smoke. Not happy.

 

Bottle 2) Wet: Irish cream, a little wood. Where's my pipesmoke? That was my selling point. Drydown...still the same...no smoke. Not happy.

 

 

ETA: Oddly enough, these bottles each smell differently to me. After a while, I get kind of a wet, pipe tobacco. I was hoping it would be more smoky, but it's not.

Edited April 15, 2009 by Teggy

[ravenfeathers]

i'm going to come completely clean here and say that i was mostly hoping this was a kissing cousin to pinched, which i don't drool over and covet endlessly like so many do, but do like a lot and find infinitely wearable only, you know, you can't actually buy enough to wear. i thought i was pretty clever getting two bottles right off the bat, which never works for me. if i get one bottle, it's awesome and i scramble to get a second bottle. if i go for two, it's completely unwearable!

 

in the bottle boozy, sweet, bodes well!

wet on skin EW. i can't decide if this smells most like wet dog or corn chips. there's coffee and a burned sugar smell that's really gaggy on me.

dry on skin this evens out to a sweet, perfume-y wood which is very nice, but definitely not what i was expecting at all. the irish coffee and pipe smoke are really bit players here and fade to leave wood (not a glossy wood, but a sticky, dirty wood) and tonka in control. rats.

 

this is not only pinched, but also not really me. i'm going to cellar this and revisit it in a few months.

 

like Teggy both of my bottles smell different. the one i didn't skin test is sweeter and less woody in the bottle, but a dab on my skin is going wet dog/corn chips only with more smoke. different, but not markedly so.

[midnight_aeval]

I'm on the fence with this one. Initially I get no coffee - absolutely NONE. I smell vanilla'd woods and dusty parchment...

 

After about an hour a hint of coffee comes out. This isn't a blend that screams to me OMG must covet!!1!!11! but it's oddly comforting. I get the same sense of comfort when I wear Misk U - a scent I am not really fond of, but when I'm feeling down and unloved I wear it... it's like that soft security blanket you want to snuggle with but know it's not very adult of you to do so lol

 

I'm sure I'll keep the bottle, but I probably won't be stocking up.

[Brianne]

Why I got this: tobacco and irish coffee of course!

 

Why I was concerned: When I have high hopes for a scent, it rarely works out in my favor.

 

What it ended up being: This could have been called cigar single note on me. That's it, no coffee or wood even (which is usually dominant on me), just soft and vaguely sweet cigar smoke.

 

What it reminds me of: The dry down of Pinched (after it's been on for a few hours).

[syrenemyst]

Initially, this smelled like coffe and wood from the bottle and when first applied. After ten minutes, it smelled like dusty chalk on my skin. Not at all what I expected.

[Wwindy]

First sniff in the bottle: Ooooh, nice! OK, the foolishly fearless slatherer will now slather fearlessly! And foolishly!

 

Five minutes later: Uh-oh. Wait a minute. Is that turning into... cigarette smoke?!?

 

Six minutes later: Uh-oh. Isn't today Thursday? Baby gym class day?

 

Twenty minutes later: I am now reeking up the 12 to 19-month gym class with wafts of strong coffee and cigarettes enlivened by an occasional hint of whiskey. I cannot even begin to imagine what the other mothers think I've been up to... at 10 a.m.

 

*sigh*

 

Two hours later: Hey, this is mellowing out nicely! Now we've got a little cream, a little wood... reminds me a tiny bit of Glowing Vulva plus coffee!

 

*SIGH*

 

So, um, VDPP? Is there a reason you couldn't have gone to this part right off the bat and spared me the BAD MOTHER TRAUMA HOUR?!?

 

Yeah. Anyway. I think I need to test this again, preferably not on a day when I'll be at work. Or around my parents. Or, uh... anyone who might not already know whether I'm a chain-smoking alcoholic or not.

 

 

[ami226]

Hello sweet coffee! Wow!

 

On the dry down the coffee goes poof and I am left with a sweetness that I am guessing is tonka as the smell reminds me of Wood Phoenix. After a bit that fades a bit and I am left with a sweet smokiness. I don't normally like smokiness at all, but this is actually pretty good.

 

-EDIT- Well, the boyfriend likes it as well, so I will have to get another bottle.... Maybe he will actually wear it without whining...

Edited April 24, 2009 by Catseyes

[Molls]

For me, this is a total comfort scent... Coffee, smoke, wood... feels like I'm sitting in my grandpa's room again. I may have to get a bottle of this, and am definitely keeping my decant!

[tinyvulture]

I never tried Pinched With Four Aces, so I can’t say how this compares. For me, it’s a cousin of MonsterBait: Ventriloquist’s Dummy and Red Lantern. There’s a strong caramel note and dry, polished wood – most likely cedar. I don’t see caramel listed in the scent description. I’m guessing that the boozy sweetness of Irish cream, mixed with sweet tonka, has somehow morphed into what my nose recognizes as “caramel.” I don’t smell any coffee AT ALL – weird. After about 5 minutes, the pipe smoke is finally noticeable, and it’s squashed some of the initial sweetness. It’s really nice now – complex and not as foody as it initially was. Glad to have a bottle – it’s a keeper.

[TheOneTheyCallLuna]

When I smell this I hear Snoop Dogg, and then I picture George Clinton licking my hand, saying, "It's just the dog in me, baby!" like on PCU, which was on basic cable the other day and is a really stupid movie that rekindled my love of Parliament Funkadelic and P-Funk All-Stars...errr...where was I? Oh, yes! Dogs Playing Poker...ooohhhh lala! This smells better than Miskatonic and Pinched With Four Aces put together. I know! Sacrilege! I'll be burnt at the stake for saying it, but on my skin it's true!

 

Miskatonic on me for some reason turns into vomitous cloying high pitched sweetness, and Pinched is cozy but kinda boring, like my Grandpa's den...This is Snoop Dogg and George Clinton playing poker and smoking blunts with a bunch of sexy b*tches...Ummm, what I mean to say, is that this is Dogs Playing Poker remixed: sexy, funky style. Love it, and I NEED a bottle right now!

 

Finally, a BPAL coffee scent I can wear!