Bite Me

[milo]

Croquembouche with almond silk and a drizzle of caramel.

At first this is all almond with a touch of rose. The rose takes the forefront, and the almond disappears into nothing. This is pretty much a perfumey rose, very little foody. Not a rose fan, though rose appears to love me. Meh.

[Scarah]

I'm thinking that almond can be a tricky thing for some people, and I'm one of those people.

 

If I don't squint sideways at it, Bite Me pretty much smelled like I spilled amaretto on myself.

 

If I do, I can realize the cherry cough syrup and rose.

 

It is almost as though the cherry and rose are not actually there, but the almond is leaving behind negative space that my brain fills in with cherry and rose. Like the almond is the vase silhouette and the cherry and rose are the two face silhouettes.

 

Enough tripping out on why it didn't work. In conclusion, it didn't work.

[thekittenkat]

In the imp: Cake, cherries, almond.

 

Wet: Lots of almond, and some sweetness from the cherries.

 

The dry-down: There's an odd note that might be the caramel, but just not sure. Have no idea where the cake went. This might be good in a scent locket, but there's something nasty, sad to say, starting to come from my wrist -- it's almost a plastic note. I'm beginning to realize that perhaps a cherry note doesn't work on me. I did have high hopes of this when I saw chocolate in the description of croquembouche at the Wiki, but alas, this is probably not for me, unless it goes in a scent locket.

 

A little later on: That nasty note is gone, thank goodness. Just almond and some cherries.

[malaliath]

BITE ME

 

IN IMP: Alcoholic roses? Roses? Where are they coming from? Wow, I'm surprised too, but I'm glad to read others got roses from this.

 

WET, ON SKIN: I recoil. I am amping an almond ROSE to the extreme. Rose, blahhh, how I hate you.

 

DRY, ON SKIN: I am fighting to not run and wash this off right away. Unfortunately I have never been put off of a BPAL scent this strongly before. But – I really, really hate rose, and it doesn’t help that I amp it to a sickening extreme. A burning plastic rose, at that.

 

LATER: I have to get this off me. Is it odd that I feel guilty when I can’t love a scent even a little? …. this will be off to the swap pile.

 

(Wow. Okay, I just scrubbed with soap and water and I can STILL smell this on me, big time. The throw on this is crazy.)

 

[Deek]

Bite Me

 

In Bottle: Ooof! Very strong almond and caramel.

Wet on Skin: Oooh it's almond, deeper sniff almond, and then... icky caramel end smell. Ick.

Dry Down: The almond is mellowing out I think.

Dry on Skin: Blegh smells kind of like shampoo... ick.

Overall: 2/5 I think I'd like it without the caramel, I really hate caramel.

 

I wish I had gotten rose out of this, I love rose.

[myoubi]

I was really hoping to like this one Croquembouche is so yummy!* But I should have known better. After all, it contains caramel.

 

IN THE IMP: Gack! Sweet and incredibly sharp. Almondy, but there's something else. Hopes diminishing rapidly.

 

FRESH ON SKIN: same as in the imp, only more so. literally hurts the inside of my nostrils to smell -- it's almost acidic. Where is the pastry from the profiteroles? something to ground this caramel-coated almond thing would be nice.

 

10 MINUTES LATER: why oh why could I not get rose from this blend like everyone else... it has definitely settled down, mellowed out a bit, but I'm still not convinced. VERY almondy on me, although it's not a pure almond note -- the almondy sweetness is layered on top of something else, something that smells to me like the coating of croquebouche looks.

 

15 MINUTES LATER: yes, it's mellowed out, but I can't deal. This one has to be washed off. Oh God. I'm getting a bit more of a grounding note at this point, but not the tasty soft pastry-ness that I had hoped for -- it's like that is trying to come out, but is being stomped to death by the RANCID CARAMEL that always happens with scents like this, though I keep trying. Almond provides a high sharpness at the top of the scent that is actively unpleasant. This has to go.

 

Hopes: totally dashed.

 

___

* This, for example, is what croquembouche looks like. Om nom nom! Read more here.

[Ondine]

So I was very confused when I skin tested this and it turned into HOPE plus HEARTH 2004.

 

I guess if you like roses and cherries, this is the blend for you!

[Xanon]

I love almond! Eclipse and I are great friends.

 

This was a blast of almond and sweet rich caramel. It did get a little powdery after an hour or two. But it smells wonderful! I am trying to talk myself out of a bottle... but I will look for a partial for sure!!

[laslibres]

In the imp, very sweet and sort of cherryish, although the cherry fades when I put it on. On me, it starts to smell creamier, with a hint of something...crunchy? Like toffee? Still smell the almond too.

 

It smells like the best dessert EVER...until it starts to turn a little weird and sickly-sweet/plasticky. Argh! I don't know why some almonds do weird things on my skin, but some are heavenly...it's a real toss-up with my skin chemistry. And it's too bad, because in the initial stages it was really nice, sort of creamy and nutty and sweet, but then it veered into car air freshener territory. Damn you, skin chemistry!

[ellebelle]

in the bottle: almond.

 

Wet: more creamy almond. This is exactly what hecate smells like on me in the wet stage before MUSK MUSK MUSK.

 

Drydown: The almond scent it still there, but it has gone powdery, like all of the rosy floral scents do on me.

 

Verdict: Yet another scent that ends up smelling like talcum powder. Almond is not a long lasting scent on my skin. For the swap pile.

[QueenFae]

**Amazing!** This is fantastic! It oddly has a berry like smell on my skin, and reminds me of a powdery cherry or blackberry candy. Its very strong and sexy, and unbelievably yummy. The almond is such a strong note, which is great by me, and has a powdery sweet dry down that is almost mouth watering. I'm not sure where the berrilicious note is coming from, but in a way it almost reminds me of the undertones of Black Phoenix. My skin is odd is guess. I love this, it has great throw and lasts a long time.

 

Definitely screams, "Bite Me!!"

[tinyvulture]

I’ve never had the pleasure of eating a croquembouche, so I can’t make that comparison, but what I get from this is some kind of fresh, warm baked good, topped with candied toasted almonds and a little bit of poppy seed. (There’s no poppy seed in the description, but well, that’s what my nose is telling me.) The almond note is really nice and creamy. The pastry note is yeasty rather than buttery. I’d like it better if it was buttery. It’s pleasant, but it’s not making me drool.

[Cheri]

When I first tried Bite Me I thought I would have to send it away. It was yucky burnt roses on me. Then I waited a few weeks and decided to try it again and what a difference. Now its yummy, sweet cream puffs of toasted almond with a tiny touch of rose. I actually like it now and I'm happy I gave it another chance. It seems like its going to age very well, and I just got a southern holiday cooking recipe book that has a Croquembouche recipe and it looks so good.

[merebrillante]

For the first four hours, it's all boozy sweetness. I told my friend what the name of the perfume was, and she said, "I do want to bite you." But after four hours, it smells like Republic of Tea's acai berry green tea. That's not bad, it's just ... different.

[Bluestocking]

In the bottle: CARAMEL and almond. So, yeah, pretty much as advertised. It's a clear, sweet, distinctly almond-centric scent swathed in a buttery, brown sugar caramel note. I get some of the pastry, but it's a dry pastry, if that makes sense—toasty or yeasty, but not buttery in the way Knave of Hearts is. It is a foody scent, but not so much that it overwhelms me with super-sweetness, the way Cockaigne did.

On, wet: Much more almond than anything else, and it's delicious. It reminds me of a marzipan coffee cake that my grandmother used to buy for special occasions, kind of a sweet pastry filled with almond paste. It's less heavy and overtly sweet than it was in the bottle, with only a light hint of the caramel.

On, dry: The caramel is back and blended very smoothly with the almond, though the pastry aspect is basically gone. It increasingly reminds me of a less boozy-heavy, more strongly almond-centric version of Hellcat, which is not a bad thing. This is lighter and (imo) easier to wear, but it has the same general feel, and the caramel does have a dark honey-ish aspect.

Later: Essentially unchanged: caramelized almonds. Medium-to-light throw, but lots of staying power.

Overall: This really does develop as a lighter, no-booze, more almondy version of Hellcat on me, and I like it. It's not such a heavily sweet sort of fragrance, which makes it much more wearable; it smells like yummy candied almonds without me having to worry that I'm sending everybody around me into sugar shock. The almond note lasts much, much longer for me here than it usually does, which is another plus, and the pastry/cream puff note is appropriately subdued—no buttery overkill here, thank goodness. I like it! It's nice to find a scent with such a strong almond note that actually has staying power. I don't know where the rose mentions are coming from, though, because I don't get anything even REMOTELY floral from this; it's straight-up foody.

Edited October 19, 2009 by Bluestocking

[jade_starlight]

This has definitely got almond in it, all right. It's pretty much all almond on me, along with something that just smells cloying. Definitely not for me.

[Wolfie79]

Ooh! My first post, my first review AND Bite Me is my first bpal scent!

 

So in the bottle, I get faint almond and caramel. Very light scent.

 

On me: Almondy at first, then it fades to straight up caramel.

 

I just got it today, though, so maybe I'll smell something else in the next few days from this. I'm hoping to pick up the floral and clover honey notes that others had mentioned!

[ElectraV]

My first BPAL order arrived yesterday and now I've finally figured out which scent to try first I figured I'd do my first review.

 

In the bottle: I smell marzipan. That'll be the almond note.

 

Wet: It's a rich, buttery almond on me. Just like a frangipane tart in fact

 

Drydown: Almond, cream, pastry and a little caramel. The caramel seems to come out more as time goes on. For once there's no sign of the vanilla that my skin seems to turn most things into. Not getting the rose that lots of others have mentioned either. This has got to be the closest I've come to a lab description and it's delicious. Glad I got this.

[LaurenO]

I expected this to be extremely foody and buttery, but it's really not. It's soft, sugary and very wearable. It's also probably the longest lasting bpal on me that I've found. It doesn't thrill me, but I'm glad I have the imp.

[herkissofshame]

The first time I sniffed this, my confused brain went "Rose? Violets?" And after wearing it for a while, I'm still getting both flowers, but it's like they've been laced in the softest cream with almond flakes. It's foody to me but with floral accents. And it's STRONG! And long-lasting! I have to be in the mood for this, but I'm in the mood for it now, and boy, it smells divine. Expensive, even. I can see this being a couture fragrance quite easily; it's quirky and has a lot going for it for both floral fans and foody fans.

[Invidiana]

Oh yes. I love almond, and almond loves me. I'm getting the sense there is also almond flower in this because there seems to be a light floral backdrop, as if this is one of those wedding croquembouches studded with white flowers. And the caramel just makes it flat-out decadent. I need to resist biting myself!

[kisha]

Seperately, I can smell the almond and the caramel. Before trying Bite Me, I didn't like any blend with caramel in it. This one is different. Instead of giving me an instant headache from the burnt, syrupy smell, I get what I can only describe as a sweet hops scent. Yes, this smells like caramel beer on me. It's not what I was expecting, and I only just got this one from a forum purchase an hour ago, so I may have to come back and re-review this one.

 

Oh, and I get no rose from this one either, as other reviewers have mentioned. Too bad, rose is one of my favorite scents. It reminds me of my grandmother. (Now I've gotta go call her!)

Edited November 9, 2009 by kisha

[iletaitunefois]

What a disappointment. :/ I was hoping for a wonderful almond and caramel, but no such luck. This went horrible and sour on me, like something that'd gone bad on the counter. This happens sometimes with sweet foodie scents, so it wasn't so much of a surprise...just a disappointment. It smelled amazing in the bottle (all caramel and chocolate) so I'm hoping it'll smell super yummy on someone else, though.

[Voleuse]

Huh. On first sniff, this actually strikes me as boozy cake. Really boozy cake, dripping in fruity syrup. As it dries down, the cream puffiness of it starts to come through, light pastry oozing with cool, luscious cream. I'm getting honey rather than caramel, but then again, almond tends to turn things wonky on me. Over time, the almond takes over, so I get a sort of caramelized almond scent, crumbling to lumpy bits of burnt sugar.

[taramarie]

In the bottle, I can smell almonds and what I assume is the croquembouche. On my skin, the caramel starts to overpower the other two, but wow, this smells good enough to eat.