Sugar Skull

[Thacerine]

Vibrant with the joy and sweetness of life in death! A blend of five sugars, lightly dusted with candied fruits.

This is my first scent from the big LJ decant thing. In the imp it smells like brown sugar and bubble gum.
Wet on my skin the bubble gum comes out, that fresh bubble-gummy smell when you’ve just opened a brand new pack and it still has that powdery layer of sugar on it. Some other candy-like smell starts to poke it, reminding me of a candy I can’t quite place, though it’s a little like candy corn and a little like caramel.
Then another friend shows up, molasses! Which I don’t much like as a taste, but the smell is fantastic because it reminds me of all the baking my mom used to do for our Christmas gingerbread parties. Mmm, so homey! Even the slow morphing of the molasses smells like it’s being baked, LOL!

Final verdict: smells EXACTLY like our kitchen while we’re prepping for the big gingerbread bash! I love it! …too bad all I have is 1/3 of an imp…

[klio]

I got a little confused in my ordering, and have an imp of Sugar Skull 04 and two imps of Sugar Skull 05. Bad thing or good thing? Let's find out.

 

SUGAR SKULL 04

 

In Mr Imp: Maple syrup (more the real thing than the fake thing) and pancakes, a little buttery, a stopover on a road trip at a surprisingly good diner (hey, they have real maple syrup). Ever-so-slightly boozy.

 

On Mr Wrist: (Why is my wrist a mister instead of a miss? Who can say.) I'm a bit puzzled, as the moment I put this on it becomes flowery with a hint of spice. Eh?

 

Dry: Flowery pancakes, the breakfast-food scents beginning to fade away. It reminds me of an old jewelry box of some spicy wood that I kept on my bookshelf as a kid. The box was lacquered black, with Japanse artwork and delicate saffron-ribbon drawer pulls on its many little compartments, and the wood itself exuded some sort of soft spiciness. Let me amend that: This is precisely the smell of the bookshelf in my room in high-school on which that jewelry box sat, whatever that combination was of perfumes, sachets, jewelry box, wood polish, and paperbacks. With a dollop of maple syrup in the middle.

 

Half hour (and more) on: The scent is long-lasting, but does not have much throw. That might improve if I were less sparing in application.

 

Verdict: Wearing it would be a nostalgia experience, once the scent gets out of the diner. But I wouldn't want to walk around constantly reminded of that particular era. I might consider it as a room scent for a library; it would be nifty for a library to smell of sweet woods and gentle spices and brand-new paperbacks. The more I think about it, the more nostalgic I get. Paperbacks just don't have that scent anymore--there must have been some global change in glues or inks or paper manufacture. Hmm... Could I turn this into a book scent, and spritz my commuter-train reading with it?

 

SUGAR SKULL 05

 

The imp says: Gloriously liqueur-filled candy. Fine chocolates without the chocolate.

 

Wet: Fruity boozy love! The burst of liquid on your tongue when biting into a cherry-liqueur chocolate--without the chocolate and with a fruitiness that is subtler than cherries. A hint of herbs mingles with the booze. The throw seems weak.

 

Dry: The scent intensifies and the throw actually gets stronger the longer I wear it. The scent stays boozy-sweet: a touch of rum, a hint of stewed and slightly caramelised apples. I would wear this when feeling quirky or to a dinner party.

 

At 15 minutes, my wrist began to itch a little bit, but that passed. Odd.

 

Half hour (and onward): The musty sweetness of an empty cognac glass. Conversation lingers at the table long after the bottle has been emptied and the dessert plates scraped clean. The company is too good to part, the guests are too content and charmed by the food and one another to retire from their seats, prolonging the experience of the meal after the plates are removed. A few remnant pieces of silverware gleam here and there on the white linen tablecloth; someone twirls their wineglass by the stem, everyone gets to know one another very well and friendships are sealed. Every now and then the twirling of the wineglass whirls a bright scent of booze back into the air. The night stretches long into the a.m.

 

And in conclusion: Yeah, I think I'm keeping both imps of this. Might even have to hunt down a bottle.

[Elemcee]

This is lovely. Sweet (but with a kick, so it's far from sickly), and, weirdly addictive. Like, I can't stop sniffing my wrist or the bottle.

It certainly has a lot of throw, too. This morning, I was sitting in my room wearing it, when my mum comes up the stares and, whilst standing at the opposite end of the corridor from my bedroom, asks why she can smell sugar with raisins.

 

This reminds me of lollipops, though, a bit. When I was little, we used to visit Leigh-on-Sea on sunny Sunday afternoons, and my sister and I were bought lollipops. Those big red ones that were in the shape of a scary face or something and were so sticky that one couldn't attempt to eat it without getting one's hair, fingers, clothes and face sticky, as well. And then we'd end up throwing away half, they were so big.

Anyway, this smells like those tasted. Except more grown up. That's an odd review, I know, but I do like the perfume.

Edited April 14, 2006 by Elemcee

[themerrybaker]

I got Sugar Skull, in memory of my little cat Julia, to use with an altar on the Day of the Dead. So, even if it smelled crappy I was going to keep it in the fridge for the day. Foody scents are not my thing.

 

 

 

But it smells great! It starts out rum-raisiny and ends up Brown Sugar. I could see this on Mick Jagger - "How come ya smell so good..".

 

 

 

And the description is spot on, too. It is a very happy smell, which is what you need on Dia de los Muertos.

[saralaughs]

I just got a bottle of this today.

 

In the bottle it's nail polish. Bah!

 

Wet on my skin: It morphs into this lovely sugar blend with fruity notes in the background and continues to quickly change to sugar, spice and everything nice!

 

Dry: It goes caramelly, vanilla sugar. Nice but hardly any throw. This one will need to be slathered. I put it in a roll-on to do just that.

[Eunice]

This is boozy brown sugar in the bottle and also on my skin for the first hour. This was so sweet at the start that I felt like I could have been in a sugar coma. This warms up nicely and now it smells like creamed sugar just like when you first start mixing up a batch of chocolate chip cookies. This smells so tasty! And you do not need to slather this on at all. I have the tiniest bit on my wrist and it still smells strong. This is fabulous!

[kunoichi]

Mm, in the vial this smells like slightly burned brown sugar!! It is strong, but I'm quite happy with the strong foody scents. When I wear it, the scent doesn't change much at all (same with the other strong foody ones like Beaver Moon and Midway and Gluttony) - it does lose the burned smell over time as the scent fades. It eventually ends up smelling like I'm wearing soft brown sugar; it's quite pleasant and sweet.

[juniperus]

Bottle: light brown sugar, slightly stale.

Wet: now more turbano...and oh so sweet, although not headache sweet at this point.

Dry: now it's the smell of white sugar in by mixing bowl after I begin to mix in some real melted butter.

Later: and now smelling oddly sour, like something with sugar that's going bad or something. clearly not a blend for me, yuck.

[ereuyi]

I picked up an imp of this along with a few others and for some reason I had to try this first, despite the fact that I was sure it would be too sickly sweet.

 

At first, it was definitely sweet, but there was something deeper keeping it from being sickly. I wanted to call it maple syrup, but that's definitely not it. It's almost got an edge to it, like caramelized sugar or molasses. There's something else on top of that that's rounding it out a bit, maybe the fruits or a touch of creaminess.

 

Once it's dry, the edge almost completely goes away, and it just acts as a slight shadow to the nice round, almost creamy sweetness that it was showing up earlier. This doesn't have much throw on me, but it definitely left me with my nose glued to my wrist and a desire to lick myself. It lasts forever on me, too--I put it on at noon and I could still smell it when I woke up the next morning.

[absinthetics]

Boozy, brownsuggary, slightly yeasty goodness. Sugar skull is totally edible and wonderful. It fills in the middle between Red Lantern and Devil's Night, in my opinion. I'm a fan!

[edenssixthday]

Sugar Skull 2005 is among my Worst 5 BPAL list. The instant I opened the bottle, I could smell how horrible it was. It smelled like artificial brandied apricots and synthetic burnt brown sugar had been blended with candle wax and then poured over everything for a 50-mile radius. I couldn’t escape the odor. I tried some on thinking maybe it would get better. It didn’t. It filled up every room I went in with its thick, heavy artificial sweetness. I tried washing it off and hours and hours later I could still smell in on my skin, lingering on my clothes, lingering around the edges of the rooms I had been in. I tested it again a few days later and had a similar reaction. I immediately sold my bottle and have not once regretted it. I just can’t begin to describe how awful that scent was.

[midnight_aeval]

mmmm I'm liking the Sugar Skull.

 

First off, this has a great throw! Just a little bit has lasted a long time.

 

I love the sweetness; it's sweet without being sickening like Pink Phoenix. It's also got some spice in there. Luckily on my skin it doesn't smell burnt like all other Brown Sugar scents I come across.

 

I like Sugar Skull and am glad I bought a full bottle!

[PilotKitten]

A bit of a fruity sugar scent. Strange… like a fruit cocktail candy floss mixture.

[elfmaiden]

This was one of the few LE's that didn't really work well with me.

 

From the imp I get a really strong burnt sugar smell. It's not really that bad, but when I put it on my skin it wasn't really a pleasant smell. I was surprised 'cause believe you me, I love sugar and sugar smelling things!

 

This one just was alittle to burnt, dry smelling for me. Ah well you win some you lose some. Sorry Sugar Skull!

 

Jenn

[forspecial_plate]

What a coincidence...I got my imp of sugar skull '05 from elfmaiden (see directly above)!

 

Anyway....I was apprehensive at first because in the bottle it was just weird to me, and it sort of overpowered every other imp in the cute little box elfmaiden gave me. Like you just open the box of 13 imps and the sugar just wafts out. I have never worn a sugary/cookie-y scent and that's what this smelled like to me. But I tried it today and actually liked it a lot. It's yet another scent that I'm not sure I would wear going out, but definitely will enjoy it around the house, on a rainy day, or just taking a nap. It stuck around for a long time, too...I did actually take a nap and kept smelling my wrist....mmmmmm.....and didn't even wash it off before work, just kept smelling the faint sweetness.

 

Hmm, not a very descriptive review. It smells like brown sugar in the oven. Pretty straightforward to me.

[maijasu]

Sweet, boozy, and STRONG. The sugar smells slightly burnt, as others have noted. I'm really not sure how I feel about this one, but I can't see myself reaching for it much, especially since I have Midway when I want to smell like sugary goodness. Might be passing this one along to a more loving home.

[BrightRedScream]

I got this off of Ebay

 

In the bottle it's brown sugar and very boozey...

My goodness!

 

When I put this on my skin, it reminded me of the Christmas cake that my mom makes.

Or maybe a fruity creme brulee?

 

There's a ton of brown sugar in this...and as it dries fruit comes out more and more..

And it's kind of yummy.

The booze that I was getting in the bottle really isn't there anymore - and in a way I'm kind of glad because I wasn't really adoring this in the bottle..and I was scared that this must sought after bottle would be finding it's way back onto Ebay.

 

This is really yummy, and I love how it blends together!

I'm glad I went after it

[fairy]

With a name and description like this how can you go wrong

 

This is another amazing scent. I want to eat my arm...even more so than the MB-underpants! I smell like candy! And chocolate chip cookies. And autumn. And Halloween night. All wrapped up into one lovely package. Gorgeous~

[nannan45]

Sugar Skull

 

This smells sooo good! In the bottle it's brown sugar and maple syrup and slightly boozy. On my wrists, the booze goes away and it's starts out as brown sugar and morphs into maple syrup, then molasses.

 

After a couple hours, my wrist smells like MB Underpants after a few hours - sweet thick honey and vanilla. I love this! It morphs and changes deliciously!

 

Also, just for fun I tried layering it over Pink Phoenix thinking I can't go wrong with strawberries and brown sugar! It did smell somewhat like strawberries dipped in brown sugar - but I wasn't planning on doing it again, until a few hours later I sniffed it again, and it smelled EXACTLY like cigar smoke. Even my brother in law who smokes cigars agreed! I actually like the smell, but I don't think I like smelling like I'd smoked cigars. I'll just wear Sugar Skull by itself. It really is lovely!

 

ETA: I tried this again alone, and still it dries down to cigar smoke - sweet and brown. I still love Sugar Skull though, I guess instead of letting it dry down, I'll just reapply!

Edited August 18, 2006 by nannan45

[dnipbhsw]

This is brown sugar + maple syrup. It's really sweet and warm and somehow smoky and brown. At first I wasn't sure about a scent that smelled like brown sugar (I am not into foody scents at all), but it smelled wonderful on my sister, and I think I'm beginning to understand why she likes to smell like dessert, lol.

[songtoisis]

Mmm!

 

Sugar Skull smells like warm carmelized sugar--both in the bottle and on my skin. On drydown, that warmth picks up a hint of spice, a subtle little kick like nutmeg or some other baking spice. My husband smells a woodsy note within the blend, but to me it is nothing but warm, toasty sugar. Delightful, delightful blend!

[cindyrella]

I really needed to review this one, because it has become a favourite although I really disliked this scent at first. Mind you, I've reviewed the '04 version, so this has aged quite some time.

 

At first, when I got this bottle, I really didn't like it. It smelled very heavy and syrupy. To me, it was like burned sugar, a bit bitter. The scent made me nauseus so I never used the bottle. I love sweet scents, but this was too much for me.

 

Then yesterday I decided to put on some Sugar Skull to celebrate the Halloweenies update. I was in a naughty mood and thought: hey, why not?

 

This scent really surprised me! It has aged to a very soft and sweet spicy sugar with almost vanilla sweetness. Very nice and lovely for fall. This will be a moved to the frequent use section the next season and I will purchase a new bottle this year for aging.

 

If you didn't like this scent in the first place, don't swap it right away and please try it again after you let it age.

 

It took me about two years, but I love it now!

[ouch!]

Sugar Skull

 

This smells exactly like brown sugar on the verge of being burned. Gloopy, sticky brown sugar that's stuck to your fingers. It's extremely powerful. I don't get any candied fruits whatsoever unfortunately, shame because that could have been interesting.

 

It's a lovely sweet smell but not something that I think should be worn as a fragrance, maybe in a burner at christmas or something.

 

Sweet Sweet Sweet

 

x x

Edited September 12, 2006 by ouch!

[steffanina]

Sugar Skull 2005-

 

In Bottle: Mmm, deliciously brown sugar-y.

 

Wet: Smells strongly of sweetness; very rich and yummy!

 

Dry: Oh, how wonderful--I've had this on for almost two hours and there's no mustiness to it at all. Not quite as bakery-rich as Sugar Cookie 2004 (which I adore); this will be great as a lighter scent.

 

Overall: I really like!

[Teggy]

Wow! Am I the first to report on Sugar Skull '06? Neato!

 

My first impression was "It's AzureGreen's Alter oil." O.o

 

This was not at all what I expected. I think I was expecting something more like a powdery sugar or the scent of the sugar coated muffin I'm having for breakfast right now. What I got was spicy maple syrup. I had this on my wrist with my three other Halloweenies yesterday and it reminded me of my cat in the morning.

 

Sugar Skull: *bat bat* Pay attention to me!

Teggy: Mrugh...

Sugar Skull: *bat bat* I'm here! Don't pay attention to those other perfumes. Look at me, Teggy! MEEEEEEEEE!!!!

 

Needless to say, this baby's got THROW! Phew! You really have to be in the mood to wear this scent, otherwise it'll annoy the heck out of you. I'm going to give it another shot next week when my body chemistry goes back to normal. I might have to dilute it to make it wearable on me. I love strong scents and all, but this one will give me a black eye.