Red Velvet Tuxedo

[Silvertree]

A very special Yuletide sponsorship scent, dressed up for a scandalous night on the town:

red velvet fruitcake with buttercream and a splash of cologne.
 

[Little Bird]

Masculine gourmands always interest me, so this was my must-have from this year's Yules.  I slathered it on for the first time today without remembering the notes (other than the concept) and definitely got the fruitcake from it very clearly and distinctly.  It reminds me of the Barmbrack atmosphere spray from 2009, if that's even a useful comparison for anyone.  It's a sweet, slightly caramelized, bread-y scent studded with sticky cherries.  Very strong.  I don't get anything cocoa or red velvety, but the buttercream shows up all sugary sweet, especially in the drydown.  The cologne part underwhelms me, sort of an icy, powdery white musk scent to me, but that part is subtle and fades on me rather quickly.

Mostly this is a perfect, strong, cherry studded, fun fruitcake scent with a little extra powdered sugar and creaminess from the buttercream frosting.  I like it a lot.

[samanare]

This ended up being the sleeper hit of this year's yules for me. On me, it definitely ends up being more than the sum of its parts. I don't get the fruitcake, but I do get that distinct red velvet cake note. The red velvet is the strongest note and the most forward on me. The cologne rests under the red velvet, giving it a warm, almost boozy roundness to the cake, like it was baked it. The image that comes to mind is a red velvet cupcake spritzing itself with cologne. 

[myoubi]

I wish, I wish, I wish I got what Little Bird and samanare got. I may retest this in a few weeks just to be sure,  but sadly I think this one is not for me.

 

In the bottle: Cherry cough syrup

 

First moments on skin: Glace cherries. Strangely penetrating. And rum?

 

15 minutes in: Mostly glace cherries and some other dried fruit with just a bit of something cakey. Some note that has that alcohol/mint clearing-out-your-nostrils feeling.

 

1 hour in: yep, that's fruitcake all right. Very sugary, mostly dried fruit, less cake. With a lot of glace cherries and something very penetrating. Maybe that's the cologne.

 

No red velvet, no buttercream, not that much cake.

 

I really wanted to like this one. I love the name, I love the Lab's red velvet note, and I *love* the pitch for the organization this scent is sponsoring. However, this is a miss for me. 

[doomsday_disco]

I grabbed a bottle of this after reading Little Bird's review.

 

The first time I tested this, a day after it had arrived in the mail, it was mostly red velvet cake (with its chocolate and slight tang) with a hint of cherry, and then an even smaller hint of cologne that was detectable by the end of the day, but mostly, I got a honeyed scent after a day of wear? And I assumed that was the alcohol, but I wasn't sure what would come off like that except for perhaps mead, and I don't think anyone is making fruitcake with mead.  

 

I tried this again several days later. The realistic red velvet cake is still there, but there was A LOT more bright cherry after a few more days of settling. I don't think it's maraschino cherry, because even though it's bright, it's deeper and redder than that. There's still only a hint of cologne behind the much stronger cherry and what remains of the cake by the end of the day, but it's so light that it's hard to discern what it may be comprised of -- perhaps a little white musk or moss? Who knows! Seriously, don't let the cologne scare you away from this if you're a cake-lover. (You do have to like cherry, though.) On this test, I didn't not experience any honeyed aspect to the scent after it had been dry for several hours, so that just goes to show how much letting a scent settle can make a difference!

 

If you like cake and you like cherry, you should give this a whirl! I initially passed this up thinking I didn't want any cologne in my cake, and that I didn't want any fruitcake as far as cake is concerned, but I let myself be swayed, and I'm pleasantly surprised!

[Cali]

I'm getting cherry booze on first application - then it goes to something more... crumbly. It really goes to a more realistic cake like in A very pink surprise cake, though this time not a vanilla lemon- but straight-up red velvet sugary cake. The crumblyness then does fade a bit, and makes room for a slightly stronger buttercream and that boozy-cologne thing it's got going on.

[Pris]

I found this to be sweet and sophisticated, with a light cologne base. It reminded me of an aftershave that smells so tasty you have to hold yourself back from having a lick.
On my beau the buttercream frosting is much more forward.
 

[LavenderCoffee]

This is also a surprise hit for me. I don't usually want to smell outright like cake or food, and "cologne" as a note can be a fun roulette wheel, so I wasn't sure what to expect.

 

To lean on the theme, this wears less like an actual cake scent and more like someone in drag as cake. A playful wink at red velvet and cherry, with no small amount of swagger. You can definitely tell that the artist is portraying cake, but you can also tell that it isn't actually cake, and it's also more fun that way (at least for me). By the time a hint of buttercream appears in the drydown, it's making eye contact with you from the stage and asking "you wanna bite of this, sweetie?"

 

[Jenjin]

I've had this bottle for several months. It wasn't a hit when I first tried it, so i've let it age to see if the relationship changed. 
I can appreciate the fragrance story here. I'm getting lots of cologne, boozy butter-creamed topped fruit cake and even velvety red wine. Something here is very much like Halloween Las Vegas. That decadent, boozy party where someone spilled the cologne over booty and rolled around in the cake display. It also reminds me of a certain scent i've smelled at craft shows and antique malls as a kid, like fruity, autumn apple candles and potpourri. So unfortunately it doesn't drydown to a delightful cherry for me, but mostly turned red wine mixed with cheap cologne with a smear of cake on dresses. The honeymoon is over. It's interesting how each of us has a different scent memory for scent notes which influences reaction. Unfortunately, this one is not for me, but again the wild story it tells is fascinating for a time. 

Edited May 23, 2023 by Jenjin