Serving Fish

[hammy]

You'd be hard pressed to get fishier than this: gilded sweet pea, pink musk, and vanilla sugar.

In the bottle - Muskier than I was expecting. Had to double check to be sure it was the correct bottle.

Wet - The musky edge gave way to the sweet pea almost instantaneously, and I'm definitely getting more floral now. I hope the vanilla sugar comes out to play soon, because at the moment the blend is teetering on the edge of cloying. (Disclaimer: I have a rough time with a lot of floral scents, so keep that in mind.) If any of you are/were fans of Bath & Body Works' sweet pea products, this one is all you.

Drydown - Sweet peasplosion! Apparently my skin chemistry thinks this is a single note, because there's nothing else on the horizon. The sillage on this baby is incredible for maybe the first half hour. It's like Aeval on steroids, and then all of a sudden -- bam! It has quieted down and leveled itself out ... and it's kinda freakin' gorgeous. With my eyes closed, I could probably convince myself that I'm standing in the middle of a butterfly garden on a sunny spring day.

Verdict - Unfortunately, I think this is one of those scents I wouldn't wear often. It's super evocative, but I think I'll pass my bottle on to someone who will love it properly.

[tarotgirl99]

I love love love this. Mouse's Long Sad Tale revisited is the best way I can describe it. No amber to ground it, though; it's just a sweet, beautiful, ultra-feminine and somewhat traditional scent. You can wear this one anywhere, especially if you are playing the role of sweetheart with a secret smile.

Average sillage, but not much throw. I end up sniffing my wrist on a regular basis. It makes me feel like a young girl again.

[VioletChaos]

In The Bottle: All sweet pea, all the time. It's very "perfume-y" in that way.

 

Wet On Skin: The vanilla sugar i starting to make its presence known now, though at this point, it's still reading mostly as a very feminine traditional perfume.

 

Dry Down: *There's* the pink musk. It gives this scent a bit of depth so that everything else isn't just a reading of tinkling high top notes.

 

In All: Medium throw, super, duper, über girlie, indeed, you don't get fishier than this. If you're a fan of ultra-femme perfumes, then this is one you'll fall in love with.

[aiobhan]

This scent is BEAUTIFUL. Sweet, gentle, soft, and just a tiny bit floral - but a pink, sugary floral. I hate floral scents and I love love love this!

Edited May 21, 2016 by Aiobhan

[Dark Alice]

This started out as a lovely, gentle sweet floral. This is what I wanted Mouse's Sad Long tale to smell like. Then poof! The vanilla sugar is gone and replaced by sweet pea. Like a flat sweet pea soda without the carbonation. The sweet pea stole the sparkle in this. Sadly this goes off to sale.

[Dracosilverwolf]

In the bottle: Definitely sweet pea but soft and gently floral with a sugar sweet tasty edge. The musk is there after a couple of sniffs, but it takes a bit to find it for me.

 

Wet: The sweet pea is definitely much stronger. I lose all of the gentleness immediately and it's just all sweet pea.

 

Dry: Super SWEET PEA is the only way I can describe it, though the musk definitely comes through a lot more dry; it makes the scent less light and sugary for me.

 

After a couple of hours I actually had to take it off; my skin amped it way too much and ended up giving me a headache from how strong it was, even though I only did a tiny tab on both wrists. I'll give it one more chance before giving up on it though.

[zankoku_zen]

Sweet pea, musk, and vanilla sugar. This is a very sweet, sweet pea blend. Low throw and wearlength. It sort of reminds me to Victoria's Secret scent, but I can't quite pinpoint which one.

[Lady_Fire]

The musk is dominant on me. It's a heavenly, musk, gently sweetened by the sweet pea. The vanilla is non-existent. I'm getting decent throw, as I only put a drop in the crook of my elbow a few hours ago and I keep getting whiffs. I imagine if I applied like normal I would get good throw. This is a really beautiful scent.

[puck_nc]

Origin: Lucky to get a bottle from the 2nd round at Etsy

 

Initial Thoughts: Sweet pea and vanilla sugar are total wins for me. I don't think I've ever tried a BPAL with pink musk, but hopefully it'll be light enough not to amp a lot.

 

In the Bottle: Musk seems to be the dominant note in the bottle. It's sweet and light and pretty musk, but I get musk first and sweet pea second. A very girly perfume.

 

Wet: Sugary sweet pea. Very pink and feminine.

 

Drydown: The musk steps up, but isn't screaming MUSK!!!!!, so that's good. Still floral, still sweet, still light and lovely.

 

Verdict: I am very glad I was able to land a bottle!

[Antoinette]

Was lucky to grab a bottle of this off of etsy.

 

In the bottle: Pink musk and sweet pea

 

Wet: Sugary sweet pea is the dominant note, the musk is light and fuzzy but in the background. This scent is very PINK!

 

Drydown: Sugared sweet pea, very sweet and light (but great throw and lasting power!) and girly and pink. The pink musk doesn't amp on me (which is nice) and adds a soft vibe to the scent.

 

I absolutely love this blend. It's the epitome of sweet girly pink sugary prettiness. I wouldn't hesitate to grab additional bottles, were I ever able to!

Edited July 7, 2016 by Antoinette

[milo]

This is like a 'fresh' pink blend. Feminine, with a bit of pinkish musk and sweet pea (which kind of smells like a fresh, outdoorsy floral), and vanilla. This is very nice, but not sure it's 'me'. It smells quite young to me, and reminds me of a very popular mainstream perfume out there that my daughter loves. Not sure I'll pass it on to her though, I'll give it a bit of time, and see if it grows on me. It does not remind me of A Mouse's Long and Sad Tale, though, that one I love, it's more creamy and vanilla heavy.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Mmm, sugary vanilla musk. Not getting much of the floral, but I'm ok with that, because this is way muskier and thus even better than I expected. I actually didn't think I would like it. But I am loving that pink musk note! It's sweet without being too sweet on me, and the musk really keeps it from being gourmand at all.

 

 

Dry: I really really like this. Pink musk is similar to white musk on me, as it turns out, which I like. But this is combined with a vanilla sugar note that doesn't go burnt plastic on me, which is fantastic, and the result is something I am really loving. It's nowhere near as floral as I thought it would be, it just has the slightest edge of sweet pea on me. Lovely! So happy I scored this on Etsy.

[Little Bird]

Serving Fish is so pretty. It reminds me of Bath & Body Works and shampoo, but in a really good way (wearable and smooth rather than giving me a headache like actual Bath & Body Works).

The sweet pea is clean, floral, tart, and sweetly pink smelling, made sweeter and muskier with the pink musk and vanilla sugar.

I kept thinking that this smelled like Bath & Body Works and celebrity fragrances, but without the cheap, sharp white musk and headache inducing ingredients that those tend to have. It's like that generic, sugary, vanilla-fruity-floral that all of the B&BW and celebrity fragrances have, but with more sparkle, more smoothness, and made wearable. The drydown reminded me a lot of Juicy Couture's Hollywood Royal, which is a guilty pleasure scent that I actually enjoy.

 

Clean, but sweet, vanilla musky, and very girly and playful. I'm glad that I got a bottle of this from ebay.

[celestia]

♔ Serving Fish

 

In the Bottle: Light, gentle, and pretty pink musk

 

Wet: These notes identified with me and my wardrobe so very much, that I knew I had to seek it out, even though the theme inspiring the blend isn’t me at all. A lot lighter and less ‘dazzling’ and ‘rich’ than I expected (from the theme). I smell mostly gentle, light pink musk, a spritzy kind of creamy sugar, and a very soft, but definite sweet pea, similar to the Sweet Pea SN. It’s floral listed and for a three-note scent, it is indeed, very soft. I don’t really get the ‘gilded’ component. In fact, it is quite an understated feminine pink scent that lends itself to smelling more youthful than expensive… though it does smell refined and perhaps the upper-cut of social class.

 

Drydown: Ah, there is a bit of a gold note, it’s an amber – but a very faint trace of amber that reminds me of the amber in Amaterasu v3.. of course, I amp amber a great deal, so even the tiniest drop is something my chemistry will pick up. The pink musk continues to dominate, which isn’t so bad because even then, it’s still has restraint. The sweetness from the vanilla sugar is quite clean smelling- it’s not heavily sugary, and there’s not a lot of depth… but combined with faint florals, and really faint trace of sunlight-like amber, it all elevates this to a level that smells expensively youthful- sunlight catching on glittery delicate gold chain clasping a solitaire diamond. summery light chiffon hime-gyaru dress, and pale creamy skin. Mouse’s Long and Sad Tale smells nothing like Serving Fish to me. It is a lot heavier with vanilla and amber, and the ‘pink’ smells more pigmented and bronzed. I much prefer this.

 

TL;DR: Understated, clean, sweet pink musk. Creamy faint, sunlight-caught amber, and soft, delicate sweet pea floral.

Edited May 18, 2017 by celestia

[doomsday_disco]

How did I not review this?

 

In the bottle: The pink musk note is the most prominent. I do get the sweet pea as well, but it isn't as strong as the musk. After a year of aging, I can smell more of the vanilla sugar than when the scent was fresh.

 

Wet: Wow. This has aged magnificently. The musk note reigns, but I'm getting A LOT more vanilla sugar than I did when this was fresh. It smells very pink. The vanilla sugar reminds me of a cupcake adorned with vanilla sugar crystals.

 

Dry: Musky, vanilla-sugary, sweet pea amazingness! The sweet pea note is stronger in this phase, but I'm still getting more of the musk and vanilla sugar. This still holds true several hours later.

 

Verdict: As a huge fan of sugary florals, I knew I would love this one! I am so glad to have two bottles.

[donkehpoo]

Wet: Pink musk. It's almost like a candied musk, it's very sweet(thanks to the vanilla sugar).

 

Dry: Pink, candied musk, and sweet pea. It's like Mouse's Long and Sad Tale's super girly cousin... who also eats a lot of sugar. Very happy I was able to snag this one!