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Mad Sweeney

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Barrel-aged whiskey and oak.


The smell of whiskey is so strong in the bottle, it makes me want to go to the nearest pub and slug back a few.

However, once on me, it quickly dies down and I get another woodsy smell. I couldn't pin it until I visited this forum and some people said it seemed like woodsmoke. I'm inclined to agree; it's like sitting in front of a fireplace. I'm getting a sort of sweetness from this too; oddly enough, I want to say it's like maple syrup! It may be the combination of whiskey and woodsmoke with my skin chemistry, but it's definitely akin to maple syrup. I wonder if anyone else is getting that.

Altogether, I really like it. It's a sweet, comfortable scent.

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In bottle: Whoa! It’s Drambuie in perfume form. Whiskey scent so strong, I choked on it, breathing it in. It also reminds me a little of bubble gum and nail polish. Wet: don’r wear this while driving. It is sweeter on the skin and the oak really comes out, but it retains a very sweet, boozy effect. Once it settles down, it is oddly, disturbingly sexy. It is a little like being molested by a drunken ent. In a good way. O.o Dry: Pretty much the same, less oak, more sweet, but the same glorious concept.

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Ok, it's official. I have strange skin chemistry.

 

Mad Sweeny is all whiskey in the imp - hubby claims it is too sweet but I say it reminds me of Macallens whiskey, that is aged on sherry casks. In any case, I am looking forward to smelling like I doused my hand in good smokey whiskey so I dab some on, and walk into the livingroom to let hubby sniff... he says, that's not whiskey. Sure it is, I say and raise my wrist to my nose. Too my suprise - no there is no whiskey here... there is burnt wood though. It smells like someone poured whiskey on a log and then set fire to it.

 

My conclusion, my skin eats the whiskey. At least I can wear it and drive without fearing for my drivers license if i get caught in a controll... It is a brilliantly constructed scent though, applause to Beth!

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Holy cow. WHISKEY!

 

Wet... dry... in the decant... on my wrist: to me it smells dead on like a finely aged whiskey. It almost has a bit of smoke to it which reminds me of scotch (which is a type of whiskey I suppose.) My boyfriend seems to think it smells a bit to osweet to be pure whiskey, but I didn't get that personally.

 

The verdict is that I like it, and I like the smell of whiskey, but I don't think I'd actually wear this... I might keep the decant around for when the mood strikes me to smell fine and barrel aged.

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I picked an imp of this one up from the CBLDF at Comic-Con. Yay!

 

In the bottle: WHOA. I can't put my face too close to it, because it burns my eyes.

 

On skin: Thankfully, the WHOA astringentness of it dies down as soon as it's dry. Unfortunately, so does all the whiskey. Fortunately, it turns all clovey and herbal. I've just realized what it smells like- it smells exactly like Djarum Black cigarettes.

 

I really like it, but it's not what I expected from the description. It is delicious, though.

 

ETA: The more I let it sit, the sweeter it gets. After the clove scent wears down, it starts to smell like some currently unidentified baked good. This is an awfully complex scent, but I think I'm totally in love.

Edited by prettybird

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I love this! In the bottle and on wet, it smells very strongly of whiskey, with maybe a tiny bit of the oak. Once it dries, however, it's this lovely combination of whiskey, oak and smoky spices. To quote my hubby, "Ooh, it smells like a fireplace" (in the best possible way). Love it.

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Yer a right bastard, Mad Sweeney. :D

 

Being a Sweeney that married into the Smith clan you were a favorite character in American Gods. And since I take my Irish heritage verrry seriously I love my whiskey like there's no tomorrow.

You, however!

 

In the bottle: Irish Whiskey :D

 

Wet on me: Bourbon Whiskey - nasty, icky bourbon at that. Mixed with clove. Maybe cardamom too. Where'd the Irish whiskey go? Traitor.

 

And you never, ever changed. Why, skin chemistry gods?!?!?! Whyyyyyyy!! :P

 

This one is another reason I would like to get a scent locket. Whatever it did on my skin it just wasn't pleasant though I'll keep trying it because the clean, pure malted barley smell I get out of the imp is so unbelievably perfect!

 

(From the book's point of view, it kind of makes sense that Mad Sweeney would have adapted to more of an American bourbon whiskey flavor than a pure Irish one just like Ibis and Jacquel adapted to the States from their Egyptian counterparts. But I just don't like bourbon.) Curses!

 

I know this sounds like potato/potatoe, but I've always had a weird smell and taste aversion to Bourbon when I can down the Irish Whiskey all night and be happy. Boy do I wish I'd gotten the results of 90% of the other reviews on this one!

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Whisky and oak. I enjoy this scent much more than I thought I would. My husband feels it's a little too 'Old Spice' for him. It's a little sweet, and I think that makes this blend so much more enjoyable.

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i would never have tried this scent if it hadn't been frimped to me, because i think whiskey (any type) is the nastiest smelling/tasting alcohol that exists. i would drink it only as a last resort, but never liked it and it often made me sick. the smell of it still nauseates me.

this though, is really unusual. in the imp it actually smells WORSE than whiskey to me- it's just straight up nail polish remover. YUCK. on my skin however it quickly turns into a much sweeter, spicier boozy smell- a hot toddy perhaps? it's not unpleasant at all.

soon after that i start getting the woodsmoke- very fragrant, just this side of incense, though it stays a little too smoky to purely so. someones burning some especially fragrant wood in that fireplace, or maybe they tossed a cone or two into the blaze, and there's still that spiced boozy scent in the background. the throw is fantastic on this.

even though this is unique and i like it, it's not a scent i would want to wear very often, if at all- though i think my husband might find it very intriguing. if it works on him he'll be getting a bottle, which i just might be tempted to test from every now and again to sample beth's unequaled olfactory skills

 

ETA: layering this with Egg Nog is OUT OF THIS WORLD yummy! i think i need to keep this imp.

Edited by butcherbaby

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in vial : a little strange

 

wet: whoa! bitter and peppery with a hint of something sweet.

 

dry: smells like something burning with a spicey sasoning. lingering in the background is still the hint of sweetness.

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This is the most expensive whiskey I have ever tasted encapsulated in a scent and combined with the smoothness of oak. The wood note really adds a fantastic dimension here. This is boozy awesomeness. I'm not getting an overly masculine vibe here. In fact, I kind of get a tawdry sex vibe. I LOVE this!!!

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when i first bought this bottle... uh, two years ago? i didn't look at the label, i just opened it up and took a big, deep sniff.

and it was awful! i may as well have huffed black pepper up my nose, it burned and smelled horrible and was just generally unpleasant. so i put it away for a couple of years. then blast it if i didn't do the exact same freaking thing again! but this time, i gave it a week and then remembered. and tried a few drops on my skin.

aaaaaha! that's the secret to getting the whiskey and oak!

still really, really, sinus-burningly, gag-reflex-inducingly strong. but at least now i can get the other notes... something almost like maple syrup, and something that is probably cinnamon-y or cassia-ish

after about half an hour, i get a sweet hazelnut or irish cream coffee scent for a few minutes... but then by the time an hour's gone by, i smell like cheap booze in a plastic cup. so, so not for me!

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I don't know what alcohol this is (I associate it with brandy myself), but this scent is oozing with it. There are other notes here as well though, something smoky and musky, it doesn't have a dirt note, but it has definitely been dirtied with something. It smells like a drunk, kicked out of the pub hours ago, passed out in the gutter. I love it.

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In the imp: Booze! So much! BOOZE BOOZE BOOZE. The booziest booze to ever booze. In case I wasn't clear enough, this is boozey.

 

On my skin: There is something golden about this scent. I smell like alcohol and forest and damn, it's a good combination. Normally, notes like this don't work on my skin, but this one has a dry-down that makes me think of an Irish pub. Smoky. Warm. And, you know. Booze.

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Ok , I must be the weird one. No one else seems to be catching what I'm catching from the imp (I ordered a set of Gaimans from the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund).

 

In the imp this is knock-you-over BOOOOZE...and er...bananas. Lots of bananas. Bananas? Really?

 

Despite the odd appearance of the yellow fruit I decide to actually try this on my skin. Thank goodness I didn't let the banana frighten me away! Instantly, and I mean within swift seconds, this blooms into the most glorious woodsmoke. And that's all I smell, this wonderful, smoky conflagration of gorgeousness for just a few minutes. After a while, this decides to tone down a bit and behave politely, and so is joined with the earlier boozy scent. For a few moments this smells like a rich, sweet smoking tobacco with a light, light, flavoring of banana that only shows up now and again.

 

Dry, the smokiness remains, and it's rich and textured and wonderful, this time without any of the bananas, though there's still a lingering sweetness. There's still a warm hint of strong liqueur in this, and it makes for a wonderful, warm, comforting scent.

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Great googly moogly!

 

Wet: Whiskey, whiskey, whiskey

 

Dry: I had a friend who rolled her own cigarettes and this smells exactly like how my fingers would smell after rolling one for her.

 

Not for me. Sad.

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Interestingly, I got a slight banana note from the bottle as well, which I was not expecting. However, when I put this on, it totally blossomed.

 

When I first put this on my skin, I got a deep boozy caramel note, rich and a little sweet. It was quite nice, but as it dried, I began to get the smoky oak note of the barrel along with the caramel booze note.

 

Which...in the end leads me to smelling like a sweet boozy bonfire.

 

Yesssss.

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Wet, this was all nail polish. Thankfully when dry it went to woody booze and sweet bonfire smoke. (I agree with the above poster lol)

Edited by AmandaKay

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in the imp: whiskey, whew its strong

 

on my skin wet: whiskey and bananas? not like a fresh banana but like artificially sweet banana flavor, there is also a smokiness to it

 

on my skin dry: very smokey, like the lingering smell on your clothes after a bonfire. i don't like that burnt wood smoke smell at all, it gives me a headache

 

overall i liked the whiskey but couldn't deal with the smokey bananas, not a fan of this one...

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This was the first bottle that I ever bought from BPAL, and it ends up smelling a bit like cloves on me at first, but mellows out to a warmer scent with a hint of booze. Twenty-five dollars well-spent.

 

EDIT: Wore it today for the first time in a while, and it's been aged now for about six months.

 

In the bottle and wet, it's a very strong, almost nose-curling scent; there's the rawness of the boozes here, like if you're stupid enough to sniff a bottle of whiskey, so be sure to put it on light, but not too light, otherwise you won't get enough of a scent.

 

On the drydown, it mellows out a lot to a more cinnamon/clovey smell on me, with just a touch of whiskey. And, oddly enough, a touch of vanilla?

Edited by Venneh

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This...could go bad. Whiskey and I had a bit of a falling out at my last birthday and now I find myself cringing at the sight and smell of the stuff

 

Imp: Banana?

 

Wet: So like whiskey that it's setting off my "DO NOT WANT" twitching

 

Drydown: I couldn't take it. It's so lifelike to whiskey (good whiskey, mind) that I had to scrub it off.

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In the imp bottle: It stings the nose like whiskey but it smells a little more floral, but the oak is really there. Wow! It clears the sinus! There's something more than whiskey and oak going on though, something that almost reminds me of bubblegum for just a split second. It's pure booze, oak, and a gorgeous sweetness that makes this an instant favorite.

 

On the skin: It smells like whiskey and reminds me of a cigar humidor with all its rich, complex, and sweet smells. I LOVE this one without a doubt or hesitation. The only sad part is that it doesn't last very long on my skin.

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