Sugar Skull

[ravenscanary]

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

Version: Sugar Skull 05

Source: Nearly full decant of unknown provenance, received as a freebie on a purchase

In the decant: Caramelized, burnt brown sugar

Wet: Caramelized, burnt brown sugar...and cinnamon

Dry: This takes on an incense-like vibe to my nose underneath the cinnamon-sugar. I don't get much fruit, maybe a hint of something like cherry, but very much in the background.

I don't normally dig sweet scents, but this is interesting. However, I don't think this would see much wear from me. I like to eat caramelized sugar, not wear it.

[Sinmara]

Blimey, this is one of the most long-lasting and powerful scents I've ever worn - it's lasting forever! So glad I have a bottle of it

 

It's all burnt sugar and sweetness on me.

[MaritzaCardona]

I had such high hopes for this one. I was sure it the scent was meant for me. When I first opened the imp I smelled candied fruit, yummy! Sadly, when I tested it, it turned into molasses. just smokey molasses. Darn it!

[Geminirubyshoes]

My decant of this is warm, toasty brown sugar. There seems go be a slight spice a couple minutes in after application but other than that it just stays with the brown sugar. This is the first year I've gotten Sugar Skull and I'm happy for that. This will be a great bedtime scent!

[LRogera]

Brown sugar. Yep. I really don't smell any fruit, it's pretty much just brown sugar. It's a nice scent but I don't see myself reaching for this very often, if at all.

 

Actually, after wearing it for almost twelve hours it is still as strong as when I first applied and now I do smell a fruitiness behind the brown sugar. Maybe blackberry? I'm not sure but it is much prettier then the straight up brown sugar. However it took twelve hours to get this way so I'm still thinking this is probably a swap.

[alizarin]

2010 version.

 

I only recently discovered that sugar notes smell divine on me, so this is my first Sugar Skull.

 

Not an exception, this is divine. Very sweet at first but mellows quickly on me into a warm toasty sugar with a rich fruity undertone. It's a dark fruit, not sure what but it seems dark & juicy rather than bright.

 

Love this. Kicking myself for avoiding sugars for so long.

[DraloreShimare]

In the vial - A blast of sharp sugar and fruit.

On the skin - The sharp sugar mellows a bit, allowing the fruit to come forward.

Dry - Light fruit and sugar.

 

I have a terrible time with sugars, but this has just enough fruit in it to make me consider an actual decant now that I've been able to test it. Hm.

[Iceblink]

I've got Sugar Skulls 2005-2008 and have always found them all fairly similar. 2010 is as well except that it's...*lighter*. SS has always been a very strong fragrance on me with crazy throw and 2010 is airier and less in-your-face. This could be a good thing since I'm sometimes hesitant to wear SS for fear of sugaring up a whole room! I'll give this another whirl in a few days and see how long it lasts.

[Antoinette]

Whoa! Potent.

 

This is super strong and boozey to me. I can definitely smell the candied fruits but the overriding note is the super strong brown sugar smell. It's pretty but way too strong for my taste....like, whoa!, strong.

[angelicruin]

2010 Version:

 

Straight up, cavity-inducing sugar candies on me. I love the 2008 version and the 2010 version does not disappoint either.

[TriGirlJ]

In the bottle: sugar sugar sugar!

 

Wet: I get lots of sugar and not a lot else. It's very sweet, but not in a bad way

 

Dry: Dry it smells more like brown sugar or caramel to me.

 

It's quite lovely and I really enjoy it. The sugar scents do very well on my skin. Looking forward to layering it with Ghoulish.

[Incendiare]

2010 version:

 

In the bottle, I smell fruity cough syrup. Was not expecting that! Freshly applied to the skin, the medicinal note slightly fades and the fruit comes out more. As Sugar Skull dries, the sweetness protrudes, morphing into a white sugar, but eventually on the final dry-down, I get brown sugar. The staying power is amazing! This one is definitely a keeper. You just need to be patient with the dry-down.

[milo]

I really didnt like the previous incantation of Sugar Skull. I remember it being more fruity with brown sugar. This still is caramelized brown sugar, but no fruits that I can detect. I really dont like caramel to wear (eating is another story!), but I find this better than Sugar Skull 08, I believe it was.

[ami226]

2010

 

Hello, sweetness! Smells like strawberry sugar to me with a hint of some sort of creaminess. I would seriously love to be eating something that smelled like this right about now!!

 

This blend seems to fade pretty quickly on me. Ah, well. Not for me.

[Gold Dust Kitten]

Sugar Skull 2005

 

Caramelized sugar with unrecognizable general fruitiness--cotton candy? It somewhat reminds me of Loli.Goth, but not as bright.

 

I like sweet scents like this. I may hunt down a bottle in the near future.

I'm reviewing the 2010 version now.

 

This bottle is less floral than 2005. I didn't notice the floral until I smelled them side-by-side. 2010 is also a little more spicy. Both versions are delicious on me, and they last forever.

[Edeniade]

I've never tried any sugary scents before, so I went for a half imp of this out of pure curiosity. I dabbed a bit on my wrist and WOAH that sugar is strong!! It's too strong for me, just a whiff makes me feel sick to my stomach. This one officially goes in the bin, I can't handle it. Making a mental note to be wary of sugars in the future...

[Teaotter]

This is the 2005 version, which I received due to my wonderful Switch Witch. (Thank you!!!)

 

In the imp: Light brown sugar and faint spices.

Wet: A light floral over the sugar sweetness.

 

Dry: There is a hint of vanilla sugar, along with light brown sugar -- I am definitely not getting the dark brown sugar or molasses of some blends. The florals are light enough that I utterly adore them, and there is definitely a fruitiness and spiciness underneath, but the notes blend too well for me to pick them out.

 

I LOVE this scent! LOVE!

[pandorasmuse]

This is the 2010 version.

 

Clear oil.

 

In the decant: Smells like rock candy. I don’t really smell any fruits, just sugars for the time being.

 

Wet: Super-sweet! And a touch of booziness, for some reason.

 

Drydown: Just a touch of fruit at the end. Mostly sugar, but it has softened somewhat.

 

Later: After wearing for a whole day, I can definitively say that this is a great scent—and it LASTS! Bottle, please!

[thekittenkat]

In the bottle: Sugar and some light fruits.

 

Wet: Really sugary now. The candy syrup over the fruits (and I can't tell which ones, but just a nice combination) is coming forward.

 

The dry-down: This rather stays the same throughout. I love it, as I love sugary and fruity scents. But if your little girl is begging sweetly for some of your BPAL, this might be a good choice to enable her with.

[calivianya]

Version: 2007.

 

In the bottle I smell sugary BOOZE like whoa. If I didn't have a bottle, I'd be scratching my head and wondering if this was mislabeled. Wet on my skin, it keeps the strong booze impression, but the sugars and a slight hint of sweet red fruit appear. Once dry, it looses whatever was giving me the impression of booze and is mostly sugars with a hint of sweet fruits underneath. And it lasts, and lasts, and lasts. I'm really glad I bought a bottle off a forumite unsniffed; this really is beautiful and long lasting. It's a winner.

[Ishtar]

Sugar Skull 2004

 

I never reviewed Sugar Skull back when I got a fresh decant of it, because I didn't really know what to make of it. The intense sweetness was a little off-putting, and while the scent underneath felt promising, it was pretty one-dimensional.

 

So I kind of forgot about it. For six long years.

 

I tried it again the other day, in a fit of "everything that hasn't been worn in while must go!", and I was amazed at how much it had changed.

 

It's a completely different scent now, almost unrecognizable. And that's not because it's gone bad! Quite the opposite: now that the overwhelming sugar note has calmed down, Sugar Skull has finally come into its own as a sweet yet delicate scent.

 

It's much more layered and complex than it used to be, with a positively divine floral note emerging from the sweetness upon drydown.

 

It's so lovely that I am almost tempted to hunt down some more of the early vintages.

[lejlkwiet]

(2010 version)

 

In the bottle - sweet, so very sweet, all sugar.

 

Wet - Even stronger sugar, with perhaps the slightest hint of candied fruits in the background to give the delicious sugary sweetness a twist.

 

Dry - Doesn't morph at all, still wonderful sugar with an amazing throw, and it lasted for ages. Love love love this scent, I'm glad I've got a good amount of it because I'm sure I'll be using it often! I'm also curious to see how this one will age.

Edited April 5, 2011 by lejlkwiet

[LittleMissAspie]

2008 version.

 

Smells like someone poured some sugar into a saucepan and left it on high heat to burn. Very harsh and sickly. It was like it in 2008 and is still like it in 2011. Sorry BPAL.

 

0/5.

[brilliantcat]

2008 vintage

 

In the bottle: A sugary-sweet vanilla headrush.

 

Immediately after application: Definitely vanilla and sugar. I don't make out any specific fruit notes but it has a hint of that... feeling. I love it so far.

 

Warming up: Spun-sugar madness! It's tooth-achingly sweet and I can feel myself slipping into a diabetic coma just from sniffing it, and I'm loving every moment.

 

There's a hint of something else, spice or fruit or both, that cuts the sugar so it's not COMPLETELY nauseating but there is no way to describe it but pure sweetness.

 

Fading: Less of the supersweet, it's morphing into a burnt-sugar reminiscent of the crust on creme brulee. Om nom nom...

 

Faded: Medium fade with that awesome creme brulee scent.

 

Overall: I LOVED it. Supersweet with a hint of spices and fruit and lovely burnt-sugar drydown. I could see this being too much for many people and even myself in some situations or moods. But I just adored the living heck out of it today, from wet to drydown. The morph was amazing. My husband reported it as his favorite so far.

[_shell_bells]

I received a decant of this as a frimp from a wonderful person. There was just enough to test. I'm not sure which year this one is though...

 

Wet: This is strong and dark. Not at all what I was expecting. It smells like burned sugar and maybe incense.

 

Dry: It's not quite as strong but still mostly burnt sugar. Hmm, maybe burned brown sugar. There is some kind of spice or incense in there too.

 

I was expecting something light and sweet. It's definitely sweet but darkly so. More a nighttime scent that daytime. And more fall and winter than summer or spring. I really like the incense or whatever it is. It balances out the burned sugar smell nicely. I probably won't go out of my way to find a bottle but if it's up for a swap or a reasonably priced bottle comes along I'd go for it.

 

The more I smell it the more I think I shouldn't say "burned" I should say toasted. Yes, I'm going with toasted sugar. Like the crust on top of a delicious creme brulee.

 

Ok, I'm going with Toasted Sugar with a splash of Incense. Final answer.