Vice

[mspixieears]

Voluptuous and indulgent! A deep chocolate scent, with black cherry and orange blossom.

Gorgeous deep chocolate scent with cherry (specifically, black cherry though I can't admit to being able to fully identify that!) and oddly enough, orange blossom which is very easy to pick out. It sounds like a mismatched combination but it is anything but and this is actually a wonderful gourmand scent. Sadly, as it dries down it loses a lot of its gourmand appeal and strength – a great shame. I'd ideally love for this to have longer staying power.

[joiedecombat]

Vice goes on me smelling strongly of cherry, with maybe just a bit of a tang of orange blossom blended into it and the chocolate solely as a smoothing background note. Unfortunately, it's a sharp, artificial sort of cherry that doesn't really appeal to me. Eventually, it dries down into a more natural scent, blending with the chocolate for a creamy chocolate-cherry scent, but it takes too long to get there for me to want to keep putting it on. For a chocolate-and-fruit fragrance I find I prefer 13.

Edited March 25, 2007 by Joie de Combat

[DifferentDances]

...Man, I just keep not lucking out with my BPAL orders. Thank goodness for imp packs --at least I get to keep trying different things.

 

Anyhow, I was looking forward to Vice immensely. Chocolate and cherry? SO THERE.

 

In the bottle: Unfortunately...in the imp, Vice smells like a two-year old cherry Jolly Rancher that has been hiding behind the radiator for quite some time and is now a sticky, gooey mess, coupled with an old mashed cheap chocolate liquor.

 

But hey, most of BPAL smells funny to me in the bottle/imp, so I figured I might as well give it a go on my skin!

 

Wet: Poof! It disappears. Nothing. Not even the plasticky whiff of Jolly Ranchers.

 

Dry: Er, well, there's nowhere to 'dry down' from nothing, is there? Maybe in an hour or two it'll perk up? *presses nose to wrists desperately* I've never had a scent just completely vanish one me.

 

Aw, man....I was so excited for this one too.

[Sunshine the Werewolf]

In the Imp: Cherry. Very sweet and sticky.

Wet: Cherry!! How very strident!

Dry: Cherry Bakewells. Where is the chocolate? I wanted chocolate!! And why can I smell almonds?!

 

Sadly, the chocolate never appears. And tbh, the cherry only lasted about an hour. My first bpal mistep I think.

[oreibasia]

OMG Chocolate-covered cherries! After applying, the chocolate stays, but the cherry disappears. Add in a powdery scent. (They all seem to go powdery on me.) The cherry came back after a few minutes.

[ladybird]

Oh, yum

 

The cherry is barely noticeable, just a little hint of added sweetness and complexity. Mostly, it smells like those chocolate oranges - the dark chocolate kind. This is the kind of chocolate scent that I had been hoping Gluttony would be.

 

I'm so happy I found Vice! I'm going to hoard this one!

[bookofblues]

This is an incredibly sweet scent on me. It's predominantly sweet cherry, like a cherry cordial with more of a milk chocolate than dark chocolate undertone. I was hoping for dark chocolate with a hint of cherry and orange blossom, but this is more the opposite on me. I do get a little more orange blossom on drydown, but the chocolate remains sweet, almost like a cocoa butter note.

I'll find my deep, dark perfect chocolate scent yet.

[LadyCrow]

I'm not at any strange point in my cycle, so I can only report myself as the owner of one of the most bizarre skin chemistries in the history of BPAL fandom, I guess. What I get from Vice is apparently a combination of the cherry and orange notes to produce grape lollipop. It goes on grape lollipop and resolutely stays grape lollipop throughout the lifetime of the scent, with only the very tiniest hint of chocolate in the background if I sniff very closely. It's like the more staid cousin of Jailbait, on me, and I feel fairly certain Vice isn't meant to be staid!

[CrazyPretzel]

In the imp this was a delicious and realistic chocolate-cherry scent, but on me it fades in about 5 minutes.

[windzswept]

In the Bottle: Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate. I had greater hopes for this with the orange and cherry tempering it, but I can't smell them.

 

On my Wrist: Chocolate comes first and strongly. I can just smell a bit of orange, but not a lot, the chocolate was just far too strong.

 

Later: Still Chocolate, and it's still stronger, even the orange has given up the ghost and given up.

 

Overall: I don't like smelling of chocolate thank you very much. I had hopes for this of cherries and orange but they just gave up and paled into insignificance.

Edited June 27, 2007 by Windz

[modernsaints]

Whaaaat.

 

This starts on my skin as... dry, old peanuts? WHAT? I don't even know. It dries down into a candy-sweet orange blossom, with a hint of sugary cherry. Honestly, though, the initial scent is so incredibly off-putting, and the drydown is so mediocre... I JUST WANTED SOME CHOCOLATE, IS THAT SO MUCH TO ASK.

[tanyak]

To be fair...I apparently have really strange skin chemistry.

 

This should have been another winner for me, as I am a chocoholic.

 

But, I get the distinct scent of Coppertone. Yep, told you my skin is weird!

 

At first I thought it was in my head...but when hubby came home he said, "Why do you smell like sun tan lotion?"

 

So, I washed it off. On a happy note, O smells like chocolate on me! Go figure.

[faded_stranger]

For a moment, when I first apply this scent, it is thoroughly unpleasant. Then, within seconds, that dissipates to a heavy, liquid chocolate. Seconds later, that's gone too, and I get unsweetened cocoa powder. Slowly, the cherry warms in to give it a sweet, very dessert background. Hours later, this has morphed into a citrus-floral, but one still dusted with cocoa powder. Overall, one that I definitely enjoyed wearing, and I look forward to using up the imp.

[stasha]

In the imp: Yikes! I smell no chocolate, cherry, or orange. I don't know what exactly I'm smelling but it's very acrid and just plain weird. Oh well I'm always willing to give BPAL a skin test no matter who it smells like in the bottle.

 

Wet: What issss that? Some of the orange is starting to come through but there is still something weird that I can't put my finger on.

 

Dry: Yep. Still the unknown weird chemical-y scent. This seems to vary A LOT between bodies, more so than most. Unfortunately it hit my nose and body and headed for the hills.

[Jilara]

I've had variable luck with chocolate, which seems to die a lot when it hits my skin.

But this one is just gorgeous, and will probably be a bottle sometime soon!

 

Wet: chocolate brownies, with extra chocolate chips melted in

Dry: chocolate cake...I'm thinking more Devil's Food than just regular chocolate. There is distinctly something cakey, with just a hinting of almond extract. I don't get cherry at all, unless it has morphed to almond, which is possible. A hinting of orange flower water. I'd eat this one as dessert, in an instant.

 

Lasting power...meh. Maximum of two hours. (However, my standard "glue this scent in place with a top layer of Candy Butcher" seems to help it last longer, as it did with Boomslang.) But that's my skin, wanting to gobble up all that yummie chocolate...no self-control!

[mellie]

Bottle: Almost overwhelmingly chocolate, but with a tinge of cherry. It smells like one of those big chocolate covered cherries that you just haven't bit into yet.

 

Application: The cherry now comes out more than the chocolate, which has mellowed significantly, but is still there. I don't smell any of the orange blossom yet, though.

 

Dry: After just a few minutes, the orange blossom comes out and blends with the cherry. The chocolate is now a complimentary note instead of a main note. It smells really nice. None of the three notes overpower each other, and it hasn't turned sour.

 

I smell yummy. I don't like eating chocolate that much, but this makes me want some. It's a nice scent.

[sithwitch13]

Vice was the first imp I ever swapped away. It went on smelling strongly like chocolate oranges. As it dried, it got this dusty, overpoweringly orange smell--my husband described it as "an empty orange Tic Tac container." I couldn't stand it and swapped it away to someone for whom it hopefully worked out better.

[underline2]

In the Imp:

Unsweetened cocoa powder and some light floral. Reminiscent of chocolate oranges - not the taste/smell, but the amalgam of flavors.

 

Wet:

Pure flowers, but nice ones. It's strange, but the florals and cocoa scents seem to be going in different directions! One one side of my wrist I can smell the cherry blossom, on the other the cocoa powder.

 

Drydown:

The chocolate comes out more. But it's not as pleasant as it was in the beginning. The chocolate isn't exactly chocolatey and more just a slightly bitter, WARM scent.

 

Dry:

Whatever note it is, it reminds me of toilet cleaner. Which really makes me sad. Oh well. Off to the swaps.

[ceiswyn]

In the imp: I can smell dark chocolate (cocoa?) and cherry, but it's not overpowering. I think there may be some kind of flower behind it, lightening it, but I can't even begin to make it out.

 

On the wrist: Mmm. It's the same kind of chocolate as in Velvet: dark and unsweet. There's a hint of cherry, but the orange blossom has definitely gained in strength and is preventing the scent from becoming too cherry-edible. It's really starting to sweeten, though.

 

One hour later: Pure black cherry, with a hint of talc around the edges. Later, as the cherry fades a little, the chocolate comes through again, but by then it's all that little bit too sweet, like Roses chocolates.

[YoakeNoKami]

Imp: Chocolate and a general fruity smell.

 

On/wet: Ooh, purely chocolate and cherries... chocolate covered cherries... cherry-topped chocolate cake. It's devine.

 

Drydown: Gone, totally gone. My skin ate this up within 15 minutes. I think it could be due to the cherries, or the fact that the chocolate in this is more sweet than dry, unlike Bliss. It could do well, though, over a stronger cherry note, or a fuller chocolate note. I did try it out over a bit of Bliss as well, and that gave it a teensy bit more staying power...

 

Not in for a bottle, unless I suddenly start amping cherry notes, but my imp has my love.

[phantasmmysteria]

I think this is the last of the GC cocoa blends I had left to try, and so far it's the best on my skin!

 

In the imp, the cocoa note is plain. It's the dry scent of unsweetened cocoa, and it overwhelms everything else. Once it hits my skin, the cherry comes to the forefront -- cherry notes have the tendencies to turn slightly plasticky on my skin of a moment, but the fruit and orange blossom here quickly sweeten this blend up just a touch and round out the chocolate.

 

Despite the fruit and cocoa, this is only a slightly foody scent (along the same lines that Antique Lace might be considered gourmand). It is a highly wearable, if light, scent. It does fade very quickly, but I love huffing my wrists to catch the smell!

 

Four imps out of five.

[hipslike___cinderella]

I'm really pleased to have gotten Vice as a frimp, because I would've otherwise never tried it. In fact, I thought it was off-putting in the bottle (foodie-phobic, here) but I pulled through.

 

I quite like Vice. It's not really the chocolate note (a very medium-bodied, not dark, not lite cocoa), and not the cherry either (which on me is not so strong; I don't call this "chocolate-covered cherries" on my skin). It's the orange blossom. I'm right in the middle of an orange blossom obsession right now. I don't know why, but it's like that specific note is interconnected to my sex drive; weird, and tmi, I know, but that's the only way I can explain it. It's drop-dead sexy, plus, my skin soars with it whenever it's in a blend. The combination of cocoa and orange blossom is just tantalizing. I loved how it wafted around me about 15 minutes into it, but later on it morphed into a strange cocoa note- something powdery and also reminded me of a tinge of BPAL's milk note (don't like, thanks). Vice doesn't last too terribly long, and it's still not really my thing; more like a scrumptious novelty. I'll use it for those sinful chocolate urges. Thanks labbies!

[ravenfeathers]

in the bottle holy chocolate! with a tinge of the cherry to balance the thick, gooey cocoa.

wet on skin the chocolate backs off a little, the cherry amps up, and this turns into a lovely cherry cordial.

dry on skin bleh, orange blossom, why do you hate me? the throw is all still chocolate cherry cordial and the yucky plastic of the orange blossom is subdued. i think i could wear this despite the evil orange blossom, which seems to want to behave in the company of the other two.

 

perhaps a bit too sugary, candy sweet for wearing often. i think there are other candy-ish blends i like better than vice.

[aleciarivas]

Definitely indulgent!! I can't decide if it smells more like chocolate-black berry or chocolate-orange blossom. Very light scent. But either way, I like it!!! Nowhere near the strength of Gluttony, and smoother than Bliss. But I will definitely have to slather this one on!!!!

[tasty]

Don't you love it when a frimp from the lab works so perfectly with your skin chemistry? Especially when it's one that you probably never would have sought out on your own?

 

That would be Vice.

 

I love chocolate scents but I feel like I have more than enough of them so I've stopped buying them all together. Vice is so different from Velvet or any of the 13s of Candy Butcher. I would agree with the person who said that this is a medium-bodied chocolate. It's not the gooey-fudgey scent from Lump of Coal and it's not the white chocolate from one of the 13s. It falls somewhere in the middle.

 

Initially it smells like the chocolate covered cherries with the liquid center that you can buy around the holidays. These are my guilty pleasure and I always buy a box around Christmas.

 

As time goes on, the orange peeks its head out, adding a bit more fruity smell to the scent.

 

This is so pretty. Thanks to the lab for giving me something to try that I might not ever tried otherwise!