Mouse Circus

[GypsyRoseRed]

A toodle oodle of pink cotton candy noses, vanilla spun sugar fur, scattered kernels of popcorn, and a touch of polished golden wood.

Mouse Circus is all pale vanilla and clouds of spun sugar. It's beautiful, but very much not my type of scent, and about an hour in, my dry skin had drank up all of the oil so there was nothing left to smell. Cotton candy lovers should pounce on it, though.

[Mellifluous]

I noticed this had a disappearing act on both GRR and Puddin, but this thing laaasts on me. It is very vanilla cotton candy ish, without much else. Maybe there is a slight popcorn note when first applied, but couldnt be more than a drop. I also do not get any woods at all. This is definitely not my kind of scent either, a bit too cotton candy heavy for me. But if you wished Midway was a bit more in your face, and a stronger cotton candy/vanilla scent, than this would probably be right up your alley! Label art is cute, too!

[Dark Alice]

Wet: This is ultra sweet. Vanilla with some kind of cotton candy note in here. There is also something salty and a little nutty in this on my skin.

 

Dry: Too damn sweet. It's like airy cotton candy, vanilla, and some sweet nutty sticky concoction. I hate sweet scents. I was swept away by the idea of vanilla with a little cotton candy (which I love the smell of) But sadly this is a fail on me and must find a new home.

[absinthetics]

A lovely vanilla cotton-candy but... I get this weird watermolony-ness that comes and goes on dry down. I can't explain it but it's there.

 

Will update this review after a little wear time.

[zankoku_zen]

This is a bit of a morpher on me. On wet, this smells like watermelon sugar. It dries to a vanilla cotton candy blend. It's light, airy and sugary. There's a slight woody/musky base that grounds the blend and prevents it from going ALL SUGAR, ALL THE TIME.

 

I totally understand why people are nuts about this one. Too candylike for me, but its still appealing.

 

ETA: So I tried it again. And on wet this time, it was watermelon sugar + buttery toffee popcorn. And then it dried down to a vanilla wood musk base. So it took it like an hour to reach perfection, but you know what, I'll take it.

 

ETA2: Okay, so a few days later and I'm having pink sugary vanilla induced cravings. I need more Mouse Circus. Like serious need. I feel like I should be writing a BPAL version of "Under the Bridge", about that interminable wait as you wait for the guy (in my case, decanter) to show up with your goods (ordered a partial, along with other SN goodness). Do I need more than a partial? It's not like I have a habit. It's not like I don't have other BPAL. It's not like my life is going to suddenly collapse for lack of Mouse Circus in my life.

 

...

 

It isn't, right?

 

ETA3: I got a partial bottle, and this one smells more like popcorn/woods than the vanilla wood musk base.... which just leads me to believe I need a FULL bottle as I'm only experiencing PART of the beautiful.

Edited September 25, 2012 by zankoku_zen

[violetblue]

I too, am getting the watermelon scent on application/dry down. It reminds me a lot of Midway, and I am hoping the throw is longer than Midway's was but this seems like it may need to be slathered as my skin seemed to eat up the bit I used to test. I swear I am getting coconut too but not popcorn (unless it's of the kettle variety)... I really like this and plan to get a bottle once it's for sale. If you like sweets, this is for you!! Not your average generic cotton candy scent, that's for sure! I love it.

 

 

THANK YOU GypsyRoseRed for sending me some to test!!

 

I got a bottle and have another on the way - this oil makes me happy.

Edited August 24, 2012 by violetblue

[sunshinedaisybliss]

Hmm.. yeah, this is definitely very much like Midway - but I always thought Midway was like a soft bunny-hair-brown colour, and this one feels more pink - there's a more HELLO THERE sweetness in the top layer of Mouse Circus.

 

The popcorn was right there at first - all I could smell for the first five minutes or so was popcorn - but that faded really fast and left only the cotton candy and sugar behind. I'm not getting any 'golden wood' either. But here's the weird thing - the popcorn keeps coming and going.. even just as I'm writing this and leaning in for another whiff of it, I find the popcorn has reappeared and it definitely wasn't there a moment ago. And more weirdness.. every now and then I smell banana - like that fake bright yellow banana syrup stuff. Curious and curiouser

 

I dunno.. I've hoarded away a nice little stash of Midway, and I think I prefer that one - it's just less obvious in its sweetness, but this is still a lovely blend in its own right and if you love sweet pink cotton candy vanilla sugar things, you will need to buy bucket loads of this one

Edited August 2, 2012 by sunshinedaisybliss

[cfrancesca]

Yummy! I'm glad I took a chance on this one. Mouse Circus started off as a wispy, pink sugary cream scent but as it dries the creaminess and pink subsides and I just get sugary carnival smells - cotton candy, wafts of vanilla (something about this vanilla reminds me of Sugar Cookie 2005), some whiffs of popcorn but it's not very corny, it has more of a salty toasty smell on me, and I'm also getting the hint of sweet watermelon others are getting. It's very close to Midway Resurrected on my skin, the throw is very similar when I compared the two. I keep getting whiffs of different smells one second it's dark vanilla with hints of wood, another sweet/salty popcorn, another whiff and it's creamy sugary cotton candy. This is fascinating and very evocative!

[sixthsentinel]

Wow, this is like a stronger Midway Res to me. While I love MR, it never lasts on me. At all. But this-- so glad I got a bottle! It smells very similar to me. I will say, at first I get popcorn, then it turns into a salty Midway Resurrected, then the salt disappears altogether & it's just sweetness. I love this! I know what I am wearing tomorrow.

 

If you love Midway or just wish you had had the chance to try it, get ahold of some of this stuff! Sweet, airy, & sugary. Perfect!

[sharkdiver]

Wow, this is like a stronger Midway Res to me. While I love MR, it never lasts on me. At all. But this-- so glad I got a bottle! It smells very similar to me. I will say, at first I get popcorn, then it turns into a salty Midway Resurrected, then the salt disappears altogether & it's just sweetness. I love this! I know what I am wearing tomorrow.

 

If you love Midway or just wish you had had the chance to try it, get ahold of some of this stuff! Sweet, airy, & sugary. Perfect!

 

I 100% agree with this review! When I tested it yesterday, I was like, "Midway?? Is that you?!"

 

LOVE!

[Larinessa]

Very similar to Midway Res to my nose. Salty blast of popcorn initially that settles into a creamy sugary cotton candy scent with the underlining scent of fried pastries. I didn't get into BPAL until after Midway was released and always wished I could have gotten a bottle. Mouse Circus will amply fill the bill! This is wonderful.

[porcelina]

mouse circus is bee-yoo-tiful. the first thing i notice sugary sweet creamy vanilla (i think the butteriness from the popcorn lends it a creamy, baked-goods feel- i do not get much salty popcorn here). there is a touch of fluffy sweet pink cotton candy and a very lovely smooth wooden base that keeps everything from going OMG CANDYYYY.

 

i wish it had better throw and lasted longer but it is lovely as a soft skin-scent for me and pretty much exactly what i hoped it would be.

[Gwydion]

In bottle: Genuinely peculiar. I’d say popcorn is strongest, blending beautifully with the wood. The candy floats delicately above the darker notes. The effect is festive and tawdry and menacing and definitely very Mouse Circus in a way I can’t begin to put into words. Wet: The popcorn an candy dance, with the wood and mousiness fading into the background a bit. Dry: I love the way the sugar and vanilla dances with the wood. Exquisite.

[Little Bird]

I want to say that I love Mouse Circus, but it has a weird undertone that smells like peanut butter and it sort of ruins the scent for me. I don't like this nearly as much as I love Midway and Monster Bait: Underpants, but I can see it being in the same family as those.

 

Something in this smells strongly of peanuts/peanut butter on me, which I find very off-putting. Sweet, nutty, woody, warm.. peanut butter. It doesn't smell right mixed with the more sheer vanilla and cotton candy notes. But I do love the pink cotton candy and touch of salt from the popcorn, and it dries down to have more of a vanilla-y mix that is reminiscent of Boo for me.

 

Mouse Circus is like Boo and Midway with peanut butter and swirls of different vanillas to it.

 

It smells like sweet vanilla mixed with clean, perfumey vanilla, salt, cotton candy, and peanuts. Sometimes it's just a little too sweet, and I hate how strong that peanut-ish note is.

Edited May 13, 2013 by Little Bird

[malibusunny]

In the bottle, this is sugared popcorn, like buttered popcorn jelly bellies. On my skin, this is sugared, buttery popcorn. It seems a little 'thin' when compared with the richness of B&B up there, but I need to try it totally on its own so that the comparison factor isn't messing with it.

 

Eta: I am wearing this today and I keep thing omg, I love this! I need to buy all the bottles! So I thought I'd come find my review and amend. On my skin, it is this amazing sugary buttery incense y not foodie deliciousness. It is not deep, but its certainly not thin... It's just perfect.

 

Editing again... It is like a woody, slightly salty boo!

Edited March 26, 2013 by malibusunny

[ReallyZeb]

A pinker, less complex version of Midway ... I like it rather than love it. Clouds of pink candy fluff and popcorn over a vanilla base. I get no smell of wood at all which is a shame, I think that would have grounded it a bit.

[Ondine]

Like several others upthread have said, this is like Midway Res on me, but lighter and softer. Maybe that makes sense, right? After all, mice are Very Small and so a perfume based on a mouse circus would be little-bitty.

[IsabelleAngeline]

In the imp: Buttery sweet popcorn/Candy

 

Wet: Buttery Sugar/slight cotton candy

 

Dry: Still a buttery warm note to it but more sweet and balanced. The "butter" note softens and there's a slight slight slight hint of woody polish to the top of it.

 

Overall, it's very light, sweet and warm. It's not super duper rich, but is a great everyday scent if you love foody/sweet scents.

 

I was sad I didn't get more actual pink cotton candy smell, it was more of a yellow warm butterscotchy type feel (though not actual butterscotch) The throw was low-medium, but when my body temp heated up I could catch wafts of it. It lasts pretty long considering how light it is.

 

I really like this and want a bottle!

[whataboutprom]

Peanut butter, then popcorn, then the dreaded DUST note that takes over on my skin whenever sugar is present. I knew going into this that it might happen, but I was hoping that this blend would be different. The dust note is unpleasant and lasts for the duration. I can see how this would be a really fun scent on someone else though. Maybe it's time to invest in a scent locket.

[Klepz]

I never thought in a million years that a popcorn scent would work on me.

 

Dry, this is a very balanced blend of buttery popcorn and sugary sweetness. Up close, it's a creamy, sugary smell with a tiny bit of cotton candy and vanilla to it, but that smell isn't so prominent when I don't put my wrists to my nose - the popcorn hovers over it all, tempering the sweetness, making it somehow richer, more complex and more interesting.

 

While the scent was close enough to Midway to take over that scent's place in my bottle collection, the creamy, sugary sweetness with a bit of cotton candy and vanilla reminds me most closely of Boo (it's the addition of the popcorn that places this scent closest to Midway).

 

Utterly unique and delicious.

[zeldaZ4]

Testing my decant from the lovely Ralenth:

 

In the Imp: Immediate return to trips to Montgomery Ward when I was a child, the smells of caramel corn heavy in the air. My mother could never resist my pleas, and I usually ended up with the caramel corn AND the cotton candy (she liked it herself!) We would always look at the Barbie dolls but could never afford the new ones I wanted. She'd buy me the tiny clothes and shoes, though. And one day, she got me a giant bright pink balloon filled with helium. I let it go in my Grandmother's front yard. I still remember watching it drift away, puzzled that the "ceiling" of trees didn't stop it...

 

On my Skin: The sugar, popcorn and wood all blend together equally, like the leftovers spilled on the floor when the circus is over. A little barefoot girl is under the stands, picking up the pieces. The wooden floor is cool beneath her feet, but she is delighted to find some of the popcorn is still warm.

 

Interesting how this scent, to me, seems both bright and foodie and fun, yet slightly melancholic as well. I'm thinking that "polished golden wood" is the cool note I'm detecting. The juxtaposition is fascinating.

 

ETA: Is it just me, or is there something from Snow White in here? It's been a few hours and I smell nuts (the Cracker Jack carmelized peanut kind), and a bit of Snow White.

Edited September 2, 2012 by zeldaZ4

[yakiguri]

Thanks to the always wonderful and amazing chinkee21 for letting me sniff her goodies.

 

I admit I was reeeaaaallllyyy hesitant to try this. As much as I love my foody scents, popcorn is definitely not one of my faves, and is prone to making me feel sick. Just thinking of buttered popcorn Jelly Bellies makes my stomach churn, and since Jelly Bellies are local they're EVERYWHERE.

 

But Mouse Circus...I don't know how Beth does it, but I've found a popcorn scent that immediately makes me go YUM! Mouse Circus is definitely sweet, and could be a cousin to Boo with its soft "fluttery" vanilla, but it's not as sickly sweet as I'd feared it'd be. Not even in the slightest. The popcorn note is nutty, almost smoky on my skin, so that's probably what's keeping it all grounded. I'm wondering if it's the same nut note used in Tanuki no Kanban as I knew I'd smelt it before and finally figured out where. I don't get cotton candy (though that might be the "fluttery" note I also get in Boo) and no woods, but I imagine the latter will deepen and grow more prominent with aging. I certainly hope so since the scent is fleeting in its current state.

 

I'm so glad this is perm so I can add a bottle to my stash, but take my time doing so.

[mymymai]

ITI: This reminds me of those popcorn balls little kids used to make around October in elementary school - popcorn, caramel, peanut butter, and lots of sugar. I don't get any cotton candy, though.

 

Wet: Yes, I still get popcorn balls, although there is more vanilla and a touch of strawberry cotton candy when I inhale deeply.

 

Dry: Caramel popcorn, sugar, and warm cotton candy. It's so overly foody that I think I may like it.

[Hannah717]

In the bottle, it's almost pure buttered popcorn (with just a hint of sweetness). Wet, it's more equal parts sweet and salty, and on the dry down the sweetness took over. Although.... The popcorn comes back every now and then. It's such a sweet scent. It reminds me of being a kid and going to traveling carnivals with my mom. Ahhhh nostalgia..

[neuilly]

Very foody! At first I thought I got some caramel but that faded after about ten minutes. Afterwards it was just as described - wafts of cotton candy, but mostly vanilla sugar popcorn. So interesting!

 

Not sure I can see myself wearing this out and about but so glad I got to try it. I do keep resniffing myself because the scent is so evocative - perfect representation of the mouse circus