Mardi Gras

This is an aphrodisiac (at least for me). An innocent but flirty clean and fresh neroli and orange blossom soaked in deep, resinous, and rich vanilla/benzoin opening that dries down with this absolutely INTOXICATING dirty and sexy musk that just oozes confidence. The person who wears this knows what the fuck they want and how to get it. Simultaneously innocent and white floral fresh while being slutty and vanilla sweet, stunning. While I don't see myself rocking this regularly (as it doesn't really fit my personality), I will 100% be giving my sample to my SO to see if I enjoy it on them as much as I do on myself and tester strips. The musk in here is next level amazing, and if you are at all interested in animalic/musky fragrances, but don't like super heavy ones (like me!), you need to get your nose on this. Leans feminine to my nose, but wear what you want. Any time, any place except for work, this would shine as a going out fragrance. Great performance and projection for me, 8-12 hours performance with strong projection for the first half. 9.2/10. Signature scent worthy.

One of the sexiest perfumes Ive tried, Mardi Gras is an insanely delicious orange blossom and civet fragrance, softed perfectly by a base of resins and vanilla. The civet is here is a bit feral, yes, but it sticks close to skin and gets tamed by natural orange blossom and neroli, creating a refined and vintage feeling contrast between bitter citrus and funk. Then, sugary sweet vanilla and resins comes in at the base, softening the entire composition. Mardi Gras lives up to all the promised indulgence of sex, sweets, and celebrations. I find it beautifully marries vintage skanky sexiness with modern gourmand i-want-to-eat-you-up style attraction, a perfect date night fragrance. The sillage is nothing to sneeze at either, forming a strong scent bubble. The orange blossom especially projects strongly for a surprisingly long time. As usual of Olympic Orchids, the longevity is also robust. It doesnt quite last all day on me but it very feasibly could on someone else. Verrry tempted to FB this given the price and performance, but I'm resisting, for now.

Wow. I'm quite surprised and pleasantly so! I ordered a sample set from Olympic Orchids in which I could choose 10 1mI samples from their catalog. I chose 9, and when ordering, I added in the notes that I'd like Ms. Covey to choose a 10th for me based on my other selections. I was excited to see which other one I'd receive. She chose this one. I'm not normally an orange blossom fan, but I applied this one lightly and I can smell the other musky notes, including civet (which I have had limited exposure to, but enjoy what I have experienced) and benzoin/amber. For being an orange blossom scent, I like it quite well! A little goes a long way with this one, as I understand is usually the case with Olympic Orchids. I won't buy a bottle of Mardi Gras, but I'll thoroughly enjoy my sample. edit: 12/11/22. I've since purchased this sample again from OO. I might actually buy it sometime. I really love it.

Perfect name and theme for this skanky white floral + vanilla combo. I get the "beignets dusted with sugar" imagery as promised, and the civet is indeed funky as hell, delivering all the sex and sweat you could hope for. Not surprised some folks find this too raunchy to wear - I've worn this a few times where the civet and musks can lean a bit fecal, in the way that the base of Jicky does - but most of the time it's a beautiful blend of orange blossom, vanilla, and benzoin with just enough funk to keep the blood pumping. My daughter caught a whiff and said it smelled like "doughnuts", so it lives up to the promise on that front. On my wishlist for a full bottle for sure. (I need to directly compare them, but my memory is that Golden Cattleya from the same house is very similar but without the civet funk; so if you like the profile but can't hang with the skank, definitely sample that one.)

What a scent! I've been waiting forever (literally, about a year) to get my samples from my niece in MN, where I had them sent. The joys of living in Haiti! haha This is an incredible experience! Right from the beginning, I get the skanky honey that I so adore. It's a sweet scent, and it certainly could smell like unwashed flesh to a particular nose, but to me, it smells glorious! The orange blossom and musk hover just below the surface for me, helping to orchestrate the overall aroma, but not really standing out. If anything, it's definitely the honey that dominates. For those of you who have smelled Olympic Orchid's Tropic of Capricorn, this has a lot of similarities. It's not a dupe, but both are beautiful animalic, sweet, floral scents that I adore. I intend to try them side-by-side at some point, since i have a small bottle of TOC.

I bought my first bottle of Mardi Gras in 2021 from Ecuacion Natural and I became utterly enamoured with this scent. I'd given a little decant, among other perfume decants, to a close friend of mine and she texted me a couple of days later saying that she wanted to buy one for herself as she became as well infatuated with this potion. On my skin, it is very syrupy, sweet, and magical. I get the orange blossom on a vanillic velvety bed. I get the civet as well but it's never funky or untamed. I guess there might be some magic in this potion. Exquisite, stunning perfume!! Update: I bought a new bottle in 2022 and the new batch is more musky than syrupy, unfortunately. I also find it not so long-lasting. The magical candied orange blossom is more tamed and I find this batch less exquisite. Has anyone else experienced this?

First half of this scent is heavy on the Olympic Orchids dna (clean but dirty, pink soap feeling). The white florals begin to peak through and they're heavy, leaning towards a lily or jasmine. However, the white floral lightens up towards the displayed orange blossom, adding some sticky sweetness (stickiness is definitely a sensation done well within OO). Almost honey-like? Running around in a big heavy fur coat but with a little dress under, so you're somehow blanketed yet not covered and warm. Musky, dirty - you sprayed a perfume on in Macys 18 hours ago and have since been drenched in sweat and club smell. Reminiscent of the bubblegum note in Jungle Jezebel. Delicious and animalic. If I smelled this on someone else I'd fall in love.

This is just so utterly fantastic. I chose this sample randomly, and didn't pay much attention to the notes. . . it was mainly vanilla . . . But oh my goodness so rich and deep and bright. Resonant. Intoxicating. I guess my skin *really* loves civet . . . It is such a lovely scent, and also brings out the addict in me; a perfume to collect and hoard and drown in, and to take with me everywhere; I NEED it, lots of it, for *every* possible situation. It is very strong and lasts quite a long time, which surprises me as not many perfumes last on my skin. Ellen Covey, you're awesome. This is absolute heaven

Woah! I cant believe I've fallen for a fragrance with civet in!?! I normally avoid fragrance with anything furry in like the plague. I took a sniff without checking on the notes (clearly I must do this more often!). It is anamalic but its sweet and resinous as well. I do get the neroli, musk and vanilla for sure. The result is very close to the smell of British milk chocolate on me. Moderate sillage and lasts for many hours. Ms Covey has created yet another winner. It looks like there will be another order soon!

Mardi Gras is heavily musky, surrounded by lush white blooms with a touch of sweetness and airy citrus. It smells "skanky" when it is first applied, but settles down to a sassy fruity musk, with quite a heavy punch from almost every note; I don't get the resins. Still, it is quite smooth, pleasant, and easy to wear. It is my favorite of all the Olympic Orchids scents I have tried. Mardi Gras has a certain coyness to it; plush, pleasant citrus and white flowers to mask the {literal} animal behind it.

This is totally a clever rendition of the candied/marshmallow neroli/orange blossom amber...think Kilian's Love, Don't Be Shy for sure. It cuts the sweetness of the ambery notes and candyfloss ethyl maltol hints with a big animalic musk note. It almost feels as if Muscs Koublai Khan doused itself with the Kilian in an effort to seem more presentable. As is mentioned below, it does hit similar notes to Golden Cattleya, but that one is sans animal if you don't want that aspect of the scent.

This is astonishingly good, civety sweet & little bitter orange blossom deepen with creamy benzoin. Mardi Gras is a little piece of perfumery art. It reminds me of old fashioned French civety florals but it's more like a modern interpretation of classic French style. I do agree that Ellen Covey is a perfume magician, I have tried some of her formulas and they are all very rich & sophisticated, well balanced also very wearable - top quality stuff

Mardi Gras took me a few wearing to get used to and I'm starting to really like this one, still not getting any neroli or orange blossom on my skins, I got a hint of honey and menthol, along with vanilla and benzoin, the civet and musk are very faint, not animalic on my skins at all, no particular note that really jumps out to me, overall it's very well blended and quite ethereal. I just can't stop sniffing my wrist, very addicting stuff.

Trick-or-treating as a child in an inland empire suburb; fragrant fall flora in cool evening air. Late season orange jasmine and maybe osmanthus. Chocolate and sweets in a pillow case. Mystery and safety, dressing up, walking around my magically transformed neighborhood with friends as the stars came out. No other fragrance has evoked this for me. I really love it. How interesting to perceive innocence where others find debauchery.

Wow this is some captivating juice it's sweet syrupy thick orange blossom/neroli it's a little bit resinous and its got that fuzzy cozy musk/animalic accord sort of like musc ravageur has, not a similar scent just the texture of that musk/animalic accord is similar smelling. A touch of vanilla. Yeah, I love this.

Sweet benzoin, vanilla, neroli, as well as the animalic touch of civet and ambergris. Feels like a good, feminine party scent, or something that wouldn't be out of place at a fairgrounds, or, surprise-surprise, a Mardi Gras celebration. Bubbly, intoxicating, and sexy. 7.5/10

It’s giving candy necklaces and the inside of the Hove perfume shop in the French Quarter. I bought a small bottle because the sample both intrigued and nauseated me. (Honestly, that’s usually a good sign.)

favorite going out fragrance. very skanky. don’t usually love vanilla but love it in this

Initially took me somewhere far away, like Morocco or Egypt? Before really grasping any said threads, we come crashing down to the familiar. Though civet, benzoin and vanilla are forefront, the exotic is only implied; this scent feels very American. Where "Kyphi"'s benzoin explores the ancient and austere "Mardi Gras"' throws a party. Slutty, dirty, fun, and yet not without consequence. Covey wouldn't make a scent that is purely merrymaking- "Mardi Gras" is hiding a hangover. An elusive element of the confined, stale, and esoteric is lurking nearly undetectable between whiffs. Evokes many memories, including one of early childhood in which my parents threw a large party with aging bohemians. I remember my queasiness in watching the blur of peacock feathers, corduroy, & tambourines.The party is seemingly unending and I wish someone would open a window. This scent falls into an unpleasantly nostalgic category: a touch too vivid in its disquiet. But, I'm impressed! Something I'd imagine Tom Waits would wear. Evolves into something more feminine throughout the dry down as the neroli steps forward. I will admit, I don't love that civet insists on sticking to fabric. Be sure to wash clothes after wearing unless you like smelling vaguely indolic.

I live in southeast Michigan and although marijuana was only legalized somewhat recently, there have always been these “head shops” that sell smoking apparatus under the guise that it’s for tobacco. There’s always a wooden shelf filled with dozens of different scents of incense sticks by some company I forget the name of. There’s “fizzy pop” and “dragon’s breath” and some of them have glitter on their stems. Anyway standing in front of that shelf of incense and smelling the collective fragrance emanating from it is exactly where Mardi Gras takes me. I have been to New Orleans during Mardi Gras and I do feel a connection there too. I can picture walking around in the streets, seeing all the drunk people in costume, occasionally going into some witchcraft shop... I love how this smells but I think it would have to be a very specific occasion for me to wear it. I’ve been wearing it around the house just because I love to smell it. It’s floral and dusty and incensy and takes me back to my deadhead high school years going into head shops and having the store associate watch me like a hawk wondering if they should kick me out or not. I almost want to say this reminds me of the Grateful Dead while Cryptical Envelopement reminds me of Steely Dan.

I pick up a strong honey note along with the civet skank and neroli floral note, taking Mardi Gras into an easy to wear, lovely direction. I can’t help but like it even though civet is not a note I normally look for in a perfume. Mardi Gras also makes me think of a hippie bookstore, and I think this would make a great scent for incense. I also vote that there’s something here that reminds me of Zoologist Bee. It’s not a copy, of course, but it’s similar with the sweet honey beeswax note. It’s thick and dense, arriving and not wanting to depart. Stating that Mardi Gras has great stamina is an understatement. Perfumer Ellen Covey has my attention and respect. It seems almost everything I’ve tested from this small indie perfumer is intriguing and/or a scent I want to wear. I don’t feel compelled to buy Mardi Gras, but I am enjoying my maiden voyage and I’ll be back for more. The Olympic Orchid line is not to be missed.

This will sound ridiculous, but if this scent were a song it would be "White Wedding" by Billy Idol. The combination of intense orange blossom, musk and civet gives this a honeyed skankiness which you will either love or hate. I wish the neroli were stronger because a little bitterness would move this from 8 to 10. Wear this on a hot humid afternoon or when clubbing when you plan to sweat--this begs to be worn in a steamy environment. Definitely not work safe unless you work in a jazz club. Sillage: moderate Longevity: excellent 5-6 hours Fabulosity: beignet and coffee Value to price ratio: Reasonable 8/10

First impression has a strong resemblance to Tresor by Lancome. Even though the notes in Tresor are vastly different, this is what I remember it smelling like on the women of my childhood, which is also why this is a mature fragrance in my opinion and almost elderly. The scent opens with a strong spice with a hint of floral, maybe patchouli, which later develops into orange blossom. The scent also calms down and becomes sweeter. A hint of incense appears. After the fragrance has settled on my skin, it becomes a musky, very lightly sweet scent with spice notes and deep civet floral.

This isn’t at all what I was expecting. I pick up the vanilla far more than the musk. Maybe even honey... am I crazy? Right off the bat I’d say it’s not a love but I definitely do like it. I really like that I’m going to have to spend more time with it to even understand it. I agree with it being a confident woman scent, and a vanilla for people who don’t like vanilla. Update: It’s not a vanilla for people who don’t like vanilla. I’d be happy to pass along my sample for just the cost of shipping or work out a deal on a batch of different samples.

This is a unique scent I haven't smelled anything like it before. My first impression is that it smells like indolic Lilys wrapped in cotton candy which I unexpectedly liked. This is not a fragrance i could see myself wearing all the time but i wouldn't mind having a small 5ml/10ml or something to wear when the mood struck me. Sample first on this one it's far from blind buy approved. Update: I love this scent it really grew on me and is defiantly full bottle worthy for me. I find it very alluring and it's a scent I keep coming back to.

This perfume opens with a big blast of wonderful civet, that mellows out with time. The benzoin and the vanilla tame the civet a bit, although I think I could have done without the vanilla. I think it might be part of Ellen Covey's signature smell, a bit of sweetness in whatever form she sees fit for the perfume. The orange blossom gets a bit lost in all of this, which turns this from a love to a like. You might like this if you like Bal a Versailles.

Orange blossoms, musky animalic, honey vanilla, leather amber, powder. There's a playful drop of dirtiness which is onputting. It's so pretty. A faded smoke and incense in the dry down. I'm recalling Golden Cattleya by Olympic Orchids and The Lover's Tale by Francesca Bianchi, which for me is a very good thing. Golden Cattleya makes me feel like an angel, and The Lover's Tale makes me feel like a slut. Mardi Gras makes me feel like a slutty angel.

Nice; ambery (benzoin-sweet) and musky (kind of dirty and animalistic), with a good dollop of orange blossom thrown in. This is no doubt going to be a controversial opinion, but in all honestly, this really smells like a super-projecting Coty "Wild Musk" to me (which is dirt cheap)!

This reminds me a lot of Musc Ravageur. It doesn't have that perfume's epic vanilla, or the spices, but it has the same furry, animalic heart. Here, though, I smell the dirtyness of civet; I'm not sure I'm brave enough to wear it out, but I am enjoying it.

Mardi Gras opens as a lovely, lush, wicked white floral, with the retro glamour and ambery-animalic base of classic feminines like Narcisse Noir (1911) and My Sin (1924). a few minutes in, Mardi Gras gets *very* big and *very* sweet, with big, blowsy, swoony orange blossom. it’s excessive, indulgent to the point of vulgarity. The sugar is still cut slightly by a hiss of pale musk, but boy oh boy is there a lot of it. I generally prefer more animalics and dark notes, and less sweetness, in my white florals; my beloved Papillon Salome and Bogue Gardelia are more my speed. Mardi Gras, by contrast, goes deep into the floral-syrup zone that overlaps with stuff like Lush Lust and even Mugler Alien. We are in platinum-blonde, red-lipstick land, maybe a little mussed...Courtney Love or Madonna, maybe. About three hours in, the sweetness calms down and Mardi Gras is more wearable: a fluffy, white, floral vanilla-musk. The texture is soft and natural throughout, never harsh. If you *want* a sugary bombshell white floral with a touch of feather-boa fluff, you could do a lot worse than Mardi Gras. but it feels costumey and unnatural on me.

Hmmm, interesting one. This is like a honeyed vanilla, but taking a musky turn with the woody orange petigrain and I guess the noted civet (it doesn't jump out as obviously civet to me). People who have marked this similar to Golden Cattleya and Bee, yeah I guess I see what you mean but they really go into a much more refined floral direction to me and this one doesn't quite do that. This one goes indolic yet clean to me, much like MFK APOM homme did, and in fact if you added honey notes to APOM I think you'd have something similar to this. Not something I would full bottle this one, but an interesting one to sample.

Guess this one interacted with my skin differently than it did on most other people. Opened musty (that's not a typo. musty not musky) and dried down to corn chips and faint amber incense. I guess I could call it hippie bookstore vibes if I tried but I think I'll just pass it on to someone else.

There is so much going on with Mardi Gras that it is induced vertigo. Sugary casablanca lilies wrapped in sweat and beeswax, incontinent vanilla, furry butt covered in sticky benzoin and halitosis orange blossoms breathing heavily so that I feel under duress by this macabre pageant. It's oily dirty crust-punks having messy sex on a mattress imbued with stale spilled beer. Dirty, musty head shops selling incense sticks, some that have sat there since Clinton's first term in office. There is a fine line between a fragrance that can strongly suggest dirty, carnal, and skanky and one that is just outright raunchy. This is raunchy. I can't dig it.

HOOOO! CIVET, BABY! Do you like the way this weird cute-faced little creature smells on you? If you're wild about it (and orange blossom), get your hands on some Mardi Gras. If it doesn't always work on you (as I'm quickly learning is true for me as I'm exploring this note more) you may want to run from it. On me, civet is not always so much sexy as it is... "someone pooped in the kitchen trash bag, who was it??" But that's me. On some people it's more like, "Who's that over there? Have him washed and brought to my tent." Those people are lucky. Passing my little sample along to someone who craves civet and has a tent.

The civet, which I hate here, gives this one a tough start. As it dries, it's as if the flowers and other notes want to succeed in being more prominent, but fail miserably. To be clear, I like civet in certain perfumes, as a background note. But when it's prominent, the whole fragrance just smells like an outhouse.IMO, the comparison between it and the orange blossom, a notoriously light smell, is vastly unbalanced. Unfortunately, that makes for a scrubber on me.

Ooh, now I know what civet smells like, and I don't like it. Honestly, it's not that terrible on me. It doesn't smell fecal, just animalic. But now that I've experienced it, I'd rather not smell like it.

I bid you adieu, Fragrantica. To Mardi Gras, I bestow you my final, and hundredth, review: smells like corn tortillas. womp womp!

Yes! This is a head turning, strange, beautiful perfume. You must like civet at least a little in order to enjoy this. It opens with lots of civet, musk, and what smells like honey, very raw anamalic honey instead of vanilla. About 10 minutes in I can smell the orange flower. It dries down to a civet and labdanum orange flower. It's strong! Super concentrated, long lasting and unique. Anyone who's smelled an Olympic orchids perfume before will know this is one of them. It has that OO DNA. I love it and I can see enjoying this mostly in the fall/winter months. In the heat Mardi gras takes on a little bit of insencey/ poppy smell. Everyone should at least test it . Even if you wouldn't want to wear it fully It's still a fun and interesting experience:)

Massive dose of labdanum, vanillin and benzoin (possibly Siam as in Night Flyer), hence if you smell amber or marshmallow you are not wrong. Diffused with musk, maybe a white musk like Habanolide, and/or possibly something a little more substantive like Fixolide. The civet may contain Castoreum Givco and birch tar (smoky). Diffusive AF, Im thinking somewhere north of 20% concentration. Not bad but it sort of screams. It has additional legs by way of Ethyl Maltol or veramoss. The Neroli which is almost certainly the same EO or base as the orange blossom is well tucked in but gives it that bitter smell at friction with the rest of the composition. Great job stacking molecules and naturals, they each have a solid voice and work together as well.

Imagine an old trunk in someone's attic filled with forgotten clothing and stale potpourri. This smells like that. The sense of nostalgia that overcame me after first application is testament to the power of fragrance to stir memories of a bygone era. It is quite something. I find nothing dirty or skanky in this, despite the civet which is not of the urinous variety. Dried up orange peels and eastern incense made into potpourri used in stored clothing to mask the musty smell. Yet the musty smell blends with it. A stale smell, yes but comforting to me. And I like it very much. Ellen Covey is a witch doctor, mixing up aromatic potions to cure what ails you and succeeding mightily. I think I have to have this.

Wow, this is not what I was expecting but I'm new to niche perfumery so I'm very unexperienced. At first the smell reminded me of an esoteric store, with it's incense, stones and that kind of stuff, nothing really floral nor animalic. As it starts to develop I do get some of the vanilla/benzoin, like it's an incense stick of that smell. I have to really focus to get the orange blossom but it's there. To me this feels witchy and mysterious. I like it but I thought I was going to love it. As some time has passed I'm starting to enjoy it more. Now I do get the floral aspect and the animalic is not really pronounced on my skin, it's more on the musky side. My sister said it smells like poop and chocolate😭

Never been to New Orleans but this definitely invokes impressions I get of the city: vintage aesthetics, white florals abound, and an undercurrent of sluttiness. Not even remotely the most animalic fragrance on the market but its combination with heavy orange blossom does make it a unique find. It's both very sweet and a little dirty, like a beautiful woman who's been dancing wildly for 15 minutes on a hot summer night and has been making her perfume stronger via the increased heat. I live in a hot climate so I imagine this will turn into a bomb when the humidity comes back and honestly I welcome that. I really liked this, it's joyful, playfully skanky, and just has the air of a fun time.

I got a sample. It opens with heavy indolic orange blossom and dirty civet, then adds fat, buttery vanilla. Slowly the floral fades and the musk softens, leaving behind a fluffy powdery vanilla which is quite lovely at this stage. Overall it's linear and not very complex. The top notes are acceptable to me personally, but those around me may not like them. I prefer the aftertaste, maybe I should buy a smaller bottle.

Oh.My.Goodness! I just tested a sample of Mardi Gras that I received from Nosey49, and I am in love with a fragrance that has both benzoin and civet. This is gorgeous! Mardi Gras is such a beautiful perfume...if I were wearing a full skirt I would be twirling with joy! ♥ This is one sexy, look out here I come, scent. I will be buying a full bottle as soon as possible!

I’m probably being influenced by the name but... I smell beignets sitting on a sidewalk table next to empty hurricane cups laying in the gutter of the French quarter. I don’t get as much civet as I get Africa stone (not listed) and a beautiful orange blossom then vanilla and fruit. I love this and wear it at home but it smells amazing on a man anytime.

The opening of Mardi Gras is all the pop and joy of bubbly champagne. This beautiful blend of orange blossom, vanilla and civet grabs you by the hand to join in a kaleidoscopic dance of bright summery colours. It's fun and sexy and suits an occasion where you can let your hair down and be your real self. Youthful and totally mood enhancing.

Opening is candied orange blossom, benzoin, some funk, smoke, and plasticky smell. Can definitely detect all the listed notes. Becomes powdery, sweet, vanillic, light. Having never been at Nawlins for Mardi Gras myself, this gives me the feel of being at a fairgrounds with cotton candy, corn dogs, machines, smoke, dirtiness, etc haha

Drydown on skin feels very similar to Bee by Zoologist. It’s as if Bee took the base of Mardi Gras and made a full on perfume out of it. Do not think however that this is a dupe for Bee, because the perfumes evolve and behave differently. Olympic Orchids is a very creative, artisanal house that I am starting to respect more and more.

i got a sample of this in the mail literally yesterday evening just in time to wear for the holiday today! reminds me of when i helped an ex-boyfriend move into a sight-unseen apartment, and when we opened the door for the first time we immediately learned the previous renters had pet ferrets. i think it will grow on me though!

یه ترکیب عجیب و مریض ولی خوش ساخت دیگه از دکتر کووی ترکیب سیوت و فضای قوی انیمالیکش با شکوفه پرتقال و وانیل نه اصلن شبیه کازابلانکا نیست ----------- Scent & Quality: 8/10 Longevity: 8/10 Sillage: 7/10 Creativity & Uniqueness: 7/10 Affordability: 4/10 ----------- Overall: 6.8/10