So Hooked on Carmella Benefit for women

i got it just today when i was in sephora. i always wanted a benefit fragrance but most of the samplers where empty. so i sniffed the bottles and this one just smelled like caramel-vanilla, so i got it.
at home i sprayed it on my arm and first thing i got was a very sweet sugary flower scent. it developed with some mint and finished off with a creamy, vanilla/caramel drydown which lasted quite a long time. i find it perfect, since the drydown reminded me of a less dusty version of the original dior addict with the citrus, amber and dark vanilla.
the only thing i find a bit odd that it leaves a slightly sticky film on my skin.
But overall a nice, sweet, citrusy vanilla scent :)

Benefit so hooked on carmella is my 3rd signature scent. So hooked on Carmella smells like a citrus vanilla dessert sprinkles! It is so wonderfully put together. I spray this and feel like i am in a Fancy Flower garden tea party. This eau de toilette should be relabled as eau de parfume as it surprisingly has far more lasting power than Especially Escada "perfume.Benefit so hooked on carmella is what i call Ultra Fancy!

Vanilla and amber with some rhubarb tang. It's like a grown up gourmand to me. It's some pretty heavy stuff so one spritz, two max. Not safe for work.
Anyone else get a rootbeer vibe from this stuff?

Carmella was a delicious surprise for me. I was just browsing through the various Macy’s makeup counters and happened upon the Benefits So Hooked line. These are cute stylish perfumes in small colorful and fanciful bottles sold in boxes that are meant to resemble little character dollhouses. Upon sampling, I was immediately struck by the lusciousness of Carmella. This is a sweet and creamy fragrance that conjures up associations of cream soda, vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, and candy. But the scent does not stay stuck in that innocent young girl category because Carmella is also mixed with lemon and grapefruit which blend with the heavy sweetness in a rather sophisticated relationship. Lemon is not a scent that I associate myself as liking and I would never think to mix lemon, amber, and such vanilla sweetness together but it really works well in Carmella. Carmella makes me feel sweet and innocent, fresh and playful, mellow, and collected but also stylish and refined.

Prada Candy smelled this and went to cry in a corner.
THIS I THE ONE to smell like pure and utter candy and caramel.
It is actually addicting .

Very strong but thats what i like! Reminds me of Cream Soda.
Only comes in a small bottle and is quite pricey but you don't need to spray too much as its quite heavy.
I always have an extra spritz if i have my winter coat on and when i go to put it back on it still smells strong :)
Unusual scent that is perfect for cold evenings to warm you up.

love this perfume! reminds me of milky ways! all my friends know me by this smell.

brilliant perfume, definitely recommend it

vanilla ice cream topped with fudge and caramel.
very sweet, delicious, tantalizingly gourmand, and long lasting.
this will destroy a diet for sure and make any man melt!
#arkangels review lol

Ok.. tried this yesterday and gave it 12hours so review would be accurate. Here goes... at first spray you think you will love it, caramel and rich vanilla.
5 mins later you get a heavy strong odor of lemon but artificial like mr clean (closest I can explain) but within about half hour it is gone, then the richest creamiest vanilla mixed with deep woodiness (must be sandlewood and amber in base) settle in, and the drydown lasts and lasts for hours... still smelled a trace this morning after my initial spray yesterday at 5pm! This is a good one when you get past first strange hour!

I really really wish I could love this fragrance. I read tons of reviews before blindly buying it and had such high expectations for it because I love gourmand fragrances - especially ones with vanilla and amber. (Plus a good majority of the reviews I read mentioned marshmallows and cookies - so I was even more excited!) When I first got this in the mail I was so confused because I realized you didn't spray this on you. I put some on my wrists and was very puzzled - the lemon/citrusy notes stood out to me and never really faded away. I was hoping the gourmand notes would be in the base notes but I never really detected much of those :(

Everyone around me loves the smell and says it reminds them of the yummy smell of roasted marshmallows. To me I get a hint of a coconut smell, but I guess that's my weird nose. This little sweet seduction lasts a good 10 hours before starting to fade.

I went back to Ulta to get Sofia, but I fell in love with Carmella instead. It is indeed vanilla buttery sweet, but there's something else there that's green and lush and primitive. That sealed the deal for me. I can't find any citrus or fruit. Carmella is vanilla buttery, with a garnish of tiare, and the soul of a gorgeous tropical jungle.

Carmella~


There we sat, in the ice cream shop as she glanced over at me from only a few tables away. Centering most of her attention on the double-scooped Pralines n' Cream she held from a caramel glazed cone. Her every taste was lustful and almost intimate. Pressing her lips delicately against the ice cream and persistently flipping her hair. Staring is ill-mannered, but this experience was intensely hypnotic.

The first scoop collapsed into her shirt before she could finish it. In a hurry, she stood up in her sandalwood woven open-toed wedges and walked down the hall sashaying. As if to say this hall were a fashion runway. She turned around, making eye contact and delivered a smile before closing the lady's room door. I began to walk down the hall, minus the sashaying and imagined what might happen if I made my way into the lady's room. I thought I'd look crazy if I read all the wrong signs, so I walked towards the men's room and before I could touch the door handle, the lady's room door opened. It was her... the Pralines n' Cream girl and she was still wearing her ice cream. She stared yet no words were shared, only the air we breathed. Suddenly she spoke, "Hi, do you think you can help me?" I answered, "Yes, I believe I can."

She welcomed me in and we kissed to the point where it became clumsy and sloppy. I could taste the caramel syrup from her ice cream on the rim of her mouth. Every now and then after taking a breath, I thought I smelled vanilla. I couldn't differentiate between her perfume and ice cream. It was over, and we boldly walked out together sweet, sticky and smiling like two mischievous children.

God, this smells of caramels, vanilla, sweet edible gourmand goodness! So yummy! I honestly wanted to lick my wrist. Pretty long-lasting too and not as expensive as high end perfumes that I don't even like that much.

The bottle is interesting and original. Very Benefit-like. Not tacky or cheap, just different.

Smells sooooo yummmyyyyyyyyyy!

I've just been introduce to Benefit frag! by blind swaping this wonderful frangrance with a wondeful person Aspendina :) BIG thank you! it kinds of remind me of Jessica Simpson Fancy :0 and i loooooove Fancy but the Benefit on seems to be a little more creamy, tasteful, and i have to say super pretty long lasting on my smin !! I can really smell the vanilla like caramel side & powdery side witch i really love.. Even my lover loves it!! when i put a fragrance & he says: Wow!! you smell really good.. THAT'S A WINNER xoxo
if you love sweet creamy tasty caramel vanilla side.. This on is for you..I f not stay away since it last alllllloooong time :) just yummy
i don't really detect any flower in this one just gourmand vanilla & a liitle powdery side .. lovely

I didnt expect it to be so heavy. It reminded me of another perfume. I was getting a bit of a figue note a bit nutty as well. Then it hit me it was as if i had sprayed on Womanity. Considering the notes it cant but my skin was saying womanity. Its certainly not girly as i read somewhere its for the younger crowd. Its about an half an hour when the caramel is more dominant. But this one is not for me because i thought it would be like Prada Candy or like the caramel in Shalimar Initial but no. Sorry for those who love it.

Carmella, sweetie you smell just lovely!
This is the second perfume from Benefit with which i have fallen in love (the first being Gina).
Sweet vanilla and amber...such an intense amber though , it's presence is sublime and mixed expertly with the perfect amount of vanilla making this perfume sweet but not too sweet, oriental but not heavy in that direction. The beginning is very light citrusy and a hint of florals can be felt just lightly, but oh man the amber, oh so caramelly and charming - i know other ppl feel the vanilla is the dominant note here,but on my skin it's the amber - fortunately!
Love it, projection nice, silage ok - nothing that's gonna blow your mind, duration... well this is where I fault these juicy concoctions from Benefit : they need to last a little bit longer,i mean i'm not complaining, for their price range it's actually ok : now i'm going on 4 hrs, and knowing the other fragrances from Benefit, by the 5th hour it'll be almost gone....if it would last 6 - 7 hrs it would be perfect. But all in all lovely fragrance.

Later edit : The name is soo spot on : "hooked" on carmella yes I am ! It's my new perfume obsession! And about the beginning on me it smells like peach/pear ice-cream, then comes the vanilla-amber mixture.So ... unique? Yes it is unique, and delicate and addictive!

They call this So Hooked on Carmella and then fail to put the caramel and sweet notes in the perfume pyramid. This is one of the sweetest perfumes I have ever smelled. This stayed pretty much the same on me after the first 15 minutes, no great development but Very good projection. I Love "Something About Sophia" (another perfume by Benefit) which has caramel and lily but it is not at all as sweet as this one. I would call this gourmand, gourmand, and nothing but gourmand. I think I would rather eat it than wear it for sure.This is not an oriental floral on me.

Bought this on a whim at a beauty store check out. It was a mini and the price was good so I thought is give it a whirl.....this is really delicious. I think it smells like vanilla ice cream and bath and body works brown sugar and fig mixed with say a whip cream covered peachy/ Apple dessert drenched with cinamon. This is definately a winner. I love it. lOVE...I love vanilla and gourmands so this is right up my alley. It also is a bit fruity as I said. This could be a beautiful year round perfume. I love it. Very femininine

Carmella to me smells like plant stalks/cut open leaves mixed in with a vanilla caramel scent and topped off with a hint of coconut. It is very strong. I sprayed one spray of this with my friends and all we could smell for the rest of the day was carmella and it was not nice. It is so sickly, I don't get why anyone would want to smell like it? Great sillage though, I'll give it that.

smelled god awful at first I thought "great now i smell like a ______" (trying to keep it clean, u fill in the blank) it changed over after awhile to a kinda smokey caramel, like ummmm, like an antique store selling caramels (for whatever reason). It was not great but kinda nice, and it grows on u and becomes kinda addictive, but u can't smell your arm close up or u for some reason will sniff out a horrible chemical that shoots straight up your nose. As long as no one sniffs your skin and just smells it from standing next to you it does seem like a fragrance that would u would get complimented on. But for me it was gone in 2hrs :-/

It's definitely an interesting scent, I've never smelled anything similar. To me it smells like really rich powdery caramel. I love it on paper but I have the feeling it would become cloying when sprayed on myself, and I would get bored of it, so I'm not going to buy it.

Yum. This is a strong salted caramel and vanilla scent, too bad it doesn't last longer on me. I also smell some other wonderful, mysterious stuff that I can't pinpoint. It's not too citrusy or floral as listed in its notes. Just addicting.

I was at a restaurant one time and this lady kept looking at me, which I was fine with at first but then I started to feel challenged and stared at her back. Turns out she only wanted the name of my perfume, hahaha. She had a beautiful accent and told me she usually wears Coco Mademoiselle, so this stuff must be good.

So Hooked on Carmella is one of my favorite perfumes hands down. It's very distinct from other scents and it really stands out on the skin. I always receive compliments when I wear this fragrance, and it has amazing lasting power. I spray it on before I go out at night, and literally the next morning my skin and clothes still smell the same as if I have just applied it. It lingers on your skin and in the air with a pleasantness that you will always remember.

This smells exactly like coconut flavoured salt water taffy. IDENTICAL!!!

I have a love/hate for this scent. Some days it's a delicious sweet vanilla coconut with some white floral in the background. Other days it is cloying. Which makes me feel ill. I'd love it if they had added more woods and made it less sweet.

This thing is soo long-lasting :)

More long-lasting than Dior Hypnotic Poison

i love this one. it is so vanilla-caramel-like. very very nice. i think it is the best of the "name" collection from benefit. sprayed on clothes it lasts all day long. put only use three sprays (one on the hair two on the clothes) as it is very strong otherwise you might appear as a super sweet cloud that people can smell one mile away;).
i know it contains citrus-notes, but i cannot smell them -.-.

This reminds me so much of bath and body works brown sugar & fig with the addition of a sweet lemon top note, a gourmand lemon. The dry down of both is so similar, centered around caramel and vanilla. The other notes look different but something about the composition of each makes them so similar. I love them both but love so hooked on carmella more really just for the fact it lasts longer than bbw. i could do without the lemon top note.

How odd to open sweet warm caramel with a sour lemon!? In spite of that I find myself craving the dissonant notes. Like a strange piece candy that once the first tart lemony coating has dissolved you are left with a delicious grainy melting vanilla center. In the end I'm really delighted by this. A soft dusty caramel with a just hint of lemony sourness lingering. It has a light but pleasant projection. A very subtle and dreamy gourmand, with an understated elegance. Smells wonderful on the cuff of my sweater. I find it uniquely delicious. The tiare really blossoms in the heat with this one. Longevity is good on skin, great on clothes.

Totally love this one! Fabulous!! Smooth caramel note dry down, with sparkling lemons opening it. What a intriguing combination of lovely notes. Delish! <3

Seeing the notes, I am rather confused. And an oriental floral? I would never have guessed.
Either way, what this fragrance is is extremely yummy! I get the most amazing sweet milk and caramel, with vanilla musk undertones. Definitely gourmand, but not overly sweet. This is a comfort scent for sure, warm and cosy and softly sweet. It's certainly not a dressy fragrance, nor is it very perfumey. This is for being at home and snuggling with your boyfriend, wrapped up with a book on a rainy day or for putting small children to sleep. Inviting, reassuring and delicious, this is my favourite gourmand scent.

This is missing a key ingredient in the listed notes. I think CARAMEL should be added or something else that is sweet. This is a sweet caramel fragrance. Strong and long lasting. I know I left a trail behind me. I could definately smell it on myself without any effort.

This is most definitely very sweet and creamy - quite like caramel. The sweetness of the vanilla and amber are dominant, but I also pick up on a slight spicy/woody oriental quality in the drydown. I love it...so far my favorite of the Crescent Row series by Benefit.

This is a light and creamy scent. After Sofia I like Carmella most of the "women's name" scents by Benefit. It's a gourmand with caramel notes. Sweet and rich. But it doesn't last long on me.

'So Hooked On Carmella' is my fave of all of them! It's so creamy, warm, cosy, rich, delicious, not too sugary neither too bland or over-done! Suits my skin perfecly!

I'm gonna get this no doubt!

warm fragrance, caramel smell
nice :)
I had many compliments

I admitedly have I love hate relationship with this perfume. I originally loved this perfume when I first tried it at a Bnefit counter but then when I bought it it gave me a headache. It smells lovely but beware... it's definately strong!!!

This one reminds me of a toffee near the skin and something peppery fruity around. One of the most interesting from this two series.

this might be the sweetest caramel scent in the world and quite possibly way to young for me, but I like it anyway. love the bottle.

I tested this one today, not sure if I want to smell like straight-up caramel. I like Gourmand but I gotta think about this one...

I love these little bottles, but the scent doesn't always work for me. This one went on great, as a White musky sugary vanilla with wood notes. Then it rapidly turned cloying and over sweet. To add insult to injury, it also doesn't really scrub off,so I was stuck with a wristful of gooey, invasive white sugary musk. In the end, not a happy union on me.

Tried it on last night, and this one is definitely a gourmand-type scent rather than an oriental floral. The opening and middle notes are much better than the dry-down, in my opinion. So Hooked on Carmella starts off as a rather nice caramel based perfume with lashings of peony and a few other flowers I can't identify, but then as it moves on, it ends up becoming a sticky toffee mess that is frankly, a little nondescript.The sillage and lasting power were fairly good when I tried them out. Carmella manages to linger on my skin for several hours, and I even caught a whiff of it this morning (remember that it's an EDT!)

An ok, comfort gourmand perfume, but I think I've smelt better.

EDIT: Tried it on again today, and the weather was much cooler. Carmella smells much nicer in the crisp winter air! Amazing how fragrances can vary depending on the kind of air you expose them to.

Carmella is gourmand, gentle and plush as a Victoria's secret indulging body cream with fresh succulent peonies and roses spread out in a steam of aromatic vanilla and cream.

Carmella may catch you in her ever so sweet snare ;)

LOVE the girls at Benefit in Macy's in C olonie Center Natashia is the best, she got me 'Hooked on Carmella' i smell coconut,pineapply,chocolate so believe me any one who puts down sweet smells everybody is saying behind your back
'you stink'
'

LOVE this perfume. I just wish I could smell it on my skin after a couple hours. I don't know what it is about this fragrance, but it has no stay power. I have to apply and reapply..Ugh!

Super sweet vanilla sandalwood. It's a bad combination on me, very cloying and in the end goes up my nose. It started okay, but gradually became so clingingly sweet and thickly gooey that I had to scrub. SO not for me.

I love the bottles, but this one is way way too cloyingly sugary on me. The sandalwood goes right up my nose and it makes me a little bit queasy. Too dusty, too sweet. I had to scrub this one off.

Sweet, rich, caramel-goodness. I could tell there was some kind of white floral (the tiare) in it as well- I have a particular affinity for them. It's a warm, comfort scent. I couldn't smell the amber much from the bottle, but it bloomed on my skin. It is long-lasting on me, I can still smell it fairly well 6 hrs later.

i went to house of fraiser in richmond and i smelt it from the bottle at first i thought it was a little bit sickly :P
then i tried it on and it was really nice im defently gettin it 4 christmas followig by a PB bag and a PB jumper xx

Once the perfume is on and is aired out enough it smells amazing. I didnt like it too much just smelling it from the bottle, so i tried it on and I loved it! I got two bottles :)

Yikes kind of an explosively sweet opening- lemon and caramel which simmers down to a sweet vanilla. I like gourmands but this is too young for me(30s)- maybe for a teenager?

Benefit SO HOOKED ON CARMELLA is more of a gourmand than an oriental fragrance, well, provided that your idea of tasty eats includes extraordinarily sweet lemon-vanilla cake icing!

This is actually the sweetest composition that I've sniffed since Jessica Simpson TASTE, which also has major diabetic coma potential. Are there flowers in here somewhere? Perhaps, if one digs through the thick layer of icing. But, to my nose, this seems pretty unidimensional, with no significant development at all, just a diffusion of sugar over time.

Definitely not for me. It's time for recuperative black coffee and a pitcher of ice water!

So Hooked on Carmella is the right-most one in the picture.

It's the lightest one among the three. A soft natrual flower scent, hmm... the Cyclamen. I'd smelt a real yellow Cyclamen before, it's exactly like it.

I love this one, it has nice lemony vanilla fragrance for gourmand lovers. My friend from work said it smells like chocolate. Lasting power is also very good more like perfume than EDT. I wish that they produce bigger bottle because 30 ml is not enough for me.I think I will buy this one again.

Everywhere I go it seems to be sold out already. It's been out only a few weeks right? There is a waiting list in the UK. This new line was created by a Chanel nose. It's not a completely complex perfume, but it is a good comfort gourmand scent. Since we are moving into the cooler weather months then it's naturally going to attract people. Vanilla never gets old and always gets compliments. This genre of perfume is the one that appeals to both men and women 9 out of 10. The price is decent for the amount you get. So hooked on Carmella is like a softly coconut vanilla fragrance that is not too strong nor fake smelling. I wouldn't call it a body mist type scent by any means. The florals keep it from being overly sweet. Even if it's not a single perfume you can wear, it's a great one to layer to add something delicious.

First accord is a pleasure - gardenia tinted with caramel - but then quickly fades into a simpleton scent. Actually, like this whole line is a nuisance. It can be a body mist from the Dollar Store - just terribly overpriced, probably on the account of a cute bottle.

I love this one.Its so sweet and gourmand.
at first sniff I had a sweet lemony vanilla. Then it gets more warm ambery vanilla. I definatly gonna buy this one. Staying power is wonderfull on my skin.

i tested it today and like it,i think best of this triology,smells like eating fresh lemon cake at a full of flower garden.but not longlasting.

This one is rich & sweet, smells to me a little like strawberries and caramel - though strawberry isn't listed as one of the notes.

I prefer this to the other popular gourmands I've smelt - it isn't as strong as Fantasy, for instance, and it's rather more warm and rounded. I like the smell, though I don't think it's one I'd wear too often.

This one is for gourmand lovers.
My first association: minty chocolate / minty caramel. For me, a nauseating combination.
Then come exotic vanilla tiare & light mist of pink peony with a hint of citrus.
Not me at all.