Black Lotus

[Nepthys]

Born in the shadows of a Temple to Set, this corrupted Egyptian scent evokes images of black pyramids, river demons, and bleak, deadly desert sands. Black lotus flower, amber, myrrh and sandalwood.

This is the only BPAL I've disliked right off. It dried down on me to smell exactly like Robitussin cough syrup. Eventually it morphed into something more palatable and that sticky-sickly candy scent went away, but the lotus still dominated. I was hoping the amber and sandalwood would come through more.

[pkwench]

Vial: Straight up lotus. Which is a pleasing and somehow hippy scent.

 

Wet: Lotus and very sweet at that. Almost candied. It's bubblegum!

 

After 10: It's still very sweet, but definately not as sweet or bubblegummy. The sandalwood is making it woody and I'm just starting to get a teasing whiff of amber's resin. The myrrh must be what's kicking the sweetness down a notch.

 

After 20: There's a touch more resin now, but it's about the same-sweet lotus, tempered by a wee bit of sandalwood, darkend a bit by the myrrh, with the amber. It does smell like a hippy incense and "smoking accessories" shop, but that's no bad thing. Cloyingly sweet, but still darn nice.

[glampyre]

I love deep, dark perfumes. Black lotus is almost too dark, even for me!

 

The lotus is amazing on top of the resins. As it dries, the lotus becomes more and more the focus of the scent, until it remains a really pretty, delicate floral.

[Azrhiaz]

I like this far more than any of the "regular" lotus notes I've smelled, and it is certainly dark. However, I'm discovering that lotus goes in the category with gardenia and jasmine as notes I just don't care for. Off to the swap pile.

[dreamwalkblue]

I was really excited to receive this as a freebie in my order, since I had wanted to try this one for a while but never got around to ordering it.

 

I actually liked the initial smell of this far more than the dry-down. At first this is light and sweet, in a vaguely aquatic berry-ish sort of way (I'm assuming that this is the lotus!) Unfortunately, the scent ends up turning into an aquatic-berry-plastic-barbie-doll on my skin.

[Northernminx]

Slinky, very slinky... lightly fruity and floral in the bottle, this is a lot lighter than I anticipiated on my skin while still being fairly exotic. The lotus is light and mellow, undertouched by smokey myrrh and something incensey. Lovely and dark and exotic and yet not overpowering.

[NoirRosaleen]

Wow, this one changes REALLY fast on me. At first, right as it hit the skin, it was sickly sweet cherry cough syrup, but almost immediately the sandalwood and resin come out to play, and the sickliness dies a fast death *hurrah!* It keeps morphing darker and darker...within minutes it*s a yummy, incensy blend with the slightest hint of fruit waaaay in the back where it belongs (as far as I*m concerned). I*m not sure this will be an everyday scent, or even a keeper (as I do have TONS to go through still...), but it*s not too bad on me. Now let*s see if it lasts through the gym!

 

EDIT: Drat...the incense all ran away during the workout, leaving just the fruity weirdness... Off to swaps.

Edited November 20, 2004 by NoirRosaleen

[Unseelie]

Wow, in the "i'm frightened" way.

everything i've tried so far has had a pleasing effect, even if unexpected, so i'm almost having an "ah-ha!" moment with this one - finally, something that i apparently turn weird with the body chemistry. hah, take that!

 

in the vial - WOAH, super sticky sweet! good grief! just incredibly overwhelmingly deeply overripe dark sweet fruit! i fear to try this, and hold off for a day or two. finally driven to sample by interesting prior reviews.. i swipe..

 

wet - oh HELP i smell sooo sticky sweet and i can't run away from the smell, it follows me in circles around the sofa, aieeeee!

 

dry - as it dries, the sweetness fades. incoming is a scent i can't quite place, growing stronger as drying contines. at the half-hour mark i realize - dirt. i smell like.. dirt. and it's not from tripping and falling when running around the sofa and rolling on the dusty floor. i inhale long and hard and realize that what i'm smelling is borderline smokey, it probably should smell like smoke. on me, it smells like.. dirt. sweetly grapey dirt. or maybe.. like an old dusty stick of stale incense.

 

wah! am sad. i made this weird, i suppose, since the ingredients sound *wonderful*.

one to trade!

Trying this a second time, a couple days later... a little more experience with amber and resin.. and just a different day.. the amber smell is better, the resin sweeter and less dirt-dry.

 

it still has a damn strange reaction on my skin, but i've smelled that hint from a couple other oils this week and understand it. i'm oddly tempted to try this heavily layered over something that will ride the scorchy smell well, give it that gentle nudge into the ambery/warm scent it should be.

Edited November 23, 2004 by Unseelie

[Mayfair]

Interesting complex flowery scent when wet. Couldn't really make out any single notes.

 

Dries down to a very dark, yet slightly sweet, floral. There is a smoky note lingering in the background, which I'm guessing is the myrrh. I'm not getting any sandalwood at all.

 

During the drydown stage it almost reminds me of Lush's Middle Earth soap, but a flowery Middle Earth, if that makes sense.

[ismene]

The Vampire Lillith gave me an imp of this as part of my swapfaery package, which was very kind of her as it was on my wish list. It's a rather bizarre mixture of muskiness and candy sweetness. The resins give it a dark, incensey smell that I at first mistook for a musk, overlaying the lotus. After a while everything fades but the candied, almost fruity sweetness of the lotus. I really, really like this one. Yummy.

[nevermore]

I really like Black Lotus. It's fruity, but not overly so, and insense-y, but not too much. Dark, sweet, resiny and insense-y. Luckily, the lotus in this doesn't turn to bubblegum like most of the lotus blends I've tried. I don't think I'll need a bigger bottle, but I think I would buy another imp after the two I have are gone.

[fairywingmaker]

I absolutely LOVE Black Lotus. I'm such a fan of myrrh, and coupled with the lotus it works really nicely with my chemisty. It end up being a spicey floral which is a wonderful smell to me. The sandalwood and amber add a little something behind the lotus and myrrh, but they don't take anything away.

[feline.by.design]

Black Lotus is nice, but ultimately, too sweet for me. In the bottle it reminded me of bubble gum, and the effect of the oil was the same on my skin wet. Initially, the bubble gum scent was strong, yet it seemed to grow sweeter as time progressed. The sweetness reminded me of a similar sweetness I found in Has No Hanna and other Voodoo blends, though I could be totally off. Within ten minutes, though, Black Lotus transforms into a respectable floral scent.

 

The bubble gum association is something I'm going to attribute to the lotus note. I tend to get this "chewing gum" connotation with lotus scents.

 

I'm willing to give Black Lotus another go, if not on my skin then as a house spray. I think it would be rather nice diluted and sprayed upon linens or the sofas. In any case, though, I won't be buying a bigger bottle, but I'm really intrigued by the scent in how well it was made.

 

-doreen

[Theravada]

Sandalwood, amber, and myrrh are three of my absolute favorite notes, so I was really expecting to like this one.

 

Wow...lotus is one overwhelming floral!! In the bottle this was so sugary sweet it reminded me of candy. On, the candy scent faded with wear. But ultimately, this blend remained cloying and sweet. I never got the sandalwood or myrrh, and only a faint hint of amber.

 

Luckily, I've already found a new home for this one. Hopefully she'll enjoy it more than I did.

[requieminblack]

My first BPAL review, how exciting!

 

First sniff out of the bottle- Bubblegum! This smells just like a big piece of pink Bazooka bubblegum.

 

After 15 minutes on me- The bubblegum smell has faded and now I am getting a delicious golden amber scent. It also smells a bit like incense.

 

After an hour- Still amber, but more subtle. Warm and spicy, very sexy. It almost smells like Opium. Yes, in fact it smells just like Opium!

 

I love this one! I definitely want a big bottle.

[Shollin]

First sniff: Very wet. Light, floaty, aquatic and sweet.

 

Wearing: I simply love that this perfume bears the name of the most expensive Magic card ever printed. And, happily, I enjoy Black Lotus beyond its Magic connection – it’s dreamy and ethereal, not quite solid, and still very watery-sweet.

[anaethema_x]

bottle: evil bubblegum. not that bubblegum is evil...but that this would be the alignment of it this scent...evil.

 

wet: cloying, candylike...less gummy.

 

dry: smoky, dark, enchanting. took anout 45 mintues to get here, but it was well worth the wait! Its like feeling something watching you from the darkness.

[anmorata]

Black Lotus:

 

Wet: Sweet, sweet floral. I really liked the smell of this in the imp.

 

Wet on me: a darker floral, deepening into incense.

 

Drydown: This scent faded into something akin to Bastet (which not only turned to some sort of incense powdery scent on me, it permeated my senses and would not go away. ). Apparently, my body chemistry doesn't do too well with resins.

 

Back to the drawing board..

[Nutterfly]

A very kind gift, to help me wittle down my wishlist!

 

In the bottle: This is very fruity and slightly floral, with a rather strong hint of something polish-like/plastic-like.

 

Wet: Still keeping the same fruity type of scent, but the polish has calmed down a little. As it dries there’s an increase in the floral scent. Much nicer than in the bottle to me. There is a hint of something else... of something that was common in my Mum's perfume when I was smaller. Only a wee hint of that "perfume" smell.

 

An hour later: There’s a hint of wood/coconut, it’s possibly the MDF of my desk though! Has become much more rounded, and is hard to describe. Sort of fruity, sweet, but not too sweet and not too strong.

 

Few hours later: I keep getting wafts of something soft and LUSH like. It’s yummy. ON closer sniffing there’s a lovely simple rounded fruity smell. Hmm, yummy.

[Caitfish]

Hmm... In the bottle, I get the same bubblegumminess (what a word) that Q-S mentioned earlier in this thread. It was pretty repulsive to me at first, but I had to give this one a shot, so I tried it on.

 

Almost immediately, the bubblegum scent was annihilated by the sandalwood and myrhh. I'm pretty surprised, but the sandalwood didn't dominate this blend either. All of the notes just melded and softened each other. It was a pretty (and dark?) white floral for a few minutes and then...

 

completely gone. *sigh*

[summer]

I love lotus, and this is an interesting and evocative blend, but it's not for me. The sharp, tangy lotus scent is most apparent at first, but very quickly the "black" part begins to emerge -- a smoky, dusty, resinous scent. It reminds me of exploring ancient tombs and ruins. Very interesting, but I just can't wear smoky, dusty scents.

[voodoobaby]

In the bottle: Yikes! Sharp, acrid bubblegum! This is not the pleasant, spicy bubblegum smell I got from Blood, this is bubblegum that was chewed for five minutes and then stuck under a table for a week or two. Well, maybe it will settle down once I wear it.

 

Wearing: Um. Still bubblegum. It's kind of making me sick, which I want to blame on the amber as much as the lotus. OK, I will wait this out.

 

Later: Hmm. Well, the sandalwood and myrrh take over after a couple of hours, but sniffing from my arm I still smell the bubblegum. If the sandalwood thing were to become more dominant, I might like it, but in this case I will have to give the blend a big no. To the swaps!

[klowey]

This is candy sweet, right from the vial and onto my skin. Hours later it's still very sweet and very sticky.

 

I've noticed this with other lotus blends, and I think I'm going to have to avoid them from here on in.

[k00kaburra]

In bottle: Sweet and sinister. Something beautiful and grand that has been corrupted by time and the weariness of the world.

 

On me: Lotus scents seem to always be light on me. I can barely smell this. After it's had a chance to dry the spices come wafting up. I can imagine what a beautiful contrast this would have if the lotus didn't fade so; the sweetness of the flower mingled with the darker myrrh and the crystalline amber and the beauty of sandalwood. Unfortunately, on me it smells dry, dry like a desert and a crumbling pyramid.

[helarctos]

Unfrickingbelievable.

 

On me, Black Lotus smells like an amalgam of real maple syrup and paraffin wax. I thought it might fade but it hasn't. It only turned to smelling more like burnt maple syrup.

 

This confuses me, because I thought it was the Lab's ylang ylang that turns to maple syrup on me in many blends, but there's no ylang ylang listed in Black Lotus. Off to play match-up with my spreadsheet.

 

ETA: The culprit is myrrh. And I think the quality that other reviews refer to as "bubblegum" is the same one that I perceived as "paraffin wax." (Because all the sweetness was subsumed into the maple syrup smell.)

Edited March 7, 2005 by helarctos