Black Lotus

[SophieCedar]

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.

Got this in a swap (thanks deviolet!)

In imp: candy sweet with an acidic undertone. I almost didn't dare apply it to my skin.

Wet: I try it anyways because a few other scents smelled the same but opened big time. At first, I smell like Dr. Pepper. What? Then the resins start to slowly come out. Truly strange.

Drydown: This is the best part. The resins bloom and it's lovely. The Dr. Pepper smell subsides. The lotus provides a nice bright sweet note in the middle of everything but doesn't scream for attention like some citruses can. Color impression: dusty pumpkin orange

This is wonderful but doesn't hold very long, so you have to start the process all over again a few times. It gets better with a couple layers. I wouldn't mix with others though. Afraid the cola smell may stay around if I did.

[angelicruin]

Very sweet blend. Smells like cola on my skin while wet. Myrrh comes out on the dry down and gives it a powdery quality.

[Venneh]

In the imp, I'm getting the sweetness of the lotus, maybe with the amber in it too. On my skin, it's lotus and amber, nothing on the myrrh and sandalwood just yet. We'll see what this does. Very sweet, but it's faded to nothing within the hour; not for me.

Edited February 28, 2010 by Venneh

[CitizenBree]

Very sweet and fruity. I definitely get the cherry cola scent but I don't think that's a bad thing. Smelled kinda yummy. Not exactly sure what Lotus should smell like but I didn't get anything to floral. I liked it enough, didn't love it, but it sure did disappear fast on me. For that, I will give it 2/3. If it stuck around longer, it would have been a 3.

[devilot]

Black Lotus

In the Vial: Bubblegum?!

 

Wet: Still predominantly bubblegum (guess that's the lotus?), but something else. Just there. Just under the surface, somehow.

 

Drydown: Bubblegum gives way to something incredibly sharp. I want to blame the amber. Starting to realize that the lab has some amber notes that really disagree with my nose and at the same time, my skin amps. Ick.

 

Verdict: Really odd in the beginning, definitely much more tolerable later, but I've got to force myself to purge and rehome those that I don't really like.

[GeorgeJr]

This does have the typical lotus note of something sticky sweet . But the amber , myrrh & sandalwood are keeping it at bay quite nicely . Not sure if it's something I'd wear ( this was a frimp from the lab ) , but it does smell much nicer than I expected it to . I've smelled other lotus blends & didn't really care for them . But this is quite a bit darker & more subdued then they were . Thumbs up here

[girasol]

How very odd. This does not evoke images of black pyramids, river demons, and bleak, deadly desert sands - it evokes images of Scooby Doo blowing a giant pink bubblegum bubble, only to have it burst in a sticky mess all his face (I don't know if that ever happened in a Scooby Doo cartoon, but I can totally see it). Silly old Scooby. It's about as bleak and foreboding as a box full of kittens, TBH.

[fictiontragedy]

Perhaps I was craving similar scents with out really knowing it when I placed my last order, however it wasn't really my intention to order two scents that were as similar as Black Lotus and Bastet seem to be on my skin. I actually ordered this because I really happen to like the way Lotus smells on my skin. I knew I was taking a risk because this blend contained amber but much like Bastet this amber actually works with my skin chemistry. I suspect it's the combination between the amber and the myrrh that makes the amber wearable but whatever the case may be more of this please.

 

In the imp: It smells like lotus, just lotus.

 

Wet: Lotus, amber and myrrh. Very pretty but the amber and myrrh seem to make it nearly identical to bastet on my skin, except for the fact that the lotus is gives it a creamier floral edge.

 

Dry: Again a creamy version of Bastet on my skin and I can say this for sure since I'm wearing that on the other arm. I can actually smell the sandalwood though and that does give the sent a different vibe. If it makes any sense at all it's a much cooler blend then bastet, it's also a tad sweeter on my skin and lacks the general spice that bastet has. Still they're very close.

 

Verdict: I love the overall vibe of the labs Egyptian blends on, something in them just seems to adore my skin and make them feel magical. However with the extreme similarity of Black Lotus to Bastet I probably won't be buying a bottle of Black Lotus. It's lovely but it isn't really a strong lotus scent on my skin which was what I really wanted. I'll definitely keep the imp though.

 

 

Edited April 30, 2010 by fiction tragedy

[BuxomM]

It's lotus and myrrh. A slightly sweet floral with a glass cleaner scent.

[DraloreShimare]

In the vial – Bubblegum!

On the skin – More bubblegum. : ( Just a little hint of sandalwood or something.

Dry – Amber, sandalwood, and candy underneath.

 

I'm glad the bubblegum faded, but this still isn't for me.

[Coldfire]

 

 

 

Imp: sweet and dry

Wet on Me: Wrigley's Juicyfruit gum? Now I want gum!

Drying Down: The Juicyfruit has disappeared now. getting that rise of baby powder and sandalwood

Dry: mostly sandalwood and babypowder now. not so much the lotus or resins. Not bad.

[mxtine]

I got this as a frimp in my latest Lab order. It smells like bubblegum, but I also smell sandalwood which is one of my all-time favorite notes. At first I kind of liked it, but as the scent developed it seemed like the beautiful sandalwood, amber and myrrh are fighting with the bubblegum and it's turning into a chewed-up mess. I like lotus when it's supposed to be in fruity candy scents, but not mixed with resins. The only case I think lotus works well in a non-foody blend is with my beloved Bastet.

[calivianya]

I have discovered that I must hate the smell of lotus, as I really do enjoy amber, myrrh, and sandalwood. The lotus must be the sickly-sweet candy smell I picked up at first. After about 15 minutes, when I sniff my wrist this is the kind of floral that makes the back of my nose ache. This is definitely not for me.

 

I was going to see if I could make it to the drydown since that seems to have promise, but I washed it off because I couldn't take it anymore.

 

Edited for spelling fail.

Edited November 28, 2010 by calivianya

[Incendiare]

In the imp, Black Lotus smells like a sweet, almost berryish floral. Definitely a juicier floral. It blooms once wet on my skin. The floral notes are on the delicate side and nothing heady like rose or jasmine. It's almost like a gentle orchid, or a sweeter gardenia. I've never smelled a lotus before but this is what it reminds me of. I sometimes catch whiffs of green in there, like stems. I think people who like Blood Countess would like this too. It's not as berryish as Blood Countess but they're distant relatives.

[hkhm]

imp: fruity floral.

 

wet: this smells like bubblegum and myrrh, the scariest bubblegum ever!

 

dry: this is primarily myrrh as this dries, i can still faintly detect some bubblegum though...

[Lydialove]

Black Lotus is unrelentingly pink and cheerful to my nose and on my skin.

 

I'll probably keep the imp for those rare occasions that unrelentingly pink and cheerful suits me.

[paradoxicaljlb]

Evil Egyptian bubblegum incense! I don't know how else to describe this. It's strangely sweet and pink and juicy, while at the same time sleek like a black cat. It didn't last more than an hour on my skin. Not really my thing.

[Suu4LC]

What a weird scent in the imp. I like the review that called this evil egyptian bubblegum. I really don't know where the bubblegum note comes from, but I totally see it O_o Er, smell it.

 

LOL, seriously, this is sort of like sweet pink bubblegum + myrrh. What a bizarre combo-I really can't think of any other way to describe it. The more it dries, the more myrrh-y it gets. It smells a bit weird on me tbh.

 

Stayed a bubblegum incense for a while, then faded to a soft slightly sweet powdery amber incense. I think I will stick with Xanthe for my bubblegum fix, but if you like your bubblegum more foreboding and mysterious, this is quite an interesting blend.

[Leafy Sea Dragon]

This scent smells exactly like a Japanese candy called "Flower's Kiss" that I really like. It brings to mind pink candies instead of black pyramids and demons, unless they're like flower-demons.

 

I think the scent can best be described as sugary and flowery. After a few hours the myrrh and sandalwood come in, late to the party but still most certainly welcome.

 

The best thing about this is that I find it appealing, and I think the smell is "normal" enough that I can use it for everyday wear without weirding anyone out. It's also nice and long lasting and has a decent but not obnoxious throw. I'll definitely be getting a bottle of this at some point as well as looking for more lotus scents.

Edited April 12, 2011 by Leafy Sea Dragon

[angelmecha]

In Imp: Woah! Chica-cherry-cola and ...Robitussin? Sweet, sweet, syrupy, with a bit of cola. *runs to look at notes... remains puzzled.*

Wet: Coke and powder and pencil shavings? o_O

Drydown: Theeeeere's a little sandal. But, shortly thereafter, it gets powdery. It's a really neat scent with how drastically it changes. I need to track down my Powder Note of Doom, though, because this happens way too often... *sigh*

Verdict: The longer it's on, the more it powders. I'm sad. It's just not for me.

[nome]

This was an amazing scent on my sister, who tried my imp before I did. It was soft and light and sweet and sandal-y, like berries and water and sandalwood.

 

Unfortunately, on me, I got the cola smell a lot of other people did, like syrupy berries. During the drydown, it grew a lot more resiny, but then went pretty powdery. Sad. This would have been a bottle scent if it smelled like it did on my sister.

 

ETA: 12 hours later I happened to get a whiff of my wrist and found the lovely scent I'd smelled on sis, if a bit more powdery and without much throw off the skin. Oh, how I wished it smelled like this all the time.

Edited January 27, 2012 by nome

[whataboutprom]

wet= cherry cough syrup.

 

As it dries, it still smells like cherry cough syrup, but it's not very strong. I actually like the bubblegum scent of other lotus blends like Jailbait, but I'm not getting any of that with Black Lotus so far.

 

After a couple of minutes, the myrrh is trying to peek through, but mostly it's still fake cherry.

 

A few minutes more and I get a hint of pencil shavings along with the cherry cough syrup and a tiny bit of myrrh. (This has never happened to me with sandalwood before.)

 

The cherry is calming down, and now I get almost a soapy scent. It's only been about five minutes, and I already have to put my nose right up to my wrist to smell anything.

 

This is just... not for me. I would be curious to smell this in a scent locket though, to see just how much my skin chemistry is screwing things up.

[Mechanical Death]

In imp, bright red-- like fake blood red. Beautiful color.

In the vial in smells like candied flowers and cherries, like the coating on candied apples, I don't get much amber, maybe a tinge of sandalwood. It's very bright and sugary. If I had read the description before hand, I would have been thoroughly confused. I would expect a heady scent, but this is super yummy and full of foreign flavored candy. I say foreign because I have never had a candy that tastes like this smells, but it has that juicy mouth watering sugary smell that say a jolly rancher has.

 

Wet on skin-- cherries and licorice root? Twizzlers? what? Still that something else is there-- Perhaps that is the lotus, I don't actually know what they smell or taste like.

 

As it dries I can smell more sandalwood and myrrh as in the description. ooh, yum! The whole scent softens up a bit, probably from the amber, which I don't outright smell. It's not very amber heavy but it's there calming the super sugary top note (which is beautiful! <3).

 

I loved it in the imp, but I love it even more on me

Looks like I'll have to get my hands on some of this!

[KakashiMorph]

Black lotus flower, amber, myrrh and sandalwood.

In the bottle: Sandalwood and something darkly sweet (like a goth candy cane).

On my skin: Sandalwood and the goth candy cane again. I can't spot the myrrh or the amber but I have no idea what the black lotus flower would smell like so I am guessing all the gothy sweetness comes from this one. A few minutes later it transforms to myrrh with some pleasant soapiness and 20 minutes after the application it has completely morphed to soap.

Drydown: Lightly smoky soap. It's a pity, because I liked the gothy candy cane.

[undream]

wet from the imp, a sweet candy-like scent, what i'm assuming (based on other reviews!) is the lotus. on application, it morphs into a gorgeous spice, very exotic & dark; the amber & myrrh? (:

 

an overall beautiful scent. a possible big bottle purchase(!). definitely a keeper.