Red Lantern

[Venneh]

A tribute to the opium den cum bawdyhouses of Shanghai in the 1930’s. Golden amber, blonde tobacco, Sudanese black coconut, rich caramel, black currant, white opium and delphinium laced with a sensual blend of Asian spice.

'06 Blend

In the decant, this is creamy and sweet with a bit of a medicinal edge. We'll see how this plays on my skin. On my skin, there's a bit of creaminess that ends up having a lot of spice to it. We'll see how this plays out. Ends up being spicy Play-Doh b/c of the coconut. Damnit. Swaps/sales. Edited January 12, 2010 by Venneh

[alioth]

Oh Red Lantern. I forget how much I love this, because it just smells funky to me in the bottle. I can't even describe the funk, just that it's something astringent-sour and weird over the sweetness. But then I put it on, and that weird funk burns off to reveal a fantastic amber-tobacco with this darkness swirling underneath. It's super sexy and feminine and also kind of slinky-fun, and I really, really need to remember that between wearings.

[Schmoozy]

This has alot of notes I love, but once caramel enters the picture, it swoops in and overrides everything. It takes a great deal of morphing before it finally settles down and allows the other notes to come out and play. When it does, golden amber, tobacco, black coconut and the asian spices are at the forefront. It's sweet & spicy and the coconut adds a touch of tropics to an otherwise thick, sensual scent. Unfortunately the rich caramel is too heavy and too overwhelming for me to make it through the morphing stage.

Edited February 3, 2010 by Schmoozy

[lilwhiterabbit]

Oh, Red Lantern, I wanted to love you, but I'm going to have to settle for 'like' instead.

 

In the bottle it smells like butterscotch to me. I guess that's the caramel note, but it really smells more like butterscotch--like the gooey, sticky sauce you'd get on a butterscotch sundae. Overwhelmingly so, but that's not a bad thing (I love butterscotch... yum).

 

Once on me, though, I get this weird scent of wet cardboard for about thirty seconds, then the tobacco takes over. For the first several minutes I smell like nothing but tobacco. After a while the tobacco settles down a bit, and I can smell the butterscotch/caramel again, and a bit of the coconut in the background. It's quite nice, but not exactly what I was expecting. I was really hoping for a strong caramel scent, but tobacco seems to be the most prominent note on my skin--so much so that sometimes I can't smell anything but tobacco.

 

I'm not horribly disappointed in Red Lantern but, well, it's not quite what I expected.

[Suusje]

'07 version

 

The caramel is very heavy at first and the spices are there as well. When it dries the caramel steps back the the tobacco comes out and I think I detect the currant as well. This is really nice!

 

[RhinestoneHousewife]

06' Version

 

In the bottle: Sweet candy smell.

 

Wet on skin: It smells like a fruity Italian soda.

 

Dry on skin: Creamy, warm and sweet...I love it!

[milica]

I can't remember what version it was, but it's caramel and coconut stomping over all other notes listed. After a while, it's smokey caramel and coconut stomping over everything, yuck.

[surlygurl]

Red Lantern '07. Source - an empty from my decant mistress.

 

The only 3 notes I can make out are coconut, caramel, and tobacco (maaaaybe some currant). They don't blend very well at first; they really climb all over each other vying for dominance. As the scent dries they finally blend. This may be the first caramel scent that doesn't make me ill. But, ya know, it's still too sweet for me. It's heady, lush, sweet, and, well, complex. I *like* it, but not on me. I mean, it smells good on me, but it's not something I want to smell like.

[starfish327]

red lantern '06

 

a rather pleasant coconut cookie dough type scent. nice enough, but not really me.

[hkhm]

2011 version.

 

bottle: amber, coconut, caramel... yummy.

 

wet: as was the case when i bought previous versions of this scent, the opium is a bit sharp for the first little while, the amber and coconut and touches of caramel take the backseat. but i know that in a few months, the opium will tame and this will smooth into the most lovely scent.

 

dry: even though i know this gets even better with age, it's still incredible fresh. silky amber and coconut, sticky caramel, sharp currant and opium... still sits firmly in my top ten favorites.

[Jilara]

Two reviews of the 2011 version for one!

 

My housemate (male) tried this one. He said in the bottle it smelled "like a warm office chair." Wet, it was pretty much caramel. On drydown, it went to caramel with walnuts and warm leather. Dry, it almost vanished, and was only a background of pralines, very faint.

 

My own impressions: in the bottle, a high-end men's cologne.

On me, there was a sharp fruit note coming up in foreground, a faint berry hint (probably the black current), with a background of caramel. Behind it, on drydown, there is an almost...cedar or wood note? The fruit/berry almost drops out. Dry, there is a caramel and slightly sharp woodsy note that really pops. I really like this!

Edited February 4, 2011 by Jilara

[iiinterstate]

This starts out as a whole lot of caramel which I am not excited about, but dries down into a nice spicy tobacco. There's something a little woody in there too. I like it. I think in a few months I'll like it a lot more.

[Little_Rowan]

Red Lantern 2011

 

Complete impulse buy after reading its description

 

In bottle: HOLY CARAMEL BATMAN!!! UGNH!!!!

 

Wet: Putting this on wet was still frightening to think that if it didn`t morph i`d smell like a caramel chew all day.... then magic happened!... it began to calm down.

 

Dry: Oh lovely coconut! and opium! and a touch of carmel amongst tobacco smoke. Absolutely lovely! Its dark mysterious but sweet, and it just kept getting bettr as the day went on. Its throw also lasted all day. BEST IMPULSE BUY EVER!!! I`ll be ordering another bottle once I see what this months Lunacy is.

[Ishtar]

(Long-overdue review for the 2008 version)

 

I have noticed a pattern in the way I review scents: my favourites seem to be the hardest to write reviews for. Not so much because I fear my words won't do them justice, but because I'm so thoroughly enraptured by them that I completely forget to pay attention to the notes and their interplay.

 

Red Lantern is one of these scents. The second I apply it, I find myself immersed in sweet deliciousness, and my brain goes something like this:

 

"Mmmh - oh, wonderful, yum - and so sexy! - hey, this is delicious - so sweet, so perfect - rowr!"

 

Ahem. So, yes, no wonder it took me so long to write something about this scent. I think we all agree the above is not the most helpful review in the world...

 

Here's the short (and hopefully more articulate ) version: on me, Red Lantern is very sweet, but not cloyingly so. It has really good throw, too - one of the few scents that makes me feel like I'm immersed in a cloud of fragrance, and I like it that way!

 

The coconut and caramel are very noticeable; the tobacco is much more subdued yet it is cearly there. As for the other notes listed, they are completely MIA. For some reason, I keep thinking there is cognac in this blend - not that there is an alcoholic feel to it, but it has a certain kind of fruitiness that reminds me of the cognac note.

 

As far as sweet and sexy goes, Red Lantern is utter perfection to me.

[subtlesiren]

2006 version

 

In the bottle, Red Lantern is a sweet and spicy coconut, like a coconut chai. The tobacco keeps it from becoming too foody, and seems to be most prominent in the drydown. After being on my skin awhile, the tobacco faded down to a pleasant wisp of smoke, and the coconut warms up to more of a toasted coconut smell. I think I just might pick up a bottle of the 2011 version to age.

[edenssixthday]

Red Lantern 2011 - In past years, I've found this scent to be simply ghastly on my skin entirely as a result of the caramel in it. However, I recently tried a blend or two that had caramel in them that actually smelled good on me, so I really, really wanted to try Red Lantern again this year. While the recipe may be entirely the same as in previous years, to my nose, it seemed like there was a lot less caramel in it and a lot more amber, so I was pretty psyched to smell it. When I first put it on, I was super excited because it smelled the caramel wasn't going to ruin it and it was going to be a rich, warm, deliciously exotic blend that I could finally enjoy along with everyone else. And then.... and then the scent "turned" on me and that pesky caramel note, while not as strong as it's been in past iterations of Red Lantern, still managed to go off and start smelling like burnt-sugar-and-sick. It's light, not as cloying and unpleasant as my past experiences of it, but enough that I can't wear it on my skin. However, because the caramel in it is so light compared to previous years (again, to my nose, that is!) this may be one I can pull off wearing in a scent locket. I'm so glad Red Lantern is much more palatable to me this year and I hope by the time it's released again that either the caramel will be gone or my skin chemistry will have changed enough that I can wear it and love it, because I really, really want to love this blend, since everything else about it is really awesome.

[SophieCedar]

Did I seriously never review this? Glad it popped up from someone's 2011 review.

 

Red lantern 08:

I bought a partial bottle in the summertime. That was the WRONG season for me to be wearing Red Lantern. The caramel was so overpowering that I stashed the bottle away, pouting and disappointed.. But I reasoned that Beth releases blends at certain times of year with the idea of complimenting the seasonal atmosphere. I recently went back to Smut 10 too and realized it's much better in winter.

 

Wet: OK this is great. The amber, coconut, caramel, tobacco, currant, and delphinium are forefront forming a silky, weightless cloud of pure indulgent awesomeness. It has a light touch but firm presence.. none of that raunchy overpowering heavy-handedness. Very seductive. The delphinium is a wonderful unexpected top note. I love the white opium too: Nice soporific background. The spices aren't too heavy and I can't really tell what's in the mix.

 

Drydown: caramel, tobacco, and currant stick around. Delphinium is in the background still, but light. Much foodier and the opium has disappeared. I love it. Glad I have this partial. It's the perfect cold weather love affair.

Edited February 13, 2011 by SophieCedar

[cherrycherry]

Red Lantern 2011.

 

This is one of my favourites of all the Lupers I've sat and tested my way through today. I can see me wearing this at any time of year, whether hot or cold, and finding comfort in its sweetness. The caramel reminds me of Bite Me (a blend I LOVE) and the coconut reminds me of Perversion. It's like Bite Me and Perversion had a sublimely erotic affair and their offspring is this - caramelcoconutHEAVEN.

 

Just gorgeous. I need a million bottles.

[malibusunny]

You know, I always think "I hate coconut" and let it scare me away from stuff that otherwise sounds really good.

 

This time, I took the risk, and I'm so glad. this is beautiful. Straight from the bottle, it's gorgeous. On my skin, it goes mild and sweet without being foodie.

[cfrancesca]

2011: I've tried previous versions of Red Lantern and remember it being way too heavy for me and the lab's caramel just doesn't work on me, this version is pretty much the same as I remember but perhaps even heavier, probably due to the fact that it's fresh. I mainly get a strong boozey, heady caramel and tobacco blend, with soft, dark coconut and amber in the background.

[schackjj]

I was seduced by the siren song of those lovely, blended notes in the bottle. Then I put some on and the damned caramel grabbed me by the throat and choked me!!! *coff coff*

[calivianya]

This is sickly sweet caramel wet on my skin. The coconut comes out almost immediately, and the spices start to come out after about 10 minutes.

 

Sickly sweet is how this stays on me, even though it becomes slightly more balanced over time. I'm hoping age will mellow this scent out some, so I'm keeping my decant for now.

[agirlnamedfury]

I just received my very first BPAL order, and decided to try Red Lantern first. In the bottle, all I smelled was delicious, sweet caramel. On my skin it's very different - barely any caramel and overwhelmed by spice. It smells almost exactly like curry powder on me, with just a hint of coconut in the background. Very unusual. I wasn't sure if I liked it at first, but it mellowed out after 5 or 10 minutes and now I love it.

[suki]

This is for the 2011 version.

 

In the bottle: Oh Red Lantern, how I have missed thee. There it is- the caramel/tobacco/black coconut combo I've missed so...

 

Wet On Skin: This is a fresh and somehow "raw" version, clearly new and not quite fully formed or mixed. Not surprisingly, Red Lantern is one of those scents that become far more complex with age. With this one, I'm getting all the notes, but they are separate from each other in a way that only aging can change. still, even at this stage it's yummy- the potential is clearly there.

 

Dry Down: Yup, that's Red Lantern, alright.

 

In All: My last bottle was from the 2008 release, and I had the misfortune of having to sell it last year. I'm excited to have a chance to stock up now, and I can tell that this is going to age in the same beautiful way as that one (and the 2006 my friend has as well). the trouble is not having patience while it deepens and becomes the more complete version of itself. but any way you cut it, this is a classic BPAL keepsake, and as hoard-worthy as ever.

 

 

[Antoinette]

Oh...WOW! So happy I ordered this.

 

I think Red Lantern is sexy. It's sweet and dark and mysterious all at the same time. It really seems to capture the mood of its inspiration (not that I've ever been in a 1930's Shanghai opium den), just saying.

 

I get sweet sweet caramel, tobacco and coconut. I adore this!