Red Lantern

[dragonryder]

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.

Very much caramel, but with a little offset of coconut. Not much of a food scent person, but my granddaughter loves this one.

[luna65]

Thanks to oceandreamer001 for the bottle.

 

I felt I had to wear Red Lantern several times before I could do justice to reviewing it. This is, without a doubt, once of the most complex perfumes I have ever worn, not only in terms of its' myriad notes, but in the way it evolves over the course of time. Metaphorically I'd say it's a lot like certain wines - the wine you drink upon opening the bottle is not the same wine you drink an hour later after it has had time to breathe.

 

Bottle: An incredibly heady sweetness greets my nose upon opening the bottle. The most prominent notes are the caramel and the black current. It is not merely sugar, but a deeper sense of sweetness, with a particularly thick and liquid body.

 

Skin: Within minutes, perhaps even seconds, other notes emerge. The amber and the black coconut create yet another type of sweetness, more ruminative than mouth-watering, and the tobacco offsets the delphinium, bringing forth a powdery quality. The drydown reinforces that this is a dense, complicated type of scent; creating an evocation of a time and a place that we can only reference with the imagination. When people say things like, "You smell like a brothel," what they mean to say is a person smells loud and gaudy, without realizing that the true scent of licentiousness is more like Red Lantern: a type of olfactory delirium. The opium comes forth on my skin after a time, sweet again, but that sickly-sweet smell that certain substances are known to have. The final veil that remains is a wall of spice anchored by the tobacco and the opium, which add up to an almost musk-like quality.

 

Drydown: As others have noted, this scent has a particularly tenacious quality, one of my wearings lasted about 15 hours, give or take. And on other mediums Red Lantern retains that initial gourmand-gone-wild sweetness; I can imagine making myself and others quite hungry if I wore it in a scent locket.

 

It almost seems superfluous to say that I love this, but declarations of true passion are often without reason. I hope someday in the near future I can do justice to this ephemeral alchemy by creating a milieu with words in much the same way that Beth has constructed it with scent.

Edited July 28, 2006 by Shollin

[RavenVelith]

In the bottle: I mostly smell....coconut....smokey, spicey coconut and caramel. Yeah. That's it. It makes my head spinny. In a good way!

 

Wet: The tobacco comes out instantly on me. And the spices. The caramel's there just sweetening it enough so it's not bitter.

 

Dry: The white opium is sneaking through. Ohhh this is a strong one! In a good way! And a bit more floral-like smell is coming through. But that caramel's still there sweetening it so it's not gross.

 

HURRAY FOR AWESOME BLENDS.

[Galatea]

In the Imp: Knock your face off, extra-sweet, vanilla cake.

 

Wet: First: Maple Nut Goodies, you know, those candies with peanuts in a maple candy drop?

Second: Coconut cum caramel.

 

Dry: Exceedingly sweet, tobacco smoke and high priced bourbon scent. If it were a little less sweet smelling I think I would like it more. The coconut overpowers just a little too much also.

 

Throw: Fairly good. Though it fades a bit fast for my tastes.

 

Overall: I'm actually kind of torn about this one. I like everything in this, but I don't like the overly sweet suntan oil element I get from it for awhile. There could be times when this would be a perfect scent, but I don't think it would be even a weekly wear for me.

Strangely enough, for a scent that is so strong at first it doesn't last all that long. About an hour of wear and it's knocked down to this 'nearly unsmellable to anyone but me' perfume.

Edited June 29, 2006 by Galatea

[bellis]

Sometimes you just have a hunch about scents. I convinced myself not to buy it at the Lupercali update because coconut and I do not have a good history. In both Elegba and Black Pearl it completely took over the scent and made me smell like pure maccaroon. Now, I enjoy coconut in food, but it's something I do not enjoy smelling like. Still, I was intrigued, and kept it on my wishlist even though I didn't actively try to find a bottle. Then I was offered a bottle in swap and thought, what the hell.

 

Oh. My. God.

 

I looooooooooove this. It's an amazing spicy-sweet caramel cream scent on me, but not foody at all. I love the tobacco and currant combination and the opium makes it dark and sexy. Best of all, there's just a teeny tiny hint of coconut in the background. I doubt I'll wear this as much when it gets cooler, but right now I'm reaching for it almost every day. If this is a brothel, it's the most expensive one in the city, and the women who work there enjoy their work.

[sharonapple]

Red Lantern popped my BPAL cherry! Thankfully for me, it didn't go horrifically wonky on my skin like I was afraid it would.

 

When I opened my bottle, I got a whiff of sweet caramel, but not so much that it made my head swim.

 

On me, it didn't seem to change much- I did get a bit of the sweet tobacco smell when I was sniffing the bottle, but not much when I put it on. It kind of turned into a soft caramel scent on me, maybe even a little bit powdery- but I liked it.

 

It's a nice scent, and I'll try not to use much- but it wasn't something that I would want to make a signature scent. Maybe just as a bit of a pick-me-up when I'm feeling down.

 

EDIT:

 

Nuts. I tried it on again, and this time I tried to put on a little more and be adventurous because I'd only put quick dabs behind my ears and on my wrists.

 

It smells terrible on me. Just as someone else said before, I smell like a Yankee candle. I'm so disappointed now

Edited July 16, 2006 by Sharon Apple

[Orodemniades]

Bottle: oo-er, I don't care for the butter in this, makes my nose go stuffy.

 

Wet: Butter and oh hey! An instant morpher, cool. Something sweet, and...caramel?

 

Initial drydown: Hmm, caramel, mebbe slightly burnt caramel. Coffee? Smoke? Must be the coconut, mebbe it's toasted or summat.

 

Drydown: Caramel caramel caramel with a tablespoon of coffee, sweetness underneath it all, a whiff of burnt sugar, altogether edible.

 

Overall: I didn't think I'd like this, in fact I've avoided it for months, but i think I do like this after all. I'm not a foody scent person, so I'm not sure when I'll wear it, but I'm certainly going to keep it.

 

Oro

[Demeter]

Source: 5ml bottle

 

Initial Impressions Well. It’s about Shanghai. It’s about opium dens. Okay, I admit it. I got this purely based on its description and how warm it sounds.

 

Bottle: Rich and sweet; incredibly rich. The sweetness isn’t fruit sweet or pure vanilla-sweet; it’s a sweet that’s been soaked in some dark corner. It’s smoky and slow and languid. It makes me want to sit back in some bar and watch the people pass by. Buttery caramel and strong… cinnamon? No way.

 

Wet: This is the stuff that makes me love BPAL so much! Some of their stuff is really hit or miss, but this, oh this and Snow White makes all the testing worth it because the scent makes me just fall over in lust and happiness.

 

Drydown: Yum. Just… yum. I can’t get enough of this!

 

Dry: It’s smoky and slow and musky. While certain scents like Monster Bait: Closet are almost too sweet, this is the perfect mixture of sweet, smoke, and other scents. There’s definitely an incense element to it, but darned if I know why I like when I’m normally not quite so fond of incense.

 

Overall: It’s not necessarily a scent you want to drink with, but it’s certainly a great scent to wear to a bar where a friend suddenly leans over in a drunken stupor to sniff at you and then say, completely trashed, YOUSMELLFUCKINGGOOD. Before turning around and announcing that the band is ‘really tits’.

[fairy]

The tobacco scared me but I have to say this is one my favorite scents now. Wow. It's very unique and a tad foody, without being overly in your face. It's light and feminine, yet unique. I've had this on for the last few hours and everyone I passed wanted to know what I was wearing. Gorgeous gorgeous scent~ Made my favorites list

[Melantha]

In the bottle: The caramel is right there on top. Wow! Luscious.

 

Wet: The caramel disappears almost immediately, leaving behind only a memory to mix with the other notes. I smell spices and currant and amber.

 

Dry: The caramel is back, but only faintly, and the whole blends together into a lovely, soporific scent.

 

Yum.

[ND¢]

I didn't think I'd ever like a scent that had to do with food. How naive I was.

 

In the bottle: Thick, rich caramel and spice.

 

On me: The spiciness of tobacco and some sort of, well, smuttiness keep the rich caramel from getting out of control. The currant may be lending some sweetness, but it's very subtle if I can even smell it at all. This smell really does capture a sort of soporific delirium, an indulgence. I love it.

[WidgetAlley]

I refrained from ordering any of this when it was around, since all the comparisons to Misk U had me scared. The Boy got a bottle of it, though, and I finally stole a decant this past week.

 

In the Imp: Sweetly smoky and rich-- buttercream and caramel and brown tobacco. Reminds me of a more Oriental Perversion, actually; it has the same sort of sticky, almost boozy, waxy sweetness underscored with spike and smoke. I'm catching whiffs of coconut as well. Mmmm.

 

Wet: Unlike Perversion, this dries out once it hits my skin: the caramel fades to a background note, and coconut, tobacco, a touch of fresh delphinium, amber and opium are the most prominent notes. No black currant yet, which is good, since it tends to go a little wonky on me. There's something in here that's actually clean and very bright (must be the delphinium), and reminds me a little of ozone, but it's really interesting and keeps the whole thing from being too foody. It's like sweet night air and a night-market full of delicious, exotic foods.

 

Dry: No one's going to believe me if I say this is like the lovechild of Buck Moon and Perversion on me, with a hint of Snake Charmer, are they? Fine, then, I'll keep it to myself. There's a touch of Yankee Candle about it-- the notes sort of all meld together-- but in a good way. I like this. I like it a lot. Not, maybe, enough for a bottle, but I'll hang on to my Imp-- it'll be great for fall days when I want something a little foody but not overwhelming. The only problem I have with it is it fades really quickly (WTF, skin? Everyone else is saying "Fifteen hours!" and you're all, "Ten minutes!"), but that could be due to the time of the month, so we'll see.

[akabob]

I got this as a frimp with a little left over to try from Neuilly, so I decided to try it out today while bored at work.

 

In the imp: Very caramelly, with just a little something incensy coming out.

 

Wet on me: Wow. This had some CRAZY throw. After trying Jack last night and barely detecting anything from a distance until I slathered a little more on, putting BARELY a dab of this on has scented my whole office. It smells really awesome, almost like this store I love buying incense and other goodies in. Really, incensy and supersweet. It is almost TOO much, even for my food and incense loving nose. There is just enough opium in it to cut the caramel down and help balance the coconut.

 

On dry down: STILL has throw. Softens a little to let the tobacco note come up, but I'm still getting mostly caramel and opium. Fine by me. I like how the opium works on my skin.

 

Overall, this scent is gorgeous, but I'd never need more than an imp's worth to last me a few months. Definitely a special occasion scent for me. And yes, it IS "pretty."

 

ADDED June 20:

 

I never got around to posting my review of this...at least I can't recall. Needless to say, since receiving a bottle through another member I have become hooked.

 

This is the kind of smell that epitomizes lazy, woozy sexuality. When I wear it, people come up a little closer to get a sniff and ask me what I have on, and my hyper-smell-sensitive boyfriend flips out over it.

 

The notes that stand out most are probably the opium and the caramel with the tobacco and amber coming in behind it. I don't really pick up any floral smell from the delphinium, and that is fine with me. It smells like burning sugar, smokey opium and sticky caramel on me. Red Lantern is hands down everything I'd ever want in a perfume...it is sweet, but not in that annoying cotton candy way, and it causes strange reactions in strangers trying to sniff me.

 

The oil lasts nearly all day and night, and if I put too much on, it is almost dizzying...very opiate-esque. The perfect smell for putting helpless people under your spell. <3

[lilfaerywingz]

in the bottle: amber, tobacco, unknown yummy spices.

 

Wet: coconut, carmel, currents creap out.

 

Dry: I keep thinking of Pier 1 Imports! Coconut and a little opium seeps out

 

 

I really love this. It's very sultry.

[themerrybaker]

Red Lantern sticks like hot caramel close to my skin. It morphs a great deal between caramel and bitter/weedy herbal (like Roadhouse). The floral parts peak out now and again. This is really interesting - glad I got to try it.

[ktesedale]

In the bottle, this smells like caramel and cake, with a bit of amber and spice on the side.

 

On the skin, this starts out sweet and foody, with a bit of non-food spice overlaying it, but ends up with a faint 'off' smell - like a cake or cookie that burned just a bit. Probably the tobacco? It's interesting, and I like it well enough, but it's not the purely foody scent it smelled like in the bottle, and it's not one of my favorites.

[kraken]

In the Imp: Mmm, definitely an amber caramel scent with vague floral notes. It's like a sweet incense. I'm looking for coconut, but I don't get any. I'm expecting a suntan-oil like smell, but there's nothing.

 

Initial Wet: Ack, there's my skin rebelling against the currant! Ah, but it doesn't last long (joy!). There's the coconut, but it's not suntan oil sickening, and it slowly disappears under the spices. I don't know what "Asian spice" consists of, but it's really strong and sharp.

 

Initial Dry: The currant and coconut has disappeared entirely and the caramel and tobacco has replaced it. It smells dusty, but in a good way, like a room full of antique leather-bound books and parchments. I was leary of the tobacco, but it's a lovely scent sweetened by the caramel. I'm very surprised that the amber is thus far behaving on my skin.

 

Drier Dry: I am in love! Lush, spicy caramel that isn't overpoweringly sweet along with sweet pipe tobacco. Still no coconut, and the currant hasn't resurfaced to go bad on me.

 

I definitely need to aquire a bottle of this!

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

this is SO YUMMY -- i wish i had more than one bottle!

[=

 

it falls smack dab between U.nderpants & G.luttony on one side and M.idway and Misk U on the other....

Misk U with caramel instead of coffee and U.nderpants with a little something extra in it...

(Underpants did NOT work on me. at all.)

[Meg]

In the bottle: Caramel and spices, with a hint of coconut.

 

Wet: Same as in the bottle, with the caramel coming to the front. Then a rather green note comes forward, I'm guessing the delphinium or the tobacco.

 

Drydown: Hmm, caramel, rather salty, with coconut and tobacco - it's a dark, smoky combination, probably with hints of opium thrown in, and spices sprinkled here and there. There's still the very green note from delphinium which is a bit jarring because it doesn't really seem in its place, and a sort of menthol note from the tobacco.

 

Overall: There's a note in this blend that just doesn't work with the rest - fresh and sort of Cologney when all the rest tends towards foody. It would have been a nice caramel blend, but that note makes it completely weird. I really suspect the delphinium, it's practically aquatic. It's actually really like a man's perfume, and I find it very obnoxious.

[Fury]

In the bottle it's currant and vanilla. Not quite sweet, a little sharp and a little creamy, very much a bursting sort of red and very debauched, indeed. A little bitter, very much a strong scent, the desk very reminescent of my wearing it after I've drifted away.

 

On me this was a mess of caramel, coconut and amber. But less of a tropical or juicy coconut, very much a black note, dark and somewhat dirty, which clung very closely to the warmth of the amber onset.

 

The caramel, unfortunetely, did not mesh well with the amber. I'm beginning to think that amber does nothing good on my skin, as much as I'd love it to. Though I do agree that there was something askew about it, more of a contradicting note I can't quite put my finger on, and not the foody, sweet and tangy Bordello-esque quality I'd imagined and longed for.

 

Into the swap pile it goes!

[mountainwitch]

Ah, caramel. We meet again, my old nemesis. With all the notes in this complex blend, you have to crash the party and put your boots up on the coffee table. There are other guests—something floral? Green? A little spicy? Eventually the fragrance turns spicier, with a lovely amber peeking through . . . But the caramel just keeps going, an overwhelming note of burned sugar, and he just won't use his inside voice.

[maijasu]

This is turning into something totally different on me than it seems like other reviewers are experiencing. To me, it smells like Scherezade, or possibly Snake Oil with less sweetness. I do smell sweet foodiness in the bottle, but on my skin it becomes very earthy, and I want to say there's patchouli in there even though that's not in the description. I do like the scent, just not as much as I like the two just mentioned, so I believe I will be swapping this.

[steffanina]

Red Lantern-

 

In Bottle: Oh, is that delicious--candy and spice and caramel and, mmm!

 

Wet: Much more floral than it was in the bottle. I think that's the amber.

 

Dry: Omigosh, the dry-down on this one is delicious--rich and sweet-spicy and there's the tiniest hint of caramel. It's a throughly sexy, relaxing, keep-sniffing-myself scent after about half-an-hour's wear.

 

Overall: I really like.

[Tess]

I sniffed this at lilfaerywingz's house and so I immediately wanted to try it out fully.

 

In the vial - Coconut and caramel, this is almost boozy.

 

Wet - Very spicy and caramel like. It's unusual and nice. I'm not sure how this will end up for me.

 

Drying - The currant is doing... odd things on me. And there's a hint of caramel apple? This just a nice, but odd scent. Amber? I just... can't describe this at all. It's so layered and complex.

 

Dry (1 hour) - ...I don't like this. I wish I did and I wish I could explain it, but I just don't like it. There's a sour apple note floating around that I can't explain that I think might be the result of my skin's strange caramel reaction added to another one of the notes.

 

Overall - Wet it was much simpler, but as it dried, the complexity just didn't work for me. This review is so broken and disjointed, but that's rather a reflection of what happened with the scent. Poo.

[Deiicide]

This bottle definately was the one that clued me in that hey! Perhaps your skin doesn't like Opium..? Confused as I am, if so then read on.

 

What from what I remember is that straight from the bottle its the creamy coconut and the ribbons of caramel. Oh yum! This will be fuuunnn. I thought as I applied it upon my skin, but then an unseen reaction overcame me. The opium basically amped causing me to become completely dizzy and sick to the stomach. I loved the smell of it in the bottle, I was completely in awe. But now I became crushed. The drydown after afew hours was lovely, a perfect balance of sweet with the edge of tabbcco giving it a smokey swirly scent that wafts and lasts. But the beginning st ages is something I could never again forget and thus didn't wish go through it again. It was one of my first bpal major disappointments but a lesson that I take with me.

Deiicide + Opium = NO

 

Really lovely perfume though, one that I cannot personally wear.