The Phantom Calliope

[Monster]

Ghostly, glowing, sweet and dark: black cherry, patchouli, cassis, cardamom and verbena.

This goes on as a sweet, candy-like cherry scent and then immediatly morphs to a spicy lemon scent on my skin.
As this dries it morphs even MORE as the cinnamon notes come out to play.

The final drydown is a fanitly sweet cinnamon with a gentle whiff of verbena.

This one is so so simple and so so wonderful. It's uncomplicated, pretty and just a pleasure to wear

[sarajane]

Cough syrup cherry with a whiff of patchouli and spices. It smells a little craft store-y. Like Michael's.

 

Kind of pretty, underneath the whole "feeling-like-I'm-five-and-have-a-cold" thing.

Edited July 25, 2009 by sarajane

[Gin]

Eh, I have to agree with sarahjane. The Phantom Calliope is sadly cough syrupy on me. The cherry is syrupy from the get-go and the cardamom (? I guess, it's spicy) just adds to the medicinal feel.

[Tess]

In the bottle - This is very oddly put together. The cherry is very at the front and very sweet, but not "sticky" if that makes sense. The patchouli and cardamom are very prevalent and it's jarring. It's an uneven scent.

 

Wet - Even more cherry than before.

 

Drying - Wow, this is disappearing rapidly! In about 1 minute it went from being uncertain about a strong scent to being utterly gone. Utterly! There is nothing left at all but the very faint scent of unscented oil. This is the strangest thing I've ever had happen.

 

Dry (30 minutes) - I feel like I should wait around for my wrist to start smelling again. I even reapplied, hoping to inspire it to do something. But... no.

 

Overall - What can I say about something that doesn't stick around at all?

[deflowerkid]

Hi everyone! This is my first review so bear withe me

 

In the bottle: CHERRY! My favorite, and why I ordered it. I love it. Very wet, very dark.

 

On my skin: The cherry mingles with the patchouli for me, creating something completely unexpected.

 

Dry: On me, it lasts and lasts until the next morning. No need to reapply here!

 

I'm in love. I got this unexpectedly, so I'm even more in love. Huge fan of BPAL!

[hmelt004]

I was given a low partial of this that had aged over a year. It is a heavenly dry cherry spice. Not sweet, thank goodness, because sweet cherry becomes cough syrup on me. I'd like to smell it fresh to be able to compare the two. I'm going to save this for fall, but probably not buy another bottle. It's very similar to Red Queen and Enraged Groundhog Musk, and I own those.

[Shollin]

First sniff: Dark and spicy cherry cough syrup. The cherry is really sweet.

 

Wearing: I tried on Bat’s Blood yesterday, and this alas reminds me of the “liquid Red Hots” impression I got from that one, with a bit more sweet than spice.

[grrrlennyl]

Phantom Calliope

 

On: Eek. Lots of cassis and cardamom with black cherry. So spicy.

Half an hour later: SPICY!

1.5 hours in: All cassis.

2 hours in: Still spicy.

2.5 hours in: Patchouli and cassis. Much softer.

3 hours in: Spicy patchouli.

Overall: I adore patchouli, but I don't like it with the spice of cassis.

[Teaotter]

In the bottle: Spiced cherries.

 

wet: The cherries fall back under a wave of warm, dry spices. I know why people think there's cassia in this, but I am pretty sure this is all cardamom with hints of the patchouli.

 

Dry: The spices pull back a little, just enough for there to be hints of cherry and blackberry liquor under them, but the cardamom and patchouli really carry this. The throw is moderate, and it lasts for hours before settling down to be a faintly-spiced patchouli on my skin.

 

ETA: Third wearing: I am pretty sure the lemon verbena is the sharpness that makes the cardamom smell like cassia.

Edited January 14, 2011 by TeaOtter

[Larinessa]

Spicy cherry goodness. Slightly like Dr. Pepper in smell. But I love it. I need more bottles of this!

[Larinessa]

This is my second favorite BPAL love just behind Ghoulish. I have 2 bottles but should seriously get several more before this leaves. In the bottle this is cherries jubilee, spicy, thick and slightly smokey. I can definately get the cardamom and cassia, keeping it warm. I believe the Pachoulli gives the smokey aspect to the blend, giving it the mysterious quality I love. Total winner.

[RhinestoneHousewife]

I love this and the boy does, too. It smells like cinnamon and spicy honey on me. I have Butterfly Bushes in my yard and this is what the flowers smell like. Delicious!

 

I must hoard the precious.

[Vega]

Sniffed: Juicy dark cherries with a hint of booziness.

 

On skin: I'm initially assaulted by cherries and the blackcurrant (cassis): juicy, rich, syrupy (almost artificially so!), and very, very black. If I remember right, the same cherry note is in Kabuki, but much milder. Quick on the heels of the berries comes the cardamom, giving them a hard spicy kick. I can't smell any patchouli, but it may be contributing to the rich, darkly glowing base; verbena is completely missing. Unfortunately the spices gradually dominate The Phantom Calliope, until it ends up purely cardamom with a faint memory of cherries. Colour impression is the red-black of dark cherries, dusted with reddish brown.

 

Verdict: Nothing ghostly about The Phantom Calliope! I neither like the intense black cherry beginning, nor the spicy ending. Decidedly not for me.

[cherrycherry]

Testing from a bottle aged one year, approx.

 

In the bottle - creamy cherry coke.

 

Wet on the skin - spiced cherries, sweetly musky....

 

Drydown - deeper, darker, the cherries have lost their punch and the spice is dominant.

 

Very delicious. I need to wear this more often.

[porcelina]

in the bottle, phantom calliope is just this side of medicinal- i think it's the way the patchouli interacts with the cherry that gives it this feel. it's strong- after sniffing and closing the bottle, i can still smell it!

 

once on, this is definitely dark, dark cherry- but it's kept away from fresh fruit or dessert territory but the equally dark patchouli and the heavy spices. the verbena is there but it seems mostly to brighten the cherry scent, instead of being citrusy or herbal on its own. this is kind of like a spicy black cherry incense or something- not at all foody or even fruity.

 

after a time, the spices dominate and the dark, rich cherry fades away.

[OctoberGwen]

I wanted to love this, but alas...the cassis killed it for me. (I assume the cassis is the red hots/cinnamon aspect of this scent.)

[milo]

Lots of cherry at first, then the cassia comes roaring in with a vengeance. This is basically smells like those cinnamon hearts that come out around Valentine's Day. I get no cherry after the inital blast. Unfortuneately, this is just too spicy.

[elka_knits]

Interesting, very very interesting.

 

When I put this one on it was red hots on steroids. Pure cinnamon burn baby burn. Seriously my skin burned. And all I could think of was cinnamint gums or red hots or any other red red red cinnamon scents. About an hour later the cinnamon fades and the cardamom, lovely, lovely cardamom, comes out and it is slightly grounded by the patchouli. Keep in mind that patchouli had become the death note of hell. I love it in the bottle and always think I am going to love it on me but nah not really. Here it plays super nice.

 

Very faint within two hours~ my skin either eats it up or it is such a me scent {I do bpal cardamom a lot} that it just seems like a skin scent. It is fainter than Mama Ji~ my all time favorite~ with the same warm vibe but dryer ala Morocco. After the morph down it reminds me of Gypsy Moth sans wax. I like it but will not be reordering this one. I might even part with it since I have too many other similar scents to compete with when I am getting dressed.... Either way it is beautiful and warm and spicy but doesn't last well on me.

[orata]

Is cassis a typo for cassia? This smells very dry-cinnamony to me, with cherry, but mainly spicy and WHOA CASSIA. Woodsy and spicy and burning my skin

[brilliantcat]

In the bottle: Black cherry, patchouli, a hint of cinnamon from the cassis.

 

Immediately after application: Heavily cinnamon and cardamom.

 

Warming up: Lemony verbena with patchouli and cinnamon, a hint of cherry.

 

Fading: Lightly cherry and patchouli.

 

Faded: Average throw, average wear.

 

Overall: The cinnamon-cardamom phase really intrigued me, then it morphed like crazy. I wasn't hugely fond of it once warmed.

 

Rating: 2.5/5.

[Mechanical Death]

I had really hoped this would be *my* cherry scent. Darn.

Still, it's nice.

 

In the bottle it smells exactly like teavana's half/half white chai. Fruity melon notes and spicy clove and cinnamon and lots of cardamom. It's odd that I get melon though (honeydew to be exact), since there isn't any in this blend. It's yummy as hell in the bottle and it makes me want to brew up a cuppa.

 

On the skin it smells exactly the same. This is the first scent I have encountered that really smells like what it does in the bottle.

 

30 minutes later it turns a little more to the spice side--really strong fruity chai tea. very strong on the cinnamon. Yum!!

 

An hour later the spiciness that I loved has faded leaving mostly the fruit and an undertone of the spice and a slight creaminess... It has faded in strength too. It stays pretty low to the skin and doesn't have much throw. I had avoided putting much on before because it seemed so strong, but an hour later it's nearly gone.

 

I tried so hard to hunt down this bottle and it's leaving me a bit dissapointed. I'll give it another test before I decide if it's a total bust. :/

 

Edit: cardamom, not cinnamon. That's the overwhelming chai tea smell I'm getting. The cherry underneath keeps it from being too single note, but as much as I love the drink I don't think I want to smell like it. When I think about it , my sensory memory leaves me going "No no no!!!!"

Edited September 9, 2012 by Mechanical Death

[Wren12]

A very well aged bottle.

 

This is just lovely. Everything has melded incredibly well and I get the most interesting spiced cherry black tea scent. The tea scent is amazingly present...I wonder what that could be...

[Numanoid]

Finally got some to try!! All the notes are good with me, but was worried about patchouli, since I can NOT stand it, but I know the Lab's patchouli can be tame!!

 

Sniff in bottle: Like everyone says, sweet and dark cherries. More candy/cough drop like to my nose.

 

On Skin: Cherry notes can go plastic on me, and it did for a second. Didn't get any patchouli (good thing) and the cinnamon note came right out mingling with the cherry...giving it that "glowing" feeling.

 

Drydown: Cherry takes a back seat, but still there...a hint of it. I can now detect the cardamom and cassis.....gives it a slight spiciness to it. Also, can detect the verbena as well.....

 

Seems to my nose, I get all notes....except the patchouli. Over all it is a lovely and balanced scent, just not sure if it is for me.

[goodnightnightvale]

I really wanted to like this. I really did, since all the notes sounded so nice. In the bottle, I could smell cherries, and I thought 'Oooh, that's really nice'. So I dabbed some on.

 

Less than ten minutes later: ow OW OW. Thus did Liz find out her skin cannot tolerate cardamom. Sigh. And it started off so promising, too...

[Myrrha]

This was in my swap box. I guess when it was fresh the lemon verbena or cassia were too much and made it not a keeper.

 

Now, a few years later, these notes have mellowed and blended and the result is delicious.

 

Wet, the cherry comes out first, it goes through a period where the lemon verbena, cherry and spices don't really "add up" and it just smells strange. Then it kinds of lights up and smells great although still a little eerie and strange. This does not smell like any traditional scent at all.

 

it dries down to a spicy cherry scent. I'm so glad I never swapped this.

 

It is pretty but a bit dramatic and attention-getting. I don't go to clubs or anything like that, will have to be careful where I wear this one.