The Lantern Ghost of Oiwa

[DifferentDances]

Black tea, cherry blossom, ho wood, calla lily, rice wine, and white mint.

 

There are really no words to describe this scent. It's just soft, feminine, and clean. I'm surprised there aren't more reviews for this!

Sadly, it doesn't last very long on my skin, but I think that may be more due to my tentative testing habits than the strength of the oil. Then again, the other reviews have noted its subdued-ness.

My rating: 5/5. OMG this is lovely.

[storme]

In the imp: soft mint and lilies and cherry blossom, whisper-light.

 

On me, wet: oh, mint and tea and cherry blossom, yum yum. Very refreshing and cold, but very pretty.

 

On me, dry: gosh, this is nice. I've been wanting a nice cherry blossom scent, and the mint and tea make this breathy and airy and bright.

 

Verdict: I like the oriental-themed scents, and this is a nice example of those. Yay!

[JenM]

In the imp: wine and burnt offerings

 

On the wrist: I get the wine and the wood. On drydown, the tea comes through, but none of the florals. Maybe a little edge of cherry blossom. Ooh, now the wood is getting all ozone-y.

 

Fades to wine and... oh, weird. Almost cherry lollipop. Interesting, but not a keeper.

[jolarocknrolla]

oh wow, what an amazing scent! I'm not a big mint fan but this is a mint that i can wear (very well blended), with a certain sweetness to it, the wood grounding it - the tea comes out a bit on the drydown and i don't get much floral at all. Fans of Snowblind might want to give this one a shot - it's more complex but it's also a lot more interesting. Fantastic combination and truly unique. Plus, it might be a wearable mint for you non-minters out there!

[Rouge]

I can't review today. I has teh sutpid.

 

I opened my new imp for the first time and proptly upended it all over myself. So because I don't trust myself to give it another go, in lieu of my usual lengthy review, I'll just say this is blend is breathtakingly lovely; ethereal and ghostly.

 

A sweet rice wine and cherry blossom beginning gives way to powdery calla lily, all underscored with the lightest of mints. It's very elegant and reminds me somewhat of a Hungry Ghost Moon stripped of the fruit.

 

Damn. Why couldn't I spill something I don't like?

[sheridankm]

The black tea and cherry blossom makes this very similar to Aizen-Myoo on the drydown, skipping A-M's bitter fruit stage (which is, alas, my favorite part.) It's a soft, powdery floral scent, the tea barely making an appearance but grounding the sweeter cherry blossom. There's a lovely dry hint of what I think must be the ho wood, but I don't get any mint at all. But on the drydown, the rice wine becomes stronger and stronger, until I smell as though I've been taking sips of my mirin cooking wine.

 

Lovely premise, but it smells like alcoholic flower dust on me.

[jessiesquash]

In the bottle I can smell the rice wine which is fairly potent but not alcoholic like some of the lab's other scents that contain notes like champagne and wine. It's gentle but has an astringent quality that reminds me strongly of lavender but with a touch of salt and sweet. It's so reminiscent of lavender in fact that if I didn't know it wasn't listed I'd swear it was there. Maybe it's in the black tea? Is this Earl Grey tea? It also smells of just a hint of licorice which is odd since the note isn't listed but it's not strong and it might just be my imagination unless that's the Ho wood which is the only note I don't know. Actually that might just be the black tea which is giving this a rich herbal feel.

 

On my skin the astringent quality disappears as it sweetens and mellows. Oddly I don't smell the cherry blossom at all which tends to dominate. The scent has a creaminess to that reminds me slightly of tea with milk but this tea has the added touch of the rice wine. I feel like I'm getting drunk at an elegant tea party and I love it!

 

I'm interested to see how it develops throughout the day but so far this is beautiful! I might need a bottle, especially since it's rare for the Asian-inspired scents to work for me.

[hkhm]

imp: minty florals with a very faint tea scent.

 

wet: sweet, sweet mint and florals.

 

dry: soft florals with a bare hint of mint. if this had just a little bit more staying power i'd be buying a bottle but it fades far too quickly on my skin. it is quite lovely though.

[YoakeNoKami]

Bottle: Rice wine--but minus that alcohol note, faint tea, and this little spike of mint.

 

On: A bit more of the mint, and some scattered flower petals. The rice wine is mellowing a bit.

 

Drydown: Dark tea, and a rich waft of cherry blossom (interesting, because in my experience they don't have that much scent to them) It's an interesting scent, though, and the mint is just barely hovering beneath the tea. For some reason, this makes me think of someone who'd be very quiet, very dignified, but almost startlingly strongwilled. Several hours later, it's still hanging around in the form of faint, slightly sweet black tea, and a faint coolness (probably remaining from the mint) like a misty, eerily still night.

Edited January 13, 2008 by YoakeNoKami

[hipslike___cinderella]

The Lantern Ghost is one Salon imp that surprised me. As a rule I don't usually like the Lab's light tea scents, but this turned out nicely. In the imp, it's crystalline, a little sweet, a tiny bit floral. As with many Salon scents, there's almost no use in trying to separate the notes.

 

On my skin, this is so yummy. I'm struck by two things: the ho wood, which reminds me of the imp of Habu I had tested a couple of weeks ago, and the mint. I LOVE mint! It stands out well on me, and the tea isn't not too obvious. There's a clear, light cherry blossom and Calla lily. The darkness hinted by the painting itself is definitely not shared here. Sure, this is a light blend, but it's just... so pretty. Stands out from an other tea blend I've tried (and I even didn't like Tamama-No-Mae!). I want to test this a few more times, but this could be a bottle for me at some point.

[gchris]

In Bottle: Smells sweet fruity/floral with a hint of light mint

On skin: I smell a hint of the mint, but mostly I smell something perfumey. It gives the smell of notes that seem like they shouldn't go together.

Later: This is really perfumey, more than I would have thought from reading the notes. I wanted to love this but I don't.

[savage_rose]

In the bottle, I smell something sweet with something sharply bitter as an undercurrent. On, it's licorice. Licorice, licorice, and more licorice. Too bad I don't like licorice!

[laliloo]

Gorgeous. Drop. Dead. Gorgeous.

 

I love this blend - my decant arrived just as the first of the summer weather arrived here in the UK and that was serendipity indeed, as this is the perfect early summer scent.

 

A beautifully blended light floral mint. And floral in a good way - I'm really not a floral type of gal. This is a light, cooling, wisp of a scent, but it stays around on my skin for a long time and I was getting wafts of the glorious mint-tea blossoms for a good many hours. A pale pink and green scent - the scent of late spring/early summer, when everything is fresh and plants are all waking up and putting out!

 

Will be putting a bottle of this on my next order.

[soonyi]

sniff, this is a dark mix of wood, mint and tea

 

the white mint is cool and ghostly. overall it reminds me of LUSH's mask of magnamity (sp) with a wood and calla lily undertone. the tea all but disappears. very mellow.

[Myrrha]

Wet -- Mostly cherry blossom and calla lily. The mint is light and fresh, giving the scent a refreshing, stimulating zing.

 

As it dries -- There is a vanilla-like note in the scent, pulling the cherry blossom and calla together. It is is a softly sweet, feminine scent with a playful attitude. However something in it turns perfumy on me. Perhaps the black tea?. Darn.

 

Dry -- I can smell the rice wine now. Everything is balanced and blended and a really enchanting scent wafts up from my wrists. The mint is still there enlivening the scent. It smells like the mint that is in Snowflakes, light and delicate. Lovely scent but something in here still smells a little too “hot” and perfumy on my skin.

 

After 3 hours whatever it was that smelled too perfumy has settled down and now it is a very elegant and interesting scent. Much longer wearing on me than most BPAL and more throw.

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Dry mint and faint tea.

 

Immediately on skin: This is like a perfume-y mint scent. There’s a faint bit of black tea, but moreso I get a bit of clean lily and rice wine blending with the mint. This is reminding me a lot of the scent Men Ringing Bell with Penises.

 

After a little while: This is a hard scent to describe… it’s almost like a perfume-y, creamy black tea scent with hints of mint, the clean booziness of rice wine, and a base of soft wood. It’s a clean scent, but a bit sweet too.

 

Overall Impressions: The combo of black tea, rice wine, and mint are really what make up the main scent of this. It’s clean, minty, and sweet tea with a bit of perfuminess (is that a word?) from the cherry blossom and calla lily. The mixture of rice wine and black tea really remind me of the scent Men Ringing Bell with Penises, so this might be a hit for people who enjoy that scent. It’s an odd scent on me, and hard to describe, so it’s not for me.

[greenranger]

I got a whiff of the rice wine and the calla lily at first, and then the mint ran up and clobbered them.

 

Once the mint steps back into the background again, the scent gets softer and more interesting.

[Yoginispirit]

The most beautiful mint ever!!!

 

In the bottle this smelled very...green for some reason and I was ready for disappointment. But after being on my skin for a few minutes, the mint burst forth and cooled everything down. It dries down to an airy, slightly floral mint which is very nice and refreshing evocative. It seems to stay well enough in my hair.

 

I really, really like this. It's very different from green tree viper which was sweeter and somehow flatter. I love getting whiffs of this all day

[Dracoo9]

I mostly smell the tea with a faint mint and cherry blossom. This is a really nice scent that you could really wear anywhere. Its clean and refreashing while feeling like it could embrace you in a warmth. If your a tea, cherry blossom, or mint fan then I would defenently recomend this for you. 5/5

[donnatron]

Bottle: Cherry blossom. I pulled this out because I was like, "WTF? Why do I have this and Kyoto?"

 

Wet: It has a brief, chilly minty phase that reminds me of a lot of the drydown of the yules through the years. The cherry blossom bursts forth and it's grounded by a strangely musky/buttery note that reminds me a lot of skin musk. I do get a sense of anise from this and I'm thinking it's the ho wood.

 

Dry: A beautiful mix of comforting and sexy. The mint lingers for awhile adding a really needed blast of refreshing iciness to this. I get a hint of tea shining through in a slightly acidic, tannic way. The cherry blossom, ho wood and rice wine combine into this really sultry, gentle, sexy skin scent. It smells... I don't even know how to describe it. Sweet, feminine, provocative and a little aloof.

 

Throw: Remarkably strong, actually. Cherry blossom/rice wine have the best throw.

 

Overall: A work of art worthy of a work of art. I've worn this to bed two nights in a row and I think the trend will continue. A beautiful, soft, womanly scent appropriate for pretty much any situation.

[Evilynn]

In the imp: Calla lilly and cherry blossom, underscored by rice wine

 

On the skin: It starts out mostly cherry blossom and faint mint on me. The rice wine and the tea stays in the background. After an hour or so I mostly get a mild anise scent from it.

[TheOneTheyCallLuna]

I really love the artwork for which this fragrance was created, and I've had such good luck with all the other Asian inspired BPALs, but this one was the exception apparently. The black tea in here was just a bit too sharp and a bit too masculine for me. I didn't get as much mint as I'd hoped, and there's something fuzzy smelling that I'm not crazy about. It's not bad, though, it's just not top ten hoarding material for me, and the bottle artwork on mine is so dark that I can barely see it. Swaps.

[fairnymph]

Sniffed: Light yellow oil. Soft, sweet, and a little floral. Definitely minty. Definitely some tea and cherry blossom, but not really getting any rice wine. Something's a little soapy.

 

Wet: Quite minty, with really strong, almost piney-harsh black tea. I am getting some sake now, and it reminds of the harshness of Manners in the wet stage. Pretty masculine/cologney.

 

Dry: Booze [note: possibly, I am conflating sake & ho wood, and did likewise in Manners] amping, whoa. Really minty, harsh sake right now - almost unpleasant enough to wash off. Where is the cherry blossom? Also, a sort of sharp, slightly powdery hint of calla lily - not a favourite floral of mine.

 

Later: I think some of the sharpness is actually a rather strong green woodiness from the ho wood, and the black tea here is SO strong - it reminds a lot of the note in Nostrum Remedium and Severin. It's annoying waiting for the sake to settle on my skin, though I do like it once it does.

 

Summary: I like mint in theory, but I don't think it really works in this blend - it makes the whole thing too sharp. Even though the calla is light, that hint of powder puts me off. It also amps up in throw majorly and then begins to fade to almost nothing, all within hours.

 

Definitely a masculine blend. Honestly it reminds me a lot of Manners, but I prefer Manners and already have a bottle of it. Okay so, hours later, I really like this, though it's very faint. I just don't think it's worth the early stages. Sigh. Maybe in a scent locket?

 

ETA: Totally agree it's similar to Men Ringing Bells. I completely forgot about that, since I tested that one so briefly. While there is that woody/boozy phase that's almost exactly like Manners, on the whole I think this has a Men Ringing Bells feel.

Edited May 13, 2009 by fairnymph

[apinchofsugar]

Got a bottle of this from a swap.

 

In the bottle: Wow, that's a lot of tea. And a lot of mint. And... rice wine?! I am guessing that's the rice wine, because I'm not too familiar with alcohol notes (I usually go running in the other direction). Maybe the wood is in there, too. Unfortunately, those scents combined smell, to me, like... yes, Play-doh. Florals, come rescue me.

 

Applied, wet: Oh phew. Here are the florals coming alive - lily and cherry blossom, yay! There's still that Play-doh-esque aspect I can't shake, though...

 

Dried down: Wow, okay, it got a lot better. The tea went in the background, which helped a lot. Now it's a minty floral, which is super interesting -- nothing I have ever smelled before. It's nice and clean, and very clear. There's still some booze in here, I think, but it's working.

 

Verdict: Decent once it's dry. I'll be keeping the bottle around. I don't really have much mint in my arsenal. It's a soft, but very clean, scent, which I think I need.

[tajana]

I was really excited to try this because of the comparisons people have made to Hungry Ghost Moon, which is one of my absolute favorite BPAL perfumes. However, this has only a passing resemblance. Sure, it's got the ho wood and rice wine, but it's got an entirely different sort of ghostly feel.

 

Freshly applied, the chilly white mint is first and foremost. It's clean, cool, and breezy. Beneath the delicate mint is a fragile, airy blend of distinctively alcoholic rice wine, crisp pale calla lily, and very dark black tea that's been steeping for a long while.

 

As it dries down the mint backs down, but the cool and clean feel remains, partially thanks to the ho wood, which has a slightly medicinal, camphorous effect. It harmonizes beautifully with the rice wine and the slightly floral, chilled black tea. The soft, silky-powdery cherry blossoms are definitely easier to pick out after the fresher, greener calla lily note dies down.

 

All this dissection of the notes is pretty trivial, though... the overall effect is well-blended and cohesive, and this is definitely a perfume, not a jumble of independent notes. I am not having any issues with lasting power... it's a light scent, but it wafts for hours. It's clean but not soapy, ethereally pretty without being sweet, and feels gauzy soft to me, in an almost creamy sort of way. Hard to describe, incredibly easy to wear.

 

I love it! If the notes appeal to you, you shouldn't hesitate to try this gem of a scent.