Vampire Tears

[msbcozad]

Regret born from ceaseless longing: wisteria, white grapefruit, neroli, green tea, jasmine, white ginger, honeysuckle, iris, and tonka.

This is an odd one. I puchased it because I loved the scent in the bottle, but when I tested it on my skin two weeks ago, it was horrific: disgusting when wet and almost as bad when dry. It was cigarette-smoky like a wet Midnight Kiss, and never let up on the cigarettes. I was all set to put this bottle in the trade pile.

In the meantime, I checked the forum and saw that other reviewers raved about the grapefruit and the florals. I decided to give this scent another try. Wow, am I glad I did!

Today there was no smoke; it's all jasmine and honeysuckle and grapefruit. I can barely discern the tiniest bit of ginger, too. Ah, BPAL and body chemistry, what fickle creatures you are. I'm definitely keeping this bottle! Edited November 8, 2008 by Shollin
fixed BPAL tags --Shollin

[Shollin]

First sniff: I blame the wisteria and iris for this, but it just smells like powdery candy. Cold, powdery candy. Like frozen SweetTarts.

 

Wearing: Lime-flavored cotton candy. I can’t figure out why it’s so off-puttingly sweet. After several hours, the candy powder fades, leaving a gorgeous honeysuckle-vanilla warmth. I wish I could get that from the beginning; I don’t think it’s worth wading through all that powder.

[lupidog]

This was an early experiment for me, so my review contains some weird comparisons, as I was learning to pick out notes.

 

first sniff from the imp: horrifying lemon pledge sickly sweet, plus salt.

 

Initially, I tried this on a friend, and at first it smelled of salt and flowers. The salt dissipated, and turned into delicious wisteria. We were all amazed at the transformation it was going through, except the poor test subject, whose sinuses were blocked.

 

Emboldened by its success on someone else, I gave it a go. My initial reaction was: WHOA. Lemony tears. Must be the grapefruit and salt. Vampire Tears is an otherworldly scent, larger than life, but not part of it. Either that or lemonheads. Feels like the male cousin of Kitsune-Tsuki to me, thanks to the jasmine. The grapefruit remains intense, but the jasmine twirls in and out. The white grapefruit and ginger are reminiscent of the citrus in Schrodinger's Cat. A powdery (in a good way) floral note seems to be emerging. What I assume to be the tonka is an insanely good base for all of this. Far less throw than the aforementioned kitsune. Somehow the citrus manages not to overwhelm, letting the florals gently shine with the tonka as base.

 

10 hours later, it is mostly gone, but the merest hint of powdery flowers remains. I loved this, and promptly bought a bottle. It is a little strong for some of my moods (I often balk at citrus, but the tonka keeps it sane), so I would likely not wear it to work. Recently, I realized a good GC match to this would be Shoggoth... it isn't an exact match, but there is the wisteria and citrus and other background florals that tie them together. I found that after they had dried down a great deal, Vampire Tears had a higher pitched top note thant Shoggoth, which merged down into its primordial self... but the overall feel and general scent were almost spot on. Otherworldly, monstrous lemonheads for the win!

[Ravenclaw79]

In the imp: Chocolate?, sweet, sugar, candy, fruit. Those are exactly the words that crossed my mind.

 

Wet: Honeyed citrus? There's something that's not honey but is reminiscent of it (tonka, I guess?), and an orange-y citrus, grapefruit.

 

Drying: Floral ... vanilla floral ... vanilla citrus floral, tonka grapefruit honeysuckle, with a hint of florist. It's really quite lovely. A little powdery, though, ultimately. Must let this one go before I end up growing to love it, 'cause it's just okay right now, and if I find it bottleworthy, that'll probably be a tough task.

[anomie]

Bottle: Very discordant: something smoky - maybe the tonka? - and a hint of citrus behind it.

 

Wet: Oh hey jasmine and grapefruit! Where were you guys hiding?

 

Dry: Floral and citrus. It doesn't smell particularly interesting, unfortunately.

Edited February 6, 2009 by Nomie

[Monster]

In the imp: I'm getting grapefruit and neroli against a background of jasmine right away.

 

On my skin: BAM!! Grapefruit!...mixing together with neroli. I think I may detect a hint of ginger but if I do, it's just adding a teeny bit of spice to the blend. I'm not getting any honeysuckle or jasmine. If I smell tonka it's completley dominated by the citrus notes. When I hold my hand about a foot away from my face this smells clean and fresh...it's like a less tropical smelling Cheshire Moon to me.

As it dries the citrus calms down and allows the honeysuckle and iris to bloom. Thankfully, I'm still not getting any jasmine. Drier now, this is reminding me more and more of Lady Lilith.

 

Dry: The final stage of this perfume is a nice, soft and creamy citrus with light floral notes. The grapefruit and neroli have settled down and paired up creating an almost tangerine sort of smell on me. This is VERY Similar to Lady Lilith!

 

Overall: Out of the imp this stuff scared me but it's such a GORGEOUS smell on my skin. I surprisingly like this a lot more than Midnight Kiss. This is a wonderful summer/spring scent. It reminds me of clean white sheets drying in a light, spring beeze while I sit back, smell the air and sip on a tangerine and grapefruit spritzer over crushed ice. Lovley.

[asciident]

Wet: Spicy...water.

 

First on: Now it's watered down chocolate. I don't know where the chocolate is coming from.

 

Dry: Same, but fainter.

[CynicalPink]

Imp: lol wut Fruity Pebbles?

 

Wet: Still fruity pebbles, but with special guest star - Neroli!

 

Drydown: Smells like candy...It's fizzy and cutesy and fruity. I'm having trouble pinning down my feelings on this one...Lemon lollipop! That what this smells like! It smells like a lemon lollipop!

[Coldfire]

 

 

 

Bottle: grapefruit, ginger, jasmine and the green tea

Wet on Me: ginger, grapefruit, honeysuckle, tea and fabulous

Drying Down: the ginger and wisteria are really trying to take everything over and the grapefruit and jasmine and green tea seem to be cowering in fear of them.

Dry: aaahhhh the takeover was averted and now I get jasmine, and neroli and honeysuckle but the grapefruit went away. But this is a haunted scent. It’s haunted by something un-nameable but no less lovely.

 

[bronwyn]

I was wary of buying this one when it came out, because jasmine and I are NOT the best of friends, as far as perfume goes. It's a love/hate thing - there is no middle ground on my skin - it's either all good or horribly, eye-wateringly bad. (Lily and I will never get along, I fear.)

 

Wet in the bottle all I smell is the jasmine/iris, and on the initial application, my skin amps those up to horrendous proportions for a few minutes. Once it has had a bit of time to dry, though, I can smell the grapefruit and honeysuckle. I don't pick up much of the tea or wisteria, I don't think. (I'm not as familiar with those scents, though.) Once it's dry, it's a powdery-sweet scent that's mostly honeysuckle on my skin - but it's powdery in a GOOD way (unlike some scents that turn to baby powder on me, which I hate the smell of). I love this one!

[BuxomM]

It's very refreshing and bright. It's slightly sweet white grapefruit and florals, mainly jasmine.

[Gin]

Vampire Tears

 

White tea, neroli, and grapefruit over white ginger and jasmine. It smells like citrussy hard candies and sweet flowers.

[blacklacestatic]

In the imp: Citrusy sweet lemon.

 

Wet on skin: Delicious lemon cake.

 

Drydown: This is dissapearing way too fast. There is just a teensy hint of sweet lemony flowers. Reminds me of Polyhymnia. However it's a bit too faint for me.

 

Overall: I think my skin just eats this up. I didn't even amp the jasmine! That says this blend is just way too subtle for my tastes. It's not a bad scent, just not enough. I need a good balance.

[Eucatastrophe]

This smells all sunny and bright in the imp. Couldn't wait to try it.

 

When wet I could smell the grapefruit and perhaps some citrus peeking through. Sadly upon drydown it turns to lemon pledge. Still a nice smell, but not one I'd like to wear.

[rayvn1]

Light, pretty citrus/floral. Not very much throw - faded away to a light citrus grapefruit, but while wet there was a good grapefruit zing. Nice, veiled scent.

[aquazoo]

Definitely fruity. I'm getting the grapefruit on top. Eventually the other elements come up, and it becomes more complex.

 

[rayvn1]

Super-light floral with an airy or watery feeling to it. I don't get a whole lot of scent out of this one, unfortunately. Very pretty, but the low throw and short staying power means it's off to the swaps!

[diamondstars]

This smells lovely and sweet; reminds me of something from Lush but I can't remember what.. It doesn't have much staying power though so may need ageing a little.

[Invidiana]

This was one I wanted to try for a while and LdyKnight was kind enough to include a surprise imp of it in my package When the first note of something says "grapefruit", I usually think astringent, but that might just be from one too many bad candle experiences. But the fact alone that it's vampire related meant I *had* to try it. Vampire Tears isn't astringent at all--it's Froot Loops! Like lemon lollipops and Froot Loops. And for those of you afraid of honeysuckle, I didn't get any at all. Doesn't exactly make me think of vampire tears, and while it isn't something I'd put on for fall and winter I'll definitely be hunting a bottle of this come spring.

 

 

 

[loubric]

This is on my wish list and I've been eager to try it. It's very pretty on me. Immediatly I can smell the honey suckle and lemon with hints of grape fruit and baby powder in the background.

 

Surprisingly the green tea hasn't showed up with is weird because thats usually the first thing that I smell on my skin.

This is a gorgeous clean/green yet floral scent on me.

 

(Thanks to Santa Deidre for this IMP)

Edited January 4, 2010 by Lilly

[Amoraexcena]

Imp: Quite floral, with a splash of unsweetened white grapefruit.

Wet on Skin: A no-nonsense floral blend, the bright citrus dies off quite quickly, to be replaced with a pale green scent which I think is neroli.

Drydown: wisteria, jasmine, iris, ginger, neroli and a touch of tonka. It’s a bit perfume-y, not much throw or staying power.

[starfish327]

in the imp: candied florals

 

wet: sweet citrus and florals. i'm getting a blood orange or tangello vibe but i have a hard time thinking that it is either (reading the note list i realize that it's the grapefruit). white florals that are behaving behind the citrus. zingingly sweet.

 

dry: same as wet, but it's morphing and loosing its sweetness after another amping of citrus (it went a little sweettart on me for a minute), now i'm getting more tea and ginger. the citrus has moved to the back.

 

 

honestly this is more what i thought j horror would be like. i do like it, but luckily i don't wear florals enough to see myself ever wanting to replace it.

[tsarina]

This is one of my favorite scents. It has a slightly salty, candied grapefruit smell to me. It reminds me of the gummy grapefruit slices from Harry & David, though without the sense of pink. It's a light, almost refreshing candy scent that doens't become sticky or cloying. I think that must be due to the slightly saline element, which really rounds it out.

[voorishsign]

This was a frimp from someone

 

In the imp - wisteria, grapefruit, green tea, a hint of tonka.

 

On wet -Grapefruit, tea and ginger.

 

Drydown - Jasmine steps in, rounding out the grapefruit and the tea. The ginger remains reserved. A pretty scent, just not for me.

[reynardine]

Got a sample as a frimp.

 

Wet, it starts out as grapefruit tea. When it dries, some honeysuckle seems to come out.

 

It's a lovely scent (I adore fruity florals!) and I will have to track down a bottle at some point. I can certainly see myself wearing this!