Lampades

[milo]

... Their scent is the crisp, inviting bittersweet tang of cranberry with smoky dark lilies, heady, sensual musk, a tingle of ginger and a brush of Mediterranean spices.

I didn't think I'd like this on, as it smelled extremely fruity in the imp. Fruit scents are probably a 50/50 win scenario for me. I do love some blends, but others can be a little too sweet and candylike to me. Though this is sweet, there is a delicious musky spice that is really quite wonderful. I had a hard time identifying the fruit, thinking it was orange when it really was cranberry. I difinitely can get the cranberry now that I know what it is, and though I like this blend, it is a tad too fruity for me. I really do like the musky spice, so I'll definitely keep the imp, and maybe enjoy this in the fall.

[urbanmaenad]

Lampades

 

Wet: tart cranberry, almost grapey in its intensity, with a bit of dark, leafy green, a faint whiff of musk and light soapiness underneath that must be the lily. Very bright, purple-red scent initially. Almost stings the nose (in a good way), just slight green earthiness undercutting the berry.

 

Dry down: not much morph during dry down. Still a quite pleasantly sharp, intense cranberry. Throw so far is light/moderate.

 

A few minutes later the floral/musk component is moving more noticeably toward the front, taking on a softer, somewhat powdery/sweet tone under the initial bite of the cranberry and ginger. The green element from the Mediterranean herbs seems to have disappeared completely, which makes me sad. We are definitely moving toward a sweeter, slightly powdery finish, I think. I blame my skin and the presence of lilies - we do not mix well.

 

Dry: Sigh. While the tart cranberry is still detectable with a good sniff, this unfortunately morphed from a bright, shiny red berry scent tempered by a dark green leafy background into a dull, dry red (think deep red lipstick matted by layers of powder). It’s just musky and floral enough to have a slightly dizzying/headachy effect on me.

 

This may work for me as a locket or room scent, as I love the initial red/green burst of tart freshness (which doesn’t so much scream berry at me as it does a “walk in lush, damp woods” without the astringency of pine. I just can’t hack the musk or flowers. Maybe I’ll try blending with my beloved Red Queen, which morphs quickly into all wood on me, and thus may have the ability to temper the powder effect, and give me that wet-red-berry-wood scent I’ve been longing for…

 

Rating (1-5 with 5 being pure awesomeness): 3.5

 

[rayvn1]

Hmm, sparkling and herb covered grapes out of this one. I wouldn't have guessed it was cranberries, but there is a slight tartness behind the sweet lilies. Light and fragrant. Not something I'll reach for often, but very nice!

[Andrea912]

the cranberry and ginger is lovely; I'd like to pair this with a creamy note...

[Veronica]

Lampades smells exactly like its description on me, but notably less fruity than it is on other reviewers. Wet, it smells sweet, but not overly so, which must be the cranberry. As soon as its dry though, the scent morphs and loses all of it's fruity sweetness, the smokiness of the lilies definitely comes out, but its lovely, as well as the musk and spices. It's a warm, dry scent. Over time the musk and smokiness fade out and a sweet, almost creamy floral takes over. Overall, I really like this scent in all of its stages, definitely a keeper!

 

EDIT: years later and a new imp, still much the same. not sure if I love it quite as much, but it is lovely. smoky skin musk floral.

 

EDIT: Sad to say, I've fallen out of love with Lampades! I keep trying and trying, but all I get is powdery grape kool-aid.

Edited July 9, 2015 by delighted

[sylvanusurban]

In bottle: Perfumey cranberries.

 

On me, wet: Bittersweet, musky cranberries. Actually kind of nice. Interesting in a way that makes me keep smelling my wrist.

 

On me, drying: The cranberry scent gets sweeter and tarter. I like it!

Verdict: Very nice. A keeper.

 

 

[Leopard403]

The tangy cranberry note in Lampades is very, very good; but on my skin it is drowned out by the spice and the smoke so that ultimately, I get something unpleasantly bitter and sharp. Shame.

[Aldercy]

So far the cranberry smells like fake grape candy. Aaand... that's all. My dreams of smoky, musky, spiced cranberries are not to be.

 

Looking at my database, I realize that I have had appallingly bad luck with Bewitching Brews. By far the worst category for me overall.

[redderz]

In the imp: Spicy and musky with the lilies floating around in the background.

 

Wet: Whoa, lilies! This smells very much like I shop I go into actually. An alternative shop, kind of like a head shop but not. It's not a bad smell though. I think I get the cranberries too. Not getting any of the spice on me though.

 

Dry: Cranberries mostly, but the lilies are still there too! It's not very strong on me, my skin is eating it!

[claudia6913]

Sweet fruit in the imp, with a little hint of musk and spice.

 

Wet on my skin is still sweet, lots and lots of cranberries. Under that is some spicy musk. The more this dries, the more the musk comes forward.

 

This doesn't scream need, but having this imp of it is nice.

[Eucatastrophe]

In the imp: Juicy fruit (not the gum)

 

Wet: Very, very, turn-your-stomach sweet. I hope it settles a little.

 

Dry: Waiting.

 

Later: Nope, not for me. The sweet juiciness is just a wee bit too strong for me.

[biocarolyn]

I think this is Red Musk. It's the same sad, rubbery, latex smell I get from Mme. Moriarty, Kabuki, and a few others. I was hoping that the cranberries would win out, but no dice.

 

Red Musk hates me. Sigh.

[Janegodzilla]

I got Lampades as a freebie in my first ever BPAL order. Because of the cranberry factor, I don't think I would've ordered it if left to my own devices. I like cranberries, but I'm not crazy about the idea of smelling like them. But it was a freebie and I was super-excited about trying out all of my new goodies, so I sampled Lampades first.

 

In the imp, it smelled sharp and almost paint-like. I'm guessing that was the cranberries -- very tart, with kind of a bitter edge. When I got it on my wrist, the tartness persisted, although now I was able to distinguish an actual cranberry note as opposed to the overwhelming sharpness of the imp. There was some muskiness underneath that kept it from being all cranberries all the time, though, and in my notes I wrote that I occasionally got a whiff of something that reminded me of brown sugar.

 

Once Lampades dried, though? No cranberry! None at ALL! It's like my skin completely absorbed the fruit, and what was left was musk and smoke and the occasional whiff of brown sugar. It reminds me of a kitchen around the holidays -- not foody, but kind of cozy and spicy and very, very warm.

 

Final verdict:

I'm utterly in love with this scent. I can see myself wearing it a lot, especially as the weather gets colder and we start moving from fall into winter. I want to wrap it around me like a blanket, it's so very warm and comforting. I'm so glad I got to try this!

Edited October 4, 2009 by Janegodzilla

[HamletsKeeper]

Bottlesniff This is actually one of the most promising that I've smelt so far. It smells like an exotic woody perfume in the bottle. Excited, just a little bit.

 

Wet On Skin Berries, sweet and tart berries that's really quite powerful. It's all I can smell for the first 10 minutes.

 

Drydown Berries retain in the topnote and add a kind of syrupyness to this. It's not overpowering sweet, more like a dash or syrup to sweeten what is a very strong herbal bouquet underneath. I can wear woody and herbal so this doesn't smell medicinal on me but it would have that tendency on certain people.

 

Overall It's pleasant enough but the exotic qualities of this never really come alive on my skin. It all too quickly drys down to a generic herbal tea on me. The kind of thing you'd use for detox. Sadly I think ginger is one of those notes that never work for me no matter what the blend is like. I'm blaming the ginger in this for taking it away from spice and into the herbal medicine category. Smells like what I imagine an ancient pharmacy would have. It's a very storng scent with enormous hold (not even soap and warm water get it off) so if this smells spicey on you then it would be a winner.

Edited October 7, 2009 by HamletsKeeper

[mcdaniel]

First review on BPAL!

 

In the imp: Strong sweet and fruity smell to it and was very worried about putting it on at first.

 

Wet on skin: Still strong cranberry smell and strong incense hit to it, which I am not a big fan of.

 

Dry down: Lovely! Outcomes soft notes of fruit, lilies, and spices.

 

Overall: Scent starts off strong but turns mellow and soft on dry down. I have gotten a lot of complements from co-workers while wearing this. Love it.

 

[voodoocatwoman]

On application, Lampades is both tangy and sweet. On drydown, it loses the tang and becomes super sweet. It has a very young feel to me and if I had daughters, I would hand the imp over to them in a heartbeat.

[Coldfire]

 

 

Decant: I get the cranberries and some ginger on this

Wet on Me: Still the cranberries and ginger and now musk peeks out to say Oh Hai!

Drying Down: Lucky for me the lilly does not come out ot play so far. Still getting the fruitiness of the cranberry.

Dry: This stayed nice. Did not go over the top. the lily behaved and stayed away from my amping self. All in All...nice

 

 

[marared]

Musk? Really? I would have sworn this was patchouli - young, dirty, sharp patchouli, the kind that needs to be aged to really reach its potential. The ginger in combination with the musk is probably what gave me that impression. The fruit is also very noticeable - I had thought it might be pomegranate, but they're both tangy/tart red fruits, and that's the overall impression that this gives. No lilies, thank goodness.

 

I'm pretty sure I need a bottle of this, but I'm also pretty sure I'll need to stick it in the closet for a year or two first.

[Beckiemort]

Wet: Berries and lilies…and that’s all. I HATE lilies, they are beautiful flowers but the scent always makes me sneeze. That being said I don't have the urge to sneeze with this blend.

 

Dry Down: I can identify the berry as a cranberry because of the specific sharpness and crisp scent and the lily begins to receed and turn slightly powdery on me. The amount of lily left after 5 mins is definately tolerable to my floral hating nose, it acutally gives the blend a little intrigue. The cranberry is sweetening up and I am beginning to really fall in love with this blend. I think I can sense the ginger tang but it smells almost like candied ginger on me with a little sweetness and the musk seems to ground all the notes to keep them from being too sweet or just floating away.

 

This has completely shattered my expectations as I thought I might like the blend or hate it. I didn't expect to it, and I think I might.

[darklorelei]

The cranberries smell like cranberries! If anything, this smells like plain ol' cranberry cocktail. There's definitely musk in the background, though, and, as always, my bizarre chemistry gives the scent the bizarre background of bubblegum.

[voorishsign]

Frimp from the lab. A very dark, musky, fruity, spicy smell - unfortunately my skin amps the lilies a bit too much because without them I think I'd really like this. I especially like the cranberry in this, which tries its level best to tone it all down if it wasn't for my cruel amping skin.

[HKB]

Cranberry and a little tinsy bit of, what smells like, red musk. I might be interested in if the dominant note was red musk and the cranberry was lesser. As it is the cranberry is the dominant note and I don't smell any ginger or lilies, sadly. It's way to sickly sweet for me. Like most berry or wine notes, it reminds me of Kool-Aid.

[loubric]

Juicy grape and cranberry with hints of citrus. Almost candy sickly sweet but in a good way!

Mmmmmmm fruity sweet goodness!!

 

Added: 3/18/10 A lot of men don't actually like this on me but I don't care because I love it!!!! And because it's so strong if I try something I don't like then all I have to do is put this on and it hides the previous scent!! It is magic!!!

Edited March 18, 2010 by Lilly

[hkhm]

imp: bright, slightly spicy berries.

 

wet: very bright berries, sort of smells like the pomegranate scent from the fruit of paradise mixed with the something sweeter and fruitier.

 

dry: this reminds me a great deal of the fruit of paradise, but where the fruit of paradise has a strong tartness to it, this is all smooth and sweet. i will be buying a bottle with my next order.

[starfish327]

cranberries! nomnomnom. heavy note of cranberry juice all the way through this one. the bottom notes morph though- there's something that goes from herbal to smoke on the dry down. i attempted to wear another blend today and i thought it was interacting with that, but the smoke is still there when applied on a different location. it almost smells like vetiver. eventually it fades though and i'm left with lovely sweet cranberries.