Lampades

[angharad]

... 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.

So very very pretty in the imp, so full of disaster on my skin.

In the imp Lampades is all dark sweetness with thankfully no ginger in sight. Even on me, ginger never shows up, which is a miracle. It's sweet cranberry with musk giving it a bit of darkness. But within 5 minutes of application, it turns into a crayon. This doesn't smell like a candle on me -- it's pure crayon. I'll probably try it again next week, but right now it's just not working for me. Edited September 29, 2007 by Shollin

[yellowrose]

This imp is circulating thanks to the General Catalogue swap.

 

No preconceptions.

 

In the bottle: sweet, sweet, sweet.

 

Wet: generic potpourri.

 

Drying: still generic potpourri. None of the notes listed is as described, at least on me.

[sophia_helix]

At first sniff, fruity watery bubblegum with hints of potpourri. After checking the notes, that makes sense.

 

I can get all the individual notes, even the trace of spices, but they just don't add up to something I like. It's all a little too cloying and fake, more like a cranberry candle, so not for me.

[strawberry_star]

Gorgeous!! This wasn't even on my wishlist and I would have never considered it because it contains musk. Usually musk overpowers me.

 

In the imp it smells a bit dark, but one me it sweetens up a lot and the cranberry mixed with lily combo is absolutely divine. I never would have thought I would like this scent, but I love it.

[nerdcraft]

in the imp:

Wow, that's a dark colored oil. And it smells dark! Dark, dark, dark cherry. (My brain must be interpreting the cranberry as cherry.)

wet:

Very tart and very spicy - this is definitely a deep and dark scent. There's a smoky note coming out more and more that's almost a tobacco scent.

 

dry:

Dry, it reminds me a bit of Blood, with the dark berry and spices. It's a bit, I don't know, brighter or more sparkling than Blood though. It's definitely in the Blood/Hollywood Babylon vein, though. After an hour or so, it veers dangerously close to the headshoppy fruit-scented incense smell I don't really love all that much.

season: fall or winter

office-friendly? eh...sure.

 

overall:

This is a dark, spicy, yet tart scent. It seems a bit candle-like, and would make a nice room scent, I think. It lasts a long time on me - I thought I'd washed it off my wrist, but I kept smelling it for the next 4 or 5 hours. It might be a little too similar to Hollywood Babylon, which I like a lot more, for me to keep it around though.

[ouch!]

Ok...............

 

When you smell it in the imp it's like whoa!!!! The sharp tang of cranberry and that's it. It almost made me want to sneeze!

 

When it's first applied it's still very cranberry dominated but nicer and calmer.

 

After a while when it dries the cranberry calms down and a woodsey smell starts to come through. I don't smell any ginger whatsoever

 

After that it pretty much stays the same on me except... ahh there's the musk..... A nice balance of berries and wood.

 

Quite pleasant but I definately wouldn't buy a big bottle!!!

[catrinella]

Imp: Spicy cranberry. Yum!

 

Wet: Cranberries, juicy and tart. Very fruity.

 

Drydown: Still the berries, but warming up a bit. The lilies appear at about 20 minutes.

 

1 hour: Mostly lilies with a hint of musk. The fruit note has disappeared.

 

2 hours: Faded except for a whiff of lilies once in a while.

 

Verdict: Worth another try but probably better as a room scent if I want the cranberry. BPAL fruit notes take one of two directions on me: sweet fake hard candies, or expensive bodywash/scented candles. The cranberry note here held true a lot longer than I'd expected, but faded within half an hour. After that, Lampades was a lily-based floral. I never got the ginger or anything identifiable as musk. It's nice, and I could see wearing it, but it was not what i expected given the description and other reviews.

[melrose]

I love fruit scents when they are true to the fruit, can't stand them if they go fake or sweet.

 

On, wet: Gorgeous. Smoky cranberry with a whiff of almonds.

 

Near drydown: DH walks in room and says, ``Did you make cherry Jell-O?''

 

Drydown: Well, crap. Pure sweet, fake, generic fruit. If only the wet scent had stayed with me.

[Elrianra]

In the imp, this is spicy cranberry punch: the cranberries are tart but still sweet while the spices and ginger are bursting with heady power - even the musk makes me think "somebody spiked the punch!" on this because it just ADDS to the heady aroma of this punch. This is entirely too foody, I was hoping something more... I don't know, exotic. Spiced punch? DRAT! This turns to spiced ginger candy on my skin - and I'm not a fan of ginger. As it dries, the ginger fades nicely into a bittersweet medley with the cranberries and musk, leaving a spice-dipped bouquet of lilies behind. This is dark and heady and very very potent, but pretty. Unfortunately, it also makes me feel like eating my own arm just to save myself from the consistent sneezing fits... clearly something in the spices of this one likes to offend my nose.

[The_Merf]

In the imp: What a beautiful, bright cranberry. The spice adds some depth and grounding.

 

Wet: Very true to the smell in the imp

 

Drydown and wear: The spices and florals emerge to compete with the cranberry upon drydown. It fades quicker than I would like (this seems to be a theme with the scents I'm trying today). However, what remains is very lovely. I do love me some cranberries.

[evilbee]

In the bottle: Mmmmm, cranberries! Delicitous! But what is that floral sneaking around the corner?

 

Wet: Where did the cranberry go? Why do I smell like wet lilies?

 

Drying: Wow that was fast. All rotting lilies and that black musk that smells like I'm tunneling into death. Ugh.

 

Dry: Okay, better. All the notes have smoothed out and are harmonizing. I smell each and every one and it's rather pleasant, but I just can't stand the smell of lilies no matter how much I'm liking this cranberry/spice combo. And my skin SO hates the black musk. Oh well.

[macabre_fae]

I recieved my first order on monday,and the lampades was the second oil I sniffed.....my imp is almost empty now.Oh,how I love this oil.It is so dark,alluring,sensual and ethereal.It's beautiful.This is my favorite of all that I have tried so far.

[Nekomata]

Nothing truly astounding. This blend is sweet, gingery an heavy initially then dies down into a dark cherry scent.

[juniperus]

Bottle: spicy/musky goodness. a smoky undertone, as if some of the spices are in the form of incense.

Wet: the cranberry is present, but not sweet and not giving this a food-y feel whatsoever. this is warm, rich, red, and tremendously alluring.

Dry: sweeter, now, as the lily really comes up. still spicy, complex, and warm.

Later: Fortunately the musk and cranberry are strong enough to still balance the lily - this isn't as spicy as it was earlier, I'm sad to say, and the incense-y quality is gone completely, but it's still gorgeous.

[kunoichi]

In the vial this is a strongly scented fragrance of green things, berries and sweetness yet it also has an earthiness to it, perhaps from the musk, ginger and spices. The cranberries sweeten up on my skin, and the earthiness fades to spiciness in the scent making it just delicious. After a number of hours on my skin, this is a faded but still rather discernable sweet smell, like sugared berries. It's dark, juicy and lovely!

[indicolite]

It does smell a lot like a spicy berry candle. And a quite dark smell, in a way. I have so far gotten no lilies at all, but maybe they are the thing adding this little hint of freshness to the scent. It is quite heavy, though.

 

I had high hopes for the Lampades, but I do not think they are a scent I will wear often - they remind me a little too much of the dollar store's scented candles. But the smell is too pleasant to swap now, so I will give them a few more chances.

[maijasu]

I get spicy fruit morphing into a barely-there soft floral with no throw It's pleasant enough, but I don't need a bottle.

[edenssixthday]

Lampades is a nice, deep cranberry scent on my skin -- but not fresh and juicy as much as ... hmmm... like it's perhaps been mixed with something deeper and darker and warmer to ground it. It's very pretty, but I don't think it's the kind of scent I would normally wear on it' own. I feel like it needs to be blended with something, but I'm not sure what. As soon as I figure out what it's missing and what I can layer it with to find that "perfect match," I'll be back to edit this.

[emzebel]

Lampades on my skin is rich ans sensual and darkly sweet - it reminds me a lot of a fruit tinged Skuld, actually, which is a very very good thing...the I would have guessed at the notes being sweet patchouli, maybe dragons blood and an ambery musk along with a fruity honey...wow was I not too close. Whatever, it is lovely.

[urbanruralferal]

This is musky and fruity, and it doesn't sit well with me.

It is very similar to Czernobog in feel, somehow, but I don't like it much at all.

[bibliophile]

This is really tart on me at first, and almost all cranberry. During the drydown, the musk and spices peek out. Dry, this is a deep, musky cranberry on my skin, still pretty tart but with just a touch of sweetness. I don't pick up on the lily at all. I love this, and recently upgraded to a bottle.

[dawna]

This one has been on my want list a while.

 

In the vial I smell the cranberry.

 

Wet on the skin, the ginger pops out and says HI! slightly and blends with the cranberry scent to add a little zing.

 

On drydown it is the same but mellows into a very nice scent.

[fiddledragon]

This goes entirely to a confusing, sexual musk on my skin. It's that murky sort of musk that doesn't go actively unpleasant like red musk does, but instead goes in expecting to be sexy, and then encounters a skin chemistry that vastly prefers frankincense when wanting to be sensual, and so gets confused and wanders off again. I adore ginger, lilies generally work well, and I was intrigued by the cranberry, but none of them show up at all.

[birdiefu]

Mmmm Lampades . I'll say first off that Hollywood Babylon is one of my top scents ever, so I was happy this was in the same vein.

 

Wet, it's dark and tart cranberries over deep musk, very sensual. As it dries, very faint spices show up along with something earthy. The 'fake wax fruit' stage that all BPAL fruits do on me as they dry is thankfully short, leaving a beautifully blended dark and juicy scent. The musk here is fabulous, the berries not too sweet, and the earth and spice make this sex in a bottle. Throw some patchouli in and this would smell like MME Moriarty on me.

 

Definitely a top scent in my book, but I'm not sure if I'd get a bottle as I still have a 10 ml of Hollywood Babylon to get through and these are very similar.

[Tess]

Cranberry! I so want this to work, because cranberry! Ginger is great stuff, too.

 

In the vial - Spiced, musky cranberry. I think I'm drooling on myself.

 

Wet - Strong berry with quite a bit of ginger. :B I hope this keeps up; I love them berries.

 

Drying - Hmm, something is making the berry sour. The ginger is poking out quite nicely, but I think it may be the musk that's not settling well with me here. Hrm.

 

Dry (45 minutes) - Darn it, the berry went all fake and it's the only thing I can smell now. Well, I guess I can smell a little bit of the musk, but it's really fake smelling. Really, really.

 

Overall - It had so much promise at the beginning and it just didn't work out once my skin got ahold of it. Sigh. Maybe I'll look for something else with a cranberry note that's less central.