Crimson Christmas

[zankoku_zen]

Have you been bad or good? Santa has sharpened his candy canes, and he's got his eye on you! Gore-splattered snow, chimney smoke, and bloody, broken peppermint sweets.

I think the 'smoke' that has the industrial vibe. It was a minty, sort of smokey blend that now smells like toilet cleaner on me.

BOOOOOO.

[ravenfeathers]

in the bottle laundry detergent? possibly evil laundry detergent?

wet on skin an extraordinarily ozone-y pine and tart, tart berries.

dry on skin soapity soap. the ozone, pine, and berries are here and something like soot which is smokey and neat, but, alas, it is so, so very soapy, almost industrially so. and i should add that i never get so much as even a teensy whiff of anything minty in this.

Edited February 3, 2009 by ravenfeathers

[Phaedra]

Wet this is pine and snow, maybe a hit of berry. When first on this is snow with mint far in the background. It's very fresh and clean smelling. After a few hours this is very creamy and slightly minty with hints of earthiness. I don't really get a foody or candy note from this. On the dry down this is a clean, fresh, almost soapy snow scent. I don't seem to detect any of the smoke note in this. I like the creaminess and cleaness of this blend and will enjoy wearing it this winter.

[catatonic1242]

In the bottle: Dirty, dirty peppermint.

 

On, wet: Still getting the peppermint, but there's something underneath that smells almost floral.

 

On, dry: A weird plastic-mint combination that is making me think of a car air freshener. Not too great on me, unfortunately.

[savage_rose]

It smells AMAZING wet, like rich, heady wine (blood?) and snow. Really lovely. And then dry...the snow note turns into Ben-Gay or something, and it smells medicinal and pretty much terrible on me . Eventually that fades, but not soon enough.

[cinnamonster]

I'm not really sure what I was expecting from this but I didn't like it at all. There was a hint of mint but mainly just an overpowering scent of hot blood when on. I had to wash it off.

 

It smelt a bit like something you might wear for a walk in the woods if you wanted animals to maul you to death.

 

Unlike some scents I don't like just because they're not my thing or they give me a headache, this just really really repelled me.

[sprocket21]

This starts as a very crisp red scent - not berry, exactly, but pretty close. It's not sweet at all, it's almost sharp. Then once on me it turns to the soap/laundry detergent that several others have mentioned. With this on one arm and Mutant Hot Rodders from Hell High on the other, I smell really weird.

[BuxomM]

The main note is chimney smoke and something ozoney fresh. As it dries I get a faint bit of sweet berry. No peppermint smell to me. I hoped it would be sweeter and more peppermint for my foody scent taste.

[Aldercy]

Ooh, not what I was expecting. Much darker.

 

Crimson Christmas is very smoky (hearty smoke from sap-soaked logs) with sooty, spicy undertones. I also get the gore! This is very realistic blood-- hot, coppery, with only a little bit of tart fruitiness (a little like pomegranate, a little like the berry note I get in Old Moon, and a little like cherry). The... texture... of this scent is quite rough. It's full of sparks and sharp, sudden hooks that lead off in different scent directions.

 

I get no mint, slush or ozone whatsoever! Strange. I was hoping for a little peppermint.

 

I'm going to try this in about three or four days (it's a stupid time of the month to test oils), and see how things go. I kind of feel like I like this one despite myself. It's very weird though.

 

Two weeks later: Oh, this has improved some. It's fruitier and fuller. It's still very smoky (a little vetiver streak perhaps? I normally run like mad from vetiver, but I think it's okay) and rough. Somewhat masculine, but good. This is definitely a fall or winter scent. I like it, but I still have to say I'm glad I didn't spring for a 5ml unsniffed. (Also: it's shockingly stubborn-- I just took a long, hot shower and I'm still catching little whiffs of it!)

Edited July 2, 2009 by Aldercy

[SlySionnach]

First Bottle Sniff: Whoa, smoke. That's all I can smell. An ashy, definitely chimney smoke.

Wet: Definitely still smoke. Nothing else seems to be coming out except a tinge of a metallic note that I'll give to the blood.

Dry: And now it blossoms into something I absolutely adore. The smoke is in the background, lingering among the mint note, the light berry note (which I wish would come out a bit more - my skin usually amps all fruity scents!) and still a bit of ash. I don't get a particularly cold scent, instead my skin makes it more like a warm pipe.

 

 

Definitely a keeper for me!

[tragedy]

In bottle: blood and smoke

On skin: Snuggle dryer sheets

 

Wow if that isn't one hell of a morph!

[Lamia]

Dirty mint and hotel soap. It feels hot, but isn't creating redness on my skin. Yeah, dryer sheets, laundry detergent, hot forest death by animals.

 

Husband says that it reminds him of some sort of household cleanser from his youth.

 

Gah, trade bag big time, unless it morphs a LOT and soon!

[jtb2008]

Crimson Christmas. This is my white whale. I've been looking for this for so long...

In the bottle and on the skin, I get a sort of cold and some peppermint in the background. Its slightly smokey too.

It isn't quite what I expected, but I'm not disappointed either.

[Geminirubyshoes]

I wanted to love Crimson Christmas on my skin but all I get is gas station bathroom air freshner smell!!! nooooo!!!! Oh well you can't win 'em all.

I do however love this for the concept of it and eventually will get around to diffusing it to see what happens to it then. Hopefully NOT gas station bathroom air freshner smell!

[cyanidenoir]

To me, this scent retains the same notes no matter what. It smells just the same in the bottle as it does on my skin. What I could detect was ozone, lots of smoke, and maybe a hint of peppermint. It reminds me of walking outside on a snowy winter night and smelling smoke from a far-away chimney.

 

I'm not quite sure how I feel about it yet. I'll get back to ya

[hkhm]

imp: the lab's blood note over it's snow note. very sweet.

 

wet: no mint whatsoever. this is a "dirty snow" scent if i ever smelled one. the blood scent has vanished, this just smells like trampled snow. very interesting.

 

dry: the snow note gets more cloying as this dries. this is more sharp than snow scents usually end up on me. darn.

[killerklown]

In the bottle I get a lot of smoke with a hint of snow. Wet on the skin it's pure smoke, nothing else coming through. Dry the smoke fades significantly and the bloody mints come through nicely. This is really complex and if I can get through the initial OMG SMOKE stage it turns in to something really lovely.

 

Trying this again tonight and it went straight to a really cold mint. It smells completely ice cold and almost sends a shiver down my spine. Delicious!

Edited August 4, 2010 by killerklown

[edenssixthday]

Crimson Christmas - I like this scent a lot, even though it's not something I would choose to wear on my body. It's evocative and very interesting. I mostly smell blood and smoke with a thin ribbon of peppermint running through it. There's a faint trace of the typical BPAL "snow" note in the background. It's a very strange, masculine(ish) scent, and I like smelling it, but wouldn't want to smell like it (if that makes sense).

Edited November 24, 2010 by Edens Sixth Day

[Sultaana]

Well this is...different? It's got a really sharp soap smell in the bottle, and once it's on it's more peppermint. I usually am head over heels for anything with the lab's snow note, but so far this one really isn't singing to me. The tang of blood and little bit of smoke are there, but whatever note is making this so soapy is really overwhelming this blend.

[filigree_shadow]

When I first put it on, it smelled very much like something my husband would wear. Masculine. Cologne-ish. A little smoky and dark.

 

And when it was dry, it smelled like a cross between laundry and some sort of candle that you burn to make your room smell nice. Very homey and comfy. Smells like Saturday afternoon at my house.

 

It's not the type of thing I wear as perfume, but I like the scent.

[imaginepageant]

In the Vial: Chimney smoke? Check. Peppermint sweets? Check. Snow? Check. Blood and gore? Hello? Are you there? Nope, I don't think so. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be the literal smell of blood and gore (see also: Gore-Shock) or not. It's vaguely fruity, but bitter, like holly berries or something, so I guess that's posing as the blood.

 

Wet: Aaaaaaand dryer sheets. Yep, this is why I don't wear ozones. But wait! The peppermint is creeping back in. So it's... peppermint dryer sheets.

 

Dry: The good news: it no longer smells like dryer sheets. The bad news: it now smells like manly pine-scented soap. I didn't think there was any evergreen notes in this, but okay. There is. Okay, wait - the pine has eased up a bit and it's back to dryer sheets. What the eff, make up your mind.

 

An Hour Later: It still hasn't really made up its mind, and is hovering between pine-scented soap and dryer sheets. It is somewhat softer and creamier now, though.

 

Overall: I didn't think this would work for me (I tend to avoid cold blends), and I was right. But I couldn't not try something described as "gore-splattered."