Blood Kiss

[isyche]

Lush, creamy vanilla and the honey of the sweetest kiss smeared with the vital throb of husky clove, swollen red cherries, but darkened with the vampiric sensuality of vetiver, soporific poppy and blood red wine, and a skin-light pulse of feral musk.

This has two notes I love – wine and honey – and one I hate- vetiver. At first I'm afraid the vetiver will ruin this for me, as it's quite apparent when wet. However, it then subsides, leaving a rather chaotic dirty-clove-cherry-vanilla-honey smell.

The drydown on me is a bit like O with cherry wine added – I think the vanilla has covered up the vetiver, which is good anyway.

I'm still not sure what I think of this one, it's so complicated. I think I like it, but it could turn on me.

[sarahj]

Blood Kiss

 

in vial: My nose is confused! Every time I sniff it's a different combination: wine and vetiver, cherry and honey, clove and vanilla, etc.

 

wet: the predominant notes are (in order of strength) cherry, wine, and honey

 

dry: dries into a lovely blend of honey, vanilla, and cherry, along with something (the vetiver?) that keeps it from being too sweet

 

verdict: pretty long lasting (6 hours later and it has started to fade) and I love it! I think a big bottle is in my future.

[gdogs]

i think this is my first review. i'm not very good at them yet, because i don't have the technical "nose knowledge." i smell in abstract, rather than specific or artistic terms. so i lurk. but this one i could not help but review.

 

i am smelling this on me and growling. yes. growling. in the vile, i smelled mostly booze. on me, this is the perfect combination of cherry/berry, honey, vanillia, almond, maybe amber? and, dare i say it? sex.

 

this has got to be the sexiest scent i've ever worn. it travels through my whole body from my lungs, even after a good dry down. this scent turns me on. the individual notes are clear, but at the end of the whiff, they all merge to become sweet without cloying, airy but grounded, and thick but not overpowering. i'm glad i don't get the vetivert as some do, because vetivert is usually too gritty on me.

 

i love this. i want to breathe it.

 

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Edited December 4, 2004 by gdogs

[Ishtar]

The first time I smelled Blood Kiss in the imp, it was all vetiver and cherry. Not good news, since I really dislike vetiver and cherry can be hit-and-miss on me.

 

When I eventually tried it, the first thing I noticed was that the scent in the imp was totally different for the harsh, cloying smell I remembered from five days earlier. It actually smelled pretty similar to Sacred Whore of Babylon. Weird.

 

On my skin, I can smell vanilla, clove, cherry and honey, in that order. No vetiver and no poppy, thankfully. Occasionally, the red wine will show up for a few minutes then goes back into hiding. It is quite nice, maybe a touch too peppery for me when I sniff my wrist. I far prefer the soft, sexy scent that wafts from my skin.

 

Not sure yet if I will keep the imp, as there are so many other scents that are just perfect for me, both "aura" and "up close", but I definitely enjoy Blood Kiss

[judas_kiss]

This was the first BPAL I've ever tried and it's just delicious.

 

In the imp, I got a very sweet, thick black cherry. It was very dessert-like, but with a naughty undertone.

 

On, this was just amazing. At first all I got was cherries, very sweet, but not what I would call "foodie". It's a more sensual cherry.

 

As time went on, this really began to smolder. I got a bit of the clove, vetiver and wine as well as the original sweet honeyed black cherry scent.

 

Overall, I really loved this. It was absolutely yummy. I think I'll be purchasing a 5 ml bottle of this, or at the very least always have an imp on hand.

[sh1mm3r]

I'm decidedly undecided about this.

 

I feel like if it were more of the scents I know I like (the vanilla, honey, and clove), I would be happier. And yet... *sniffs wrists*... I think I like it.

 

Wet, I smelled the cherry, some kind of floral (must be poppy), and the wine.

 

As it dried, I smelled the wine more and more, and now it is a warm red wine smell. No clove, no vanilla.

 

This makes me think of the red smoke in the Wicked Witch's crystal ball, surrounding around the field of poppies when Dorothy was drugged.... that smoke is what I smell. Huh.

 

[Penance]

I got an imp of this from Laurel_The_Woodfairy.

 

First sniff:

 

Cherry...it smells almost like almonds, which means it's not juicy fresh cherries, it's maraschino type cherries, vanilla and honey. This smells very sweet to me, almost like maraschino cherries drizzled in vanilla and honey. I was interested in trying this because of the comparisons people had made to Formula 54, which I absolutely adore, but (so far) I have to say that the two are vastly different to my nose. F54 smells like cognac - which, incidentally, smells a bit like cherries to my nose when it's wet - in the bottle, whereas Blood Kiss smells like maraschino cherries with that almost almond/amaretto smell to it. I'm not sure whether this will work for me, but I'll happily give it a shot to see what happens.

 

Wet on skin:

 

Fresh, juicy cherries and honey. The almond/cherry smell lightens as soon as it hits my skin and it turns into the smell of ripe, fresh cherries with vanilla and honey. I can also smell the faintest hint of cloves now that I'm wearing it. It's not overwhelmingly sweet anymore, either, which is wonderful since I hate super sweet scents.

 

Dry down:

 

Honey, vanilla and clove. The cherry has disappeared and the vetiver, poppy and red wine have yet to make an appearance. This is a huge departure from F54 in spite of the somewhat similar notes, but Blood Kiss is gorgeous in its own right. I actually really love this one, although it does make my skin burn a little and turn red.

 

The bottom line:

 

Gorgeous, especially once it dries and turns into a soft vanilla/honey/clove scent. I can deal with a slight allergic reaction for this one; it's too beautiful to pass up.

[Azrhiaz]

The imp I was most looking forward to getting with my order is here, and it's love, it really is-- this smells *exactly* like I was hoping it would. It's rich-- spicy and thick, honeyed cream and wine and the darkest cherries, dribbling stickily down your chin, and underneath it all my beloved vetiver makes it all positively feral.

 

It's so sexy I want to gnaw my arm off. Big bottle STAT.

 

[closedacct]

I should have known that the vetiver was going to spoil this for me. I so wanted this to work, despite the vetiver. Bloodlust's vetiver is tamed by the cinnamon, so I thought surely all that honey and cherries would do the same for Blood Kiss. Nope. It goes on thick and juicy and I was loving it. About 5 minutes later out sneaks the vetiver and it is firmly planted. My skin totally ate all of the other notes and amplifyed the vetiver. Oh, well. I sent it to AnaisSatin, hopefully it will be loved.

[luxuria]

This starts out vetiver-y, which is bad. However, I love every other note in this blend to bits and pieces, so I sat it out.

 

As it dried, I could smell everything I wanted to up when my nose was right by my wrist and it was PERFECT. Sweet, but sultry, and very sexy. However, when I catch a whiff of it when I'm not smelling my wrist, I smell mainly vetiver again. BOO!!!

 

I definitely get the 'sexy vampire' vibe when I'm not smelling the vetiver (which makes it smell more dry) I'm going to try layering this with my Vanilla Bean and see if it adds some more creaminess to counter the vetiver. Otherwise, perfection in an imp and would be my #1 scent!

 

[edit] Today my skin is really amping up the clove. Not a bad thing, as I love clove, but this is a peculiar blend. The second time I wore it all I smelled was the vetiver without the loveliness lurking underneath. I like this super-clove-tastic phase it's in now, but we'll see how it behaves as I wear it more.

 

[another edit] I think my body chemistry must have completely neutralized. This smells exactly the same on me as it does in the imp and a piece of cotton. Which is..SUPER VETIVER. DAMN YOU VETIVER!!!!! YOU ARE RUINING WHAT WOULD HAVE BEEN AN OTHERWISE PERFECT BLEND

 

[edit] I keep editing this but I really feel obligated to share my progress with anyone else that hates vetiver but wants this to work. I layered with Vanilla Bean (about 2 parts Blood Kiss to 1 part vanilla) and the extra vanilla completely ATE the vetiver. It's PERFECT now. I can't get over it. weirdest. oil. EVER.

 

[...again] I need to stop editing this but I just HAD to add that the bottle of Blood Kiss I just received was MUCH MUCH lighter on the vetiver than my imp. WEIRD! But so good

Edited January 26, 2005 by luxuria

[linaerys]

First Impression: wow, vetiver and blood. love!

 

On skin in first few minutes: wow, cough syrup. I hope that goes away soon, although it isn't as much of an assault as Red Queen was. I get whiffs of something sweet and cherry, but if I hold my nose right to my wrist I get the bitter edge of cough syrup or Campari.

 

Thirty Minutes in: Some spice coming out. That must be the cloves. Yum, but still some Campari in there.

 

1 hour in: I had to wash this off. The Campari smell was just getting worse. I'm going to give this as a present instead.

 

Between this and Red Queen, I think I need to steer far away from Cherry. I love vetiver, though (I know I'm in the minority there).

[TheDarkMother]

I got this as a freebie in my last order! I LOVE the Lab!

 

In the Bottle: Chocolate and vanilla covered cherries. The vetiver always seems to come out as chocolate to me.

 

On Me: This had a quality like dragon’s blood on me, but much darker and eatable. The musk really came out along with the vanilla, vetiver, and honey, all wrapped in a cherry glaze. It didn’t have a boozy quality to it at all, and it was extremely sexy on me. Not as headrushing sexy as Blood Lotus, but it was awfully close. I’m definitely going to need a bigger bottle.

[Fyre_in_Winter]

Of all the scents I ordered, this was "The One" in my mind. It didn't turn out quite as I expected, but nevertheless still very pleasing.

 

In the vial and while immediately wet on my skin it smelled very sugary sweet with berry-cherries. I say berry-cherry because it was definitely not a pure, strong, OMG cherry, it was a blend of berries that happened to contain cherries.

 

That berriness faded very quickly on my skin to be replaced by what I'll call naughty and spiked honey. The honey (to me) smells pretty similar to what is in Hellcat (maybe it's the honey+ wine in both?), super sweet, but with a warm spiciness to it (faint clove?), and something dark and very sharp underneath it all (vetiver is my guess). It remained in this phase for hours, the dark and spiky something coming out more and more, but still reined in by the honey-sweetness. I felt delightfully wicked while wearing it.

 

I expected the vanilla and clove to be more prominent... and overall to be more towards the warmth of vanilla than the sweetness of honey. But I do like it very much as is, and may experiment with layering it.

 

ETA- After letting the imp languish for awhile I picked it back up and the vetiver has mellowed considerably. And the vanilla and juicy cherry really make an appearance on my skin. In short, it is tres magnifique.

Edited February 14, 2005 by Fyre_in_Winter

[FireInCairo]

Blood Kiss reminds me of Snake Oil for some reason. It's like Snake oil with cherries. There is also a creamy element in the blend as well. I think it's dead sexy. I will wear this in the evenings......

[velvet]

it reminds me of a fresh juicy pomigrante with a deep grounding musk? or something heavy and comforting

its gorgeous.. though its a scent that i have to be in the mood for

and for future reference dont mix it with the coiled serpent

both are great indepently of each other but together no way hehe

[RogueFeenix]

First applied:

On at first sniff is smells just like cherry, but with a light vanilla tht you know will turn into something darker.

 

10 mins later:

It has dried down to the metallic of Blood with a spicy base with a hint of vanilla.

 

All in all this is nice, it has all the things i like about Blood, but with a more complex vanilla wine combo. I will keep the imp I have , and wear on occation but My heart still lies with plane old Blood.

[violetblue]

This is a pretty one, though I am swapping it because I just can't get to it with all my holiday LE's and I'd rather share the precious than hoard it.

I really smell the cherry dragon blood note, which is my favorite scent of all time, and I swear I smell some sort of smoey/tobacco-ness but I could be crazy. Sweet, yet sultry. I don't smell the vetivert strongly either. Most of my oils have dragon's blood in them, so I don't feel horrible about swapping this one away, but it is a yummy scent!!

[Cats]

In the bottle this smelled lovely: sweet and juicy and rich and spicy.

 

The instant it touched my skin, it turned to baby powder.

 

I'm beginning to suspect I am secretly made of baby powder. *sigh* And I wish I knew what it is about my chemistry that does this to such incredible, rich scents!

[Scylla]

I received this as a surprise extra imp in a swap with diabolique (thank you again!)

 

In the vial: Uh oh. Reminds me of Blood Amber, which was atrocious with my body chemistry. But I put some on anyway.

 

Wet, on my skin: Very musky and feral--must be the musk and vetiver combination. Must resist the temptation to wash it off!

 

On drydown: AH! There we go! Much better! Now I don't smell the vetiver at all and the musk is in the background. The predominant notes now are honey, something fruity (but not necessarily cherry-ish), and a definite wine note with vanilla way in the background. A very warm, sexy scent. So glad I got to try it!

[The Ace of Spades]

The cherries are strong when it's applied liberally. It's yummy, but not very strong when I apply it in the same amounts as other oils. It seems to fade faster, too. However, it is complex and yummy, definitely dark-and-sexy. The clove, wine, and musk mix nicely. I don't smell much vanilla, except as a mellower note over the cherry. It smells like the concept of incense -- a little smoky, sweet, a little sharp, and thick like the air in an opium den.

[voodoobaby]

In the bottle: Oh wow. It took me a while to figure out what this smells like. This is very similar to Goth Rosary's Dervish. Of course, they have the same notes (vanilla, musk, spicy stuff). So...yeah. I'm also smelling the bubble gum that I smelled in Blood, but to a lesser degree. I'm going to guess that that's how this brand of cherry smells when mixed with clove.

 

Wearing: Ooh, this is delicious. Where to begin? The musk is clearly visible here, but it's so soft and understated--it's like it's sending musky subliminal messages to me! I can smell the honey most clearly as an "aura" around me rather than straight from my arm. There's also a woodsy, kind of sharp bite to it that must be the vetiver (which I like). The vanilla doesn't come out too much until maybe fifteen or twenty minutes after application, and even then it's just barely under my "yum" radar. Around this time, I start smelling the tartness of the wine that is blending beautifully with the honey and musk. Only once in the duration of wearing this oil did I smell poppy, and even then it was fleeting. And I'm barely getting clove, if any at all. My one complaint is that something sweet in this blend is giving me a slight headache, which I'm thinking is the honey. I don't care, though, I like it too much to not wear!

[VorpalBunny]

Ooh, so lovely! This isn't the strong cherry and clove scent of Kabuki, but rather a predominantly honey vanilla scent with the faintest touch of Dragon's Blood, cherry, musk, and the faintest clove. Everything is perfectly in balance. It is intense, yet light. Sweet, yet not cloying. It's going on my Top Ten.

[Rheliwen]

Wet: The cherry is pretty prominent at first. I get a hint of the honey and wine. Combined together they really smell like amber to my nose. This is a very primitive and wild scent...I'm guessing the feral musk is causing this. It smells somewhat similar to civet, but without the cat piss...much better!

 

Dry: The cherry dies down (thank god!), and the clove comes out. The red wine is still very much there, making this scent deep and sexual. The poppy is making it dryer than it was in the wet stage, almost like when it was wet, the blood was very much fresh for the taking, and now that the blend is dry, so is the creature whence the blood came.

 

Verdict: The feral musk combined with the wine makes this a very deep, primitive scent. I almost imagine wolves on the hunt, and this is the scent of their triumph. I also imagine this smelling like a goblet full of blood. I'm warming up to this one as I wear it. I absolutely hate the smell of cherries, but the wine eventually takes over the cherry smell. This is not a daytime scent, but would be perfect for a night of debauchery and primal dancing...like the bloodbath scene in Blade 1

[Shollin]

First sniff: Blood Kiss is richly cherry-sweet, with a swirl of vanilla.

 

Wearing: Cherry vanilla, very warm and sweet. It dried down to pure vanilla honey… just wonderful.

[shelldoo]

In the bbottle and wet: veviter, and vanilla.

 

dry down, this reminds me of O maybe a bit darker but definitely a relative. The vetiver isvery strong on me but I like it, it is a very sexy, dark scent. I am glad I have a big bottle.