Black Lotus

[sthenno]

Born in the shadows of a Temple to Set, this corrupted Egyptian scent evokes images of black pyramids, river demons, and bleak, deadly desert sands. Black lotus flower, amber, myrrh and sandalwood.

This one's really sweet. In the bottle, wet, through drydown until it disappears--way too sweet. Too bad because I like the concept.

[WidgetAlley]

Got this in a swap with the faboo cal_steph. So much . The only lotus I've tried before was in Undertow, which I really liked, but which also, unfortunately, lasted about five minutes on me. Wah. So we'll see how this one fares.

 

In the Imp: That distinctive sticky-sweet lotus scent, but clouded by something dry and resiny. I can really smell the myrrh (same as in Laudanum!), and the sandalwood... not the amber, though. But then, I can rarely smell amber in the Imp, I have to wait until it's on my skin. The star of the show is definitely the lotus, though; I know a lot of people think lotus resembles bubblegum, but I really don't get that. It's very sweet, that's true, and very round, but to me it's patterned differently: floral, aquatic, vaguely spicy and a bit minty. Thumbs up so far...

 

Wet: The sandalwood takes over for a minute, then the lotus rallies, briefly reclaims my wrist, and is stabbed in the back by the smoky myrrh. (Maybe they're all fighting over the amber?) Eventually they settle down into a triumvirate rulership.... I have to say, this is nowhere near as lotusy as I expected. The sandalwood and myrrh are keeping it in check... in fact, it almost smells like lotus incense; still lotus, but dry and slightly dessicated. I wonder if I amp spices? Everyone else seems to say it's too much lotus on them, but right now I'm sort of wishing it had a bit more... I should also add that this is very faint on me at the moment (although that's hardly an indication of how it will be tomorrow-- the "volumes" of blends seem to go up and down depending on the day and the weather.)

 

Dry: Smoky, hazy myrrh, bone-dry sandalwood (I think white?), indolent and threatening lotus... and a backing of what I think might be black amber. Amber usually comes off as very friendly, but this... not so much. Black Lotus is quite heady and thick, and really does evoke images of desert sands, slowly flowing water and the gritty sludge that happens when the two mix. Very shadowy and slightly unsettling, in some strange way (somewhat like Undertow, actually-- I wonder if lotus puts me on edge or Beth is just really, really good at creating malevolent blends?) And, did I mention, it smells pretty damn awesome, too?

 

Verdict: I really like this, even if I do wish the lotus was just a touch stronger. Still, I like the way everything cooperates on my skin (for once) to create something incredibly nice to sniff but still a little offputting.... I can definitely see Imhotep from The Mummy smelling like this (er, when he's not a rotting corpse with half his face gone, that is.) I'm not sure about a big bottle-- I'll have to try a few other lotus blends first-- but the Imp is a keeper. I'll use it when I want to feel sinuous, sneaky and powerful.

[Kalasin]

In the bottle

Very sweet and kind of fruity, the scent reminds me a little bit of Yerevan

 

Wet

Apparently lotus has a sweet almost candy-like smell because I smell no smoky incense, but Rockets.

 

Dry

I can definetely smell the sandlewood and it's muting and balancing the sweetness of the lotus beautifully. Very pretty and sexy.

[strawberry_star]

I had initially requested Blood Lotus from a friend, but it turns out it was Black Lotus that she had.

 

In the imp - It oddly enough smells a bit like bubblegum gone demented. Not bad.

 

On me- Still picking up a slight bubblegum smell, but there's something much richer and deeper. It's slightly nauseating to me, but it's not horrible. There's a definitely goldness there as well from the amber. Hmm. I'm not too sure about this one.

[Wench457]

Black Lotus ITB: extremely sweet and fruity.

 

On: an odd smell, like fruit-flavored candy dust.

 

Dry: sweet, sweet lotus. No doubt about that, but not bubblegummy as it usually goes on me. More of a candy smell this time. Interestingly, I never did get any sandalwood, which usually completely dominates a scent on me.

[Kittyflop]

First on - sour fruit. Green-apple Jolly Ranchers.

 

As it dries, the myrrh and sandalwood coming through a bit. It holds on to the sour apple tang - it tickles my nose if I get too close to my wrist.

 

Poisonous. Tangy. Seductive. Not an everyday sort of scent.

 

It lasts longer than I expected - it doesn't waft too far, but it hovers for quite a while.

[amrita]

Wet: candy sweet lotus. This smells pretty plasticky on me. It's a very rich, sweet floral; it almost reminds me of perfumed hard candies. It dries down to sweet and smoky plastic. What's up with the plastic?... hmm.

[urraca]

I swapped for this after discovering I like lotus. It did not disappoint. Typical bubblegummy lotus to start, though I like that scent, but the real thrill is on the drydown. The amber, sandalwood, and a rather light, non-headache inducing myrrh blend to create a dusky, musky scent that reminds me of Beth's Chinese musk. Yum.

[loves_requiem]

a little heavy...

 

im getting bubble gum...like those odd flavored sticks in spice, licorice and anise. not really me.

[theshapeshifter]

In the imp/wet on skin: That sweet gummy/fruity scent I associate with lotus.

 

Drydown: What a surprise! The myrrh, sandalwood etc come to the forefront, and somehow the black lotus turns to.... plum? By some wonderful alchemy, this turns into the kind of dark-plummy-incense that I was hoping for from Hellion. Lovely, just lovely. I wish it stuck around a little longer, though - a little over two hours and it's fading away, but what a wonderful scent while it lasted!

[batsy]

In the bottle: Lotus and amber. Ooo!

 

On the skin: Sandalwood and myrrh. It's a smokey scent that's for sure. Very heady and exotic. The lotus is pungent and this is almost a watery scent for me. A womanly scent, for sure.

 

And my mom just stole it from me!

[sarada]

This is my second time trying this and while it's still pretty good for a lotus scent on me I still get a lot of the "banana candy" sensation that lotus always brings. If you've ever had Runts candies, lotus smells to me like the banana ones. No kidding!

 

But this is a bit darker, sweeter, smokier and more syrupy. It's also decidedly spicy as it dries down. I recognize the myrrh now that I know it's in there. It is a spicy incense scent to me, lending a smoky tone, or maybe even a tiny bit reminiscent of Old Spice...I think the sandalwood gives this a bit of a smoky sense as well. Meanwhile, amber puts it in a bed of a thick, sweet resin.

 

The lotus is always present but it becomes more tolerable as it dries down. This still isn't something that I can see wearing except to test every once in awhile. Like all of the Rappaccini's Garden scents it takes a floral and makes it wearable to someone like me who doesn't like florals. I'm really turned off by lotus though, no matter what it's drenched in. I like getting frimps of this for a sniff and a couple hours of wear but otherwise I think I have too many other scents to play with that suit me better!

[brownbear]

I just can't decide how I feel about this one. It is sweet and light and candyish and also dark and dusty. hmmmm I might have to try it again some other time.

[septima_pica]

This scent is kinda fruity, maybe even apple, but definitely *black*. Unambiguously so. It's reminding me of something, the way scents do, but I can't quite say what. Not particularly flowery, but lotus tends to be like that. Somehow this manages to be almost sickly sweet at the same time that it's black and echoing. Overall quite nice, except I don't think it agrees with my chemistry -- could smell REALLY HOT on the right girl, though.

[Eunice]

Totally tropical punch drink at first. There is something darker underneath though. I think it is the amber and myrrh. No sandalwood yet. This is really at odds with what I like and dislike. I hate tropical punch drink with a passion but whatever is coming out in this scent along with that tropical punch drink, I am loving it. This grabs hold of my and won't let go. This is lovely!

[urbanruralferal]

Black Lotus, it started out smelling like strawberry jam, and as it dried down it took on that smokey quality everyone mentions.

It smelled like strawberry (or something) scented candles! I used to hang out at this figurine shop when I was a little kid. They had Job posters, and porcelain animals, and fairy cards, and scented candles. It smelled like that place.

After wearing this for a while, I all of a sudden wanted to go rollerskating, with my hair in big ponytails on the sides. I wanted to be twelve and just starting to think about boys, hanging out with a friend in her room, chewing Bubble Yum, with some strawberry (or something) scented candles burning. We are heading to the roller rink any minute!

After a couple of hours the back of my throat started to hurt and I had to wash this off, because it got too mixed up and overbearing.

I might try it again, using a bit less, but...

I really think I would like it better if it were lip gloss!

 

I will definitely pass it on to the kids.

[sissa125]

My Great Disappointment. The description was so lucious and I'd not tried lotus before. I was expecting it to be sandy and delicate but it was sickly sweet fruit gum that now gives me a headache if I even think about it. I will swap it away ASAP.

 

There were some plus points to it...I got a whiff of incense and spice but the lotus and amber were too overwhelming.

[Elrianra]

In the bottle: Very floral with a strong underscent of sandalwood. The amber and myrrh are hardly there.

 

On me wet: The lotus is still really strong, as well as the sandalwood; the myrrh and amber blend underneath to make a honey-like scent that's just a tiny bit spicy.

 

On me drying: The lotus is fading fast and taking the myrrh with it. The amber is backing up the sandalwood so I smell like an incense stick before it burns.

 

On me dry: Sandalwood and more sandalwood, with the faintest tinge of myrrh and amber to dampen it. So far, it's fairly sweet but definitely darker.

 

Final conclusion:

1 Hour Later - Well, the sandalwood has even faded down so that all I smell is myrrh and amber. This is still a very honey-ish combination in my mind but not in a foody sense. Quite lovely.

3 Hours Later - The sandalwood is in the background now. It smells like honey incense to me. It has a nice range to it and has softened to an extremely mild scent. Not as dark or foreboding as I expected. I think my skin eats up lotus.[/lj-cut]

 

 

Finale:

I like this smell a lot, it's vicious when wet and when it dries, it has that mysterious cloy like sweat in a dark tunnel. Unfortunately, this also has a throw like you would not believe. I put it on upstairs, came down to my room and closed the door and hours later after washing the final strains of honeyed sandalwood off my wrists, I discovered all my bedding now smelled like it. Even more overwhelming, it made the upstairs smell like sandalwood for an hour, my mother reports. Maybe I'll give it another go when the weather turns... sunshine and being outdoors may help me like it more. But still, I'm worried about the throw...

 

I ended up swapping this one out eventually, I just couldn't handle the sandalwood in it.

[desu]

In the imp: Sweet incense.

 

On me: Zero to bubblegum in two seconds as soon as it touches my skin, but the sweetness gradually tones down and turns back into the sweet incense I smelled in the imp.

 

Later on: Almost all trace of the sweet lotus is gone, leaving a faint hint of incense.

[damuddymeg]

I find this scent fascinating on several levels. First, that so many people get fruit or candy notes out of this (I definitely don't). Second, that the lab manages to prove me wrong once again--I keep insisting that florals aren't my thing, and they keep making florals that are AMAZING on my skin.

 

In the imp: lightly sweet floral, both aquatic and incensy at the same time.

 

Wet: The amber, as always, blooms on my skin. It turns the floral creamy and spicy.

 

Dry: The creamy, spicy floral is here to stay, deepened with smoky myrrh and spiced further with sandalwood. This is not, however, a strictly spicy OR incensy fragrance. It retains the vague aquatic note I associate with lotus, but it blends in perfect harmony with the amber, which is, as always on me, the last note to hold on. There's an above average throw (I get whiffs from my wrists when they're at the keyboard), and the wear on this is amazing--a good 6 to 8 hours after a modest application.

 

This is a new love!

[goth_hobbit]

In the bottle: It's a very sweet fragrance, but unlike so many others, I'm not getting "bubble gum" from it. For me, it's the combination of sweetness and floral that I expect from candied flowers. It's also very light, at least to my nose; too much sweetness, and I'd re-cap the imp without a second thought.

 

Wet: There's an almost instant sugared floral bloom, with a hint of spicy sharpness. Not cloying, nor very intense. The fragrance is more of a honey-sweet than a white-sugar sweet, with a gingery note that probably comes from the sandalwood and amber interacting.

 

Dry-down: There isn't much change; the scent gets a bit more "golden" and gingery, and there's just a hint of the myrrh bitterness peeking out to anchor the other notes. It stays close to my skin and doesn't broadcast its presence.

 

Mature: I have to say, Black Lotus has amazing staying power on me; I tried it yesterday evening, and it still had a lingering presence this morning. What it reminds me of are flower-infused pastilles, as well as a lotus seed paste and ginger candy that my grandparents brought home from Hawaii when I was little. In fact, if you took the lotus seed candy and drizzled honeysuckle water and lotus blossom water on it, that's exactly what it would be like. Not overly sweet, with just a bit of spicy bite.

 

For me, this is a good general-purpose daytime blend. I wish that I got more of the "sinister" undertones with it that some others have, but there's nothing in this blend that my skin chemistry interprets that way.

[The Perfumed Ferret]

This is a special blend to me, because it was the first one I sniffed. This blend is black, sharp and resinous. I can't pick out the notes, but it's beautiful.

[strangemusic]

In the bottle: Fresh, fruity bubble gum. Something peppery and dusty is underneath that chewy lump of gum, though.

 

Wet: Bulbous, juicy, almost liquid. That lotus was 'way back in a hidden bend of the river, popping its gum and talking to the demons while in class. The peppery note is almost as strong as the lotus, and there's a bit of dustiness as well. I'm not getting the amber at all. Pretty good throw on this one, especially in the first thirty minutes... a bit of a siren. I'd want to approach this just to find out what it was, even though my escape were not assured.

 

Dry: The bubble-gummy juiciness of the lotus has died down, a bit, and diminished to something that is kind of... worrying. Over the next few hours, the scent goes back and forth between a less intense form of the initial impressions and... oh gods, no. Nonononono, no! Please, not scented toilet paper! PLEASE!

 

A few hours later: The verdict is in... scented toilet paper. As I have no wish to smell like this, even for the slightest moment, this one's gotta go. Damn.

 

Originally posted to my LiveJournal 22 May 2006.

[Diana]

wet: lotus (bubblegum!), very sweet!

 

drydown: The lotus picks up a spicy tang from the amber & sandalwood... an unusual scent. After a bit more time, this becomes predominately more wood/resin, but it retains some of the original sweetness from the lotus. It reminds me of a lighter version of Khajahuro (or however you spell that), without the champaca flowers.

 

I'm really surprised by this. Somehow I've never really tried any of the lotus scents, and I didn't know what to expect. I like the sweetness and the soft floral aspect, mixed with the beautiful resin notes that I often fall for.

[Rouge]

A deliciously dark, sophisticated and sensuous perfume. It doesn’t, however, evoke the sort of severe and acrid atmosphere I’d expect a Temple of Set to have; it’s far too luscious and thick and sanguine for that.

 

In the bottle – Rich, warm and soft. There’s a dominant smell of crushed purple and black fruits. Very sensual and lavish.

 

Wet on the skin – Vanilla and berries. This is an incredibly rich scent, almost throbbing. It brightens a little after a few minutes. Fruit continues to be the most noticeable scent for me but there’s also an undertone of flowers. It reminds me of nothing so much as the “Feasts of Nitocris” spoken of by the narrator of Lovecraft’s short story “The Outsider” – the ghoulish, hedonistic revels of an undead Egyptian queen.

 

Dry down – A drier, smokier note develops as time goes on. To keep the Lovecraftian theme going, Black Lotus shares its darker notes with “Nyarlathotep”. I suspect the two would be a brilliant combination layered together. An hour into wear, “Black Lotus” softens and mellows to a dry, woody, ashen note.

 

I’d team this perfume with clothes in rich deep colours; thick velvets and silks. Especially purple.