Red Lantern

[Teamama]

Looks like I'm the first to review the 2020 version? I get what all the fuss is about!
Wet: Caramel tobacco noms.
Dry: Sweet, complex, amber tobacco blend, with foody leanings. Lots of throw, but not in an overwhelming way. I'm going to have to come back & update after wearing it alone on a non-testing day, to capture all the subtleties. My reaction to it is like the insta-love from Bears of Berlin, & St. Clare.

In short: Red Lantern is lovely, I want a bottle.

[starbrow]

2007 was a super weird one to me. Lots of black currant, a dusty caramel, and not much else. A lackluster fruity blend, not nearly as rich as the description made it seem. Caramel is a flop on my skin in general, but this particular year of Red Lantern was a total bust for me.

[fenharel]

2020 version 

 

I was a bit worried about the caramel as I’m not usually one for those sort of gourmand scents. In this, it works, and I freaking LOVE IT!!!!!!!! Red Lantern is GORGEOUS. In the bottle it’s ooey gooey caramel with a backbone of tobacco and spice. Fresh on the skin it’s mostly caramel and then after a while it settles into this absolutely stunning rich, sweet, spicy, sexy cloud. It’s so well blended it’s almost hard to pick out the individual notes, at this stage. I’d say tobacco is at the forefront, then those Asian spices, the amber gives it a perfumeyness that I think saves it from being a sickly sweet gourmand caramel on me, and if I close my eyes and sniff real hard I get a little coconut. Throw and wear is perfect, present but not overpowering and if I put it on before bed I can still smell it in the morning. Red Lantern is BPAL at its best, and I may need a backup 

[dancingchair]

2011 version

 

In the bottle Red Lantern is a sultry caramel that almost smells like honey. Wet, it opens with a very strong opium smoke stage that overwhelms everything else. Once it dries it blooms into a wonderfully complex scent that really does evoke an opium den. I get a creamy, coconut version of that rich caramel and amber under chewy tobacco and curling wafts of astringent opium smoke. The spices keep the caramel from being too cloyingly sweet but thankfully my skin doesn't amp them like it usually does. I don't really detect any black currant or delphinium.

 

I adore this, but it feels like something to wear on special occasions because it's so complex and sensual.

[MamaMoth]

2011

 

i bought this bottle straight from the lab, and it's wandered in and out of my destash pile ever since.  back in the day, i tended to amp the caramel note to a sometimes nauseating degree.  but i love the other notes so much, that i was always rather torn. 

buuuut as i haven't worn it in years,  i decided today was the day i either love it or leave it. my skin chemistry and tastes have changed a lot over the years, so let's see what we get!

 

goes on as rich, buttery, sweet, spiced caramel, much the same as before. 

 

BUT THEN.  tobacco and amber start to take over.  the buttery caramel recedes to the back, radiating a rich sweetness but mostly staying out of the way.  YAY! this is all about the tobacco and spices now.   i can't pinpoint the spices... they have a little bite at first, but then they settle down gently into the tobacco.  the amber is bringing a little gorgeous perfumey-ness.  i don't smell currant, but i bet it's keeping this from being too heavy, which this teeters on the edge of for just a bit. 

 

as it really settles in, the notes all blend so wonderfully that it's impossible to pick them apart anymore.  it's sweet and rich, but balanced and not cloying. the caramel is no longer its own entity, but rather amplifying the sweetness of the tobacco. it's spicy, but not aggressively so.  a little woodsy, a little perfumey.  complex, exotic, mysterious, compelling.  i am totally congratulating my past self for hanging on to this.  it's absolutely wonderful, and i am most emphatically keeping it. ❤️

Edited July 4, 2022 by MamaMoth

[RoseThornAndOak]

2011 bottle

 

Well this is kinda great. In the bottle it's sweet, syrupy, golden hued coconut and woods, I reckon the tobacco is giving it the woodsy vibe. Definitely caramel in there too, mmm, but not cloying.

 

I guess opium is present but it is not super prevelant as in other opium blends like An Opiate Vapor. If someone held this up blind I wouldn't have guessed it, although it is hazy, mysterious, languid, evening toned, and alluring in that sense. Black currant is who knows where. Spices, yes there is something here, but subtle and wearable, no spice rack vibe. 

 

Later, those caramelly tobacco woods come out more with coconut receding for the most part but subtly wafting about. Kinda wish the coconut stayed around better, but I'll try U Strip before the Lupers come down to see if I can get more sweet, woody coconut vibes, curious to see how they compare.

 

Overall this is lovely and sexy. You gotta love that tobacco note though, but if you can roll, get ready for a fantastic ride smelling great. I think this would be great on the town, on a date on a beach trip, maybe somewhere romantic, old school, and... piratey? 

Edited July 3, 2023 by RoseThornAndOak