The Brides of Dracula

[zankoku_zen]

Unquenchable desire, seething lust, malevolent sexuality, and voracious hunger lurking beneath a shimmering veil of unearthly beauty: gleaming skin musk, honey and white amber, plum blossom, osmanthus, sandalwood, calla lily, and a light, sensual blend of Eastern spices.

This one is interesting, it's like a sweet, shy floral musk.

In the imp: Floral

On Skin: Delicate floral, with a hint of amber and hint of honey

On Drydown: Skin musk

Verdict: This stays very close to the skin. Pretty but indistinct to me. I smell like I just washed with some really really nice soap. It would probably act as a good layering base for me.

ETA: to add description Edited September 18, 2007 by zankoku_zen

[Vampy]

Urk. :X

 

On me this was very "perfumey" and extremely bitter and just, yuck. It smells awful and headachey in the way that department store perfumes always do to me. It leaves me wondering why it's so popular.

[Shollin]

First sniff: The Brides remind me a little bit of O… they have the same sort of honeymuskamber feel, very slinky, with a bit of floral in the background.

 

Wearing: The white floral shows up a lot more on my skin, and the honeymuskiness retreats. I liked it better the other way. Come back, lovely honeymusk!

[The_Merf]

For anyone who has trouble with honey in general, this might be a blend that you want to check out--my skin tends to have honey go all wrong, but it's not too bad in this blend. It's maybe the third most prominent note at best. Of course, my skin also sends lily up like crazy, so that might have something to do with it as well. This is basically a musk/lily mix with just the slightest bit of honey in the background. I don't really detect any amber at all, though light ambers tend to not be prominent on my skin. This blend does not do a lot of changing on me.

[metaldog32]

Initial sniff from bottle:Delicate floral with the honey and amber lightly backing it up; it’s all very soft. I think I can detect the spices but again..it’s very soft.

 

 

Applied wet on skin: Floral…osmanthus and lily prominent…but the skin musk and honey do a good job with tempering it..I get the sandalwood at the end.

 

Couple of minutes on skin:Musky floral..but it’s honeyed…and the white amber peeks with the sandalwood to give a touch of round sweetness with the dry and a touch dusty. Those spices I could smell in the bottle are flitting around..but that note isn’t aggressive..kind of lends it’s aura.

 

I can’t decide if I like it or just tolerate it.

 

Ten minutes later:Still as above; hasn’t really changed; I agree with some reviewers that this seems a bit translucent; a slightly creamy floral with a touch of dryness at the bottom. Very appropriate for what it is supposed to represent.

 

Some reviewers have likened this a bit to Kali; I agree but with Kali I was inundated with 6 different notes rushing over me like a cacophony of sound, BoD is a bit more restrained. Don’t get me wrong; I love Kali..I just can’t wear her because my sister claimed it as her own. SO..BoD can work for me..hopefully..which at this point seems promising.

 

Forty minutes later: Faded fast..but I still get the creamy floral with honey and amber..just all of it is softened..it could have been sweet to the point of cloying..but the sandalwood lends the dryness to keep it in check and that skin musk makes it sheer.

 

FWIW, I did actually dab on some Penitent Magdalene alongside a fresh dab of BoD..and yes..there is similarity between them. Whomever made that observation; good job!!!

 

Drydown: Slightly powdery sweetness…with a sheer wash of floral.

 

Lasting power clocked in at about 4+ hours or so. Throw soft to average.

 

Bottom Line: I like this for the office; I don’t necessarily find it a very overtly sexy fragrance; perhaps it hints of it in a demure or maybe subtle way..at least on me. It’s an interesting enough take on a floral for me to keep; but again I will say it does run similar to PM and to Kali; all of them are different enough to keep me rotating happily. Not holy grail but keeper indeed.

[GreenSpine]

On me, the honey and skin musk jump equally to the front, leaving the rest of the notes to subtly alter the feel of the scent.

 

Unlike a lot of reviewers, I do find this very dark - there's something sensual and sinister about this blend as a whole. It's sweet, but it isn't innocently sweet like sugar or candy; it's drippingly sweet like a sundew plant attracting insects.

 

The imagery this conjures up for me is overwhelmingly feminine, which is unusual in that I rarely get gender vibes from scents.

 

This is one of my top ten, and one of very few scents I've secured a backup bottle of.

[Miss Lynx]

I liked this quite a lot when I sampled it at a meet'n'sniff a while back, but now that I've finally got my hands on an imp of my own, I find myself less impressed. I hadn't initially been all that interested in it because the notes listed looked like it would be too floral for me, but when I tried it back then, I got more musk, honey and amber, with just a light dusting of florals, which was really nice.

 

Unfortunately, trying it on now, I get... lots of florals. Too many florals. Kind of like I'd originally expected. It's not as scary as some heavily floral scents, but it's a bit further in that direction than I'm really comfortable with.

 

As it settles in a bit, though, the floral blast fades, and I can begin to smell the other notes. At this stage, it actually reminds me a fair bit of Desire, which though partly floral I kind of like.

 

Eventually, it does hit the lovely, warm, sexy amber-honey-musk that I remember, but it takes its time getting there. Quite nice at that stage, but I think I may swap it anyway, as I have other scents in that general family that take less time to get to a phase that I like.

 

Grade: B

[bulletslc]

How odd.....this was probably the very first BOTTLE I purchased (ebay-as I missed the OotD initially) in the beginning of this year and I STILL haven't reviewed it? LOL! Good thing I decided to revisit my collection tonight!

 

Brides of Dracula is STILL a fabulous scent!

 

I adore musks and amber. And Brides has both but mixed so well with white florals that it is a complex and feminine treasure! The honey also sweetens (heheh) the deal. O is too much honey for me, but here the honey slinks around with the lily and musk...now you smell it now you don't......Darn it! Why did I forget about this one for so long!!!!? Oh yeah....I was seeking out heavier musks and resins....But now I know! Brides of Dracula is the perfect mix of sweet musk/amber/honey and white florals for me! I think it smells even better now than it did almost a year ago....I'm going to be wearing this one a lot in the near future!

[waternight]

In the imp: Very light - mostly lily, a bit of plum blossom.

Wet: Still mainly lily and a bit a of plum blossom. The skin musk starts to show, soft and gentle. A tiny bit of sandalwood shows its influence, but it's not amping like crazy and taking over like it usually does on my skin.

Dry: Dry, this is lovely gentle white florals mixed with skin musk. It's vaguely reminiscent of white musk, but it's addicting and I can't stop huffing my arm. I was expecting these girls to have more of a bite, even hidden, but they're all sweet femininity.

[hkhm]

imp: honey and lillies.

 

wet: very floral, probably the plum blossom playing nice with the lilliies... and all dipped in honey. very sweet.

 

dry: between the musk and the florals and the honey, this is heady, sweet stuff. very pretty and feminie without being cloying.

[dorothy humbird]

This is quite lovely on my skin for a half-hour or so. It is a very light, pretty, sweet scent with a soft floral feel -- nothing in this blend amps up to a screechy pitch on me, which is perfect. My nose keeps thinking this blend has similarities to Anactoria - both blends behave on my skin in a delicate, mystical sort of way.

 

It's very apparent to me that this blend uses skin musk, and white amber, because I think there is a certain ethereal quality achieved in these lighter notes than would have been the case with red musk or dark amber, for instance. The osmanthus and plum blossom are probably what lend the overall scent a feeling of soft, wind-blown petals in late spring. I've surprised myself with how often I've wanted to wear this, but I think this time of year is perfect for it: late May, with the leaves on the trees just gaining a lush green depth, and my windows open to let the breeze flow in.

 

My only complaints are that this doesn't last on my skin for very long, and at the later stages seems to develop a powdery soapiness that I'm not very fond of. This is what my locket was purchased for! I'll definitely be holding on to my decant, and will wear it when I want to feel floaty and slightly enigmatic.

[donnatron]

Bottle: When I smell amber, I just don't smell anything. I get a bit of plum and a bit of disturbing oily sweetness. It's one of those scents that you smell and you can taste it.

 

Wet: Sour honey, warming skin musk. It's pretty much the same as every other skin musk scent. But Les Bijoux and Eos are two of my favourite scents, so let's wait this out.

 

Dry: So glad I did. It smells like soft, sweet, clean skin with just a trace of light florals on it. The other scents are so light compared to the skin musk/amber/honey that it kind of smells like waking up after a kind of naughty night with the scent of your perfume still on your skin. It's a memory of a scent more than an identifiable scent. It's very sexy and provacative.

 

Throw: Good. Mostly the honey throws along with the amber. You have to get up close and personal for the skin musk (which is probably how it should always be).

 

Overall: I kind of lucked into a bottle through a LJ sale. It's beautiful. The Brides of Dracula may have to mud wrestle with Les Bijjoux for skin musk commander of my heart.

[nellieburger]

In the imp: This is, by far, THE most luscious bouqet of flowers I've EVER inhaled!!! VERY floral!!! Gorgeous!!!

 

Wet: Still 100% floral, but not as striking.

 

Dry: Soft, white florals with a hint of musk, and a taste of amber.

 

This is VERY pretty!!! I wouldn't use words such as "malevolent" or "voracious" to describe this scent, though - those descriptions sound too harsh for this gentle scent. It's very soft in a sensual way. It lingers lightly, and leaves me wanting more. It's absolutely stunning!!!

[tacey]

Brides of Dracula (decant)

 

A sexy concept that didn't quite come off for me. This blend didn't start out all that floral -- there was some spice, something I think was the white musk, maybe some honey -- but it did head there through the day.

 

The florals strengthened as the day went on, and while this lasted pretty well, it wasn't the complex, subtly threatening blend I'd hoped for based on the description. It's not exactly simple -- there's more to it than just flowers, and I can't even identify the flowers, so there's clearly some magic going on, but it didn't have the threat or the surprise that the imagery would seem to demand.

 

A decent floral, with some musk and something else hanging behind. I'm not likely to remember it for long, though. [shrug]

[jizatt]

I wore this today, fairly heavy because I've been experimenting with throw. No comments on it, unless I requested them, but all that were requested were positive =)

 

This is a very unusual floral type smell. It's definitely honey-sweet, a bit of spice. It's also very subtle, but the skin musks usually are on me. The amber darkens it a bit, or enriches it maybe, to keep things interesting =)

[VioletChaos]

in the bottle: sweet and light, i can't pick out any notes but it gives me a feeling of early autumn for some reason. *shrugs*

 

wet on skin: a white musk is peeking out, along with a touch of lily. but these are both really fleeting. it's like a tiny faery flitting in and out of being seen by human eyes. which is lovely.

 

dry down: a delicate skin musk- light, but not really floral, sweet without being cloying.

 

in all: a good "skin" scent, this one plays it very close. it strangely maintains that "autumnal" feel, though because of it's lightness, i'd likely wear this more in the summer than any other time of year. lovely, gentle, evocative and not easy to describe. a keeper!

 

 

 

[stillalive]

nice... kind of a dusty, gentle, floral version of blood kiss... It would be perfect with just a little blood in it. Probably not my trademark scent, but I might wear it with my Halloween costume (I'm going as a female vampire, wearing my rennaissance wedding dress thing and my black velvet cloak.)

 

Updated: Well, there's pretty much no throw to it at all. I'm going to experiment with blood or blood amber with it to see if it will stay a little better there... besides, aren't they supposed to smell a bit like blood? Anyways, it smells much better on me now, maybe due to skin chemistry or something, and more honey and babywipes than florals. It's really growing on me. I'm on the prowl for a bottle now.

Edited October 28, 2008 by systemaurora

[asciident]

Wet: A very faint floral. I suspect this won't last long on my skin.

 

First on: Barely there plum blossom and lily. Fading fast.

 

Dry: And now it's gone. Too bad.

[Lamia]

Started wickedly floral, a cruel sweet smile. After a few hours, it went brutally sour on me. Damn you, white amber!! Fortunately, the ambered sourness went away (phew!) and has left only snide chalky flowers. This imp is sufficient.

[fairnymph]

Sniffed: Light yellow oil. Honey, skin musk, osmanthus, sandalwood and a little soapy lily. Very smooth and indeed glimmering, clean from the white amber, softly floral, a little sharp, complex, sophisticated, feminine.

 

Wet: Less honey and musk, more sandalwood, osmanthus, and white amber. Cleaner, sharper, brighter. The lily's a little powdery-soapy, but bearably. There is an almost peppery/spicy edge that reminds me of (traditional) Oriental-ish style perfumes.mes.

 

Dry: A little sweeter and more floral as plum blossom emerges, calla lily amps and the osmanthus continues to be very strong. The sandalwood is powerful here too, quite sharp and dry. For some reason, this scent reminds me of Les Bijoux, though this is more floral.

 

Later: Muskier, and I'm realising the floral blend here also reminds me of the florals in La Primavera. It feels very white and very bright, and HEADY, with another strong floral that's not listed - ylang ylang, not a favourite of mine.

 

Summary: The lily has quieted, so this isn't any soapier or powdier, but the ylang ylang amps so much on me that the florals become unbearable overall. It's a shame, because I enjoyed the amped musk and the return of the lovely honey. It's nice, but not quite perfect. Very strong throw & longevity.

[Veronica]

This started off straight floral, but after a while developed a more complex, "dry" note as the sandalwood came out. A beautiful floral, I definitely don't regret getting a bottle. The sandalwood balances the floral qualities of the scent perfectly to create a slightly floral, but not overly omg!perfume scent that's natural and beautiful. I just wish this weren't so faint!

[rayvn1]

Very feminine! Honey, slight spice, florals and dusty amber. I almost get a hint of rose somewhere in there too. Now that it's sat for a few hours the skin musk is really coming through. Not something I'd reach for often, but very pretty

[Muppetk]

This is lovely. Sensual, musky-incense plus a light femme-y floral on top. Actually the best way to summarize this is THIS almost exactly what it smells like when I open my bpal box. That wonderful melange of all things slinky!

[Schmoozy]

 

I wasn't too sure if I should try this blend, as there seems to be alot going on inside. I was frimped this awhile ago, and have put off testing it for some time. However once applied I can't believe I haven't tried this sooner. This is stunning. Soft wispy florals sweetened by honey, and that unmistakeable note of skin musk which always seems to up the sex pot anty of a blend. Once the soft florals give way I detect sandalwood, and amber and hint of spice that all seem to blend together in this ridiculous way. My god this stunning. It is sexy and soft, yet spicy and decadent. I hate falling in love with an unobtainable blend. To think I chose Jonathan Harker and The Carpathian Mountains as bottle purchases when this was available. Gah!

 

 

[Lamia]

Soap.

 

I should know better than to actually try any BPAL with white amber as an ingredient.