Midnight Kiss

[waternight]

Eternal desire, unquenchable passion: red musk, cocoa absolute, Nepalese amber, red sandalwood, aged patchouli, nicotiana, and blood wine.

In the bottle: Red-musky and... well, red. It smells red.
Wet: At first, the red musk and the cocoa battle it out for dominance, and for a while, cocoa beats red musk into submission. This allows a bit of the other notes, especially the wine note, to show up and play for a bit. Red musk is not to be defeated, though, and reappears with a fiery vengeance, smiting all the other notes.
Dry: Red musk hates me.

[Pottersville]

Mmmmmmm ... patchouli. This reminds me a bit of the Agony of Heartache with it's slightly fruity patchouliness. The cocoa absolute is a great addition, and for once it works on me (mmmmmm .... must be the patchouli). I honestly can't pick out the red musk, so I guess it doesn't do the evil things to me that it does to other people. This is definitely back-up bottle worthy!

[QueenFae]

This is divine!!

 

FIrst impressions: Wine, sweet grapey fruity wine, with a cocoa undertone and a beautiful red musk backdrop.

 

I expected the wine note in this to be over the top and rather boozy, but it is so deliciously sweet and fruity!! I can certainly smell the cocoa, but it takes a back seat to the fruitiness. Amber and red musk are two of my favorite notes, and they certainly don't let me down in Midnight Kiss. The undertones are so utterly sexy and mysterious; like a soft, seductive yet evil woman. The combination of the red musk with the grape note is outstanding.

 

This dries down to a purple grape with hints of chocolate and soft amber blowing behind. I just LOVE this!! It's musky and sexy without being incensey or overly strong. This lasts a few hours on my wrists, but by then I'm craving more and I re-apply.

 

FABULOUS!!

[dawndie]

In bottle: sweet red wine

 

On skin: lovely sweet melange of red wine and cocoa

 

Half-hour later: blooming red musk, slightly dusty from the amber. A mellow musk blend with a sweetened base

 

In conclusion: every ingredient listed is faboo, and the resulting blend is sweetly dusky musky, like something illicit and naughty that you'll enjoy every minute. This will be another favorite bottle of mine

[jade_starlight]

Hmm, I haven't quite decided if I like this one or not. It starts out as a mix of a light, non-foody chocolate and what I think must be the wine and maybe the musk. The chocolate fades out on me very quickly, leaving something that's vaguely red and fruity and sort of musky. It's nice enough, but I don't know that it's something I would wear.

[alianthe]

Bottle: Chocolate, cherry, something alcoholic, and something deeper (sort of brownish) behind it.

 

Dry: Somehow, as cherry-chocolate as this scent is ending out, it *doesn't* smell like dessert. It's deep, engaging, intriguing, almost magnetic. A sweet innocent veneer over a darker motive to compel. Pretty much exactly captured vampire seduction in a bottle.

 

Conclusions: I normally hate any type of cocoa in perfume almost as much as I love chocolate to eat, but this one seems to work well. It must be the amber. Not an every day thing for me, but definitely a nice one.

[swilde]

Ok, this smells just like Blood Kiss (which I got in the same order) to me, with patchouli.

 

*checks description*

 

I agree with the soda comments, and then there's a whole lotta incense (sandalwood, patchouli.) I smell like a hippie who got hosed with grape soda and Dr. Pepper!

[ND¢]

It seems that the BPAL wine note is not a good one for me. It amps so hard that all I end up with is the cocoa (which is very nice) and some vaguely winelike smell (same as happened with Urd to some extent.) Sigh.

[deleahrium]

Boomslang + Smut. It's all I can say. WOW!

 

Smut was always a little too dirty and too smutty for me. And Boomslang is a little harsh on the chocolate and patchouli feel. But this is like a combination of the best of the two-- sweet and red smut, bitter and dirty chocolate boomslang. Omg, so good. But it fades really fast on me... oh why!?! :D

[zenvodunista]

I'm kind of sad about this. I love all the notes in here, but I ahve a tendency to amp sweetness, and that happens with Midnight Kiss.

 

I had bought two bottles. While one is gone to swap, I think I'll stash the other one and see if it calms down over time and becomes something wearable for me.

 

N.

[PurringPulsar]

Midnight Kiss

 

In the imp: I don't smell anything like cherry coke or grape soda here. It smells like patchouli, dark chocolate and dry wine.

Wet on skin: now the red musk comes out, along with amber, and the scent sweetens.

Dry on skin: mmm, oh yeah, this is good. This is very good. It reminds me of the likes of Hollywood Babylon, Spellbound, and Lust, it's a sexy sweet red musk enhanced by fruit, amber and incense notes. The cocoa in here is not too sweet, it's a dry bitter cocoa, and the wine note is sweet but not too sweet. The red musk is wonderfully rich, a tiny bit floral in here (maybe from the nicotiana? I smell no tobacco here), and the amber just bonds with it in the most perfect way. Red musk and amber are a match made in heaven. The patchouli adds depth and there's some dryness from the sandalwood, but for now it's a fruity-floral red musk with amber, patchouli and cocoa winding through it. Mmm. In fact, to me, this smells like the autumn version of Red Moon 07.

After a while: the intense patchouli-cocoa scent I got retreats a little, I now smell more of the musk and wine, with an emphasis on the wine. I must be one of the lucky ones because it's not amping to grape juice proportions in here. But it definitely smells like sweet yet slightly tart red wine on me, mixed with red musk, and the wine enhances the musk's fruity redness. The amber is still entwined in the loving arms of red musk and the floral scent is a little more prominent now. This is a very voluptuous scent, sensual and entrancing.

The scent then becomes very gentle, as far as red musk scents go, this one is surprisingly soft, a sweet fruity musk with a hint of earthiness and amber to it, gorgeous but it sticks close to the skin. I smell a faint hint of chocolate once more, but it is fleeting. But I can't stop sniffing that divine mix of musk, amber, patchouli and wine, it is moreish and delicious.

The only disadvantage is that the scent does seem to fade a little fast, with just a trace of musk and patchouli lingering. It's a lovely scent but I'm a little surprised at how my skin is eating it, especially with aged patchouli, which generally sticks to my skin like vetiver does. Though in the end it does stick around, even if it is just a whisper of scent.

Verdict: I love BPAL musk, and Beth is masterful with her red musk scents, and this one is another classic BPAL red musk scent. Very similar to some of the finest BPAL RM scents, the musk here is a sensual, sweet, full bodied and exotic one, not too feral though, it really resonates beautifully with fruit and resin notes, in here the wine and amber mix with the musk and boost it's sexy fragrance. The patchouli adds earthy depth, there's also a hint of floral to it which also bonds nicely with the musk, and then there's that lovely cocoa note which adds just a hint of sweet chocolaty goodness to it all, makes it a little bit different. This is a very romantic scent-the sort of thing to wear for Valentine's Day and any hot date. I love this one loads, but I'm not sure if it's my absolute favourite red musk just yet. At times it smells very similar to a few of my other beloved RM scents, and sadly it seems to fade faster than most RM/patchouli scents do. I think this scent will improve with age. If I let my bottle sit around for a year or so, I bet it will get richer and deeper and longer lasting. I'm still debating whether to keep my backup bottle, but I'm certainly keeping one bottle.

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? oh yeah. One bottle for sure.

If you like this, try: Hollywood Babylon, Spellbound, Scherezade, Red Moon 07, Blood Lotus, Lust, Velvet, Tezcatipoca, Smut

[vegasblueblood]

I got this as a frimp from the Lab and was pretty excited. In the imp and right after applying, it strongly reminded me of Blood Kiss. It has that same sticky sweet blood scent, and I'm thinking it's the wine note. On the drydown, a lovely grape note started to emerge, somewhat reminiscent of Lady Macbeth. Now, about 30 minutes after applying, it's a smoky sweet wine scent with the red musk-y understone. As I'm typing, the cocoa is starting to emerge. It is truly a classic red musk scent but the smoky cocoa wine scent really makes this one what it is.

[LadyCrow]

This is honestly my best possible description:

 

The Centzon Totochtin and Fortunato are having a bit of a smoke, using strawberry-flavored rolling papers.

 

Oh, okay. In the imp I really got the patchouli, then a WHOOSH of booze. The sweetness is what dominates on my skin -- and it's unfortunately hard for me to pull out the various notes, because it has just enough nicotiana (here, I agree with another reviewer's comparison to Kali) to sting my eyes. Dammit. I wanted to like this, but apparently I really am that sensitive. [insert off-topic rant here about the last two updates being chock-full of tobacco/nicotiana.]

[greymatter]

OMGWTFCHERRYCHOCOLATEFLOWERS!

 

...

 

and that's pretty much it. It was overwhelming. If something that smelled like that tried to kiss me at midnight, I'd totally put a stake in its heart.

[vividdreamer]

Yum. This one I like a lot, and I'll tell you why. About a year and a half ago, I read the reviews for Blood Kiss, and I thought it sounded AWESOME. So I bought a bottle off the Sale page. Got it, opened it, and was instantly *afraid* of it. Scared to put it on my skin. There was this crazy, awful note in it that just screwed the whole blend up for me. (Vetiver maybe? I can handle it in other blends, but NOT that one.) It smelled wild (in a bad way) and sharp and out of sync with the other sweeter notes. Almost like the oil had gone off or something, but I knew it hadn't. (So when I say something may be too animalistic for me, that's the note I'm talking about. Can't stand it.) Anyway, Midnight Kiss is everything I loved about Blood Kiss WITHOUT THAT NOTE. They're almost identical except for it. MK is very sweet, a little musky at first, and it *smells* red. Darkly red. I think it'll get even better with age, and I think I'm going to like it alot. It's at the opposite end of the spectrum from most of the oils I have now, and that's exactly what I wanted. I definitely see the Smut comparisons...this is Smut's little sister. Or first cousin. Definitely closely related because of the red musk.

[Little Bird]

This is the first full bottle of BPAL that I've bought unsniffed this year. I've been sticking to decants to save money. Midnight Kiss sounded so good that I got a full bottle right off the bat though. And, of course, this doesn't work for me at all. I love cocoa absolute, love red musk, love nepalese amber, love red sandalwood, love patchouli. This should be perfect on me, but it's not at all what I was hoping for. The wine dominates and it's bad.

 

Wine smells like a cross between thick, rotten fruit and some sort of medicinal cough syrup on me. I get the wine note and something dark and almost ashy underneath it (nicotiana?). The wine and whatever ashy note aren't sweet at all, and smell really off and unpleasant to me. My boy gave Midnight Kiss a 5 out of 10 and it's definitely not appealing to me at all. It's not as sweet, warm, or complex as I was hoping for. It gets more gritty and smokier in the drydown, and I don't handle smoky scents well at all. I won't be keeping my bottle.

[n3m3sis42]

In the bottle:

Strong wine, mostly.

 

Wet:

This does not smell nice on me when I first apply it. It smells like there is some crazy wood note going bonkers with my skin (my skin does not play well with a lot of woods, but usually it's fine with patchouli and sandalwood).

 

Dry:

It dries down calmer and I can see the comparisons to Mme Moriarty (but I like Mme better so far). I'm going to have to give this one another try to see how I feel about it.

[wikkidraven]

it seems like all the notes in midnight kiss are fighting for prominency: first i got a whiff of cocoa, then red musk, then patchouli, then booze. right now it's smelling like a twice-removed cousin of Smut.

 

i'm not sure if i like it or not at the moment. like most scents in this family, i'm sure it could do with a bit of age.

[taramarie]

Wet on me, Midnight Kiss is cocoa, sandalwood, and patchouli. Drying, the cocoa fades away and is replaced by wine. I was hoping to love Midnight Kiss. I like it but I'm not over the moon.

Edited November 1, 2007 by whiterosepetals

[valentina]

The Lab is lovely, for I was frimped with Midnight Kiss in my last order. They are evil little enablers, but I shall forgive them for it, because this scent is beautiful.

 

In the imp, I got a lot of wine and musk. I thought it smelled like the love child of Urd and Smut when it first hit my skin, because what I smelled was that dark red muscadine wine smell of Urd, the patchouli in Urd, and the red musk of Smut. Since these are two favorites, you know I was happy. Things sharpened up for a bit after 15-30 minutes, seemingly a result of the sandalwood and nicotania. Didn't get much cocoa in the blend, except as something that perhaps gives this scent a rather indefinable softness around the edges. What I ultimately end up with is with something that is drop-dead beautiful, in that dark, Urd-Smut-Mme. Moriarty-Boomslang sort of way. A gorgeous scent, indeed.

[minnalavender]

This is dumb. There is no way I can write a helpful review of this scent because every note in it works beautifully with my skin chemistry and is a personal favorite. I knew it would be amazing just from the listed notes! And it is. It's another in a number of Beth's fruity, delicious red musk and wine scents that I absolutely treasure and hoard. This is the "going out dressed up for a special occasion" member of the Amazing Red Musk family - even though it's sweet, it's complex and grownup on me.

 

The only vaguely useful thing I can add is that I couldn't smell a smidge of the cocoa absolute on the drydown - but the way it's playing with the other notes makes up for its bashfulness. This is a multi-bottle hoarder for me for sure.

[jewelbug]

Bottle: Chocolate-drenched Montressor with a hint of sandalwood.

 

Wet: Incredibly wet, fruity wine (still reminds me strongly of montressor), a whiff of chocolate (not as strong as in the bottle), and a woodsiness.

 

Dry: As this dries, the sandalwood grows in strength, helping to balance the strong wine note, which has blackberry overtones. The chocolate fades, and I'm left with a tart wine and sandalwood.

 

Overall: Lasts 4-5 hrs, very enjoyable blend. Not sure how often I'd wear it, however. I could perhaps swap one of my Montressor bottles and keep this one for some variation...

[giltwist]

In the bottle: The chocolate scent quickly rises to the top, with undertones of something sensual. Makes me think of what chocolate body paint made by Willy Wonka might smell like. Good, but a bit daunting to actually wear as a cologne.

 

Freshly applied: No hint of chocolate, only the overpowering aroma of a bag of gummi bears. The sort of over-the-top sugar coating only a manga full of bishonen could produce. At this point, I was regretting the decision to buy the oil.

 

On the dry down: Patience is a virtue, and that's important for this oil. It's only after a few minutes that the real beauty of this oil comes into play. During that brief period of about five minutes, the wearer smells like a walking piece of chocolate dipped in the best pheromones money can buy. Wow, I was even considering having sex with myself at this point. I felt like a bishonen and it was great.

 

After drying: Just a pleasant sweetness that definately has a hint of androgyny. Not the most masculine scent, but that's not what I wanted. I wanted to try feeling like a bishy for a day.

 

Overall score: 8 out of 10, the unabashed sweetness at the onset made me a little embarassed to own it, but generally worth it in the end.

[Honeygirl]

Bottle: Fruity chocolate

 

Wet: Chocolate and pomegranite possible cherries?

 

Drydown: Hmm, the patchouli has come out, and while I'm not a fan of patchouli, it works well with this because it's a later note. I like this blend, if it had been a GC I would have eventually bought a big bottle.

3.0 outta 5

[alliekat13]

Well, this looks and smells red, that's for sure. To me it just smells like fruity patchouli, with spices and amber in the background. It kind of reminds me of Scherezade, but with fruit and patchouli. I really don't like this because patchouli is the scent I loathe the most, and after a while the wine comes out and I really don't like wine either. I am passing this imp to somebody who can appreciate it better than I.