Vampire Tears

[donnatron]

Regret born from ceaseless longing: wisteria, white grapefruit, neroli, green tea, jasmine, white ginger, honeysuckle, iris, and tonka.

For some reason, I always wind up with frimps of this in swaps and sales. I now have more than the content of a bottle in Vampire Tears frimps. So I figured that I owed it to the universe to actually review the fragrance.

Imp: Sharp, clean florals. Almost an air freshener scent.

Wet: Like some other forumites, I get a buttered popcorn scent. It smells like a citrusy and lilac-y #20 Love Oil.

Dry: The popcorn scent calms down and the florals and citrus are the dominant notes. This is very fresh and light and pretty. Now it seems like Embalming Fluid with a bit more gravitas. I applied this in my cleavage and I get the buttered popcorn scent if I stick my nose down into my shirt, but in the scent wafting around my head, I just get the florals and citrus. This is one of the few tea blends that doesn't turn to pee on me.

Throw: Very good considering the ethereal quality of it.

Overall: This is nice and light. It seems like it will be a good choice in the summer. Edited February 27, 2010 by paperrose

[Nimthiriel]

Initial impression:

I don't do florals, but it smells quite nice in the vial – tonka with jasmine.

 

First on:

Mm, heavy on the tonka so far – I like that! Grapefruit is definitely playing in the background.

 

Dry:

After 10 mins, it's a vibrant mix of grapefruit and intense florals – makes my nose itch.

 

Another half an hour later, it has mellowed quite nicely, and it's not super floral anymore.

 

Finally:

I'm torn. I don't do florals, but it works better than most I've tried – I sort of like it. Maybe I'll keep it as an emo scent (ceaseless longing and all that).

[Ishtar]

Back when I received my Shojo Beat scents, I got both the bottle of Vampire Tears I had ordered and a frimp of it sent by the Lab (thank you! ).

 

Now you see, the tragedy in this (hey, are we talking about an emo scent or what? Tragedy, I say! ) is that I absolutely love my imp, which has a strong, very fresh grapefruit note. Alas, said grapefruit is sadly lacking in my bottle.

 

The Vampire Tears from my imp is all things fresh and nice- so refreshing in fact, that I first thought there was lime in this blend, before realising that the citrus note was actually grapefruit. However, it is a surprisingly substantial scent in spite of all the light notes listed. Could it be the tonka alone that keeps it so grounded and layered?

 

On the other hand, the "bottle version" of it smells considerably darker and heavier. Probably more appropriate for a vampiric blend, but where oh where is my beloved grapefruit?

The tonka seems much more prominent in this batch. It imparts an almost caramelly sweetness to the blend but it also smells a little off and plasticky. Hopefully it will mellow after some aging... time will tell!

[sprocket21]

...This smells EXACTLY like Fruit Loops cereal to me. Maaaybe with an extra jolt of citrus, but it's definitely Fruit Loops. Mind you, that's not necessarily a bad thing. If I was more of a citrus scent lover, I would probably love it. Others have made the comparison to lemon-scented cleaning products, but I'm not really getting that. Of course, I don't know whether you would consider Fruit Loops much of an upgrade!

[BelleAnge]

This one smells kinda lemony to me. I do like the scent though.

[Ajila]

In the bottle – Sweet citrus fruits with a candy like edge

 

Wet on me – Bright creamy lemongrass, with a slight hint of cream and lilies behind it

 

Dry on me – It settles into what I would call a traditional perfume, High florals on a layer of musk

 

Overall – Whilst I’m glad I had the opportunity to try this blend I can’t imagine wearing it often

[NinjaCowboy]

A strange scent... I like it, but at the same time, I can't place what about it I like. It is a very cheerful scent, which surprised me, considering the description.

 

in the bottle: lots of citrus. Like others have descried, grapefruit. But nice tart graprefruit. There is something smooth beneath it that is hard to place. A faint touch of florals over the grapefruit.

 

wet: strong grapefruit still, with the green tea now coming out sharply as well. There is still that creamy note in the bakground.

 

dry: Its all mellowed together more now, and the creamy scent, which I've identified as the tonka, comes out a lot more. It pulls it all together and rounds off the edges of the scent.

 

All in all, very nice. Moderately long lasting, with decent throw. I bought my bottle purely because the scent fascinated me so much, but I'm glad that I got it.

[cranberry]

In the imp and on the skin, wet: Grapefruit!

 

Dry: Grapefruit, something a bit foody. And lemon. The lemon smells like a lemon tart with a bit of crust, or perhaps a zingy lemon candy. Now this smells like lemon verbena, and it’s overpowering the grapefruit and just about everything else. There’s a touch of ginger there too, it’s not a foody gingerbread spice, but more a raw ginger heat.

 

Now that it’s been on a while, this scent is considerably softer than it was when first applied.

[SilverSerenity]

I got a frimp of this and decided I had to try it out...it's very citrus-y, especially at first. VERY bright, and it gets very sweet as it dries. Once it dried it softened a bit, and while it's still very much citrus, the sweetness has died down a bit and I get a hint of the green tea and ginger for a bit of a dry spice.

 

I can't stop smelling my wrist. Definitely a keeper for me. Perfect summer scent.

 

Edit: Hmmmm, it's been a half hour since I put it on and now it's turned to gingery tea with a bit of honeysuckle. Iiiiiinteresting.

Edited April 26, 2008 by SilverSerenity

[oakmoss]

Some friends and I have been on a Buffython lately, introducing some newbies to the vamp world, so I was in the mood to try Vampire's Tears, after having only sniffed the bottle before. I didn't re-read the notes first, as I don't like to be nose-programmed too much. Wet, this was lemony and nutty, and my heart sank, as I do NOT get along with nut scents. But it morphed very quickly into something I would define as salty, not aquatic, but truly teary in essence -- slightly bitter, but with some passion underneath, not whiny. The salty phase mellowed into a quiet dark floral, rather brooding, with a salty hint of still-unshed tears. Especially factoring in the "nutty" phase, I'd say this is a good perfume for Drusilla.

[Lamia]

Citrusy in the bottle. On skin, when sniffed up close it's very grapefruit. When allowed to waft naturally, it smells like the rice paper that is wrapped around Chinese candy.

[stillalive]

This smells exactly like lemon sugar cookies to me. I have no idea why I'm thinking that, but my family agrees.

[LadyLuckDoubt]

In the Bottle

A soft blend of something dark and close to chocolate, softened with vague citrus and rice water. I suspect that's the tonka doing its magic.

 

On Me

Amp city, d00d! The initial throw is intense-- I feel like the entire bus can smell it on me. It's rich and chcolatey with grapefruit-- white grapefruit DEFINITELY-- it's a cold, bitter note.

 

As it dries down, the chocolate note vanishes-- I'm wondering if there are a few ingredients common with Bitter Moon in here, because they smell very similar-- but this is colder and the florals are drier.

 

In a couple of hours, it's a dusty dry floral with a waft of grapefruit making things interesting. It's perfect for the concept.

 

I'm SO glad I got some of this. Particularly glad that I got a bottle of it, actually.

[plunderparlour]

In the bottle Vampire Tears smell like lemon sugar cookies, with an emphasis on lemon.

 

On Wet: Blast O Lemon. I'm not sure about this one. It comes out mega sweet and almost like furniture cleaner.

After about thirty minutes the lemon really simmers down. Light floral notes peek out and powder. It smells kind of generic on me right now.

 

Two hours later this has definately turned into fading powdered flowers.

This is ok as a freebie, glad I didn't buy a bottle.

Edited July 14, 2008 by plunderparlour

[isisonearth]

In the imp: fresh green tea and sharp grapefruit

 

Applied: Strong grapefruit and something bakery-ish like vanilla, the tonka I suppose. Something isn't agreeing with my skin chemistry...I get whiffs of something soapy and something burned. I'm gonna go wash this one off. Pity it has a number of notes I love but the combo doesn't work on me.

[cam]

I love Midnight Kiss, so I decided to try Vampire Tears as well. This is very different, but also great. It's a very pretty scent. On me, you can definitely smell the jasmine, wisteria and honeysuckle, with just a bit of the tonka. Very nice, and it lasts pretty well for me too.

[milo]

In the imp, and on,I love the freshness of the grapefruit and the other florals. There is a foody element though, even if there is nothing really foody listed on the ingredients. Kind of a caramelly addition that ruins it for me, just too sweet.

[anguissette]

Didn't do it for me. It was citrusy and herby for a while, the heat did awful things to it, it came to once I was back in a cool place, all cherry, and then it just sort of faded back to a fainter herby citrus. Swap.

[hlinspjalda]

In the vial: Orange bundt cake! I swear, it smells like a citrus-flavored cake. Nice, but completely unexpected. Where did that vanilla caramel overtone come from? One thing I'm sure of, this smells nothing like vampire tears.

 

Wet: Markedly citrus, still sweet like a vanilla- and citrus-flavored cake. As it develops, some more spicy sweetness comes forward -- ginger? No trace of the jasmine, honeysuckle, or wisteria.

 

Half an hour: Doesn't smell at all like a cake any more. Much more complex, definitely a floral now. There are some sweet elements (grapefruit? honeysuckle?) but something more pungent (white ginger? not, I think, the jasmine) is dominating. It's kind of nice to be wearing something that doesn't smell like amber!

 

Three hours: Low-intensity overripe floral, white ginger with a side of jasmine. This smells a little more like a vampire! No fruit, no citrus, no cake. Wow, that one lost potency quickly compared to a lot of the others.

 

Seven hours: Long since died down to a faint sweetishness. Not nearly as persistent on me as anything with rose, or amber. Some of the elements work on me, but not as a group. I don't think it works well enough on me to stick with it (even though I like how different it is from the name). But it made an enjoyable change.

[mochi227]

my first review!

 

I got this as a frimp in my first order almost one year ago!

 

In the imp: weird. moldy lemons.

 

wet: citrusy and sharp but with something else that stands right next to the lemon/citrus, literally two pillars of scent next to one another, not touching at all. and it's musty. i think this must be the tonka. don't like it wet at all.

 

drying: getting more interesting now. the rank/musty smell is calming down and the lemon/citrus is rounding out. like it more now.

 

dry: powdery, more floral. the jasmine is smoothing this whole thing out. i have oily skin and can wear nuclear-powered florals like jasmine. occasionally i get a whiff of ylang-ylang. maybe that's the tonka, neroli, and jasmine coming together. powdery lemon floral with a creamy undertone as so many others have mentioned and after one hour, SALT. when the salt comes out, this blend gets most interesting.

 

verdict: i wouldn't order this for myself, but i will wear the imp til it's gone. medium throw, seems to fade quickly but doesn't disappear.

[Hawke]

Despite the jasmine, it's not bad in the imp. Sort of bubblegum-fruity and maybe a weird note of butter.

 

Wet on the skin, it's almost immediately floral and powdery and …igh. There are a *lot* of florals in this, which makes it almost certain to bomb on me. This has lots of throw, too. Of course, the scents I could really live without are the strongest on my skin. I'm really getting perfumed baby powder, which makes me feel like it's hard to breathe. Reminds me of Numb.

 

It ultimately fades into a very faint, almost inoffensive floral, but it's really not for me.

[mgrazulis]

This one went through many changes from application to drydown!!!

 

In the imp: green tea, bubblegum and tonka

 

Wet on skin: neroli, sweet grapefruit and jasmine

 

Dry: At first, fang-decayingly sweet! In your face honeysuckle and wisteria forge ahead of the citrus, tonka. Ultra sweet candied florals here and the throw is all my room. Strong stuff-applied only on left wrist!

 

Much later: Thank goodness this has mellowed. Now, I am rewarded for the wait with a subdued gingery jasmine that is gorgeous and slightly salty--there are the vampire tears!

 

Verdict: Quite the rollercoaster ride...but the ultimate outcome was worth the wait. Strangely evocative. This imp is a treasure!

[angelicruin]

Bottle: sweet floral notes

 

Wet: grapefruit & tea are strongest notes

 

Dry: fruity & sweet now with light floral

[tinyvulture]

what i mostly get from this is the sweet fruity citrus scent of white grapefruit. then there’s just a hint of ginger, and more citrus in the form of neroli. i can’t smell the tea or any of the floral notes because the grapefruit is so strong. i like how piercingly sweet it is, like a slice of grapefruit covered in sugar crystals, or a piece of grapefruit-flavored bubble gum. but, as with most citrus blends, it’s way too strong for me.

[stariel]

I wish I got more of the citrus that everyone is talking about because I love citrus, but I don't. I love Vampire Tears anyway.

 

On me it smells like baked goods - I am reminded of cake batter but someone else mentioned sugar cookies which is also a good description. I don't even smell an undertone of floral, and no citrus either.

 

So not very vampiric, but yummy all the same.