Vampire Tears

[moon_lemming]

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

 

Honestly, my first impression of Vampire Tears was LEMON HORROR OMG. The lemon part is not the horror, I LOVE lemon (even when it's actually grapefruit, heh). I had forgotten that this blend had jasmine listed in the notes. And wisteria? And iris?! WTF was I thinking?

It is just as awful dry. I should state that jasmine is always horrible on me, and half of the other notes listed have a history of awful as well. I don't even want to get close enough to pick out notes.

I can see how someone else might like this, but I should have stayed far away.

[bloody sore]

I had a bottle of this, never wore it, sold it, and then was given an imp and thought I'd try it again because when I read the notes, the sound like something I like. This is to remind me why I don't like this scent.

When first applied, it smells like the horrid cake note of doom. I cannot stand the 'cake' that is in a ton of bpal blends, it's dusty and rancid and fades quickly on my skin.

After about 3 hours some of the florals come out. It's a light floral, soft and delicate, without being refreshing. So not me.

Edited June 22, 2010 by bloody sore

[Ethaisa]

I've been going through some of my older bottles, and perhaps inspired by new vampy scents in the very near future, decided to give this a try again. I remember not really liking it - my ambivalence towards most citrus trumped my love of jasmine and tea in this case.

 

Aging has done well by this scent and it is now far more to my tastes. The grapefruit is no longer overwhelming, I can barely smell it in the bottle and a light touch on skin. Now its jasmine tea with cream (is that the tonka?) with a touch of ginger and faint hints of salty floral incense a couple hours later. I really wasn't expecting this - no longer thinking of getting rid of this one!

[Gold Dust Kitten]

Well...I opened the imp and smelled something that reminded me of a Mexican restaurant. Corn tortillas and lime. I tested a drop on my finger, and it's a citrusy floral. I have no idea what that corn tortilla phase was all about. Maybe I'm hungry?

[Vega]

Sniffed: A fruity-floral that manages to be dark and frazzled, perhaps musky? Yes, that's what I'm smelling.

 

On skin: Oh my, this blend really embodies "Regret born from ceaseless longing." Vampire Tears is clear, fruity sweet/tart and spicy floral, but also darkened and heavy. In a word, "depressed". I can make out grapefruit, neroli, ginger, and some florals contributing to the spicy/tart/sweet blend, but I wonder what is darkening it -- jasmine, wisteria? tonka? Regardless, this is lugubrious and somewhat stifling. (And today's skin test is actually pleasant; my notes and memories from previous tests say that it was much more oppressive.)

Colour impression is a clear green-yellow splattered and scribbled through with black lines.

 

Verdict: Not only is Vampire Tears the most chaotic, clashing scent I've sniffed that still smells like a perfume, sniffing it actually evokes psychic disorder in my mind. It may be a success in capturing its description, but I don't like it at all and won't be keeping it.

[imaginepageant]

In the Vial: It reminds me a little of Shub-Niggurath, but brighter and fruitier. Most of the reviews say it's all grapefruit in the bottle, but the ginger is the predominent note for me. I can also pick out the neroli and a bit of citrus. It's sweet and tart at the same time, and smells much more herbal than floral.

 

Wet: It warms up immediately, and then a bright citrus starts coming out. On the drydown, it goes a little powdery.

 

Dry: All of those warm herbs and the sweetness seem to have disappeared, and now it's quite cold and tart. The grapefruit is very strong now, which is making the entire thing smell a lot like lemon dishsoap. As the minutes go by, it warms up a bit again and gets a little spicy and a little salty... but retains the dishsoap feel overall. One of the reviews mentioned a cigarette smell, which I wouldn't have noticed without the push, but I definitely do now.

 

An Hour Later: I can barely smell it anymore; it doesn't last very long at all, and has a very weak throw. Both the icky dishsoap and cigarette smells have gone. It's a salty floral now.

 

Overall: Not my thing. I love how it smells in the bottle, but it does a complete 180 on my skin. I do not like the smoky dishsoap scent at all, and the end result is too light for my tastes.

[Honey]

Another one of those wild scents I have to split with my nose (and can't, because I'm just horrible at that).

 

 

Imp: Citrus and floral notes. Sweet and slightly tart. White grapefruit is good grapefruit - not bitter at all, just light and fruity. A bit spicy, I guess that's the ginger. And there is mild and creamy honeysuckle and tonka somewhere in the background. I guess everything with tonka in it smells somewhat delicious to me.

 

Wet: OK, tart grapefruit coming through - but it's not unpleasant. Hmm.. need to remove 'grapefruit' from my dislikes list. Tonka and florals somewhere in the background.

 

Dry: Sweet and sour instead of tart. But a good sour. The flower scents mix well with one another, I cannot really make out one of them as a singular dominant scent. Maybe the neroli overwrites the grapefruit a little, and that's why I like it. Alas, I cannot make out any green tea.

 

I really like fresh and fruity notes that have tea and ginger in them. This one, however, gets absorbed by my skin instantly, and only a powdery citrus note lingers on my wrists. Too bad! This one should have been a stronger scent because it's so lovely you want to keep it in your nose (and I cannot stop sniffing my wrists, dammit).

[surlygurl]

Ummm...... this scent smells like wisteria lemon Necco wafers. It really does. Just a powdery cloud of purple yellow sweetness with that special something, I know not what. A little sourness floating about, but not enough to get excited about.

[elka_knits]

grapefruit which I really like and something green underneath it... probably one of the flowers but I am not sure which one. Which actually gives it a pithy vibe. Or should I say rind? Very fresh and light with lasting power due to tonka. A little sweet. Candied grapefruit rind.

 

soap! soap soap soap soap. stupid chemistry.

Edited June 8, 2012 by elka

[Dani87]

Imp: I know it's white grapefruit, but I smelled lemon pound cake.

Wet: lemon cake, tea, and tonka.

Drydown: now I can tell it's grapefruit, but with the creamy tonka it still reminds me of lemon pound cake. I still get tea, and now I can smell a floral that must be the wisteria.

Dry: all of the above, but the tea is stronger, and the wisteria has died down.

Overall: the tea didn't smell like green tea to me, but a breakfast tea with cream, and sugar. This makes me think of haveing a breakfaat of grapefruit, lemon muffins, and tea, on a patio surrounded by trees covered in wisteria. It is a really beautiful scent, that in no way makes me think of tears. It's gorgeous though, going to have to find some more.

[Withjoy]

Delightfully sweet grapefruit candy, with a hint of floral. As it dries, the floral is stronger, but the grapefruit candy is still winning. I am hoping this note sticks around!

[Sidhechaos]

Vampire Tears
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab (BPAL)
Shojo Beat (Limited Edition)
Status: Limited

this was a purchase from a forumite, not sure of its history but there is something off here...on skin wet getting sort of a smoked wood or burnt smell. tonka gone mental or something maybe? normally I'd expect to get mugged by florals, I amp them, but not really getting a hint. A little into drydown I pick up a little citrus, mostly grapefruit, maybe a tinge of green tea, but no real florals yet, still a lot of slightly scorched wood note. ah, after about a half hour jasmine definitely peeks out, and ginger speaks up. Other florals are lurking, but so far this is really not what I expected.

 

After about 45 minutes the smoke wood note fades to a mild anchoring scent with a mild musk undertone and I wind up with more of what I was expecting, a gingery floral with citrus notes, though I had not expected the ginger to be predominant and the florals weaker, I'd expected the opposite knowing what my skin does but that tonka turned things upside down and it is not an unpleasant surprise. That long work up could be shorter, but I like this gingery citrus floral with a bit of smokey undertone. Ive not read any other reviews on this yet so I'm curious if this was how it ran to begin with or if the aging process and my chemistry worked some kind of hoodoo.

edit:long hang time. had my doubts but now wouldn't mind acquiring another bottle.

[ringmaster-red]

In the vial: Grapefruit and chocolate

 

Wet: Grapefruit, ginger, tea, tonka bean (at least that’s what I’m assuming the cocoa-like smell is?), and a blend of upbeat florals. Honestly, it almost smells like cloying grape-flavored children’s medicine with just a touch of cocoa, or like a flat cup of Dr Pepper. It’s warm and sickeningly sweet.

 

Dry: It’s warm, cocoa-like, sweet, and herbal. Lots of throw. I’m not sure yet how much I like it. I’ll have to test it another time.

[KawaiiKai]

For me Vampire Tears is sweet, candied grapefruit peel and some kind of fruity powder-y candy scent like Sweet Tarts. It also makes me think of some kind of sweet syrupy drink.

[Atrous]

A blast of Grapefruit which dies down quickly and light, generic florals.

Oh wait, do I smell tea? Oh, its gone. Not just the tea note but the whole scent...just vanished.

It's not even completely dried down yet.

Oh well.

[savage_rose]

Grapefruit along with something obnoxious and overpowering. A giant cloud of...something...a neroli and jasmine sledgehammer? No...all of the notes have worked at one point, but like a really bad star-studded extravaganza, together it's a dud.

[LizziesLuck]

Grapefruit and jasmine. About the worst combination possible for my skin - and yet, it's really not terrible! Neroli is notoriously awful on me too, but again, then isn't so bad. Impressive, really. Still not for me, but impressive.

[Soupy Twist]

Ginger in the bottle. Goes on as a somewhat promising white tea and ginger, but then a sour floral comes in — the iris, maybe? — and I'm done. Disappointing.

[mishi-bear]

This smelled really strange in the bottle, which I think was the green tea combined with the grapefruit and maybe even the tonka. Very medicinal and actually a tiny bit repulsive.

 

Luckily it lightens up a lot when actually worn. On application it's very purple and almost candy like, mostly wisteria and probably the grapefruit. After it dries though, the grapefruit disappears and it's mostly wisteria. The other florals are there, but definitely in the background, just adding a bit of depth to the scent. The ginger adds a bit of spice to the background, keeping this from being too floral. The green tea and tonka I smelled in the bottle just never shows up after it dries.

 

Overall, I like it to be honest. Once you get past the in bottle smell, it's a very pleasant gently ginger-spiced wisteria.

[zazkea]

(Swap/Bottle from 2010)

 

Snif

Slightly weird...grapefruit (sweet) and lemon.

Wet
I get tea, ginger and flour (not listed, I guess thats the tonka my brain errs).

Dry
I dont get green tea anymore now. Tonka comes in late and makes it a bit more heavy. I find that I still like jasmine and wisteria. Combined with ginger, this is interesting; but it vanishes. Grapefruit makes it more jokingly to me: rather a cheerful, dancing vampire. No tears here, only from joy, perhaps.

Conclusions

In the end I only get grapefruit and jasmine, not the other notes, anymore - and these bring it to the edge of smelling like a pile of freshly washed clothes,.... and thats the scent that lingers on.

I like it, but not every week. May combine this with musk. (Edit: yea, that works well! + gives this elderly scent more depth).

Edited March 21, 2018 by zazkea

[donkehpoo]

That awkward moment when you thought you reviewed something years ago...

 

Wet: Lemon, tea, and jasmine! Jasmine is typically one of my oh-no-no notes, but it's subtle and pretty here.

 

Dry: This stays very similar to the wet stage; the grapefruit note still smells like lemon to me. It's like lemon tea with a touch of jasmine. This jasmine actually plays quite nicely with the other notes, and doesn't overpower anything. Everything is perfectly balanced; Thanos would be proud.

[roseus]

In the imp: bright, bitter grapefruit, ginger, and honeysuckle. Very fresh.

Wet: more jasmine over the grapefruit and ginger. It adds a sultry depth to those bright, zingy notes. 

Dry: a deep jasmine green tea-earthy greeness with just a touch of heady jasmine floating over it. There is a light edge of ginger and grapefruit around it now, adding just a touch of bitter zing.