Gingerbread Vampire

[Belladonnastrap]

Gingerbread, dark chocolate, cinnamon, and star anise.

[RobberBaroness]

The lab's chocolate note often overpowers everything else, but it's balanced here by the gingerbread and anise.  I think the weirdness is nice and distinctive, an offbeat gourmand.  I could see a vampire smelling like this at a midnight party where they serve absinthe and bat-shaped cookies.

[VioletChaos]

In The Bottle: YUM. I'm normally NOT a fan of anise (black licorice and I are mortal enemies   ) but DANG, does this smell good in the bottle- it's a diabolical mix of anise, bittersweet chocolate and gingerbread spices. It smells entirely edible, like a non-sweet bread baked with the above ingredients.  

On Skin: It starts to mellow almost immediately. I'm a bit sad about it because it's so good in the bottle. That said, it seems to be toning down in equal parts, so that the main elements are all still present, just going a bit more subtle. The anise becomes *slightly* more prominent as a result, but I'm still enjoying it.

Layered with the Ghost Milk: it's sweetens up the scent, but only a little, because I was VERY cautious about only using a mere touch of the Milk. I would wear this either way, but wearing it alone makes the scent a potential for a sexy evening, whereas with the Ghost Milk it softens it enough to make it completely wearable for daytime winter coziness. Either way, I like the warmth of this one and I bet it's going to get better with a bit of aging too.

[Poenari]

Wet on skin, a blast of gingerbread and anise! A combination I would never have thought would work. But I like it! After drydown, it softens and wears closer to the skin than I expected. I don't detect the chocolate, which is good as it doesn't usually wear well on my skin. I think the chocolate and cinnamon are just so well-mingled with the gingerbread that it keeps the gingerbread sweeter and more gourmand, without any of it's usual lemony notes. The anise still stands out, but I like the taste and smell of anise. I really like this version of gingerbread. It's much sweeter on my skin than Gingerbread Wolfman was, and I like it better.

Edited February 11, 2021 by Poenari

[RoseThornAndOak]

I just want to say VetchVesper did an amazing job on the decant labels. ❤️

 

Dude y'all. This stuff. Vamp smells like lebkuchenharz, chocolate covered gingerbread hearts! Which totally makes sense now looking at the notes.

 

I get chocolate, yet t's mostly about the gingerbread and spices. Everything plays nicely together. Wearing Ghost Milk on my wrist and holding it up next t o Vamp, it makes it less foody and more like a sophisticated gourmand. Wow wow, I'll probably be grabbing a bottle of this! 

[zankoku_zen]

Cinnamon, spices, and a whiff of chocolate. Medium throw and wear length.

[fairybites]

Dark chocolate and spicy gingerbread! The cinnamon and star anise quickly overwhelm both the gingerbread and the dark chocolate notes on me, sadly. It's not bad, but I thought the chocolate would have been stronger and lasted longer. I think layering this with Ghost Milk might have helped the chocolate get stronger, will have to try that next time I wear this.

[Penance]

A tiny bit "generic gingerbread" like one or two others in this line, but I like it.

 

At first, it's all gingerbread, then the chocolate and coffee start to appear.  I don't smell anise as its own note (thank goodness, I hate anise, but will try scents with it and am often surprised if it's well hidden).  I end up with a chocolate-gingerbread with a hint of coffee sprinkled in.

 

Not terribly unique, but nice!

[DiesMali]

So I didn't just buy one sexy gingerbread...I bought three. This is the second I'm testing. AHEM. 

 

In the bottle: THICK, dark molasses gingerbread with extra spice from the cinnamon. 

 

Wet on my skin: STAR ANISE is very star anise for the first few minutes, and that's a bit concerning, because I had a slight incident with sambuca a few years ago and have been a little wary of anise scents since then. Thankfully, as it starts to dry, that molasses gingerbread and cinnamon rejoin the show.

 

Dry: The dark, dark chocolate (like 85% cacao dark chocolate) tempers the spiciness of the cinnamon-anise-gingerbread, which was close to being overwhelming when I first put it on. It's very much a dense molasses-heavy gingerbread, with extra oomph from the star anise and cinnamon. Darkly seductive, not at all subtle, and probably something you'd want to wear if you were on a date with a foodie and wanted to test whether or not the "vampire" part of the title meant getting bitten later. I wanted sexy gingerbread, and I got ANOTHER sexy, dark gingerbread! HUZZAH. 

[lipstickonmyteeth92]

In bottle: Gingerbread. Really spicy gingerbread (YUMMM) 

Wet on skin: Warm gingerbread fresh out of the oven, the chocolate comes through ever so slightly (Loving this stage). After a few minutes the star anise really comes through and takes over, but then it mellows out. 

Dry (after about twenty minutes): It's mellowed out into a super sexy, dark gingerbread. I'm hoping the chocolate comes through more during the day, I can tell it's there, like a subtle cocoa sweetness. 

Dry (throughout the day): oH my gods, the chocolate came through. I keep getting a whiff of these amazing dark chocolate covered gingerbread cookies and I keep forgetting that it's me.

 

 

Edited August 12, 2021 by lipstickonmyteeth92
Adding information

[Little Bird]

Someone sent me a decant of this one and I really like it.  There's a good dose of cinnamon sugar, but with tons of sugar, so the spice doesn't feel overwhelming, and I get the toasty warmth of an actual gingerbread cookie.  In the drydown, a hint of cocoa dusted black licorice is discernable, which makes the gingerbread feel more complex and a little darker without ever being too much.  This is the sort of thing that smells so good that I want it as an actual dessert.  I really enjoy whatever part smells like sugar granules.