Vintage Dracula Blow Mold

[zankoku_zen]

Lustrous maraschino cherry fangs illuminated from within by 40 watts of glowing amber.

[WoolyBee]

VinDracBloMo is a journey. Right off the bat I get a soapy note that disappears almost immediately, on the skin. What comes next is a juicy, candied maraschino cherry. It’s not medicinal at all, despite the syrupy and sweet nature that maraschino brings. The cherry first punches you right in the face, but soon after the amber is there to cradle your fall. As it dries down, I’m getting a the glow of lightbulb-warmed plastic. But don’t be alarmed. I didn’t think I’d like a plasticky note, but this is subtle and nostalgic. I guess what I’m trying to say is the “plastic” wears so close to the skin it’s almost a skin musk. Or a second skin. Skin, amplified?
 

All in all, this is a fragrance that had me coming back for another sniff over and over again. The cherry is punchy at first, but the amber illuminates from within, leaving you with the full glow of molded skin... I mean plastic…

 

I don’t mean for this to sound off putting in any way! The more I wear it, the more I want to wear it. The more I sniff it, the more I want to sniff it. And so on, and so on. 

[Failmingo]

I'm fond of the Lab's cherry scents but have rarely been able to tolerate wearing them, it's just such a persistently noticeable note that it becomes overwhelming to me. The ones I've tried hardest with have been maraschino scents, because I'm forever chasing that fantasy of the perfect, unnaturally bright, semi-translucent red cherry dripping with artificially colored juice. Even with these, such as Fairy Lobster Foam, I end up feeling instinctively a little uneasy at the idea of keeping something this strong SO close. Some treats are just not meant to linger for hours.

 

VDBM has finally broken me out of these constraints. In the bottle the cherry is just as lustrous as advertised, and one might not assume it would go any differently than the experience I described above. However, on the skin this immediately changes, tempering from bright red to glowing pale pink -- like a maraschino stain seeping into a soft white tablecloth. It's a seductively blushing scent, with the amber immediately asserting itself in ways that drift out of strictly gourmand territory. When I first offered my wrist for Galen to sniff, he was unable to trace the cherry, even after I told him what it was. It was only later, after a freshly-applied slather, that he really got that part of it.

 

Here's a fun experiment: sip some cherry flavored seltzer before smelling this scent on your skin. The seltzer taste will cancel out the cherry part of the fragrance on your palate, and all you'll be able to smell is the other stuff. Also, wearing this side by side with the Witch Blow Mold I have been able to trace which parts they have in common, and whatever's going on here in the amber that makes it "blow mold" is really something special: steady but delicate, glowing without giving off any warmth. Faintest trace of frankincense? Gorgeous.

 

I can't be sure, but I think there is pink pepper in this scent. I've seen other people mention something "fizzy" or "electric" in it, and that's my guess in terms of what they're describing, and if so it's just masterfully blended into the color palette to impart some liveliness without standing out. The pink maraschino stain kind of hovers around this scent like a nimbus as time goes on -- the ghost of an idealized cherry, appetizing but not edible. 

 

I don't think the throw is very powerful but it lasts for a long time on the skin, and the oil feels lightly sticky as I apply it -- which I know probably has nothing to do with the cherry aspect but is still very satisfying on a sensory level. There's a luxurious sense of "this experience is just for me" when I wear this... which is almost daily right now! I can't wait to test it out on other people and ask what they think. It's both cheerful and mysterious, feminine without being too girly.

 

From the description alone I wasn't sure how Dracula-esque this would really be, but the result certainly is hypnotizing!

[doomsday_disco]

I've tested this twice and slathered it on my partner a few times, too.

 

I think Vintage Dracula Blow Mold may contain ozone. It would explain that 'soap' smell I got from the bottle when it first arrived, and the bright, clean scent that emerges with the cherry upon application. Specifically, it made me think of the ozone in Lavender Lightning, but I did not try them side by side to know for sure. The cherry in this is not a loud cherry -- it's strongest during the wet phase, and hangs around throughout wear, but not obtrusively -- I agree with Failmingo's description of this fading from red to a pale pink. I get the plastic aspect from this blow mold scent more than from the other one I've tried (the witch one -- I am waiting on decants of the first two, but when my brain saw a cherry blow mold scent, my brain said "what the hell!?" and it fell into my cart), but I still wouldn't let that scare you away from trying this. It's not offensive and overwhelming like some of the industrial scents containing plastic from the American Gods line. The plastic, with what I think is ozone or maybe a slightly effervescent note (but NOT champagne), just perfectly fits the idea of an illuminated blow mold being transformed into scent.

 

As for the amber in this... I do not believe it is the same amber featured in Vintage Witch Blow Mold (which is a white amber, from scents like Schönperchten or Hohensalzburg Fortress). It's a darker, but much quieter amber (only because less of it was probably used), that lurks in the background, never overtaking the bright notes, but I, too, swear there may be some frankincense and/or myrrh in it?

 

Although I was hoping to be bludgeoned over the head with cherry, I do think this is nice. It's weird how alluring it is with its plastic note.

Edited November 8, 2023 by doomsday_disco

[dancingchair]

The cherry is very pink and sweet and bright. There is something fizzy about this one, but it doesn't make me queasy like other effervescent perfumes do. I also get an ozone note, but the zap of ozone combined with the bubbly note gives this the impression of a cherry limeade to me. The fun and bubbly cherry doesn't stick around for too long. I don't love the plastic note, which turns into bandaid on my skin, but I also just got this bottle today so it might settle down after a while.

 

This one was more medical to me than I was expecting! The glowing amber is more like the bright fluorescent lights in a hospital than the soft incandescent glow of a plastic blow light. Dracula working undercover as a surgeon in the hospital, perhaps. I am really in love with the cherry in this, so I'm hoping the other notes even out with some rest.

[bygraveyardlight]

This is a different sort of cherry than I'm used to from the lab. I agree with the other reviews saying there's a soapy, ozoney quality to it- it's a soft sort of cherry, not the slap-you-in-the-face-and-then-dissapear cherry that I usually encounter. It sticks around longer, quietly, calmly, with its gentle amber-backed embrace. On my skin, it smells pretty much exactly like that gas station bathroom cherry hand soap- and I love that stuff. I'm surprised by how much I enjoy this one!