Perfume Review - Black Violet's Red Lotus

By Unknown

Purchased

Red Lotus is a masterful blend of fruity and floral.

Lychee is a curious fruit. I love lychee drinks, lychee ice cream, the scent of lychee is such a pleasant blend of fruity exoticism and something nearly familiar (perhaps a distant pineapple cousin). Despite all this, I've never actually eaten a true-blue (pink?) lychee. Despite this, I know exactly what lychee smells like, so when I initially made my first Black Violet purchase, I impulsively snagged a full size vial of Red Lotus, and it was totally worth the splurge!

Red Lotus
Black Violet's Limited Edition Release

With vermilion red beauty & hairlike spines, rambutans are unforgettable fruits from Southeast Asia which bring a tart aroma. Exotic lychee radiates a sweet note thru red rooibos tea. Red Lotus is complete with floating lilies and wild geranium. 

Initially I figured Red Lotus was going to be similar to Haus of Gloi's darling Litchi Milk Tea, and while I imagine the two do use similar (if not the same) lychee notes, Red Lotus is only distantly related to Litchi Milk Tea. To test, I wore one on each wrist. Where Litchi Milk Tea is a smooth, cream coconutty floral, Red Lotus is far wetter and has a slightly sharp, tart twist.

I love tea, but rooibos is probably my least favorite tea. It seems too reminiscent of cough syrup for my tastes. But somehow the lychee in Red Lotus pairs so perfectly with the rooibos, it feels like a match made in heaven! There's juuust enough a tea-twine to keep it juicy. Best of all, while I can't pick out the individual floral notes, they keep to the background as barely a whisper.

Duration: Most fruity fragrances tend to lose their potency pretty quickly, especially since the fruit notes are the ones that evaporate the quickest. But there's some sort of delicious smelling witchcraft at work here that keeps the lychee going pretty strong for a long time - even after five hours it was still very obviously "there", deliciously simmering away.

Score: 5/5
This is a light and juicy fruity-floral that is youthful enough without being juvenile. It would make for an excellent first perfume for younger girls, but it still is complex enough to be appreciated by a more mature nose. It's absolutely gorgeous, and to me it's even a smidge exotic. It's the sort of flirty feminine scent I'd wear on a summer date (which I tested out with excellent results - Red Lotus is 100% boyfriend-approved^™)! Best of all, last month Black Violet announced that Red Lotus is one of their best-selling scents and would remain in the catalog so long as the supplier keeps stocking the necessary ingredients. So if you haven't checked this scent out yet, now is the perfect time to get acquainted.