Incense in The Wind: Stamford Mythical Range Incense Vampire's Kiss

Second review - scroll down for earlier

The cone is well perfumed - this is quite a heady cone. The scent is pleasant - warm, rounded, sweet, musky - mostly base notes, though there's some herby, floral heart and top notes playing around. The fragrance on the burn is quite noticeable and fairly penetrating - there's the musk, soft, but pleasant, but mainly it's a smoky impression coupled with a bit of eye and nose irritation. It's a little too assertive, and a little too smoky to burn too close. [I tend to review with the incense burning on my desk (the images in the photos are taken for the blog - they are not images of me reviewing, which mostly takes place after the photos are taken - sometimes a few days or more after the photos were taken). At the time of reviewing I am closer to the burning incense than I would be normally. I will at times, depending on the nature of the incense, burn the incense at a distance and/or burn the incense in a different room, and then enter the room. But pretty much all incense reviews will start with the incense burning on the desk in front of me - which is really too close for many reasons.] On the whole a pleasant soft musky incense, though a tad too smoky for comfort in small rooms.

The blurb says: "Heighten your senses and create an inner feeling of power and control as the playful incense of Vampire's Kiss unfolds its sharp mix of Lavender, Musk, & Cedar wood notes." I didn't really pick up the lavender, though I felt prickles of herbs and floral, so I assume that must have been the lavender. I see that I note "burning sawdust" when I reviewed this in 2017, which is probably the same as my current feeling that this is a smoky incense. All in all, it's OK, but I'm less impressed today than I was in 2017.

Date: May 2024 Score: 28

First review

I do like this Stamford Black series - the theme is fun, and the scents are mostly quite yummy. This is sweet yet medicinal with sharp notes, and beneath that is a bed of flower petals creating an hallucinatory scene of losing consciousness during an erotic seduction on a hot summer's night in a dentist chair..... Interesting!

Some of the base sandalwood comes through as burning sawdust, but not enough to spoil the fun. I like Vampire's Kiss, it's a fun everyday scent.

Date: March 2017 Score: 34

***