Hades

[GeorgeJr]

... A dark, palpably sacred chthonic blend: black narcissus and cypress, stephanotis, opoponax, labdanum, onycha and ambergris.

This is much ... I want to say lighter , but that's not right . It's not as dark as I expected it to be . There is a floral note in it , but I want to say it's the labdanum that brings this out of the dark & into the light . It's quite nice . Not something I'd want to wear a lot , but definitely one I'll break out from time to time . The longer I wear it , the sweeter it gets to me . Maybe it's just a case of me recognizing the labdanum in it . I do still get the dark notes in the blend , but that sweet , root beer-yness in it is making me snicker to myself .

[strahlend]

On my skin - I think it's labdanum that always reminds me of the inside of a spice cupboard. It kind of strikes me as sickingly sweet and gives me an unpleasant feeling. So, initially on my skin that seems to be mostly what I'm detecting. After a bit something much more floral and green comes out but with that cloying spice still in the background. I'm not a fan.

[starfish327]

in the imp: i had skimmed the reviews for this scent so i knew to expect lighter than what i had initially thought it would be, but this is MUCH lighter and cleaner that what i had thought.

 

wet: all i'm getting is resins. this is still very clean.

 

dry: it morphs between very clean almost soapy resins and spice. i think what i'm associating with soap is the floral aspect.

 

impressions: um i guess hades is a lot less goth than what he thinks he is? because this not what i was expecting at all. i'm running into the same problem that i did with faunalia, except that i'll keep this one- i wanted something much darker and animalistic, and got what smells like some of the stuff my decidedly not animalistic guy friends wear.

 

my first impression, though this smells nothing like old spice, are those old spice commercials where the guy is riding the horse and telling people that their boyfriends can smell like him.

 

i'm going to try to layer this one to see if i can pull some of the spice out of it.

[Gold Dust Kitten]

Faded drugstore smokey floral. Very depressing. Now it's turning into Pine-Sol.

[Aevie]

I've been having a lot of trouble with my skin chemistry lately; it manages to turn any scent I try into a sickeningly sweet, very flat smell. Hades is the first one that hasn't, actually. It smells almost vaguelly like cinnamon, and wood. The floral is very, very faint on me, and the scent feels heavy.

 

I'm so excited to find a scent that actually appears to work with my skin!

[Balame]

In the Imp: Hades has always been one of my favorite Greek gods. I'm not very familiar with onycha or opoponax, but they seem like they'll be pleasant incense-y notes. On first sniff I smell a very light cypress.

 

Wet: That's very pleasant. The florals are gentle, perfect for someone (like me) who can't take a huge bouquet. They add just the right amount of sweetness amidst a green background, herbal and foresty but softly so. There are hints of something that actually reminds me of mint, so it must simply be how the notes are interacting.

 

Dry: This sweetens as it dries. I'm left with mainly the stephanotis and a whirl of the darker incenses. It reminds a bit of Sheol - the overall feel of a white floral amidst incense. It's not quite as good to me (not as smoky as Sheol), but still nice.

 

Overall: Gentler than I expected. I think I would've liked this more if the cypress hung around to balance out the sweeter florals, but it never gets heady or too strong.

Edited July 5, 2011 by Balame

[KittyHawk]

Imp: Clove and cinnamon, yum!

 

Wet: This is definitely dark, but in a powerful, brooding sort of way. I still get a lot of spice, but I do detect something floral in the background. It's different, but nice. It might be just a little too masculine for my taste, though.

 

Dry: After about 20 minutes, this smelled like a public restroom. I bet it's the stephanotis. Blech.

 

I'm going to let my guy try this; it's definitely my skin chemistry's problem. Worst case scenario, I can snag a scent locket and go that route.

[maoric]

In the vial: A flower of some sort, but very different, with a slight alcohol smell underneath.

 

Freshly applied: A very warm flower scent with a bit of earthiness in the background

 

Drying: At the start, an earthy wood scent with a slight powdery floral on top.

 

Later: The floral has faded a bit but is still there. It's got the masculine warm and earthy tones but still delicate. Very different from what I would normally pick for myself. I wish my friends weren't asleep right now so I could have their opinion as well. It's nice, but my brain keeps wavering between whether or not it's too floral for me. Will have to revisit.

[hellok80]

I ordered this for the name and the narcissus, smelled it and thought it was too masculine/earthy/spicy... And it's my favorite scent now.

Imp: Strong and very earthy and spicy. Do not like!

Wet: About the same.

5 minutes: Narcissus flowers and earth. It's warm, pervading, and strong but clean like the flowers (though it's not really floral yet).

Later: It's floral now. I really play up the narcissus and that's all I can smell... For hours! Which is what I wanted anyway.

 

 

EDIT: I've stepped back in an attempt to look at (er... smell) this without emotional attachment to the purchase, notes, or concept and... that spicy note never really leaves, it smells a little cloying at the drydown, and I think I'm picking up Axe in there among the narcissus. Sigh.

Edited December 22, 2011 by hellok80

[persephonehazard]

Full disclosure: I've been using the name 'Persephone' online for nearly ten years now, and as I am only twenty-two that is basically MY ENTIRE LIFE. I really want to like this, and am prepared to work for it. I have Persephone itself in my to-test pile, and if I don't love her there is a slim chance I might actually cry.

 

Anyway.

 

In the imp, my first impression is that I am in way over my head with this one. My nose just isn't well-trained enough; it smells almost generic to me - not because it is, but because I can't really pick out notes that well yet. So, as I'm trying to educate myself, I go and look them up in an effort to work out what's what. I think I'm getting the opoponax ("sweet, balsam-like, lavender-like"), but I'm not sure I can pick out the woodyness that several of the other notes are supposed to have. I get much the same wet, and I'm still fighting the fact that my ingorant palate still wants to go MEN'S AFTERSHAVE. I sit there sniffing the crook of my arm like a madwoman all through the initial drydown, but other than a faint herbally scent I don't think I'm finding anything new here yet. It's definitely not unpleasant, but I don't seem to be able to make anything special out of it.

 

After a little while I think I do get something a bit smokey, but that might just be wishful thinking. I wish I was better at this! The floralyness might be the narcissus making its presence known?

[romarin]

Starts off non-specific floral, with a bit of lemon and cedar and... then it turns into a really naff hand creme before it backs down into a slightly peppery [gardenia-like?], unctuous scent that is giving me a sick headache. Not for me.

[Khaosangel]

mmmm hades smells wonderfully dark on me but not in a gloomy sense it makes me think of an illusion like its to perfect to be real

 

in the imp it smelled very much like a spicy floral almost made me think of my moms bottle of estee lauder spellbound which i allways loved the smell of the house after she put it on

 

wet it smells very much the same tho the floral comes out a bit more and the spicyness seems to fade still wonderfully dark

 

dry this smells very smoky and incensy yet still very floral and slightly powdery and sweet it works perfectly on my skin

 

 

yeah this is definantly a good one for me ill definantly keep this and i think im gonna buy a couple more bottles

 

i got so many compliments on this at work last night and it didnt make me feel gloomy at all it made me feel powerful like i couldnt have a care in the world. dare i say it made me feel happy ? for once i didn't worry about my bodily appearance or if my eyeliner got smudged i love this

Edited April 21, 2012 by Khaosangel

[LyndaFEB]

This is a mature imp.

 

In the bottle - strong floral, too much going on to pick out what exactly.

 

On wet - still strong, indeterminate profusion of floral, with the addition of some resins and spice. This is a very busy scent.

 

It's settling down (if you can call it that) to a strong men's spray cologne, and still to busy for me to figure out what's what.

 

I don't dislike it, though I'm not sure if I can wear it - and certainly needn't apply as much as I did, because it's got a huge throw.

 

If this is Hades, it's after Persephone smacked him crosseyed with her bouquet of flowers as he abducted her. It's Hades the cologne-wearing lounge lizard, positive his pick up lines will work.

[ringmaster-red]

In the vial: bitter and medicinal

Wet: I can pick out the cypress and ambergris. I dunno what anything else is or what they smell like, so not sure on those notes. Oh, this is foul. I imagine this is what the land of dead people might smell like. Sniffing my wrist gives me the image of a dark, dank swamp with hidden threats. Seems accurate enough. Not too pleasant a smell, though. Honestly, it smells like rotted plants. It fits the theme, but I don’t really like it on me as a perfume. I might have to wash this off.

[JazzieCazzie]

Received a frimp from the Lab.

 

IN THE IMP: Both resiny and fresh at the same time.

 

Dabbed on wrist and in crook of arm.

 

WET: I get the floral first but it has a metallic and somehow fruity depth to it. Undecided.

 

DRYDOWN: Not liking this as it dries. Something in it goes woefully stinky on me in a cloying sweet and deathly way. I have a feeling it could be the ambergris?

 

OVERALL: Not putting as much thought into what it is that doesn't work on me as I should, I just know it doesn't.

 

On a scale of 1-5, a 2.5

[DoktorDandy]

In the Imp: Oddly fruity or sweet? Almost medicinal. Floral, woody, hint of sandalwood.

 

Wet: As soon as Hades touched me he turned into the exact smell of those overly-scented pinecones in red net bags, guh! Ugh!

 

Drydown: Slightly better for a time, more balanced, but I am still having trouble picking through the muddle of smells. Steadily becomes ... gross. Yep. I smell exactly like a Michael's craft store on a breezy day. I am disappointed and confused.

 

Dry: This has COMPLETELY disappeared, eaten by my skin. Inoffensive but unexciting. I may try it again sometime, but nope probably not for me.

 

Note!- This worked well on my mom, at least twice, and I think she will be keeping the imp. She says when it starts out it reminds her of the perfume Nuit de Noel. On her it ends up smelling like a very gentle, vaguely floral sandalwood with a kind of fuzzy, violet-like quality.

[Veronica]

Dark, cold florals. Very white and slightly powdery. Prettier than I expected but not for me.

[Laura S. Taylor]

Are you for sure there isn't leather in this? This smells exactly like leather with a tiny bit of rubber, it's low throw and fades into a skin scent. I'll give it to my husband and see what he thinks.

[rosedamask]

I got an imp of this in my last BPAL order, and I just got around to trying it now. In the bottle and wet on my skin, Hades was intensely sweet and treacly, but on the drydown, it turned very smooth and black, and definitely lived up to its "palpably sacred" description - it made me think of ancient rites being performed down in a underworld throne room of exquisitely polished onyx. There's also a kind of swampy, almost medicinal undercurrent to it at times, with all the cypress and floral notes bringing in a dark verdant vibe, so I felt like Hades' proximity to the River Styx was also very much honoured in this blend.

 

It's a sombre perfume, but has a really fascinating kind of austere beauty to it. It's not something I'd use as one of my regular scents, but it is a very fitting tribute to its namesake god, and I'm glad I got to try it out.

[freyasfae]

On me, this goes to grandma, of course my grandma was Catholic so it's florals meets church incense. It is hard for me to reconcile that with Hades, I expected something darker. Nope, not for me.

[DiesMali]

In the imp: A strange, slightly sweet mishmash of herbs.

 

Wet on my skin: Lots of labdanum and ambergris and dark flowers.

 

Dry: This is just okay on me. It's not bad at all, but nor am I mind-blown. It's a strange mix of sweet herbs and florals, and also salty aquatic from the ambergris. The notes are somewhat discordant on my skin, so I think I'm going to need to set this aside and age it for a while, then re-review it after it's aged six months or more.

[doomsday_disco]

In the imp: The cypress and black narcissus are the first notes to jump out at me, followed by the opoponax, and other florals and resins.

 

Wet: The resins are more prominent on my skin, but the cypress is the dominant note. However, it isn't long before the black narcissus note takes the cypress' place as the most prominent note on my skin.

 

Dry: The black narcissus still reigns, making this a floral-dominant scent, but I can still smell the cypress and resins in the background.

 

Verdict: This one is okay, but not something that grabs me enough to make me want more of it.

[Casablanca]

A wave of cypress and... something, part of which must be narcissus. It's an odd smell, kind of black lacquer-like and aquatic. I also have no ideas about the smells of stephanotis and onycha. So I looked them up.

Stephanotis is a small white tropical flower that is said to smell a bit like buttery jasmine and to make people think of weddings, where they've often been used. I can pick out something like that here and I rather like it.

Apparently onycha comes from the Greek word for fingernail and it's a mystery incense ingredient mentioned (but not explained) in the Bible. We don't know what it was. It's been thought to have perhaps been labdanum, the gum resin from the Astragalus plant species, or the "lid" of a small whelk-like shellfish. Labdanum seems unlikely to have been mentioned twice in the lists (both in the Bible and in the notes above), and BPAL doesn't use animal products, except those that come from the activities of bees. So maybe this is astragalus.

While wet, the overall blend impression for me is swampy and a little floral, with a general and subdued sense of base note fragrances. It dries to a fairly attractive buttery jasmine-incense-resin scent for me, but vanishes within a couple hours.

I like it but don't know that I'd chase down a bottle.

[lizabelle]

I wasn't sure what to expect from this one, but I'm actually really enjoying it. It's different from what I normally wear--soft, powdery, somber, and decidedly unisex. The narcissus in here is lovely and soft. I don't actually know what it smells like outside of perfume (they're a daffodil relative, as I recall?), but it really does smell dark purple or black. It's velvety. The resins/incenses blend together beautifully and there's a gravity to the whole, but it's not a heavy scent. It's a little mysterious but still comforting. The more I smell it the more I love it, so it's going on my list for sure.

[alyelle]

I have two imps of this, one that is clearly reasonably new which was a freebie with a recent decant order, and another which I received as a lab freebie a few years ago. Reviews for both are below, since I figure it'll help anyone who wants to know how this might age over time.

 

Imp: In the older version, a rich, thick resin blushed with narcissus. In the younger, rock-rose, narcissus, and stephanotis - much lighter, and much more floral.

 

Wet: The younger imp starts of very resinous, underneath the floral top notes, and is borderline sickly in its sweetness. The older is spicier, and citrusy, almost like mulled wine, with hints of floral talc. I usually stop at this point, as I haaate the talc scent, but risked finishing the application for the sake of comparison.

 

Dry: The young version dries down to a dominant note of stephanotis, with a sick, sticky narcissus over it. It's too floral, too cloying, too long-lived and annoyingly present at all times. The older version is more well-rounded, and dries to a smooth, pleasant finish, with a shorter life span and less persistent throw.

 

Stars: ★★ for young Hades; ★★★ for the aged version.