Hexennacht (2005, 2016, 2019)

[Neely]

... This perfume is the scent of the witches’ revel: German fir and forest herbs, incense and bonfire smoke, and the wet, glimmering scent of skin warmed by dance.

Thanks to Little Grey Kitten for giving me the oppurtunity to try the Hex!

In the bottle: Black Forest with berries.

Wet: Black Forest with berries or apples or both. No smoke yet.

Dry down: Ok, now it is, if Black Forest and Dia De Los Muertos had a child. I despised Black Forest on me (love pine) it turned to powder. Dia I loved but it's florals just amped up and no other notes came through. This is nice.

30 minutes: I really like this. At one point it smelled really familiar, not like BF and Dia, but like some other BPAL scent I had tried. It took me a moment, but I figured it out. It smells like The Black Tower on me, but with herbs not ivy! Since I love The Black Tower, I love this one too. I am not really getting any of the smoke. But my skin, unfortunately, seems to eat smokey aspects of a scent.

Conclusion: This is a more "feminine" version of The Black Tower. I am going to have to do a wrist to wrist comparison. If it smells enough like BT on me, then I have no need to buy a bottle of this (so far it is like Skadi and a BPAL grail that gets expensive on ebay) if Beth should bring it back again. I will have to see. I am however keeping my imp and enjoying it. I do really like this scent. Great lasting power, medium throw on me.

Rating 1-5 on my skin, this is a 4. Edited February 4, 2006 by Shollin

[WidgetAlley]

Miss roxann_ireland gave me a chance to try the fabled Hexennacht. I can't thank her enough! I just had started a mad passionate affair with Blood Moon... I'm going to be awfully annoyed if this one grabs me by the hips and ravishes me, too, considering how ridiculously difficult it is to track down!

 

In the Imp: Musk! Musky musk musk musk, a dark, writhing sort of musk, backed by rich wine and berries and cold forest and bon(e)fire smoke. I have to say, this might be the first BPAL I've had where I can unerringly pick out every single part of the blend and the scene. This is uncanny. And slightly unsettling.

 

Wet: Dry smoke comes forward first, quickly followed by sweet-tart berries, apples and the richest, bloodiest wine imaginable. The musk in here is black, maybe not in scent-category but in feel. This is being alone by your campfire with eyes watching you in the darkness, or maybe (as maewitch said) lying naked next to a handsome stranger with a gleam in his eye, miles from anyone who could hear you scream. Blood Moon was wild, but this.... this is downright creepy.

 

Dry: Hexennacht swirls around itself so complexly I have trouble picking things out beyond an impression of flashing maroons and browns and greens and pitch black. Lone wolf howls and distant firelight; low chanting; masked and hooded figures in white through the trees. The final drydown is sinister musk, shadowed by deep, complex evergreen notes, all wrapped up in wine and poison apples berries that are not eaten, but crushed by the handful, as the deadly juice runs down wrists and drips from fingers.

 

I would have to be in a very specific, hateful mood to wear this, but nonetheless, it's so damn evocative, I'm definitely hanging on to my Imp. It'll be perfect for sniffing while reading Clive Barker... just not while home alone.

Edited February 12, 2006 by WidgetAlley

[Voleuse]

This is sweet on first application, herbal and smoky. I can smell evergreen in this, but it's almost masked by the sweet overtones. It's not at all what I expected, but it's pretty.

 

This fades significantly on me as it dries, but the sweet smoke remains, reminding me of the aftermath of a bonfire. Nice.

[Ryvre]

This smelled almost exactly the same in the imp and on my skin. It smells a bit forest and a little sweet. It really reminds me of Christmas for some reason! Maybe it's the fir- I'm not sure. The smoke comes out a bit as it dries, and this scent lingers on my wrist for quite a while. It's definitely not something I'd wear, but I might save it till winter and put it in my burner.

[Meg]

In the bottle: A boozy, incensy smell.

 

Wet: The incense comes out quite fast, with a practically fruity and woody note. There's berry in here, it seems.

 

Drydown: Smoke, berries and skin mixing together. The smoke and forest scent starts taking over, which is a relief because I'm not much of a berry fan. It smells like a spring forest, with some greenness, a rather bright scent. I get the fir note very clearly, nearly more pinewood than pine needless.

 

Overall: Fire and firs. This is a very sweet, sensual blend that reminds me of nature. It smells like a walk in the woods in spring, with the berries ripening in the thickets around you. I think this is really the spring counterpart to Devil's Night, both scents are smoke and fir, but this one is lighter, more feminine and sweet.

[absinthetics]

Sweet, herbal, smokey, incensy... yet fruity in the imp, and on the skin.

 

A deep, dark forest (but not too much pine, which is good for me IMO) with berries. The berries make this fun, a fruity musk scent. I really like Hex, it's very ..wiccan to me. It reminds me of the stories of sabbaths committed in the woods at night, to keep from prying eyes. It's dark, like rumor, but bright/sweet, like revelation.

[edenssixthday]

Hexannacht - My first impression is that this is full of the smell of forest. As it dries down, I also detect something smoky (maybe incense?) mixing with the smell of forest trees. There is also a touch of musk in this blend. Overall, it doesn’t really appeal to me. I don’t care for forest-tree scents, and I also dislike smoky scents. It does have a slight spiciness to it that is nice, but overall, it’s just not for me. The scent does stay strong on my skin for several hours, although the level of throw is fairly subtle.

[themerrybaker]

I would have guessed cherries and sandalwood were ingredients in Hexennacht. The overall impression is sweet wood.

 

 

 

If Beltaine is the daylight side of the equinox, Hex. is the dark side.

[juniperus]

Bottle: green and smoke, but very mellow in comparison to the sharpness I was expecting.

Wet: The incense is coming up behind, interesting combination of warmth and chill greenness.

Dry: this is gorgeous! evocative of a forest, the imagery and even my sensation of the world around me when I sniff with my eyes closed is breathtaking. I found BPAL a year too late, I tell you.

Later: I am so sad I missed this one - it coulda been my one and only!

[faerywolfe]

In the bottle:

Thick, sweet, and deep with a sharp edge. Cherry and fir wrapped around with a deep creamy musk. This is hot and cold at the same time, like there’s a raging bonfire in front of me and an icy fall breeze behind. There’s something diabolical hidden deep in this blend that I can’t quite put my finger on. Eerie yet seductive.

 

Wet:

Hot and slick. Ashy embers and sweat-slick skin. I smell leather in this even though none is listed. The fir grabs the perfume and deepens it, gives it heart, and cools it down. There’s a very soft sweet that isn’t quite floral. It’s nice but bewildering – must be the forest herbs. Thank goodness the cherry smell never made it out of the bottle.

 

A little later:

Something smooth and creamy slinks into the mix adding a sultry haze. This stage reminds me of eating vanilla ice cream naked in the woods by firelight. Simply delicious and no little naughty. There’s a very subtle anxiety to Hexennacht that is slightly unnerving. I’m still smelling leather! I also smelled leather in Snake Charmer and Anne Bonny. I must just have strange skin chemistry.

 

Drydown:

Has that sharp sweet again that it had in the bottle, but it’s tempered by the yummy creamy musk. Manages to be bright and dark at the same time. Discordant yet complementary. There is still that underlying anxiety.

 

Final thought:

I can’t seem to get comfortable wearing this oil. It makes me very edgy and I haven’t a clue why. Also, this oil is never the same twice on me. I’ve tested it several times and every time it changes. At least half the time though it smells like sharp medicinal cherry and myrrh Nyquil and cheap incense. When Hexennacht is good it’s very good – intensely sexy and naughty and multi-faceted. When it’s bad though it is truly vile. I want to love it, but I think Madame Hexennacht needs a home with someone who will love her all the time.

[sofiaviolet]

I received a near-empty amber bottle with Hex on a little dot on its lid, so I'm guessing this is Hexennacht. I smell something kind of woody and musky, but it has so little throw and staying power that I have lost the scent almost the second it touched my skin.

[slave1]

In Bottle: Smoky Fir

 

On Skin: The fir and herbs are super strong and would border on medicinal if it weren’t for the deep smoke mellowing them out. Normally I don’t like smoky scents or tree/forest scents, but the smoke helps cut the sharpness of the fir and really blankets the scent in a soft and comforting feel. Icy herbal fir and warm smoky incense… a beautiful contrast. This is actually quite sexy… but I think it would need to be on a man, it seems very masculine to me. There is also something very sweet in this scent… it’s fruity… maybe berries or cherry? An amazing blend, just not one I’d wear myself. Strong throw and great long wearlength.

[mountainwitch]

Someone kindly included just a little of this as a freebie in a swap. Wow, what a freebie . . .

 

This is the smoky, woodsy scent I've been looking for. Most of the others just don't work with my chemistry at all, but this one meets the description exactly: fir, woods, incense, and real bonfire smoke, not the strange burning-house scent that I've gotten from scents like Brimstone.

 

I want this one. I want a whole bottle of this one . . . I want this LE to come back!

[kunoichi]

From the vial this smells of a piercingly green fir tree, almost completely hidden in a boozy-like, warm, savoury herb scent – quite an odd combination! This becomes a warm, deep incensy smell on my skin that has a dab of the sweetness of green things behind the smokiness, and perhaps a hint of camp-fire wood. Eventually this smells becomes a very light, yet smoky sweetness and somewhat powdery after it has faded on my skin for a few hours, and seems like it will soon vanish.

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

i'm glad to get to try this... but it isn't a keeper for me. it has a better home to go to in tomorrow's post [=

 

smells like a strangeish combination of Snake Oil, Djinn and Chanel No. 5 (or at least lots of oakmoss)

 

the scent changes almost constantly, but it consistently reminds me of an upscale perfume from decades gone by.

[ND¢]

In the bottle: Sharp, musky but with some high sort of piercing herbal note. I'm thinking, 'this is going to suck and I'll be sad.'

 

On me: Gets more overtly herbal. It does have a sense of smoke, too... Then it sort of smooths out, smells less obnoxiously strong (this is after maybe three minutes.) I sort of like it (against my better judgement.) When you breathe in, it's very like breathing a strong herbal/tree smell, and when you breathe out, smoke. Slowly the herbal smell mellows into something that'd still be a bit strong for me normally, but doesn't have the overly-perfumey feel (or maybe the notes) that made Yggdrasil and Nocnitsa (the two other forestiest scents I've yet tried) not work on me. It smells fresher. After maybe ten minutes, I start to get a faint musk. Yeah, I'll stick with this.

[illuviel]

I received a decant of Hexennacht in the mail today. I had high hopes for this, based on the intent, description and glowing reviews. I really wanted to adore this one. Unfortunately, this scent isn't one that works for me at all.

 

In the imp, it smells like someone wearing a Guerlain perfume I can't quite name walking through a botanica or occult bookshop's incense and oils section to pick up a bottle of Lucky Money Drawing floorwash -- complex, incensey, powdery, piney, commercial. It reminds me more of sitting with the ladies' circle at a bookshop discussing Brocken Mountain than dancing on the heath atop it.

 

Unfortunately, this first impression only deepened with my interaction with the scent. On the second or third sniff, my eyes started watering and I started sneezing, giving me a tightness in my sinuses and a slight scratching at the back of my throat -- something in this does not agree with my system.

 

Maybe I'd get over that as soon as my nose calmed down from the complex scent? I swiped the wand across my wrist and rubbed my wrists together. On me, it smells quite artificial and does not blend into my skin well at all. Ten or so minutes into wearing, it's still piney incensey voodoo floorwash that makes me sneeze and my lips and throat itch. I washed it off, glad that I had purchased only an imp, and not a full bottle, of the oil.

 

I hope I have better luck with other BPAL scents. (I did, as my review of Malediction will show.)

 

Edit to update (and to tighten this up a bit): Layering this over Malediction anchors and earths the scent for me, making it less commercial-smelling and almost wearable, though it's still 'sneezy'.

 

Later in the evening I was able to compare Malediction, Hexennacht + Malediction and the remnants of Hexennacht alone. Of the three, I prefer the blend; it's lovely stuff layered, post-drydown, sharing notes and qualities with a long-discontinued, mass-market scent I adored, Ultima II's Maroc (the wood + incense). There are notes in this combination I hope to find in other blends.

Edited September 29, 2006 by illuviel

[steffanina]

Hexennacht-

 

In Bottle: Kind of grape-resinous.

 

Overall: A wood bloom coming out, with a little hint of fruit remaining.

 

Dry: Kind of smoke-and-pine, with a hint of grape. It is interesting! Rich and sweet.

 

Overall: Interesting!

[Em-]

Wow, I can't believe I haven't reviewed this...

 

Hex is one of those scents that I can almost not describe, it is so amazingly wonderful on me. It is smoky, woody, sweet incense...the warm scent of a dark awakening. I have just an imp of it and it is something I'm almost afraid to wear, since I know I can never get more. But it is so wonderful, I want to slather the whole thing in a Hexennacht baccanal.

[Naamah_Darling]

This is sweet and hazy in the bottle, fruity and herbal with just a hint of incense smoke and musk, no overt green scent of any kind.

 

It smokes up when it goes on, and the fir comes out faintly but not obnoxiously. This is rich and layered, and very golden. The herbs and smoke keep it from smelling too feminine but the throw is a sweet musk tinged with a hint of greenery that is definitely rather girly.

 

I like it quite a bit, though I'm not sure where exactly the persistent fruity note I'm getting is coming from. It smells a bit like apples and a bit like melon. I'm guessing it's the incense mixed with the musk.

 

Very nice.

[supremegoddessofall]

Very smoky. I get mostly incense and a bit of exercise-sweat. Light herbs in the background, but not really getting the fir. Definitely autumnal.

[chrisann]

I am so happy to finally get a bottle of this perfume

 

Wet: Hello! Samhain??? A smokier, darker version of Samhain, but Samhain. (which is fine by me, since it's one of my top 10!)

 

After some time goes by: The smoke starts to envelope the perfume in a soft craddle. This is Samhain's dark sister. Minus the sweeter cidery spices, but still spicy none-the-less. Hot spicy. Ummmmm... it makes me feel intoxicated and dreamy. I swear I can smell the faint trail of bonfire meshed with warm skinscent.

 

This is Pure tounge wagging, panting, love. Finally, a bpal scent w/ smokey elements that I can wear!

[dawna]

In the vial: Wow, this is a very interesting scent. Dark, deeply herbal, woodsy with a hint of smoke.

 

On the skin: Wet earth surrounded by the richest wood forest, and a strong wafting of bonfire smoke surrounding the entire scent.

 

On drydown: Its fading fairly fast on me but this reminds me of a very very dark, more serious version of samhain when dry, minus any fruity scent that I get from Samhain. This is a keeper but I probably won't wear it a lot, more an autumn scent indeed.

[forspecial_plate]

I know this isn't meant to be a fall scent, but that's what it brings to mind. This is what I wanted Samhain to smell like...although I love that scent for its own qualities, this is what I really expected it to smell like.

 

I think I can smell all the notes listed, blended very smoothly. Up close the scent is faint, but it's the throw that I love here. Fir, herbs, incense...very mysterious. Just a little sweet. Did I mention I'm in love with this? : ) May have to find more....

 

Edit: I didn't wear this for a long time, and tried it again today. It's almost a totally different scent. Still reminds me of Samhain, but I also get....strong floral? Where did that come from? And the very sweet honey-ish note that reminds me of Samhain. Sticks around for hours, and tons of throw. Also, not much smoke when I wore it today, and very little in the way of woods. (edited 8/26/07)

Edited March 10, 2008 by Forspecial Plate

[yakavenger]

Oh no!

 

I'd ordered a decant of Samhain 2006 a few weeks ago from someone lovely; however, when it showed up something in it was very sharp, astringent, and sour on my skin (I'm going to guess at the fir or mullein). I'd placed the order for Hexennacht before receiving the Samhain, and I'm sad to say the same note must be in the two. Now, reading the reviews, I see others note the similarity between the two scents.

 

Ahh, well, another for the swap pile... but the addiction lives on!