Port-Au-Prince

[tempete]

Dark, decadent and incomparably exotic: the rich scent of buttered rum flavored with almond, bay, clove and sassafras.

Port-Au-Prince is one of the few scents where I think that I can detect all the components in the description. It smells strongly of buttered rum wet, then the spices (especially clove) emerge as it dries down. In the final drydown, the sassafras makes its presence known, giving the scent a slight root beer-y tint. Although Port-Au-Prince was a lovely scent, it was a little too masculine for me so I'll be passing this one on.

[octopusgrrl]

In the bottle: almond and rum

 

Wet: buttery rum spice mixture

 

Dry: strong clove and, I assume, sassafras - ugh, smells like a dentists office I like clove usually, but not this strong.

 

Verdict: this comes out way too medicinal on me and is quite unpleasant. I ended up layering some Blood Amber over the top after an hour or so to tone it down.

[Lady_Ell]

This starts off lovely - buttery rum and spice. That lasted about 5 minutes and then... ugh. I smell like that blue fluoride mouthrinse stuff that I used to have to have after lunch during "dental hygiene week" in elementary school.

 

A combination of fluoride rinse, cheap potpourri, and old lady perfume.

 

Sassafras hates me.

[Lina]

In the imp: EGADS! Pungent spice. Very Strong!

 

Wet: I am pretty sure I am washing this off. It is very strong and obnoxious. All I smell is spice and not in a good way. I put my faith in the lab and let this dry down.

 

Dry: (4 hours) It reminds me of spiced rum mixed with butter. If it were sweet it would be like rum cake but it is not and it reminds me of a burning spice candle. This actually dries down to something wearable but I have to love a scent to wear it- so I am washing it off and I won't be testing this one again.

[isyche]

At first this is pure almond extract (but I love almond) and rum. Then suddenly it turns into this lovely spicy warm scent – I think this is the bay and clove, the clove is the most prominent. This would indeed smell great on someone of the male persuasion.

 

(Also, I tried layering Old Port-au-Prince with Jolly Roger, and the two together smell just how I think Capt. Jack Sparrow would smell...Jolly Roger but darker, more rum-ish, and spicier. Yum. )

Edited December 5, 2004 by isyche

[shelldoo]

i just traded for this and am very glad i did.

 

in the imp

almonds all the way w/ maybe a wee hint of rum

 

wet

cherry/almond notes

 

drying

spices. some cloves for sure and a bit of sassafrass do not smell the rum which was why i really wanted it i love the rum notes. i am gonna wear it a while and update how it goes but for now i will prob be getting a 5ml because i do like it...oh and i am not getting a masculine feel from this at all...but then i tend to like things on me that alot of ppl think r masculine

[feline.by.design]

Port-Au-Prince hit me with this: sweet almond with a kick. It's a very nice smell, but not something I would wear often.

 

On my skin, almond's sweetness fades quick. I'm not inclined to almondy scents, and this one really didn't do too much for me, though I think it would make a great room scent. I have plenty of fragrances that I keep around as room scents, though, so I don't need another one.

 

-doreen

[Theravada]

In the bottle this was overwhelmingly almond. But as soon as it hit my skin, the almond note faded away, which is great since I hate the smell of almond oil. I was left with a hot, cinnamon-spiced rum that was really pleasant. It reminded me a little bit of Three Witches + rum.

 

Very nice, but just not what I'm looking for.

Edited January 22, 2005 by Theravada

[Splendid Molerat]

In the old sailing stories, they say you could smell the spices miles out to sea before you saw the islands. So in my mind, Port-au-Prince is a tall ship with the spice breeze in her sails.

 

The almond burns off quickly, and for me the follow-through is lemon, bay leaf, and a background of spiced rum. It's a little dry for my tastes, but I can understand the appeal of this one.

[oatmealneko]

In the vial: Clove. Clove. Look, more clove.

 

Wearing: Again with the clove, I can't smell the other ingredients because the clove is that strong. It smells wonderful though. Drying down, the clove mellows out & I think I can pick out the almond/buttered rum. It's a definite sweet & creamy scent, which I can only smell if I hold my nose to my wrist.

 

It reminds me of Dragon's Milk, but with less cream & more clove. I like it enough to keep it. Yay! Finally one that doesn't make me smell like a garden.

[thespring]

In the beginning all I get are Cloves and Almonds.. Much too strong though.

 

I don't find it as boozy as some others have found it but the rum is definitely there, way in the back though.

Also I dont find it buttery at all, on me its more crisp in fact.

It's a nice one, but the cloves are too strong for my liking...

****Update****

This has changed for me. I get more of the rum and spice. More boozy definitely. I also get a strong citrus in the final stages of wetness. The strong clove is still there on the drydown though. Would be nicer on a man probably.

Funny how skin chemistry changes

Edited February 12, 2005 by thespring

[judas_kiss]

Got this as a gimp w/my last order...

 

In the Imp, this smelled just like Hellcat with a rather root beer-ish scent lingering in the back ground. Very rummy/cherry/almond in the imp for me. I re-read the description and remembered there was clove in it so finally, after much hemming and hawing I tried it out. I'm glad I did.

 

Wet, this is rummy and clovey. Also, I got a bit of an uncomfortable tingly-burning sensation where I applied it. Probably the clove. Those with super sensitive skin may want to apply this sparingly. But, the tingle went away almost as quickly as it started. I'm still not sure if I like this. It's like a spicier, dryer hellcat as the rum is still very very sweet.

 

Dry, WOW! This smells just like my father after he got his shave at the barber's, only clovey and a bit sweeter. The bay and rum mix beautifully and the rum goes into the background and the spices really come out to play. The sassafras is there too, lending to this a sweeter, yet darker feel.

 

This is a great asexual scent. (Although some women may find it a bit spicey for their tastes). It's almost like a Bay Rum that women can wear. I don't know if it's a big bottle purchase, but I'll be using the whole imp.

[Witch's Dagger]

Port-au-Prince

 

Warning: this review goes into some long stream of thought rambling... This is because the scent morphed wildly on me, and just as I noticed one thing, three other things had changed.

 

Preconceived notions: good for ancestor rituals because of the rum, plus Haiti is interesting to me, so seeing Beth’s impression of its capital (shoot! is my geography right?) is equally intriguing, though I worry it might have too much rum for a perfume for me. I’ve had a lot of bad luck with booze in general (Hellcat, Hearth, Samhain)

 

In the vial: Ooh! I like the scent in the vial. There is some rum, but it’s not so ungodly sweet, and the floral and spice notes tone it down nicely. The spices remind me a lot of Morocco (which, ironically, I just reviewed (though this review is going up first)).

 

On me:

 

In the first 5 - 10 minutes: Wow - are you sure this isn’t just Morocco with a hint of rum? No, in a couple of minutes, the floral notes come out again, much more strongly than they did in Morocco, and it’s also not nearly as spicy. It definitely evokes a place of humidity and mystery to me, as it’s very sweet and now I can detect some tropical fruits, yet the spice is there, and it’s a very exotic and mysterious spice. Ooh! Is that almond? This is lovely. Yes, it’s a spicy, floral, sweet almond. It’s very complex, similar to the complexity of Blood Rose. While I can smell all the different notes, I can no longer really pick them out, and trying to separate them makes me lose the entirety of the scent. Unfortunately, I can’t put that into words without separating them out. Plus, the spice keeps going in and out of prominence. I’ll smell my wrist, and get a floral-almond scent, and two seconds later get nothing but spice. The wafting scent is definitely less spicy, more warm and fruity-floral than the scent close to my wrist, which is where the majority of the almond and spice stays (when the spice isn’t in hiding). I really like this.

 

Over time: It doesn’t morph much more than it did in the first 5 - 10 minutes, but that’s quite enough, thank you! It eventually fades- not the longest laster I have, but it does do well.

 

Overall: This is definitely a keeper!

[regyt]

In the bottle, I smelled pure almonds. Liquid marzipan!

 

As soon as it touched my skin, the almond faded and the rum and spices started to come out. I think I smelled the bay at first, but it may have been my imagination, since it was gone so fast.

 

On me, it ended up very heavy on the clove, with the rum and sassafras just barely noticeable, supporting the clove and making it warmer and richer.

 

(I don't smell the cinnamon everyone else is mentioning. Clove and cinnamon smell rather similar, though, and perhaps some of us are mixing them up? Could be the other reviewers, could be me. I don't know.)

 

This is a gorgeous scent, absolutely sumptuous.

 

I need to end up with a bottle of this.

Edited February 2, 2005 by regyt

[amrita]

Wet: This starts out as an aquatic bay rum and almond. It is simple and smells

very masculine on me.

 

5 min - Vanilla and spice - very nice! Bay rum still going strong.

 

25 min - Caramel and bay rum.

 

1 hr - Only vanilla lingers on my wrists. On my neck, I'm still getting strong

bay rum, and the smell is just too masculine for me. Will donate to fiance

for testing and analysis...

[voodoobaby]

In the bottle: Very boozy. This really reminds me of the alcohol smell in Hearth, but thankfully no maraschino cherry. A spicy kind of aroma lies underneath, but it's nothing dramatic.

 

Wearing: Yikes! That's sweet! This is very, very candy-ish, still quite boozy, and a bit cloying. Oh, and pumpkin? Maybe it's the clove reminding me of pumpkin pie, but I swear I smell fresh pumpkin here. Only it's the smell of pumpkin-scented candle wax. Eh, weird combination. I will wait it out and see how it is when it settles down.

 

Later: Ah, that's better. It's a very pleasant, warm, kind of comforting scent as the rum settles down. Now I smell a beautiful, slightly masculine mixture of clove and sassafras, while the bay makes it kind of a dull green. In a good way, of course. I enjoy this one after the drydown, so I will keep the imp.

 

Edit: Gah, either my skin chemistry is really fickle or my sense of smell is ever-evolving. Second time around I definitely get maraschino cherry the first five minutes. Much almond. The rest of it remains the same, however.

Edited May 8, 2005 by voodoobaby

[gdogs]

ok. . . what's wrong here? all i get is cinnamon. beginning to end. no rum, no almond, no clove. just cinnamon.

 

can't do much more of a review on it. just cinnamon.

[tinyvulture]

in the bottle and on first application, this smells like almond extract. as it dries, it completely changes until i can't smell the almond at all. now it's all clove. warm and spicy. sweet and exotic. this will be nice on hot summer evenings.

[magikfanfic]

In the bottle: Not looking forward to this one at all. Once again transported to that aisle in the craft stores that makes me run screaming to the other side. The one with all the potporrouri and too much clove. Why is everyone but me in love with clove?

 

Wet: Gross. Clove and...well, I can't actually pick anything other than the clove out of this scent. Maybe some of the sassafras, but I'm not entirely sure.

 

Dry down: Yeah, sassafras and clove. It's not great, but it's not as bad as I have originally feared it might be. No rum or almond or bay that I can detect. It still reminds me or potporrouri.

 

Dry: Clove and sassafras. So not for me. Washing off.

[anmorata]

Port-au-Prince:

 

Wet: Rum and almonds!

Drydown: ... almonds. And clove. And bay leaf.

Longterm wear: Not bad. Will have to give it another shot.. too many scents at once.

Edited April 4, 2005 by anmorata

[bellis]

This scent turned a bit weird on me. In the bottle, it smells like spicy clove and sassafrass goodness. On, however, something turns bitter. Maybe the almond. Bitter almond ... I don't get any rum at all. It's a bit too foody for me, even without the bitterness, so off to the swap pile.

[requieminblack]

First sniff from the bottle- OMGWTFBBQ!?! MMmmmmm spicy clove and almond!

 

After 10 minutes- Yum. I can't believe I didn't get a hold of this one a long time ago. This one is uber spicy! Clove is the dominate note and God is it strong! After a few minutes the sassafras oozes out and blends with the clove to create a smell similar to spiced Dr. Pepper.

 

After 30 minutes- Now the bay is coming through making this smell a lot more masculine. I am not getting any of the butter or rum in this which is a bummer. I love buttered rum! Still- this is so yummy! This is like a masculine version of Three Witches.

 

Summery- I am in love Old Port au Prince is the Three Witches sexy pirate boyfriend.

[elphaba]

I have to admit, I bought Port-au-Prince for my husband and had absolutely no intention of wearing it myself. I have no desire to smell like rum but, on a guy? Piratey goodness!

 

My first sniff of the bottle was almost pure rum. Okay, maybe a bit of almond, but mostly rum. Instead of waiting for my scent-phobic husband to try it on so I could smell the rest of the notes, I decided to give it a shot myself. You know, in the interest of science.

 

Mmmm. The rum faded quickly and this was an amazing clove on me. When I was a child, my mom would put clove oil in the vacuum cleaner bag before cleaning on Saturdays and the scent of Port-au-Prince was that smell, straight out of my memory. It wasn't just clove. It was clove and heat. I'm sure the sassafras played a role, but I couldn't isolate it.

 

Perhaps it's fortunate that the oil faded entirely in fifteen minutes because I would have had to have my wrist permanently attached to my nose. Nonetheless, I was disappointed. This one had no staying power at all on me. Slathering it on helped slightly, but it was still surprisingly short-lived.

 

I also tried using Port-au-Prince as a room scent in my oil burner, but it didn't seem to really take off. The scent hung close to the burner, refusing to pervade the room. It stayed much more buttered rum-like in the burner, which I didn't mind. I just would have liked it to be way more aggressive.

 

I wish I could scent my life with Port-au-Prince but alas, it wasn't meant to be. I'm still working on scenting my husband.

[Aurelius]

I'd like to tell you I tried this. But I would be lying, and my mom told me not to. Anywho, this has almond in it and almond makes me ill. As such I couldn't even get this out of the vial and onto my skin. I'm sorry! I will send this off to an almond-lovin' happy home as soon as possible.

[tsarina]

This scent is the most exotic combination in my nose. It makes me feel a bit otherworldly.

 

In the vial, it's sweet and almond-y. (This buttery, rum almond note is very similar to Hellcat.) It stays that way for just a moment on my skin, and rapidly takes a new form. I smell the cloves, and the bay, and the sassafrass sweetnees. It becomes spiced, dancing rum.

 

Definitely a scent for going out, and warm nights. I'm very curious how it might smell on my husband now.