Hellfire

[Anna Marina]

A scent celebrating Sir Francis Dashwood's Order of the Knights of St. Francis of Wycombe, also known as the Hellfire Club. A swirl of pipe tobacco, hot leather, ambergris, dark musk and the lingering incense smoke from their Black Mass.

 

In the imp: I can smell a composition of the described notes.

Wet on skin: Upon application, I am only picking up incense, powder and a slight tinge of the ambergris.

Drydown: Incense and powder.

 

I wish I could get the leather and tobacco out of this. I did try layering it with Highwayman and that achieved the leather I was looking for. Despite this being entirely different on my skin, I did order a FB as the incense and powder are quite lovely. It's very long lasting on my skin.

[Lucchesa]

I tried Hellfire yesterday and am retrying this morning to see if I get the same result. (For the record, I haven't showered yet.) Hellfire just disappears on me, within minutes. I think the notes are beautiful, but after a quarter of an hour I have to make wrist contact with my nose and really concentrate to smell anything at all. Apparently my skin wants all the hellfire for itself. This just doesn't work for me, alas.

[ramblingrambler]

Hellfire smells like I slept—just slept!—next to a gorgeous man who is all sorts of bad in just the right ways. I can pull out each note by itself if I want to, but I would rather smell it blended together, not concentrating on what's what because hot damn is it delicious. It's just a mish-mash of sexy smells!

[achildoftime]

Hellfire is wonderful. Which is an admittedly odd sentence, but I stand by it. It's is very beautifully blended and feels nice and unified.

 

I get pipe tobacco and ambergris, with a side of leather. I get the sweet side of these scents. For once, the sweet amping chemistry of mine works for me and makes this more unisex for me. Not that I don't like traditionally masculine scents, they are just a little heavy for me sometimes. This works perfectly and I adore it.

[Joyleaf_]

In the imp I get this dark tapestry of scent, really can smell the pipe tobacco and th leather and the musk. On my skin I get nothing, nada. A whisper that a scent was ever there. If shove my nose on my wrist and huff with all my might I do get this smokey sweet scent. Leathery ambergris and smoke. I wish with all my heart that I could get it to throw on me like some of my more hated blends. Why is it that the ones I think I will most like disappear instantly while vile things like banana stick around for hours with sadistic glee?

I will keep the imp with a heart full of hope that someday Hellfire will get louder on my skin.

[VetchVesper]

I don't quite get this one. I have multiple imps of this, one of which is obviously old, and I love it. It's got the spiced woody sweetness of Dee, Bow and Crown of Conquest, and Black Rider that I just love. Warm, wonderful, and unabashedly masculine, and very close to what many happy reviewers are describing.

 

But the newer imps smell very different. Higher pitched, sweeter, more ambergris, less depth underneath. Less warm and lived in. Closer to scents like Djinn. Not unpleasant, but definitely not the same, and not really something I would hold on to.

 

So now my quandary and my dilemma. Do these just need to age? Is this batch variation? Was there a 2nd reformulation? (I don't think this is the original butter bourbon one.) Should I keep these extra imps in hopes they shall metamorphose into deliciousness? Or are they what they are and need new loving homes? I'd love to know if anyone has answers.

[cyborgutena]

People are saying this scent changed, so for reference I think mine is from late 2017.

 

With that said, this is my scent for when I feel like a decadent bastard. : D It 's not what I expected but it is great.

 

I'm not entirely sure what ambergris is like, but I think that's the main scent I get. My overall impression to start with is sweet with a thread of pleasant astringency. The tobacco and incense create a mysterious background to it and I can't really separate them. Leather comes out as it dries and the astringency dies down. The ambergris is kind of honey-sweet backed up by musk and I almost feel like the astringency is slightly floral. Weird! But good. I would really like to smell a less ambergrisy one too.

[torischroeder9]

In the imp: It's like I'm breathing in incense. 

 

On my skin:

 

Wet, it's still heavily incense smoke. As it dries, the incense dissipates a bit, and I can make out the leather and musk. After more time, I can also make out a bit of ambergris, but so far, it's behaving itself on me. Then the tobacco makes itself known, tying together the incense smoke and the musk, leather, and ambergris. Soon after that, the incense note -- my favorite in the blend -- fades rapidly, leaving mainly tobacco and leather. 

 

It's a sexy, slightly sweet, very rugged scent. Debating if this is really what I want to smell like, though -- but I'll probably try this at least one more time to see if I can coax out that incense note again. 

[torikitty]

I got this for me for the tobacco. It didn't smell much of tobacco, so I let my husband try it. It smells nice, but it's just a tad too sweet on him. On him, I get the leather and musk, and I think the ambergris is sweetening it up. It's really pretty, but it's just not a scent either of us would wear.

[Mister Azure]

Hellfire is provocative and enticing on many levels. There is a scent of cherry wood & refined cigars in boxes. It’s has a certain sophisticated appeal to it that I subtle and clings close to the skin. 

 

The throw is rather low on this but it does manage to last most of a work day. I would fancy wearing this on a 2nd or third date with someone or if going out to a stage production. 

 

Since it’s not something I would wear consistently, I did gift this imp to a co-worker that liked it more. Still, it has its charms.

[fairybites]

In the Imp: Smoke and poupourri

On Me: Not smelling tobacco at all. Leather is very faint on me and doesn't change too much from what I smelled in the imp. Also doesn't seem to last very long one me. Not bad, but may need to test some more. 

[artoria]

I don't know how old my imp of this is, but I'd guestimate roughly 2018.

In the imp: Strong and heavy musk, tobacco, and leather. Incense smoke is detectable. It's a bit sweet.

Wet, on my skin: Initially, I detected something almost... smoked chocolatey about it? Very odd.

Dry, on my skin: As it dried down and settled, the ambergris came to the forefront. (Do I amp ambergris, possibly? A consideration.) I do smell each component, individually, if I'm looking for them, but they meld together and create a sweet, smoky scent; the ambergris is most prominent for me, and it's and grounded by the tobacco, leather, and musk. I absolutely smell the incense, almost like opium incense. It's warm, sexy, sophisticated, devilish -- a smoking room in a dark Victorian manor. Absolutely perfect. I regret not giving this a shot sooner; I assumed it would be much too masculine for me for the longest time, but I feel like it's solidly unisex. It's catapulted itself from the "not sure if this is for me" pile to one of my top GCs.

Moderate throw, and it hasn't faded over the course of 6 hours, remaining fairly consistently the same strength after drydown.

When I finish off my frimp, I'm getting a full bottle.

Edit: I layered this with just a touch of aged Bloodlust the other day, and it was absolutely divine; the added spice melded very well with Hellfire's notes, in my opinion. My friend asked me what I was wearing, even. Give it a shot!

Edited March 6, 2021 by artoria

[Nick]

This is my absolute favourite scent and it marks the summer of 2020 in various stages of pandemic lockdown.

 

It is so difficult to describe but it's unlike any other BPAL I have ever encountered. It puts me in mind of vermouth but it been so long since I had vermouth I can't be 100% sure. It's got a rich sweetness so maybe vermouth and lemonade (the cheap clear kind with no hint of lemon in it), just sort of rich, sweet fizzy but maybe a little sharpness or bitterness to it. Maybe there's a slight touch of Cointreau to it too maybe that's where the bitter citrus is coming from.

 

As it dries it gets warmer and richer and I love it.

 

I sometimes layer this with the tiniest drop of Mister Wednesday to change it slightly as that is a powerful scent

[roseus]

Sniffing in the imp blind I get a much less smoky scent than I had anticipated based on the name. It's smooth and warm, pretty sure I get some tobacco and maybe amber. Kind of swirly. On wet it's similar but muskier. Looking at the notes it clicks that I'm getting ambergris, it has that lighter more skin musk-like quality. As it dries I get more of the dark musk and incense. Never get leather specifically but if it's here it's a very soft leather. Everything melds very well. To me it's in the family of Hag Grey. Warm, musky, lightly sweet. 

[she's a carnival]

Hellfire reminded me immediately of The Black Rider but muskier, sweeter and with less leather. The few times I've tried it the wear length isn't very long. I'm not sure how old my imp is but will try aging it. I quite like it just wish it lasted longer! I'd recommend The Black Rider if you like Hellfire and it has a stronger throw as well.

[AbbyNormal]

After falling head over heels for Snekhellden I ordered an imp of Hellfire to see what one of the base scents smelled like on its own. When I first put it on I wasn’t too sure. It smelled very sweet and powdery, with an almost soapy incense note. But now that it’s dried I’m really enjoying it. I’m awful at identifying specific notes, but this just reminds me of running into an old friend at ren faire, near an incense booth and getting a really good hug. It’s warm and cozy, and not at all what I’d expect with a name like Hellfire. 

[monocainsheresy]

This is pretty good general catalogue dupe for Practical Occultism. Fruity tobacco, ambergris, and a bit of leather and incense with some sort of booze. Masculine side of neutral, and not as heavy as one would expect from the description. Nails the fancy-old-timey-occultist vibe. Very nice.

[thegadaboutgirl]

My imp came alongside my most recent etsy order, so I'm gonna say it's fresh!

 

I would never have tried this on my own, because leather and tobacco are usually complete no-go's. I have had more than my fair share of blends totally overtaken by new car or ancient grandpa smell.

 

And then Hellfire came along and said: "But what if I blew your mind anyway?"

 

This is so good. The tobacco is almost fruity, and the ambergris is sooo nice and floaty. No acrid leather or stale incense smoke to be found anywhere. Some reviews call it powdery and while I can totally see it veering in that direction it never does for me. This is the GC androgynous scent of my dreams, honestly, and far more gentle than a scent called Hellfire has the right to be. I have a feeling a FS will find its way into my next lab order.

[ittybitty]

 It starts off smelling sweet and faintly aquatic (or fresh?) with tobacco in the background. As soon as it starts to dry down, it becomes a deep, rich smell. It's musky and dark but with a fresh boozy smell. I pick up opium incense smoke. It's masculine and sexy and so, so nice.