Hecate

[shriekingviolet]

Category: Bewitching Brews Excolo

 

Site Description:

Magnificent three-faced Goddess of Magic, the Dark Moon and the Crossroads. She is the Mother of Witches, and the midnight baying of hounds is her paean. Her compassion is evidenced in her role as Psychopomp for Persephone, and her wrath manifests as Medea's revenge. Deep, buttery almond layered over myrrh and dark musk.

 

Initial Impression:

The almond isn't really apparent in the tube, but it must be what's mellowing the myrrh and the dark musk. Slightly sweet and very smoky. Sort of like staring into the mists of a dark, moonless night.

 

After Wearing It:

I wish the almond was more apparent in this one. It appears briefly, then hides in the background, slightly sweetening the myrrh and musk but never really asserting itself. Hecate is musky and smoky, appropriate for the goddess herself, and somewhat appealing. I can't imagine wearing this much though, since in fragrances like this I need something to temper the muskier notes more.

 

Final Thoughts:

Might be nice to have around when I might need to get in tune with the goddess' vibes, but I think the amount in the imp ears will suffice. I won't be getting a full bottle of this.

 

Editted to say: I found out this morning that I absolutely adore this as a room scent. Might have to get a bigger bottle after all.

[Nadirah]

I love this one, I think smoky is the perfect word to describe it, I would like to get a bottle of this one.

[Sierona]

mmmmm i think i am a huge myrhh/musk person cause this smells really good on me. I can definately smell the almond in this... its warm, dark... hazey black comes to mind... not an every day scent, but a great nite time scent with dark power to it.

[chai_girl]

Mmmm...just put this on. I was a bit hesitant after Hellcat to try this. I'm so glad I did.

 

For me, this invokes a dark night in the woods with just a touch of smoke drifting from a fire. I don't smell the almond but something is tweaking the myrrh and musk to help them blend.

 

I think this would make a great room scent or candle scent. I think this is a great scent for centering and finding your balance if you are into energy work or pagan rituals.

 

I might get a 5ml of this to use for ritual work and as a room scent when I'm feeling unbalanced. ~the list for my next order is growing~

 

 

~Update~ As it has dried down, I'm getting sweet floral smell...not strong but just a touch. I'm not sure where that is coming from.

Edited March 15, 2004 by chai_girl

[ipb]

Initial Impression:

The almond isn't really apparent in the tube, but it must be what's mellowing the myrrh and the dark musk.  Slightly sweet and very smoky.  Sort of like staring into the mists of a dark, moonless night.

i think this hits it head on. yummy.

 

ADDED March 24:

 

stays pretty true on, though it faded pretty quickly; i put it on at 10 and by 2 (the end of a class i have w/ a friend), it was gone - extra sad coz i wore it coz she wanted to see what it smelled like!

Edited November 29, 2004 by Shollin

[allamanda]

Hecate

 

When first applied very sweet floral.

 

Darkens quite rapidly with resiny musk, can still smell a sweet floral, smells like carnation to me, that slight peppery feel.

 

I like this a lot, the sweet floral scent is beautifully enhanced by the myrrh and musk which seems to give more depth and stops it from being too pretty on me. I didn't detect the almond at all.

Edited September 13, 2004 by allamanda

[twistygirl]

Mmmmm, this is quite yummy. And not in a foody way.

 

I love almond but sometimes find that almond is too sweet, too overpowering for me, especially when first applied... but the almond in this is so subtle, it's perhaps the perfect almond for me.

As it dries down, the myrrh is becoming more apparent, but it's not that call-the-fire-department smoky that myrrh sometimes is on me. The dark musk must be softening it up.

 

This is a great, great choice for people who generally find almond too sweet and myrrh too smoky. A really lovely blend that can expand the range of scents to include these two smells for people who have always wished they could wear either or both of them.

[jj_j]

While I don't care for almond scents, the raves about Hecate and its smoky tone made me order an Imp to try.

 

Out of the bottle, and first on, this is so stickily sweet that I'm almost unable to hold on and not give in to the temptation to break out the Dawn dish soap. The myrrh, combined with this note, turns to a pickled scent for a few minutes, but finally calms down into itself.

 

In the end, a spiced myrrh scent that has both reticent sweetness and strength. Not something I'll be purchasing, but it's exotic, interesting, and loved by many. Glad I tried it!

[Northernminx]

In the bottle - Overwhelmingly almond. Like almond on alcohol. IIt scared me a bit in the bottle!

 

On me - I LOVE IT.

Rich and spicey almonds that fade into this gorgeous sweet and smokey almondy scent. Sweet but exotic, shadowy, and definitly nose catching. I would categorize this less as sexy and more as enrapturing.

I wore this for our local fairie/changeling LARP (yes Tygher, playing my sidhe ) and people commented on it all day. Very rich and sweetly dark in a way and I cannot get enough of this one. Definite TO BUY list.

 

Wearability: It faded a little faster on me than I'd like. This was solved by secondary application midday.

[any_old_actress]

FIRST SNIFF: myrrh

 

WEARING IT: what shriekingviolet said is exactly right, the buttery almond is what softens and sweetens the myrrh. for some reason, i smell a faint ginger ale/root beer float scent mixed in too and my nose is really liking it.

 

VERDICT: (edited because i've changed my verdict!) i LOVE this scent, i've been wearing it a couple days now non-stop and it just really blends well with my skin chemistry. a bigger bottle is definitely in the works and this scent is now in my top two favourites

Edited May 28, 2004 by any_old_actress

[Astarte]

At first, the buttery almond is the only note I can detect, then as it dries down to a dark dusky scent. Its absolutely gorgeous and I'm surprised I havn't tried this sooner.

 

If you think of Eclipse as the almond sun scent then Hecate would be its darker almond scent counterpart.

[Lady_Ell]

OK, I must have really weird chemistry. This smelled like maraschino cherries in the bottle (apparently the almond) and something sickly-spicy underneath (the musk?). I figured it would change into something lovely on my skin because almonds and I get along well, and I haven't yet had a major problem with musk or myrrh.

 

Well, instead it turned immediately to a mashup of Dial soap (the yellow kind) and cherry Life-savers.

 

I was really looking forward to this one based on the ingredients, but no luck.

[Mrs.Black]

I don't swap many imps because I like most of them enough to finish them (oh, yeah, and because I live in Australia). There has been something that I have appreciated in every one of Beth's creations -- with almost 100 tested-- UP UNTIL THE MOMENT I OPENED THE IMP OF HECATE.

 

This is the only BPAL oil that has made me nauseous, literally. It's almond alright, just of the most distorted and degenerate kind, with nothing of the bitter-sweet milkiness of other BPAL almond scents. Out of respect for Beth, and knowing how much the oils can change from the bottle to the skin, I fought back the nausea and tested it on my skin. Exactly the same. Strong and tenacious, too. This one WILL be up for swap.

[Shollin]

First sniff: Pure almond extract in the bottle, with a lighter aftertaste that I can’t identify and a higher note that makes my nose itch.

 

Wearing: The almond extract tones down quickly and a smoky Christmas-spice note pops up that reminds me of Lush’s Skinny Dip. Hecate deepens considerably in the first few minutes, shifting to warm darkness. By the end of the evening it had shifted to dark almondy cocoa, and though the aura fades quickly, the wrist-smell clings faintly nearly twelve hours later. Lovely. I bet it'd be fantastic layered with Bliss - must try it sometime.

[Effluvia]

in the vial: Smokey, buttery almonds is right. The almonds are bitter, though, not like those sweet, cherry-like almonds in so many of the BPAL oils.

 

on my skin: This is practically pure smoke. Smoke and the almonds, which get slightly sweeter on my skin. I smell the butteriness a little bit, too.

 

Oh no, a droplet splattered and landed onto the space bar of my key board, and my thumb is sticky with it now.

 

HOLY SHIT, MEMORY TRIGGER!

 

Clove cigarettes. Mmmm, those yummy, tar-filled bronchitis sticks I dearly love so much. I want one SO BADLY right now... (cries)

 

Well...I like this, but I'm not crazy over it. (one minute later)

 

Huh. I just put The Sisters Of Mercy on and now this smells right on me. (shrug) Go figure. I'll keep this imp after all, I have a feeling it'll be fabulous in the winter when I break out the long black velvet coat and giant-ass Docs.

 

(Andrew Eldritch is brainwashing *meeeeeee*...)

 

Heeeey now hey now nooooow...SING THAT CORROSSION TO MEEEE...lol sorry.

 

[nevermore]

This is what I was hoping Eclipse would be – sweet almond, with a background of musk that stays in the background. I was rather worried the musk would overpower everything (like it has done in some other blends I’ve tried), but luckily, it just provides a nice base for the almond. For the first while on my skin, Hecate reminds me of Eclipse, but without the scary bubblegum-y note. After wearing it for a few hours, the almond is gone, with just the myrrh and musk left. I quite like it.

Edited August 16, 2004 by nevermore

[k00kaburra]

In bottle: I have written in my short notes (I no longer have the imp, unfortunately) that we this smells of "rotton pumpkin pie." WTF? I have absolutely no idea how I came up with that, but when I think back and remember the scent, that is indeed how it smelled to me. I swear I'm crazy or the imp was going rotton.

 

On me: I smell myrrh and smoky musk and still somehow I'm getting pumpkin. I'm not sure where I'm getting it from. Someone else mentioned smelling cherry and somehow I'm getting that too - but not the fruit, but the fake artificial candy cherry, like in red licorice. I guess somehow the almond is doing this? Either way it is not working for me; I don't care for it a bit.

[Witch's Dagger]

Hecate

 

Preconceived notions:

I love almonds. Especially bitter, smoky almonds. I have some bitter almond oil on my shelf, that I've used. Hecate sounded wonderful. I also like myrrh and I think I'll like the musk.

 

In the vial:

Sharp, bitter, smoky almonds. This is like my almond oil spiked with a black, smoky spear. It's very dark, and almost too strong to stand. Wow. If this doesn't work on my skin, I'm definitely using it for ritual purposes.

 

On me:

First impressions: On contact with my skin, it immediately mellows into a musky, sweet almond that is very nice. It's deep and dark, yet ethereal and light (lightweight, rather than light/bright). It's mysterious, too, in the sense of sacred hidden mysteries and prophecies spoken in candlelight.

 

Over the course of an hour:

I happen to be drinking amaretto-flavored coffee from Gevalia (as in - with 'amaretto' flavoring, not spiked), and I keep thinking it's even nuttier than normal, and how much I like it. Hecate seems to be having a good effect

 

After an hour: Still sweet, almondy, smoky, ethereal, and mysterious, but a lot softer. It's starting to fade.

 

Final impressions: This is wonderful. It has the sharpness and depth to work for a ritual, yet isn't at all overpowering on me. This is also a very sacred scent to me. As someone else wrote about another oil (Hymn, I believe?), it may be too sacred for me to wear casually.

[OdetteOdile]

Never have I had such a dramatically different reaction to a perfume in the bottle (or in this case, the vial) vs. on skin.

 

I actually gagged when I smelled it in the bottle. I was so disappointed - it had sounded like something I'd love, but the sweetness was too intense and oppressive - like rotting fruit (sorry Beth).

I took a leap of faith and tried it on, and after about 20 minutes I actually began to love this. The fermented grape-cherry Kool-Aid scent subsided into this dreamy kind of sweetness - very autumn harvest and witchy (I think I'd say that even if it wasn't named Hecate). Evening in October, possibly Halloween. There's still a fermented base scent, but now it smells magical rather than oppressive. I do smell almonds and honey, with a strong fruitiness.

This is also quite strong - one swipe with the vial tongue on my hand has lasted into the afternoon.

[Nepthys]

Of all the BPAL oils I've tried, this has the most extreme arc from wet to dry. When I sniffed the bottle I thought "Oh no - this is going to be horrible on me." Applied it was all smoky almond with a very bitter myrrh edge .... and then gradually it's mellowed into something that is as dark, foreboding and mysterious as you imagine Hecate to be. This is the most exotic and adult of the BPAL almond scents I've tried and perhaps the most addictive; it's never cloying or overly sweet, instead bringing me in further with each sniff. I love the scent purely on its own but I think that I will definitely be using this for divination rites around Samhain - this just smells like clairvoyance, like murky secrets and magic. Of the three Goddess BPAL scents I've tried so far (the other two being Kali and Pele) Hecate is to me the truest and most evocative of that goddess's nature. Lovely.

[TrayLynn]

Hecate is one of my heavier scents that I've been hording until fall. I love the smokiness of this blend and I only get a slight tingle of almond as the oil starts to mellow on my skin. This oil makes me feel confident and strong.

[Ishtar]

In the vial and wet, Hecate was all strong, bitter almond, which I love.

I had to wait until drydown for the deeper, darker notes to come through and give a welcome depth and complexity to this blend.

 

This is very nice and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes almond scents. I probably will not purchase a big bottle as I already have many almond blends with better staying power than Hecate, but it is lovely all the same

[feline.by.design]

I'm actually not a fan of almond scents. It's weird, I like them, but I don't like them on me. Not at all.

 

With Hecate, all I could smell was the almonds. It was the fragrance of sweet almonds, which after a while mellowed out a little to get a bit of a floral note mixed in. After about five minuted on my skin, the oil turns to smell a bit powdery, then soapy. I found this quite strange.

 

I don't believe the imp is with me any more, I think I might have passed it on to someone who may have different tastes. I am still puzzled about the powdery note that I received in the very beginning of the drydown. I prefer Hecate's disciple Medea as a scent more.

 

-doreen

[shelldoo]

In the vial: Pure almonds...very very strong almonds.

 

wet: still almonds, there were other notes mentioned right?

 

dry down: mellows and myrrh peaks ut to say hi. I do not get the smokey smell which is a shame as I love the smokey smells, but this is still beautiful, I will definitely use up the imp.

[Fyre_in_Winter]

Hecate is simply wonderful, in my book. Thus far this is the scent where the almonds stayed on my skin the longest, which makes me happy. After about 45 minutes the almonds are all but gone, leaving a dark, warm veil on my skin. I cannot adequately put into words how lovely this smells on the drydown. It is warm and rich without being cloying or smothering, or too spicy. As perfectly suited to a hot date as Hecate is, I think it will become a scent for any time that I am feeling particularly confident yet mellow and at ease with the world.