Hemlock

[QueenFae]

This infamous herb has a long, complex history: it has been used in spells of death and destruction, was a principal component in traditional witches' flying ointments, and was the poison used to put the philosopher Socrates to death. We have created a dark, profound herbal blend to personify and honor this wicked little plant.

I'm a big fan of the planty, green scents, so naturally this one is right down my ally. It's a wicked, green, biting smell. There's a wonderful, spicy underone hiding under the greeness. I've never smelled real hemlock, but this is just how I would imagine it. This is right up there with Belladonna and Mistletoe as far as the planties go. Perfect!

[telesilla]

Why it was on my list: It sounded interesting because I like green and herbal scents.

 

In the bottle and wet: Green and a little citursy.

 

Drying down: Whatever made Belladonna smell like bandaids on me is in this one too. Otherwise it's lighter and still a little citrusy, but on the sour side of citrus; I'd guess lime or lemon.

 

Dry later: Sadly I still smell like I just peeled off a bandaid. *beats body chemistry with a trout*

[Lilithlefay]

in the imp it is very herbal, green and pine. yes very pine. It just woke me!!! Maybe a bit of eucalyptus too?

on the skin it is still mostly pine. very strong, and invigorating. There is something woodsy underneath it though, a definate woody warmth. The biting pine scent fades down as time goes by but I can still sniff its presence. I think I smell a tad bit of lemon too.

[Undine]

To me this mostly smells like pine, with a resinous undertone. Reviews mention lemon, and I can begin to notice that as it dries down. Maybe something woody. Reviews also mention it doesn't last long, and that's the case for me: first time lasted maybe an hour to an hour and a half. When testing, I reapplied with more. On drydown it mellows out and the resinous smells are also more apparent: it becomes much less astringent, more incense-y or mellow, sweeter. But by the time it gets to this point, it's almost gone and there is little to no throw.

 

It is a very fresh and wakeful scent. I applied this at night once and it kept me awake for quite a while!

 

It's a little too simple and sharp for me to enjoy wearing, but I like the scent. I might use it as a room scent if the diffusion softened it some. A 2.5 out of 5 for me.

[Lycanthrope]

In the Bottle or Imp:

Lemon, a hint of lemongrass, and perhaps a minty eucalyptus. Lemon always turns on me, so keeping my fingers crossed...

Wet, on Skin:

Geez! Soooo lemon, and it goes from rind-oil lemon to an herbal lemongrass. I was expecting hemlock to be... less bright!

Drying/Drydown:

Slightly minty lemongrass herbal, soapy florals emerging...

Over Time/Longterm:

Soapy lemon. Um.

Final Verdict?

Yikes. Not my thing at all. I think my skin decided to spite me by mutating this beyond all reason.

[Barb25]

In the vial - Holy Vics Vaporub Batman!

 

On me - this is an interesting one - very herbal and green. I get a lot of eucalyptus and pine, and light notes of both lemon and mint. For the first hour, it is EXTREMELY strong! After that, it dried down into something more wearable.

 

Do I like it enough to wear the imp? Questionable. Definately not bottle-worthy. I think it might make a nicer room scent than a perfume oil. I may pull this out around Christmas time.

[~AmusedMuse~]

My Impression:

I have not much to add to this review except to note that this is one of the strongest smelling from the vial that I have tried thus far ...(On this one only a very small drop almost overwhelmed me completely) I agree that this would make an excellent room scent and that it's perfume qualiteis are questionable.

[carolinachiquita]

This smells mentholly but herby as well. Hmm Not sure this is a keeper to be honest - I think I'll probably end up swapping this

[Lori]

First sniff of the imp: Very green herbal! It is reminding me of another scent that I just tried, recently…Belladonna!

 

Wet on wrist: Oh my, this smells like pine! A bright, clean pine. More cleaning fluid than forest. Now this reminds me of Mistletoe!

 

Dry: A nice pine scent, like several I have smelled before…usually at Christmas. I should swap it, but I want to keep it for the name so that I can secretly wear some hemlock in my poison ring. Heheh

[sarada]

I first tried this about a year ago and really liked it...got a bottle, and never wore it once. As a result this really, really reminds me of this time last year. But that doesn't really help you to understand the scent, does it?

 

This has that marvellous, incredible bright green colour that I love so much in the lab's herbal blends. It also has the slightly bitter scent that the herbals have, like Belladonna. Basically, this is like a lemony Belladonna and has similar qualities for me in that I really like it but I don't know that it works as a personal fragrance. It's more something I'd want to use to anoint things or, as others have said, a room scent.

 

The pineyness is also very appealing to me but it is SO pine that it becomes almost lemon/line. To the point that when I present my wrist to others to sniff they just say it smells like lemon or lime candy. I'm aware of the other layers of fresh, slightly bitter herbs that are drying on a warm day...but they don't come through on my skin.

 

This manages to be sunny and warm while also reminding me of the piney smells of Christmas time. It's a wonderful scent, but on my skin it just kind of hangs there like a piece of wet lime hard candy. I like it but I don't know that I want to smell like it. I like to keep an imp around to sniff though.

 

I love the idea of these herbals so much that I wish they worked on me...if they came in clear poison bottles I might buy bottles just to look at them, all green and evil!

[Cesare]

Wet: This has a thin, high scent to me, mostly minty.

 

Drydown: Minty with a growing herbal aroma.

 

Dry: Herbal and faintly floral, still with an icy mint note overlaying it all. Does that represent the cold hand of death? Whatever, it's nice. It's a good blend. I'm going to pass it on to a friend who was looking for minty perfumes.

[Monster]

I can't believe I ahvne't reviewed Hemlock yet! This is one of my favorites already, my boyfriend also likes this. The day I received the imp I promptley ordered a 5ml.

 

Hemlock is a very piney, sweet herbal, green scent (and it's literally..green!) This almost smells like balsam fir, and I think someone commented on how I smelled like a Christmas Tree (but not in an overwhelming way). To me, Hemlock is a winter scent. It's crisp and fresh an just plain gorgeous ^^

[brownbear]

At first this one smells (and looks) very green. It has some kind of pine/evergreen note to it. It is very fresh and clean smelling. After a while it gets kind of sweet while still keeping the other notes. Very nice.

[k00kaburra]

In bottle: Pleasantly green in the bottle. Reminds me heavily of vetiver, but with something sweet in the background - a sweetness that reminds me of lime jell-o. There are hints of pine drizzled about as well.

 

On me: Forestly greens, but with a fresh herbal bite. It is a heavier fragrance than I expected, but just as creeping, slithering, and poisonous as I had hoped. It's how I imagine the wizard Slytherin himself would smell. It's tricky, flexing between woody and sweet and just flat out smoky vetiver. I can see how the fans of Hemlock are rabidly so!

[Aurelius]

Mmm...in the bottle I smell rich trees. Actually, this reminds me a bit of Christmastime, a bit pine-y. On my skin it starts off with a dirt tang to it, which fades as it dries. The longer I wear it the sweeter then scent becomes. Lovely!

[wingedcorset]

This has the evergreen note that I adore in Val San Retour. I want a boy that I can slather in this. It's very crisp and clean and a bit damp, like a snowfall in a pine forest. Going out cutting a christmas tree. Very nice.

[Em-]

My first impression of Hemlock was just how *GREEN* it was in the vial. It is the vivid color of a brewing potion, which is really neat considering.

 

Wet, it is a heavy, almost incensy pine, but as it dries, it becomes almost sweet on my skin and the strong resinous pines mix with herbs and powdery florals. This really is a beautiful scent and one that will be nice for winter.

Edited November 23, 2005 by emzebel

[Aredhel]

Rating (on skin): 1/5

Summarised in a word or two: Pine air freshener.

 

In the imp/bottle: Green! It smells as green as the colour of the oil.

 

On skin, wet: Very foresty and green, with an almost wood-like quality. I don't notice any mint, but this does smell like window cleaner. Herbal window cleaner (heh).

 

On skin, dry: Dark, woodsy herbs and pine needles. Warm and almost smoky. It seems fairly "masculine." I do start to catch something like mint -- spearmint, specifically.

 

Conclusion: I tried to like this, and if it weren't so heavy and dark, I may have succeeded. As it is, it smells to me like one of those "original scent" pine tree-shaped air fresheners. Pity.

Edited December 17, 2005 by Aredhel

[xith]

This smells just like pine trees to me. Real ones, not cleaners/air fresheners. It's what those cardboard trees hanging in cars want to smell like.

[em_h]

Wet: Piney and herbal with an interesting undertone of nutmeg. Pleasant, but maybe just a bit too much like Vicks Vapo-Rub. We'll see.

Dry: Goes through a medicinal phase, but settles down to be a fairly sweet, herbal/nutmeg blend. Rather faint, though apparently it's very strong on other people. Nice; not sure it's my style, but I'll hang onto the imp for now.

[Fleurdelys]

This was way too strong with the pine and eucalyptus for me to want to wear, but it's a divine room scent! I have some going in my burner right now. Just right for the holiday season.

It also has made me amazingly alert and focused. I think I'll be getting a great deal accomplished this evening!

[Edreaiar]

In the bottle, the first thing I thought when the scent hit me was that this was a very, very, VERY strong GREEN. It was pretty much the same on my skin, though I'll have to test it again, to make sure. I didn't get any herbal notes at all, nor did I think it was medicinal. Just really strong pine and something else that was slightly spicy- not in a warm way; it's a cold spicy, if that makes any sense at all.

 

Didn't last long on me at all, maybe forty-five minutes before I really had to really lean down and put my nose an inch away from my wrist to be able to smell it. An hour later, it was completely gone.

[harmonyfb]

Color: green!

 

Resiny, springy pine needles, whether wet or dry. Very pleasant, actually.

[Naamah_Darling]

A bright evergreen smell (fitting, since the oil itself is antifreeze-green) rises from the bottle – pine, eucalyptus, and lemon/lime – keen and bracing, with a sweet herbal undertone. It's about as tactful as a bike chain in the face, but it's very nice.

 

Wet on skin it smells like campho-phenique, which is this awful gluey camphor ointment my mother used to smear on my bug bites. Not exactly the most appealing scent, even if the memory is a bit nostalgic. After a few seconds the lemon starts to surface, and I'm just getting a handle on whatever that other tone is, how nice!, and then – oh GOD AMMONIA – the fearsome smell of day-old cat urine suffuses my extremeties! I am glad I didn't run this through my hair. So glad.

 

Because I am a masochist (and I'm alone in the house), I'm leaving this on to see if it improves. I can't believe it can smell this horrible forever. There's not a lot of throw to it, thank goodness. As long as I keep my hands far, far from my face, we're all good. If I touch my face for any reason, my eyes begin to water. The smell really is profound.

 

After nearly 45 minutes, the cat pee smell has gone and left me with a sort of dry woodsy smell, still redolent of fir or eucalyptus. It wears off quickly, after only two hours. Two hours of something niceish is not worth 45 minutes of me smelling like cat pee.

 

I don't want to hate it. In the bottle it is incredibly lovely. It just hates my skin, obviously, which is a crying freakin' shame, as I adore the scent of it in the glass enough to want to roll in it. Don't think that's going to happen, though.

 

I'm heartbroken. So sad that it didn't work for me.

[grrrlennyl]

at first: a sharp, pine-like scent.

on: this is really strong, but a nice, fresh, clean pine scent. there's also a dribble of something dark that i can't place.

2.5 hours later: a sweet pine scent. very nice.

3.5 hours later: very sweet pine.

overall: while this is very, very nice, i don't think i'll wear it often.