The Hell-Gate Of Ireland

[moonstonemama]

 

The Cave of Cruachan in Connaught, a province that was given to the Formorians after the Battle of Mag Tuired. On the first of November, a flock of malevolent copper-colored birds bursts forth from the mouth of the cave, ushering a host of restless ghosts and wicked goblins that torment the living by blighting crops, killing livestock, stealing away brides-to-be, and replacing infants with changelings.

 

Smoldering brimstone, bitter labdanum, clove, black musk, and copper-colored feathers.

 

 

This is fantastic!

 

in the bottle: very dark and smoky, there's a tang of something almost citrus

 

wet: smoky clove and the black musk is just barely there

 

dry: mmm. the bitter labdanum is definitely making it's presence known, and it's keeping the clove from being too overpowering. it is very, very dark. the black musk is subtle. there's a note that smells almost like dirt, but not quite. I don't know what copper-colored feathers are supposed to smell like, but whatever it is isn't very strong.

 

It's got a lot of throw and isn't fading.

 

There's something about the clove note BPAL uses that my skin chemistry just adores.

 

This is a hoard-worthy winner!

[krissstephens]

I wore this today, I agree that the clove note is divine. I will be ordering another bottle as well. It stayed on all day and just got more spicy on my skin as the day wore on. I am sniffing my wrist right now and I love the deep spicy complexity that it's developed into. the citrus note is barely there, which is good for me.

[greenranger]

I wore this at work today with no reference to the scent notes.

 

On me, the scent was a deep almost piney resin, roughened by bonfire smoke and spice. Pine isn't listed, and now that I can see the listed notes, I suppose it must be the mixture of the bitter labdanum and the musk.

 

I really like this. Is the one bottle enough?

 

If you loved Minotaur, or wished you could get Minotaur, try this!

[topazphoenix]

This is pretty and eerie, clove and black musk and something vaguely metallic. It's not really my style though.

[ivyandpeony]

When I left last month's Georgia Will Call, I couldn't believe I loved this scent enough to order a bottle! One sniff and it evokes autumn, yet in a unique combination of notes (at least unique to me, since I usually run from anything described as smoky, brimstone-y or with black musk ) The clove is sweet and gorgeous, there are some lovely rich resins underneath and there's something that reminds me of being outside in the cold air with maybe just the faintest hint of smoke from a far-away fire that you smell every now and then when the wind shifts.

 

I agree with the comparison to Minotaur and I'd add, Minotaur ultimately didn't wear well on me - it was a little too masculine and dry, I am the girl with no natural sweetness in my chemistry. I think the clove sweetens Hell-Gate and makes it work for me, so if anyone else wanted to love Minotaur maybe this one will happen for you. And if you love Minotaur, definitely grab this one up.

[GoldenRubee]

I ordered this because of the notes-I knew, or hoped they would work on me. I loved everything in it plus it had Ireland in the title, I couldn't go wrong. I received my order and was labeling the bottles and smelled it. I could not understand why I ordered it from the smell. This has been happening a lot with the new scents. I tried it on and it smells great on me. I love cloves and musk and The Hell Gate of Ireland is predominately that on me. There is a metallic tinge to it at the beginning that fades pretty quickly but there is also a sweetness that comes out after 30 minutes or so. All in all, this is bottle worthy and horde worthy for me.

[edenssixthday]

The Hell-Gate of Ireland - Another huge surprise hit for me from the Halloween update. I had no notion at all that I would like this scent. I mean, brimstone? black musk? metal? It sounded atrocious. But when I sniffed it in the bottle as I was decanting for my group, it actually smelled kind of good. So I tried some....and I fell in love. It does not have that heavy, sulfuric smoke scent that most brimstone blends have, and the black musk didn't screw up the whole scent as it always does on me. And I smell no metal at all in this. The close isn't so heavy that it takes over, either. I'm not sure what to think of this -- if I didn't know what's in it and had to guess, I'd have guessed heavy mosses...but I'd have been totally wrong. I can't really make sense of why or how this works on me, but it does. It's dark and thick and heavy and absolutely gorgeous. It's going to age well, too, I'm certain of it.

[angelicruin]

This was a huge surprise for me as well. I ordered a decant just for the sake of trying it, never figuring I'd think twice about a bottle, but I have to say that I believe I might be getting a bottle of this in my next order after all.

 

Despite the notes, this is not nearly as "dark" as I had feared. It's a deep, resinous clove and musk scent. And I agree with others that this will probably be divine as it ages.

 

On my skin, this starts out as cloves and black musk. The brimstone note is not at all like most brimstone notes are on my skin. It adds a faint smoky quality to the blend along with a dash of bitterness to balance the clove note on my skin. As it begins to dry, the brimstone does amp a bit for a few minutes and then eventually settles back to faint smoke. The clove note is what really makes this blend work so well on my skin.

 

Good throw and good staying power on my skin.

[patina]

I love cloves and laubidanum, though the musk and brimstone initially worried me, they only serve to give the scent some depth and darkness.

 

It has pretty good throw so far- a winter and fall scent. It's almost sweet enough to smell like spice cakes, though it's not foody.

 

This is what I thought the Smiling Spider would be. The Spider was just a bit too woody and masculine for me, so this is perfect.

[Finny]

This reminds me of Devil's Night 2005. Smoky and rich, a hint of spicy sweetness, drifting on a cool breeze. It is glorious.

 

 

[Upstart Crow]

Very smokey and lovely; I love brimstone, smoke, clove and metalic notes, and they're all blended so well here that I can smell each of them individually. None of them dominate, and the blend is by no means as overpowering as The Death of Autumn and Chant d'Autumn, of which it is reminiscent.

[Lamia]

I was fortunate enough to be able to test all of the Weenies at September's Dirty South Will Call, and this was the one that really stuck out for me. XOMom ran a raffle and I was astounded to discover that I'd won, so I gave her a short list of choices and Hell-Gate was the one she chose. I am so glad that she did!

 

This smells to me of leather and melted cinnamon/clove sweets. Very musky, with a hint of smoke. Just delicious, and I am so glad I have a bottle of this!

[Little Bird]

In the bottle, the oil is a very dark brown and smells resinous, but also a bit sharp & sour.

 

On my skin, this is a very dark, heavy scent. It smells like sticky, dark resins with sexy, manly musk, clove spice, and something like a hint of bitter orange peel. It starts to get intensely musky and smoky on me in the drydown, though. I like it a lot at first, but the drydown is like a man put on way too much cheap cologne and ran through a housefire...

 

My skin amps up the black musk here and it turns too smoky-sharp for me. I think that this would smell a lot better on someone else, and I can see it aging quite nicely. It's just not for me.

[Dark Alice]

This is wonderful. How in the world Beth gets copper feathers in a bottle..I will never know.........but she does. This is delicious dark musk...black with hints of something metal. I have no idea what it is....but it is gorgeous...and I am in love!!!

Edited September 23, 2009 by Dark Alice

[EmpressPixie]

In bottle: It's a little bit yummy and a little bit incredibly sharp and bitter. I'm torn between "can't wait to try it on!" and "oh god, do I really want to put it on me?"

 

Wet: Good throw. The yummy scents -- clove and something sweet -- are coming out. But that bitter scent -- copper feathers and brimstone, I'd say -- are nicely holding up in the background. It's kind of like the pumpkin pie from hell. It just arrived via HellExpress and still has a bit of smoldering brimstone to it. The musk is a bit of a bad note right now. I'm hoping it smooths out in the dry down.

 

Dry: The yummy sweet clove scent is fading swiftly, left with the almost burned metallic scent. It's still drying (this is the longest it has ever taken for an oil to dry on me). I think it is something I'm very happy I have an imp of, but an imp will do. Final dry notes: at moments it has a sweet, spicy scent, then without warning it will morph to a sharp, brimstone scent. I think this is wonderful. Not for everyday use, but certainly has its days. The brimstone, metallic scent also settled into something smoother than the original scent, so it isn't quite as sharp.

 

 

[femmefatale]

On me this smells a lot like Hellhound, without the sometimes sharp, slightly medicinal note. It's not exact, but definitely in the same family (at least on me).

Love it and definitely need a bottle!

[crebbsgirl]

This is reminiscent of Death of Autumn a little bit. The black musk and brimstone give it a dark smoky quality. The clove isn't overly predominant here, it just adds a touch of sweetness. I like it, but I own a lot of scents like it already (German Expressionist Horror and Lycaon stand out in my mind).

[Bamels]

This is my 5th and last Halloween scent to test. The other 4 didn't work on me so fingers tightly crossed that this does!

Sniffing the imp I can smell the clove and the black musk, it smells nice but am not sure how it will turn out. When on it smells the same as the imp pretty much although I can smell the laubidanum I think. As it's drying I seem to be amping insense as usual!

 

Once dry it reminds me of a darker version of how Blood ends up on my skin - pure insense. It's ok but I won't be buying a bottle.

[Balame]

In the Imp: This almost smells like a very tangy, sharp... rootbeer. Ha! Like something sweet with an edge.

 

Wet: The labdanum is definitely bitter but it's not overpowering, and it contributes a "smooth" resiny scent as well. The clove is mixing well with everything else to a large extent because I wouldn't say it's easy to pick out on its lonesome. But the notes work wonderfully together and on a deep inhale I get the seething sensation that this scent's name evokes. Overall I can notice a more rounded, sweeter effect every now and then, which is probably a good thing. It strikes a nice balance between harshness and a gentle, though dark, allure.

 

Dry: The labdanum's sweeter side is more pronounced now which is decent, but I was enjoying how every note had an equal share in the spotlight earlier. I also tend to amp up musks to a point even stronger than they usually are, and this is no exception. It's all right but I'm generally not a big syrupy/clingy scent fan.

 

Verdict: Started out with a powerful kick and everything played nicely together, but then I ended up with too much sweetness. Nice, but not my preference.

 

Rating: 2/3

[Inventrix]

I love this scent so very much. This is my second day wearing it in a row, which I never do except with my favourite scents.

 

Sniffing directly from the imp and on first application, it's mostly a sweet incense-like clove scent - the incense feel probably coming from faint hints of the brimstone and the labdanum resin.

 

That's for the first couple of minutes, at least. Then it's BAM, FIRE AND BRIMSTONE. It's like you're walking along minding your own business, maybe smoking a clove cigarette or something, I don't know, and then suddenly a giant chasm appears at your feet and opens a portal into Hell with all the smoke and acrid sulfur just pouring out.

 

After about ten, fifteen minutes or so, the belching flames of the underworld calm down a bit and leave you with a delicious dark coppery smoky scent. I described it on Twitter when I first tried it and really loved the imagery, let me dig it up again...

 

"You know, I don't get copper feathers so much as I get copper wings. ... It's like a pair of dark coppery wings closing around you with swirling tendrils of smoke, drawing you into the portal to darkness."

 

Yeah.

 

It's an amazingly wonderful scent, I just need to make sure I put it on at least twenty minutes before I expect to be around people to get past the brimstone stage. I don't think most people appreciate someone smelling like acrid sulfur smoke!

[starwild]

I'm really surprised more people aren't reviewing this one!

 

The brimstone is not nearly as strong as it is in some blends, here it's much more reminiscent of dark smoky night than anything. It balances neatly with a whiff of clove, and then there's a sweetness that I guess is the copper-colored feathers. Overall a wonderful, really beautiful and surprisingly classy kind of perfume. I think it's a lovely, adult, feminine kind of fall scent. I'll be using this decant a lot over the next while, and considering a bottle. I bet it'll age beautifully.

[thekittenkat]

In the bottle: The clove and the black musk are the most obvious notes.

 

Wet: Woot! Now that's what I call intense. Like a fire that someone has thrown cloves and musk and resiny amber on to, and the coals have burnt down to brimstone, but no ashes.

 

The dry-down: Still not sure about those copper feathers, unless they are the metallic note that I'm now picking up. It was sweeter when wet, but now is reminding me of a milder version of St. John's Eve. This looks to be yet another unisex scent that might be even better on the bf. I like it, but not sure that I need more. If only the clove had stuck around longer.

 

ETA: The longer it's on, the more I like it. So one bottle on order, to be split with my partial bottle (1 imp's worth from a decant circle) and then divided up between us. The idea to remember here is that if a unisex scent smells good on me, it's abfab on him. He's lucky to have fab skin chemistry!

Edited October 2, 2009 by thekittenkat

[gingiemay]

In the bottle this smells of labdanum, black musk and a slightly soapy scent which I think is the brimstone. On my skin the gorgeous clove note comes out and amazingly, there is something that really, truly does smell of copper feathers. I don't know how to explain it but it does. The labdanum and brimstone give it a slightly metallic/smoky edge. As the day does on, the black musk is pretty strong and there's almost no clove. I am hoping that aging will make this sweeter. I'm keeping it for now.

[kakiphony]

When I was a little girl my father was the foreman of the Tool Room in a metal stamping plant. This was in the late 70s and early 80s during the first round of the auto industry crisis and he worked a lot of extra hours in order to keep his job. Because he was in charge, he often had to be in the shop fixing things even when the lines weren't running. In fact, he liked being in the factory when the lines weren't running because it was quieter, cooler and he could get things done without constant interruptions. Often, this meant he went into work on Saturday or Sunday to make the repairs he needed to have done for the line on Mondays.

 

Fairly often he would bring me with him. He'd throw my big wheel in the back of his truck and let me ride all around the shop on the concrete floor while he worked. When I got bored I'd beg him for quarters and buy candy from the break-room vending machines. There was no one in the whole plant but me and him, and it was deadly quiet except for his radio (usually a ball game) and my big wheel tires. I pretended that the huge presses that I was riding around were trees in a forest or giants turned to stone or killer robots that had run down and needed to be wound back up.

 

When I applied the Hell Gate, I was transported back to those days. First, there was the black musk which was my father's cologne from the 70s. Then, there was the metallic tang of copper feathers, which was almost exactly the scent of the huge presses. The lingering smell of burnt oil was always in the air, and it was in this oil.

 

This is not an oil I'll wear often. It doesn't smell good or "me," but it is super evocative. If the Hell Gate is meant to transport one into an empty auto factory circa 1980, this succeeds in a huge way.

Edited October 5, 2009 by kakiphony

[wl552]

Woah!! Another super strong scent. It's definitely hellfire and brimstone being fanned by huge sweeping copper wings. It stayed true to that for quite some time, but a few hours later, it's mainly a single note freshly cut cedar?wood scent. It's very nice actually. I think it would layer well with something like Khrysee or Mircalla; I may try that. Still, not really something I would wear so pass on a bottle.