Hellboy

[Gwydion]

Aftershave, candy wrappers, brimstone, and cat.

In bottle: Yep. Aftershave. This is not particularly fortuneate. The aftershave is fairly generic and it’s combination with the brimstone is a touch ugly. Cat seems to be mild musk. Wet: Yurk! The brimstone/aftershave combo is nasty chemical, and my naturally musky skin combines with the cat musk to be a bit overwhelming. My skin chemistry hates this. I smell dirty with industrial pollution and unwashed body. Dry: Actually, this isn’t so bad. It ends up a soft, vaguely chemical, but perfectly reasonable musky aftershave, with a touch of candy. The problem is that the lab already has other, better, aftershave colognes, at least for someone with me skin chemistry.

[imaginepageant]

In the Vial: I'm definitely getting aftershave (reminds me a lot of Old Spice), but none of the other notes listed. It smells more like nutty neroli than anything else.

 

Wet: Ah, there's the brimstone! Still smelling that odd nuttiness, though.

 

Dry: It's a little sweeter now, I suppose from the candy wrappers? And quite powdery. I'm almost smelling something akin to Snake Oil way in the back. Where's the cat? I was really intrigued to see what a "cat note" smelled like! (I made my cat smell my wrist for kicks, and she made what can only be described as an "Ew" face. Was kind of hoping for a hiss.)

 

An Hour Later: Even sweeter and more powdery, but not in a bad way. The brimstone has completely mellowed out to just a faint smokiness in the background. There is something very warm and cuddly and comforting about this scent. Unfortunately, I'm still not smelling anything that reminds me of cats, which, being a crazy cat lady, I was hoping for!

 

Overall: I like the scent, but I don't think this is something I'd wear as perfume as it really does smell like aftershave. Will definitely try this one on my boyfriend, though!

[stellamaris]

I got this for my DH, and it smells like wonderful light citrus aftershave in the bottle, and fantastic on him. I absolutely got a smokey note, wonderful.

 

Edit * My DH loves the heck out of this, the bottle is almost gone, must order more. Still lovely btw. And as he wears our cat a lot, seems appropriate...

 

Edit ** We are on our fourth bottle of this over here, Hellboy gets a lot of love...

Edited June 29, 2013 by stellamaris

[Wren12]

Hellboy seems to be the opposite of Troll for me, in that I love the hell out of it while other people are getting the funk!

 

In the bottle: Strong, wet cologne. Much sweeter than a typical cologne, it must be the bits of sugar stuck to the candy wrappers. I am excited by this scent. I don't smell any of the brimstone whatsoever in the bottle, but that's fine!

 

On wet: Yup, that aquatic cologne. I don't actually know what Old Spice smells like (apparently I'm the only one?) but if it smells like this I enjoy it. It is aquatic, as someone described...and...what the heck, it takes on a bit of muskiness, in a good way.

 

Drydown: Cologne, sweet cologne, and warm fur. The aquatic notes have died down and I distinctly smell clean, warm cat fur. As someone else mentioned it smells like I nuzzled my face in my kitty's tummy, after giving her a spritz of cologne. I love cat smell!!

 

It's now ~4 hours later and I can still smell it clearly. It has gotten a touch of the brimstone note now, which smooths down the sweet with a slightly acrid (but not in a bad way) smokey scent. The kitty fur is still present and the cologne remains nice.

 

I love this and I think this will be the next oil up for eau de parfum experimentation. Glittler and Crowley both worked a treat, so I'm hoping this will work out as well. I may have to buy a back up of this one...

[Poenari]

Sniffed this at C2E2 but didn't skin test, since I was pretty much finished. Nice slightly sweet fuzzy musk, and I liked it enough to add it to my future bottle purchase list. Interestingly, Beth told me it's not a big seller and she thinks it is underrated and doesn't get enough love. Think I'll get it with my next order just in case.

[whitsunweddings]

In the imp: Talcum powdery aftershave.

Wet: Is that supposed to be cat? IDK, something's funky with this one.

Dry: A manly funk aftershave thing. Not a fan.

[filigree_shadow]

Odd scent. It does smell like a rather brimstoney aftershave. Is that lavender in there? Smells a little blue. And slightly powdery. It doesn't smell bad or funky to me, it just smells kind of like lavender to me, and I'm not a fan of that note.

[milo]

Aftershave all right and black musk. Black musk usually starts out kind of soury at first, and then changes to a smooth, sexy inkiness. This starts out sour, but then black musk does it's wonders on my skin and smells so smooth an sexy. It reminds me of Haunted, Panther Moon, Prurience, but not as sweet. I'll keep the imp.

[Rip]

My favorite BPAL scent so far, though admittedly I haven't tried many. When wearing this all I smell is a nice, slightly sweet aftershave. I can't detect any brimstone or cat smell. When visiting friends I tend to be mobbed by 3 out of 4 cats, the fourth being very shy, who all take an interest in sniffing my wrists so perhaps they detect a cat scent that my nose doesn't. In any case I enjoy it and it's one of the primary scents I wear.

[annemathematics]

I love hellboy! the comics and the movies!

 

I thought that this scent might smell of hellboy himself, but it's actually very high and bright, while I would expect hellboy to smell deep and dark and smokey. so this is not him so much as his cologne. (I think hellboy unadorned would smell like peninsula fulminum, smokey and otherworldly and rich).

 

this does smell like powdery aftershave. there's a sweetness to it as well, both in scent and in disposition. don't get much cat or much brimstone, but perhaps if I let this bottle sit and lurk in the dark for a few months, those notes will come out.

 

this is a like for me but not a love.

[schneagl]

In the bottle: Cologne, powder, a soft ash?

Wet on my skin: Tobacco and diaper. Seriously. There's an astringent tone there that dries off fast, about 5 minutes, and then it's more like an aftershave.

Drydown: Funky aftershave. Waxy, almost (candy wrappers?) Yes to smelling cat and ash. It burns down to an aftershave with spicy ash.

I gotta say that the note descriptions hold up. I'm a huge Hellboy fan, and this is very evocatively accurate…though not a scent that I particularly want to smell like! The throw is light to average and the duration was pretty long, so it's got good staying power. I'll punt this one to the boy and see if it's more up his alley.

[Voldie]

On me, this is a sweet, warm, powdery aftershave with just a hint of the cat. I love it because it's a very nostalgic smell for me. It reminds me of the nights spent at my grandparents' home, probably because my Popa only ever wore old spice back then. It's definitely a smell I want more of, next I'll see how it smells on the boyfriend since he's the one I initially got it for.

[BeyondBad1313]

This is confusing to my nose...I have never questioned what a cat smelled like till now. This blend was so odd with its notes that I felt the need to try it. Mostly what I smell on the skin is the brimstone and the cat. This weird combo smells like used kitty litter on my skin. This is an odd blend, but I am sure it would work for someone.

[lizabelle]

This is way more unisex than I was expecting from "aftershave and brimstone." This is a soft, fuzzy kind of scent, with the aftershave and candy dominating. There's a hint of smoke curling throughout, and a warm musk that I guess must be the cat. I get nothing close to "litterbox" out of this, and the whole thing is refreshing and slightly sweet. This also seems like it would layer or pair well with Liz, which is fitting!

[torikitty]

So weird! I tried this on my husband and myself. Husband immediately described it was "sweet pickles". I told him to give it a few minutes. On me, I could tell the aftershave was competing with the candy wrappers. This one did take a while to settle. On me, it just smells like generic aftershave. My dad wore Old Spice forever, so I don't think it's that. Nor is it English Leather. It's another popular one, and the baby powder smell is accurate. On the husband, he gets more of a baby powder cologne. So, neither of us get the hints of candy, chocolate, or cats. Too bad.

[doomsday_disco]

In the decant, I get lots of aftershave, backed by a bit of brimstone and musk.

On me, the aftershave and musk are the stars of the show at first, with just a hint of brimstone, but then the aftershave calms down, the brimstone goes away, and it's mostly a dark or black musk scent on me (it reminds me of the musk in Haunted). The musk remains the dominant note on me after a few hours of wear, backed by some aftershave, which seems to have regained some of its footing. I never got anything that made me think of a candy wrapper, though!

When I tried this at Drag Con last year, it was all aftershave on me, so I am glad I gave it a proper test outside of a con setting. It's not something I'd wear, but I was really curious about that cat note, and it showed up for me this time! This would be good for someone who wants a musky cologne scent, or Haunted plus some aftershave.