Pahoehoe

[MadameGorgon]

Grenadine, banana, and coconut rum.

Got this as a frimp from the lab.

Based on the notes, I didn't expect to like this. Bananas are very iffy for me. I adore fresh ripe real bananas. Fake bananas (Laffy Taffy in particular) is literally nauseating.

I actually liked it and had fun wearing it. I don't do much drinking of actual fruity blended cocktails anymore, but getting random whiffs of this put me in that fun silly mood. I wore paper umbrellas in my hair. I would, however, advise against being pulled over for a traffic stop while wearing this. The rum, although unusually lovely and warm, was strong enough to make me smell drunk!

I'll keep my imp, and have great fun with it, but I can't see buying a bottle. Silly doesn't fit my mood often enough.

[grrrlennyl]

Pahoehoe

 

Note: I've been working my way through BPAL's banana scents in the hopes of finding a long-lasting banana scent.

On: Incredibly sweet banana and sticky grenadine with some light, white coconut.

1 hour in: A powdery banana scent, but with an odd, vegetable undertone. (That sometimes happens to me with sweeter scents.)

5 hours in: Still powdery banana with that vegetable undertone.

6.5 hours in: Just powdery.

Overall: My search will continue...

[kjirstiben]

I got this as a frimp with another order and was happy to get to try one of the tiki scents, finally (I'm ordinarily a bit wary of fruity scents as they can go very bad with my skin chemistry).

 

On me, Pahoehoe was a slightly smoky-sweet rum scent. I sort of smelled banana/grenadine behind it if I tried, but it was not obvious. I tend to amp rum so this was not surprising. Over time, the scent turned a little acrid (an artifact of my skin chemistry), then settled into a slightly sweet, powdery end stage.

 

I'm glad to have tried Pahoehoe but I don't think it's a good match for me. I do, however, want to try the rest of the tiki scents now!

[donnatron]

Imp: Coconut rum. Deathly sweet coconut rum.

 

Wet: Even more coconut rum! I was especially confused because in my head this was the orange/ginger ale scent. It is sickly sweet and the banana is coming out. Just a little. There is no grenadine unless it's just adding to the overall sweetness. I need some pomegranate or something to cut this epic sweetness.

 

Dry: Ick. Ick, ick, ick. MY skin runs with the sweetness and it winds up smelling madly familiar and yet just a little untraceable. The pomegranate comes out from the grenadine a bit and adds a gross sharpness to the overall scent. It is manly coconut rum. The pomegranate is a little...vomity? Not good, overall. My skin chemistry made this pretty horrifying and it smells a little like waking up after getting

.

 

Throw: Good. Horrifying, but good.

 

Overall: I don't know if this smells like it should or if my skin is distorting it. It smells like rum and bananas and pomegranate sweetness. It might be someone else's bag, but it certainly isn't mine.

[filigree_shadow]

This smells like banana at first and then it turns into kind of a smoky coconut rum scent. Kind of like something's burnt. Roasted coconut? It's a little odd.

[Helas]

I'm surprised by how much I actually like this one! It's a cheerful, grilled banana scent (definitely fresh banana, not the candy kind) with toasted coconut and a boozy undertone. I would feel terribly self-conscious wearing this one at work or on the bus, but I can definitely see it being a fun silly perfume to wear to a beach party or a barbecue.

 

I would never wear this one enough to justify a bottle purchase and I'm not too sore about it being discontinued, but I am glad that I have a small amount available, and looking forward to inducing sudden and mysterious cravings for banana splits in my fellow men. Three out of five stars.

[Gin]

OMG PAHOEOE.

I don't really like bananas. I think they're weird, and I have texture issues, so I put off trying Pahoehoe even though I knew I'd want to try it eventually, 'cause grenadine and coconut rum? Yes, please! I finally picked up a bottle 'cause it was going away. In the bottle and wet on my skin, it's whoa banana! like banana-flavored Laffy Taffy. I think banana Laffy Taffy is the worst flavor, but still, there's something so cheerful about it. Pahoehoe has the same happy vibe. Over the next hour or so, the banana morphed into banana-coconut and then down to straight grenadine, and it's AMAZING. It's so, so good. I really wish I had stocked up on this.

(The grenadine is the same note I get from B-Horror, IIRC, but I like Pahoehoe much better.)

[MiasmaResonance]

BANANANANANANANANANANANA!

 

Pretty much sums this up. I do get slight boozy notes and maybe a twinge of the coconut though.

 

Good summery scent, I think.

 

I really like the dry down of this one..definitely smelling the grenadine now. And maybe a powdery coconut smell. But I like it.

 

About an hour later, and I'm in the middle of the road on this one. It's not complex enough for me to love, but it's decent.

Edited June 28, 2011 by MiasmaResonance

[Spork]

ugh, grenadine = pomegranate, i forgot about that so this does what pomegranate always does, takes over and is sickeningly sweet ah well, someone else will have to love it for me

[Balame]

In the Imp: Very sweet banana rum.

 

Wet: Plastic, sweet, artificial bananas.

 

Dry: No change, it's just very "banana candy" and overwhelming.

 

Overall: Sad to say there aren't a lot of winners from the Luau Lounge. Like the rest I've tried, this is very fake fruit and unpleasant. Rum notes from BPAL are definitely better with darker notes.

[milo]

Holy smokes, this is a sweet one! Wet, I get a juicy red banana scent, kind of odd, a red banana, but that's what it smells like to me. Dry, the banana disappears, and it's more the grenadine with dry, dusty coconut. The banana is gone, but it's still very sweet. Coconut sometimes turns dusty on me, but the grenadine tempers it somewhat. However, this blend is much too sweet and fruity to me, it smells very 'young', somehow as a blend that a 13 year old girl would wear on her vacation to the tropics. Fun to try, but not for me.

[melrose]

First on, Bananas Foster - a caramelized banana scent that's not great, but makes me hungry. Later, I get a hint of the grenadine, and this becomes more interesting. Unfortunately, my skin seems to interpret coconut rum as plastic, which ruins the drydown.

[sunlitgarden]

In the imp: HOLY BANANAS BATMAN! That's literally what popped into my head. Strong, boozy - smells like rum extract being dumped into a banana cake batter. As a note, this imp and Aremata-Popoa, which I just tested on my other arm, were not very full... maybe a bit more than half.

 

On my skin, it's a tropical banana-coconut-vanillay spiced rum drink. It's delicious, and I want to DRINK IT. Drink all the things! I think it's a bit much as perfume, though, unfortunately...

Edited May 11, 2012 by sunlitgarden

[cosmoblue]

In Imp, fruity slightly banana-y booze. The banana may not be awful.

 

Wet, yucky banana, I hate bananas, and coconutty booze then grenadine.

 

Dry, softer banana and light coconut, spices. This would be nice if I didn't think bananas were the most evil fruit ever.

[brilliantcat]

Bottle: Banana and that burnt sugar rummy smell.

 

Wet: OMG I love it! Spiced rum and banana with a hint of coconut. It smells like Bananas Foster, which is one of my very favorite desserts.

 

Dry: Definitely boozy and most of the banana has dissipated. Perfect for summer.

[tinyvulture]

Whoa baby, this scent is strong! Ripe banana and rum, just a touch of sweet coconut, and tart grenadine (like pomegranates). The ultimate tropical perfume. I would love to taste the drink that inspired this! I don't see myself needing a whole bottle but I'd wear it on hot summer days.

Edited October 15, 2013 by tinyvulture

[hammy]

In the bottle - Syrupy, fake bananas. (I mean that in the absolute best way possible; I love fake banana.) This puts me in an instant good mood, and I haven’t even applied it yet.

 

Wet - Grenadine makes a grand entrance and does a little dance with the banana. Grenadine, I don’t know if I’ve told you this before, but I love you. I’ve always loved you. There’s more coconut than I’d ideally like, but I love the other two notes so much that I’m overlooking it for now.

 

Drydown - The coconut goes away! Thank you, scent gods! The rum stays behind after the coconut burns off, lending a syrupy vibe to the intense sweetness. I’m a fan of anything sweet, even saccharine sweet, so I can see how “normal” noses might be turned off by the level of artificial happening here. If you’re looking for real bananas, this isn’t your blend. If you like banana-flavored Runts and/or Laffy Taffy, Pahoehoe is all you. It softens a bit after half an hour.

 

Verdict - I’m a geology minor, so I would have kept the Pahoehoe bottle even if the oil sucked -- which I’m happy to report isn’t the case! I adore this, and I can definitely see myself wearing it poolside next summer. Makes me want to go out and buy a fruity drink. Or just some grenadine and bananas. Keeper.

[splendidissima]

I'd forgotten the notes in this, and deliberately didn't look before putting some on again, and my first impressions were "bananas + something dark red + rum!" And...well, that seems about right!

 

It's a candied sort of banana - someone above mentioned bananas Foster, brown sugar, etc, and I agree! The grenadine is adding some pomegranate sweetness, and then there's the rum note. I don't actually get the coconut specifically, maybe because of the age of this bottle? The rum *is* there but not as up front as I remember; it's banana-pom first, and then, oh yeah, there's something else there.

 

It's not as strong as I recall it being; it lingers, but it's a skin-close scent. Tropical and summery!

[Cali]

Oh man, delicious! I'm getting the notes exactly, it's a delicious fruity cocktail that's not overly boozy!

[biggnerd]

This starts off banana runts. It has that strong, artificial banana smell that's so sweet it's almost tangy (I think that's the grenadine). It settles into a sweetened rum scent with tangy grenadine wafting in and out.