Hurricane

[Sara]

The Dark Side of Air: a high pitched, tangy, clear scent -- light China rain deepened by murky vetivert.

Initial Imp Sniff: Strong sharp note that reminds me of wood..but not good wood, sharp, almost acrid wood.

Swipe: eeeeeee... the strong acrid wood is stinging me (not literally, just feels like it's attacking my nose). It's got a clear tang to it, along with some yellow citrus..but..I dunno man..this is kinda strong in all the wrong places.

Drydown: Well..the drydown was a softer version of the swipe, with the citrus and sharp wood coming to an agreement of equalness.

Much More Drydown: Hours and hours later this has mellowed to something bearable. It's softened the sharp wood to something not so "nose-wrinkling."

Overall: Well, this isn't something I'll reach for time and time again, but it's not overly bad. I thought being an Air person myself would mean I could enjoy this scent more. I'm really developing an aversion to this stingingly sharp "wood" notes. It's time to find out what they are so I can add them to my "avoid" list.

[Koumori]

I keep going back and forth on this one. On the one hand, it's a light, aquatic, summery scent that I really want to like with the first of my spring wardrobe. On the other hand, I can't shake the association I have of this scent with "sport" deodorants, or fabric softeners... probably because that's what I've been conditioned to think of as "freshness." This is a tricky one!

[Julilla Regina]

This smells good in the vial and when I put it on I noticed a cucumber or celery kind of scent. I think it's probably cucumber, but it had a bit of the tang of celery too, if you know what I mean. When I got it on though, it turned strange and a little plasticky. Why, why did you do it Hurricane? Is it your celery/cukey goodness that hates my skin? I do not know, alas. This would probably be really very nice in an oil burner if it doesn't work on the skin.

[mand]

A frimp from the Lab, and on my wishlist.

First I get a sweet and clean aquatic note - somehow between cucumber an mint - I suppose it's China rain; I love that; a whiff of vetiver ; but almost immediately on me it turns in very clean, sharp, strong, bold and high pitched laundry soap

[shelldoo]

this is biting, almost peppery on me, definitely some ozone/aquatics, and woody resin, but a moist wood. there is so much going on w/ this scent it seems almost chaotic. wow.

[binkyboots]

I like hurricane very much indeed.

 

it's very cool, powdery and refreshing on me, almost like the moment that a storm breaks, the heat and humidity evaporate and you're left with this tingling freshness.

 

I dont get the cucumber/celery/woody notes but more of a dark leathery/salty scent, maybe a little citrus too.

 

it's good, very good and lasts ages... it's my "hot summer day" scent.

[zankoku_zen]

In the Bottle: Smells very sharp and ozoney.

 

On Skin: Still very sharp. Very green too. I think its the vetivert I'm smelling.

On Drydown: I get a hint of a floral but its still very ozoney. Its got a clean feel to it but its very different from Tempest. Definitely a different energy.

 

Verdict: I like the smell but I don't think its me. I think I much rather smell this on a boy. This strikes me as a more masculine aquatic. I'll offer it to the boy, but if he doesn't like it, I'll offer it for swap.

[ashtonrose]

I was so worried about trying this scent, but I really wanted to. Being Hurricane season and currently staying on the coast - it's perfect timing.

 

The vetivert was my worry it usually turns very smokey on me and it didn't this time. It smells like the eye of the storm. When everything calms down, but there's a sense of electricity in the air because the storm is going to roar again. I can see the different colors of the clouds just mixing together - pinks, greens, yellows, grays, whites and so many more.

 

I can really picture myself standing on my parent's back patio while the eye of Hurricane Hugo passed over.

[AngelFireHeart]

Hurricane,

 

This scent I'm not entirely sure of, it's got a definite aquatic note in it but there's something else there that's a very fresh scent, on me it smells quite floral really, in fact it's got an Imperial Leather - Soap scent to it. It's not at all how I'd expect a hurricane to smell.

 

In the bottle however it has a dark woody note to it & smells much more aquatic like the sea that's been whipped up with decaying driftwood in it. It smells like a storm for me but a storm that's out rampaging over water & marshlands rather than the typical things I've seen on tv with hurricane's raging through towns & cities. It is a very natural scent, one in which Mother Nature's having a bad day!

 

Lovely in the bottle but changes too dramatically on me for it to still represent Hurricane.

 

ADDED Sept. 9:

 

Hurricane - out of the bottle this is quite aquatic as you may expect, at first I thought I could smell a mintiness in here, but actually its more the scent of fresh cut grasses & herbs, this is quite a biting scent, with a twisted evil core, not as clear as at first it seems. There is an earthy scent to it, as if fields have been ripped up in a rage & all of the grasses & earth has been turned over & torn apart in anger by mother nature. This scent is quite green, the scent of chlorophyll. Fresh & cleansing.

[UltraViolet]

In the bottle

Surprsingly beautiful. Clean, crystalline.

 

On

Oh I love it. For a minute I sensed that pickle smell coming in and than it went underneath. It's as if I mixed "Dunwich" and "Tulzcha" but took out most of the mint. That's what this smells like exactly. It also makes it easier to breathe too I don't know if it's mint or champhor or what.

 

30 minutes

The smell gets more flat and medicinal as it dries on my skin.

 

Throw:

a bit more than average

 

Scent category:

green/aqua

 

Summary

This is the 3rd "Dark Element" blend I've tried. "Inferno" and "Undertow" are on my top 20 of all time list so I expected good things from "Hurricane". I like it alot and I think it's a great representation of the element of air but I don't think it's as all out knock me out fabulous like the aforementioned blends.

 

Purchase again?

I think so yes.

 

1-5 rating (5 being best)

3.5

Edited July 19, 2005 by UltraViolet

[oatmealneko]

Hurricane smells like ozone & sharp, strong wood. The wood is wet & dark, possibly rotting. The ozone note remains the same, but the wood note gets stronger as it dries off. It smells strongly of rotting wet wood when dry. I could've sworn I got a bit of a pickle smell off the vial when I opened it, similar to fresh Goneril, though not as strong.

 

I had to scrub it off really quickly after it dried. Yuck.

[Undine]

When I put this on I got a noticeable woody scent that I didn't really expect: this must be the vetiver(t). It's overlain by a tangy, almost citrusy smell. And, er, sort of an impression of Band-Aids in the back, or calamine. I really don't get wetness as the primary sensation.

 

Eh.

 

As it dries down the florals or higher notes become more prominent and the vetivert is more resin-y, less woody, but I still don't find it to match its name. Still sort of band-aid-y. Not bad, but not particularly interesting. And not wet. On my scale, it is a 2 out of 5.

[Aredhel]

Rating (on skin): 0/5

Summarised in a word or two: Vetivert.

 

In the imp/bottle: Bitter water, oddly. Something beneath it reminds me of moss, or earth, or soggy wood.

 

On skin, wet: Watery vetivert! Soggy, damn and decaying vetivert.

 

On skin, dry: A very heavy, musky wood. How weird. I don't care for this at all.

 

Conclusion: Definitely not my thing. I have yet to come across vetiver(t) that doesn't turn my stomach.

Edited December 16, 2005 by Aredhel

[slugbait]

Upon opening the imp, the boy took one sniff and said, “It smells like a vegetable.”

 

“A vegetable?”

 

“Yeah, a vegetable. It smells like asparagus. It smells like canned asparagus.”

 

After that remark, I smelled it, and it does in fact, smell like asparagus I’m a bit scared to try this…

 

On my skin, this smells like a toned down Niflheim. So far so good. Wet, it is sharp and airy with a bit of earth, but as it dries it reaches the eye of the storm where is calms down. This smells exactly how the air smells while there is a rainstorm in the summer. I likey! Dry, it gets slightly powdery, and lasted about five hours.

 

I’m so glad this didn’t turn into canned asparagus on me. I'll be holding on to the imp.

[OriginalWacky]

Bottle (Imp): Oh water off the ocean after a storm.

 

Just On: Yeah, some ozone with the water scent.

 

An hour or two later: Hmm, still the same, with a tinge of muck.

 

Around 6 hours: A touch of soap, and water.

 

12 hours: A hint of watery muck.

 

Overall: This is a great scent. Not as chaotic as I might have expected, but still very evocative of it's name.

 

After reading other reviews: I like this one. That watery muck smell is the smell of the breeze passing through after the storm, carrying the scent of broken trees and such. A hit.

[Lycanthrope]

In the Bottle or Imp:

A very rotten, waterlogged aroma struck me immediately on opening the imp. Very damp, mildewy, not pleasant in the least. But, I'll give it a chance. On it goes.

Wet, on Skin:

Still sort of cauliflowery, but there's shades of aquatic peeking through, thank goodness. It pulls the dankness away from the vetiver, and it's starting to smell more like trees pummelled by rain and thrown to the ground.

Drying/Drydown:

Yikes. Salty water and rotten wood. This is North Carolina after a batterin'.

Over Time/Longterm:

Dirty, murky water. Fallen trees and busted up lumber. Clay mud swirling around, mixed with liquid and slushing around your toes. A feeling of shock.

Final Verdict?

How do you bottle an event, Beth? Whoa. I can't wear this as a perfume, but... wow. This is crazy go nuts mad cool.

[dreadeddragon]

In the bottle: It's sort of a clean shower smell, or like rain scented incense.

 

First on: It's still the clean shower smell. It's a nice fresh scent that still has mystery and depth to it. Definitely good for summer days to feel fresh & clean yet still not so innocent.

 

Drydown: It's the same scent, but has definitely faded a lot, and that clean smell has given way to the darker smokiness (but it's not smokey).

[eadavenp]

On me, this is dark, smokey, and was slightly minty when wet, but is now sort of a dark powder. it has that aquatic wetness that undertow has, but it goes in a totally different direction on the dry down. overall, it smells like hospital bandages to me, which is a very wierd association, and not especially pleasant. i'll be swapping this imp to a home that will appreciate it more.

[tesao]

provenance: lagniappe from the lab!

 

this was the first of the dark elements that i have had the pleasure to experience.

 

make no mistake, experience is exactly the right word to describe it. the lab has truly lived up to their name with this one. this scent is dark air.

 

air is ever changing. it picks up the essence of whatever it passes, scoops up into itself, merges with. there are aquatic notes here aplenty, but there is also earth. at one point early in the drydown, there was an off scent of bruised mint, or perhaps camphor, which disappeared as the wind passed, and left me feeling battered but not bowed. feet still firmly planted on the edge of the sand.

 

now i've just got to experience the other three!

[PixieSkull]

What taza said on the first page is really hitting me now, it smells a tid bit like Cool Water to me! That was the first commercial perfume I could even stand the smell of and I knew this smelled familiar but couldn't place it at first.

 

In the imp: Smells heavily of rotting and muddy wood, like a flooded area. I get a little lemon pinesol from the aftersniff. Ozone for sure.

Wet: Dirty wood through strong breezes, lots of ozone.

Drydown: Pleasant vetivert, I can definately pick this note out of all the things I have tried. There's vetivert in my Silky Underwear dusting powder, finally a scent connection! I really like how the scent smells like dirty breezes, smelling a lot like the moments immediately after a sudden thunderstorm. I can even smell the wet concrete.

 

Overall: Not too impressive, although somewhat pleasant on the drydown. I may use up the rest of the imp, I may swap it off. I'm not sure yet. I do think it smells of the soap my dad's used for years, although I hate that soap smell (due to artificial fragrances and the sneezing and itching.) I'm thinking I will trade it off, noticing that. Oh well, it was a good try anyways... my element of air scent didn't work so well. I am a fickle Gemini, denying my roots yet again

[Little Bird]

I loved Hurricane when I first got into bpal, but it doesn't smell at all the same if you get a sample/bottle today. It used to remind me of blackberry bushes soaked in rain, very real and evocative. Now it smells like cheap, soapy ozone airfreshener and a hint of waxy watermelon flavored lip smackers. Gross and disappointing...

Edited July 10, 2013 by Little Bird

[voodoobaby]

In the bottle: Much vetivert, with something tangy underneath. An unlikely combination, but strangely intriguing.

 

Wearing: Still tangy vetivert. It's not a citrusy scent, it's a...I don't think I can describe it. This is something you'd have to experience.

 

Later: Wow. This is indeed the dark side of air, as promised. It smells like damp air, but with something ominous lurking underneath. If it were a color, it would be the brownish/orange/yellow color the sky gets in Oklahoma when there's a tornado warning out. Awesome.

 

Overall: Oddly, I like it. Keeping the imp.

[Miyabi]

Sniffed in the imp: Whoa, ow. Sharp cucumber with something else underneath.

 

On skin: Agh, sharp. Not cucumber, but something that's very astringent. This isn't sweet at all.

 

Drydown: It's mellowing out some. There's some strange burnt smell lingering around, and it's a lot nicer.

 

Maybe off to swaps. I think it's nice, but it's something I'd like to smell on a guy instead.

[allelujiah]

Whoosh! This is some serious stuff. It is super duper strong.

 

At first it is very very astringent - it kind of smells like rubbing alcohol throughout application and into the dry down. It is a very clean deoderant/body wash type scent at application.

 

It still has plenty of throw and hasn't mellowed much. The alchohol smell is gone.

Now (three hours after application) it is a touch sweet, aquatic and clean. Could there be juniper in this? I'm not sure what it is I'm smelling, beside ozone.

 

It sort of smells how someone's breath does right after they drink orange juice. You KNOW what I'm talking about.

 

I would like this on my man (to whom I will gift it this evening), but it is far to masculine for me, and I like masculine scents (Bluebeard is yum).

[aidenraine]

Considering it has been raining here for 10 days straight now, Hurricane actually does remind me of what I smell every time I head outside.

 

It's damp greenery, very large, damp leaves, dripping gently. It's a deep dark rainforest (er, I imagine)

This smells much better than I would have anticipated. The vetiver is balanced out by the greenery. When I sniffed it in the vial I thought "Oh, plant rot", but it's nothing like that on my skin.

 

It's the kind of green scent that would go perfectly with Lush's Tramp.

 

It's perfectly plant like, really. The most wonderfully green scent I have smelled in a long time. I don't get air or rain at all.

 

 

What a pleasant surprise!