Personent Hodie

[Belladonnastrap]

Plumes of olibanum, cassia chips, benzoin, storax, and myrrh smoke swirling around a stained-glass pane of red pomegranate, purple currant, and golden amber.

[theshapeshifter]

Am I really first for this one?  

 

It's funny - when I first read over the Winter releases, there were several others that caught my eye first, but I set it aside and re-thought about it and changed my mind a few times. In the end, Personent Hodie, which hadn't initially made my shortlist at all, wound up being the only Winter scent in my order, and I'm so pleased that I reconsidered and bought it.

 

It starts out far softer than I would have expected, but it seems to gain more oomph over time and has lots of staying power. I don't particularly get the cassia and to be honest I'm not familiar enough with olibanum and storax to be sure of what role they're playing here, but overall this is a really gorgeous balance between the purple-red fruits and warm, almost glowing resins, with just a hint of a candle-like smoke note. The fruit isn't overly sweet or jammy and the resins aren't aggressively "INCENSE!" (though there are some scents of both of those descriptions that I like a lot too.) 

 

It's really masterfully blended. Sexy, but skewing to the 'classy' side rather than raunchy or smutty (again, I love plenty of the latter scents too). To my nose it's just slightly to the feminine side of gender-neutral, but only slightly, and I could see this being a very cozy scent on a guy. I've worn it twice now, and it is going straight into the 'favourites' section of my collection.

Edited February 7, 2021 by theshapeshifter

[rhonorv]

I *love* this! It reminds me very much of another favorite of mine, An Encounter of Three.

 

Where an Encounter of Three has a liqueur-heavy undertone, Personent has a beautiful, smooth incense. They share the same (to my nose) purple fruit notes on top from the purple currants, but there's a woodsiness at the core that prevents PH from going too sweet. The cassia gives it the tiniest kick of spice when it's dry, which is lovely. I'm not picking up very strong smoke or amber notes, but as theshapeshifter noted this is a really well-blended perfume, and I imagine they're contributing to the general richness and depth of it.

 

It's pretty consistent wet to dry, and it has great staying power. Will be getting a full bottle!

 

Edited February 14, 2021 by rhonorv

[Poenari]

This one is very unusual, but not in a bad way. I get smoke followed by tart pomegranate, powdery myrrh, and a titch of cassia, all swirled together. It makes me think of a swirl of smoke drifting up into the air, softly swirling into a curling wisp that smells faintly of incense, tart and sweet fruits, but not a fruity scent. Olibanum is another term for frankincense, but this is so subtle. Each of the resins in this scent mingle together and give it that incense base, without overpowering the pomegranate and currant. I think people who are uncertain about wearing incense or resin based scents should give this one a whirl! It's lovely, gender neutral, stays close to the skin. 

[zankoku_zen]

Purple pom whiffs around cassia, powdery myrrh and smoke. This makes me think of pomegranate incense. Medium throw and wear length.

[fairybites]

Powdery faint pomegranate and smoky myrrh. There's some currant too with the amber but they stay in the background. Totally agree with the above reviewer that this is like pomegranate incense. 

 

It's a little different from the stuff I usually gravitate towards, so I will probably not upgrade this. But I'm going to hang on to this for a while to see if aging improves it.

[donkehpoo]

Wet: Pomegranate and myrrh. Smokey, and a tad bit sweet. Totally getting a pomegranate incense vibe, and I'm digging it.

 

Dry: More myrrh than pomegranate now, still with the "pomegranate incense" vibe. Just.. less pom now. 

 

It's nice, but I wish the pomegranate had more staying power on me!

[Wwindy]

Lovely, warm, and elegant! On my skin this is a predominantly cinnamon-amber-myrrh incense with just a hint of fruitiness. Interestingly, the pomegranate comes out more strongly on my neck than it does on my wrists -- I didn't get much fruit at all from wrist application, but picked it up more noticeably once I applied at the base of my throat.

 

While sensitive folks will probably already be a little wary of this one, I just want to note that applying on my neck left a (temporary) red mark -- anyone with cinnamon or cassia issues should proceed with caution.

[tinyvulture]

This blend is all smoky resins but also has a soapy-clean note. The olibanum, styrax and myrrh are just beautiful. I am not getting any cassia. Lots of smoke, maybe some wax, so much myrrh. I’m not really getting any pomegranate or currant either! This is just pure incense and candles on me and I am not complaining!