Black Hellebore

[Chrysantza]

... Hellebore resembles the wild rose, but does not belong to their family. The scent is a pale green herbal, darkly rooty, with a faint rose and peony-like overtone.

 

Frimp from...somewhere.

 

In the imp: Pretty light herbal/green with a touch of floral.

 

On me: Alas! Yet another light "fresh" blend that I turn to cleaning products! I wanted to like this because it is so pretty in the bottle, but it doesn't work on me.

Edited August 17, 2006 by Shollin

[abberlaine]

This is something you'd find in a witches' herb garden. Right away, I smell the roots, spindly and twisted and emitting a bittersweet aroma. As it dries, the flower scents rise to the surface and the scent turns soft, smooth and sweet while remaining garden-y. There's something rose-like, but I wouldn't peg it as a rose. It's a lukewarm scent, soft but with a fair bit going on.

 

I'd turn this into a sheet and clothing spray or wear it gardening or at an outdoor party.

 

ETA: Minus the garden-y touch, this bears some ressemblance to Prada's fragrance.

 

Thumbs up!

Edited April 3, 2006 by Abberlaine Arrol

[Brianne]

In the vial:

A soft aquatic

 

On me:

This one really suprised me. I wasn't intending on trying this until I got a frimp from the lab, because the floral thing isn't really for me and I figured this would be really floral. But, I ordered an imp (with a bunch of others) for my Mom for Christmas and she ended up not liking it so she gave it to me to swap off. So, I figured I'd go ahead and try it and do my review. And I was surprised to find that this was very much an aquatic!

I don't typically care for aquatics that much - I like them, but don't find myself reaching to wear them very often. And I really don't care for florals. But somehow, this combines a soft aquatic with a pale floral and it just comes out *lovely*. It's very airy and refreshing and makes me think of Spring! It's just so CLEAN smelling!

 

Final note:

A beautiful and clean spring scent!

[t_for_tau]

Disappointing....starts out as generic ladies' perfume, and then vanishes completely. And then comes back with a horrible vengeance.

 

This is going in my girlfriend's stack, since she likes the florals....

[provocateur]

in bottle: sugary sweet. I think it's the rose and peony.

 

on skin wet: very soft and loveable. it smells a bit like my mother's hellebores in her garden

 

on skin, dry: yay, the powder curse of many florals. *sigh*

 

Overall, this had a lot of promise. I was loving it until the powder decided to happen.

[Eunice]

Peony and green in the bottle but when I put it on, then the rose shows up. I am loving Beth's rose scents. They always smell like real roses and not like plastic. Black Hellbore smells like how I'd imagine an English garden to smell... light and elegant and refined.

This is soooo lovely!!!

[Jettcat]

In the bottle: Peony and a very soft rose. Beth has made me into a rose lover in spite of myself.

 

Wet: Very green and the floral changes entirely, it's still crisp and light.

 

Dry: Damn the florals go soapy on me sometimes and this is no exception. I'm going to wait it out and see if I can live with the end result.

 

1 hour later: The soapy has left the building! YAY!! Now a clean scent with only a trace of rose and peony. I can see this as a scent for a sunny afternoon, driving too fast up Highway 1. In fact I think I'll take it for a spin tomorrow and get some sun. This may upgrade and go on my bottle wishlist.

[themerrybaker]

Black Hellebore is one of the few big bottles in my collection that I would not consider swapping. I agree with the previous reviewers about the peony.

 

 

 

BH is green, herbal, and fresh rather than overtly floral. In comparision to Peony Moon, BH is tart and creamy with maybe a vanilla as opposed to juicy and berry-sweet.

 

 

 

On the basis of what size nose you wish you had when wearing it: Elephant.

[Elrianra]

Florals are the first thing I detect when I pop the cap off this imp - florals and something earthy but not dirt - the root smell then. Yes, that's it, roots. The herbal really is pale and barely sneaks in at the last second. On my skin, the florals are on the foreground still with the herbal tone blending nicely with them. It's soft and mildly sweet, there's absolutely nothing unpleasant in this as I was almost suspecting there would be. It's gentle and soft and quiet, even more to the point, this is a tender scent. I'm almost worried that it will bruise. As it heats up and dries, it suffers a momentary powder stage when the herbal takes to the foreground, smelling strongly of cough drops - the home remedy kind, not the store brand crap. The good ones that taste like something grandma made just for this. It's foresty and fieldy all at once, both and neither and somewhere in between them. Oh, this is so nice and so shy on my skin, it's astounding!

[yeahbutnobut]

Black Hellebore

 

In the imp: a very pretty floral. It’s quite heady and ‘perfumey’ but in a good way.

Wet on skin: mmm, this is lovely. I think the floral note is almost like peony, with a hint of ripe fruit.

Dry: gorgeous! This is a beautiful fragrance-heady rich floral with a hint of fruitiness to it. It is indeed a peony scent, much richer and deeper than Peony Moon, with a hint of rose to it. There’s a sweet note that reminds me of fruit, not sure what kind of fruit though. There’s also that crisp, tangy ‘spring blossom’ scent to it as well, with a bit of green. There’s a definite dark feel to it.

After a while: it’s not long before the scent becomes headier and more like classic perfume in feel and the throw increases. There’s now a hint of something tangy underneath, a note I can’t identify but which reminds me of expensive perfume. The fruity peony scent still remains, but the scent also darkens even more. This is a very sophisticated scent now, something that feels mature.

The drydown is that deep floral, now with some dark, earthy, ashy notes, probably tobacco and/or vetiver, possibly a little cedar or something woody, but it’s not very smoky, it’s more like a dark, slinky scent with a tinge of something reminiscent of good quality men’s perfume. This must be the green, rooty scent mentioned in the description.

Verdict: I like this one a lot better than I was expecting. I get no herbal green earthiness until the end. First this is a rich, powerful floral scent, deep and heady, a scent reminiscent of peony and sweet ripened fruit with a hint of green and tart rose to it, and an undercurrent of classic perfume, which strengthens upon drydown. Over time the scent darkens and becomes more mysterious and sophisticated, at the end the floral note is then covered with earthy, gritty greenish notes-yet these are smoothed out with that 'posh perfume' note. This is a very grown up scent, there’s definitely something classy about it, but also quite dark. I’ll be keeping the imp of this because I’m not sure about the drydown (it’s almost like men’s perfume by the end) but I love the burst of rich heady flowers I get at first.

Emoticon rating:

[storme]

In the imp: a green, almost aquatic, peony scent.

 

On me, wet: this is a manly aftershave sort of smell, aquatic and sharp with very very light floral hints.

 

On me, dry: the peony smell has returned! The manliness fades a little, and this becomes a more balanced, slighty melon-ish floral with a dusky base - but there's still something that reminds me of men's aftershave in this. On the SO it smells more floral and more like I was hoping it to smell. Sigh.

 

Verdict: Pleasant enough in its own way, but probably not worth keeping around - it clearly smells better on others than on me.

[misfitroxy]

Ooh, pretty. I can see why others have referred to this blend as aquatic. It is very light and refreshing. A pale scent that's not overwhelming, throw-wise.

 

I'm not very familiar with the smell of peonies, so I'm just going to have to take that note for granted. But the oil does have an herbal quality to it as opposed to a more overt floral one. It would be very nice for summer. I like how clean it is, yet very girlie.

 

Overall, I'd call this sharp yet sweet. Not entirely my tastes, but still very lovely.

[Diana]

Wet: really light, but a really nice fresh herbal scent. this scent reminds me of something, but I cannot place what. Actually, I think it smells almost spot-on like a bottle of expensive hair shine mist that I have from England.

 

Drydown: This is like being hugged by a soft pink sweater. This is not something I'd typically pick out for myself, but the herbal + light notes are really pretty. This is a really nice, non-offensive, light blend. I think I might need some of this for those "I want to smell nice, but not really smell a lot" kind of days.

[Meg]

In the bottle: A deep green, ozony scent mixed to rose. Oooh!

 

Wet: A very ozony-green, dark, a bit rooty scent. Smells like a man's cologne, deep and sensual.

 

Drydown: I mostly get a dark, rooty scent, with some rose mixed into it somewhere, and possibly a very discreet peony. As it develops, it becomes smoother and softer, though still dark. There's a bit of a salt note in there, somehwhere. As time goes by it becomes sweeter and more floral, with rose and peony really blossoming out over the darkness.

 

Overall: It's a dark perfumy floral, with a lot of depth and some aquatic notes. It ends up being a very sophisticated rose/peony floral after going through a very rooty and green stage. It's deep and very womanly, rather heady, even a little boozy in the end. It has little staying power, and I don't know if I'd wear it because it seems a little too mature for me. But a beautiful blend, nevertheless.

[dnipbhsw]

To me, this is a chilly, deep green scent. It's almost medicinal, but the flowers sweeten it up and take away that herbal bite. This is dark and not particularly feminine, but it's not masculine either. I don't know. This is pleasant, but not for me.

[edenssixthday]

Black Hellebore - First off, let me say, this is worthy of a 10 ml bottle and I have added it to my list of bottles to add to my next order. The scent is gorgeous. I put some on last night and after about five minutes, went back to put more on. I put more on again this morning. For me to wear a single BPAL scent two days in a row means I’m slightly obsessed with it! It’s hard to describe, but if you’re familiar with Thierry Mugler’s “Alien” perfume, and then try to imagine that significantly lighter, less sweet and more green, then you’ll know what Black Hellebore smells like. I layered the two of them today and they really compliment each other gorgeously. Black Hellebore is light and only has strong throw when it’s dry. It’s light and floral, and although the scent description says it has “a faint rose and peony-like overtone” I don’t smell either floral. I actually smell something that reminds me more of lily – stargazer lily, to be precise. No matter what, this is beautiful and I’m buying a big bottle of it. It’s so pretty and I think I’ll be wearing it often in the coming months.

[lunareclipse]

In the imp: green, soft, floral, with a nice sweetness.

 

Wet: a very delicate, feminine floral... smells more pink than green.

 

Drydown: as above, with an aquatic note coming through.

 

This does not smell particularly like the hellebores I grow, but beautifully evokes their pale purple-pink and acidy green color scheme, as well as the first flush of not-quite-spring when they poke their heads through the snow.

[theseagrows]

i guess the floral i'm smelling is peonies (or similar) after reading the other reviews. there's an herbal/grassy scent too. now that it's dry it is a faint, sweet floral with a very very slight powderiness to it. pretty, but maybe a little too sweet for my tastes.

Edited July 25, 2006 by theseagrows

[macabre_fae]

This scent is delicious.Call me strange...but I felt it smelt like tainted(as in poisoned) granny smith apple candies .hmmm.....

[sofiaviolet]

This is really green. I can tell that the rose and peony are there, but it's very hard to pin them down. Black Hellebore takes on a chemical sheen on my skin before fading significantly. It just doesn't like me.

[Dandelion]

Very herbal. Even the flowers smell herbal and green. Pretty, but not my style.

 

(Hooray for one-line reviews!)

[audesapere]

In Imp- *quirks eyebrow* Pepper? Floral pepper? Even stranger, I like it.

 

Wet- Earthy, wet, creamy. Starts floral and progresses nicely into a blend of earthy root and subtle floral.

 

Dry-Sweet/bitter, a little medicinal, still creamy.

 

Later: Love it.

[nannan45]

Black Hellebore

 

Got this as a lovely frimp from the lab - so a great big THANK YOU LAB - as I would never have ordered it on my own.

 

This is a very floral and clean green scent that starts out really pretty. But as it dries out, something in it just isn't right. I tried it at different times of the month, but it always ends up giving me a headache. It dries out smelling like toilet paper for some reason. Weird. But a lot of green BPAL scents turn into toilet paper on me. Must be my skin chemistry.

[Shollin]

First sniff: Very green, with something light and fluttery on top.

 

Wearing: Dark green and astringent, and a little bit floral. This is very nice.

[elfmaiden]

Origin: Frimp from the lab.

 

Imp: A very light green, herbal, smell.

 

On my skin: This was a suprising one. It morphs from a very sophisticated perfumy sort of scent to something very clean, green, with a very pleasant 'soapiness' to it. There is a hint of the florals in the background, but not enough to make this feminine by any degree.

 

I REALLY like this one!

 

Jenn