Hymn to Proserpine

[SophieCedar]

The darkening amber of faith’s sunset, deepened by the dark fruits of Proserpine.

Uh oh. This one went terribly wrong on me. It totally does not agree with my skin. If it has pomegranate like other have mentioned, that would be why...this really smells medicinal on me. Like pine cleaner spray and band-aids. Up to the swaps it goes!

[musichappens]

Mmmm .. ambered fruits. The fruits (pomegranates and berries?) are juicy and sweet; the amber is deep, musky and resiny. I also am seeming to detect a bit of honey once the oil is dry and that just makes it even more delicious. I need a bottle of this for sure.

[NixieCakes]

Hymn to Proserpine smells to me like pomegranate and nag champa. I love it.

The bf loves it too. He says it smells like strawberry incense sticks. It lasted all day.

Need. Bottle.

[FathomBelow]

In the bottle: sweet, warm fruits. I'll admit I bought this just for the scent in the bottle, having never tried it on.

Wet on skin: amber with light fruity overtones, more or less how I imagined it to be.

Dry: Wow. This becomes much heavier and darker and has a definite incense feel to it, not what I was expecting at all.

Overall: I love the beginning stage but I'm not sure how I like the incense at the end, like in Two Loves. It's tolerable and might even be nice to smell on someone else but I'm super sensitive about incense on myself, especially this kind. I think I'll see how it ages.

[hmelt004]

Amber usually turns bitter and powdery on me, but this goes oddly sour. There's pomegranate and currant in this, as well, I think. I like both of them, but the amber is still too much. To the swaps.

[heatherovka]

When I first put this on my husband immediately said, 'powder'. I am getting a talcum smell, but not baby powder... It reminds me of a scented talcum powder for adults (shower-to-shower or something). However I'm not sure it is caused by skin chemistry or just has a strange scent association for me. I usually love amber. Not bad, but I'm not getting all excited about this one either.

 

Spicy fruit and incense. At first the scent hangs in the air even after I leave the room (says my husband). The powdery aspect of the amber is not my favorite, but I want to hold onto this a while longer for further evaluation. Hubby says it burns his nostrils. I don't think he likes it.

 

I would agree with some of the rest of you - in the imp it does smell like kids' cough or fever syrup! But luckily, it doesn't seem to wear that way. I'm disappointed that my first experience with it wasn't more positive though.

 

 

edited to add update:

 

I wore this one to work one day (hot greenhouse work) and got a compliment on it. I definitely liked it better when I wore it then, maybe it was the extra warmth. It didn't seem as powdery, more incense. I think I like it, but I'll have to remember to wear it on warmer days.

Edited May 26, 2010 by heatherovka

[animalcule]

imp: mild, sweet, fruity

 

wet: smooth, bland, incense-y. No fruit.

 

dry: same. Oddly familiar.

 

 

A pleasant enough smell, but not for me.

[angelicruin]

This is mostly incense and pomegranate on my skin. Nice, but nothing I'd reach for more than once.

[MonkeysInk]

I get dark round fruit and amber and a hint of incense. This is like a lush relative of Morocco - I get that same dry wafting spice fragrance. The pomegranate/plum that others are smelling comes through for me, too and I'm not a huge fan of what my skin does to it.

 

 

 

 

[ami226]

I don't know why I never tried this one before. It is quite nice!!

 

On the skin: Smooth and lovely. Definitely getting some powdery amber with some sweetness that must be fruit, though this doesn't really smell fruity.

 

Oh, no.... One note turned sour on me.

 

Darn, this one started out soooo nice!

[fairestrocza]

In the Imp: very fruity

 

Wet on Skin: Same scent as I get in the imp. Fruits - can't determine what variety (wouldn't call them dark, however).

 

While Drying: Fruits are hit or miss on me, and this one appears to be a miss. A very strong scent at this stage.

 

After a Little While: The fruits are a little softer, but I'm still not getting much amber.

 

Later: There is a slightly spicy smell (maybe the amber finally mingling with the fruits?) if I inhale deeply close to the skin. I like this stage, but the throw is minimal at this point. A little musky toward the end.

 

Final Thoughts: This has potential, but I am almost certain that this will be much better on my friend than on me, so I'll pass it along.

 

Hymn to Proserpine earns a 3.5/5 on my skin.

[butterbeer]

I love this.

 

On the bottle is smells like amber and fresh fruits, and has a red-ish colour.

 

On me, it's very very pleasant. I got a dark fruit scent (pomegranate?), then a soapy amber. The soapy-ness disappeared quickly, and it became a very warm amber with deep fruit. Then it turned soapy again, thanks to my terrible skin chemistry. Still, it's very pleasant and a great Winter oil.

[grrrlennyl]

Hymn to Proserpine

 

Note: I wear this all the time, and have for years, but never got around to reviewing it.

On: Sweet amber and fruits. Not syrupy or heavy, though. Lovely.

4 hours in: So pretty. Powdery and sweet. Nice and strong.

7 hours in: Lovely. Powdery, sweet amber.

Overall: This is one of my favorites. It has great lasting power on me and smells amazing.

[mxtine]

This one is very simple. Amber and pomegranate or some other dark fruit. I'm betting on pomegranate. It starts to go a little powdery like amber typically does, but I'm a fan of amber and this doesn't bother me. The red fruit is sweet and rounds it out. I've been outside in the garden a bit today, and my skin warmed up the fragrance, so it has a lot of throw and now smells a little like strawberry, but it's not plasticky like strawberry scents can sometimes be. It's sweet with golden amber. I have an amber oil from another retailer and I can see this layering nicely with that.

[calivianya]

Pomegranate never works for me, and this is no exception. I don't even know if I can describe how bad this goes on my skin. It's like a weird, sickly sweet, medicinal smell. It is not good with my skin chemistry.

[Lyssa]

Hymn to Proserpine is a blend of ripe, dark fruits and amber. The amber is very powdery on me, although I was hoping that it would just warm the fruits. Unfortunately, although it's not BAD and isn't reacting poorly with my skin, I just don't like it the way I wanted. The throw is pretty good, but all I get when I'm not actively sniffing my wrists is the powdery amber. It almost feels like it has rose in it on my skin, but I have no idea. Previous reviews have said it's incensey, and I guess the powdery aspect of the amber could also be more like incense.

 

I adore the Persephone myth and am disappointed that this isn't the scent for me.

[lohengrin]

In the imp: Slightly incensey amber.

 

On skin, wet: Incensey amber.

 

On skin, dry: Incensey amber.

 

After an hour: Still very much incense/amber, with never the slightest hint of fruits. Clearly, whatever amber note is used in this blend is NOT one of the ones that works on me at all.

[neuilly]

Wrong thread. Edited August 1, 2012 by neuilly

[ringmaster-red]

In the vial: warm amber and pomegranates

 

Wet: I can definitely smelt the amber and pomegranates. It’s very fruity and a little bit powdery. It’s a little musky too. It’s a very womanly scent.

 

Dry: Warm, musky amber and pomegranate. Very straightforward. After a few more minutes, though, the pomegranate fades and it’s soapy amber. Aw man! I hope it morphs again. Later it becomes a nice musky amber that reminds me a bit of Vasilissa, but there’s still that soapy undertone. After an hour or so, it’s a beautiful musky sweet, slightly fruity, amber.

[milo]

Lots of fruit at first, maybe peach? After a bit, musky amber. So it's mainly musk, and a bit of fruity amber. Quite cologney. Too much so, in fact. Not for me, but nice to try.

[theredshoes]

I had a small imp of this for a while which I wore sparingly, was really sad I didn't snag a bottle before it was discontinued, and finally got my muddy little paws on one recently, years after first trying it. It was a bit surprising in the bottle!

 

In the bottle: Chemical sweet cherry medicinal kiddie cough syrup. Yargh.

 

Wet: A sweet, yet musky, fruit smell -- with a little bit of spice. No idea what that's from. I don't actually smell pomegranate, which my skin amps like it's my job. Definitely dark fruits: plums, berries, maybe blackberries, cherries? dark grapes? Maybe cranberries and raspberries. A lot more spicy and musky than I was expecting.

 

Drydown: What the hell, I keep smelling something like PEPPER. Husband said he didn't think it was peppery but could see how I thought it was (what?) - more "spicy." Maybe this has cloves in it, because whenever I wear the BPAL clove note I turn into a kitchen cupboard. The musky amber/incense is really a nice combination with the fruit, though.

 

Hours later: I don't get the amber-to-powder, thank goodness. The scent gets a lot sweeter, the peppery note disappears (HUZZAH). Still a bit incensey. This really is a sort of dark, sweet, smokey autumnal smell -- if it were a colour it'd be a sort of deep glowing burgundy, like wine in a glass. It does fade fairly quickly, but it's really nice. As someone else said, this is the Iron Queen, not the flower-gathering girl. The resin/sandalwood/incense/musk/whateveritis (so not a perfume buff) gives it real maturity and depth. It's not quite sad - it reminds me of the last stanza of Keats' "To Autumn":

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?

Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—

While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,

And touch the stubble plains with rosy hue;

Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn

Among the river sallows, borne aloft

Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;

And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;

Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft

The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;

And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

[Lucchesa]

I am enjoying Hymn to Proserpine more than I expected to. Pomegranate is an iffy note on me, and it's the fruit I associate most closely with Proserpine. But wet, the amber is stronger than the fruit, and it's a really lovely amber, one of my favorite notes. I can smell the sweet tart juicy pomegranate underneath, but the amber keeps it well in check. (Obviously this is a well-aged imp.) So for the first couple of hours at least this is a warm amber scent with fruit undertones. By the third hour or so the pomegranate is ready to take center stage, but by this time it has smoothed into a really mellow pom that works nicely on my skin.