Hermia

[ModderRhu]

Pink pepper, golden amber, honeysuckle, and passion flower.

Hermia

Eeeee!! So nice!
I definitely get the bite of the pepper and a honey-like, buttery...something else. Not sure what the other flowers smell like. I really don't smell much amber.
This is spicy and juicy and flowery and YAY!!!!

*this was frimped to me from The Lab!

Edited to add Lab description. Edited June 1, 2010 by ModderRhu

[Acushla]

I've always liked Hermia; I played her when our 7th grade English class read Midsummer an now I'm glad to say I like her perfume as well.

 

Out of the bottle: Bubblegum? The pink, round bubblegum that comes in the red and blue wrappers. Oh dear.

 

Upon application: Thankfully bubblegum goes away and there's a nice creaminess up front, which goes away in a few seconds. I can't pick out any individual notes (my nose isn't trained enough yet ^_~) but the overall effect is very sweet and a little bit powdery, but not in a bad way.

 

Overall I find this scent very warm and comforting, and I think Hermia's going to stick around with me for a while.

[Venneh]

Pepper and honeysuckle, first and foremost in the imp. On my skin, lots and lots of pepper. Great. Needs to get off my skin, now.

Edited June 22, 2010 by Venneh

[Victory]

When the oil is first applied, I smell a really round, really deep amber. It's so familiar, but I don't remember where I've smelled it before. I know there's honeysuckle and passion flower, but it seems like there are other floral notes buried deep in the amber. It's deep and rich and hmm, not foody but I understand why it might seem that way to people. As the oil dries, I do pick up the bubblegummy note (what is it?), which happily does go away as the oil continues to dry. The passion flower slides in around the edges of the scent. I think I might like passion flower; it reads to my nose as a subtle, sort of clean and fresh floral note rather than a brassy take-no-prisoners scent. The honeysuckle is really subtle; I don't really notice it. Finally the pink pepper shows up. I hadn't smelled it before, but it is a really spicy, kicky scent. It is supported by the amber with tiny hints of flowers. I liked the amber better when it wasn't in combination with the pink pepper, like it was when the oil was freshly on my skin. It's a great amber. Thanks to the lab for the frimp!

[CitizenBree]

Really interesting that I went to look at the notes to see what spicy flavors would be in here and then I see none! Honestly, smells like some cinnamon on me. I love honeysuckle but I just don't get that at all. Maybe what I'm smelling is the pink pepper. There's nothing floral about this on me at all.

[Vega]

Sniffed: Creamy sweetness.

 

On skin: Creamy and almost syrupy with sweetness; this must be the honeysuckle dominating the blend. There are faint touches of other notes -- a little juicy, a little spicy (pepper?) -- but I can't identify or distinguish them. I guess this is a creamy/spicy floral. A forward, full scent, very happy and upbeat. Strangely, "bouncy" is another adjective that comes to mind! Colour impression is a sunny yellow blushed with pink.

 

Verdict: Sweet, pretty, girly, and totally not for me. I think honeysuckle and I will not get along. It's going to swaps.

[ShannonElisabethJones]

There is something about this scent...I feel like I've smelled it before. Maybe a long time ago...I just can't place it.

 

Syrupy pink sweet. Like flowers and anise. No, not anise. Just plain old licorice candy. Sweet and sugary. It's nice.

[grrrlennyl]

Hermia

 

On: Very heavy, heady amber with a dash of honeysuckle and a hint of pink pepper.

Half an hour in: Flowers and powdery amber, with a bit of warm pink pepper. I'm glad the amber isn't as heavy as when I first put it on.

1.5 hours in: Sweet and a bit fruity, but with a bit of a wood scent.

3.5 hours in: Very pretty. Powdery and sweet, mostly amber and honeysuckle.

5.5 hours in: Sweet and almost foody.

Overall: The amber in this is very, very pretty, but I like other amber blends more.

[Altaira]

The flowers are very strong and off-putting. I'm also getting a rancid note on my skin that I had associated with almond blends in the past. Since there isn't almond in this, I'm not sure what's causing it.

[Ishtar]

I almost didn't order Hermia, as the pink pepper was giving me pause. I don't do well with pepper at all, although I love spicy scents. However, the other notes looked to good to pass up - and since pink pepper technically isn't pepper, maybe it will play nice on my skin?

 

In the imp, this is a very rich scent: warm, ripe and well-rounded. It is far deeper than I would have expected, and it also tends toward the gourmand end of the spectrum, whereas I was expecting something quite floral.

 

On my skin, a high, almost sharp note develops, which I assume is the pink pepper. Thankfully, the amber and honeysuckle make for a very mellow, almost buttery background that proves quite effective at grounding this higher note.

 

After drydown, Hermia completely loses this slightly dissonant note and settles into a rich sweet floral with a hint of foodiness. A lovely girly-yet-spirited blend with an edge - quite a fitting homage to Hermia!

[Satyrling]

Ooh, I can't praise Hermia enough. <3! The scent makes me think of a sweet, feminine, total ballbuster (like me!). The pink pepper really puts this blind over the top for me -- usually I can't stand to wear florals, but it adds that bite that I need to make the scent truly me.

[lavenderfrost]

In The Imp: Well, hello pepper! She's a feisty one! *optimistic*

 

Immediate Application: Between this scent and Dolce Stil Nuovo, I finally figured out what amber smells like! Yay! The ZOMG PEPPER fades pretty fast and settles into...old lady perfume.

 

30-45 Minutes Later: It has staying power, I'll give it that. I still catch whiffs without even having to sniff for them. Still amber with just a bit of florals and pepper in the background. It's a dead-ringer for something my grandmother would wear, and it's starting to make my stomach go iffy.

 

Verdict: Swap pile, here we come! I had high hopes, but alas, my skin/nose just doesn't agree with something in this.

[lejlkwiet]

In the imp, Hermia did smell quite lovely, but alas - was that the pepper my nose was picking up on? I was hoping that in a perfume blend I'd be able to take it, because I really can't stand fresh pepper normally. But I still tried it out and the floral scents underneath were lovely, with the pepper giving them quite a zing. Unfortunately it also made me cough and irritated my skin so that after a while I had to wash it off. A very pretty yet not shy scent, but not one I'm going to be able to wear.

[Suu4LC]

This has been on my to-try list forever. I can't believe it's one of the last Illyria's I'm getting to! I love pink pepper! However, amber has the tendency to go powdery on me and honeysuckle sometimes just doesn't work on my skin. Still excited to try this though.

 

Ooo, I do love the pink pepper in this-it really is one of my favorite notes-unfortunately, one other note is going really...funky on me. Might be the honeysuckle. I dunno, but it's a basey chloriney scent =/ As it starts to dry I lose the pink pepper and basically just get a powdery basey chlorine scent. It's too bad because in the imp it's this bright, fiery, sweet pink pepper floral.

 

On drydown the funky-ness does fade. I get a very powdery pleasantly sweet pink pepper floral. However, I'll stick with Pothon Meter for my pink pepper fix.

[mxtine]

I received this bottle with about a decant's worth inside as a swap extra. Like a lot of others, it smells familiar but I can't place it.

 

This bottle is kinda old (it has the old-style label), so the floral intensity has aged away, which is a good thing because I don't do a lot of florals. I get mostly a faintly spicy amber with a bit of creamy floral. The amber in this one is really beautiful, and it dries down to a nice skin scent.

[saralaughs]

Very rich and spiced. Almost like a mulled peach wine. I dunno why I'm getting peach but I am. Peach and passion flower with a bit of honeysuckle to round it out. Very sweet (almost cloying for me) and pretty.

[Schmoozy]

Spiced amber with hints of passion flower. AT times the pink pepper really reads as foody, or chai-like. It's pretty while comforting. I don't get any honeysuckle at all, which is a good thing!

[WidgetAlley]

I am absurdly excited about this pepper/amber/florals combo thing.

 

Imp: Sweet delicious honeysuckle, thick syrupy amber, a lightly spiced pepper and something that I assume is the passionflower but which smells really really familiar. I know I've smelled this in another blend recently but I just can't remember which one! Now it's going to drive me crazy.

 

Wet: The amber/passion flower/pepper combo makes this smell almost foody, but in a floral way. It's really cool! It gives the impression of being foody but your nose is still like, "Nope, floral!" This is one of the good ambers on me, too, rich and gorgeous and golden like liquid sunshine. I agree with saralaughs that this is almost too sweet.

 

Dry: A juicy-sweet, softly spiced floral. I wish I got more pepper out of this! As it is, I'll have to wear it a few more times to make a decision, but I think I'll keep the imp. No need for a bottle, though, as this one is just a touch to sweet for me to be fully enamored.

[Alethia]

Thoughts before testing: Hermia has been on my "to try" list since I joined the forum in June. I finally put an order in, but before it got to me I discovered the honeysuckle goes bad on my skin. I love the rest of the notes though so we'll see how this goes.

 

Wet: A blast of amber and pepper; this is an interesting combination because the pepper keeps the amber from becoming powdery and gives it a nice kick.

 

Dry down: The passion flower comes out to play, and it's beautiful. The pepper is keeping the rest of the notes in check, and the honeysuckle has yet to make an appearance. I'm really liking this!

 

Dry: This is such a beautiful blend. It's deep and a little spicy and only lightly floral.

 

Final thoughts: Hermia is one of the few scents I've tried recently to get a full day wear. The throw is slight (which I prefer, as I live in fear of my perfume announcing me!) and lasts throughout an entire workday (around seven hours). This might be one of my new favorites, and I see a bottle purchase in my future.

 

Verdict: Keeper, possible bottle.

[milo]

On first sniff, kind of a fresh citrus, but I'm betting that is the pink pepper. Dry, still a bright pepper, and it certainly does smell pink, especially with the florals starting to peak through. I'm happy that the honeysuckle is behaving, as it is usually very heady on me. This blend is quite nice, but a fast fader. I can hardly smell it after just 20 minutes.

[Floria]

This is oddly foody. The main "body" of the scent is a rather fruity, dark-pink floral with a spicy undertone, and underneath there's an oddly biscuity note that reminds me of Shub-Niggurath without the spices and incense. I think that might be the amber. It sort of reminds me of a fruit sorbet paired with some toasty, not particularly sweet pastries. Very pleasant, but unfortunately, it doesn't last very long on my skin.

 

This doesn't smell like any other floral perfume I've tried from any company, but it's quite accessible.

[lohengrin]

In the imp: Amber and a little bit of floral.

 

On skin, wet: Amber, and oddly enough a sweetness that almost smells like BPAL's "cake" note, for some reason--crumbly, a little dry, and not anything I would have expected from the description. Weird. o.O

 

On skin, dry: The cakey note has settled down to a more general sort of sweetness, backed up by the amber and that hint of floral.

 

After an hour: Sweet, almost sugary florals, with only a hint of warm amber in the background.

[Luxuriance]

In the Imp: Amber with a bit of spiceness and perhaps a hint of passion flower.

 

Wet: I can still smell the amber, but the pink pepper has mixed with it and made it a gorgeous spicy scent that I love. It's tempered a little by the passion flower and I can smell the Honeysuckle, but it is very faint.

 

Dry: I'm smelling the spicy pink amber with a bit of a floral touch to it. The passion flower doesn't smell as passiony as it did in the wet stage and the honeysuckle has pretty much faded away. It lasted through my whole shift at work (7 hours) but towards the end it started to stick closer to the skin.

 

Verdict: This is a very pretty scent with enough kick to take you on. I love this scent and will be buying a bottle of it in my next order. I really enjoy the spicey amber with just a little of the softness provided by the florals.

[KittyHawk]

Illyria is easily my most successful category, so I'm always surprised when a Shakespearean blend doesn't work for me. I'm pleased that Hermia is yet another winner!

 

Pepper has ruined many a blend for me (The Soldier and White Rabbit being the most upsetting), but the pink pepper here is light enough that it adds some bite without overwhelming the other notes. The amber is really lovely here, and reminiscent of The Lion and Jacob's Ladder. Unlike those two blends, however, Hermia is decidedly feminine. While I can't pick out the honeysuckle, it does add a creaminess that The Lion and JL don't have. As such, Hermia is also much more versatile; BPAL's amber-heavy blends tend to be better suited for colder weather, but I can easily wear Hermia year-round. It's got some real longevity, too. I generally have to slather myself with lotion before applying my oils if I want them to last more than a couple hours, but I swatched Hermia on dry, freshly washed skin and she's still going strong 6 hours later. Impressive and worthy of an upgrade.

[AFineFlowerFrenzy]

In the bottle: I smell sweetness, almost foodie but not quite, also I can "feel" the pink pepper more than smell it as it hits the back of my throat.

 

Wet on skin: Holy pink pepper! I can smell it more now and the "feel" is still there, however it's not like i just inhaled crushed peppercorns or anything. There is a definite tart, fruit/floral note that stands out to me I'm pretty sure this must be the passion flower because I don't really pick up on the honeysuckle just yet.

 

Dry on skin:

10-30 min.- The passion flower seems to have faded a bit and now I can smell the honeysuckle peeking through, I like this stage, the honeysuckle is clean, it seems to be pulling the scent together, smoothing out the edges, and tempering the pink pepper which is still very much present. I'm also beginning to smell the amber it's golden and faint but beautifully soft, not demon baby powder.

 

30 min. on- Still a clean, soft, golden scent, very pretty! For me it's all amber and spicy honeysuckle, I find it very relaxing and cozy and the more I smell it the more I love it.

Edited June 12, 2012 by AFineFlowerFrenzy