Hi'iaka

[maryamblue]

Sister to Pele, Patroness of Hula Dancers, she is a Lady of Hawa'ii, and is caretaker, mother, and beloved of the land itself. The heart of the forest beats along with Her dance, and the air is suffused with Her scent: mai'a, hibiscus, white ginger, akala, na'u, Hawaiian moon flower, yellow ilima, pink lokelani, jewel orchid, and fringed orchid.

I searched, and found not...so I guess I'm posting the first review of Hi'iaka? (I posted this in altered form on LJ, and was also the first there...so...)

I really love both Manila and Pele, so I ordered this the moment I saw it, just knowing it would be the right thing to do. Ahem. And this got to me right quickly; thank you!

First impression: whole lotta flowers goin' on, as Jerry Lee Lewis might have said while sniffing this. It's a whole melange of tropical floral. It's hard to pick out any one note, but orchid, or one of its close kin, seems to dominate. There's a note of slightly-spicy white ginger, and a backup of something rather bubblegummish. I like bubblegum. All right, so far so good; I can smear this on myself with little trepidation. After ten minutes, the florals have not exactly settled, but have made this lovely blend that's sweet, but not cloyingly, artificially so: it smells like the freshest of sweet tropical flowers, and their greenery. It's like being in a flower shop. The scent is green and hot pink -- sweet, yet zippy. Hi'iaka, by the by, is NOT (IMO) a unisex scent; it's all girl. And while the florals are a little more pronouncedly floral than many of BPAL's scents, there is something about it that is very bathtime fresh, not person-who-smells-like-they-used-perfume-in-lieu-of-bathing floral, if y'all get my drift. Sweet as pie, but not overbearing about it. The bubblegummy note remains, though it is fairly subtle after a short while. The slightly deeper spicy note grounds it just enough. But what we have here is lots and lots of flowers. And it *is* slightly bath producty, but in the best possible way. This is very complex, though -- there are several distinct floral scents to it.

It's not really much like Pele to me at all, but I could see the two as being complementary. It lacks the woody notes of Manila. This has very little non-flower base as far as I can see, but it's still nice, complex, and resonant. I've had to struggle to come up with a scent to compare it with at all; truthfully, the only thing it reminds me of at all is...Poison. It shares some small similarities with Dior's Poison (DISCLAIMER: back in the 80's I wore Poison a lot, and it was noted by many that it really didn't smell on me like it did on most people, so very possibly no one else will note any similarity.)

Also, it lasts and apparently throws fairly well. Other people seem to like it. Yep, she's a keeper!

[slave1]

HI'IAKA

 

In Bottle: Sweet fragrant florals

 

On Skin: This is beautiful. A very strong fresh flower scent. I feel like I’m in Tahiti and wearing a lei. I don’t know most these flowers by scnet alone, but it is the general vibe and tropical essence they ooze. This is a scent that screams TROPICAL VACATION!! Very bright, very colorful and very happy. It is very very strong and heavy on the florals so a little dab goes a long way. I would love to use it as a room scent for those days I really want an escape. The floral that seems strongest to me is the orchid. And I love orchid so this works on me perfectly. I will wear this when I want a obvious feminine scent and when I want to feel pretty and fres back from the islands. Very strong throw and long wearlength!

 

Also, not to offend Maryamblue, but Poison is my favorite commercial scent and I don't think Hi'Iaka smells ANYTHING even close to it on me... not even in the same ballpark. Our chemistries may be very different of course, I just wanted to say it's not like that on everyone.

[sheridankm]

Hi'iaka starts off with a promising bloom of orchids and gentle greenery... it's like walking into a greenhouse, lush and humid and full of plant smells. Not too sweet, very fresh (but not zesty or clean in that fake aquatics way, more of an "alive" scent.) After 45 minutes or so, when everything has dried, the distinct orchid note fades away and Hi'iaka settles into a pleasant, tropical, well-balanced blend that doesn't really smell like anything in particular. Nice, in the end, but not nearly as interesting as its wet stage.

 

Throw is slight, a little less strong than Pele was on me. I might layer this with something a little deeper and more green, less floral, though I don't yet know what that would be.

 

EDIT: A week later and this is now one of my favorites. The orchid lasts a few hours now, and I smell a deeper, non-floral complexity beneath it.

Edited September 23, 2007 by Helen

[Emu Nymph]

This one started out light and spring like. That's the only word I can put with it. And only in a few minutes it smells like straw on me. I wanted to like her but I just don't want to smell like horse feed. Sadly one that I'll have to put up for swap.

[tasty]

I'm a total sucker for anything Hawaiian, so when I saw Hi'iaka's debut in the Halloween update, I knew that I'd have to order my first imp pack from the lab.

 

This scent is a fresh burst of sweet florals and in order to like this one, you must be down with smelling like flowers AND candy all at the same time. I can't pick out the individual flowers scents, but I would imagine this bouquet to be beautiful.

 

I put this on about 4 hours ago and it's still just faintly there. The OMGMEGAFLORALness has mellowed down and it's just a lovely perfumey blend. I would love this in a massage oil because it would remind me of having a luxurious spa treatment while on vacation. And really, what's better than that?

[edenssixthday]

Hi’iaka – WOW! This is the first blend I’ve encountered in a long time that makes me wish for 10 ml bottles to make a comeback. This is really an incredibly gorgeous tropical scent. It is a very strong floral and there’s absolutely nothing shy about it. This scent totally and completely reminds me of Hawaii. The orchid and white ginger are the strongest notes and it’s brightened up by a splash of lime. I have no idea what most of the Hawaiian notes in this blend are, but the overall scent is very bold, bright, and thoroughly South Pacific tropical. I have plane tickets for Hawaii in December of this year, and smelling this scent has me about a hundred times more excited for the trip than I already was. I’ll be buying a bottle of this to wear while I’m in Hawaii, and I have half a mind to buy bottles of it to give to all of my female family members as we celebrate Christmas in Hawaii. It’s gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous and if you like tropical floral scents, I can’t recommend this one enough. Oh, and the staying power is well above-average. Fantastic blend. Definitely a ten out of ten.

[gloom bear]

Hi'iaka starts as green banana and dries into an intensely perfumey clean white floral. I can't name the dominant note since I don't know what hibiscus or akala smell like. But it's not na'u that I'm smelling and I get very little rose. It's a really nice perfumey floral blend without any aquatic notes. As much as I wanted to love this one, after about half an hour the lovely floral notes faded leaving a nondescript scent that isn't bad, but nothing that I would want to wear again. I'm really bummed because I dance hula, and wanted to love Pele and Hi'iaka, but neither were great on me.

 

EDIT: I started using scents that I didn't like on my skin, in the oil warmer instead. In the warmer, Hi'iaka still goes through a similar evolution of top to bottom notes, but it's better than it was on my skin.

Edited May 21, 2008 by gloom & doom bear

[grrrlennyl]

at first: a heady, sweet floral with something warm.

on: amazing. the heady flowers smell fresher. there's a sweetness to this now, along with a bit of spiciness underneath.

1 hour later: a soapy floral with a lot of sweetness to it.

5 hours later: a sweet, slightly fruity floral.

6.5 hours later: slightly soapy, slightly fruity.

overall: this is ok, but not for me.

[AmyAngel]

In the imp, and wet on my skin, this smells a bit like bananas. It then dries to a sort of pink floral scent. It's soft and nice and pretty, but also a bit soapy. After it's completely dried it's a warm soft floral. There's a scent in there reminiscent of Gibbous Moon - the moonflower?

 

I think I'm going to try wearing this all day some day, to see how it does places other than my wrists, and if it goes too soapy. This isn't the sort of thing I wear often, but might be a nice summer or spring floral. As long as it doesn't get too soapy! My sister tried it on too, and she immediately exclaimed "soap!" and said that it stayed soap on her. I thought it was a pretty pink floral soap, but yeah, it was soap.

 

I like it on me, but it's threatening to veer into soap territory, which I cannot handle. I'll keep the imp for now, but definitely not a bottle at this point!

[sookster]

straight sniff from imp this *is* a beautiful hawaiian scent

 

this is sooooooooooo pretty...sweet and fruity with gorgeous island florals

i can just picture the lovely ladies of hawaii in their grass skirts and leis on a

warm summer evening dancing on the beach

[The_Merf]

I expected this to be a more floral counterpart to Pele, and I think that's not a bad way to describe it. In the imp I was really able to pick up on the florals in this blend, as well as the white (i.e., not as evil) ginger. When I put it on, I picked up on cool florals--probably the moon flower and the orchids (I'm not familiar enough with these blooms to say definitively). However, at the back of the scent, as it were, was this odd creamy note. It was almost like coconut, but a little creamier and not quite foody, but almost foody. It really didn't sit well with me, and because of that note, I think I'm going to have to take a pass on this one, which is a shame, because the flowers are really quite pretty and not terribly overwhelming.

[purplemoonshoes]

A light, sweet tropical floral, a little green on the skin. I wish I could pick out individual notes, but I don't know what half of these smell like, or even are! Great throw- I love when I can smell scents with putting my nose on my wrist.

[alicia_stardust]

HI'IAKA

 

Wet: In the bottle it smells like warm tropical air and a smattering of flowers.

 

Dry on Skin: As this settles into my skin, it turns into a dusky and complex tropical floral scent. It's warm and inviting. The orchids are heady and I love the ginger; it is softer and blends in with the florals but it smells just like a candle from Illuminations called Hawaiian Ginger. As time passes, Hi'Iaka gets a touch aquatic but keeps the medley of tropical blooms. This has a longer than average staying power and a strong throw. It's very pretty and it brings to mind the color of velvety yellow flower petals and Pacific islands.

[supremegoddessofall]

A lot foodier than I thought it would be - the ginger is coming out *a lot* and really is overwhemling the florals. Not really for me.

 

Score: 2

[grashopper8]

On me, this smells like gardenia, pineapple, and a hint of lemon (which I'm assuming is actually the ginger). It's very pretty, but it's not sticking out as a must-have-bottle blend. It's a little soapy on me, as well.

 

I'm getting too used to being bowled over by unique BPAL potions!!! Hehe - even when I like something, if it doesn't make me tap dance, I'll shrug and let it pass me by. Someone else will love this way more than I'm giving it credit for! A happy, light, tropical floral with a flash of I-think-it's-fruit. And yet, I'm still gonna probably swap it

[Blood onmy hands]

I've put off reviewing Hi'iaka because I have trouble describing florals. This one is light, slightly perfumey, a touch soapy, and an overall tropical fruity-floral mishmash to my nose. I don't like scents that go perfumey or soapy, but somehow Hi'iaka actually isn't unpleasant. I probably wouldn't ever wear it, but it's still a nice, clean, tropical floral scent.

[YoakeNoKami]

Bananas, dates, mountain air. These are the first things I catch, in the imp--a sun kissed kind of lightness.

 

On, I lose most of the date and my skin gnaws the bananas, and I'm left with an airy, light scent.

 

Drydown: After losing the fullness of the bananas, there's not much of this left on me... I get faintly sweet air, which fades quickly, but I adore it while it lingers. It makes me think of the day ending--cooling--and though the sun is no longer visible, it still lights the sky in brilliant colors.

[yeahbutnobut]

Hi’iaka

 

In the imp: a very pretty watery floral. A little faint, a little crisp.

Wet on skin: green! This has a slight ‘crushed leaf’ scent, along with something almost like banana.

Dry: a sharp, slightly bitter green, like the crushed stems of flowers from the florist’s. There’s a sweeter floral underneath that tangle of wet greenery, possibly the orchid? I also smell something which is like banana-I think someone mentioned that one of those floral notes is banana flower? That explains why I smell it here. But sadly one of the notes seems to be turning a little icky on me…either the green or the banana note. It actually reminds me of Poisson D’Avril, but with tropical blooms added, even though I also smell something reminiscent of bluebells or lilac here.

After a while: ack, that bitter green scent is taking over. The sweet floral scent that I got before, even the banana which threatened to turn cloying, is trampled by this all-consuming greenness, like some kind of mutant weed growing through the scent and killing the flowers. The only flower that remains is a pretty hibiscus, a tart and crisp bloom, and maybe one of the orchids. But apart from that, the weedy bitter greenery has overgrown.

Eventually this just turns very sour and acrid on my skin, bitter and wilted. It smells like all the promised tropical blooms have died, there’s even a hint of ‘stale vase water’ to it. After that, it fades away fast, which, in this case, is a good thing.

Verdict: I was hoping this would work-Pele was a weak disappointment on me and I hoped that her sister’s scent would fare better. sadly, tropical flower scents are incredibly hit or miss, this one being a miss. To me this is Poisson D’Avril, Hawaiian style. And Poisson didn’t work on me-it was a mix of bitter grass and soapy flowers, which I also get here. The green sharpness here also reminds me of the bitter green weedy grass of One to Tie. There’s also an odd banana-smelling note here which I’m not crazy about. The scent has the potential to turn beautiful but then the greenery takes over and it’s not a nice greenery, but a suffocating scent of bitter plant stems which then turns to vase water and wilted blooms. I was hoping this would be a bright, summery, tropical scent but this ain’t my thing. I much prefer Ile de la Tortue as my island jungles and exotic orchids scent.

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? No.

If you like this, try: Pele, Love in Idleness, Midnight, Asphodel, Manila, Poisson D’Avril, One to Tie

[filigree_shadow]

Wow, only 18 reviews of this so far? That surprises me. I thought tons of people would want to try it as soon as it came out, based on the description.

 

Mostly I'm not all that thrilled with tropical/exotic island scents because it seems like there are about four varieties: too much gardenia, coconut, pineapple, or aquatic notes. (For my tastes, anyway.) So when I saw the description for Hi'Iaka, I really wanted to try it because it sounded like a different tropical scent.

 

It is! It definitely has a tropical floral feel to it, but the white ginger gives it a nice kick, and it's a brighter floral than your standard gardenia blend. Right at first I thought it smelled like bananas, oddly, but as it dries I don't smell any of that anymore.

 

It's very pretty and quite different from other tropical scents. I like this one a lot.

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Tropical floral.

 

Immediately on skin: This is a very complex floral… and it’s quite a bit fruity and very sweet. I looked up the first component, mai’a, to see what it smells like, and it’s a banana plant, but I don’t find a banana note in this at all. It’s very cool and tropical.

 

After a few minutes: This is a very floral blend, but it’s quite refreshing. I can pick out the hibiscus and moon flower, and a slight warm spiciness from the ginger. The lab’s orchid always turns sweet on me, and this blend is no exception; but it’s subdued and gorgeous.

 

Overall Impressions: Even though this blend is very floral, I find it to be rather cool and refreshing. It’s a very breezy scent, and the sweeter flowers like the orchids are balanced out by the cooler (what I call “bluer”) flowers like the hibiscus and moon flower. There’s a slight fruitiness, but it’s very subtle and nice. Overall, this is a great tropical smelling floral blend and it’s very bright, cool, and cheerful.

[SarahScent44]

Well, I feel like I'm at a disadvantage, because I don't know any of these notes - but here goes!

 

In the imp, it definitely smells tropical - there are heavy, swoony flowers with a hint of ginger.

 

On my skin, the ginger is just a hint stronger, but it's still blended very well with all of tropical flowers.

 

When it dries, it's gorgeous, but very faint. Still a keeper - just an often-reapplier.

[suki]

in the imp: fruity/floral. reminds me STRONGLY of mimosa flowers in the height of summer- which, if you've never had the pleasure, is a wonderful thing.

 

wet on skin: WOW, the mimosa is mixing a bit with gardenia. this is fantastic! swoon!

 

dry down: sweet, without being cloying, it's like walking through a beautiful garden in the heat of late july summer.

 

in all: keeping in mind that i'm VERY picky about my florals, all's i can say is: i think i'm in love.

 

 

[Iceblink]

Fresh ginger and tropical flowers! I don't have much luck with BPAL's "tropical" blends. Pele might as well have been water on me. This doesn't have much staying power but it is *very* tropical indeed--you can almost feel the ocean breeze. Reminds me a bit of Blood Pearl.

[rhiannonsanchez]

I wasnt really impressed with Hi'iaka. Its a nice floral, but there was only a hint of tropical anything to me. its pretty but not amazing.

[inurbanus]

Hi'iaka is one of those scents that I'd always wanted to try, but never got around to it until the lab sent me a frimp of it. I'm glad I got the opportunity, because it's a lovely lush floral. I'm not sure how to describe this, but Hi'iaka expands once it's on my wrist -- this has terrific throw. In evaluating what kind of floral category it belongs to, it's definitely tropical, with a little bit of ginger to make things more interesting. I get some fruit (bananas?) as well. What surprises me is that the floral is kind of "green" smelling, which I love. It's perfect for summer, but it's going to be hard work saving my imp of this until then.

 

4/5