Hellhound on My Trail

[MeiLin]

Bay rum, bourbon vanilla, galangal, hyssop, High John the Conqueror root, tobacco, life everlasting, and brimstone.

Put this on the boy. Masculine, sporty, insolent. Like.

[Rheliwen]

Hmm, I get a lot of sweet clove from this. It's grainy/powdery cola. Like those chalk candies in cola flavor...you know the ones. No booze here.

 

Out of the bottle I got Black Lace meets Antonino. It's less so on but the match does compare somewhat.

[olive]

This is spicy! It's almost like Plunder (someone else compared it to Red Phoenix).. but I swear I'm gettng whiffs of Shub lurking deep in Hellhound. I'm a Shub connoisseur and can sniff out that gingerbread note anywhere.

 

I smell the vanilla (it's really faint) but it's mostly bay and gingerbread to me.

 

Drying down the vanilla moves closer to the front... vanilla+spices without being foody. I think this one lives up to the hype.

[portalkat]

I was attempting to pare down my shopping list and so I decided to begin by ordering only a decant of this. Then, I read the reviews and started to kick myself. When my decant arrived, I immediately tested and then I really wanted to kick myself. For the next half hour I was sniffing the air, but something was nagging at me and I couldn't quite put my finger on why it smelled so familiar. Then I had it - on me, this smells very much like Valentine of Rome which I love. For some reason, the combination of the notes ends up smelling like sweet resins on my skin. So, I didn't end up with a bottle of Hellhound, but I do have 3 bottles of Valentine.

[femmefatale]

Oh. My.

 

At first is does start out a bit herbal and a little astringent, but as it dries that fades and out comes a delicious boozy vanilla with just a hint of spice.

It ends up though a smokey slightly spicy vanilla that is just...

 

Both hubby and I tried it and on him it kept a more smokey herbal feel w/a touch of vanilla, where on me it was a rich spicy vanilla with a tiny hint of booze and a very slight smokiness.

 

I *love* this.

[Scanmike]

I also got the same Black Lace similarity. It's not masculine but more unisex on me. It does however, remind me of the same tobacco not in Black Lace with a touch of vanilla. I don't get any spice or booze. I do like it very much.

[Kabooki]

WHOA Howdy on the booze when I first put it on, as it dries down it turns into a spiced boozey floral mix and honestly it doesn't change much from this. I'm not to sure how I feel about this so far, I like it okay, but is it something I can see myself wearing again in the future? I have a feeling it will end up in my swaps before the end of next week :/

[dixiehellcat]

At last it arrived in my mailbox! In the decant my first impression was a vanilla note somewhat like my beloved Antikythera Mechanism, yet different somehow. On, it's still there, but with an herbal companion that makes a marvelous blend. After drydown, spicy and whiskey notes took over. I don't get any tobacco note at all till everything else is gone & then only a hint you have to get right next to my arm to smell.

 

I was afraid it might be too guy for me, but I love it. (that said, I hope to gift a guy with a decant as well--it's really androgynous!)

 

 

ETA to illustrate how different BPALs can be on different people, my cousin just called and informed me when she opened hers (same bottle, same decant circle) that lemon and mint hit her first, of all things. lol. She loves it too though.

Edited September 14, 2008 by dixiehellcat

[Czarina]

There is no accounting for body chemistry. Sadly, this smells awful on me (it was okay in the bottle). In the interest of science I will try to be specific in my critique.

 

In the bottle: bay rum, but with a medicinal note.

Wet: a stale attic. It smells like rotting wood, but not Beth's yummy rotting-wood scent from the Forbidding Foyer of last year's Haunted House. It smells like real rotting wood and rusty nails.

Drydown: old shoes.

 

How sad. I cannot smell the booze, the tobacco, the vanilla. They are all off somewhere having a party without my nose and me.

 

I bought Hellhound and all it brought me was this lousy coffin.

[Dormouse]

In the imp it is rather herbal and slightly medicinal with that bay rum tang. On, the bay rum and spices really come out . Someone mentioned Valentine of Rome earlier in the thread and I can see the comparison. This is less clove and more bay rum. Thankfully I'm not getting much vanilla, it just rounds out the background and gives a feeling of completeness to the scent.

 

I love it on me, I've been snuffling my wrist like a crazy woman and can hardly wait until Friday to try it on my husband. Wishing I'd gone for a bottle and not just a decant.

Edited September 16, 2008 by Dormouse

[jeniviolet]

This is lovely in the bottle, a smoky boozy vanilla.

 

On, it is all spicy spice. I take it that's the bay rum? It's not as overpowering as clove, but similar. This could be unisex, but it's a bit more masculine than I'd like to wear.

 

Drydown is a soft spice, and mostly faded and gone within an hour. If I stick my nose right on my wrist and inhale deeply, I can barely smell that smoky vanilla from the bottle. I would like that to be MOAR! So sad. I loooooove this in the bottle but it does not love me so much. This will be one for the scent locket and oil burner, I think.

[LadyLuckDoubt]

In the Bottle

A deep, boozy, masculine scent with slight tobacco smoke undertones. Yum. This is instasex. Seriously-- I just want to buy bottles of this and give them to people who have no idea about fragrance, because I suspect it's got that universal yum thing happening. Something about it-- the medicinal tang mentioned above, makes me think of Czernobog (which is one of my faves) but it's lighter and not as serious and intense as ol' 'Zernie.

 

On Me

It dries down quickly, and the booze note pretty much vanishes. Instead, I get a touch of vanilla tobacco and a warm red wood with some clove. It's delightful, and quite subtle-- not at all the beast I sniffed in the bottle.

 

I'm so curious as to what body chemistry does with this. Since it morphed so insanely on me, I wanna know what the other variations are like.

 

And... I regret not getting more than one bottle. Silly, silly me.

Edited September 17, 2008 by LadyLuckDoubt

[kakiphony]

In the bottle: This is sweeter than I expected. It's all bourbon vanilla on a very subtle base of woods. Interesting.

 

Wet on skin: Still surprisingly sweet. Definitely a mild wood base, and the bay rum is only showing up for me in the very top of the notes on the back of my palate after I sniff. Much less masculine than I expected.

 

Early dry down (10 minutes): Still very much a mild wood/vanilla combo, but there is a hint of spice developing. It's almost like a sweet ginger. I'm being reminded of both Anne Bonny and Shub, neither of which this should smell like at all. But I like it!

 

Late dry down (1 hour): This is a very mild scent on me and stays nicely next to my skin with little throw. The bay rum did develop a bit more over time, and the vanilla receded to the background. What I am left with is something on the sweet/woody end of the gender neutral spectrum (as opposed to the musky/incense end). The spice is ginger/bay and is mild and sweet.

 

I wish I'd bought more than one bottle.

 

This is going to rock on J.

[goblinshark]

In the imp: muddled but intriguing. Woodsy and vanilla-y and a bit dirty; reminds me of one of the Steamworks scents but I can't recall which.

 

On me: For the first half hour I smelled like a pencil. Like, the shavings, the graphite, and the eraser. I actually sort of like that stage, truthfully, but I could see it being off-putting to others.

 

After about half an hour, though, some of the other elements begin to play up and it smells warmer, and a little bit boozey. Gingerbready?

 

I'm glad I ordered it, I think it's a really nice, interesting gender-neutral scent, but one bottle is definitely enough for me.

[ravenfeathers]

chemistry is bizarre. after reading these reviews, i was not expecting this.

 

in the bottle dark, boozy, earthy; sexy like schwarzer mond with a three foot hard-on.

wet on skin i have no idea why this smells like licorice, but it does, like licorice root from my herb garden with the soil still clinging in the crevices; dark, sweet, herbaceous, but not sharp or astringent at all; i expect this is the hyssop.

dry on skin there's a dark greasiness here that's so reminscent of schwarzer mond, but the overall scent is quite different. drydown is sweet and black, heavy on the bay with a peep of vanilla and tobacco. it's earthy, but not dirty, in fact, it has a very clean overall feel.

[tehriaz]

what the hell? this dries down exactly like urd. wasn't too huge a fan of urd, either :\

[scotchgrrl]

There are a few notes in here that I have not smelled before so I don't recognize them specifically. I'll do my best.

 

In the bottle: rum and bourbon come through clearly. There is a bit of smoke in the background and something sharp that I don't recognize.

 

Wet: I get the rum and vanilla but more than that is something very green, just for a couple minutes. Then it goes to smoke, spice and something flora.

 

Dry: OMFG!! I love this. I get just the hint of tobacco and fair portion smoke with a sniff of vanilla and rum. To me, it smells a bit like someone is smoking a lovely pipe tobacco. Not nearby, but more like the smoke that has been wafting on the air currents for miles, hunting for me. The root scent comes out to mingle with the floral giving it an earthy note but not smothering it with dirt.

 

I think this would be one of those *rahr* scents if a man was wearing it. I'd be all pouncy. I love it on me though! May need to find another bottle of it.

[carbide]

Wet, there's a whole load of bay rum, a hint of something I recognise as galangal, and something else I'm guessing is High John root. It's all kind of producey, not unpleasant but my nose is twitching - about the same response I'd have to parsnips.

 

On drydown, it doesn't get any more promising. Bay rum is one of a few notes I just can't seem to wear in any combination - it ends up smelling like public toilet soap, really nasty, eyewateringly artifical floral - but I was so happy to see this concept come up that it almost made me tearful, so I had to hope otherwise.

 

I will give it another shot in about a week, just in case I can blame my hormone levels, but it seems like even Robert Johnson isn't enough to defeat my skin chemistry. The bottle art is lovely too, just to salt the wound.

[fairnymph]

Tested at EC Will Call: Not like I expected at all, very faint and light and fresh. Citrusy GALANGAL, with a bit of foody, sweet, Bourbon-boozy vanilla, and then more faintly herbal and spicy - boozy/herbal from the bay rum. Whisper of light tobacco. Definitely a masculine scent.

Edited September 21, 2008 by fairnymph

[tinyvulture]

i smell a strong tobacco note, sweetened up by bourbon vanilla. and there’s the familiar spice of bay rum, but it’s faint. it doesn’t pack its usual punch (like in Baron Samedi). here it’s covered up by something earthy, damp, and herbaceous -- like moss-covered ground. i have no idea what i’m smelling – maybe it’s the life everlasting or High John the Conquerer? i’m unfamiliar with those notes. i would really describe this scent as “murky.” it’s deep and dark and heavy. something about it reminds me of humid, oppressive summer evenings. it really weighs on you. and yet, it’s not very strong. it doesn’t have a lot of throw and really needs to be slathered on. hmm, i just don’t know about you, Hellhound. i love the concept, love the Robert Johnson tribute, but it just doesn’t seem like it’s working on my skin

[Schmoozy]

First Sniff: Earthy and boozy with a slight vanilla note.

 

On skin: Hello bay rum. Wow, not what I was expecting. It is masculine, and peppery/spicy. There is a herbal quality to it, and with the addition of vanilla this scent is all over the board.

 

Drydown: The tobacco note comes out and along with masculine Bay rum the spicy/peppery vanilla quality has toned down.

 

Final thoughts: Sweet, but masculine. Hellbound starts off weird, but as it goes through it various morphing stages, it turns into this really stunning blend.

[Esmeria]

Holy Hellhounds! This is the most masculine BPAL I've come across so far. It's the scent of the manliest, hottest guy who you just want to stay in bed with. All day.

 

Dean Winchester? This is your scent!

 

I didn't expect to like this on me, and swapped for it purely because of the Supernatural connection. Damn, am I glad I did. I love it- if I can't have Dean Winchester, then I can at least smell of him.

[ImperatrixMundi]

Normally the very hyped-up scents dont work work for me after all but this time I am glad I grabbed a bottle from the lab while it was available.

 

With some notes I am not familiar at all so I cant pick them out specifically. But there is a lot of the bay rum and something sharp that I find unpleasant while wet. I'll spare you my association so I dont ruin it for anyone

 

When it dries down it gets a lot sweeter, there is bay and vanilla and something earthy. The scent is very warm, smooth and peppery and very comforting. Very lovely and rather unisex than masculine for me

[Persephone76]

For some reason this reminds me of Mr. Nancy. With bay rum. And lots of sex.

 

I LOVE it and am hoarding bottles like a fiend.

[dawndie]

Wet: faint cologne

 

On skin: spice!

 

Half-hour later: this smells "rooty" with the tobacco and High John, more like a voodoo blend

 

In conclusion: this wasn't as masculine as I feared from the bay rum and tobacco. While I could wear this occasionally, this would smell AMAZING on a guy, so I'll keep an eye out for some for my husband. Love the backstory and fun to try!