Hellhound on My Trail

[OctoberGwen]

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

 

Thank you, joyfulgirl, for the tester!

This smells gorgeous on me. I'm often somewhat 'meh' on bourbon vanilla, but here it is perfect. It lends a rich sweetness to the smoky, spicy base; the rum is really well behaved, I get just a whiff. It's really well blended.

I love this.

[Balame]

Thanks again to hlinspjalda for frimping me this! Was very curious about it since there was a major fuss a few years back when it came out, but the notes didn't call out to me at the time. I was really concerned about the brimstone, which can be overly smoky, but this is surprisingly not.

 

Much lighter and "girlier" than I prepared myself for. I would say the sweet bay rum is dominant, supported by bourbon vanilla. It has hints of herbal/green about it from the roots, and a delicate spice that almost smells like cinnamon to me. Hyssop is related to my most hated anise (licorice scent, bleh) and there is almost a candy sweetness from it here.

 

Nearly a hit. I do think it's the hyssop screwing things up, as I wanted this to be a boozy, spicy, softly sweet scent... but as it dries the sweetness amps and starts to remind me of a candy shop. So I dislike it for almost the opposite reason I was expecting to dislike it. Not highly smoky, but highly sugary. It actually reminds me a bit of Coca Cola. Ah well, I'm sure I'll be able to swap it off to someone who will love it!

[tharsei-thanate]

Bought an imp of this from a fantastic forumite. As a fan of Supernatural, I'm super excited to finally test this!

 

In the imp: Sweet, spicy, boozy. Reminds me of Port Royal, actually. Not bad at all!

 

Wet: Hmmm. Not sure what this green scent is that's coming out. The hyssop? HJC root? Life everlasting? I'm not too familiar with any of them so I'm not sure which one this is. Also something smells like... citronella???

 

Drydown: The green calms down but that citronella sort of smell is getting stronger. There's also those light Port Royal type spices and a splash of rum. Not really bad but nothing to write home about.

 

Dry: Wait a sec, that citronella smell is tobacco! It's becoming more smoky so now it's easier to identify it. I'm also smelling faint brimstone, and brimstone's always had a citronella sort of tang on me, too, now that I think about it. The brimstone and tobacco are glistening with spilled rum. Not really getting vanilla, and there's only a faint suggestion of the plant portions of this blend.

 

Further on: It's gets nicer the longer it's on, namely because it's getting spicier and I love spice. (:

 

Verdict? Well, I think my allergies might be screwing me up a little! I certainly like this blend, but I don't love it because the wet and drydown stages aren't wowing me. I'll have to do more tests once my allergies calm down.

 

Also I can't really imagine a Winchester smelling like this. It's not quite gritty enough. Jo, on the other hand? I can definitely see her rocking this blend.

[Roogna]

this is..... so faint I can hardly smell it - on my or in the imp!!

direct nose to skin gets practically nothing

kinda sweet, kinda brimstone but too faint to tell.

[Zii]

In the mp, this is a very smokey and deep green scent. I am familiar with High John the Conqueror root from my pagan workings and I can definitely get it's bitter green from the imp.

 

On my skin, this is the same scent from the imp, just deeper and smokier. There is something faintly waxy and it is very peppery and sharp, warming my nose. As it dries, it becomes dustier and spicier, and the faint sweetness of the vanilla becomes much clearer. It fortunately never gets overly boozy on me, but there is very much an air of rum around this. Not so much drinking rum, but being in a room where other people are drinking rum.

 

While I don't see myself reaching for this often, I am super glad I hunted some of this down.

[filigree_shadow]

I expected this to be rooty and herbal and vaguely horrifying (I don't like that kind of scent), and when I first put it on it seemed pretty pee-yoo. But I gave it a while. The bay rum note was shouting a lot, and I wasn't super happy about that. But when it dried down, it turned into this very pleasant, only marginally masculine, sweet and kind of clean-smelling planty vanilla.

 

On me, this scent reminds me a lot of Tombstone. It's softer, for sure. But, I actually like Tombstone better. Maybe out of familiarity. I doubt I'll have trouble finding a home for the decant.

[aquazoo]

It is a little doggy, then the vanilla turns up. Only a little bit of herbs, so they don’t overpower it.

[LizziesLuck]

Thanks so so much to the lovely who gifted me some of this to try! <3

 

 

Wet: Wow. At first I think - I have smelled nothing like this. And then I think, wait, this is so familiar! And then I just think - Wow. It's familiar and peculiar at the same time. It's surprisingly soft and elegant, based on those notes. I do think it's unisex enough that a man could wear it. Actually, I would really like to smell it on one.

 

 

Dry: This is difficult to describe. In the beginning, it smells quite herbal, and I feel like it smells like what New Orleans would smell like, and I love that. I found myself thinking in the beginning that it would actually be tough for me to wear. But once it dries down - oh man. It's even better. Still familiar, yet totally unique somehow. Like familiar notes combining to create something totally indescribable and wonderful. It's now totally wearable, and the vanilla makes me adore it. But this is such a DIFFERENT vanilla, maybe because of what it's paired with. I loves it. I needs more.

[celestia]

♔ Hellhound on my Trail

I bought this when it came out, blind and direct... but years later I gave my bottle away because, much like Banshee Beat, I couldn't handle the dirty or herbally gritty aspect of the scent- but then my partner fell in love with it. I had to track another down for him.

In the Bottle: Sweetened smooth patchouli, a little herbal and 'fresh'

Wet: Sweet, herbally and fragrant but turns rather sour like dead leaves on me. There is no vanilla I can detect but there is a hint of smoke from the tobacco. The bay rum adds a bit of spice but it’s so blended into the rest of the scent I can’t detect it very well individually.

Drydown: Crunchy leaves and green smoke. On my partner this phase smells incredible, like a somewhat dirty, herbal slightly sweet vanilla- quite refined and perfumey on him. Definitely worked with his chemistry there, not so much mine. Had the vanilla been extracted from the blend altogether into its own, I would purchase one for myself, but then it would clearly not be given this name. This bourbon vanilla variation is not similar to the others I have, it's slightly heavy, richer, and even a little boozy and smoky intermingling with the bay rum and tobacco.. it's not so much the dry sweet bourbon vanilla present in a lot of the more recent blends, though that might have something to do with aging.

TL;DR: Nope. Green smoke, crunchy leaves, masking a beautifully hidden sugared vanilla

It smells like dirty herbal slightly sweet vanilla- quite refined and perfumey on him. Definitely worked there.