Hurricane

[camaro199183]

The Dark Side of Air: a high pitched, tangy, clear scent -- light China rain deepened by murky vetivert.

LOVE IT!! maybe it's because I live in Charleston, SC, I absolutly LOVE the smell of a storm. Hurricane makes me think of Charleston after a big storm. Puddles everywhere and soaked spanish moss hanging from the oak trees.

[ralenth]

The scent doesn't really corollate with what I remember hurricanes smelling like, at least not on my skin. At first, it has an ozone tang surrounded by light aquatic notes, but it sharpens into something astringent. Unfortunately not a winner for me. I'll try it later on in the month and then off to swaps.

[jdeschaines]

Hurricane is one of my favourites. At first sniff, in the Imp, I hated it. I hated it so much that I almost threw it out. Thankfully, I decided to test it first.

 

It goes spicy, resin-y and cedar-y almost immediately and reminds me of old New England Catholic Churches. It makes me homesick

[Nimthiriel]

Initial impression:

Tangy and clear is right – and it does smell like rain! Dark rain, the kind you get in a winter or autumn rainstorm.

 

First on:

Wet, it smells like wet rocks, wet soil, and decomposing leaves – a very cold autumn scent.

 

Dry:

After about 10 mins, it's only really describable as ”dark rain” - it's a really masculine, dark-yet-fresh scent. I think this would smell wicked on my boyfriend (whom I actually bought this for).

 

20-30 mins after application, the vetiver takes over on my skin, destroying the rainy freshness. How sad – hopefully the boyfriend's skin chemistry is better!

 

Finally:

An interesting scent, in short. Not for me, but then again, I bought it for someone else.

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Smoky with a sharp tang of vetivert and slight aquatic note.

 

Immediately on skin: Very smoky with a distinctive burned wood scent and clean rain under the smoky note.

 

After a few minutes: This is a tangy scent, but not very rain-like. It’s very smoky in a savory foody way (like mesquite woodchips in a smoker or something) and there’s a very light clean scent beneath that.

 

Later on: This fades to a pretty airy scent with a touch of vetivert. The smoky wood note has disappeared completely, even though it flooded the blend for the first couple of hours.

[melusine]

In the imp: dark, watery, a little tang of vetiver.

 

First on: Wow, the vetiver really jumps out, dark and a little bit burning, a little wood, and some soft, somewhat sweet musky undertones.

 

Dry: This faded on me so fast. I only put it on an hour ago and I can hardly smell it with my nose pressed to my wrist. Just a hint of that sweet musky smell, and a faint whiff of that burn-y vetiver.

[kopper]

 

This is the most peculiar scent I have witnessed thus far in my BPAL addiction. Immediately upon opening the imp, it smelled green and murky to me, with a tinge of aquatic goodness.

 

BUT, it changed dramatically, quickly, and I cannot get past what it turned into: fake plastic smelling halloween red lips. Ok, they aren't plastic, you know those red lips you put over your own, I think they are made out of wax? WELL if you bite into them, this TASTE comes of out of them, all plastic and such...and that is exactly what hurricane turned into on me. Rats. Oh well, off to swap perhaps.

 

*running to look at BPAL page for more scents to buy!*

[impadua@aol.com]

I can't decide of I like this or not. It doesn't really have a very strong smell, but I do smell the acrid woody smell and a dark watery smell, kind of saturated, boggy, if that makes any sense.

I will have to try this on another time and see if I can "yay" or "nay" it.

[daiconharuko]

This is a really neat scent. To me, it smells like California.... mainly because on the "Soaring over California" ride at Disney's California Adventure there is a scent like this when it goes over one part. I actually think it's the orange grove, which is why I think this scent has a kind of citris tang to it. It reminds me of a rainstorm in the forest. I love it!

[Trish]

In the Imp: Woah vetivert! I don't mind a little but this might be a bit too much. It's very wet vetivert too.

 

Wet: Same but a little softer.

 

Drydown: Same, just gradually softens and sweetens.

 

Dry: This is quite sweet now, and yes it does have that rain quality. And rotting wood. It has pretty good throw too!

 

I don't like aquatics and this has done nothing to change my mind one bit. Off to the swap pile it goes!

[pzb]

My first response to this was "China rain. Holy CRAP China Rain."

 

And unfortunately, it stayed that way. I kept it on for over an hour. All the while, it stayed VERY sharp and it never softened, never got anything other than the China rain on it. So off to a friend it will go.

[lamenteuse]

in the bottle: tangy air?

 

wet and dry: normally, i separate these subjects, but it was completely the same smell for both. bug spray. i don't know why, but it just smelt like bug spray to me.

 

verdict: 1 out of 5. i liked the wet scent, but the bug spray was just awful. maybe as a simmering room scent, it will work?

[smillaraaq]

In the bottle/wet: sort of clean, cold, green, faintly minty...reminds me a little bit like the pennyroyal in Mad Hatter. Drydown: well, I guess the "China Rain" note must be everything I'm smelling that isn't the familiar faint murky woodiness of vetiver in the background: it's sort of a wet, green, vaguely sweet smell, but the vetiver keeps it from being too cloyingly sweet. The vetiver gets a little stronger with further wear, but never enough so to dominate the sweet-green stuff.

 

Since I'd never really tried any China Rain notes from other perfumers before I had no idea what to expect, and was a little startled when a little research showed me it's classed as an ozone scent -- the clean-coldness of it makes sense, but I'm used to thinking of ozones as a little sharper, somehow! But it went insanely sharp on the friend I passed the imp on to, so maybe that's just a quirk of interaction with my skin chemistry. The scent definitely doesn't remind me of any of the hurricanes I lived through as a child, and really didn't even have a particularly "air" feel to me, but it was interesting enough to sample. Ozone/marine scents generally don't do much for me in other perfumes, though, so I guess it's no great surprise that they're not my thing in BPAL either.

[MaidenGenevive]

Hurricane

 

Wet and Earthy, with a minty edge. This is smelling like harsh cleaning chemicals or bug spray. It's astringent and reminds me of Burial, which is not a good thing. It was mildly okay in the very very beginning, but has ceased to be even remotely pleasant for me.

 

[ 1 - Hate ]

 

Well, I've hated 3 of the 4 Dark Elements, so I'm thinking this probably isn't my category.

[Pottersville]

Starts out dusty/dirty with a vaguely unpleasant note (ozone?), which sticks around for awhile. Then it goes sweet. Weird, unfortunate combo!

[hkhm]

imp: smokey aquatic. this is quite an unusual scent.

 

wet: smoke. there's no aquatic on me at all, just smoke.

 

dry: sour smoke. this does not smell at all nice on me but i think it would be great for a mood scent, perhaps for a costume.

[Apple]

Very dark and almost burnt smelling at first, then a note of... menthol? eucalyptus?... creeps forward, only to be suffocated by baby powder. I catch whiffs of vetiver here and there, but mostly it's just baby powder.

 

A second attempt was no more successful. My partner remarked that it smelled like "burnt bug spray" and that the knowledge that such a scent existed was soul-killing, or something like that. Decidedly not a positive reception.

[bryghtrose]

I just got a very alcoholic scent- almost rubbing alcohol.

[heathercaley]

I got frimped on this one. I smelled that rotting wood and wet dirt with the ozone quality of rain. I live in California so I guess you have to live in a bog to get a scent memory of this one. It didn't work with me.

 

I'm used to the smell of "wildfire" wood.. not rotting wood

[YoakeNoKami]

Imp: Wet earth and vetiver... egh...

 

On: VETIVER!!!!!! and waterlogged earth again, but with this really sharp ozone tang to it. Noooo!

 

Drydown: Destructively dark smelling--crushed wood, bogs, shattered stone, ozone, and that weird calm emptiness of something that's just been torn apart.

[MaeKitty]

Bottle: Eucalyptus, mint, musk and pine?

 

Wet: This is a very OMGHIIIII! scent on me. I was not prepared for that. I guess that's the nature of a hurricane though, isn't it? Still kind of mint/pine-y.

 

Dry-Down: Softening up, smelling more like a big storm in the summer. Wet, heavy, but refreshing and sort of sweet. This is a very complex and strange scent. Gets almost...smokey? Reminds me of what camp smells like after a big rain.

 

I appreciate this one, though I can't say that I would wear it on a day to day basis. I might consider keeping this one for ritual use. Neat.

[gchris]

In vial: Mossy and tangy, very mossy but not in a green way.

 

Wet: Something harsh like the strong scent of wet wood. A little offensive.

 

Drydown: The harshness calming down, smoothing out, but still very tangy. Has a 'bite' to it.

 

Later...Still tangy. Reminds me of the orange flavored chewable vitamins I use to take as a child.

.

[seamor]

Ack! Oh dear, oh no! Some of this unpleasantness has *got* to be because of my weird skin chemistry.

 

Completely indescribable.. swampy? .. something rotten ... dark, humid ... what am I smelling? ... urk ...

 

Okay, just NO.

 

A flash of ozone ... Wow! How the heck did she do that? Amazing!

 

Interesting but, on me, hideously repellent. And not in the anti-mosquito way, either.

 

Phew!

[sadtomato]

very wet, murky and dark smelling.

much like i would expect a hurricane to smell...all the dirty and debris that would be stirred up by the winds and downpours.

a very unusual and interesting scent.

not one i'd wear often, but i'll certainly keep the imp and try to acquire more of them in the future.

[Kimbernunk]

Interesting scent for a rainy day. A friend swapped this to me in a "let's trade what didn't work" type deal - the upshot of this is that the imp's been aging for about a year or so.

 

In imp: definitely ozone/aquatic/sweet+salt and a little bit of vetiver in the background.

Immediately on skin: ZOMG VETIVER. Not polite vetiver (is vetiver ever polite?), rather very loud screaming in your face vetiver.

Initial drydown: After five minutes the vetiver and the china rain balance themselves a bit - it's like standing outside in a downpour dancing on upturned roots.

Dry: the vetiver calms WAY down and is almost unnoticeable except that it lends a slight 'damp concrete' smell to the whole thing. It's actually turned extremely sweet on me as well, which blows my mind a bit.

Throw: strong on me - I barely dabbed it on and it's wafting everywhere.

Verdict: 3/5. It's nice and I'll keep the imp but it won't be an everyday type thing.