[nenia]

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

evokes what i would imagine a hurricane to smell like, but with a bit too much tang, almost a rotting scent. so perhaps a hurricane with decayed bits of wood floating around in dark waters.

unfortunately, i did not care for this scent at all.

[Thanatopsis Azraelis]

I love this scent. Out of all the BPAL scents I've tried so far, it's my absolute favorite. Maybe it just didn't work with your body chemistry, as this is heavenly on me. When it goes on, it's more tangy, but I don't smell any kind of rot like you did. The thing I like best about it, though, is how it just gets progressively sweeter and sweeter on the drydown. After it's been on all day, it's amazing.

[chai_girl]

I got an imp of this as an extra. Unfortunately, I was taking some imps to work to share with some co-workers and I hadn't put the cap back on this one and it spilled all over the other oils. When I took out the other oils, my hands were covered in it.

This is a very unusual scent. At first I didn't like it, but it began to grow on me. I've lived on the coast most of my life and it finally came to me that it was the scent of a wetland/swamp right after a big storm had come to clear out the murkiness...the murkiness lingers but it has this fresh scent weaving through it. I don't really know how to explain it but it was dead on. Not really a scent I'd wear but it did evoke some wonderful memories.


Lisa in Austin

[RosieP]

When I first sniffed this in the vial, I wasn't sure whether I'd like this - smelt a little TOO tangy and yes, I smelt a rotting wood smell too. Nonetheless, I wore it to work today and it has developed into a soft, sweet, unusual scent - warm and slightly earthy in a MiddleEarth soap kind of way.

Seemed to fade after a couple of hours, or perhaps my nose was just getting used to it. Interestingly, when I re-applied it I didn't notice the rotting wood smell this time - presumably this only happens with the first application onto my skin.

I think this might go on my (growing) list for a bigger bottle. Very unusual, but nice.

[littleblu]

Out of all the watery - weathery scents I've tried so far (Undertow, Tempest, Jolly Roger) this is the one that smells most "masculine" on me, a bit piney almost, but in a good way.

It softens a bit with wearing and after a few hours it smells very much like rain indeed. Like sitting on your back porch with a glass of wine while it's chucking it down. I can smell the murkiness too; a bit like grass and mud being losened by the rain. I would love to try to burn this - I think it would be heavenly!

Another winner - how will I ever edit my list for big bottles down?

[Tesseljoan]

I know my nose is weird, but when I first opened this up I thought it smelled of gherkins. That sourness is still there, but it isn't so overwhelmingly gherkin-y anymore. Now that it's dry, it smells very sharp and waterlike. It evokes the feeling of painfully cold horizontal rain for me.

ETA: Using it for the second time, and it's not gherkins that i smell, but cucumber. Not that it's a big difference, but I thought I'd let you know anyway. :P

This post has been edited by Tesseljoan: 09 April 2004 - 06:44 PM

[friendthegirl]

This is an unusual scent.

I can't put my finger on what it is about it.

As others have said it does smell somewhat like right before it rains. I'm not sure if I like it or not and think I have to try it again.

[jj_j]

The China Rain is definitely aquatic and reminiscent of a hard rain clearing the air. There must just be a drop of vetivert in this, because it's grounded, but only barely.

Unfortunately, Hurricane resembled an expensive and pleasant guest soap on my skin in a couple of minutes. Will have to pass, in spite of my liking of this initially.

[hypothermya]

This was another oil recommended to me in liu of Tempest (which wasn't quite right smelling for the scent I was envisioning). The previous scent that I'd tried as a replacement (Tears) I'd had quite an allergic reaction to; this one smells similar, in terms of the aquatic notes, but murkier, more dark and dangerous, and has the rotting wood smell that the other reviewers noticed. So I'm only testing a small amount until I can be certain that I'm not going to have respitory hell again. :P

In the Bottle

Sharp and salty. The same ocean scent that Tears had, but with the undertone of rotting wood. Too salty straight from the imp ear -- it makes me not want to try it on... Oh, and there's the vetivert! It's hiding underneath the salty watery scents, but I caught it before it could really conceal itself! Imagine a leather jacket that's been tossed about in the waves for a really long time, and finally dredge to the shore. You can't really smell its origins anymore, only the faintest notes of that oily, leather underneath the pure ocean smell.

Wearing It

I'm bracing myself for an allergic reaction here, tissues and everything at the ready. Just like the Tears, the salty smell picks up right away, but then dies down as it dries. Oh, I'm a dolt! I just stuck my nose straight into it! Oh, but as it dries, it really does have that right before or right after the storm smell! I was in the car last night and able to witness a rare summer rain, and it has a smell just like that, but with something salty and murky underneath. Rotting wood. That's the best thing I can say to describe it. And...there goes my nose. And eyes. And throat. Just as I thought. Allergies.


Well, this one definitely didn't work out. In addition to not being the best scent in the world, it's an allergy stimulus. Gah. Hate allergies. Unfortunately, this is another one that I'm going to have to part with. Hopefully, Lightening will work out. A pity. Beth has a knack for capturing the feeling of a scent... But I think that this is one of those scents that sounds more romantic than it really is. Oh well.

[heartbeast]

My first whiff of this reminded me of the Ananda brand China Rain oil I wore as a teen. "Oooh", I thought, "a yummy walk down memory lane!" But alas, it was not to be. The scent quickly morphed into a more natural and pleasant version of my ex-roommate's stanky "XXTREME SPORT!!!" deodorant--natural and pleasant, but still too "sport boy" for me. (Or my boy, for that matter.)

However, a good 4 or 5 hours into it, I got the same indefineable lovely sweetness that Thanatopsis did...but it faded back into the Xtreme Sport smell by the end of the day.

I think it can be encouraged to stay in that lovely sweet place with some judicious layering...I have a lovely single note violet cologne from Spain that might do the trick, or maybe BBW's Limelight body spray.

[Northernminx]

I'm an air and fire person so I was interested in this and Inferno in big ways.
There's a definite aquatic, dark, dank, deep note to this. It's the scent of going out on the back porch in the woods when there's a big storm roiling through. It's also the scent I get when I'm driving pell mell through a thunderstorm with my windows down, getting soaked and loving every minute of it. There's nothing nice about this, it's just tangy, fresh, and merciless.

Very sharp at first, a stronger darker version of some of Beth's lighter aquatics that I just swooned over. It's a lovely scent, strong and fresh and yet somehow menacing. However, it dried down sweet, fast and slid right into soapy baby powder on me.

Bad chemistry. no biscuit.

Sadly this goes into the swap due to my silly skin.

[babykitty]

Wow! I got this in a swap & am loving it! Doesn't remind me of a hurricane or really anything aquatic at all. There's a lovely earthiness about it & I find it very cozy. Reminds me of an Indian Summer. It's very masculine to me, but i wouldn't mind wearing it myself.

[feline.by.design]

I received this as a freebie imp (thanks, oh Lab dieties) yesterday, the day before Hurricane Charley was to hit. Apt.

I'm trying it today and I really think this scent is gorgeous. The scent is crisp, practically juicy. This wasn't something I would've normally picked out, but man, I'm glad they stuck this in my box! It's fairly long-lasting as well, I can still smell this on my wrists after applying the fragrance three hours ago.

All in all, I'm really happy with this scent.

-doreen

(Postscript: I've just placed an order for a 5 ml bottle, since I liked the scent so much. The morning after Hurricane Charley went through Orlando, my boyfriend and I walked around our neighbourhood. Many huge oak trees had fallen over, and there were tree limbs and branches scattered about. The scent of the broken wood is spot-on the "tang" described in the BPAL scent. Which makes me wonder how in the hell did Beth and the gang get this so dead-on living in California.)

This post has been edited by feline.by.design: 18 August 2004 - 09:03 PM

[isyche]

On me, Hurricane is like Lightning with vetiver added. It does remind me of a thunderstorm with the smells of rain, mud and wet wood, which is interesting - but, I'm finding that most of the "rain" scents don't work so well for me to wear, and vetiver hates me. So this shall be swapped.

[lixolux]

its the ocean! out on the water, chilly breezing by you...later it becomes, baby powder? where did my sweet salty go? Hurricane, you went by so fast....still i love it!

[malanna]

I expected more of an earthy/nature sort of perfume from the previous reviews, but this seemed very old lady perfume-y. Maybe there's jasmine, which usually gives me the old lady perfume impression. If I sniff the perfume and really think about it, there is rotting wood. But this is mostly just the smell of a really old woman who still pulls out her decades old perfume to "freshen" up. And there's definitely a hint of vetiver, making it a green (mossy) smell. This also is a bit of a "before the rain" smell, but maybe over a hot, humid swamp, not before a light, cool rain.

[Penance]

Got an imp of this from Spanglemaker. :P

First sniff:

Aquatic but swampy with something that smells vaguely like rotting wood. This is what I expected Bayou to smell like. This is a really unusual scent in the best possible way. :D

Wet on skin:

The same as in the bottle. This really does remind me of the aftermath of a hurricane when there's debris and standing water everywhere and the weak sunlight that heralds the end of the storm. I really like this!

Dry down:

Aquatic and vaguely sweet like rotting vegetation with an undertone of damp wood. It's not at all unpleasant to my nose. As a matter of fact, I really like it! :D

The bottom line:

This is probably the most unusual BPAL scent I've tried yet. It's everything I had imagined Bayou would be like and then some. I think this is probably a hit or miss kind of scent, but for me it's a hit!

[grrrlennyl]

hurricane

at first: weird. i think i just smell vetivert.
on: wow. almost sweet, but the vertivert takes care of it being truly sweet. simple, but interesting.
1 hour later: less sweet now and more of the tangy scent from the description. i still like it.
2 hours later: very fresh. reminds me a bit of being by the ocean. this is fabulous.
3 hours later: so clean and refreshing, but intense, too. wonderful.
overall: i wasn't sure i'd like this, but i really do. this will be fabulous on warmer days or when i need something refreshing.

[NoirRosaleen]

Hurricane on me went...lemony. I*m not sure if that was the vetivert (since I have no idea what that is), but it went lemon lemon lemon, and no China Rain that I could tell at all. Off to swaps!

[teza]

I don't know if any of you have smelled Cool Water for women; I have a bit of it -- It was one of the few perfumes I used pre-BPAL. -- and this smells very similar. It isn't dead on, but it is damn close.

Hurricane is a major wet scent: very aquatic, slightly salty, tangy, slightly bitter and warm under the wetness, and it a very subtle sweetness that could just be a product of my skin.

God. Wet scents are so hard to describe. :P

I like it, but I already have Cool Water to last me. ;p I'll probably swap this -- although maybe not. Aaaah. I like it a lot, but I really don't need that much of it.

[diabolique]

argh. pardon this review if it seems a bit mean.

this is my least favorite out of the dark elements. out of the bottle, it's obviously aquatic and very salty. i can't smell much of anything else. on my skin, it's ozonic and, oh god, this is making me nauseous. i tried to give it a chance, i really did. i think this would smell nice on a guy if you're into aquatics, but it's really quite unisex. i would pass this onto the boy if it didn't make me feel so sick to my stomach.

when it dries down, the smell that makes me sick kind'f goes away, and the scent turns somewhat pleasant, but i could never wear this. these salty aquatics really agree with my chemistry, but, unfortunately, i can't stand them. i didn't have this kind'f reaction to dragon's tears, tears, or penthus. i thought all of those were quite lovely. there's something in this that just stirs my insides, though. :P sorry, hurricane.

[phaedrine]

I got this on a whim in a swap, and I think I'm glad I did.

Oddly enough, it reminds me of Sloth. Vetivert is strong in them both!

Where Sloth is a golden, indolent vetivert, Hurricane is a bright white, crisp vetivert.

For some reason, I didn't expect to like it, but I do. It's got good staying power, too, lasting on the back of my hand through an evening and a full 8hrs of sleep on top of that.

[Shollin]

First sniff: Clear and breezy, but with a deep shadow underneath.

Wearing: There’s a deep green spice note under the freshness… unexpected. It turns weird very quickly. I’ve discovered vetiver isn’t something I really get along with.

[Macha]

Hurricane was one of the scents that my boyfriend wanted to buy from Black Broom, but since they were out, we placed an order from the lab.

In the bottle: Salty, aquatic ozone. It very much smells like a storm, like rain.

Wet, on skin: Oh, this is a strong tangy ozone, but with a sweet dark undercurrent. If you don't like ozone, I can imagine this scent would be a horror, but I find it lovely and very beautiful. There is a certain slight sense of storm-tossed decay, rotted wood, but I think it in no way diminishes the appeal of this fragrance.

Dry, on skin: As the ozone dries, the sweetness becomes more pronounced, until it does indeed smell like China Rain. It feels as though the storm has passed and while the sun is not visible, the clouds are light and fluffy. This is not a beautiful fragrance, but it is a strong fragrance, powerful and stormy.

Conclusion: Southern California isn't necessarily known for our stormy weather, but when it does rain, it doesn't mess around. This is very much the smell of the worst of the rainy season, when the storms crash giant waves along the coast and make the underwriters frown at the houses along the beach in Malibu. Anyone who has gone walking along the beach after such a storm, when the driftwood has been pushed up far far up on to the strand, knows this smell. Beth captured it perfectly.

[Jessica]

I had high hopes for Hurricane. I live in Florida and love the smell before a really bad storm. Well, I also live off the Bay and the scent of wet garbage also accompanies any real gusty storm. Alas, Hurricane was accompanied by a sickly murky smell that reminded me of... well garbage.

I'm really disappointed, I was hoping for a more electric, wet smell but was left with something that is undefinable after the dry down. I had to wash it off, it just wasn't meshing with my skin right. Hurricane is also very strong, so I'd caution using it sparingly. A little goes a LONG way with Hurricane.