Hi'iaka

[megank4]

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.

In the imp: Why HELLO Banana!
On my wrist: no banana at all. This is odd. Now I am getting mostly ginger and hibiscus. Reminds me of some commercial perfume, but I can't put my finger on it. I give it a 3.5.

[vampkat]

Wet: very interesting floral. It must be the hawaiian flowers.

Dry down: These are clean florals. It's almost like you took some original downly and squeezed some lightly scented flowers into it.

Dry: This one reminds me ALOT of dirty. It's like dirty with soft florals added. I really like it. Definitely a spring scent.

8 out of 10

[black_and_bloom]

My nose isn't skilled enough to pick out the individual notes in Hi'iaka (nor can I pronounce it!) but this is a really lovely floral. Not powdery at all - this is a lush, perfumed, almost juicy scent that still has a clean edge to it. I like this quite a bit. I'm not a huge floral fan, but this one is going into my rotation wiki wiki.

[blu°]

I really enjoyed test-wearing Hi'iaka today. Who would've thought? I usually don't like to wear heady tropical florals, but this is amazingly soft and sweet in a fruity way. Also, the ginger gives it a nice smoky fresh touch. And I can't wear ginger in a lot of other blends neither!

 

So much for my incredibly helpful reviews, lol.

 

Whatever, Hi'iaka is lovely. I might even consider getting a bottle in the near future, as it feels just like the perfect summer perfume. Fresh, fruity-sweet and lushly floral. It keeps that delicious roundness that often gets lost with heady florals because they turn to soap or become unbarably sharp.

 

Great wear length and good throw, too.

 

Edited March 10, 2008 by blu°

[Gwydion]

In bottle: Surprisingly yummy, candied ginger and unusual florals. The scent is surprisingly rich. If this were a smoothie, I’d be all over it. Wet: much the same. It is very Hawaii’ an, or at least as I imagine some perfect Hawaii might smell. I am not a floral person, so this isn’t really a scent for me, but this really is a fascinating scent, a delicious non-rose with plenty of depth. Dry: slightly less depth, but still quite pleasant.

[Christine Daae]

In the imp: hello there, spicy flowers! Mmm.

 

Wet on my skin, this is a very light, girly floral. I do get a bit of spicy bite from what must be the ginger. It doesn't smell too...tropical to me, though? I guess that would be the way to put it. It's a pretty floral perfume, but not anything too different than what I already have.

 

Weirdly this reminds me most of the BPAL green florals - especially the recent green-floral LE's Passionate Shepherd and Her Voice. Hmm. Especially Her Voice, now that I think about it. If I get really close to where I applied the scent I still get a little spiciness, but generally it's just a green-white floral with some creamy undertones.

[ryokokoro]

Mostly the orchid comes out on me, but then I can't say I'm familiar with any of the other flowers, so maybe there's more. I love this smell. It's a very sweet, exotic floral and it's going on the bottle list. (coincidentally alongside pele)

[zankoku_zen]

At the beginning, it's an odd mixture of dragonfruit/banana smell mixed with florals.

 

As it dries down, the banana smell goes away, and I get more of the moonflower if I sniff hard enough at it. If I don't, I get a gentle waft of a white floral and a stemy green sort of smell. It's a bit soapy though for my taste.

 

Ah well. Hawaii seems like a no-go for me.

[soonyi]

wet, it is all vanilla-ed pineapple. very yum.

 

dry, i smell greenery, like the passionate shepherd to his love, and the orchid dominating. a lovely sweet scent

[Aldercy]

Surprisingly, I find this to be a really generic floral. It is tropical-- humid with the tiniest bit of pineapple-- but my main impression is just a mish-mash of artificial perfuminess. With all the exotic, unusual things listed in the description, I thought it would be more distinctive, but not on me anyway. I definitely get a bit of the soapiness some have mentioned after awhile.

 

Interesting frimp to try-- because I'd never have ordered such an intense floral on my own, so maybe it was good for me to try something so far out of my comfort zone, but... it really isn't for me.

[Lyrical]

In the vial: fresh and light floral.

 

Wet on skin: still very fresh and pale, and rather exotic. I'm not familiar with most of the notes, but one of them seems like jasmine! I never like these pale green florals!

 

Dry on skin: it's sweet, juicy and tropical - and totally not me!

[fairnymph]

Note by note translation for some of those unusual florals: wild banana (leaf or blossom or fruit, who knows), white ginger, wild raspberry type berry, hawaiian gardenia, hawaiian moonflower, hibisucs type flower, damascus rose, orchids.

 

In the bottle: Fresh, clean, cool green floral. Slightly sharp, maybe a little soapy. I think I can smell that moonflower, which to me in the bottle always smells cool and clean. And orchids, which are rather heady and feminine. I'm getting a 'bright' colour from this, vivid florals, tropical colours. Pink.

 

Wet: Gentler, less fresh, but still that sharp note, and a wee bit soapier. The orchids immediately begin amping. Hints of exotic fruits. Gardenia whitens and strengthens the blend. No ginger or rose.

 

Dry: Gahhhh powerful gardenia bullies the blend as it so often does with me, the orchids too are very heady, thick, rich. The moonflower is staying clean and cool without going to soap; it has an edge but it's holding there. A teensy bit of rose hides in some distant recess. The fruity note is sort of sharp and artificial. Right now, only the moonflower (in its rare pleasant incarnation) and a touch of bright, citrusy hibiscus make this bearable.

 

Later: This sort of reminds me of a tropical version of Blue Moon in terms of florals, with the heavy orchid and cool moonflower. The gardenia settles down - amazingly - it's still a big, white showy flower but it's not ALL GARDENIA. The blend as a whole has come together, florally, and even that lovely fresh hibiscus has establised itself. The faint exotic fruit is no longer artificial, but just lightly sweet and wild. I really wish I'd gotten some ginger or rose, but nothing on either front.

 

Summary: A nocturnal scent (a sort of lunar feel, but without herbal notes), very heavily floral, very feminine - in an expensive, showy way. Still pink but a darker, pink, maybe magenta. It's cool but tropical and summery. Something to wear on vacation in some warm destination, to a swanky restaurant with a hot date. I'm glad I tried this, but it's too heavy and flashy for me. No ginger or rose on me

Edited May 7, 2008 by fairnymph

[ravenfeathers]

in the bottle soft, tropical floral and something fruity

wet on skin oh. hm. okay, it's green bananas, then. unripe, generic supermarket bananas.

dry on skin unremarkable, syrupy floral with a side of green banana.

[tinyvulture]

I’m not sure what many of these notes are, but I assume they are various Hawaiian flowers. Few particular floral notes stand out, that I can discern anyway. I’m a fan of orchid, so I can pick it out, and that’s about it. I don’t really notice the ginger. Other reviews say it smells like fresh flowers, but it’s quite dry and powdery on my skin. Light, sweet, feminine and tropical. Pretty, but too “powdery floral” for my liking.

[gchris]

in vial:sweet floral

 

wet: Not sure which flower I am smelliing but this is really nice.

 

dry: I usually do not like florals but this is so lovely. It smells a bit green to me. As far as florals go this is *the one*

[charshark]

In the imp: Floral

 

Wet: Jasmine, ginger, and tropical flowers.

 

Dry: Green and bananas with some moonflower. Add a little spice.

 

Overall: This kind of smells like Lush's Jungle conditioner to me, which I like.

[savage_rose]

This smells dazzling! There's a green plant smell in there, but more exotic than I've ever smelled. And there are fat, wet jungle blossoms, too. Very balanced.

[theseagrows]

this is a very strong, tropical floral. it's difficult to pick out notes, this just smells very tropical, but i think the moonflower and orchid is most prominent on me, with a touch of ginger in the background. it's nice, but a bit too strong for my tastes.

[n1k1ta]

Ginger and tropical flowers with a little touch of earth. Hi'iaka doesn't last long, though. While it does stay true, it loses some of its pizzazz after about an hour. I'm not impressed. Hi'iaka seems like a watered down Maenad to me.

[RaeiNarcissus]

It's banana laffy taffy ladies. No getting around it.

[Kimbernunk]

In the imp: Straight banana. That was unexpected. It makes me nervous.

On skin, wet: Ginger (which I usually love) peaks out with some very strong, very dark florals. This has potential.

On skin, dry: Foiled by moonflower. It dominates the blend in an overpowering way just like it did in Titania and Nuit.

 

I think Pele will have to be my tropical gingerfloral scent. This is a pass.

[thelaurenator]

This is gorgeous! It smells like unripe banana and tropical flowers.

[ImperatrixMundi]

Frimp courtesy of The Lab.

 

Obviously in the sweet and fruity tropical flower category. It is mostly orchid on top and banana with something a bit creamy, most likely gardenia, underneath. In the beginning ginger gives it a pleasant hint of spice.

After a little while on my skin the orchids and banana dominate the scent. The note description also seems to mention rose (see transcription in post #37) and while I amp rose terribly much here it only gives the scent an air of classical floral perfume without being dominant.

 

Color: pale yellow

 

Verdict: Manila gets voted into office as my only go-to tropical scent with banana once again. Hi'iaka is less wood and banana and much more floral.

[Methos]

A sweet, tropical floral. It almost smells like jasmine and bubble gum. It goes away very quickly on my skin, but it's lovely in my little aromatherapy locket.

[goblinshark]

smells like an unripe banana on me. not my thing, but I can see the appeal (pun sort of intended )