Hellhound on My Trail

[tragedy]

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

I couldnt really pick out anything in the imp, it was a sweet/smoky smell...
On the skin wet: It was at first all brimstone/cinnamony. I thought I didn't like it but couldnt stop sniffing..
2 hours later: almost all gone but the tobacco and bourbon vanilla comes out more in the process.

love it!

[GardenCat]

I bought a bottle when it came out, but thought it was too masculine of a scent. Until today. I needed a serious perfume & thought of Hellhound! It starts out pretty spicy, but settles down sweet & vanillay. hmm, I may need to keep this one....

[angelicruin]

I can't believe I've never reviewed this scent.

 

In the bottle, lots o' rum.

 

Wet on the skin, rum and tobacco are predominate. Very woody scent on my skin. Brimstone is very much held in check, thankfully.

 

As it dries, becomes more spicy. I almost get a bit of clove out of the spicy scent. Dries down to soft vanilla, rum, tobacco, and spice.

 

 

[sirensea]

There's lots of warm, smoky rum and vanilla and a hint of brimstone. On the dry-down, I can catch a faint whiff of tobacco somewhere lurking in the background, but not enough that it overwhelms the blend.

 

Overall, this one makes me think of something you'd wear on a balmy summer night in the deep, deep South. Perfect for an eerie occasion when you need to smell like sex and the supernatural all at once.

[tajana]

I was frimped generously with a partial decant, and for days I didn't even test it out of fear. What if I loved it? It would be too hard to find more. One morning I just decided to dab some on and see what Hellhound was about. I hadn't read the description for a while so all I could remember being in it was vanilla, brimstone, and some kind of booze.

 

Applied to my wrist, there's a strong top note of high john essence I've come to recognize but still can't quite accurately describe (there in Magus and High John the Conqueror). Within a few seconds it smells like herbal bay rum. Then, vanilla infused bay rum. There's a bit of extra spice to this too, a bit gingery, which I love. After it's been on the skin for a while it starts to smell quite smoky, which I'm guessing is the "brimstone", melded with tobacco. The tobacco is kept in check by the vanilla and bay rum, so it stays an interesting and oddly good note, rather than spiraling out of control as it's done at least twice on me in other BPALs. I was hoping this would be just another vanilla blend, but, no... it's actually really nuanced (but cohesive) and very good. I bet this would smell great on a guy, too. I haven't smelled any perfumes that remind me too strongly of this. It lingers for a long time as smoky, vanilla-tinted bay rum.

 

So, yeah... tragically, I do like this... I like it a lot.

 

ETA: You know, this sort of reminds me of Stimulating Sassafras Strengthener, especially after a few hours of wear. o_o;

Edited August 14, 2009 by tajana

[Monster]

I finally snagged a bottle of this! I missed it while it was on the website and I've been trying to track down a 5ml ever since.

 

Out of the bottle: Musky vanilla and bay rum

 

Wet: Mmmm bourbon vanilla. This is actually very similar to Boadicea! There's a soft, slightly smoky kiss of vetiver in here not too much...just enough to give it a hazy feel. All of the notes are so well-blended in this one.

 

Dry: As Hellhound dries the vanilla amps up on my skin. This isn't too boozy, just a musky, smoky vanilla on my skin. I wouldn't classify this as masculine either. To me, this is a nice dark femenine vanilla scent.

 

Overall: I love this! I can see what all of the fuss is about. Hellhound is VERY similar to Boadicea to me, from start to finish it reminded me a lot of the Warriror Queen (minus the leather note). I'm so happy I finally own a 5ml of this

[forspecial_plate]

Whenever I wear this, I wonder why I don't wear it more often. Pretty easy to review....starts out mostly herbal and a little spicy, kind of sharp and almost soapy but not quite. I think Baron Samedi is more of a blatant bay rum scent, and Hellhound has more of a ginger/herbal bite, with the bay rum more of a suggestion. However....after a couple hours, the vanilla really comes forward, simple and sweet. It takes me by surprise, even though I know it's in the scent, because I don't really detect it when I first put this on.

 

Long story short.....this one is a winner!

[topazphoenix]

A generous forumer frimped me a bit of Hellhound. It's quite herbal wet, and as it dries down a smokey quality emerges. It's not sweet at all, the vanilla I hoped for is nonexistant...all in all this turned out rather masculine. Curse my skin chemistry

[myoubi]

All I get is smoke and brimstone overlaid with bay rum.

 

someone else will love this much more than I do.

[Invidiana]

Wow, this one was totally worth the arm, leg, and tip of a finger I shelled out for it on Ebay . It's all smoky, smoldering boozy goodness sweetened just enough by the vanilla and with a touch of spice. Beth's brimstone note is as glorious here as it is in The Hell-Gate of Ireland. Sexy as hell--or, should I say, a hellhound.

[rayvn1]

Very generous frimp from a forumite I had to give it a try since I started watching Supernatural lately hehe

 

Mmmmm I see why people like this one so much! Lots of bourbon vanilla (yes!!) and a spicy bay rum base. Hyssop is always nice on me too. It's masculine and spicy with just the right hint of sweetness. Keeper.

[Lorelai1945]

O.M.G. This is amazing! I was really scared that I would finally get it and be disappointed, but it is so fantastic. To me, it smells a lot like a slightly boozier, more vanilla-ed Morocco. It has a lot of the same spicyness that Morocco has. It is rather masculine at first, but it dries down to a scent that I feel very sexy wearing. This is immediately one of my top ten. (Now I just have to snag a bottle....)

[Amoraexcena]

Bottle: a bit too herby and green- the hyssop and root maybe? I can taste the bay rum.

Wet on Skin: turns a little smokey, a bit sweeter: hello bourbon vanilla, great to see you!

Drydown: sweet bourbon vanilla further alcohol-ed by the bay rum, which also spices things up a bit, with a bit of smoke. Very nice drydown!

 

Edit to add: this doggie has certainly aged beautifully. The herbaceous, green edge has all but diappeared. It's rounded out, gotten sweeter in a non-cloying way, and the spices of brimstone are divine (I'm guessing clove and nutmeg). I get tons of compliments on this one. Too bad it's so hard to come by!

Edited May 22, 2011 by Amoraexcena

[SpookyBunny]

 

Was swapped a partial bottle of this from devilot, so so so happy!!!

 

It has this tang to it in the bottle created by the bourbon vanilla mixing with the herbal notes, it is quite unique. A faint smokiness to it which I assume could be the brimstone.

 

When applied to my wrist, it is quite sharp. Primarily a creamy Bourbon Vanilla, brimstone, and bay rum from what I can pick up - and the mixture of these notes is creating a sort of spice/cinnamon scent. That scent remains primarily and gets spicier with what seems to be the addition of the tobacco, but I get something kind of flowery from beneath it as well. For me all the notes blend together pretty nicely, it becomes difficult to pick them out individually. I can see this being masculine, but specifically on ME it doesn't come off as such - it just works. It sort of begins to remind me of a lighter version of Devil's Night - but with none of the "bubblegum" I get from DN lol. I think this is because of the related booze, fire, and sugar-based notes. It becomes almost straight spice to my nose, an intriguing blend of spices that a 'bad girl' would wear. It is definitely me, and I love the "hellhound" concept, but at the same time I have other oils that seem similar to this on the drydown - so I won't be looking for more. This is actually great though, because I know I would have an extremely difficult time finding more. I am happy with this much and that I will have it around to sniff and covet

[heathercaley]

Now I know what brimstone smells like. It smells like an exotic vacation filled with dark vanilla and bay rum somewhere in the better parts of bpal purgatory. It's spicy, like Morocco (as others have noted) but definitely it's darker more sinister twin. Filled with love I am. I wish that I hadn't been so dumb to not have purchased this when it came out. I understand now why it's sought after.

 

verdict: Morocco's been bad. Very bad.

[donnatron]

Bottle: Very herbal and dry. I don't pick up on the Morocco comparisons (my bottle is like marshmallows) but it does remind of a lot of Tombstone. A very dry, regal, more masculine sort of Tombstone. I'm getting a lot of the galangal (sort of a dry ginger smell) and the tobacco. Very gentle vanilla.

 

Wet: This goes on like tree roots. Very dry and powdery on the initial drydown and very woody. The rum starts to develop and blossom on my skin. The vanilla is curiously absent.

 

Dry: That is the stuff. The vanilla takes about ten minutes before it really unfolds on my skin but it lends a smoky-sweet quality to this that really heightens the overall blend. It goes from being a sexy manly sort of a scent to a more unisex blend verging on feminine on my skin. Very warm and sexy. A combo of vanilla and bay rum with a rough rooty quality underneath it from the other ingredients. If you're looking to replicate it you might do well by combining Tombstone with Magus.

 

Throw: Moderate.

 

Overall: Right. I always forget this exists and I have no clue why I do because it is AMAZING!!!

[Deidre]

(I didn't review this yet? Time to do so)

...huh.

I love vanilla, and I was sure to love this. I get vanilla at the beginning, with an edge that probably is the rum; nice, but nothing special. And then, on my skin, this becomes something strange and almost...fizzy, the brimstone and herbs don't play nice here.

Well, cheers for another dodged bullet - I was glad I could try this, but this is going off to swaps to someone who will love it more.

 

Oh, after a while, the fizziness calms down. But I still don't love it, and I have more than enough vanilla GCs and easier to find LEs, so I won't try to hunt down more than one decant of this. Still swaps.

Edited May 13, 2010 by Deidre

[wolfensong]

I was frimped a generous partial imp of this, and was partially joyful and partially devastated: I'd been wanting to try it for a while, but I knew how hard it was to find. What if I couldn't live without it?

 

My worst fears and greatest dreams were fulfilled: I truly won't be able to survive without this Hellhound on my trail.

 

First notes: Wet, this is all sweet and smoky booze. Mm, this is everything that good about the early morning hours after a college party has just been broken up in early summer, during the last week of exams. Warm, dirty in all the right ways, hazy with rum and sweet like a room full of writhing bodies. Sinful and delightful.

 

Under notes: A little later, this is starting to dry and it moves seamlessly from inside the party to outside - the first few puffs of smoke from an unfiltered cigarette, always sweet and so very, very tempting. Is there a little clove in here? I think there might be, or that could be the herby-ness of the galangal and John the Conqueror coming through. And the tobacco is not dirty, black, sooty tobacco: this is fresh, wet leaf, recently rolled and puffing in big juicy clouds.

 

Dry notes: this dries to the barest hint of vanilla and smoke. It clings strangely to my skin, which is weird, because my chemistry tends to eat just about everything in about two-three hours and I have to reapply constantly. Weirdly, I'm still getting vanilla and smoke about seven hours later. It almost reminds me of Sachs, at least on the drydown.

 

Overall a very well-balanced scent, completely worth shelling out the extra bucks for.

 

Minor addition: when my friend sniffed me after I came back from a night out wearing this, she told me I smelled "badass". That she could still smell it about eight hours after application was pretty awesome, but I just had to post that description.

 

WARNING: there tends to be some sediment/separation in this blend, that I've seen. Other folks tell me it's normal, so if you manage to find some and the oil looks cloudy/there's -stuff- in it, nothing's screwy, that's just the way it is.

[likie]

I think when I bought this I was just buying into a little LE fever. I remember trying it when it arrived and thinking, 'why did I buy this?' and putting it away. Years later I miraculously did not swap it (though I am about to sell it for financial reasons :/), and either I have changed, it has changed, or both.

 

While I think this would be really, really terrific on a man (more so than many other masculine scents I've tried), it also works for women. I'm not sure which note I'm smelling, but I smell clove at the forefront (both in bottle and on), with vanilla muskiness in the background. No plantiness, which I was kind of expecting but probably wouldn't add anything really. A light whiff of tobacco. It's not an office perfume, but not as overwhelming as some. You could wear it for an evening and not expect to have folks weirded out by your smell (I am nervous about this with some BPALs ).

 

eta: Ahh... and there it is, that headache that about 60% of BPAL gives me.

Edited July 8, 2010 by likie

[yokaitenchi]

Bourbon vanilla and tobacoo, but they're a little cloying; strong throw, but only at a few inches. Begins to waft after 15 or so

 

I should like this...I want to like it, but it's so heavy and there's an herbal note deep down that makes my stomach twist. Between the time that the cloying subsides a bit (10 minutes) to the moment the root (?) gets to me (20 minutes for me), it's lovely. This is definitely a unisex blend, though it leans more towards the masculine side of things.

[Molls]

I've wanted to try this for so long, and finally got a decant in a swap. It didn't impress me in the vial, so I didn't try it right away. Today, I was trying to decide what scent to wear, and my eye fell on this.

Wet, it smelled like spicy band-aids. Now that it's dried down a bit, it's almost a dead ringer for Othello. Not what I was expecting, at all. Maybe my skin chemistry is wonky right now, lol

[Penance]

Origin:

 

5mL bought on LJ.

 

Preconceived notions:

 

I'm not entirely sure what to expect from this one. It's such a strange combination of notes. Based on the reviews, though, I'm expecting something dark and mysterious. Maybe a little "occult" smelling. I'm hoping for something that makes me think of a voodoo shop, with herbs and powders, but still wearable and not overly herbal.

 

The only things here that are truly worrying me are the bay rum (which is fine as long as it's not Baron Samedi's bay rum, which smells strongly of almonds and makes me sick as a dog just smelling it), life everlasting (florals aren't my favorites, although I don't know if it smells more floral or more green/plant-like) and brimstone (I like the smell of campfires and smoky things, but they can easily take over a blend).

 

I love the idea of this scent and I'll probably keep it even if it doesn't work for me, but I'm really hoping that I can enjoy it on more than a conceptual level. Fingers crossed!

 

First sniff:

 

Strong. Very strong. Straight out of the bottle, this isn't looking too promising. It has a very strong herbal cola smell to it (I get a somewhat cola note from a couple other blends, namely Schwarzer Mond and Fenris Wolf v2, but they don't have the herbal edge to them that this does). It's intense and kind of medicinal smelling. Definitely evocative, but not really very appealing.

 

Wet on skin:

 

Pretty close to the scent in the bottle, but with some vanilla now. It makes me think of a old, scarred wooden table, covered in oils and herbs and tinctures. With a bottle of vanilla cola sitting on it. Strange, but that's what it smells like. It's quirky and I don't hate it, but I don't love it, either.

 

Dry down:

 

So much better. Like every other blend with the mysterious cola note, it disappears as the oil dries. Once Hellhound is dry, I get a scent that's very unique. Definitely not quite like anything else I own. The vanilla really makes itself known, but it's not a foody vanilla. It's soft and smooth, but not particularly sweet (not like candy, more like vanilla beans). I also get tobacco, a little bit of bay rum (thankfully not the kind that's in Baron Samedi...or at without the almond note in Baron Samedi) and something just a little bit smoky.

 

The bottom line:

 

I actually really like Hellhound once it has a chance to dry. Luckily, the dry stage comes pretty quickly, so I'm not forced to deal with the weird wet stage for very long before the payout comes.

[Gold Dust Kitten]

Tobacco is one of my new favorite notes, so I've been on a mission to track down bottles with tobacco. I was a little worried about the brimstone in Hellhound, but I've had good experiences with the other notes.

 

Hellhound smells similar to Jacob's Ladder '10 in the bottle. It has an herbal-medicinal, light resins and smoky quality, and it's very light. As soon as it touches my skin, the galangal blooms, which is typical since I always amp spice notes. At this stage it's still very light and smoky and I'm not getting any bay rum, vanilla or tobacco...until about 10 minutes later. Now there's a smooth balsam-like note, and I'm unsure if that's a combination of the other notes or it's something unlisted. It's an interesting woody, sweet and spicy scent. I'll hang onto it until it's cooler when this would be more appropriate to wear.

[n3m3sis42]

Dammit! Yet another beautiful and sought-after blend that my body chemistry completely ruins. I really wanted this one to work on me, but my skin makes this disappear almost entirely. What is left is a weak combination of generic men's aftershave and soft vanilla.

[yakiguri]

Cursed skin chemistry, all I get from this is a barely detectable, watered-down melange of rum, tobacco, and vanilla. It wouldn't be so bad if this is what the Hellhound smelled like after 10 hours of wear, but not when I just put it on. If I don't grind my nose in I don't smell it at all. Dammit.