La Roue de Malheur Hair Gloss

[Minh Scent]

Red musk, blackened patchouli, opium tar, inky oudh, champaca flower, pomegranate pulp, frankincense, and tobacco.

This starts with a big wiff of red musk and gorgeous dark patchouli. Opium and frank, a bit of woodiness also evident. There is a hint of sweetness which must be the pomegranate, but it is far from fruity. I can't pick out the tobacco or champaca flower. This is beautiful, although surprisingly does not last as long as the notes would suggest.

[blacksambuca]

I received this a few days ago and so far I've been a bit surprised that, to my nose, the dominant note so far is the oudh. I get a strong whiff of that particularly sweetish and indolic sort of oudh note. I like oudh so it's not a problem but if you're wary of that note here... you should be

 

Under the oudh I'm getting the red musk, opium, champaca, and pomegranate notes. Not getting a ton of frankincense, tobacco, OR patchouli, which is a tad unfortunate cuz I love all of those. I suspect that this may develop as it ages though, and I wouldn't be surprised if those notes emerge later. But right now it's an oudh-heavy, sweetly fruity-floral red musk scent.

Edited July 30, 2017 by threeofcups

[zankoku_zen]

Red musk, oudh, and a touch of patchouli. This smells like a more perfumey version of red musk. Good throw and wear length.

[Little Bird]

Has a muddy or muddled quality to it, like when you mix a lot of notes together and just wind up with a perfumey, nondescript sort of fragrance. The patchouli and oudh add a woody earthiness, the opium a perfumey, sharp, white musk-ish note, and the tobacco or champaca is adding some ashy incense smokiness. It's a smoky, woody, perfumey, incensey thing.
After about ten minutes, it just smells generic-perfumey, like sharp drugstore musk over some dry, dark, slightly smoky woods. I never smell the red musk or pomegranate.

[VetchVesper]

Oh dear. This was a late addition to my list, and I'm thinking I should have skipped it. LOTS of DARK oudh is what I'm getting smacked with, probably with some very dark patch, and what smells to me like stale cigarette smoke. Oudh can be hit or miss for me, but I was really hoping red musk, champaca, and pomegranate would be the main players. This is heavy, bitter, and masculine on me. I AM trying it pretty much strait from the mailbox though, so maybe it will calm the heck down in a few days?

 

Anywho, NOT for me. Will update if there are any great changes with age.

[LizziesLuck]

Oh man. I expected this to be a red musk scent. It's not. It's an oudh scent. You know what oudh smells like to/on me? Feces. I smell like I have poo in my hair. I made a bad hair gloss decision. Thank goodness I am not going anywhere right now.

 

On the up side, I think this is the only CD HG scent (and I have now tried them all save one) that I will not be keeping! I liked all the rest enough to keep my decant. Not this one. It needs a new home.

[Poenari]

There is nothing sweet in this hair gloss. And considering I always amp red musk, I'm shocked that I barely even detect red musk. It is there, but well hidden by dry dark notes that are all blended together: the oud and tobacco in particular. This is crazy- I cannot separate the other notes and find them! It's all a whirl of dark, dry, inky black smells. 

 

The name translates to "The Wheel of Misfortune" and that is exactly what this smells like! A dark, whirling wheel around my head, in my hair, of unsettling notes that come together beautifully. I'm so glad that I blind bought a bottle! 

 

1/16 after wearing this, I've decided that I prefer to use it as a body spray than in my hair. On my skin, the red musk is more detectable. It's still dark, and a resinous inky red scent. 

Edited January 16, 2021 by Poenari
Added info

[VioletChaos]

I was afraid of the champaca in this since I amp anything with even vague whispers of champa and co. to high heavens, but I finally took the plunge and I'm really glad I did.

As the last post mentioned, the scent's name translates to "The Wheel of Misfortune". Coupled with the illustration os Mme Moriarty, as well as a list of the notes, I suspected that this is intended as something of a companion piece to Mme Moriarty's scent- and it is a PERFECT companion for her! The oudh is definitely a dominant note here- not a problem for me as I tend to love oudh. Here it's not the dread 'dirty body' variety that tends to freak alot of people out. It's rich and deep and mixes beautifully with all those other rich, deep, dark notes, to create something that reads as incense-y and sensuously sinister. 

Like many folks round these parts, I use HG both in my hair and also sometimes as a skin scent. In my hair, this is a fine stand-alone, surprisingly subtle and with low throw. But when it's on my skin, it definitely feels like it needs a companion- and Mme Moriarty (or her cousin Snake Charmer) will definitely fit the bill!

I'm delighted to have made this purchase, and I suspect this will get even better with age!

[roseus]

I get mostly patchouli, oudh, and opium. This is dark, swirling and sort of incense-y. It smells thick and sort of syrupy but not sweet. I get just hints of red musk and pomegranate, which initially gave me the impression of opponax with the other notes.