Passage d'Enfer (for women and men)

Miss_Nightingale

Oh, this is a wicked, wicked perfume. Be warned, fragrance fans; this is not for the faint of heart...

Now, dear readers, I must admit to a lifelong passion for deeply seductive musks; the ones that make perfume virgins hitch up their skirts and scream as they run in the opposite direction. Never for me the wishy-washy florals and oceanic breezes of my (then) teenage contemporaries. I have always lusted after animalistic incense, smoke and great fat clots of punchy patchouli. As long as it's the good stuff, the richly aged elixirs, absolutely NOT to be confused with cheap bottles of weave-your-own hippie types found mouldering in sadly faded New Age health stores.

No, my dears, I yearn for the kind of scents a courtesan may have worn. The kind that corrupt the innocent and beguile legions of men. And I am here to tell you that this is the Queen. This is , indeed, the road to Hell as it will ruin you for all other pretenders to the throne. From the first sniff I was hooked. And shocked. It actually shocked me how deeply subversive and naughty this smelled! And it's not just me and my dirty mind: others have commented using just those words. I was once at a party with friends (we were all dressed as Victorian Prostitutes - it was a Jack the Ripper theme) and I knew I had to wear this perfume as part of my costume. One of my friends exclaimed that someone "...smells absolutely wicked, so naughty!" and I had to stifle a smile. I knew it was Passage d'Enfer. She sniffed my neck and confirmed it, demanding to know what the perfume was and where she could get some.

This is what hooks me, what constantly surprises me, and what I have to be in the mood for: Intense lily followed by great billowing clouds of smoke and sweetly burning incense; a musky, powdery drydown that lasts and lasts.

As I say, I adore this but have to be in the mood for it, otherwise you can find it's one of those perfumes that can end up wearing *you*. Not an every day scent, then. Not unless you're Theda Bara.