Passage d'Enfer L'Artisan Parfumeur for women and men

This is one of the more cerebral, refined fragrances out there. At first spritz I get plenty of incense and smoke and immediately think of strolling into the Scholar Temple on Hollywood Road in Hong Kong, then as it dries down it’s that almost waxy aspect of lilies, enveloped in a cosy, powdery musk. I first tried this in the early fall and expected it to be a summer fragrance, but was pleasantly surprised to find I preferred it in the winter; where it develops in a “cleaner” manner on my skin, ever so slightly melancholy but in a nostalgic rather than morose kind of way.

I do find this to be Gothic in a cold, old world sort of sense. Like an empty basilica. It's simple and quiet and smells of lilies, incense, and old books. It makes me think of a very old bible. I'm a big fan of incense fragrances and I can truly say that this is like nothing else on the market. This doesn't shout. It whispers.

When I bought this and indicated my choice to the sales associate, she said "Very cool choice." I won't lie, that made me feel cool as hell. This won't appeal to everyone but it definitely does to me. I loved wearing it to my Literature of the Black Death seminar this fall.

Extremely weak. Smells like practically nothing with a taint of flower.

Smells slightly baby powdery. And also like washing your hands with soap on a stone path on the way to a monastery. It's a bit strange.. not really wearable for me.

Very unique perfume. It is serving me episode 4 of season 2 of "Fleabag". "Just kneel" moment, if you know what I mean ;)
It was a blind buy for me and it is not at all what I expected. That being said, I quite literally had to go through a bit of a hell to get it, it's not an easy find (depending on where you live of course).
The opening is quite strong and mature lily smell, which is probably my least favourite part about this perfume, it is damn serious and I wish it had a little bit of sweetness in it, like it often happens with incense based perfumes. However, I have to say, after literally a few seconds this smell becomes addictive. The incense makes it spicy, warm, deep and somehow macabre. I quite literally feel heat when I am wearing it, I guess l'enfer is indeed somewhere close, ha-ha. There's definitely something sacred and incredibly beautiful about this fragrance. It's probably the first time I am experiencing feelings like this about a scent. Nothing special for the first few seconds but then... wow. Oh my god.
It's definitely pricy but if you like incense in perfumes it's a must have for you. Sophisticated, classy, reflective. Even though I am not a fan of a strong lily smell, all together it's something special and truly magical. Excellent to wear to a funeral and I mean it in a good and somewhat sacred way.
Projection is not very good though, I have to reapply many times per day to keep smelling it.

Starts with a big burst of lily and incense. It smells like an old-fashioned women's perfume for the first 2 minutes. As it dries a spicy woody note takes over the lily - and by spicy I mean it smells like pimento chili with wood that smells like the sort tabernacles and church pews are made of. The incense is still there but takes a background role.

15 minutes later it has transformed yet again. The wood, incense and pimento are all gone and replaced by what smells like grapefruit that leans dark but nothing like how deep and dark it is in Hermès' Kelly Caleche.

25 mins in it has become a very soap-y freshie scent that reminds me of Versace's Dylan Blue. It's not exactly the same but it's in the same vein of soapiness.

Projection and sillage is somewhere between intimate and moderate.

2 hr later some of the soapiness has subsided and a citrusy scent with hints of patchouli have taken over.

4 hrs: the smell of a very dirty patchouli has taken over.

5 hrs: scent has contracted significantly. It's a skin scent now that's very close to the skin. No more projection or sillage at this point. Expecting it to completely disappear by 6hr mark at the rate it's going.

Amazingly, after 11 hrs there were still some faint traces of it clinging on my skin. It's practically gone but you can still smell it if you're nose is right next to it.

11.5 hrs in it's finally gone. So long-lasting, just shy of eternal.

I dont know if my mini was old or what but it smelled like a wisp of incense then was gone. Possibly the worst sillage ever on me for a scent. Truly like water. Meanwhile the two spritzes of Commodity Gold Expressive that I put on my jacket 6 weeks ago is going strong.

Based on reviews here I was expecting something far different. Somehow, on my skin this smells uncannily like Marc Jacobs Daisy Black edition. I was infatuated with that perfume during my teens so it’s a scent I appreciate. Passage d’Enfer has a slightly less sharp open and isn’t as floral as Daisy Black. Considering the fact that perfume is now discontinued, it’s good to know there’s a similar alternative out there, but the sillage and longevity leave much to be desired for the price.

It’s a scent I enjoy, but reminds me too much of my teen years to compel me to buy a full bottle.

I got a sample package (mini lotion and splash) with my purchase of a full-sized bottle of Musc Amarante (my true perfume love). I just applied it this morning

It was an initial no for me, as all I got was soap at first. But then I got black pepper and incense. Later, I got the lilies and a cool mineral/metallic scent. It's quite a compelling scent.

I don't get the wood or warmth that other commenters do, but perhaps that develops a bit later. To me, this feels like going to Mass at a modern and unfamiliar church. This perfume feels haunted and holy, but also slightly sterile.

I like putting on perfume before prayer and meditation and I think Passage d'Enfer will be great for that. At LAP prices, though, I don't think I can justify a full bottle after my samples run out.

EDIT: This does seem to get a bit warmer and woodier as it sticks around. Sillage is tiny, but the longevity is ok.

This is both churchier and colder that Arquiste Peau, which is my favorite spicy skin scent.

This one, even if a quality fragrance, is not for me. There is a very sharp and pungent note that runs strongly through the entire fragrance that I personally find irritating. Pink pepper is not listed in the notes but it can sometimes come out like this, with a sharp edge. On me this is not ambery in the least, more a sharp pointed spice on top of a white musk/wood/floral base. There are many fans of this fragrance so it must work differently on different skin chemistries.

Hmmm beautiful incense, it's like sticking your nose in a full pack of cones.
Balsamic, flowery, lovely.
The name is just silly, as the perfume is utterly cheerful and bright.

A sandalwood incense frag that reminds me of temples, and the traditional Chinese home altars. As it dries down, it becomes more soapy, like a bar of sandalwood soap. It sits quite close to the skin throughout its run.

Stone cold, ultra-clean incense, so clean it’s soapy. It does kind of give the impression of being underground surrounded by marble. A manmade, finished space underground rather than a cavern. For me this evokes (but does not literally smell akin to) an impeccably cared for bathroom at a world famous symphony hall or opera house, where the only hint of unpleasantness comes from the overhead lights which are just a little too bright for comfort. Seasonless, genderless.

The title of this perfume, making me think immediately about the poetry of Charles Baudelaire, grabbed me when I encountered a L'Artisan display some 13 years ago. The scent transported me, and made incense perfumes into my favorite category of fragrance. Each time I smell Passage d'Enfer, I'm reminded what this genre of perfumes can be at their best. The light floral notes balance out the animalistic elements that make some unisex incense perfumes feel more masculine, and there is a dynamism present in it's composition that continues to play out upon the dry-down. The tragedy is that it immediately catalyzes an allergic reaction for me upon application, and I remain stuffy for the first 30 to 45 minutes of wearing it. I still have the same bottle I first bought then due to this, and only wear it when I feel like I can tolerate a slight dose of masochism in the name of gorgeous perfumery.

Note: I recently visited a L'Artisan boutique and was disappointed after sampling a wide variety of perfumes. They did not stack up to my memory of their wares from a decade ago. I didn't try the reformulation of Passage, and will be content to let my original bottle slowly dwindle with time.

it used to be my fav from them but not after terrible reformulation. Bottle is turn off as well.

Woody musk, lily incense. Reserved. Clean but not on par with other offerings from this house. Unisex. All purpose. Whimsical.

Tôi có 1 chai bản cũ trong suốt với nhãn đỏ,mùi của nó thực sự nghiêng về nam tính hơn một chút. Đó là một mùi gỗ ám khói cùng xạ hương, mang đến cảm giác trầm lặng, buồn bã,u ám ,như cái tên của nó vậy: đường xuống hoàng tuyền.
Bạn đã từng nghe về truyền thuyết bỉ ngạn hoa (manjusaka or red spider lily) chưa?đó là một note hương của chai nước hoa này
Đường xuống hoàng tuyền trải đầy hoa bỉ ngạn,hoa bỉ ngạn khi có hoa thì không có lá, khi có lá thì không có hoa, hoa lá đời đời không được gặp nhau,đời đời lỡ dở, như một chuyện tình bi thương.
Có lẽ vì lấy cảm hứng từ truyền thuyết này nên mùi hương này mới u buồn như vậy, và có lẽ tôi sẽ chỉ dùng nó vào ngày nào tâm trạng rất buồn hoặc khi trời mưa to

Rec'd a 10ml sample alongside my bottle of Timbuktu (you cant choose!). Woody musk, with lilies alongside. I perceive lilies as a plastic smell. Also, performance was poor, almost a background skin scent. Definitely try before you buy.
1.5/5

When I put this on to test it for the first time I had to sit with it for quite a while to understand it. I did not enjoy waiting because I wanted to capture it, to understand it instantly. It was taking too long and still nothing. After an hour or so I left the room where I'd been and came back to it a few minutes later. There the sillage was waiting for me with a patience I had previously denied it. And suddenly in a flash I understood Passage d'Enfer:
Wearing this fragrance made me feel as though I was transported to a balcony in Paris in the 1950's. Suddenly I was sitting on a settee next to a beautiful dark haired woman. She was wearing an elegant red halter neck dress. Around her neck she wore a delicate gold chain bearing a single pearl as a pendant. She was in the middle of telling me a funny story about a date with a dull man and her hands fluttered gently like the petals of a daisy in a breeze. I realized she and I have been friends for a long time and have shared many joys as well as sorrows. I laugh as I listen and bask in her glamorous presence. In her eyes I feel as cherished as a child's doll. When she absently moves her leg slightly to dangle her foot over the end of the settee the sillage of the Passage d'Enfer she is wearing gently blooms.

This is the weirdest scent I have
At first thought it was so weak and felt disappointed
However I could feel it the whole day - like I'm schizophrenic and constantly hearing voices from a lurking ghost
On skin it's mysterious and sensual

Every time I wear this I love it even more. It’s gorgeous. It’s not sexy but could make an impression on people because it’s unique yet so beautiful.

It took me some time to figure out just how I feel about it. At first I liked it but a little insecure about how it definitely has masculine moments. In fact if anything I’d say it’s more masculine than feminine. But I’ve been wearing it and I really like it. I think it might be my signature professional scent for working in healthcare.

I'm surprised to see the listed notes on this one. I got it in a sample pack and tried it on before reading reviews. I smelled a very musky clean linen smell with a hint of florals and smoke. It doesn't smell like the name at all and is nice enough but not my type. Reminds me more of Lazy Sunday Morning than Avignon.

Clean, slightly pungent/tart incense on a bed of fresh Lillies

A contradictory fragrance that works wonderfully

I believe this to be appropriate for any occasion

Very very classy yet can be worn casually

I guess my bottle is old because I get a LOT of lilies. Just lilies, maybe a tinge of incense. My bottle is old in a good way, because this smells much better now than it did when I first bought it. Smokey lilies, that is all I get, but the lilies are sodden and sweet, almost like vanilla. So simple but such an evocative masterpiece. Lasts all day, moderate sillage. This is a broody scent to contemplate in quiet times. I can't imagine anyone wearing this to a meeting or date.

Super spicy, lightly smoky, also very soapy especially on the drydown. I'm not getting lillies really, but maybe the subtle spice is supposed to be the pistil. Pretty good start but mostly a soapy scent journey as it turns quick.

I'm torn with this one...I find it, as others have said, to be a cool fragrance, albeit spicy. Never smelt anything like it. On me it's very heavy on the lillies, almost a bit sickly. I think it would work well on a warm summers evening, when you want spice but nothing heavy. So unusual! Very macabre, but beautiful. Performance is very poor...I don't think I'd repurchase on account of this. Well worth a sniff, though.

My husband (who has been subjected to all my sampling adventures) said, “You should smell like cool, misty dusk or dawn in an interesting place.” He then elaborated on his suggestion, saying my perfume should evoke “a chapel that smells at the same time like the fresh wood when it was newly built, and like the incense that’s been burned there for years–that chapel at dawn.” He actually got a little choked up, describing this fragrance for me. Passage d’Enfer is churchy, so that’s what I ordered a bottle of, all the while thinking, “They can’t get everything he said into a bottle.” Well, that’s exactly what they did, plus a “bonus” gray-stone note which completes the mood perfectly. The wood note is light and bright, as is the lily. The incense is also airy, and only a little smoky–as if the incense is not burning now, but has been recently. The tawny feline sweetness of benzoin becomes more noticeable in the drydown, as it mingles with the musk. I liked this fragrance immediately, but it took me awhile to fully appreciate and love it. It’s comfortable in any weather, appropriate for any occasion. But it’s not merely wearable. It’s also lovely, elegant, and distinctive. It’s composed of contrasts, marvelously resolved–rich yet light, smoky yet fresh, or, to quote my husband yet again, “intoxicating yet austere. It makes me want to bite you.”

Quando aveva la bottiglia di vetro col tappo dorato mi piaceva molto.
Quando ha cambiato la bottiglia passando a quelle tutte grigie uguali,è stato più leggero e di breve durata.
La prima versione invece mi piaceva molto, aveva tre stadi, il primo l'antro con il rituale di stregoneria, la notte, le fiammelle,il fumo, il secondo era il fiorito,gigli intensi e odore di pietra rossa,mattoni e vetrate,pian piano sfumando verso il muschio fresco e candido,la luce, quando tutto è finito.
La nuova edizione nelle bottiglie grigie mi sembra meno duraturo.
Ma lo preferisco sicuramente alla versione "extreme".

I can very faintly smell lilies in this, but nothing else, no hints of incense, woods, or musk. Perhaps they've used aromachemicals I'm anosmic to. I asked my husband and he said it smelled amazing and "quite strong". Very disappointing as I was looking forward to trying this one a lot.

These notes together are really nice. It just turns a little too Smokey on my skin to warrant a full bottle buy for me

The remnants of a love spell you once cast. It is dark but has definitely seen the light of fire.

clean, soapy, pale, fresh incense. the name comes from the street where LAP's offices are (were?) located, and is quite misleading. there is absolutely nothing deep, dark, or mysterious that a name some translate as "passage to hell" might suggest.

Oh wow I love this one. It smells like a dusty wooden box, basically, spot on. Like stuffing a fresh lily into an old classical guitar. Or a wooden box filled with (very) ancient treasures. It is mysterious and dark, not in a creepy way in my opinion, more meditative and introverted. Somehow, towards the end, it turns into a soapy scent that borders on petrichor and evokes mist and rain. I have no idea how it does this, but it’s heavenly. It goes especially well with a leather jacket and cool weather.

Passage d'Enfer was referenced multiple times in a lot of newer scents, namely in many reviews of Byredo Gypsy Water and Un Nuit Nomade Bohemian Soul, as a forefather of sorts both scents that explore a similar theme of resinous smoky incense against a creamy musky powdery background with hints of evergreens in them.
I definitely see how they many have taken inspiration from Pd'E, but at the same time differ substantially from the original.
Passage d'Enfer opens with a vivid resinous olibanum, smokey but also tart resinous, and immediately a thick envelope of creamy floral musk, and an unlisted vanilla amber touch, which may be part of the lily accord comes into the picture in a way 'disarming' the smoky incense. I understand the reasoning behind it, to dampen and 'purify' the incense, but at the same time it feels a bit dissonant to me, perhaps intentionally so.
A few minutes in a dense pine note takes over, unexpectedly, turning the scent woodier and slightly sap like.

All in all it feels more solemn that GW or Bohemian Soul, more religious in nature, with a meditative austerity.
I personally prefer its successors, Bohemian Soul to my nose creating a finer link between resinous smoky olibanum and a powdery vanilla iris patchouli base. However this really is a case of personal preference.

前段时间一个室友回来了，她用了新买的立白洗衣液，百花馨香型。进入阳台那一刻瞬间回想起高二至高三那个七月。沉闷炎热，补课，出租屋，失明体验......不愉快的气味勾起不愉快的记忆，搞得我都想买一瓶另外的送给她让她弃用这款。所以当我闻到冥府之路时，内心惊呼：还来？！
刺激的雪松加百合，a repulsive fragrance。皂感是像洗衣液的一个因素，但毕竟是香水，皂得没那么单薄刺鼻。后调逐渐柔和，会出现琥珀轻柔温暖的感觉。这香水真的能送走我。
适用季节/场景：春秋用同款香味洗衣液洗衣服

smells exactly like a funeral/chapel of rest. lilies and incense on a background of dusty wooden pews.

At the first whiff, I have the fresh atmosphere of the interior walls of a church. Drenched frankincense, strong dose of black pepper, cedar, perhaps, make this lily shade more masculine connotations.
None of these notes disappear and until the end remains an elegant spicy dusty lily, with the right sillage, comfortable and pleasant.
Definitely direct and minimalist, good to wear in warm seasons.
Skinny.

lily soap and cold church incense. a nun’s lavatory? quiet, introverted, asexual… this is something you wear for yourself alone. my inner dark elf approves.

only con is performance. stays close, which seems appropriate— but also flees the scene far too quickly, which is just sad. quelle dommage.

(i am curious to try the Extrême, which is an eau de parfum.)

musical accompaniment : Faith (album) by The Cure

/current edt

Strong laundry powder vibes on my skin. Not bad but very different to what I was expecting.

The Descent into the Underworld (Passage d'Enfer in French) or Katabasis is a motif as old as literature and has often been interpreted as metaphor of a descent into one's own subconscious, most notably by Jungian theorists. It is in this vein that this fragrance should be approached too. It goes beyond language, straight to the heart and invites introspection and calm. Great scent for meditation, too!

In L'Artisan Parfumeur Passage d'Enfer, the resulting picture is a patchwork—
A smell of dust and stale wood.
Altars carved from large stones, devotees chanting hymns.
A little earlier, I'm afraid I won't be able to accept such an incense, Passage d'Enfer comes at just the right time.
Ignoring all the hype and following suit, I found it pale and somewhat transparent. Passage d'Enfer develops linearly, dominated by faint incense, with soft benzoin and musk at the end, often like a bunch of fresh lilies in a bottle, cool and quiet, in the dusk of the sky, in the empty In the center of a one-person church, a lily is beautiful and blooming alone. Olivia Giacobetti is good at creating fragments that capture memory and time, and Passage d’Enfer has a special connection with me.
Passage d’Enfer has two sisters, Oriza L. Legrand’s Relique D’Amour and Penhaligon’s Elixir, all in the same line.
Passage d'Enfer broadened my new understanding of thinking. This is a scene fragrance, suitable for a certain atmosphere and space, I don't think it is made by people.
In the last century, there was almost no perfume set for a single scene or situation, there was no such concept at that time.

Very sadly so immediately here and gone. Just completely impossible to hold onto. I feel like I have to bathe in it to get anything, and even then, I can't smell much of anything unless I really whiff. Disappears on my wrists in seconds, holds onto the crooks of my elbow for dear life before disappearing within minutes. Definitely works better in heat, but the performance is weak either way.

I agree with everyone who says this smells like Relique d'Amour, another beautiful, but frustratingly light old church scent. I thought that perfume faded fast, but Passage d'Enfer is just the briefest whisper in comparison. With that other perfume in mind, and the knowledge that Passage d'Enfer came first, it's hard not to think Relique d'Amour took this idea and improved it. It not only projects better and lasts a little longer, but smells prettier. There's this slight, mildewy funk to Relique d'Amour that makes it easier to actually imagine myself in that abandoned religious space. There is that feeling of communion with the divine that I can't quite reach with this. Passage d'Enfer just doesn't give me enough time to get there.

I contemplated not buying a sample of this because I saw so many reviews mention how light this is, and I have to echo them. It's pretty, but this costs too much money to be as indiscernibly thin as it is. If you're looking for this vibe and haven't tried Relique d'Amour, I'd definitely steer you in that direction instead. Neither is strong enough to be much more than a skin scent, but Relique d'Amour is at least an experience you can really sink into for at least half an hour or so. Passage d'Enfer is only the briefest peek.

I happen to have both the original version and a renewed version from Puig. They almost smell the same out of the bottle. Their difference start being conspicuous in a few minutes. The old version has a cedary note which smells almost like cedar chips. Its earthy scent along with frankincense produces a more intense incense note in contrast to an interweaving white lily note. But the new one has only a remote and airy scent. In some sense, it loses the fairy-earthy character of its original formulation. I would give the original formulation 9/10 and the renewed one 7/10. But some people may find the latter more refined and office friendly.

I am rather fortunate to have run across this older formulation hexagonal bottle of Giacobetti's Passage d'Enfer, and while I can't speak for any subsequent formulations, what I have in my possession is a staggering beauty. The inclusion of lily and muguet really sends the olibanum in a new direction, as if I am on a veranda with a lit incense on an early May day. It reminds me of pondering the passage of time through seasons, the thawing of snow and spring ephemerals pushing through to make their brief, gentle appearance, bearers of the fragility of life.

This "passage to Hell" feels to me more like a waking moment of beauty in both joy and suffering, night and day, light and dark. Perhaps this passage is more to confront the reality that Hell is created in our own minds, and once we come face to face, we are liberated, and here we are on the other side: a relief, a true conclusion that it isn't any real place at all...

Maybe one would find this fragrance funereal should they be in a frame of mind to reach for that association or maybe they have ingrained scent associations, but I find nothing sullen or grim about this beautiful, nuanced creation. There are raw cedar and coniferous undertones, a musk as white as its flowers, vernal, fecund, luminous, almost opalescent. Still, delicate, and truly personal, Passage d'Enfer is a fragrance for sitting and reflection, and goodness knows I need those in my life.

Opens like a tomb of spicy flowers. Pleasant and welcoming, yet something isn't right here. Something is burning. I still like it. Curiosity intensifies. I am wallowing in the spicy warmth but I feel....cold. A second of something deeply disturbing. Perhaps something animalic. Burning skin? Burning hair? A sense of dread and foreboding....but I think I'll stay here.

A truly creepy masterpiece.

I absolutely love this fragrance. The clashes between old time incense and more flowery lily is amazing. The only problem is longevity. It doesn't last long. Maybe 2 hours at best.

one of the best lily scents I’ve smelled. so lush and dreamy… this scent transports me to a place of eternal winter evenings in childhood. it's soft, light, cuddly, natural and nostalgic. the incense + lily combo is heavenly, zen-like and meditative. it feels like being wrapped in a warm blanket.

Love it!
Incense and lily is a fantastic, unusual couple.
It is gentle, elegant and misterious.
Only flaw: a little too weak. Lovely and fine.
Autumn - Winter fragrance, maybe Spring too. I think it wouldn't suit Summer, but that's up to you.

smells like a mystical roman cathedral

Very nice. musk really shines through the incense and amber. But on me it has the effect of drying down to a minty note. Happy to have a sample, but won’t put it on my want shelf.

This nails the quiet, austere vibe I'm going for... smokey and serious. Reminds me very specifically of Agnès Oblige from the Bravely Default games, or any fictional priestess who wears white. Really beautiful scent, but the lillies overwhelm the incense and make it rather soapy to me. A longer-lasting, more woody version of this would be an instant buy, but as is this is a great lily-dominant springtime scent.

Woah! So this perfume became a swift lesson in chemistry for me. I have never smelled a note captured in the moment of transformation on my skin. My partner and I couldn't believe it; to quote him, 'it's, it's... Poo, what is it?' Good question. The indolic element was ferocious and unrelenting. I was faced with a sort of curdled root and nappy smell, a nightmare of purest brown so strange I wondered if the perfume was 'off' . Fortunately the top notes faded away in about 10 minutes leaving a dry wood scent, inoffensive but unremarkable. And then, another metamorphosis occurred, the incense started to kick in, soft and classic, rather lovely, though too little too late for me, I don't see the point of a perfume only becoming luscious when it is almost too faint to smell. This was an amazing olfactory adventure, but I won't be repeating it.

I really like this. Probably not enough to buy a bottle, but the scent is clean and fresh on me...but a little laundry detergenty....I dont mind that smell, but I dont need to pay this much to smell like clean laundry.

Sample Testing - can't accurately comment on performance/longevity - opinion is strictly about smell.

Passage D'Enfer

"Above all, I'm looking for simplicity, and the more I go forward, the more I simplify my formulas to keep what’s essential. It seems to me that the more precise the chord, the more expressive it is."
==Olivia Giacobetti== (the perfumer)

The above quote is from an interview she did with Fragrantica dated in April 2021. I pinpointed this quote to express the characteristic of this fragrance.

Any fragrance that costs more than $1 per ml and is from a niche brand, I tend to have higher expectations for and judge them relatively harshly as a result. This fragrance ain't cheap - prices I see it for are minimum $200 CAD for 100ml.

In my write-up of the Extreme version, I said that the drydown was a disappointment as it veered into derivative territory with a typical creamy, woody, vanilla base. The real beauty, I said, was the top and heart where you get this accord that to some could be perceived as a basic powdery, laundry detergent smell BUT to others could be perceived as the aura of a Catholic church: Stone, Holy Water and Incense.

This EDT version, the original, is basically that trifecta accord and that's it. Nothing else to my nose. Just one accord, experienced in a linear fashion until it fades off your skin. Yes, it smells like it was made of quality ingredients but it's not complex or deep-smelling.

In a word, it's simple.

If this was sold at designer prices (less than $1 per ml), it'd be palatable.

6.5/10

YT channel - The Scentrovert

I got a new version in a red box and red label. I did not test an older version.

I should mention that I am very particular about incense fragrances: I like note of frankisence, if it made right, but not an orthodox type incense.

This one is beautiful, it is still churchy, but at the same time very seductive, silky, sensual.

A symphonic clash of notes.

Incense and white flowers, a combination that is difficult -on paper- to pull, but Olivia Giacobetti in Passage d'Enfer (PdE) pulls it off beautifully!

A woody, melancholic, religious incense combines with a shyly cheerful, mildly-sweet, soapy lily note. The musk give this fragrance a natural, softness, while the woodsy notes are here in support of the incense note.

Clean, woody, serious, musky, soapy, white-floral, & lightly spicy.

It smells like a luxurious wood-scented soap bar. Hence, despite its complexity, this is an easy to wear fragrance.

While smelled on paper might not be very impressive to some, when worn, PdE is really beautiful & emits aura from the wearer that says "I am a serious, neat, & mindful person".

This is possibly the best white floral a man can get & I say that with Amouage Reflection Man in mind.

PdE is a mature, perfectly unisex, woody floral scent, the fits the cooler days more.

Big "Like"

After purchasing what I thought was the new Extrême PdE, I realized that I had I purchased the current, regular version. Well, I was also able to find a vintage of it on ebay and comparing the 2 (new and old), the old definitely wins out. Its way more smoky and has a particular animalic twang that reminds me a lot of Dzing! Yes, really! The devil was in the details on the old one, lol! In the end, they both last about the same amount of time, but the new one is closer to the skin, cleaner, sharp and citrusy and somehow smells less interesting- ultimately evoking pencil shavings. I'm very curious to now try the "amped up" stronger version they're selling.

I add that it is almost citrusy. the name suggests something else. don't be fooled.

dry, cold, glacial, aseptic acidulous aromas of flowers and light musk. incense? not received. an almost mentholated scent. disinfectant.without heat. No, it's not for me. I had so many hopes.

3/10

This starts as very clean and musky on me. Laundry detergent of a very high quality. That’s usually what I get from musk and would be expected if this was labelled as a musk fragrance but it isn’t so I’m a bit confused, but not disappointed since it is not bad at all. After a while I get the incense, and it is the same kind of incense as in Comme des Garcons incense line - a super realistic tar and wood, as if you stepped in to a carpenters workshop, and although it doesn’t have the same opulence and mystery to it as the incenses in classical orientals it is very pleasant and beautiful.

I read that Passage d’Enfer aspires to capture the lightness in the swirling smoke of frankincense and this is very accurate. Except for the detergant musk it does everything it promises to do. I think it is masculine leaning and ordered a travel size for my husband to try out, he loves freshly cut woods so I hope he will enjoy this.

Passage d’Enfer refers the name of the Parisian street where L’Artisan had their first boutique as a young brand. With that out of the way, the scent is too stark and yes, cold for my tastes but everything isn’t for everybody. Had to sniff it as Giacobetti is one of my favorite perfumers but I’ve no need for a bottle of this and that’s ok.

One another note: If you’re looking for this scent and find it for sale on eBay and the seller is in Russia, do not purchase it. For some reason, Russia has cornered the market producing knock offs of Jo Malone, Le Labo, Frederic Malle, Byredo and L’Artisan.

I was reading the reviews here for a few days before taking the big leap ( lol i just bought a sample). I’m honestly pleased with how people described this perfume. Like i’m actually proud of the community spirit here lol.

So this is indeed very incensy and oh-so-musky ! Just my type of juice. But like many said before, it is also very cold. I didn’t know how cold a perfume could be before I tried this. Someone here said macabre and I have to agree it isn’t your brain being played by the name Passage d’Enfer (which would evoke maybe spices, maybe leathery tobacco, etc). No no no, we are in a very linear austere fragrance with deep contrasts : musky without being animalic, incensy without smoke or without heat, flowery without flowers. The lilies add a soapy/bright tone to it. It bears great similarities with Serge Lutens' L'Orpheline, the latter being the animalic brother.

Yet another comment here was saying that he/she would not know when/how to wear this and again I agree : it’s a beautiful scent but a hard one to integrate to one’s life. It truly evokes a landscape, a certain color palate, a specific vybe. If you approach perfume like a painting on the wall, without thinking of its wearability, its rentability, bur rather like a creation, then this is a very interesting descent into Olivia Giacobetti´s mind. I think of it like a work of art or a specific ambiance. I study theology so I wear it when i need to enter a certain mindstate, but that’s as far as it goes.

Very weak performance, you have to spray 4/5 times several times a day to smell it lol and it doesn’t project much. Does not get more unisex than this.

This is very very cold peppery incense with strong floral note. It feels distant, cold and antiseptic. To me this has very somber, macabre character - lillies are funeral flowers in my culture and the combination with cold dry incense just evokes white-tiled morgue where the cofin is arranged for the ceremony. As with all L'Artisan perfumes I tried so far, it is very evocative, but unwearable to me. It is rather feminine if anything. As a guy I would have to be undertaker to enjoy it.

I want this so desperately!! Would anyone consider a trade or at least a decant? I would be more than happy to reciprocate!

I love this perfume that I wear in this period close to Christmas, but never in good weather.
I do not know the current reformulation which seems to me to have lost its character, as is the case with this house where everything has been revised and reduced.
It's over for me with the Artisan.
If you like incense I recommend Lavs to Unum,
Messe de Minuit to Etro (if the latter was not reformulated no more) and the spectacular Rien Intense to Etat Libre d'Orange.

My review is based on the re-packaged version of Passage d'Enfer. I begin with this important note, as after reading several amazing reviews singing the praises of this scent, I highly suspect that it may have undergone a reformulation.

Don't get me wrong, Passage d'Enfer is a very pretty fragrance with a luscious lily accord and an interesting incense base. When translated from the French, Passage d'Enfer means 'passage to hell'. The scent of lilies do remind me of funerals, yet I don't often associate the death of a loved one to Satan and/or hell. Hell would smell like pimento chillis, dark oud and leather, not white flowers.

Passage d'Enfer is rather one-dimensional, and you only have to glance at the scent pyramid to understand why. On the skin, it is both sheer and cold; a rather unsettling blend of lily, laundry-esque musk and dry Church incense. If I happened to own a bottle I wouldn't know when or where to wear it. Perhaps best worn whilst meditating or when feeling melancholy. Who knows?

The drydown of the latest formulation is very musky, whereas reviews based on the older packaging with the gold cap mentions more woodsiness and balsamic vanilla accords. I wish I had the opportunity to smell an older bottle of Passage d'Enfer as I feel that I would understand the appeal better. I enjoy most L'Artisan Parfumeur scents, and this fragrance is no exception. It might not be a personal favourite of mine, but I do appreciate its artistry.

I find this one really beautiful. It actually reminds me of a candle I own and makes me peaceful and safe, because I associate it with my home. I agree with the reviews that associate it with solitude. The incense note is amazing, but cold. I understand that this fragrance is not the one to impress other people or make them want to be close to you. It is not this kind of intimate scent. But it is intimate in some other way, which I think is glorious. Of course, the incense is sacral, holy, cold, even monumental if you like. But not intense. It is perfect for a mini ritual with yourself.

I adore this fragrance, usually I tend to go for a citrus/ neroli type, but for autumn/winter I like to swap for this lovely scent. Unfortunately I never receive compliments on this, unlike any other fragrance I use. Not sure if it is an unpopular as my husband absolutely hate it, so I only can use it while at work, but I just love how the insect gives you a feeling as you are wrapped in a comforting blanket with an old book....

The scent of someone that sits quietly alone.... and doesn't mind it at all.

It is not here to impress or project or draw others in for an embrace. A beautifully done play on light and shadow/ a sour lily (more like one crushed the watery pod on the bottom of the flower than the smell of the stamen or petal) pairs with a wispy white smoke.

Do not even try to wear or appreciate if you are someone that finds silence uncomfortable. Or if you are someone that tells pensive people to smile.

Does anyone have a full or partial bottle to trade? Decant swap would work too. Please PM me! Thanks!

The epitome of meh. Lightly floral soap with undistinguished incense. A true skin scent on me and it's downright boring. I thought I would really like this so it's a bit of a letdown.

Musky. Sort of woody pine. Soapy. The mildest of lillies. Very unisex, leaning masculine. It's not a bad fragrance, quite safe, not what you would expect or hope for from a name like Passage d'Enfer but if anything it is to its benefit. 6.5/10

Not sure about the flood of Russian fakes on the grey market but Passage de’Enfer is NOT discontinued it is still available from both the L’artisan website and smallflower for less then $200 ;)

Has Passage d'Enfer been officially discontinued by L'Artisan Parfumeur? Why are all the listings on eBay from Russia? It doesn't seem like a complex or difficult composition to replicate under a different name. I believe that the notes are frankincense, ginger lily, woody notes and musk. Yes, it does smell very gothic, church like and mystical. I don't get much of the musk or ginger lily in it. To me it smells like pure frankincense essential oil. I have an unbox bottle with the octagonal gold cap and red label on it. It's about 95-98% full and legit. Selling for $200 firm. Anyone interested message me privately. I am in Florida.

TR/ST - One of my favourite musicians - has a wonderful song called Dressed For Space. For me Passage is Musk Dressed for Incense. A scent for the inner space, a passage to serenity, an entry into the alchemical chamber of Master Giacobbeti where she transforms incense into something else - a slightly rubbery and weirdly beguiling dry musk.
When I smelled it for the fist time i thought now this is a good musk. And then I read the fragrance is playing on the contrasting facets of incense. And immediately my mind joined the game and all of a sudden it was incense I was smelling. WOW. Thrilling.
****(*)

I can indeed say there are counterfeits coming from Russia with love - I have one! I have a sample from Luckyscent that smells of frankincense - and then the one from Russia (bought before seeing any reviews about it) that smells like a light, powdery flower (I'm assuming lily but it's not a flower I'm overly familiar with). Nothing really incense-y about it. I don't mind it, actually, it's extremely inoffensive. I'm not a fragrance expert enough to say for sure that it's an entirely different scent, but I smell no frankincense.

i smell a slightly soapy lily, white musk and clean incense. it's crisp and very clean for an incense scent. this isn't really what i expected, not that i really knew what to expect, but i guess i wanted a creamier lily and a deeper, more smoky incense. i think that juxtaposition would've been really interesting, but this is much more clean and streamlined.

WHO ha

Severelain... Could you tell me the problem of those who come from the Russian Federation?

This came in an incense sampler along with Avignon, Cashbah, Pure Incense, Encense Flamboyant, and others. Passage D'Enfer ranks with best of the lot. Versatile, dry, smoky, soapy floral. Superbly well blended, with sillage that kicks out just the right amount. I'm on the hunt for a bottle online, preferable one that doesn't come from the Russian Federation, if you get my drift...

I can see how some would find Passage d'Enfer dark, sad, or funereal. I quite liked its quietude and unique smokey floral quality. When I wore it, I didn't find weak performance to be a problem. In fact I found that even a modest application filled small spaces like taxis and lift cabins rather uncomfortably. But then, I had samples from right around the launch, so maybe batch variations, if not outright reformulation have eroded the original formula. What I couldn't forgive though, was the unintentional confluence of the incense and musk notes into a distinct smokey, meaty, civety accord. Once that association was made, I could never again enjoy this unusual perfume without thinking of eating hot dogs in church.

Beautiful smoky lily, with a hint of cedary pencil shavings. It’s both smoky and fresh, which is an unusual and very pleasing effect. I love lilies and I love incense so this perfume is ideal for me. It also manages to be both simple and intriguing; I find it ‘atmospheric’ rather than gloomy or melancholic, as others have described it. I didn’t grow up Catholic, so for me it doesn’t come with any connotations. My only complaint is the longevity; it’s got quiet sillage as I expect from L’Artisan, but I wish it lasted a little better. If it did, it could easily become my signature, as for me it suits all moods and occasions, and somehow I never get tired of it.

This classifies as a fresher powdery perfumes from the 80's. A very tamed incense, a soapy lilly. I love it, Does remind me of my elementary school teachers. very nostalgic to me. Can also easily be an everyday scent without overspraying it.

-

An “incense” for those who hate incense.

L'Artisan presents a rather different notion of incense compared to the "hard-cores”, such as Heeley's Cardinal, CdG's Avignon, Sonoma Scent Studio's Incense Pure, Tauer's Incense Extreme, or Phaedon's Oliban.

A number of the "typical" incense perfumes I've encountered possess a sharp, high-pitched sourness, much like a champagne with high acidity;

Others exhibit a dry, bitter, woody, fiberous-roots-like aftertaste, as if one were sipping on an astringent, full-bodied bitter herbal tea.

A mere handful of them boast a captivating mentholated hint akin to thyme, glistening like a star-studded night sky.

None of these scents are found in Passage d'Enfer.

Instead, it offers a unnameable sweet-sour tone, thin woody fiber, accompanied by an overwhelming dose of laundry powder white musk. Perhaps there's a touch of cool-toned, oddly "plastic" Aldehyde C-12 (the top notes so many mistaken to be "incense" in CdG's Avignon), but it's buried six feet beneath the white musk... One would need a shovel to dig it out.

Incense? Where the f* is the Incense?

I don't really get the name at all. I expected mpre agressive too. The scent is a super dry,soapy lily with a little bit of smoke. Reminds me of the vibe of Death and Decay by Lush. Very funereal-I guess if you died and are going to hell the name makes sense. An evil.old woman?

this one is definitely for those who like sad scents. not saying this is anything bad, i do enjoy a lot sad scents myself. i am testing it in winter and smell lilly, incence and woods with overall feeling of dryness. i do not smell much musk this time. i remember testing it some half year ago in the heat of a summer, and it smelled more "wet" and "cold", my first impression being of smelling a wet conrete wall, i may experienced more musk then if i am not mistaken.

this is very serene and calm scent. i remember reading all these threads asking advice what to wear to a funeral, this may in fact be something that would be very appropriate. probably due to a lily, culturally where i come from, lilies were so used at funerals. again, not saying this is a bad thing, just my personal association. no matter that, the scent is subtle and the incence is calm, i would wear it everyday at daytime, so soft i find it.

i do actually like this scent a lot, i did had it on my want list for some time, since it is very unusual, calm and serene scent. the sillage is minimal and it seems to be quite linear to me, at least now in winter time. longevity is nice, i put a drop in the morning and i still smell it 6 hours later. i would consider owning a bottle one day, but i am just now in a phase where i have learned to realise, that some scents are for use everyday, others are for experiencing once or twice. i wouldn't be wearing this one often, even if i like it a lot.

I came for Passage d‘Enfer because so many people say it’s similar to Relique d’Amour, which I’ve also tested and loved, but did not last on my skin. I enjoy the lily note here. Both fragrances are, to my nose, not identical, not even too close to each other. Weirdly, I smell an almost oregano like note 2O minutes after sampling Passage d’ Enfer. I agree with what someone here said that the fragrance resembles shaving cream.

I've been reading the various reviews, and all I can say is this one seems to be a bit of a shapeshifter.

On me it's sour lily, clean woody incense, and no noticeable musk. Very dry and austere. And, bonus, it lasts quite well on my skin. I like it!

I say "clean incense" in comparison to the smoky, dusty and considerably sweeter incense of CdG's "Avignon", my ultimate incense scent. But while Avignon is an indulgence perfume that I wear just for me, Passage d'Enfer is crisp enough to wear anytime, anywhere. I'm glad I've got both.

Today is Good Friday, and it is cloudy and cool outside. The day, the weather, and this perfume all lend themselves to quiet contemplation (and worship, if you are religious).

The white musk is intense and sour, and is the only thing I don't love about this perfume. It doesn't work well in warm weather for this reason, but it is tame today. The musk overshadows the other notes, and I'm glad the lily pokes through. I don't detect any woody notes right now, although I do catch a whiff of them in warmer weather. I don't consciously detect the incense, but I'm pretty sure I do, subconsciously, which adds to my religious experience with this perfume. (I'm not Catholic, and incense isn't used in the church services I attend, so your mileage may vary.)

This scent is austere. The name means "Passage to Hell" or "Passage through Hell," which is absolutely fitting as I think about the Christian doctrine of Jesus taking on the guilt and punishment for the sins of the world on the cross, and during his time in the grave. The coolness of the musk really reminds me of a cool, dark, damp cave that could have been used as Jesus's tomb.

This is a perfume review, and not a sermon, but, as mentioned before, this perfume promotes contemplation.

This fragrance opens with a blast of something acrid, like burning plastic, which reminded me of when my next door neighbor threw household trash in the burn pile- not a very optimistic beginning, and I began to wonder which of my Fragrantica friends might enjoy this more- but after an hour or so, the spicy sweet lily notes began to weave a spiral around me, and all is forgiven...

My skin immediately laughed, then shrugged off the evocative name and threw the most virginal Ivory soap fragrance back in my face!

Passage d'Enfer ne, Salle de Bains!

not more incense.only lily.not for me.3/10 very soft.

A very versatile incense.

I get mostly lily and musk, with some incense in the background. Very light in nature and suitable for nearly any occasion in my opinion. Giacobetti is really one of the best when it comes down to more restrained scents.

Projection is rather weak but longevity is decent, up to maybe 5-6 hours. The musk usually lingers on which is nice.

7/10

Wow. Catholic guilt in a bottle.

Third bottle. On my skin Passage D'enfer is a really dark soapy, fresh scent. Perfect for layering with fruity or freshflowery scents. Absolutely unisex and this scent smells different on different persons, a really unique perfum.

A real love. A gorgeous meditative scent. Without that I would be poor.

Great scent. Wish it lasted. The lily, incense and woods are fantastic. For 30 seconds. I don't know if it's the musks (synthetic) or what, but this perfume is just lovely when first sprayed (and I've been rather heavy-handed with it). The lily and the incense are surprisingly harmonious, with the lighter, less sweet aspects of lily in accord with the wood and incense. It's a great pairing, one that I would like to see again. L'Artisan perfumes is really hit or miss for me, because while their scents are interesting, notes are solid--the performance is just not. I want something I can smell, that leaves a silage, and lasts a bit longer.

What is left is a skin scent at the 10 minute mark, primarily woods and incense with just a waft of something lighter, floral and lily. Very office friendly.... So sad. They really needed to amp this one up, and doesn't seem difficult to do.

Passage D'Enfer is a clean slightly smoky and woodsy scent that was less dramatic than I was anticipating. With a name such as Passage To Hell and with the incense note I was bracing myself for a full bodied incense or Oriental-Persian myrrh. I was not disappointed with this fragrance but it is rather subtle and soft as far as woods and incense go.

The opening is a soapy white lily that smells of funeral home lilies or the lilies and gladiolas in a funeral service. I love the scent of lilies but I was hoping for a melancholy and funereal scent. Instead you get a warm and cozy kind of smell, like the antechamber of a chapel where tables are laid with white flowers. The incense note is detectable and smells good with the woods an a touch of musk.

Passage is clean, warm, inviting, not as complex or spiritual, religious, as I hoped. I want to thank Tiger Lilian for her wondrous review which compares this scent to the interior of a Confessional. That's exactly right. I love these type of moody fragrances that evoke a specific place. L'Artisan Parfumeur line does a terrific job of formulating fragrances that evoke times and places. I feel the same way about Serge Lutens. Thanks again Fragranticans for keeping my life rich with fragrance.

So subtle, picking up faint wood and musk, a light sandalwood and smokey cedar. Reminds me of matches. It doesn't last very long, wish it did because it's really nice!

Lily with hint incense and white musk. Not smoky at all. Rather sweet sparkling. Very nice simple and masterpiece!!!!!!!! Close to amouage Dia men ( same vibe, I keep them next to each other on shelf) Another niche lovely Giacobeti fragrance is Costes nr1: more smokey incense with cardamom and laurel.

This is mostly incense and some lily. The incense smells aloof and austere and reminds me of disinfectant spray, more zen temple than catholic church. Definitely on the more masculine end of the spectrum.

Passage d'Enfer takes me back to my Catholic school days. We spent every week at the school's adjoining church for mass. And ceremoniously the resident priest would burn incense, exactly of this type.

Most "church incense" that is reported in fragrance reviews typically will have the redolence of sweet smelling labdanum along with frankincense and/or myrrh -- thick and resinous. Here, it's incredibly dry and aromatic with smoky cedar, near camphorous and incredibly cleansing, almost sterilizing, combined with clean, peppery frankincense and perhaps some arid sandalwood.

Passage d'Enfer feels very solemn and ceremonial. A nun taking her vows; a young adult undergoing the sacrament of confirmation; a funereal passage into the next world. Somehow though, it isn't a melancholic scent, but a spiritually cleansing one. Like being inside a confessional, smelling the dry wood, unburdening from everything earthly. Not a feeling of enlightenment, but one of reprieve.

And as you leave this church with your spirit absolved, you bless yourself with holy water -- still and quiet in the foyer in a basin of cold marble, tinctured with the scent of lilies that decorate the vestibule. And the lily in Passage d'Enfer really is that subtle, offering just a delicate sweetness that delivers almost a gentle nuttiness to the woods. Perhaps again, it is soapy sandalwood that I'm detecting.

Passage d'Enfer is fairly masculine as far as lilies go. Very balanced and serene. Wonderful for a cedar perfume of a different nature; a bit too delicate for a lilycentric fragrance. However, austere, meditative and achingly beautiful. This is one that you can find sanctuary in.

Boring.
It was recommended to me in the forum thread where I asked for something dark, demonic, and suitable for summer. So it is suitable for summer, but other than that... Nah, too boring.

But then again, it's quite high-quality incense+flowers. So if you're looking for something very soothing and not too trivially-incensy, it might be worth a try.

This is church incense and funeral flowers, it is very close to the skin. Somewhat reminds me of John Galliano but that is a more complicated composition and very strong silage/longevity. Enfer does not have the same performance and it's very linear. But when it comes to incense, you don't always want the powerhouse, sometimes a faint haunting whisp of ghostlike lily and alter smoke is all that's needed. This is very minimal and zen...Beautiful.

I'll get right to the point - this smells EXACTLY like the interior of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Or the Madeleine. Or St. Sulpice. Or Sainte-Chapelle. Or Sacre-Couer. You get the idea. Church lilies, blended with Catholic incense, over a backdrop of cool stone and old, old wooden screens and benches. I bought this recently after a trip to Paris so I could keep smelling that experience at those French cathedrals. Absolute love.

I forgot what the description of this was when I sampled it . . . This is my initial impression from a dauber sample:

Wow. A perfect salty sea air scent. You can't overspray this it smells so fresh and atmospheric, and yet it has remarkable longevity.

This was supposed to be incense? I get skin and salt and air. Exactly what I've been looking for.

Today I tested it in spray form and the lily and incense are much more present. The lily is apparent in the first breath but quickly retreats. The incense is almost black powder, If you've ever used the pucks to burn resins or hookah shisha it's that kind of smokey, but still very atmospheric. It's still beachy but now it's the morning after Forth of July on a Pacific Northwest beach -- musky and salty and cold.

The longevity is really hard to say. After 5 hours I couldn't smell it on my wrist but I kept getting whiffs of sea air as I drove.

This smells a lot spicier than the notes lead you to believe. There's a certain sharpness to it that I can't place in terms of note, pepper maybe. Smoky maybe inky in a way!

Very interesting.Not strictly a "wow" masterpiece but very wearable in wintertime.I don't detect any incense,only musk and Woody notes.My nose translate this vibe in "tea and spices".However,makes me feel warm.It's a cocooning gem.

Passage d' Enfer may be translated like "Hells passage" but it's also the street in Montparnasse, Paris.
The fragrance itself is not a hellgate. To enter the hellgate it would need a dark, fiery, ambery smell.

Instead of that Passage d' Enfer is the most wearable incense I´ve ever came across. It´s light and slightly white flowery fresh.

I was always looking for a good substitute for fragrances like Gucci Pour Homme and Christian Lacroix Tumulte.
And I think this is the best substitute for them.

A classic cedar incense fragrance. It smells rich.
Not the church type of fragrance.

It´s lasting power is great, projection is about 2 hours, as many other scents. Then it stays as a skin scent.

Great for a dinner or a short evening meeting.
It´s name should be Porte d' ciel or Heavens gate

Well done Ms. Olivia Giacobetti.

On my skin at first spray this smells of stationery, specifically new paper and freshly sharpened pencils with that smell of lead. After a couple of minutes it settles down and the incense comes through with the smell of musk, the lily forms the backdrop to keep things fresh. Basically this perfume tells me I'm drawing in an old empty church after the service has finished, no doubt waiting for my Mum to stop talking to her friends so we can go home. I find this pleasing since I like the smell of new stationery and incense. The scent is warming yet fresh.
This has very low silage and lasts about 3 hours tops, so not the best value for money, but works really well with cedar from Fragonard which kicks it up a notch and makes it last longer. Will definitely check out more of the L'Artisan perfumes in TK MAxx from now on.

Edit: I have now nicknamed this fragrance "pencils and prayer"

Like stepping into a abandoned buddism temple. The "abandoned" here is not a poetic qualifier, but just to describe the poor-performance of incense accord.

Very clean floral woody scent with a incense nuance, but unfortionately not that smoky and rich enough as I expected.
A typical linear frag, and neither sophisticated nor rich. It seems lacking a spine...

Longevity: 3-4 hours, so bad for a woody based frag
Projection: poor, almost a skin scent.
Rating: 7.5/10

Finally got my hands on this fresh, airy softly floral masterpiece!! It's so present on the skin and I get lovely reminders during the day. Beautifully blended and a sophisticated unisex!

6/10

A very light delicate fragrance that is easy to wear anytime. You can immediately detect the incense although not strong. The soft muskiness and of course the lily which is the centre piece to everything. The lily fragrance (especially the oriental lily) can easily be overwhelming and headache inducing. Fear not here as it is too weak to do so. Its all very lady like and most pleasant. Average sillage and poor longevity.

This is one of those fragrances that I always find myself reaching for. It's incredibly light, but lasts an age! The heavy lily and spice opening is so distinctive and elegant, and the woody dry down, intermingled with that lingering smokey lily just elevates it to another level.

A truely beautiful fragrance.

(I'm not usually one for layering fragrances but I've found that Smuggler's Soul by Lush works quite well for this frag. The sandalwood adds an extra layer to the incense and spice aspects.)

Leave it to Olivia Giacobetti to create a frankincense fragrance that's light and airy, so unlike the heavy incenses you commonly find. I get the cool dank stone of an ancient building; fresh water with a mineral touch, like water from the garden hose; a hint of flowers; and a spicy, cedary, lightweight frankincense that dries down with a salty, hay-like feel, similar to one of the distinctive notes in Dzing! (another of Giacobetti's creations). It doesn't carry far and is never strong, and if anything I wish it was a tad stronger and lasted a little longer. But at the same time, I love its gentle and meditative nature, and a heavy fragrance might intrude too much. It's not hellish at all, but is certainly suitable for contemplations on spirituality or the Underworld. This fragrance fast became a favorite of mine.

"O human race, born to fly upward, wherefore at a little wind dost thou so fall?"

- Dante, Inferno, The Divine Comedy

This fragrance evokes the classic literary masterpiece of Italian Lit Dante's La Divina Commedia The Divine Comedy Inferno and Paradiso Hell and Heaven. It's a journey from the bowels of hell and up to Heaven. I was skeptical that a fragrance could actually evoke such a thing so I gave it a try and I thought why not I'm a perfume slut anyways. This fragrance is very strong as it opens with incense. It's got all the notes that create the effect of cathedral style incense: myrrh, olibanum, benzoin and incense. Smoky, dark, strong, overpowering. The musk is also clearly there from the start to further add some warmth and depth to the incense notes. This is a musk based incense fragrance and really does smell like the inside of the Notre Dame Cathedral. It smells like a prayer for salvation, a desperate longing for release and escape from the fiery smoke that threatens to consume you and kill you. After a while, as the fragrance begins to dry down, there is at last some nasal relief: white flowers. There's lilies tons of white angelic lilies and perhaps even soft little jasmine flowers. It's sweet and innocent powdery very powdery. It was quite a trip from the 9th circle of Hell to the 7th Heaven.

One of my favourite scents... It smells of incense for sure but it also smells of fire. It has that unmistakable edge of Flint. I absolutely adore this scent, when I wear it I always get comments asking me what it is and where to buy it. Really like nothing else I have ever smelt. Beautiful.

I've really fallen for this one, i love it for winter time as it reminds me of church and Christmas trees, I spritz it on my scarf and it absolutely blooms with incense.

My first incense love, many years ago. I wanted it to be my signature but it had the worst lasting power of all the niche fragrances I've owned.

Dry, peppery, cold incense...

This fragrance is a typical Olivia Giacobetti composition. She has the ability to do an incense fragrance extremely well. This one is no exception.

The name alternatively means Gateway to Hell or Rite of Passage. I think the second name is more fitting as it also is the name of the street in which the original L'Artisan Parfumeur boutique was located.

What we get here is a very dry, cold incense that has musk, lilly, and dry frankincense. It is extremely wearable, but very light. I would recommend it for lovers of incense.

This fragrance is so dry that you'll need a glass of water after the first whiff.

Passage d'Enfer has amazing tension in the opening. The bitter spice from the lily lifts the fragrance in a heightened-senses, anxious sort of way and the woods seem to be fragrant because they're heated - like the red cedar in a dry sauna. The musk facet feels personal and the smoke note feels distant; they further the "acceptance through fear" feeling one might have before entering eternal damnation.

Then the oddest thing happens...

Like the snap of a bow string, this fragrance releases all that tension and settles into something quite peaceful. The woods are used to construct a sacred place, and suddenly a light breeze flows through the open temple. You feel keen on the sounds around you: the chirp of a small rodent, the flapping of a bird's wings, the breeze rustling heavy foliage. You are reminded of your mortality but feel grateful and accepting instead of afraid. You are present in the moment.

I LOVE THIS FRAGRANCE.

1995. A chilly Saturday afternoon at St. Michael of the Archangel Catholic Church. A young Altar Boy is helping the kindly old Monsignor get the Church ready for the Easter Vigil. This is the highest of all Holidays.

The Altar Guild are busying themselves in the Sacristy, quietly and lovingly starching Father's white Alb and Chasuble. An Elderly Lady I'd often seen praying the Rosary before Mass expertly folded and pressed with force the iron, which hissed and steamed in service.

Fresh Stargazer Lilies were brought to the Church and placed on the Altar. Their perfume a gentle and welcome reminder of Spring, which was now dawning on a small Missouri farm village. I stood at the altar, next to the Giant Easter Candle about to be lit for another year. I held the bronze Censer as the Nobile Monsignor lit the coal--crackling and hissing as it began to gather heat and burn like a red hot ember in the darkened Church. He reached for a tin of fragrant Frankincense and Myrrh, its musty, resinous aroma wafted through the crowd.

Prayers were said, songs were sung and then the Paschal Candle was lit, and hundreds of parishoners, each with their own candles, created a ripple of light through the Sanctuary.

Light once again, had conquered the darkness.

This is what Passage D'Enfer is to me. A distant memory of simpler times, of devotion, of faith, and of unbounded hope.

Have to say that I love the name of this scent. Passage d'Enfer - Gates To Hell. If it was cheap enough I'd buy it on the name alone :)

At first Pd'E is haunting. It definitely smells like the passageway to an untoward destination. You smell a smokey waft (coming from Hell?) with what seems to be an oily residue. I can imagine the mouth of a cave, walls glistening with a hot substance that you don't really want to touch. The opening has a menacing yet empty melancholy feeling.

Pd'E then turns ethereal. Like, even though there is evil about, the feeling that salvation may be just in reach is there.

I love the transition between good and evil.

Unfortunately after this the incense pulls back & I get a mostly soapy scent. Luxury soap, milled to perfection, but soap none the less. The incense is there but in the background. At this stage the fragrance becomes a skin scent.

Yes, this is a Unisex perfume - it's not really feminine nor masculine.

The soap stage reminds me of a mixture of L’Ete en Douce with a little The Pour Un Ete - of course both of these fragrances are also Olivia Giacobetti creations for L'Artisan.

Not quite sure about this one, but if I see it for a good price I might be tempted.

Update September 2015 : I ended up encountering Pd'E for a great price and ended up buying a full bottle. I love it!

I find it quite interesting that although my actual bottle does have the soap stage I mention above, the wood & incense is slightly more pronounced.

So much better and it lasts much longer. It shows you the difference between trying a scent via a sample with a wand (yes it was an official L'Artisan manufacturers sample) & the actual spray.

So lesson learnt, this one must be sprayed to get the intended effect. The sample does not do it justice.

This has a much more prominent floral note than it used to, which imo is a good thing but if you're expecting the original version, don't.

Love this one! This is a very light, smokey incense and wood scent with a sweet lily. It is soft and draws you close with its mysteriously unsuspecting but inviting aura. It's very nice and I wish it had a stronger silage, but that would probably ruin its demure mystique which is befitting of its name, after all, the lure to the Passage D'Enfer, Passage to Hell, is lined with subtle temptations.

okay so i came back to check some of my reviews and it made me want to wear this one again and i must say this time it was completely differente , last time i wore this i could only smell smoke with some menthol , i mean go figure there is no menthol on passage d'enfer , this time it was a whole new story, fistly spray with caution it is a monster for the first few minutes i could smell this thing even without putting my nose anywhere near my wrist, second this time i did get the incense full and omg is like an incense stick the kind people use in yoga studios the ones in the blue box with a tiger or a buddha on the box , is good i mean is not something i would wear often but i guess on a rainy day it would be ok.

after a while it does mellows a lot but you can still smell the incense and honestly i get nothing more .

edit** after 5 plus hours i still smell some smoke and incense but with some very acrid note not pleasant at all is very sharp , tame but sharp

The Passage To Lily's Hell...

I love me a good church incense frag. I love the likes of Comme des Garçons Avignon, Heeley's Cardinal, Montale's Full Incense, or similar. However, as much as I like to smell church incense all day long, I don't think most people do outside Church. So I was looking for a more wearable incense to wear publicly...

Introduce Passage D'Enfer (Passage to Hell)...

By the accounts of a few reviewers I thought I was purchasing a wearable church incense frag...but disappointedly it is not what reviews have led me to believe..This is not to say PdE is a bad fragrance...it only means that it does not have the incense character I was hoping for..

PdE is lily bomb, and assault of white flowers. The scent of the lily is such and so polarizing that it takes too much away from the incense, leaving it outside character...here the white flowery smell of lilies dominate strongly. The only reminiscence of church this fragrance has is perhaps the smell of lily flower arrangements left near the statue or painting of the Virgin Mary at Catholic churches.

PdE feels cold and smells crispy, extremely soapy, very clean, and highly aldehydic (I know aldehydes aren't in the scent list of PdE in Fragrantica, but PdE does smell as if it had them because of this high pitched flowery smell aldehydes give to flowery perfumes, just as in Chanel No 5 (the queen of aldehydes)

I'd say this is a great fragrance for women. I can easily see many women liking this one as it smells very femininely elegant.

The longevity of this fragrance is EXCELLENT. For being an EDT, this fragrance lasts and lasts...this is saying a lot about PdE as EDT's don't last long on my skin.

Ladies, if you like clean, white-flowery fragrances, with incense in the background, do check PdE out. I think many of you will like this one

Guys, this is not an heterosexual masculine or unisex incense fragrance. Look elsewhere.

'Passage d'Enfer' or 'Passage Through Hell' (Hell's Gates) is very tame to me, although I actually enjoyed this perfume more than I anticipated. I like this, because it's got a depth to it, but also a lightness, which makes it really easy to wear in hot climates.

During the opening, there was a harshness and soapiness, which reminds me of lemon on my skin (not listed as a note). I definitely get quite a bit of soap from that lily, and when anchored by the balsamic incense it's is a lovely combination, very well-blended and pleasing to the nose, as a fresh-smelling floral with a background of incense. The dry-down is softer, smoother, more airy and mostly incense on me.

A very soft, subtle and soapy-smelling sillage (soft sillage is usual for perfumes from this brand I think); longevity is for about 4-5 hours. Overall, this perfume was pretty and enjoyable, but I tired of it quickly :)

So happy that I finally mustered up the courage to begin posting reviews on Fragrantica...a website I heavily rely on and a website I love. The members here are great & I love visiting.

So, I recently decided (once again) to expand my fragrance repertoire and along with my love for "dark" fragrances, I realize I like incense fragrances a bit, too (especially complex ones and definitely for the spring & summer months). I LOVE rose-ouds and "dirty" or vintage rose fragrances; however such fragrances seem hard to come by at an affordable price. Having tried Etro Messe de Minuit, CDG Avignon, Heeley Cardinal, Biehl MB03 and Profumum Olibanum among others, I think L'Artisan Passage d'Enfer may be a winner...but I'm unsure.

PdE is a well structured, uncomplicated perfume that opens with clearly defined, sharp, shrill, distinctive incense & balsamic notes. Some might be grateful (due to the intensity of the opening) when the initial notes are immediately eclipsed by pleasant mid-notes of mixed white musk, chamomile and floral (lily).

After several minutes pass...nearly 20-30...PdE continues to unfold and develops into an ethereal aroma of balsamic, myrrh, frankincense, musk & vanilla. The final dry-down is a pleasant mixture of light, transparent, unencumbered incense & floral...this is NOT a dark or mysterious perfume. And yes, I imagine if you are a true "incense junkie," Passage d'Enfer will smell way too aquatic and light when all is said and done.

And that is what I love about this fragrance. Having tried PdE recently after experimenting with the above named fragrances, PdE seems suitable. Yes, I like the other incense fragrances a lot; but for one reason or another, they just do not feel quite right on my skin.

Many incense fragrances dry down in a primary masculine manner (for my tastes), while others are too church-y. There is that darn amber "barber shop" scent in some and others are too linear. Many incense fragrances land hard with singular "incense" notes...for one reason or another, they just do not work for me.

With my first CDC Avignon effort, a fragrance I intend on trying again this week, my husband said, "...the scent is okay...but do you really want to walk around all day smelling like a church?" I DID feel a bit odd wearing CDC Avignon. Something just didn't feel right.

I think Passage d'Enfer dries down nicely & I do not think it loses its "Gothic" effect. Like most L'Artisan fragrances, PdE DOES lose its punch after 3-4 hours and silage is quite low. PdE does play close to the skin.

PdE is available and affordable! Not certain about this one yet but it definitely is on the short list! Definitely worth a try! Going to re-try Messe de Minuit (the "newer" available version, which I hear is a departure from the older, much beloved fragrance) and CDC Avignon once again before I make a final determination! Will let you know!

Passage d'Enfer is straightforward. It is 100% pure white soap, albeit a soap of excellent quality, fit for Queen Elizabeth's soaking tub. Extremely musky with a good dose of lily. Truly a soap-lover's dream!

Smokey, soapy scent--with a bite of lemon. The crispness of the lemon dissipates and it becomes smoother, a touch of sweet incense. It vaguely reminds me of Marni, the smokiness. It disappears quickly from the skin, less than 2 hours and it was gone, except for what I sprayed on my scarf. I love it, regardless.

Should you be moved to go forward to the altar upon which she stands and kiss the foot of the best statue of the Virgin at the Basilica here in town, you would notice that the smell of incense clings to her. If someone had recently left an offering of lilies, and the floor had been recently washed, you'd have the smell of Passage d'Enfer in a nutshell.

I have this deep infatuation with "churchy" smells. And this one delivers. It's a cold, marble church with quiet, contemplative incense burning and peaceful lilies. Still, I find something kinda sexy about it.

The first hour is full bottle worthy. Perfection. After that, if goes down hill. It starts to turn to soapy pencil shavings. There's a weird undertone to it that starts to come out, and that's really the best way I can describe it. Just...goes a little wrong somewhere. An hour after that, it's gone entirely.

It breaks my heart, because I just love this scent. I still might buy a bottle, because of that perfect opening, but it seems like a waste due to the dry down going so very wrong on me, and the poor staying power

This review is based on a decant. On my skin and to my nose, I get mostly just soapy lily. I would say it's in the same vein as Hiris by Hermes because of the soapy floral. Projection and longevity are below average on my skin.

Passage d'enfer is a dark but fresh soapy scent on my skin. I get no metallic note, no flowers or Insence - just a dark but fresh soapy note - in a good way. Perfect to mix Passage with light flowery scents - great mix. Today I have Passage + R Cavalli edP - great mix

Passage d'enfer är en mörk men fräsch tvålig doft på min hud. I får ingen metall-not, inga blomnoter eller rökelse heller utan bara en mörk men fräsch tvålig doft - på ett gott sätt. Passage d'enfer är perfekt att mixa med ljusa blommiga dofter. Idag har jag Passage + R Cavalli EdP - perfekt!

A very strange perfume. At first it smells like some bubbling liquid with a discusting dirty smell and now it's still that bubbling smell but with lilies and something metallic, it's just awful. Lucky it's just a sample and not a bottle.

Deadidol put this far more delicately than I'm inclined to. But, I agree that whatever virtues this perfume has are overshadowed on me by the smell of cheap white musk. If I concentrate I can get a little of the playful lightness that makes Dzing so pleasant. Mostly though I just try to ignore the horrible white musk smell that is emanating from my wrist.

Stained glass windows, cold stone, wood benches and a vase full of lilies in every corner. To me this scent is a mystique experience in itself.

It was love at first sniff. I never smelled anything like it before. Very hard to describe but Oh! so fascinating. A truly beautiful and elegant scent . I simply adore it !

The idea of lily and incense sounds like an elaborate funeral, but this has more the feeling of sun-warmed wood.

To me Passage D'Enfer conjures up a sleepy village antique furniture shop, where warm July sunlight streams through the window to release the scent of fine old oak and cedar.

The proud proprietor keeps everything in perfect condition; beeswax has been lovingly rubbed into cabinets to reveal the wood-grain, but sunlight has warmed and evaporated away any trace of chemicals (though one commentor below did mention notes of Windex, maybe it's association!). I also get a hint of nutmeg, which I love

There's just the faint whiff of the owner's garden wafting through an open back door; the sweet nectar scent of mid-summer flowers and linen drying in the breeze

Although it's a woody incense I find it spring/summery in feel, because it has a fresh quality

It's uplifting, light, (best to spray a lot)but the longevity is good. Dries down to a soft woody musk. Good quality and it smells it!

A silvery, shimmery, evanescent thing that features crisp lilies and incense. The incense is crystalline, and the general composition is gaunt, primarily emphasizing the higher-register notes. It’s as if somebody EQ’d out the bass and the mids, but cranked the treble way up; it's light, but luminous at the same time.

Yet, unavoidable for me is a soapy note that overshadows the incense. This seems to come, in part, from the slightly medicinal facets of the lily, but the main source is a crappy dry white musk that really lets the composition down. While white musk bases are essential for such fragile and transparent scents to stay afloat, they do tend to raise questions as to how the composition accommodates them, or how the perfumer solved the problem by building the scent up in other ways. The musk here is simply too pronounced and cheap-smelling when a more indolic or even slightly waxy method would have proved more appropriate.

Although Passage d’Enfer held up much better than I’d expected it to (I was thinking two hours, tops), after the first hour or so, it really did become a borderline industrial scent over the lousy musk. With that said, I’m particularly sensitive to soapy notes in perfume (I loathe them), so my “overly soapy” might be someone else’s “not soapy at all," but in such a narrow, skinny, but otherwise tasteful scent, these problems are both amplified and unavoidable.

I cant seem to decide on this one if I LOVE or dislike it. Ive never had such a hard time making up my mind All I know is that I cant stop thinking about it when Im wearing it and keep catching a smell that I go.. Is that THIS perfume (have a few samples on) - Must be the incense that intrigues me

I think that means its a yes - of course I need to wear a full amount for full day to be totally sure

What a beautiful minimalistic composition – smooth incense and soapy lilies. I haven’t smelled anything like this before: it’s shy, but self-determined and oh so beautiful. Passage d'Enfer, like any other incense fragrance, must be tested on skin. It reveals itself slowly going from dusty and cold incense to warm powdery scent, both carnal and ethereal. It remains close to the skin and the silage is weak, but the quality of the ingredients means that you can almost bath yourself with this fragrance and it won’t become suffocating.

Lately, I'm having a lot of trouble with longevity with pretty much everything I like. This time, though, it's L'Artisan, so, it's a bit expected, unfortunately. You see, L'Artisan without longevity problems would be among the very best niche brands. Passage d'Enfer is another classic representation of that.

Olivia Giacobetti made a minimalistic fragrance around two notes - incense and lily. With those two leading way, and considering the name of the fragrance, I expected a dark composition, but, surprisingly, this one is everything but that. It is an incense perfume with lots of light and life. I don't get a lily note as pure lily, like in Charogne, for example, but, the way incense is modified - it's sweetish and waxy, even syrupy at times - suggests that the lily is present, although in the background. Even with that sweetish character, though, this perfume is still airy and ethereal, like a lot of other L'Artisans. Passage d'Enfer gets soapy in the drydown, with a smooth combination of faint woods, white musk and some of remaining incense, but that phase is so close to the skin you can feel it only with your nose on the wrist.

This perfume has a stamp of both L'Artisan brand and Giacobetti. Its simplicity is obvious, but is perfectly mannered and quite unique - in fact, I couldn't think of a single remotely similar scent, even with all those incense-based compositions. It also has a flaw of being too ethereal - it disappears within three or, if you're lucky, four hours, and for at least half of that duration it sits very close to the skin. This is one of the cases where you pretty much cannot overapply the perfume, so, a larger dose can help with the projection, but it probably won't make it more durable.

These Gates of Hell smelled a lot more like Gates of Heaven to me. A wonderful incense interpretation with a lot of character but with obvious longevity issue.

8.5/10

I totally get the same Windex opening as the previous reviewer. Passage d'Enfer is surprisingly soapy all things considered.
Although I am a lover of incense, I find myself wanting more lilies. I guess because I personally associate the scent of lilies with funerals and thus it would make this fragrance more appropriate to my perception. For that reason, in this genre I prefer ELDO's Charogne.
But, I digress. Passage d'Enfer is a sweetish incense, almost as if you're sniffing the unlit stick. Don't get a lot of smoke here. The lily note is fairly faint and a bit waxy.
Drydown comes quickly and is on the clean/powdery side. Not a fragrance that really pushes my buttons. Longevity is poor, less than 1 hour.

When asked recently that old chestnut, “Whom would you invite to dinner if you could have any 10 guests from history?” I was mortified as usual by the pedestrian quality of my answer compared to the great wits and intellects around me. I'd love to think of myself as a rounded person, but my head must've been in my perfume closet, and my answers were quite narrow. Edmond Roudnitska, Germaine Cellier, Bernard Chant... I was happy with myself, though, for the living perfumer I included, Olivia Giacobetti.

I've actually only recently found my way to Giacobetti’s work, but I am fascinated. I still want to investigate her fig and flower perfumes, but having experienced Dzing! Passage d’Enfer and Fou d’Absinthe, I'm sold.

I love the scents of the perfumes that I've tried, but I am drawn to her for her artistic approach. Dzing! captures my desire for a considered use of abstraction toward specific ends. Abstraction isn’t throwing things at a wall and seeing what sticks. It is a specific and complex means of revealing attributes of an idea or thing, and has only as much randomness to it as any other means of composing work does. Passage d’Enfer shows that thoughtful juxtaposition highlights the frame of reference, and bends contexts to create new and unimagined possibilities. Juxtaposition is never simply about the two ideas placed next to each other. It’s about the space between them, the artist and the audience and what they together make of it all.

While there certainly is more to the composition, Passage d’Enfer combines incense and lily and comes up with something both interesting and unexpected. While I can still make out the two components, my attention is mostly drawn to a third, new quality. It is creamy, soapy, spectral. It suggests an atmosphere like fog, which cannot be experienced in inches, but must be taken in in yards, over terrain. It has a comfortable density to the touch that feels like it would absorb sound. It has a giving property and maybe even a forgiving nature.

I know I'm reading a lot into this perfume. But that's what I want to do with perfume. And in order to do so I choose well-considered perfumes, ones rich with ideas. I've always loved the T.S. Eliot expression, “I will show you fear in a handful of dust.” It tells me about subject, object, the things between them, and intent. By the same token a smart, qualified perfumer can show a willing and informed perfume wearer the world in a bottle.

from scenthurdle.com

I love this perfume. To me it is sparkly incense - it feels like it is "up there" - I can't really explain it better. When I spray it I feel uplifted , light, ethereal. It's not a heavy incense on me. It's clear and effervescent. I just wish it lasted longer. I get a couple of hours and that kills me. I actually find it a superior scent to Avignon - there are more layers and it feels more nuanced. Such a great fragrance but for the money I really wish it last longer. I save it for special occasions because of this as I have to SPRAY and SPRAY.

Nine-syllable review: What the Hell? Heaven smells like Windex?

Incense and lilies… Such an easy scent to re-create in my mind's nose. Such an easy scent to crave, since for me, it's the scent of holiness and ultimate mystery -- of midnight mass and Easter vigils.

A soul longing for the scent of heaven isn't expecting the scent of Windex. But Windex is the first thing I get from Passage d'Enfer: I could swear Windex is the top note of this fragrance.

The lily in Passage d'Enfer is a fresh, ethereal lily. It's the kind of virginal scent we might imagine Madonna lilies having, instead of the narcotic, fleshy scent they actually do have. The incense in Passage d'Enfer is likewise fresh and ethereal. Which means that neither the incense nor lily can drag the perfume back from the realms of "sparking fresh" and "squeaky clean" once the initial association with Windex is made.

Eventually, the "sparkling fresh" top notes begin fading and sweet woodsy notes start emerging. I begin smelling wood spritzed with Windex (certainly an improvement over Windex straight). Then, at long last, all traces of Windex disappear, leaving a scent which is really quite heavenly.

Alas, the memory of Windex remains after the smell of it has faded, making it hard to appreciate the heavenly scents that follow. Altogether, Passage d'Enfer lives up to its name: to expect Heaven and to be greeted by Windex in its stead is to journey through the gates of Hell and back.

Passage d'enfer is an almost pure incense fragrance to my nose. There is a light touch of flower to fresh up the scent, some woody notes and some musk. But they all serve to complement the incense. The scent doesn't change much during the wearing, juste a bit more woody while gradually fading. The sillage is close and it lasted at least 6 hours on me.

The incense in Passage d'enfer is actually quite impressive. It's so realistic that it immediately makes me think of Chinese temples. Due to this fact, to me it's more an ambiance fragrance than an actual perfume that I'd wear in person. But it worths trying especially for incense fans.

Lily, incense, woods, musk...how can this be an 'uplifting' scent?
And yet, it is.
Surprisingly light and delicate, a 'naked' type of fragrance, very natural and close to the skin.
It's not an attention grabber and still you can tell the scent is there.
A wonderful perfume.

Expensive but worthy. I can´t describe it with words, the person who might be interested in incense parfums has to try this beauty him/herself at least for 3 or 4 days and have his/her own experience with it. I just can say is a very spiritual and pure esence, by me smells very natural and real, as I know the incense smell by burning the resine at home. I became addicted to this parfume... If there is an eau de parfum or any stronger version of this masterpiece I will buy it for sure.

My Mum gave me this out of her wardrobe. A delicate, unobtrusive incense that is far more nuanced and beguiling that CdG's Avignon. When I was young and we'd travel to my parent's homeland in the Nile Valley for the summer, people used to prepare these incense pots full of mastic, frankincense, sandalwood, and other spices. They would then drench the concoction in French perfumes - usually Fleurs D'Amour - before igniting it. Olivia Giacobetti distilled one of those pots in this bottle.

First, I'll say...this was a blind swap, and I absolutely **LOVE** it. There are only four notes listed, and yet there's something that I can't quite identify in this fragrance, something that I love. I'm not sure if it's the smoky, incensed lily, I don't know. But I do know that I can't stop smelling this...I think it's wonderful.

Oh nooooooooooo...another full bottle worthy wish!

Nothing you couldn't do or be wrapped in this. Very spiritual, gothy, clearing your head.

Amazing incense, clean, crisp, I almost get a citrussy feel.

Passage d'Enfer begins with smoky floral incense. The incense seems lit to me, emitting a fine ribbon of smoke, but it also has a powdery quality as if it were still unlit and waiting within its long, fragrant cardboard box.

Passage d'Enfer excels at balance. It is difficult to separate and identify the individual elements. It smells like "itself," which in my opinion, is the mark of a unique and well-blended fragrance.

It sometimes reminds me of the incense burned at road stops in Western China near the bathrooms as air freshener. Passage d'Enfer however, is more floral and fresh and soapy than those thin pungent sticks. In the drydown, the woods and powder become more prominent, but the incense continues to form a soft trail.

Projection is good, and longevity is some of the best I have known from L Artisan.

I think this fragrance is perfect for cool overcast or rainy days in Spring, because the fresh wet gray of the weather is the perfect compliment to this smoky pink and balmy incense.

I could also see it layered nicely with a rich tropical, high-quality body lotion like coconut or gardenia.

One of the strongest olfactory impressions of recent time. Strong oriental lily with leathery animalistic touch and smoky insense - and I’m at the heaven’s gate, not down under. It’s the strongest full bottle wish I have now.
There was a strong sour note in the middle that almost spoiled my almost spiritual experience. Luckily, this unknown note was short-lived, and was substituted by a divine sedarwood and even more pronounced insense.
This is a catholic church smell for me, Pd'E depicts vast cool cathedral after the mass. There is still a smell of burnt insense, fresh summer lilies in vases and intricate wooden carvings of saints.
This one is a serious scent, I wouldn't want to do anything frivolous wearing this. On the other hand something totally slutty and trashy is called for: like Tarts and Vickars party in Bridget Jones's Diary. And I love both sides of this perfume!

I use Pd'E as a layering scent most of the time. It's lovely but the sheer, transparent quality lends itself to "boost" another light scent. Much of my collection is incense and woody orientals, heavy hitters, but also some lighter incense like Un Jardin Sur le Nil and Shaal Nur, and Passage d'Enfer smells great combined with these. It also adds a pleasant base for florals. By itself, it smells clean and somewhat watery with a wisp of smoke, and yes, it doesn't last long.

This was my first L'artisan bottle: a floral woody incense.
It has this nice "leathery/suede" feeling, I find it polite and mysterious, but nothing like a church scent. It's very clean too, but sometimes the musk makes it smelling wicked.
Unfortunately, it doesn't last too long, and after 4 hours becomes close to the skin scent. Still love it, this is my favourite L'artisan so far!

After trying this scent twice more I had to edit my review. I still like this the best of any of the L'Artisan scents and I have sampled almost all of them. I really love the bright peppery notes. However, each tme I try this juice again it seems to be fainter and fainter on my skin. I think I would have to spray on half of the expensive bottle to be able to smell it. Therefore, I will not be buying a bottle of this scent. Quel dommage- such a nice scent but not enough projection to make it "wear-worthy."

This one of the very few fragrances of L'artisan parfumeur whch has excellent longevity. To me the fragrance is very reminiscent of the incense burnt in church. There is something quite mysterious and strongly masculine about this fragrance. One of my favorites.

Mmm, something interesting. I liked it. Though smelled better from a bottle than on my skin, where it turned soapy about 1 hour after application. But that first hour, whoa, it was worth it!
I love incense in perfume, and i hate lilies in perfume. Well, after smelling Passade d'Enfer I will surely change my mind about the second part of the previous sentence. Lilies are not for me in strong floral perfumes, they just kill me, but here, coupled with incense, it was just fantastic. I discovered completely different side of lily and I am very very content of that.
I think it is a very different perfume, refined, elegantly clean and cold, but rather not a classic one. I mean, you have to have the courage to wear the perfume that smells like funeral of young virgin - it's flowery, it's fresh, but it is still a funeral. Maybe that's why musky base turns out very soapy on me. Carnal musk has this property of appearing in a very seductive and animalic way. But if the body is not alive any more? If the body is not a body anymore? I don't want to say I smell a corpse here in any way. But the idea of the gate to hell gives some explanation to that. Hell may be not the hot caldron, but the cold desert in the middle of nowhere. I get this impression after smelling Passage d'Enfer. I would like to own a FB - has kind of a philosophical effect on me :)

No, L'Artisan Parfum is not for me: nice fragrances not very strong, already tested thanks to a friend but this is particulary thin, some eau de cologne are more lasting, this is only nice. Pity...

I liked it but since I have Elixir, no point of buying as it is virtually the same. Nice but nothing new there, same creator, same smell.

Unfortunately, on me this fragrance almost doesn't smell the lily at all. Besides, it smells the frankinsense note on me far from being intensive. Somehow most of all it smells the musky note.

It doesn't seem to me charming or even interesting. Actually, I don't like it. Not the by L' Artisan. And it's called creepy enough.

I see I'm in a minority, but I get straight-up bar soap scent in this. I can smell the incense, but also a very odd, very fresh scent. It also smells very masculine to me.

I was surprised to realize that it smells very much like Vanille Sauvage de Madagascar. In fact, the two scents are almost indistinguishable on me...except for the fact that Passage is more sparkly - greener - than Vanille Sauvage. Like the difference between the scent of a freshly broken new branch and musty dark wood.

I like it well enough, but it fades too *quickly* on me. In an hour and a half, I couldn't smell it at all.

I'll give it another try and ask my sig. other if they can still smell it on me at the end of the day. If not, it's not worth paying so much for it.

I totally agree with Silverfire..:)..I love this perfum!!!!

I don't get it...Why could many people detect the incense note but me?
For me, this is a purely Lily perfume, nothing else.
When I first spray it, I could smell a whole bunch of freshly cut lilies; however, it soon turns to a soapy scent for a long long time, very sharp and somehow synthetic.
Much later, it goes back to a pretty nice lily scent.
*longevity: 8/10
*Sillage: 7-8/10

To me, the name conjures up imges of the Hell’s Gate canyon in southern British Columbia, a rush of churning whitewater down in a deep gorge at the point where the Fraser River passes through the narrowest point in its course.

I’m not sure what I was expecting from this EdT - an aquatic based on my own peculiar associations with the name, or strong, smoky incense based on things I’d read. In any case, it wasn’t musk, but at first, musk is all I smell. Then gradually there appears a soapy floral note along with a hint of the incense I’d been half expecting. It’s never smoky or goth-y, always light, clean, upbeat and pastel-tinted, staying close to the skin. I don’t really recognize lilies in the floral component, which just seems like a floral-scented soap. The light floral-incense-musk mix stays fairly linear until it fades away after 4-5 hours.

I like Passage d’Enfer, but it reminds me of bland classical music played at very low volume in an upscale restaurant - something to provide a pleasant background ambience rather than something to actively listen to.

The same thing happened to me as happened to Armchair Sailor. I put on what I thought was a generous amount and seriously, within a few minutes I could barely smell anything. I thought there was something wrong with me, but I see someone else has had that experience too. I wish I could smell what everyone else is getting. I didn't even have time to name what I was sensing. Maybe a very very vague pipi du chat. I guess I'll try again.

It might be the best perfume in the world. But here's what happened to me: I sprayed it on my left wrist (on the right I had Dzongkha) then I came back to the university in time to smell them properly before a lesson. Guess what? Twenty minutes after spraying it, Passage d'enfer was gone. Completely. So, I have a vague idea of what it smells like, as I've smelled briefly when sprayed. I remember spices. Sort of. It seemed interesting.
But fifteen minutes of persistence? No, thanks.

Heverton you described it wonderful:) I agree with you letter by letter.
In the time searching your PATH, maybe reading "The Shack", trying to go down deeper and deeper is the best having the smell of Passage on you. Taking you to a calm and balanced world, where you should not meets requirements of others.
I understand that it is not for everyone.

Passage d'Enfer is the most spiritual fragrance that I've had the opportunity to meet. We don't have here the pure abstraction of the environment inside a church, as in Avignon, but instead, a full transposition to a rite of passage.

L'artisan was able to capture with this scent, the end point of every life, death, especially it's religious aspects.

This scent opens with a cadaverous smell, similar to the smell of bodies as being veiled. That distinctive smell of flowers combined with incense, a mysterious opening where Lily is fully present along with a very characteristic aroma of myrrh.

Named gates of hell, I was expecting the same as knightz expected. A pungent scent, extremely strong, invasive, and even repulsive, representing to me within it's evolution, the nine circles of hell as described by Dante Alighieri in hi's most famous work The Divine Comedy, instead we have in this smooth scent(and no less remarkable), the final part of Purgatory, with the removal of sins committed by Dante in life and thus the subsequent ascension into heaven.

Passage d'Enfer is the embodiment of the liturgical chant Kyrie eleison (Lord have mercy on us). A spiritual masterpiece. Definitely a scent that is not for everyone. When you have the opportunity to smell this fragrance, track it's progress by watching this video on youtube (watch?v=L1lz7JAXe54&feature) and so you will understand the perfect image that Giacobetti Olivia was able to capture with her creation.

Oh eck, sample tested on my arm 3 hours ago and still making me feel exactly as described by Cereza below, an accurate observation..
I ADORE many aspects of L'artisan's range and admire their eccentricity and creativity but this is creepy, musty and unfortunately long lasting.

Bless me Father, for I have sinned...
I would call it a spiritual perfume. It's a serious perfume, just like the spiritual path. Life and death. Not for everybody, and certainly not liked by everybody. Yes, the incense, the lilies, the musk, and the ginger (hence the soapy character) are all there. What I really enjoy is its ethereal nature (like all L'Artisan creations), which makes it wearable and enjoyable, and on me unlike others it lasts around 8 hours!
A wonderful fragrance, which reminds us that maybe in order to earn our paradise, we have to go through hell...

Yes, I agree with Cereza's review. This fragrance creeps me out. Yes, I get the faint odor of death and funeral homes. Lifeless bodies. Morbid. The lillies. The ghosts. Won't wear it but will toy with my sample.

I have a problem with Lily in fragrances, that flower creeps me out. Really. It reminds me of funeral, of death, cemetary, sadness and emptyness. I have no idea why it it's like that.
Passage d'Enfer is all about lily and woody notes. I can feel dry cedar, there are bits of incense, but not too noticable. The scent itself is enjoyable, but this creeps me out. No wonder it's called "The Gates of hell".
Sorry, really, it reminds me of the way dead people smell when they are prepared for funeral. Not bad, but creepy. Not something I'd like to smell like...EVER.

I'm enjoying wearing this immensely, although the smell of "Passage d'Enfer" is unfortunately evaporating so fast. Subtle and spicy all in one, really comforting fragrance. And isn't it true that a way to hell is such a comfortable and welcoming one, while a way to heaven is tiring and hard?
The incense here isn't as strong as I remember from catholic masses, than it was overwhelming. In "Passage d'Enfer" it's so subtle and wonderful with a hint of lily's sweetness.

After reading about how good it was I finally ordered my own sample bottle. I got it this morning and from the moment I sprayed it on me I absolutely loved it!!! It's delicate, sweet, fragrant like a cologne but the musk and the incense in it make it sublime, refined. It makes me think of a wonderful sunny day in Spring when it's still cold. I think it's elegant and sexy. The only down factor that I can find is that on my skin it disappears after about 4 hours, but I think that I'll buy the big and expensive bottle and will just reapply during the day...Passage d'Enfer is definitely worth the money!!!!

Passage D'Enfer. The description given by L'Artisan Parfumeur is:

"A light and enveloping incense water awakened by musky notes. A pure and hypnotic blend, that carries you off to seventh heaven."

There's obviously some sort of symbolism here, especially given the floral note in the composition. Lily has been often used to symbolize purity, chastity and virtue (The Virgin Mary). One could conclude that the name of the fragrance is the point of ascension, based on the given description and the symbolism of the one floral note.

Addressing some of the perceived sexual connotations of the fragrance: the lily flower is also a symbolism of fertility in ancient Egypt and sexuality in ancient Greece.

Whatever the case is, I'm glad to have it in my collection!! Though sillage is moderate and the lasting power will vary on different people, it becomes a delightful skin scent after about 5 minutes. I love how these notes are blended and you can detect every single note listed by Fragrantica. L'Artisan Parfumeur has created an interesting fragrance in Passage D'Enfer which aromatically and symbolically appeals to both religious people and pagans alike.

When I saw Giacobetti's name on this I knew two things: I would like it, and it would be short lived.

Yes to both. Most before me are describing a nice 'hanging on your clothes' scent, and i agree with that too.

What I find interesting here is the lily note, which my chemistry lifts up (and sinks the musk). As a result I get a very fresh, spring floral wrapped in incense. It's a gentle, pleasant combination; not at all harsh, sexy, or suggestive.

I too wish this lasted longer, which is the only criticism i give it.

Good scent for sure like all L'Artisan fragrances. BUT like most of their stuff, this is too light without sillage and duration. Last only 2-3 hours on clothes!
Sad cause they have great smelling things out there...


4/5

This is a scent with a big edge. If i ever decided to wear latex or leather suit with the metal chains and heavy rock boots, I'd wear something like what is Passage d'Enfer in the beginning . The first notes are the eyes of thousands of devils in the pits of fiery hell, where the main feature is not the heat but redness and smell of metal - a cold smell of cooking metal, if it makes sense. After that all this changes into the shaving cream. I'm in the middle of trying now, but I don't expect the fragrance to change back to that firmament-inspired piece of artwork in the end. I have mixed feelings - the beginning to very good, later it disappears.

I bought this expecting the most sexy, carnal fragrance, but after buying it and realising it wasn't, I read that this perfume (Gates of Hell) was named after the street address where L'Artisan Perfumes is located in Paris.

It has nothing to do with any religious theme. I love it, but many of my friends dislike it. It does smell very 'churchy' to me and that's a wonderful feature of the parfum. I see it more as a masculine fragrance, but have never smelled it on a woman's skin before.

This storyline is a quoted from Osmoz.com - "Created in late 1999 and first featured on curled paper, the Passage d'Enfer eau de toilette (Rite of Passage) was designed by L'Artisan Parfumeur to celebrate the "passage to YK2."
After this original and light incense eau enjoyed great success, L'Artisan Parfumeur packaged it in a flacon to add it to the Jeux d'Ambre universe.
Passage d'Enfer hugs the body and floats up to the sky with a scent of spellbinding musk. It is a symbolic fragrance, a peace pact between spiritual and carnal. It is a universal eau that shrouds and dresses the skins of men and women of the new millennium."

I'm unsure which story to believe now ....

With the name this possesses I was expecting hellfire & brimstone - instead this is has a nice soapy incense smell to it. This perfume also suggests the smell of fire & smoke that has caught in my hair after I've burnt brush or wood in my firepit outside , which I like that smell by the way , it agrees with me.

This also smells alot like my home after I've dusted the furniture using lemon oil, I also burn all kinds of incense in my home, including the natural resins like frankincense & myrhh, so these smells mix really nice, kind of like an old church smell - or temple..which is the effect I get in the mood for when I want to chill out for a while.

This is no road to Hell to me, but more of a quiet sanctuary smell , with all the incense & smokiness - there's also a dampness to this perfume which futher evokes the idea of an ancient temple still being used for some kind of worship.
This is a very atmospheric fragrance, makes me think of songs dealing with dark creatures,I'm thinking Sarah McLachlan's 'Building a Mystery' (I love the lyrics to that song!) & then even darker, Type O Negative's 'Black no 1', perfect soundtracks for this fragrance!
Not harsh smelling at all, this is very evocative of dark ,ancient places of worship,this is what the lingering smells of ritual in those places would smell like.
I love this!

It would seem, I am one of the few who smell the lily stronger than the incense in this one. To me this is a lily fragrance for grown up women, nothing sweet or innocent about it. I guess it's the incense's work, which for me adds this darker, mysterious, cooler tone. I absolutely love it and wear it, mainly in the summer, on its own but also layered with others -usually florals- as well. The lasting power is awesome, a whole day on me, even if the sillage is not that great. I've run to the middle of my 3.4 oz bottle in less than 6 months, with over 20 FBs in my collection, so that should tell you something. A very unusual fragrance, so simple and yet so unique. Try before you buy though; it's either love or hate with this one.

yess finally got a chance to try it,there is much incense indeed and it reminds me church smell its sexy tough.. not sure if i want to smell like that :-p, its slightly similair to galliano but more floral..longlasting as well
just my luck they stop selling it in the store were i want to buy it :-(
it was a hard choice between lady
vengance and gates of hell.. if it was for me i bought both!
glad i could get a sample!

I am in love with Passage d'Enfer. With a first spray it's incense I lusted for, many times found in other perfumes, but not enough amount for me. It's like sacred aura- it's not very strong sillage monster, but it's trail is intriguing. All way home I sniffed my wrist and thought that I found one of my top loved perfumes.
Some people may find it too much real to wear or it would recall burial stuff (especially if russian orthodox church pope attends and while he prays he shakes that stuff with burning incense).
It's suitable cold day, rainy day, whatever type of day even today, when it's hot, it's perfect.
I picture dark church or cathedral which was rebuilt many times and bears signature elements of passed eras such as gothic and others. There's old benches and they are saturated with incense.
Now updated, more accurate description:
First spray and immediately it's incense with a little lemony note, that you will rarely ever notice, because it's hidden as undertone and sounds/suits it well. At first, for some time, it reminds me the dry spices of Timbuktu, the edible smokiness of Dzongkha. But it's incense, incense- true, even something evil about it. I won't picture any light, sunny church, more sounds like medieval or older time one, that hasn't been touched by minimalism and has it all- uber decorated, it rather screamed - Fear!- to average citizens :3
It's different, yet brings me some comfort and makes me feel more confident.

UPD. So. Opening is very resinuos,you know? Smells exactly like resin from pine tree. It has alittle lemony undertone, but it's alive to death. Next is hot, burning smell of incense and lily that settles down into incense + musk aura-like smell. Simply divine. It kind of sometimes I think 'Where do that Narcisso Rodriguez comes from?' It just is musky combo from PdE. So they share something common right there. At start it used to have headaches from it, but then it went away.

Lasting power is great- not only I can feel it all day (feels like some kinda aura, as it's not overly intense, but you will notice it around), I tried to put it on before going to bed and next day woke up and immediately felt it around.

P.P.S. Proud owner of 3.4 bottle :P

Passage d'Enfer?? strange name for such a lovely gentle fragrance, unless this is a trap!
I'm wearing it today and I can only see a small piece of heaven! It's kind of experiment for me, because this is not my kind of scent at all when it comes to personal scent or signature. I think it's more of a confort scent for me. The smell is veeeery pleasant to my nose! I smell mostly incense from the beginning to the end. On my skin it's definetely an incense scent, I would say a "soliflore" of incense. Other notes are there just to compliment. They add a good woody vibe. No sandalwood is listed. Strange. I can smell sandalwood here and it reminds me of Tam Dao. I can't smell any flower in a distinct way. The musk gives some depth. It's such a clean fragrance! It's a little cold/brash for the first seconds then it slowly warms up, gently enveloping the person in a soft aura of protection and well-being.
No Hell here unless Hell is cosy warm place that reeks of delicate incense! Who knows?
I think this is very unisex and it probably melts differently on each skin. On my skin Passage d'Enfer is very delicate and contemplative. It reminds me of beautiful Acqua Santa by La Via del Profumo. It's a scent for the soul and for skin, but not very mundane. It's not sexy nor attractive in a frilly way, still it has some attractiveness.
It would be nice to recover into a small temple far from the mading crowd wearing this and a simple confortable cloth, maybe in company of a Buddha statue. If you need an escape wear this and put a board on your back "Gone to Heaven, not sure I'll be back, take care"
This is the feeling that Passage d'Enfer gives me at first. Sure, after 1 hour of smelling this on my wrist I could end up anywhere, maybe even a Kamasutra session. Mmmm... making sense about the name!

I was looking forward to trying Passage d'Enfer, since I love incense and enjoy lily. After dabbing from a sample vial, I was greeted by a fresh, breezy pine scent, which was followed by a pleasant floral. Unfortunately, after that stage, PdE began to smell like... shaving cream. Yes, instead of incense and musk and woods, I got Freshly Shaved Guy. I really do not enjoy smelling like Barbasol myself, so eventually I had to scrub it off. I wish it worked with my chemistry, but it doesn't.

Slightly personal musk and creamy floral, almost like a lightly scented makeup. Very pretty, creamy scent. Delicate, smooth, a little bit sexy, but no sign of hell. Fades way too fast, though.

With a name like Passage d'Enfer (translates to 'The Gates of Hell'), I thought this was going to be aggressive, if not outright evil. It's not. It's a lighter and more simple scent than others by L'Artisan, not strong at all. It's not what I would call a 'light' scent, nor is it strong or heavy. Low to medium sillage.

It has a Lily note with Incense, very light Myrrh, and light Musk. Linear.

I like the stronger scents the best. Passage d'Enfer is more like an Eau de Cologne. A closer skin-scent, but it does have some lasting power.

I think it was the name that made me expect more of it. I would expect 'The Gates of Hell' to be strong, smokey, and full of mischievous and irresistible invitations, with a touch of untamed nastiness. It's not that deep.

I do like it very much. Many other L'Artisan fragrances are much stronger than Passage d'Enfer. Nice, and almost a 'safe' scent, but not my first choice, it's about my fourth choice in L'Artisan scents.

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.