L'ARTISAN PARFUMEUR Passage D'Enfer Eau de Toilette

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.

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!

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.”

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.

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...