Reviews of Passage d'Enfer (1999)
by L'Artisan Parfumeur

Initially, I loved this fragrance. The simple structure (lily, aloe, musk, incense) was very appealing. Having learned my lesson (I hope) concerning impulse buys, I applied all the rest of my sample before I went to the L'Artisan website to buy. Wow! Today I smell pine and only pine. Little dabs of this juice smell heavenly; spritzes of this smell like pine air fresheners. I guess I need to rethink my rating and my purchase and my way of applying perfume. PS In spite of this review, I kept remembering the day I experienced the most beautiful white lily, so I purchased a bottle. I'm still waiting for Miss Lily to show up!

I love this! Cool flowery incense, but not like Easter mass, more like... burning a single stick/cone of incense burning in a large clean light room with a small perfect flower arrangement in the corner.

I had expected much more hellish, i.e. smoky I suppose from the name but apparently it's just the name of the street the company is based on. Gorgeous! If I had the money to throw around I would buy a big bottle of it, and layer it with things, and spray it on my clean laundry.

Oh dear. I hate this. The reviews sounded so intriguing, and I was excited about my sample. But I don't seem to get any incense here, light or otherwise, and barely anything that smells like musk. Maybe this is a tribute to the blending? All I smell is a screeching "white flowers" note -- this is the lily, I guess. No heart, no base, just this lily note all the way into the drydown. Scrubber.

A superfluous, uninspired fragrance that cannot hold an incense stick to masterpieces such as Villoresi's Incensi, the quirky Messe de Minuit or even the the better ones of the CdG incense series. The name certainly raises false expectations, as this is a light, floral, white musky and heavily synthetic-smelling incense obviously worn exclusively by the pink-robed Holy Order of the Fluffymonks and Giddynuns.

What an odd name for this sort of scent. “Gates of Hell” sounds like a ferocious brew, and yet this is a lovely delicate floral. Think of white flowers, with a hint of green and a soft musk drydown. An aura of springtime is here. Not dry, not sweet, situated mid-point in every way. Incense notes are very light. This is a bit like Mugler Cologne, though not as green and more subtle. Not especially distinctive, and I certainly don't get any pine here.

The only things worse about this fragrance than its name are its sillage and longevity. Too bad, because it really is quite pretty.
I get a little mustiness at the very beginning, then it's very faint frankincence and myrrh which I have to strain to smell into its second hour.

On the dry down I could not distinguish from CdG's Kyoto. Which doesn't make it bad, just non-unique although I note that Kyoto did come out in 2002 while this came out in 1999. So perhaps CdG is doing the imitating here.

Here in Singapore incense is everywhere so people don't get bowled over by incense scents but Passage d'Enfer is quite nice

Reminds me of the scent in Notre Dame; which I will say is truly intoxicating.

Crisp white incense with just the right amount of warmth. One of my favorites from the house.

I'm bad at guessing perfume notes so it took me a while to figure that the weird smell I was getting was a very smoky incense. I thought the name was appropriate. It is very weird and oddly, it makes me think of what a level-boss would wear in the videogame Diablo 2. Say Mephisto or Baal. Demonic.

Resin and nothing else. I could never enjoy any myrrh containing scent. So strong that i cannot take lily or white musk which i like both.

White lily and frankincense. I am a Olivia Giacobetti fan. Fresh out of the bottle, I can see why many love it but I remain unimpressed. It's lovely with a lily that goes on and on but after about an hour, the original lily note becomes a powdery 50's white floral with a smidge of sweet musk that smells like a drugstore brand. The aloe never appeared on my skin. I will test this again in the spring when I want something much lighter.

Well blended unchallenging incense. Very nice but too understated for my tastes. It lacks a great amount of edge and impressivnes in general. On the other hand, I don`t find it as beautiful or mysterious as some other incense scents. It shares a similar evergreen note with CdG`s Zagorsk, but that has much more oomph! to it. I`m just not a big fan of these quiet scents.

Passage d'Enfer is hopelessly boring and outclassed by many other incense`s, not to mention other fragrances in general.

The L`Artisant says "A haze of light incense to carry you up to cloud nine".
I dont know but maybe this is the paradaise frag.
Its dry, clean and have a "enveloping aura", is nice but not sexy but only unisex.
Good for weekends.

Best incense based fragrance out there no question -- the combination with the white lily is the masterstroke. Open the gates and let me in.

Passage D'Enfer doesn't conjure fire and brimstone falling from the sky as the ground cracks open and sulphur gushes from the abyss. No, more a recollection of the hellish boredom of sitting in middle school choir practice. All the nostalgic references are there: the chipped and polished wood of the pews; the cracked musty dryness of hymn books; the dankness of stone flagstones; a musky damp from 30 woolen blazers that have come in from November rain; the waft of lilies and linen from the alter; the dust blasting out of the steely organ; and the sickly sweetness of lemon sherbet and cola cubes being sneaked between refrains. However, although all the elements of the final performance are there in Passage D'Enfer it somehow never manages to get beyond the choir practice: a competent rehearsal but without the devilish glory of the final chorus.

This is fabulous! I absolutely love it everything about it. Hypnotic is a very good way to describe this! Everytime I wear it I am enthralled with it's characteristics and awed by the simple reverence and the overall beauty of it. Splendid.

Without a doubt, my favourite use of frankincense and myrrh yet. Well done!

Odd that the smell of Catholic churches are used for a fragrance called path to hell. Well, the incense dies and I'm left with a watery version of some kind of musky and peppery scent. Probably would fair better on someone's skin who isn't as dry.

WOW!
what a delight
although i'm kinna new to the world of fragrance, I must admit that Olivia Giacobetti is a master at what she does from what I have experienced so far (dzing, thé pour un été, l'été en douce!!!!, premier figuier, etc.)
This is what a preist's clothes must smell like when they get out of the dryer still impregnated with incense and good quality fabric softner.
I just had to get myself a big bottle even if the juice itself is disapointingly weak!
I'll just have to use some extra sprays...
the first time I tried Pd'E i was feeling like the scent was terifyingly beautifuly soft, clean (could have beed dirty, would have loved it any way), delicat, super dry, ENVELOPING, defenitly unisex, so damn simple and easy to wear
but every time i waer it I discover new facets
like these delicate rose petals that sort of complete this white lily note
and this dry muted cedar-santal that just blends so well with the soft incence-amber-musk thing going on
also you have this obvious and pleasent (in my opinion) fabric softner note... white lilly? that may feel a little synthetic but that gives the wearer this soft-clean-enveloping aura
make the fragrance wear well on clothes too
well well... I wish I could put more than only one thub up for this religeous/laundry spring sunday in a bottle!

According to a very popular person, this smells like sex on me... 6 bottles later I had to move on... countless compliments, Thank you Aedes Des Venustas...

I feel you might have to have a more oriental body chemistry for this to work on...since its spicy... I layer it with a bit of Bois Iris... thank to Aedes again.

Growing up Catholic, the smell of frankincense & myyrh always struck me as 'stinky'. It still does. Yet, this Passage d'Enfer - stinky notes and all - amazes my senses! Rach2jlc mentions spicy sausage which I COMPLETELY AGREE WITH! Panfried Italian sweet sausage bursting with fennel seeds! And get this - beneath those heavily incensed notes there is a light sweetness - like grandmother's prayers floating directly up to heaven on angels wings. How ironic, considering the name. Remarkable, this scent. For creating such vivid imagery I must give Pd'E thumbs up. How few fragrances have this ability.

No, no, no! Incense, here? I so wanted to love this, but I am assaulted by the worst smell I've ever experienced from a bottle when I spritz this! All I smell is rancid, old soap, no spice, no incense whatsoever, nothing but a very penetrating, sour soap.

Passage D'Enfer or Messe de Minuit? Both are excellent but so different. I would wear Passage with a crisp suit to a business meeting. After the meeting, I would join a few friends and sip noilly prat. The scent is clean and light, despite the name. Sillage is minimal but staying power is good. MdM, on the other hand, is darker, much darker. I find great comfort in it. It has better sillage than Passage, and I prefer it with red wine and roasted meat. Each holds an honored place in my wardrobe.

Tremendous!!! This is just what I have been looking for in a night scent! I have searched high and low, and finally I have found it. This is just what I have been looking for. It’s dark and mysterious with an evil grin. Perfect with a dark suit.

I get a lot of incense in this, though it is well balanced out by the lily, which adds a bit of sweetness to balance it out o me. Definitely not too sweet on my skin (I am not a big fan of sweet feminine fragrances), and it lasts for about five hours. It dries to a very dry incense that wears close to the skin.

Wonderful.

I have been holding out on this one. The intrigue is there for me, no doubt about that. I am a lover of incense fragrances but have only had two in my collection, that of Ambre Sultan (yes, it's incensey as well as amber sexy), and Guerlain's Armenie de Bois (Armenian wood/paper).

If I add one more, just one more, incense fragrance to my group, will it be Messe de Minuet or Passage d'Enfer?

The next poster could possibly sway me!

Passage d'Enfer wound up disappointing me. It goes on with some intriguing incense and dark floral notes and then...poof! It's gone. After fifteen minutes on my skin, it's undetectable - to me or anybody else. I've had the same problem with Dzing!. Both disappear before I can even decide whether I like them.

So Passage d'Enfer = Passage d'Nowhere on me. I'm giving it a neutral because it smells good while it lasts.

I love this incense fragrance, but when you compare it to the CDG incense series, it simply doesn't quite hack it. It is much more subtle and feminine than other incense frags, but longevity is a problem. It dries out to lose a lot of the gothic effect and develop a more floral aroma, but for the incense junkies amongst us, and yes, you know who you are; I feel this is may not be bold enough?

Match the hatch.... Last night's Easter Vigil ceremony filled me with darkness and light, lilies, and incense - and the external scents were exactly the same as those I was wearing.

Next time (when I won't have to worry about distracting myself from liturgy), I shall use a bit more, as the two-hour duration was not sufficient for my preference, although the lily scent was still well-balanced with the bright incense accord (who would think it's dark, compared to Avignon?) until the fadeaway.

old churchs and castles with some smokeyness, nice but it doesnt last that long on me

I really wanted to like this one so much. From all the reviews and from the name of it... passage to hell... mmm... so I got a decant off eBay.

Unfortunately, I was very disappointed. Maybe it's just my body chemistry (sweet scents cling to me very well), but this smells extraordinarily soapy to me, pungent, detached, and not particularly sexy. For some reason I am reminded of the smell of sweat, and not in a good way. Grr, I really wanted to like this so much! Drat.

If you love gothic experiences, you will also like "Avignon" by Comme des Garcons !!

Never been into incense smells but this one:
mmmmmmm
lovely mixed of refreshing zesty lilies and light incenseeee...
i just cannot smell it on my skin.
Thank you very mucg Gerard for that sample!!!

I wanted to like Passage D'Enfer, as it sounded like my type of experience. But what some called a dank cellar note was out and out smelly on me. I can wrap my mind around "dank" but not "rank". I tried it several different times to no avail. This one also ran afoul of another note which usually doesn't work for me - incense. I love everyone's description of the dark, incensy church atmosphere of this fragrance, but that's not what I experience at all. Or if it is, I don't want to visit the church that smells like this...

This is probably my tenth or twelfth L'artisan and I'm trying... REALLY trying to get used to this one. On me, I don't get any aloe or white lily. All I get are the spices and the musk and they mix to give me the childhood image of my grandmother cooking spicy sausage for breakfast on Sunday mornings, with that animalic, musky, heady spiciness. On some, maybe it works, but it just hasn't happened yet on me.

Ethereal, fine, lemony frankincense. Leaves plenty of room for personal chemistry to interect with the fragrance. Lovely, but a bit too light for me. My skin kills light scents.

It took three wearings before I found love with PdE. At first, I didn't smell a drop of incense, it was all lily to me. On that magical third wearing, I applied lavishly, and that is the secret to me anyway.

Oh, the lily is still there all right, it adds a touch of innocence to the sexiness of the incense. It's sexy, but not in-your-face-sexy. It keeps the incense cool, just below a simmer. To me, it is like being in the back of the Church - making out with an altar boy!

Confession. I was an altar boy when I was younger (no worries...my priest kept his hands to himself!). Passage d'Enfer takes me back to church (though that is about as close as I want to get). The frankincense is most prominent to my nose, but to be honest, I would have a tough time discerning the frankincense from the myrrh, and this is supposed to have both. The florals just add a light and naturally sweet touch that makes this more palatable than something like Amouage Silver, which I find lacking in any sweetness or roundness. This would be a good summer incense scent, along with Amouage's Dia or Cirrus. Not as complex as Costes or Black Cashmere, not soapy either. And not woodsy like other incense scents.

As for longevity, this is one of those scents that needs to be worn under the clothes - allow the scent to permeate the fabric, where it will last longer than on bare skin alone. Very much a churchy scent, reminiscent of the crypt in the Basilica. Spiritual and thought-provoking. Somehow psychologically heavy yet uplifting.

This is my favorite summer incense! I am with those who find it "cool"--dark, damp, church cellars, indeed--or catacombs! And simultaneously sexy, to boot! Love those lilies!

Passage d'Enfer by L'Artisan Parfumeur is a great warm and gothy scent. It calms you and makes you feel warm all over. It lasts throughout the day and sometimes into the night. I think I will always have this one in my collection.

Rescinding my earlier "thumbs down" review. Gorgeous dry cedary aloes-wood fragrance. It must have been a no good very bad week for my body chemistry that spurred the earlier review. Ths stuff is wonderful.

Strange, it reminds me of dark damp church cellars. Must be some sort of deeply implanted Irish racial memory. I have never been inside of an ancient religious edifice, but I recognise the scent? Hypnotic and mesmerising. Evocotive, but of what? Guilt, death, silence, earth? Hmm..

Could trigger flashbacks to alter boy trauma, but if you liked church, you'll love Passage to Hell.

I didn't quite get the incense note in this, though this could be due to skin chemistry. It's a nice scent, slightly floral, but longevity is poor for such an expensive frag.

Creepy. Thinking about old castles and churches and how would they smell. Like others described pde do bring that to mind. Well put together but it fade too quickly for me.

This scent is a bit of a strange creature...It's been mentioned in the same breath as Avignon or Messe di Minuit...it's a curch scent, an incense scent...true, but there is much more below the surface, the incense is gentle, calming, this is a wake, white lillies surround a dark wood casket lined in velvet...the scent is sweet, smoky, and cool, tempting you closer and closer, untill finally you must succumb, to the passage d'enfer...

Not at all what I expected and certainly not what the name suggests. I was hoping to find a dark, mysterious incense scent but I found all white flowers (dry and piercing) and plain incense (flat). The incense base lasted and lasted though. I would love to see the incense paired with some wood or amber.

Aahh, Passage d'Enfer; one of my favorite scents, both in name and olfactory delight. Initially, it smells of crushed stones. After a few minutes, white lilies dominate, and provide plenty of subtle whiffs throughout the day.

Higly recommended!

Lilies, myrrh and white musk. Perfection in a rather unsual creation. Incredibly soothing and lasts surprisingly well.

Starts sweet and flowery and then turns to something slightly herbal
and still flowery... Smells a little strange to me. I didn't notice anything sexy in this scent. I think there's something here that my nostrils didn't get.

Most say ‘passage to hell,’ some claim the ‘rite of passage,”’ others say it was the ‘passage to Y2K.’ There’s also the suggestion that it is simply an alley-street, in Paris: ‘Passage D’Enfer.’ An enigmatic namesake for an enigmatic fragrance. Dust, smoke, incense and I am transported back to my childhood: the church with lilies and the swinging brass censers smoking of frankincense. I can almost hear the Gregorian chant. Such a nostalgic and subtle fragrance: an incense that doesn’t overwhelm—a background that is lily pure and clean and touched with sweet. Truly a masterpiece. Take the journey—the passage to hell is a short trip—two hours at the most—then you need to reapply.

I'm also an exception when it comes to longevity of this fragrance. For me it lasts a long time considering how light it is. It's not very smokey or dark like other incense scents. Instead I get more of a bright 'waxy' quality accented with floral notes and sandalwood. This is a very warm fragrance and quite mellow. I find that it has quite a bit in common with Tam Dao but this one is more interesting IMO. It took me a while to appreciate this scent, but now I doubt my wardrobe will ever be without it. Like many other L'artisans, this one is an artistic masterpiece.

I must be the odd one here. It lasts all day for me. Passage d'Enfer is good wares for the penetrating heat of midsummer days. The aloe manages to freshen the glow of the frankincense, something I would not have believed possible.

Top 3 L'Artisan for me and a favourite among many on the boards. To me Passage D'Enfer smells very much like Bulgari Ph, but with 2 important differences- a very well done smokey incense note and some toned down florals. Very mellow though, not a strong scent, highly suited for romantic enterprises I would say. Just like Mechant Loup the name is misleading though, this is no purgatory or passage to hell, this is the passage to making out with that woman or man you've been eyeing for so long ;).

Passage d’Enfer is a great incense fragrance. It’s one of the few incense dominant fragrances that isn’t too heavy or oppressive; in fact, this one is incredibly short lived and close to the skin. It smells like slightly damp incense with lingering floral notes. The nature of this incense fragrance makes it a bit more ethereal than most others. I will say that I find this fragrance rather flat and dull. I also find it too short lived to give it a thumbs up; 15+ sprays and its gone within an hour.

It's very unique. Opens up with frankincense and floral notes over a smoky wood-incense base. I like it at first, but it's very short lived on me and never transforms like other people have mentioned. Seems like it would work nicely in spring and possibly fall. In its last phases before it disappears it becomes very powdery and this irks me a bit. Because it doesn't project very well, the floral notes could be misinterpreted as baby powder.

It's really original and opens up very nicely, but has little staying power and turns a tad unpleasant towards the end of its life. Nice, but not a plausible purchase for me.

Well, I managed to get my hands on a sample of this. The main reason I even ordered it was for the kinky name. At first, I wasn't very impressed. It basically smelled like pure alcohol for the first few minutes, until my nose readjusted itself. After that, I was in heaven. A very dark scent, and I can easily see where the Cathedral views come in. Definitely going to have to spring for a real bottle of this guy.

After getting by for a while on sample vials of this one, I had to spring for a 3.4 oz bottle. This is my number one scent. Passage D'Enfer is Elegant and sexy and women love it. It's an easy choice for a first date or job interview. It smells a bit church-y with the incense. But it also reminds me of candle wax, smoke, and all the temporal conventions of a cathedral- as well as a kind of dark, brooding spiritual presence. It is a bit weaker than some other scents on me, but its very hard to overdo. If you're trying to seduce someone with an old-world fire and brimstone kind of scent, look no further than Passage D'Enfer. To paraphrase Dante', "Abandon all hope, ye who encounter this one!" This stuff is Inferno in a bottle...

This is sexy,.... I love it...

You are lost, you see nothing but flames, fireballs dance from all direction. You are surrounded by the smoke coming from above. You pass by the souls that are dipped in the water beneath, they reach out their hands as to pull you down. You start to feel mysterious about everything surrounding you, you dont exactly know where you are, it is certainly not paradise. The smoke is getting heavier until it finally vanished into the waters, and beyond the waters, there is light, and the light widens as if a door is opening, you walk towards the light while the smoke gradually disappears into the water once again, you are approaching the light, suddenly the light dims and a door opens into a very long and dark hallway, you walk in and two cats jumped out from the side. As you are engulfed by the darkness, a cool breeze blows by, you can now sense the direction where it's coming from, you are guided by this unsual yet spiritual sense, unexpectedly you hear someone laughing, the laugh starts to get louder, it starts to get deeper, you start to feel afraid, the smell seems to get stronger, you cannot control your emotions anymore, and you start to scream..."Where Am I????"............you opened your eyes, you are sweating, you see posters on the wall, you see a table, on top of the table, there is a bottle that has a sticker and some writings on it, you turned on the lights, now you can see the wordings on the bottle, it says "Passage D'Enfer", and envisions "The Gates of Hell". You realize that you just had a dream.

Get down on your knees and pray that you are forgiven all your sins... This one's just as innocent and as sexy as can be. This is all about sin and repent, nostalgia and modernism. With one whiff PdE takes you back to the olden days of going to church on Sundays, wearing your Sunday attire and afterwards kissing someone you shouldn't be with in some back alley. Guess what I was brought up to! Now, I know why I love being Catholic.

A very "Catholic" scent: white lilies & frankincense. Surprisingly at its best on a very warm weather which makes those lilies really bloom!

THIS STUFF IS SO SEXY! It begins somewhat sweet and flowery, but quickly becomes much darker and mysterois with a bit of a woody base and the white musk nicely holding the whole thing together. Phenomenal scent. I just wish it would last a bit longer.