Solstice Scents ~ Hand of Darkness

Hello, sweet sparkly gems! Though the summers here are long and excruciating, I've never been much of a fan of summer releases. The Autumn collections are my absolute favorite, and I'm okay with smelling like Manor all year! However, there was a huge standout perfume in the Solstice Scents Summer release: Hand of Darkness. I knew I had to have it upon reading the scent description.

The following scent description is from Solstice Scents:

HAND OF DARKNESS PREMIUM FRAGRANCE
Oceanic Accord, Rain Accord, Woods Blend, Black Pitch, Buddha Wood, Lime, Coriander, Tarragon, Amber - 5ml

NOT TO BE USED BY WOMEN WHO ARE PREGNANT OR NURSING. THIS SCENT CONTAINS SEAWEED ABSOLUTE.


The Hand of Darkness is a term coined by seafarers to describe the loss of the guiding light of the moon as it vanishes behind a thick misty veil. The resulting darkness makes the seas treacherous and difficult to navigate. This phenomena strikes fear into the heart of even the most grizzled mariner.

Hand of Darkness is a dark aquatic and woods blend. It opens with a tumultuous and disconcerting blend of oceanic accord (a blend of fragrance oils and seaweed absolute to evoke a realistic scent of the ocean), chilly rainwater, black pitch and the saturated planks of a wooden ship. On initial application expect to be pelted with a strong blast of cold rain and oceanic brine. The black pitch in between each of the ship's planks adds a dank quality at the base while the lime EO provides a jolting top note. After a few minutes, the danger begins to recede as the rain slows and a sliver of moon reveals a promise of visibility. At this stage, the light woods blend comprised of teak, copal and blue cypress begins to emerge along with a splash of sea spray. Shortly thereafter, the moon fully emerges and the calm seas signal the retreat to the dry warm Captain's quarters. Here the true dry down of this evocative scent is revealed. A tendril of spicy buddha wood EO begins to unfurl from the warm wooden base. The buddha wood will grow stronger over time but the dry wood notes remain unchanged. The dry down is achieved very quickly but you have to journey through the story of this scent to get to the finale. You must skin test Hand of Darkness in order to assess its true character. This scent hugs close to the skin and liberal application is recommended. Even though this scent starts out strong and masculine, the dry down is very wearable and may be enjoyed by Women who like darker wood blends.

Hand of Darkness is comprised along with several fragrance oils along with the following essential oils, absolute, CO2s and attars: mitti, blue cypress, copal bark, fossilized amber, swiss stone pine, lime, galbanum, coriander, seaweed, kapur kachari, tarragon and a small amount of lavender absolute.



This is the first premium perfume I have been able to try by Solstice Scents. I absolutely love the inspiration behind this perfume. I'm going to sound like a broken record here, but I really find that Solstice Scents perfumes really take you on a sensory and visual journey; and Hand of Darkness holds true to that.

The cold sniff is a bit perplexing. The lime is quite strong and paired with a mixture danky, mossy, seaweed. It really smells weird... But that's okay, because the initial application and drydown are on a whole new level of cool.

Initial application has kept me on my toes, because this perfume is quite a morpher. It starts with a strong, tropical lime note that immediately morphs into into the most amazing and realistic oceanic aroma. It completely lives up to its name as a "dark aquatic" (the dark woods come in later). The seaweed and oceanic notes give it a realistic scent of an angry, roaring sea. It's really neat, and VERY far from any aquatic scent I've come across. I mean, this is straight up Davey Jones oceanic. There is also a very realistic, ozoney note of pouring rain that so many other perfumes have a hard time achieving.

The drydown truly comes almost instantly in this blend. The dark, woodsy aspect to this perfume unfolds in a very beautiful manner; with the hearts of the ship crew still beating tumultuously. The blend of woods that are supposed to be present at this point are teak, copal and blue cypress. I can definitely detect the teak, though I am not familiar with the other notes (unfortunately). The Buddha wood adds a pleasant and spicy aroma to the already beautiful woody blend this scent has become.

This scent is definitely very dark and equally beautiful. It couldn't be further from the mass produced, light, feminine leaning aquatics like those from Bath and Body Works. And I think that's what's so charming about this perfume. I also like how it morphs beautifully from the initial application to the drydown. It is truly a dark and masculine blend, so this won't be your cup of tea if you're not into that sort of thing :)

Thank you guys for reading. Until next time, take care!

DISCLAIMER- All items mentioned were purchased by me for my own personal usage. I am not affiliated with or compensated by any of the companies mentioned. All opinions are my own and honest.