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Poltergeist 2016 Eau de Parfum

6.6 / 10 49 Ratings
A perfume by Heretic for women and men, released in 2016. The scent is smoky-woody. It is still in production.
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Main accords

Smoky
Woody
Spicy
Green
Earthy

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes Top Notes
FrankincenseFrankincense JuniperJuniper Absinthe wormwoodAbsinthe wormwood PinePine
Heart Notes Heart Notes
Champaca flowerChampaca flower
Base Notes Base Notes
Birch tarBirch tar CedarCedar LabdanumLabdanum Palo SantoPalo Santo PatchouliPatchouli Cade juniperCade juniper VanillaVanilla

Perfumer

Ratings
Scent
6.649 Ratings
Longevity
7.843 Ratings
Sillage
7.343 Ratings
Bottle
6.745 Ratings
Value for money
6.412 Ratings
Submitted by WiB, last update on 06/15/2025.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to
Poltergeist (Extrait de Parfum) by Heretic
Poltergeist Extrait de Parfum
Apéro by La Maison Hédonique
Apéro
Bois d'Ascèse by Naomi Goodsir
Bois d'Ascèse

Reviews

7 in-depth fragrance descriptions
parfumpixie

344 Reviews
parfumpixie
parfumpixie
1  
smoked ham but make it spooky
smells like a sweetly heavy presence following you in the woods, hiding behind trees as you stalk around in the night. This scent is heavy, but very distinctly sweet in an almost bbq/smoked ham sort of way funny enough. It’s stinging, hits the back of your throat, as if you’re screaming over a grill. There’s green elements here too, but in such a heavy way it feels like a blanket of greens and Mother Earth. Such a strange apparition of a fragrance, but so interesting.
0 Comments
Katzevogel

49 Reviews
Katzevogel
Katzevogel
1  
Cold Fire
This has been one of the more fun fragrances to test in a while, as it brings up so many different scent memories for people! The birch tar is definitely present, but not as meaty/bbq as so many other compositions that use it quickly turn. It's pretty similar to the Cedre 11 home fragrance by Le Labo but with this herbal underbelly that is even more wicked. One coworker described it as an old ice cream shop that still serves soft-serve in styrofoam. Another described it as the scent of electronics overheating.
0 Comments
3
Scent
ozozoz

6 Reviews
ozozoz
ozozoz
1  
I can appreciate this as an art but...
When I first sprayed this on the blotter paper, it gave me nothing but thick black smoke. I couldn’t even attempt to put it close to my nose to try and smell the other elements—I gave it a rating of 1, definitely agreeing with other reviewers interpretations of ham and Vicks vapour rub

Today I revisited it to give it a fair go. Spraying on my skin, I didn’t so much get the overpowering black smoke element this time around, but rather a deeply woody and obscure earthy green scent. It is absolutely not feminine, actually the women around me found it to be very unpleasant.

It somewhat reminds me of birds that are kept in a metal cage that hasn’t been cleaned in a while, or some sort of exotic pet where they use aspen bedding as the floor. And also a mens aftershave. Eucalyptus and citronella-esque elements but not quite those scents in particular.

I can’t say the notes are anything I’ve smelt before to reflect accurately on at what point I smell where, so my interpretation of the dry down a bit peppery, smoky, and earthy. I want to guess the birch tar and Paolo Santo are strong, and there is a fresh herbal, almost medicinal quality to it (fresh and clean like Vicks, but make it smoky). Dare I say it even gets a little bit sweeter as time goes on? Either that or the Poltergeist has taken over me.

I think this would be sexy on an older man on a date night. Emphasis on the night. Or a mysterious business man who doesn’t have your best interest at heart, and will betray you to seal a deal.

So I can appreciate this as an art; because how amazing is it to capture something like this, it’s very unusual. Would I want to wear this? Absolutely not. It’s a very…different scent. But I would recommend smelling it if you ever come across it. Masculine for sure. Absolutely no blind buy PLEASE. But I’ll increase my rating, because while the initial spritz is terrible, I can actually appreciate the dry down.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be washing this off now.
0 Comments
7
Bottle
7
Sillage
7
Longevity
4
Scent
Meggi

212 Reviews
Translated Show original Show translation
Meggi
Meggi
Top Review 33  
Proll Bojar
Once, only once I must take the name of the company as an introduction, albeit around a few corners.

In one of my favourite operas, Mussorgsky's "Khovanshchina", the proll-boyar Ivan Khovansky argues with the technocrat Prince Golitsyn and the Old Believer Dossifey just about the future of Russia (and of course his own), when outside a crowd of monks walks along and announces their theological victory over some heretic. Chowanskij briefly turns away from the conversation and shouts to them: "Heroes, children, be brave!"

Brave? Now, at (about) half time of the opera, the attentive listener or co-reader of the translation of the Bojar's previous statements may now assume that the monks are in fact passing by somewhere else; yes, it should even be doubted that he can intellectually do something with their concerns. With all his instinctive cunning - mental and verbal, the man seems totally confused. A certain resemblance to a recent ruling person is astounding.

Anyway, because finally we are in the topic: totally confused. An ethereal minty touch with a caramel addition. After-Eight-Toffee? Soon shall be eight watery obsessed. Melon fits. With the knowledge around the indication can be guessed enigmatic Bonbon-Neroli. All this together gives... a diffuse muff. Great.

Smoked ham quickly appears, after ten minutes it is dominant. The combination with the fruit and the caramel sweetness is already oblique. But not in the way that can distinguish experimental fragrances, but the thing simply seems to have been involved in an accident. Towards the end of the first hour, the smoke takes on a fishy appearance and after barely two hours everything has become quite bitter, as if meat (or fish) was charred on the grill and the toffee in the pot melts. In general, the entire batch situation is burned up
Underneath, a bland wood note has pushed its way up, which I would probably consider unsupported to be synthetic. In the afternoon, the light wood succeeds in awakening a thought of the Bengal tiger with the help of colah-like sweetness (myrrh?) and a hint of associated smokiness - assuming a lot of good will. But otherwise the wood reminds me of the MGO laboratories and they were certainly not of natural origin. Well, that doesn't have to mean anything.

Oops, what's that? The ham's not completely gone! It now smells like a kitchen board for ham cutting that has been carelessly rinsed in all that dishwater.

Conclusion: Besides.

I thank KingLui for the rehearsal.
24 Comments
7
Bottle
7
Sillage
8
Longevity
9
Scent
Yharnam79

65 Reviews
Translated Show original Show translation
Yharnam79
Yharnam79
Top Review 20  
"For us it is the beast!"
There now stands the poltergeist and the bottle whispers hypnotically:

"Let me in"...

Admittedly, Poltergeist is one of the few scents in my life that I would probably never have tested under any other name or even got on the screen.
In other words, it was only the name that really made me take the test.
Thank God!!

"It knows what scares you..."
The spook starts loud. It bites and scratches and spreads violently and rapidly.
The sourish-balsamic opening note (I suppose mainly the wormwood) makes the chairs shake in any case.
Quite fast juniper joins them, so that it gets a little bit cooler, almost fresher and even a little more spooky.
The already quite demanding prelude suggests that this was not all...

"...that this is not a classic case of haunting but a poltergeist..."
The bulbs are bursting, it's getting cold.
The ancient, solid wooden table in the middle of the room creaks and slides back and forth on the floor.
The table legs crack, the heavy table top is torn apart with a bang and crashes to the floor. Splinters fall, and the smell of the wood increasingly mixes with the (wormwood) spirit that has meanwhile set one of the other pieces of furniture in Brad. The poltergeist has also set the fireplace aflame and the tips of the fire are flickering on the furniture, pictures and houseplants. In the midst of the acrid fire smoke, another almost mystical-looking smoke rises from nowhere and manifests itself.
All kinds of objects fly around uncontrolled and break on the walls and window panes. Lightning flashes outside - and inside.

"This house has many centers..."
Through the broken windows, the furious storm sweeps wet forest air, leaves and branches into the house, which burn on the tongues of fire after a wild dance. Rain whips itself in and drowns a few tongues of flame, which however immediately ignite again.
Flickering lights, fog and smoke. Everywhere.
The walls of the wooden house sweat as they try to protect the surrounding trees from the raging flames... The house shakes. The earth underneath opens up.

"Don't go into the light Carol Anne!"

Poltergeist lives up to its name. Though with that name, it must. Thus he exudes an aura that is very, very unique and in a form I have never seen before. Spooky and full of power. But not destructive.
Smoky woody woody resinous green. Cold and hot at the same time.
And there is light at the end of the tunnel. It beckons and radiates (myrrh) salvation and peace.

Poltergeist is certainly not a scent that you would describe as a "beautiful scent" (even if I feel it that way). Nor can the scent be described as harmonious in the classical sense. Unharmonious in turn would be unfair. Experimental, peculiar and similar words are more appropriate.

To make the curve to the fragrance name again: I personally expect an "olfactory shock experience" (and I mean that in a positive way) when I spray a fragrance called Poltergeist.
Only that the shock finally leads me into rapture and fascination...
Nevertheless, Poltergeist is without question a challenging and undoubtedly a polarizing scent - for me a unique and absolutely wearable work of art.

In this sense:

"This house is clean!"
+++
Small spinning mill at the end:
When I have a lot of money one day, I will release a sequel scent called "Reverend Henry Kane"!
+++
10 Comments
More reviews

Statements

3 short views on the fragrance
itscoralineitscoraline 5 months ago
7
Bottle
9
Sillage
9
Longevity
1.5
Scent
OMG. I had high hopes for a deliciously funky fragrance, but the reviewer below was right: it’s giving Vick's VapoRub on a smoked ham
0 Comments
Luzifer6Luzifer6 9 months ago
9
Longevity
4
Scent
I did not expect this scent, I smelled like smoked hickory bacon for about 5 hours. When it dries down after those 5 hours it's pleasant.
0 Comments
MontuckyMontucky 10 months ago
6
Sillage
6
Longevity
2
Scent
The devil calls my name. I say, I’m sorry, I’m busy. I turn back to my work: rubbing Vicks vapor rub onto a smoked ham.
0 Comments

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