Holy Hell

Universal Flowering, HOW did you bottle The Florida Project (and the scent of my childhood, which was strikingly similar)? First off, I love plastic notes!!! This is insanely unique but like, weird in a way that I can’t imagine being “too much” for many people. A warm pool floatie deflated from being slapped around all day, sunscreen, biting into juicy cut up honeydew after a day swimming at the pool. Filling a kiddie pool in your backyard and seeing the water from the hose reflecting rainbows. Polly pocket clothes with mysterious bite marks, the afterglow of a beach day, collecting shells in a pail, conditioning your salty hair at the end of the day. Very reminiscent of The Florida Project or mayhaps the pool rooms TM️ and so nostalgic. I live on the FL Space Coast and this reminds me of the tourist resorts near my house we’d sneak into to swim during the summer/stay at for birthday parties. One had a huge water slide, this smells like the inside of it. Putting on a bathing suit right when you wake up and being so excited for the day, but also the afterglow where you’re warm and exhausted. Changing in the locker room at the public pool. It feels warm. I get this toasty feeling that I assume is the choya nakh (toasted sea shells, obsessed) and an almond-y scent with the juiciest melon and of course rubber and sunscreen. Some florals come out in the drydown that remind me of honeysuckle. Warm sand, beachy but not marine. I just love this so much. Every time I smell it, it evokes a new memory and I find something new I like about it! Today, it made me think of going to those tacky tourist shops near the beach. I used to smell everything as a kid (and still do really) I’d smell all the toys, the seashells, the hermit crabs, the sunscreen and body mists, the airbrushed t-shirts, the postcards. Staying at Motel 6 with my family and feeling like I was living large. It’s playful, emotional AND it smells damn good with great longevity and sillage. I would join the UF cult if such a thing existed. If it does, someone please invite me 💗

Holly hell! This is soo similar to my signature scent Vacation but ...better? Stronger? More plasticky? I love and adore Vacation but i think i mention in every single review i write how much i truly detest bergamot, literally why is that note in almost every perfume? Unfortunately for me, Vacation was no exception. Also Vacation has a pineapple note i could really do without, ive always kinda hated coconut +pineapple combo. Sooo this is where Holy Hell really shines, no gross sour pineapple or Davidoff knockoff bergamot. Its all plastic pool toy, suntan lotion, salt and water. Even though there is no oceanic notes, the choya and ambergris combo lends to that, while the melon adds that fresh air. If Vacation was laying on a floatie, in the pool, slathered in Banana Boat drinking a piña colada, then Holy Hell is a more sophisticated version, maybe laying by the ocean, under an umbrella, wearing La Mer spf, drinking an organic coconut water. If you want it wetter, layer with JHAG Vanilla Vibes, if you want it coconutty-er layer it with Heretic Dirty Coconut, if you want it saltier and more marine, layer with #Nude Magma or Salt Air. All in all, this is absolutely addictive!

I bought the sample set for my birthday, and the first scent I smelled was Holy Hell. Before I sprayed it, just from smelling the nozzle on the sample, I said, "Oh God" out loud- I am a Floridian, born and raised, and this scent delivers what it means to be a Floridian- all of that- and more. This scent is a fresh bandaid opened for a knee skinned on the pool's concrete- there is plastic, adhesive, tanning oil, cut fruit growing soupy in a Tupperware, coco frío, chlorine, sunscreen, the A/C working hard at CVS. The plastic notes are literal, which makes this scent more compelling. I cannot stop smelling my wrist. I plan on purchasing full bottles of Holy Hell and Venus in Tuberose. This is for fans of Vacation's signature scent, and for fans of Juliette Has a Gun's Lust for Sun, only freakier. This scent gives the summer an edge again. We are going to Spencer's and Hot Topic in the Wellington Mall with wet hair and wearing jelly sandals after swimming at Juno Beach. Incredible.

Absolutely beautiful! On my husband I smell hot vinyl plastic but I don’t smell any plastic or vinyl notes on myself. It smells (on him) just like blowing up a beach ball on the beach! But in a very pretty way. On me I get suntan lotion, melon, and something floral. I prefer the scent on my skin. It is the perfect summer perfume and I’m so glad I found my summer perfume in one try! The reviews for this brand seem spot on (this is my second fragrance by them.) It’s a very evocative, unique, and pretty fragrance. The dry down seems to be mostly floral and fruity on both me on my husband. I adore it and this will be my new summer signature. update: tried it again a few weeks later and I totally smell the plastic on me now. WOW. what a unique and fun perfume. It’s really amazing. I can’t stop smelling my wrists. I smell like a pretty beach barbie, it’s addictive. You can smell the sun, the beach, the plastic.

i was so vexed by this one. when it first touched my skin, i got pure antiseptic smell, images of bandages and hospitals and plastic IV tubes flashing in my mind. after i'd let it settle for a while, about 40 minutes, only then did the full portrait unfold in front of me - the hospital opened up into a crowded beach, the antiseptic scent was placed within its context as being smeared over sunburnt peeling skin in a motel bathroom; the plastic note that at first conjured up medical equipment now evoking lawn flamingos, surfboards and pool inflatables. it smells like being day-drunk in flip flops and trying really hard not to trip over pebbles and clumps of beachgrass. this really is photorealistic and highly occasion-specific, but at the right occasion i couldn't imagine something better. and that occasion is Beach. i can't wait for summer so i can experience Holy Hell's full potential.

This is my absolute favorite of Courtney’s entire lineup. I blind bought a bottle and I’m so glad I did. I moved away from the gulf coast of Florida years ago, and sometimes I get a little bit homesick for it, so I always love when I can find a little bit of sunshine summers elsewhere. It keeps my heart full. This one did take some getting used to. Like it took a few minutes before my brain “understood” the scent, if that makes sense, but I kept sniffing my wrist over and over and falling for it more and more each time. It kind of has that “should I be inhaling this?” chemically smell. But it mellows out into this soft, melon sweet thing near the end of the wear. It’s lovely, and it feels like a happy summer.

I'm in love with Holy Hell. It's my favorite from Universal Flowering along with Venus in Tuberose. This is toasted sand, plastic, and fruit with a spicy warm vanilla neroli dry down. Steamy, hot, and completely unique. The beach ball accord is most present at the opening but the memory of it lingers in the dry down. If you were intrigued by Nasamato's Fantomas but found the patchouli/dirt notes overpowering, try this. Interestingly, both pair plastic and melon. Immediate nostalgia and dopamine. The dry down is just as gorgeous as the opening. I put my sample of this on right before going into a three hour movie and was sniffing my wrist the whole time.

Courtney Rafuse has a gift for creating profoundly evocative olfactory portraits of moments, places, and objects. Holy Hell may be the strongest example of this. Imagine plastic beach balls in the hot, hot sun; suntan lotion slathered over warm skin; children and vacationers diving into a swimming pool; and that all-too-elusive feeling of not having a care in the world. While I don’t love summer, especially when it is 105 F (41 C), I purposely saved this scent for a miserably hot day, as it dramatically improves my attitude toward the season. Indeed, I’m fighting the urge to take some PTO to go to a waterpark. The urge is almost overpowering.

I love this, and it's much softer and more nuanced than most of the reviews led me to expect. Upon first spray, it definitely gives me the vibe of applying sunscreen in an inflatable plastic kiddie pool filled with hose water, but it's more of a hazy, nostalgic impression than a photorealistic beach ball hitting you in the face. The neroli, melon, toasted seashells, and ambergris are subtly blended, and the drydown (warm, ambery, slightly sweet, slightly smoky, slightly floral) evokes sun-kissed skin basking in the afterglow of a backyard cookout in late August. Initially bizarre but ultimately transportive, addictive, and quite beautiful.

It does hit the nail on the head for a summery beach vibe. The suntan lotion element is very coconut. It's a bit more subtle than I would like (because it's so coconut-forward), I feel like I have to wear a lot of it to get it to really come across. I don't quite get "beach ball," it comes across more like a very fake plastic flower that somehow smells very real, and the synthetic and natural elements combine in an interesting way. I don't think the plastic scent lasts as long as the rest, it gets a bit lost as it evolves. Huge fan though, I wasn't ready for summer to end.

mjchaelj said below "last day of summer" and that is exactly it. it smells like everything is faded from being in the sun all summer and there's a thin film of sunscreen and sticky sun-cooked fruit juice on your hot plastic beach chair. the pages of your tabloid magazine are sandy and stiff and sort of sticking together from the sea spray. somebody maybe 100ft away is smoking a cigarette. i grew up in a beach town and this is a very nostalgic scent. i really love it, even though it's not the type of scent i typically wear these days.

I got a sample of this with Venus in Tuberose and my god it is soooo special - the opening is disarming like a tire fire but it mellows into this shockingly wearable cocktail of salt water, neroli, and smoky sea shells. While I definitely get the nostalgic summer imagery, the other image it conjures is like a very sexy mermaid swimming away from a ship as it burns. Gleefully watching from the shore as the sun goes down. It was a successful day of luring men to their deaths. 1000/10 going on my FB wishlist for sure

Truly on a quest to find anything that will make me smell like a robot and i am not kidding anyone when i say ive never smelled something SO plastic than Holy Hell by Universal Flowering it smells like a pool floatie in an above ground pool thats not exactly "cold" but at least it's colder than the sweltering heat around you and something sweet.. like your neighbors garden peaking over the fence, and whatever sickly nectar is within those flowers is baking right alongside you

Holy Hell smells like Barbie on a hot sunny day. Like literally, this smells like a plastic doll that melted in the sun, and I actually find it sooooooo cute and camp. So much so, I powered through the strong toasted sea shell and plastic notes that I initially really disliked. I'm glad I did too, because the yummy sweet sunscreen smell comes through a lot more as this dries down. A girly summer skin scent perfect for sunny days.

Holy Hell is that woman in a high cut thong bikini, walking in slow motion down the beach in 1984 !! She’s sun kissed, and dappled with beads of sweat, glistening with sun tan lotion, hair thick with salty summer humidity! On me I don’t get much of the plastic, maybe a touch? I’d have to really concentrate to notice it! Rather it is this yummy, salty, sandy, tart ... almost buttery situation that I cannot get enough of :)

Everyone is right about the plastic. Everything else is secondary to the beach-ball-vinyl-old-toy-plastic-jelly-sandals accord. It's beguiling, but also a tiny bit sickening. Kind of unforgettable. Either you want to lick the sunscreen Barbie, or you don't. Edit: every time I wear this I’m more into it. As a bunch of other reviewers describe, I’ve fallen victim to the Holy Hell Effect and it feels so good, baby

Gloriously sunny. I'm wearing the ouai matte pomade in my hair today (rue st honore scent) and the combination of that and Holy Hell has me smelling like I'm completely and utterly beach-bound, even though I'm sat at a desk on a 9-5. The car is stuffed to the brim with blow-up floats and everyone is wearing jelly sandals. The windows are down and the air smells fresh and sweet.

yes yes beach ball, hose water, suntan lotion very true. a modern interpretation of sunshine that smells so fake that it's real. but what has me truly obsessed is there's something about it that reminds me of holding a nectarine at the market and straining to inhale the faint, ethereal scent from the uncut skin through a thin plastic bag and i can't stop chasing that

Preceding this review by saying I am very amateur at knowing anything about perfumes. I got this in a sampler kit as a gift and I love this scent. The opening notes are a little powdery and harsh but the longer it sits on my skin the more I love it. Slightly citrusy but also coconuty and milky. I would probably buy a full bottle of this.

Smells like being perfectly day drunk after a long day at the beach, not sunburned but your skin feels a bit dry and tight from the sun and the sea , getting ready in the bathroom, with a glass of rosé, to go eat somewhere fabulous wearing a slutty outfit.

Polly pocket shoes and sunscreen. Delicious

As a plastic accord girlie, I am in love!

i wear this scent everyday i just love it

Melancholy solar musk. Act 1: honeydew balm. Act 2: beach ball static. Act 3: hot sand sugar-cookied to oiled skin. The plastic and sunscreen smell true to life, but don’t sleep on the choya nakh (roasted seashell). I first encountered this note in RdF’s Nitesurf Neroli and it’s become a fast favourite – gritty, mineral, toasty. But I don’t get a Malibu Barbie dreamscape from Holy Hell. There’s something sad about this beach day. You’re reading Plath on the beach, uncaring if you burn. You’re watching The Florida Project, alone by the pool. It's the scent of beach rotting: sand, sunscreen, and bare skin baking on an inflatable flamingo. Longevity hangs around a wistful four hours on my skin with light sillage. Siri, play Summertime Sadness again. Mental Snapshot: Every summer in college I’d weekend at a dear friend’s beach house, on a sleepy stretch of the Ocean City boardwalk. It was a clapboard beauty, tenderly-preserved: chintz wallpaper, Tiffany lamps, clawfoot tub. We cried in the attic bedroom, sunburnt and sticky with funnel cake, when her parents broke they’d put it up for sale. tl;dr: last day at the beach house 🏖️🦩

First sniff is just pure, uncut Rite Aid. Yes, the drugstore. Walking into a blast of retail A/C on a hot summer day. The plastic "beach ball" smell is insanely accurate. I was really impressed by the vividness with which all this was captured if not terribly convinced that it would be at all wearable (this was a blind buy.) But as the months have heated up, I have found myself reaching for it as a daytime scent, almost like a body spray. I'm a sucker for summery, sunscreen-y scents (i.e. Margiela Beach Walk) mostly because you don't have to think too hard about them and they don't clash with the actual sunscreen I will be wearing most days. Holy Hell differentiates itself I think primarily with that melon note, which comes out in the drydown, and as the Drug Store fades away. You're left with something soft and ripe and kind of lived-in, with that nice bite of vinyl keeping things interesting. It's a mischievous little scent. This lasts a deceptively long time on me -- sillage isn't huge, but you'll find yourself sniffing your arm while you sit sweating in traffic hours later. Can't explain, but it puts me in a nice mood.

This is for the 90s babies. Barbie’s plastic shoes (idk why the shoes specifically but iykyk), using your mom’s tanning oil before going outside and playing with the hose or on the slip and slide (or wafts of suntan lotion wafting over from your neighbor putting it on by their pool), fresh cut cantaloupe your mom cut up, jasmine growing on the vines off the side of your house, the seashell note is giving it a warming touch as if you’re truly out in the sun. It’s really a cool scent. Not full bottle worthy for me but what a fun scent to experience! If you’re into really strong novelty scents (think steamed rainbow from ds & Durga) this might be a safe blind buy but I really would suggest you sample first. The plastic note is so novelty but I think it’s very well done.

When I first smelled this I could’ve sworn there was amber or resin in it, but nope, just waxy, plastic, with wafts of sunscreen and summertime... The neroli comes through much stronger than I expected, initially it was all I smelled. I don’t really agree with the “robot plastic” reviews, this isn’t giving clean or sterile. It’s a very human kind of plastic. It has a personality. It makes me imagine a Barbie doll abandoned by a pool who suddenly turns into a human woman, gets up and starts trudging around complaining about her sunburn and asking to bum a cig. If I was in charge of naming this perfume I would have called it “Human Doll.” At first I loved it and was totally ready to buy a full bottle, but sadly on my skin it turns into straight up piss.

Smells like hot burning plastic, like a beach ball/pool float that's been sitting in the sun for too long and is starting to release volatile carcinogenic compounds. It does smell kind of like what I think labiaplasty would smell like. But I showed this to my mom who hates weird perfumes and to my surprise she said she liked it and it made her nostalgic for something, but she didn't know what. Then she shocked me again by saying it reminded her of driving up to Maine as a kid and smelling the trees outside. It is a very unique scent and I like it, except for the melon part, I don't like melon. This would smell really attractive on a girl to be honest.

I was a little worried by the almost bitter, gritty hot plastic and choya nakh combo when I smelled the sample vial, but on skin it’s sweeter and much less burnt, with the creamier suntan lotion peeking through. I can see how overspraying it would be headache-inducing but it’s more wearable than I might have expected. I feel like it plays fairly well with the sweeter, fainter plastic of coconut-and-banana Vacation whipped sunscreen so far. It’s a good summer scent for when I’m in the mood for one. Unique but not offensive to my nose (not that I’m suggesting it’s an ideal office scent—it might be better suited to days I’ll be spending time outside).

I realized I have a sample of both this and Fantomas by Nasomatto. Both of these fragrances have notes of plastic and melon. I smelled them side by side and there's a slight similarity. Fantomas is essentially a sweeter and more agreeable version of Holy Hell. It's missing the burning carcinogenic smell. I wonder if the perfumers discovered that melon aroma chemicals have a natural plasticky smell to them. I believe the burning note in Holy Hell is from the choya nakh which is an oil distillation of toasted seashells and naturally has a plasticky quality, and the melon rounds it out, creating that nostalgic burning beach ball/pool float PVC accord.

So weird. After about two weeks of wearing it, I've decided I quite enjoy it, but when I first smelled it I was.... disappointed? The initial scent is a really intense and bright burnt rubber -- I know it's supposed to be plastic beach ball but it ends up more melted sandal you forgot in the back of your car on a hot day. But it dries down to a slightly softer scent, creamy sunscreen and light Choya Nakh making for a warm and freckly fragrance that smells like cheap sunglasses, sand between your fingers, and a day at the beach. Great for the summer if you can learn to embrace it.

wearing this makes me feel like a venus flytrap covered in gasoline, then 15 min later i've morphed into Aquamarine's would-be evil stepsister: The murderous Gold herself (The Lure, 2015), slinking my way around a seaside cabaret & smiling villanously into a clamshell compact. i eat oil-spill-soaked seaweed juul pods and my hair is shiny vinyl. the rubbery, beach ball accord lasts longer on clothes; on my skin, i get a much quicker fade to the melon. there's something similar in the backbone here to some of the other UF samples i've tried like venus in tuberose.

the initial plastic note was off-putting but then it settles down and takes me to a hot summer day at the beach. its warm, then its sweet and perfectly captures the memory of going to the beach as kid with your family. i really love the plastic note with the suntan lotion and everything else. the longer i wear it, the sweeter it smells. which seems to be the case with most of UF's scents on my skin. personally, i do wish there was more projection with their scents. it seems they are more intimate fragrances. which i can see how some people would prefer that.

singular, very season-specific—i just wore this to the beach in Florida and it was perfect. i get the plastic but it’s a warm plastic, animated, almost chlorinated, like smelling skin that’s been in the pool before being sunbaked get a bit of the melon too, not a juicy melon but more like smelling the fruit through the skin before it’s been cut. sunscreeny without any coconut aspect yay! fun to layer with aquatic seaweedy things like brume from miskeo, then you get the full beach effect of sand sunscreen plastic and ocean breeze

Most plastic notes come across as cold and metallic, but holy hell somehow replicates a warm rubber that correlates to leaving a cheap beach ball in the sun. The sunscreen is thick and heavy when met with the earthiness of the seashell, but also clear and aerosol when mixed with the plastic accord. Well known summer scents (aquatic coconut white florals) lay the background beautifully, allowing this scent to make you do a double take.

As others have already said it's beach ball, rite-aid, summer time<3 The melon makes me feel like my hands might be sticky. It's not a scent that aims to capture the entire summer day- there's no pool or beach in this. The focus of it makes me feel like a movie set, which leaves plenty of room for your memories/imagination edit: at first I really wasn't sure where I'd wear this, but as summer has heated up the answer is everywhere!

I had no idea what to expect plastic to smell like on the skin but wow, this is it! It makes me think of being a kid and playing in those plastic tunnels, I can almost feel the static electricity! it’s very sweet on me but the plastic gives that scent a bit of bite which surprised me a bit. Smells like being at the playground the first spring day when the weather’s nice, with a hint of Italian ice and fresh picked flower

Quirky and weirdly addictive, like a sunburnt beach day relived in slow motion. It smells like hot sand, sunscreen, and a faded flamingo float all at once—nostalgic and a bit surreal. More memory of a beach day than a literal beach scent. Playful, summery, and just a little eerie. I never thought I’d be this smitten over plastic, but suddenly I’m completely head‐over‐heels for it.

You’re 8 years old and getting your haircut at Great Clips. You showed them a picture of Hayley Williams but you KNOW this middle aged women in your hometown is not capable of anything but an asymmetrical bob. The smell is hair spray and barbicide and a hot hot straightener turned up way to high for your little child hair.

The exact kind of holy you find lying in sun-warmed sand, hot skin sticky with sunscreen, a plastic bag of cantaloupe Jelly Bellys for the altar. I love the interplay between industrial and organic here. It's a summer scent for people who don’t like summer scents (me).

Reminds me a TON of Smellbent’s now-discontinued “I Want Your Sex.” Both are plastic coconut. Both are bestowed incongruent names. Both are lighthearted and fun.

Melon and rubbery plastic. Someone told me it smells good, like a hockey mouth guard. I love it but it sits very close to the skin and doesn’t last long.

Realistic piling in the car with your family to go the beach. Everyone slathered in SPF 50+. It’s not glamorous, but it is nostalgic.

A holy hell haiku: Eating melon slice while filling the kiddie pool Drink from hose

this smells how chewing on a barbie’s head feels

wow yes... plastic. very plastic. almost a little bit of paint? on paper the plastic smell really sticks. on my wrists, the plastic does not go away but it melts into the rest of notes - suntan lotion and alcohol. I don't think I go to the beach enough for this fragrance. I genuinely don't know when else I would wear it. it's very experimental. the dry down is a really nice smokey cocktail smell, a bit mature in my opinion, and the lingering plastic does not go away. since I'm not obsessed with it I would not buy the big bottle but I think for this to be anyone's "signature scent" I would be surprised but pleased they take this bold move. this perfume overall makes me really impressed with the perfumer, she really incredibly nailed the smell of a legit beach ball in there, and made it smell pretty good! if I ever smell someone in this I would know immediately what it was and I'd be really happy to see it out and about on someone.

I tried a 5 ml sample of this because I adore the smell of plastic toys and just sun baked days in general. First sniffed this before work a couple days ago and was immediately repulsed by it, the opening smell was not what I had imagined. It was a very sharp ethanol blast with a sickly sweetness and hotel cleaning solution after smell that lingered in my nose. This was burned into my sinus for the rest of my shift. However I tried it today again with a more open mind and became a little more enamored by it. After the initial blast of the ethanol and plastic it does smell like a cheap motel. The overwhelming scent is the floral air freshener smell, a vinyl beach ball note lingers although not as strongly as I had wished. An interesting scent, not particularly for me though. Not as complex as I was hoping for. I wish I smelled more of the plastic note.

Wow, the opening really does smell like hose water! The suntan lotion note is subtle and realistic, but shouldn’t be described as coconut-y. The melon and neroli notes are perfect for a summer fragrance, and mixed with the toasted seashell this is incredibly evocative. It’s giving Lolita. The initial plastic smell settles down and plays so well with the other notes; don’t let the opening scare you! It develops so much over time and ends on a strong oceanic melon note. Very creative, super flirty and playful. EDIT: I ended up getting a full bottle, and the more I wear it, the more I get a headache. 😩

I get why this is named 'Holy Hell' as the most resonant idea for me is heat. Many reviewers commented that it opens with a 'burning plastic' note, but I mostly got a peaty, bonfire scent. I trusted the dry down and it does thankfully evolve into hot skin and desiccated shells which is honestly really evocative and pleasant. I'm not getting any melon or sunscreen. Not sure I'd buy the full bottle as it does dry down to that white floral generic beach smell. Still on the hunt for a beach scent that doesn't turn into Soleil Blanc, unfortunately.

Definitely the strangest scent I've encountered so far. It opens with burning rubber then shifts to hot vinyl, but something about it was menthol-adjacent? I was expecting my skin to go numb where I dabbed it and then my mouth nearly started watering??? It then blooms into a mildly synthetic plastic with a pleasant floral background. Never had a fragrance transform so dramatically. Very intimate and overall I can see it's niche appeal.