Oblivion

[roseus]

Salvation found in darkness beyond darkness, the blessed sleep of nothingness. Dark musk, wood spice, labdanum, patchouli, dark African woods, and saffron.

 

Started off as a beautiful warm, musky, and spiced patchouli. It was very comforting. But as it settles on my skin, the spices do something that I just don't like. I'm having a hard time describing it, it's not bad but I just don't like it at all. If it had stayed in the wet stage forever it would have been a winner.

[joopjoop]

This smells like the early 1980s. All of it somehow. I feel like there is something tickling at the edge of my consciousness, some specific sense memory, but I can't pin it down. A popular men's fragrance of the time? I don't know..... So it just smells, illogically but undeniably, like an entire time period to me.

Oblivion is a dark scent, with an almost mentholated quality to it. I get patchouli, woods, and a deep green musk (although the unusual color of this one is probably suggesting that association to me). It doesn't morph much. I find it both comforting and unsettling. It does have a vibe that fits in with being really stoned and completely checked out and listening to droney prog rock while lying on a cheap fuzzy carpet and staring up at the popcorn ceiling (aha! there's that sense memory!).

[russalka]

I mean ... this scent. It's so. I don't know how to even begin.

 

It's like opening an old wardrobe. It's wooden and there are my grandpa's clothes in there, as well as lots of old fleeting memories. Warm and cold. About to be forgotten ...

 

I don't know if I like it or don't. I don't think it's a bottle scent for me, but the imp I may keep.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: This is such a perfectly sinister scent, to me. I somehow never reviewed it, but I remember many years ago mixing it with Zombi and burning it with unscented wax in a tart burner for that perfect spooky-get-relaxing atmosphere. It's not really something I want to wear personally, but I adore it. I think it would be amazing on the right guy as well. It certainly has that "bad boy" feel to it.

 

 

Dry: It really does smell very masculine to me - sexy bad boy! I like having an imp of it around, even if it's not something I will wear. I really enjoy the scent and like just smelling it once in a while.

[doomsday_disco]

In the imp: The oil is a dark olive-y green! The notes that jump out to me the most are the dark musk, wood spice, and saffron. I'm not sure if it is the wood spice, resins, saffron, or all of those components, but smelling this makes me think of OLLA Eve (but not as complex).

 

Wet: The wood spice, saffron, and dark musk notes are the first to emerge, and it's really warm and comforting. But then the scent takes a darker turn. Maybe the labdanum is beginning to peek out?

 

Dry: Now, it's far muskier, with a lot less of the wood spice and saffron. The scent is actually rather soft now and is mostly just musk backed with light, powdery resins. I'm thinking it's dark musk and a soft myrrh, with just a little bit of spice and patchouli.

 

Verdict: I liked this one in the imp and during the wet phase, but the dry phase was just kind of meh on me. I may end up holding on to the imp and doing a retest, but it's not a scent a scent I feel the need to obtain more of.

[Lucchesa]

I had an imp of Oblivion last year and felt it didn't quite work on me, so I sent it to a friend in a batch of near-misses and she loved it and ordered a bottle. When I was frimped it recently, I decided to try again as my tastes are evolving.

 

Oblivion is a beautiful murky emerald color in the imp. Wet, it has a somewhat cologne feel on me, which may have been what put me off earlier. But I now find I really enjoy a lot of unisex scents, and this is no exception. It's musky and woody, not too sweet, a little musty dryness from the saffron. The patchouli is content to be a supporting player, which is good because I've been amping patch lately and was worried it was a trend.

 

Oblivion reminds me of my dad, and that is good. There's something solid and comforting about it. It's mainly a skin scent on me and stays pretty true all the way through. I'm definitely keeping this imp!

[Pardona]

2 & 1/2 yo Oblivion:

In the bottle: Mostly a fresh kind of spicy, like herbs that are meant to tickle the nose, but not in a way that they overpower it. Just dancing there and telling me 'hey, you might be interested in this!'
5 minutes: Warm - what I'm assuming is the wood spice and saffron seem to be dancing on a base that I think is the musk, patchouli, and wood - somewhat expensive incense that has finished, with the ashes still in the incense holder. That's more or less what I'm getting from this.
10 minutes: Sweeter now - I think this is the saffron and wood deciding they want more time in the sun.
20 minutes: Wood, musk, and spices, with a sweet undernote of what might be the saffron.
Half an hour: Spicy musk - Oblivion has pretty much kept to the same notes, but they're *dancing*. Fading in and out and back in again in rapid succession.
40 minutes: A woody base that now seems to glow softly with a mix that is spices / incense again. The patchouli again, I think.
50 minutes: Spicy patchouli. Compared to how it's been so far, when it all had a 'solid' base, the scents now seem to be swimming, as if the patchouli is a syrupy bath which the spices are just rolling around in.
An hour: Now the 'solid' base is entirely gone, and it's just the smell of incense wafting through the air - perhaps a tiny bit of musk in the background.
An hour and a half: Incense ashes on a well-worn incense burner. Not much more.
Two hours: The ashes and the smoke are gone, and what I'm smelling now is a small wooden incense burner infused with the smell of years' worth of incense. This is a lovely smell I smelled so often in my teens.
Two hours & twenty minutes: Spicy gingerbread? I imagine the saffron wants an encore.

Two hours and forty minutes: just the patchouli in the background now.

3 hours: Spicy patchouli, the scent of one of those shops where you went to go get incense and cool rings and dreamcatchers and stuff... and that maybe had some of those large water pipes in the front as well.

 

If I had to assign this scent a color, I'd definitely go with some dark, wooden, faded brown.

 

Final verdict: If you were really into incense and patchouli and all of that as a teen and want to relive that, except have it be a bit fancy as well and at the same time not be too hard, but just... warm and pleasant - this is the scent for you.

Edited April 21, 2018 by Pardona

[Lunasariel]

In the imp: Gingerbread???? The oil itself is a gorgeous mossy green, and reading the listed notes, I was expecting something along the lines of Hemlock - a dark, musky-green scent. Instead, I have straight-up gingerbread, fresh out of the oven and gently cooling beside a cup of chai with plenty of milk and honey. I guess this is the saffron and "wood spice" at work, but this is definitely a foodie blend right now.

 

Wet: Briefly balanced between foodie-spicy and woody-spicy, before the woodiness takes over and the musk comes out. Especially close to the skin, I definitely get the cologne comparison - it smells clean and woody-musky-fresh, almost austere but not unfriendly. From farther out, I get some of the warmer notes - patchouli, labdanum, maybe even an echo of gingerbread and chai.

 

Dry: The spices become woodier, and I can see the incense comparisons now. It's heavy on the patchouli, labdanum, and musk, more or less in that order. From afar, however, I still get the occasional whiff of gingerbread/foodie spices. Interesting, and comforting, in a weird sort of way.

[monocainsheresy]

This is so much sweeter than I expected from the description - not to mention the color. It's seriously crayola green in the imp!

I immediately get cozy musk and saffron. A bit of resins, a bit of spice, a little woody. On me this is weirdly foody, like the same cake in Alice and Eat Me. No idea where that's coming from. 

I really like this! Snuggly and sweet.

[torischroeder9]

In the imp: Musk and something faintly spicy. 

 

On my skin:

 

Wet, I can pick out the labdanum. I still get musk. The spice has subsided, at least temporarily, in favor of the labdanum. As it dries, I can pick out the saffron and patchouli. The saffron is lovely and dry and exotic, but the patchouli gives it sort of a funky edge. As it develops, the patchouli mellows but also becomes more central to the scent profile along with the musk and saffron. The labdanum recedes into the background to join the wood spice. 

 

It's dark and dry and soft and musky and just a bit spicy on me. I like it and find it an appropriate yet wearable version of its namesake. I'm still deciding what I'm going to do with this imp since "I like it" and "I'll find a lot of use for it" are not synonymous. 

[torikitty]

Wet: Patchouli was the first thing I picked out. The spice and saffron definitely joined in after a while.

 

Dry: The patchouli faded to the background. I think the labdanum gives it a weird edge, but it's still mostly sweet wood and spices, with the musk giving it a slightly sexy vibe. It is comforting in an odd sort of way.

[deadlyves]

Oblivion is dark and warm and both literally and figuratively green! I get a lot of wood and musk when it's wet with some of the labdanum coming through. There's something almost sweet when I first put it on, but I'm not even sure that's the right word. Whatever it is, I like it and I'm a little sad that that part fades as it dries. While it's drying, it gets a little funky and chemically and I was worried it was going to go south, but the funkiness passed quickly and never got too strong. The spiciness comes out more, though, which is also nice. Wood remains the main scent note that I can pick out.

 

So I get a warm, dark, full bodied scent with bits of smokiness and spice and that faint bit of sweetness. This is really lovely and comforting!

[mymymai]

Oblivion is round, darkly alluring, resinous, spicy, and just freaking amazing. I absolutely want to slather myself in it. Oblivion gets the win for me in the #tournamentofunderdogs #underdogs.

[a_bear]

This is incredibly intimidating just looking at the imp - a sort of silty dark green, but actually very approachable on. Both the oil and I were cold when I first put it on, and it smelled like slightly medicinal soda syrup. Once it warmed up and dried, it lost the medicinal edge and was softly sweet. Subtle and somewhat elusive, it would appear in wafts, but seem to disappear when I went to sniff it on my arm.

 

*Tried this again under warmer conditions, and it still starts as medicinal/herbal soda syrup, but it has more staying power.

Edited December 22, 2020 by a_bear

[DiZZysTARdust]

i was gifted a frimp of this by someone i bought some bottles of recently, and i am very excited to try it out.

 

first off, in the imp it’s not nearly as dark or unapproachable as i was expecting. even though it’s almost black in color. def the darkest oil i’ve ever seen. freshly on it’s actually quite powdery and sweet. i’m guessing that’s the dark musk and spices respectively (dark/black musk aways reads as “powdery” to me, ymmv). no resins/woods detectable, even into the dry down. as it dries it becomes a lightly spicy, mellow, non specific incense blend. no patchouli or labdanum surfaces, i’m not sure what dark african woods are in here but my guess is either vetiver or oudh, neither of which are detectable to me. not sure about the age of this imp, although the label is pretty fresh looking. so i’m wondering if any of the heavier notes will come out with age.

 

medium throw, good lasting power. leans mostly gender neutral on me, but def a smoky, spicy, comforting incense blend that is most def bottle worthy

 

[Rane.]

Wow, smells so darn good! I smell every note it seems. Woody musk, masculine, spiced just right, a little powdery. Great throw too! A must have for the BPAL collector.

[Fefi]

Oblivion. I love everything about this scent from its wicked green color, to its name and of course its scent. I don't like to gender scents but I know it helps a lot of folk when deciding whether they want to try a scent or not so with that said I would say this is more of a masculine scent than female. To start off, Oblivion was sent to me in a free imp with one of my orders and whoo am I glad that It was, had it not been for this I probably wouldn't have ever tried this scent. 

 

Salvation found in darkness beyond darkness, the blessed sleep of nothingness. Dark musk, wood spice, labdanum, patchouli, dark African woods, and saffron.

Its scent description really helps evoke the way this scent makes me feel when I wear it. Its a scent that gently envelopes you and in a strange way comforts you like a gentle hug. Its silage isn't very strong so it tends to keep closer to the skin with my body heat causing it to release its aroma in gentle waves I catch here and there as I go about my day. It also doesn't last a whole day either. Id say maybe 2-3 hours on me at the most unfortunately.  

 

I certainly get the dark musk right off the bat from a straight sniff from the bottle as well as a woody scent that I would say are the African woods. The patchouli is there too but its very minimal so if you dislike patchouli I wouldn't be too concerned because its just a slight hint to give depth and warmth to the scent. The saffron is also there, but it blends very well with the other notes that if your not a fan of it, I would say to again also not let that keep you from trying it out. I'm not sure what wood spice is but I speculate that it could be a sharp little something you get when you take a whiff straight from the vial a sharp peppery something though not spicy like cinnamon or clove. I don't get any labdanum in the bottle,  however on application things change a little.

 

Wet on the skin the scent stays pretty much the same, however as it dries everything begins to tone down and begins to get softer, slightly more powdery would be the best way I could describe it, though not powdery in a baby powder sense, just softer. The musk calms down as well as the spice and the labdanum comes out more and blends with the african woods that are ultimately what give the scent its body and depth. Not much saffron at this point.

 

I love this scent it may very well become my signature scent. I could write a whole page about it, but I shall digress and instead say If you like woody, cologney musky type scents give this one a try. Its clean smelling doesn't morph like crazy, its only downside is it doesn't last too long but if you slather it on it tends to help with this.

[puellacaerulea]

This one was a morpher. It started off sharp and medicinal in the frimp (the labdanum, maybe?), with hints of dark musk and polished wood underneath. As it wears, the medicinal aspect fades and the musk amps up. Post-drydown is deep, smooth musks and woods. It's not "me" enough for a bottle, but I do like the post-drydown phase.

[Lecter]

Sharp smelling, masculine scent. Like a somewhat aquatic mens aftershave. Not my favourite as it doesn’t smell particularly unique

[elissamay]

Ignore how this smells OOB and test it on the skin, first of all. OOB it smells completely different and almost alcohol-medicinal and mildly unpleasant.

 

On the skin, this blooms into something that is so close to aged Raven Moon, IMO. There's no chili here, but the darkness and deepness has so many similar echoes to my nose. (I'm smelling it for the first time in a 2014 aged bottle since it's currently out of stock.)

 

My first encounter with Oblivion was in Bobbing for Oblivion, which combines with the black apple notes. (And is another gorgeous variant blend!) I had to get my hands on the OG to see where all that sexy darkness was coming from in that blend, and this did not disappoint!

Edited February 2, 2023 by elissamay

[PumpkinGuts]

Oblivion smells like a genie disguised as a human, or maybe a pirate giving up his dastardly ways and rejoining society. Leans mainstream men's fragrance with a poorly concealed darkness beneath. An intensely musky spiced woods scent that packs a powerful punch. STRONG.

 

My husband said it reminded him of Spyro the Dragon and would not elaborate.