Ochosi

[DiesMali]

... His ofrenda is the soft shea he shares with Obatala, forest herbs, and sprucewood arrow shafts.

 

In the imp: ...there's no melon in the notes, but I could swear I smell a sharp, green, unripe melon.

 

Wet on my skin: No melon once it's on my skin. Now it's sharp, green, almost medicinal herbs with just a bit of soft shea butter.

 

Dry: Foresty scents usually range between decent and amazing on me, but I think the shea in this isn't quite working on my skin when combined with the green herbal and evergreen notes. I like my forest tempered by amber or patchouli, but this instead both sweetens and sharpens everything to GREEN for the first ~hour of wear. It's a bit medicinal and disjointed on me, and I think it would likely need a bit of patch or something "earthier" to temper the runaway GREEN. This had such potential, but the combination just doesn't do well with my skin chemistry. I am disappoint.

[spikyfairy]

This was a frimp, which I quite expected to like, being fond of forest-y scents. I had not tried the shea note before.

In the imp: Promising - herbal and a little creamy, not too sweet.
Wet on me: Ooh! Kind of weird, but I like it.. Green herbs & spicy wood (the spruce I presume, I can see how it might read as pine to some, but it doesn't really to me). Can already tell this has the potential to go badly wrong, though: many herbal & "green" notes sadly don't love me as much as I love them. There is an almost bitter thing going on here too, which smells very familiar but I can't place it.. Not even sure if it's part of the herbs, or the wood.
Dry: It has calmed down a little, but the bitterness remains - definitely the "forest herbs" clashing with my skin chemistry. I can clearly identify the spruce now, and I like its piney-spiciness. The shea is creamy in the background, but not going rancid like most milky notes do on me. I am also getting a touch of that weird & horrid phantom rotten-banana note I encounter occasionally - no idea what is causing it here.
Went through a slightly soapy phase in late dry-down, then settled down to a pleasant soft, dusty, woodiness.

I think this would be lovely if these notes work on your skin, but they don't seem to on mine. I passed this one on to a friend.

[roseus]

In the imp: cool (I first thought of sweetened eucalyptus but maybe spruce?) and herbal

 

Wet: still cool, almost mentholated, and very herbal. Getting a little bit of sweet, creamy shea.

 

Dry: Creamy shea layered with many herbs. Not really my thing even though I love that shea note!

[achildoftime]

I wasn't really expecting sweet berries from this one. I got zero woods and zero herbs neither wet nor dry. It just smells like a big bowl of berries that were just picked and washed in cold water. It's really strange for me. I was hoping for the woodsy scent a lot of others got. Curse my sweetness amping chemistry!

[doomsday_disco]

In the imp: Sweet honeydew melon? It’s not in the notes, but I’m reminded of that, plus some bright green herbs and sprucewood.

 

Wet: Unexpected honeydew melon, shea, and greenery. I can smell the spruce part of the sprucewood.

 

Dry: Eventually the unexpected fruitiness goes away, and I get lots of sprucewood (which is an apt description, as the needles and the wood are present) and green herbs. The shea is hiding in the background, unable to compete with the sprucewood and herbs (I think one may be sage?). I prefer this phase of the scent.

 

Verdict: The honeydew was certainly unexpected! I like the sprucewood in this, but ultimately, I think I’d reach for a forest scent where the spruce is even stronger and it’s accompanied by more tree notes instead of herbs. So I probably won’t hold on to Ochosi, even though it is pleasant, but I’m glad I got to try it!

Edited October 26, 2018 by doomsday_disco