Oborot

[filigree_shadow]

A scent of transformation.

He who desires to become an oborot, let him seek in the forest a hewn-down tree; let him stab it with a small copper knife, and walk round the tree, repeating the following incantation:
On the sea, on the ocean, on the island, on Bujan,
On the empty pasture gleams the moon, on an ashstock lying
In a green wood, in a gloomy vale.
Towards the stock wandereth a shaggy wolf,
Horned cattle seeking for his sharp white fangs;
But the wolf enters not the forest,
But the wolf dives not into the shadowy vale,
Moon, moon, gold-horned moon,
Check the flight of bullets, blunt the hunters' knives,
Break the shepherds' cudgels,
Cast wild fear upon all cattle,
On men, all creeping things,
That they may not catch the grey wolf,
That they may not rend his warm skin!
My word is binding, more binding than sleep,
More binding than the promise of a hero!
Then he springs thrice over the tree and runs into the forest, transformed into a wolf.

Balkan fir sap, dark mosses, Greek Mountain tea flower, black pine, salty ocean spray, deep black earth, and a moon-touched magickal incense of sandarac, frankincense, and ravensara.

Hmmm, mainly this smells like fir and moss, and a little bit of that "salty ocean spray." It's a deep, earthy scent. It has a hazy and sweet overtone, but most of the scent is that rich earthiness. It has a very slightly pungent quality that I don't object to at all -- it fits in with the scent nicely. (Kind of like how really black dirt is slightly pungent but it's a good kind of pungent. Or how evergreen needles are kind of pungent but they still smell good.)

Overall an interesting scent, but it smells masculine to me because my husband wears this kind of scent fairly frequently. Looks like he just acquired a new bottle.

[shelldoo]

in the bottle: mossy, earthy, dark.

 

wet: deep turned earth. and spanish moss, no salty ocean spray, not a hint of florals. just a deep dark earthy scent.

 

as it dries it lightens just a bit to let the ocean scent peek in, but then it clouds over again w/ the darkness. like a storm when a small ray of sunlight breaks through, but then the clouds crowd it out again. all in all a dark scent, very very earthy.

[Ah Xia]

This scent is really fascinating. It's not the typical piney evergreen snow scent at all. It's very...forbidding and scary, like being lost in a sinister forest on the verge of nightfall, the trunks stained black with dripping water...it smells very much like a recently cut hardwood tree...you can smell the fresh wood sappy odor of the newly revealed bark, and in the distant background the wet, nighttime air of far off ocean, but not a friendly ocean, a wild, frothy, smashing against the shore kind of ocean with jagged rocks. *shudders*

 

I love it.

[sookster]

straight sniff from bottle this reminds me a lot of rat king...

very peppery....unique....

 

once applied this is aquatic and earthy all at once...

very, very interesting blend....ah xia summed it up perfectly in

her review before mine and i will just leave it at...i love it, too...

a lot~~~

Edited February 18, 2007 by sookster

[maribouquet]

wet: moss and black earth, rimed with salt

 

As this dries on me, a resinous, very lightly fruity scent emerges; I think that might be due in part to the ravensara and/or the sandarac, both of which I have not smelled before, but the internet tells me they are slightly fruity and mastic-like, respectively.

 

Dry: Has an undertone that reminds me of the Crucible of Courage and Anthelion TAL oils...a bit floral, a bit dusty, but not sweet or sneeze-inducing by any means. (Frankincense? Greek tea flower?)

 

I like how much this changes on me and how the different notes take turns coming forward. Sadly, the mossy/earth notes in Oborot turn a bit sour and spiky on my skin.

 

Though it's not to my taste or chemistry, I think this is a fantastic, original resin and earth blend. It definitely has a wild, forest-mad feel to it: low to the ground and running, with a sweet hint of magic.

 

 

edit for spelling

Edited February 18, 2007 by maribouquet

[forspecial_plate]

Hmmm.....I tried Oborot twice, and got some odd impressions. Mostly it's much sweeter and more floral than I was expecting, and also very light and subtle. I think there's some ozone, giving it a little bit of a laundry breezy smell, maybe that's part of the sea spray. There's very little pine and almost no earth that I can smell. The tea flower is strong on my skin. And something fruity, that I took for juniper or pine, but maybe it's one of the notes I'm not familiar with that maribouquet mentioned.

 

So, yeah....sweet, floral, fruity, ozone....a little underlying darkness from the other notes....I am totally on the fence about this scent. It's so faint on my skin, and after a while disappears almost completely....although this may not always be a bad quality. There could be times that I want a quieter scent. I like it just enough to try again a few times, see where it takes me....

[eleventhousand]

This is very masculine on me.

Very Irish Spring.

I didn't smell the earthen notes until after I had washed it off my wrist.

[savage_rose]

Foresty and aquatic...not what I was expecting, very subtle...and there's a whiff of fresh air in there, and a little greenness. And it smells great on me, but seems to disappear quickly. Sigh.

[SultryWolf]

In the bottle: Piercingly herbal, the almost-eucalyptus of the fir sap glides over a mossiness.

On: The incense develops, just a bit sweet, riding on herbal crispness.

Complex and unique. I love it already, but I need to spend much more time with it to come to know it completely.

[theseagrows]

in the beginning oborot is a bit perfumey, but once it dries it's more pleasant. to me, this smells like a bright and clear foresty-herbal scent with florals and a touch of icy aquatics. i dont get any deep dark earth on my skin, more like a cool breeze through a forest at night.

Edited February 23, 2007 by theseagrows

[Abbie]

In the bottle: Really not what I expected. This is peppery, with some sort of darker florals tucked away. A hint of salt.

 

First on: It expands a lot when put on the skin, and becomes hard to quantify. A very grim and ghastly aquatic is how I can put it... not to say that it's bad, but this is not a happy perfume. I like this a lot better on... it reminds me of Scarecrow, one of my all-time favorites. Just a lot more complex.

 

Dry: Lasts a good long time, developing a faint sweetness. I'm amazed how much I like this when I think of my unimpressed first sniff.

[Little Bird]

On me this is a flurry of black dirt, astringent moss notes, and dryer sheets. It was the black pine that intrigued me with this one but I can't pick out any pine or really any foresty/tree/evergreen aspects at all.

 

Oborot starts out soapy... dryer sheets and sour moss. In the drydown, it starts to smell more like black soil underneath the soap, which I'm also not really enjoying. Over an hour, something about this gets a bit sweeter and the blend starts to smell dry and dusty on my skin. Still, soapy and earthy. I ended up washing this off after about 2 hours.

 

Oborot and I do not get along so well. I wouldn't ever think of this as a perfume scent. It's strange, soapy, and dry on my skin.

[aine]

I bought this in a flurry of excitement - then sat back to await its arrival, read the reviews and got more and more frightened by words like 'irish spring', 'dryer sheets' and 'soap'.

 

I needn't have worried, Oborot is gorgeous. Reminds me of what it might smell like clinging to an ancient tree in a storm ( why yes, I would be the one to get struck by lightning). But I can smell wet bark and mosses and warm sap. I love that it is wet trees without being icy pine. I love that it reminds me of a storm without being ozone-y. Nothing sharp about this one, just that big ol' reassuring treetrunk covered in soft mosses. It's not a big scent, more the kind that you could bury your nose in.

 

 

Add me to the list of Lovers of Oborot.

[Salvia_spathacea]

In the bottle this had a sharp, astringent smell - I could smell the Greek mountain tea flower and something evergreen, but not piney.

On my skin it smelled more or less the same and I actually got distracted by various things and forgot to give another sniff till about three hours later. At this point it was a deep, dark woodsy aroma that I could imagine as the scent of the ritual that inspired it. In some ways it reminded me of Wolf Moon 2006, but without the sweet edge that one had. This is a similar dark forest, but closer to the sea and without the snow.

This one is going on my altar to apply before I retire to bed!

[QueenFae]

A very, very dark, earthen, foreboding scent. The moss notes are overpowering, and if I didn't know better I would think there was vertiver in this. It has that same deeply earthy feel to it. I can definitely smell the salty ocean spray in the undertones. I detect something that smells like a dry tea note, but I don't get any frankincense at all.

 

This is very masculine, and I'm sure the hubbie will claim this for his own. It doesn't have a ton of throw, but is strong when you sniff it close up.

[edenssixthday]

Oborot - My first reaction to this was, “Ooh, bitter! Bitter!” However, as it started to warm up on my skin, I realized it’s not so much bitter as just really raw, forest-green, and earthy. It seems highly masculine to me, and very enchanted. I’m not into fantasy at all, but as I smell this on my skin, I can’t help but think of elves, fauns, centaurs and any number of mythical and magical creatures who may spend time in the forest. It’s very masculine to me and not something I’d ever find myself wearing again. The pine is too strong for my taste, but it’s tempered by the salty ocean scent and the gritty frankincense. While it’s definitely not for me, I do really like this. It surprises me because it’s not something I’d usually like, but it’s just such an enchanting scent I can’t help be drawn to it.

[Desanera]

I really wanted to like this one. I love the smell of pine sap and really wanted to smell like it.

What do I get?

Old Spice. Or some drugstore men's cologne that my uncle that I don't like wears.

Oh well, this goes to my Dad as part of his bday present. He likes wolves, so he will get a kick out of the bottle, at the very least.

Very very sad. I think it is the sea spray that did it to me, I know aquatic scents are dicey on me, but I figured ocean would be safe, and none of them have done *this* to me.

This is the FIRST BPAL scent that i picked that does not work on me. I'm usually very very careful and have easily 8 - 10 full bottles and no duds.

Sigh. Had to happen sometime.

Edited March 4, 2007 by Desanera

[indicolite]

This is very strangely simple - and reminds me of something else. It is not unpleasant in the locket, except during certain stages, but I am not head over heels in love with it, and I have decided to not let stuff I am not head over heels in love with hang around in bottle form.

[Dymphna]

In the bottle: The first time I opened the bottle to sniff, I got the smell of woods and a bit of the sea spray. The second time, getting ready to try it, I got hit with something really sharp and astringent, which reminded me of my nemesis, orange blossom/neroli, or possibly of sweet pea (which smells similar to me). I put the cap back on for a few minutes. When I took it off again, there was still that sharpness, but I persevered and could detect other notes behind it, so I put some on my wrist.

 

Wet: Mmm, soft woods and a hint of sea spray. I'm glad I tried it. The soft woods have magically transformed (aha!) into soft fur. This is an almost fluffy scent. I can still smell that sharpness, but it's, well, blunted. Covered up a bit by all the soft fur. I have to laugh, because so far all the "ferocious beast" scents I've tried--Loup Garou, Bakeneko, this one, and I'm sure there have been others (oh, Coyote, which Oborot reminds me of!)--have been so soft and cuddly. In this case, if that sharp note would just go away, I'd be in love. I should note, though, that even now I have to get my nose up close to my wrist to smell it at all. Not just the sharp note, but all of it. It's a very soft scent. Then again, I only tapped my wrist against the lip of the bottle to test it.

 

Dry: Soft, soft, soft. There's something *almost* baby powder-ish about this scent, but not the yucky baby powder smell that's normally the kiss of doom for a scent. The sharpness is all gone and this is just a soft, cuddly scent. It reminds me of lying on the rug, cuddling with a dog that has very soft, very clean fur. Maybe a big, scary-looking marshmallow of a dog whose teeth bely his sweetness. I'm looking at the scary label on the bottle and laughing my head off. Aw, who's a big, scawy monstew? Who's a scawy widdoo boy? I'll definitely keep this bottle. It may be the perfect scent for days when I wish I had a large, protective dog that would go everywhere with me and protect me from the real monsters of the world.

 

ETA that, as others have mentioned, this puppy doesn't stick around for long. Just when it gets past the initial bitter stage and settles in, all comfy and fluffy, it goes poof. Bummer.

Edited March 8, 2007 by Dymphna

[euterpe414]

This is exactly what I wanted Hurricane to smell like! (or at least what I imagined it smelling like)- damp, marshy/foresty, with a hint of bitter neroli and resin. It does go through a bit of a cologny phase, but that doesn't last too long.

 

My only complaint about Oborot is its lasting power, which is not too good. This guy is gone within 2 hours- completely gone! I still think I'll keep this around to see how long it lasts in the locket. Overall a great scent, a very unique forest blend.

[waternight]

In the bottle: Dry, sweet resin. Salty ocean spray underneath.

Wet/Drydown: Very green, dark green, woodsy. There’s a gentle floral note giving it some sweetness, or it could be one of the resins. A splash of ocean spray salts it up a bit. There’s a deep earthy note that’s just gorgeous. This smells animalistic, but not malevolently so – this is a wise totem animal.

Dry: Unfortunately, all those lovely earthy, green notes disappeared and I’m left with a fairly generic, sweet resin – possibly frankincense? I’ll have to give this one a few more test runs and see if it’s my chemistry that’s ruining it for me.

 

I was so sad that Oborot didn't work on me, as I really wanted it to. The wet stage is absolutely lovely, but dry... nope. I'm still learning which notes don't work or amp on me, and I'm thinking that frankincense is one of 'em. Oh well. Off to swaps.

[odd_duck71]

I wanted to love this. The descriptions of deep, dark forests seemed enchanting, and how could I resist "the scent of transformation"?

 

Unfortunately, I must have the oddest skin on the planet. It went completely old lady perfume on me. I may have missed someone, but I'm only remembering one other reviewer mentioning it being perfumy. Oh well, someone on swaps will want it.

[grrrlennyl]

at first: a dark, salty wood scent.

on: a salty, ocean-y sort of scent with some woods and incense in the background.

1.5 hours later: salty and earthy, with a bit of incense. this has a bit of a salty skin scent to it, too

3.5 hours later: darker still. a bit sweet and floral, too, but that's in the background.

4.5 hours later: dark and earthy, with a hint of pine.

overall: this is interesting, but not something i would wear. i'd probably like to smell it on someone else, though.

[Jilara]

Definitely more werebeast than beast. It's salty, with an earthy quality, and a scent of human muskiness, when I first put it on. I thought it was going to be very feral, and it was, but in an accessible way.

 

As it dries down, the mosses and woodsy notes come out, and it gets very peppery. Dry, it has a sharp mossy, earthy quality, fir boughs and still that tang of salt, maybe salty sweat at this point. The musky quality has gone. It's night in a connifer forest, full of leaves and needles and earth, and the wind sighing in the boughs above. It's simply gorgeous.

[mooncityminx]

To me wet Oborot and for at least the first thirty minutes I get a very unpleasant kick of green olives. It's like a pickled smell but without the dill.

 

After that it settles into a nice woodsy smell, but what a long time to wait. I've been trying to pin down the culprit and I think I detected a similar note in Lycaon but had chalked it up to the olive leaf. I'm not aware of Oborot having olive leaf.

 

Oh well, skin chemistry 101 everyone's is different.