Mabon 2004

[Diana]

... Blackberry wine and apple cider with hops, apple blossom, English ivy, hazel, sage, oak bark and myrrh.

In the bottle, it has some berry notes... and something "dry" for lack of a better word.

On the skin, initially: berries and... BANDAIDS? whatthe? Oh, that is the sage.

After wearing it for a while the sage dies down (whew!) and the berries become more rounded and the ivy and wine become a bit more prominent. There is a tinge of a cidery top note, though the apple isn't all that strong.

Wearing this outside in the cool damp air just now with this wafting off of my wrists was really just a perfect combination of scent and mood and atmosphere.

Very lovely.

[Penance]

Got an imp of this from Omly.

 

First sniff:

 

Berry wine and something slightly astringent smelling that I can't place. It's fruity without being overly sweet; more rich and deep like good wine. There's also an underlying woodsiness about this blend that I love.

 

Wet on skin:

 

I smell blackberries and ivy and a hint of apple cider. This is so gorgeous. It just screams autumn to me. I don't normally do fruity scents and especially not berry scents, but this is gorgeous. The image it brings to mind is sipping a glass of wine in the middle of the forest. Lovely.

 

Dry down:

 

It's settled down into a soft, light berry and apple cider scent that I just love. I actually found myself thinking "What smells so good?" every time I moved today and I don't normally do that, even when I'm wearing someting I really love. This one's really won me over in spite of my reservations.

 

The bottom line:

 

Gorgeous, no question about it. This, to me, is the perfect fall/winter scent. It's rich and dark and beautiful and makes me feel warm and content.

[LunaSea]

I purchased a decant of this from Fairywingmaker. In the imp, Mabon is very sweet, apples and wine.

 

On my skin, Mabon is still very sweet, with a softer floral underneath. There's a luciousness to this scent that makes me think of biting into a peach and having the juices dribble down my chin. I am loving this!

 

However... Only about 10 minutes after application, most of that lush sweetness is gone. The scent is more floral with a hint of... powder? Uh oh.

 

Not even an hour after the application, the scent was almost completely gone on me. I re-applied, and that just brought out the powdery floral even more. About an hour after the re-application, I can sometimes get a whiff of the lovely sweet wine and apple scent, but I think that is coming off of my sleeve. My wrist is still powder. Shoot shoot and shoot. I'm sad to be in the minority of reviewers who didn't have luck with this one. I'll try it in the burner and hopefully avoid the problem my skin chemistry has with it.

[Arafel]

Mabon:

 

First whiff from the bottle: apple blossom. Right in my face, competing with the blackberry wine. smells very familiar

 

wet: reminds me of when I was a little girl at my very first circle. it was a Mabon circle in the middle of Himmel park. Sitting on the grass at the first onset of the darkening of afternoon, the wind carrying the smell of the last fragrant flowers of the summer, still heady and thriving. Cool and warm at the same time.

 

dry down: soo nice. it really brings my first Mabon clearly into my memory. There was indeed wine and cider there that the adults were drinking, and the smell is so similar. the dry down of this is definitely mellow and pleasant. It conjurs for me the sunset, curled in my mother's lap and the smell of her hair co-mingled with all of the flowers and the trees around us as we sat on the cool grass. The wind still warm ((the myrrh, hazel and sage??)), but with an edge of crispness with the season in promise to come.

 

Hopefully this LE will come around again next year, I'd definitely buy a 5 ml of it

 

and i can now officially say I -am- proudly a BPAL addict thanks to Ultra Violet

[Amazon]

Mabon

 

I got this in a swap from another BPAL'er, and was so excited to recieve it.

 

In the bottle was a wonderful harvesty scent of berries, apples and a bit of cherries.

 

Wet on, still the same lucious scent. So good!

 

Drydown, the cherry scent is coming out a bit more, nicely cut with the scent of crisp apples.

 

Dry, a good blend of scents, but I found that the cherry was all I seemed to smell as I moved around, and I am not overly fond of cherries unless blended with something a bit stronger.

 

Sadly it went into the swap pile.

[Finny]

This was my first full-size bottle.

 

Cherry, almost syrupy? It is very thick cherry, after it dries down some of the other elements come out. I get a wift of apple cider and blackberry wine, but mostly cherry. My skin is turning something here into a cherry-like smell, maybe the blackberry wine? While it smells delicious, it does not suit me.

 

So off it goes to a new home...

[miss apple]

Mabon has been sitting in my box ever since it arrived several months ago. I tried it once and while it was nice, it didn't seem to stand out to me at the time. I decided to give it another try after I couldn't quite figure out what kind of perfume mood I was in today.

 

This is the perfect thing to wear when the weather is cold and there's snow on the ground. Winter brings me down and this lifted my spirits with its lush fall boquet. I don't notice the blackberry wine or apple cider much though I suspect they give the light apple blossom and woodiness an undercurrent of faint sweetness that makes this such a delicious scent. It's crunchy leaves, acorns, earth, and fruit all mixed up together in a wonderful warmth.

 

I'm very glad I rediscovered this today

[anshara]

In the imp: Cherry sucrettes, like others have mentioned.... But I'll swipe some on anyway...

 

Swiped on wrist, wet: YOWZA!!!!! Very strong Cherry sucrettes.... I'm worried.... The first time I tried this, the wet stage was such a problem, I had to wash this off, I'm going to let this dry down this time....

 

Drydown 10 minutes: Much less menthol... Thank God. Sage is mellowing and letting the sweetness of the berry come through, no apple yet. This is a very cool, crisp scent...

 

twenty minutes: The herbs keep this sharp rather than warm and subtle, I'm getting the fruit blossoms now, though. Herbs need to mellow out some more. Ok, this is beginning to remind me a little of a children's pain ointment I used in the hospital.... but only faintly in the top note... The scent beneath that is a lovely soft floral.... This is getting nice... But I honestly think that the wet stage is too much for me.... Something about sage mingling with hops isn't working for me, I'm actually a bit scared by the first ten minutes of this.... Off to the swap pile it goes...

[voodoobaby]

In the bottle: Popsicles! Those cheap little popsicles you get that come in assorted flavors. This is oddly cold to my nose, and quite fruity.

 

Wearing: Well, it warms up considerably when applied. It's still quite fruity and tart. For some reason I'm thinking Bordello, only more complex. It's very difficult to pick out individual notes here, although the blackberry is quite apparent.

 

Later: It's getting easier to pick out the notes, but still not very. On top of the blackberry I can for sure smell the ivy, and a little bit of sage, but little else. Oh, and the myrrh. No woods at all, though, which is a little bit disappointing to me.

 

Overall: Well, this wasn't what I expected it to be. I was expecting something a little darker and woody, not quite so sweet and tart. However, I still really like it, and while this is good on its own, I think I will layer it with another (non-BPAL) scent I have that's patchouli and sandalwood and see how that turns out.

[phoefromelsewhere]

In the bottle: I can’t pick a single note out, this is perfectly blended and so nice.

 

Wet: This smells like…autumn. A cool day when the wind is blowing and the leaves are rustling. This is similar to Hunter Moon in that it is evocative of autumn. Very warm and comforting.

 

Drydown: This has gone sweet but not horridly so like Hunter Moon. More like berries and wine, very lovely and comforting.

 

Finally: It's um...comforting! Very nice. And a limited edition that loves me as much as I love it. YAY!

[sheepzeit]

I won this off of Ebay and am quite surprised at this. I know there are fruit notes in it, and those tend to not work so well with my nose, but I think I like this quite a bit. I was a little worried because I bid on this before I read the reviews extensively, but as we see here, everyone has such a different reaction to it, though the overwhelming response is YES!

 

As I said before, I don't tend to like fruit. But I thought by reading the description that the earthy notes would make up for them.

 

At first it is a bit overwhelmingly fruity. For the first 20 minutes all I could smell was fruit punch, and I really hated thinking that because I don't like to think BPAL scents smell like anything that cheap and simple. I know these blends are not without extensive alchemaic consideration. And I was very concerned because Mabon is such a strong, long-lasting scent....

 

.... but then the fruit dies down a little and the spices start coming through. Not overwhelmingly, but I can pick out a touch of sage and maybe something like the earthiness of bark and myrrh. Yum.

 

I can see the resemblance to Cherry Sucrets, but I honestly would never have tnought that if I didn't read it here. What I think I love the best is the coy apple cider hiding in there somewhere, and the bold blackberry...

 

I really do like this scent. It is such a nice surprise to find a fruit scent that I like to wear. I am very glad that I got a 5 ml of this because it will make me happy in the days I miss autumn!

Edited February 26, 2005 by sheepzeit

[Jasminepearls]

wine, once this hits my skin it is sweet tangy STRONG wine and sage! Yum! It is very bubbly, and after about an hour, the myrrh peeks out and tempers it, subtly turning it into a sweeter and more complex scent than it was at first! It is a very orangey red scent, festive and swirling with depth! I love it and wish I had more! In the last stages, it smells of fresh squeezed grapes and hops!

[oatmealneko]

Wet: Spiced apple cider with hops, a touch of blackberry wine. I think I also picked up the sage & myrrh, possibly when it was wet. It was a confusing whirl of various scents, almost put me off completely. I suppose it was like being at an autumn festival in the countryside, & had one too many to drink & so you got everything at once.

 

Dry: Blackberry wine faded. Fast. Normally wine notes do well on my skin, but not this one. The apple cide smelled less cider, stronger in hops, I suppose apple beer? Closer to the description than the cider at this stage. Sage & myrrh also were starting fade. I smelled like hops at the end. Er, apple hops.

 

It's definitely an autumn scent, I would not wear this any other time of the year. But it perfectly captures the imagery it was going for.

[joseybird]

Oh gods this is incredible...

 

At first sniff--blackberry wine and ivy leaves. It smells a teensy bit boozy, but not overly so.

 

The cider comes out, and the oak...so beautiful...the blackberry lasts, blending into the cider. If Samhain is the the evening feast and bonfires in the forest, than Mabon is the drinks and cider in the heart of the forest after the fires have gone out and the revelers have calmed down and are watching the stars come out and embracing the slightly chilly, fragrant breeze.

 

Did I mention how insanely happy I feel to have 1 1/2 bottles of this divine elixir?

[UltraViolet]

In the bottle

bright, clear, herby, fruitiness

 

On

Makes me go "Ooh!". I think the blackberry wine, apple blossom, and apple cider with hops are the ones to blame for the fun in this blend.

Nice.

Apparently this is a close relative to Bewitched but not quite as beautiful and breathtaking. More like Bewitched's younger, funner, more down to earth sister.

 

30 minutes

Oh my, as it dries it just gets better. For all intents and purposes this should be too strong for me, but i'm not finding it so.

 

Throw:

Lots of throw here.

 

Scent category:

fruity/boozy/green

 

Summary

This is a such a complex blend for my nose. That's not a negative thing though. My nose is finding this fun.

It's a sharp scent I'd say. I like sage to work with and it's great at cleansing but I must admit normally I'm not real keen on it's scent. The sage and the oak bark really work in this blend. It balances it out. Sage is pretty strong so it takes a strong counterpoint to balance out the sweetness of the blackberry wine and apple cider.

 

Purchase again?

Yes, maybe an imp.

 

1-5 rating, 5 being best.

3.5

Edited April 22, 2005 by UltraViolet

[OriginalWacky]

Bottle (Imp): I have no idea what the scent is. It's very different from everything else I have tried so far. Herbal, I guess?

 

Just On: I am still leaning towards it being an herbal scent. I can't decide if I like it or not... probably because it's so different to me. Maybe there's some citrus scent there? It's so hard for me to tell.

 

An hour or two later: This got sweeter, and prettier. But there is a hint of something that doesn't seem to agree with my skin, so faint that I can barely tell it's there.

 

Around 6 hours: It's settled into a pretty nice scent all in all, and I think I like it at this point. It has faded considerably, but I'm not going to complain. I could see using this at times.

 

12 hours: It's pretty faded, and turned fairly sweet as well. If I could make it get to this stage faster I'd probably like it more. I can smell some fruity things, and this stage smells delicious to me. Not necessarily like fruit itself, more like an orchard of fruit trees, but without the tree smell. That makes little to no sense, huh.

 

Overall: At first I was unsure about it, but the very end it nabbed me, and I like it. Perhaps if I slather it on heavily it will last better to that end stage that I like so much.

 

After reading other reviews: I don't get wine like some folks do, and it certainly wasn't really really strong. I probably wouldn't swap this one, at least not at first... but there may come a day.

[Sheila]

I had high hopes for this one...I love ivy, blackberries, myrrh, and apple blossoms. Unfortunately, every time I tried Mabon, all I got was sour wine, with a drydown that smelled like a generic Christmas candle. Stupid skin chemistry.

[Tesseljoan]

Mabon is for me a very true red wine scent with apples. The wine notes in for example Wanda or Lady Macbeth register as berry in my brain, but Mabon is a lovely sweet red wine.

[wickedgoddess]

Origin - decant from a forumite

 

In the bottle - apple cider.

 

Wet - Oh this is so good! Crisp apples and hops and sage and ivy and…too many scents flashing by, all delicious.

 

Dry - It stays true to the wet scent, but then suddenly the blackberry wine comes crashing in, and it's very boozey. But that stage doesn't last too long. It settles down to apple cider and sage and I want to lick my wrists. I was debating buying a bottle of this unsniffed on eBay, but I didn't. Oh man, what a mistake; my next obsessive quest will be tracking down a big bottle of this.

 

On the wickedgoddess scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being best, this rates a 5.

[Imbrium]

First sniff from the bottle: Fruity, herbal - I definately smell ivy.

 

On: This is predominately green - ivy and sage, with a bit of fruit. There's something with a bite in the background, which I would guess comes from the hops; I get something similar out of Roadhouse.

 

Drying, the fruit becomes more prominent in Mabon, and it's much more appley than blackberry on me. I can still smell ivy, but the sage is gone. Dry, Mabon is all apples and greenery - mostly ivy.

I love this; it's beautiful and distinctive without being overly heavy.

[ismene]

I can't believe I haven't reviewed this yet, but I suppose I should since I've decided not to keep my bottle. Mabon smells like sour apple cider on me, or perhaps apple beer. It's a scent with a lot of depth, but despite that I can't actually pick up any of the other notes. When it's very faded and almost gone, it turns into this lovely apples & cream scent, but I have to press my nose right against my skiin to be able to smell it. This is probably a good ritual scent, but it doesn't really work on my skin.

[PurringPulsar]

Mabon

 

In the imp: blackberries, apples and wine-fruity and sweet with tartness. This is a lovely beginning of autumn, September smell.

Wet on skin: still the same, but I think I can smell ivy coming out. This is similar to Harvest Moon but without the notes that smelt a bit icky, but it is very similar-I swear I can smell grain, as well as apples and blackberries.

Dry on skin: cider! Sweet apple cider and hints of blackberry and ivy flitting through here and there. this is a warm smell that makes me think of September sunsets, the golden warmth of evening. It's laid back, quite soothing and comforting. It puts pleasant images of early autumn in England (when it's not raining!) in my head.

After a while: there's a tart apple note and a hint of wheat, the scent's slightly boozy, but pleasant none the less.

After 15 minutes, it smells like apple juice! It's a deeper richer scent than simply apple juice though-it's like apple juice on a golden autumn afternoon, with a bit of ivy.

After about half an hour, the booze goes back into the apple and it becomes cider again. The blackberry's returned, the ivy adds a deep green, possibly with sage-and, ooh, is that bark I smell? This gives off such nice vibes…

After an hour or two, the smell is similar to that of Harvest Moon, but more pleasant. I can smell ivy, wine/cider and something that reminds me of ripened wheat.

Verdict: this is a scent that really conjures up the lovely atmosphere of the autumn equinox-it's that time before the leaves have turned, and there's a wonderful pleasant warmth in the air, the harvest is being gathered. This is like a pleasant September evening in the English countryside by a golden wheat field, sipping on traditionally made cider and eating apples and blackberries whilst the sun sets-you can smell all that here. September's one of my favourite months and this delicious and complex blend really captures the scents of the early autumn, I much prefer it to Harvest Moon, and if it's sold again this year, I'm getting a bottle.

On a side note, I'm intrigued to find out what the Osirian aspect of Mabon is. I know a lot about Osiris but I have never seen a connection with his festivals or mythology and the autumn equinox…

Edited June 7, 2005 by yeahbutnobut

[binkyboots]

I loved the idea of Mabon, the description sounded so delicious and I could picture the scent in my mind's nose.

 

sadly, wine and berries dont work on me, I had my suspicions after kali went sour on me but this proved it to me. I love the sage notes, but sadly only get them after a long spell of megaberries.

[~AmusedMuse~]

In the Bottle:

 

apple/berry with a hint of something citrus.

 

Wet on skin:

The same but I can smell the herbal(ness) of the sage now.

 

1 hour later

It suits my chemistry well. Its a perfect autumn or winter scent that I am very happy to have

[QueenFae]

I was lucky enough to score a bottle of this from a friendly forumite, I'm so glad I finally got to try it. It's a wondefully berry, spicy scent; glorious in its strength and staying power. The top notes on me are the apple cider and the blackberry wine, what a fabulous combination! The cider has such a nice cinnamon note to it, and the breath of myrrh and sage in the background create a lot of depth within the scent. It's a harvest time, apple bobbing, picking out pumpkins sort of scent. But definitely one I will wear all year round. Love it, the only trouble is, I can't get anymore!