Ogygia

[Lycanthrope]

OGYGIA
On to Pieria he stepped from the upper air, and swooped down upon the sea, and then sped over the wave like a bird, the cormorant, which in quest of fish over the dread gulfs of the unresting sea wets its thick plumage in the brine. In such wise did Hermes ride upon the multitudinous waves. But when he had reached the island which lay afar, then forth from the violet sea he came to land, and went his way until he came to a great cave, wherein dwelt the fair-tressed nymph; and he found her within. A great fire was burning on the hearth, and from afar over the isle there was a fragrance of cleft cedar and juniper, as they burned; but she within was singing with a sweet voice as she went to and fro before the loom, weaving with a golden shuttle. Round about the cave grew a luxuriant wood, alder and poplar and sweet-smelling cypress, wherein birds long of wing were wont to nest, owls and falcons and sea-crows with chattering tongues, who ply their business on the sea. And right there about the hollow cave ran trailing a garden vine, in pride of its prime, richly laden with clusters. And fountains four in a row were flowing with bright water hard by one another, turned one this way, one that. And round about soft meadows of violets and parsley were blooming. There even an immortal, who chanced to come, might gaze and marvel, and delight his soul; and there the messenger Argeiphontes stood and marvelled.

Sea air, kelp, and climbing vines, flame-singed cedarwood and juniper branches, cypress boughs, alder wood, violets, selino, parsley, glistritha, and white sage.

I was super looking forwards to this, as it's an aquatic, and Lycanthrope and aquatics are like THIS. *awkward gesture with paws* The only thing that gave me pause was all the fresh green notes, but there were violets, so I grabbed a bottle.

In the bottle, it's definitely super salty, fresh air, a crisp biting aquatic.

On the skin, there's an odd experience of the scent almost separating into two different entities. I can smell the airy salt, which is getting even more 'blue and bright' on my skin, a hybrid between Tempest (which was a fresher, deeper watery marine) and Lightning (which was to me more sharp, 'dryer sheet' ozonic). There's a hint of the violet but it's mostly adding a muddy cool floral note, and there's a TON of this background lemony, herby tone over the salty aquatic.

It's almost a bit much, actually, the herbs give a frightening brightness to this blend that, combined with the already existing ozone, send it into hyperdrive. Underneath it there is definitely a floating woodsy scent (alder? violets?)

It's quite intriguing, but I don't know if it's all me. Definitely sharper, brighter, less 'watery' than I thought. Edited October 20, 2009 by Shollin

[Dark Alice]

Super sharp Violets floating in stinging salty sea water. Yeesh! this stuff is quite strong. But as it dries it has a lovely clean, sage note to it. My decant will definitely be enough.

[Little Bird]

I don't usually get along well with aquatics or ozone (exceptions: Sea of Glass, Banded Sea Snake, Sea Rat), but I was hoping that all of the other listed notes here would make this wearable for me. Not so much.

This is intensely soapy, harsh, and sharp. Worse, it's incredibly strong and overwhelming with lots of throw. I like a few of bpal's soap scents (Dirty and Tony come to mind), but this is incredibly harsh and chemical-y, like I've drenched myself in bleach and rolled around in a factory full of generic bars of white soap before pinning dryer sheets all over my clothes. Bad. Very strong and intense, in a bad way.

Edited June 1, 2010 by Little Bird

[Cereus]

In the bottle: aquatic, like a sea coast lined with fragrant trees [i actually sighed over the experimental waft]. The second whiff just before applying was a bit saltier and kelpy.

 

Wet this is still ocean aquatic with fragrant woods and sage and other greens.

 

As it dries the initial notes still dominate, but I am getting a few more of the herbs and a hint of the violet. This is absolutely stunning to me and quickly making its way into my top five at this rate.

 

Dry this is beautiful violet and cypress with sage and herbs on an aquatic background. I never actually suspected cypress and violet would blend so well. I happen love all those notes on their own, and this blend just blew me away and made me very happy just to be wearing it. Wow wow wow. This may need to be my Yule gift to myself.

Edited November 11, 2009 by Cereus

[Iceblink]

Goodness--this manages to be a soapy aquatic. All kinds of wrong on me! The "sea air" is very much present and I pick up on some herbs but...whew. Not for me at all.

[ifinena]

Ogygia, home of the nymph Calypso who detained Odysseus for seven years before letting him go onwards with his travels. The name alone was beckoning me.

 

Selino and glistritha are common vegetables in Greek cooking. We have a saying: "Did you eat glistritha?" that we use when we want to tell someone that he/she talks a lot, jokingly. Glistritha is supposed to make you talk a lot

 

Cereus above has described this blend beautifully and I can't add anything to the note descriptions. I do not wear green or aquatic scents, they are "difficult" to me. But this one is so evocative it has got to come live with me. Perhaps not as a perfume per se, but as an ambient scent.

This is like living in a small house by the sea. The scent of seashores and islands, during their best time, when left alone, in the colder months. When you can smell the woods and the herbs, the salty air and the ever-so-faint smell of flowers in the distance.

This, THIS is the scent of "my" Greece. Beautiful!

Edited May 20, 2010 by Shollin
Removed Lab description --Shollin

[zankoku_zen]

Super fresh aquatic. Slightly green, hint of violet, and very aquatic. I like the hint of 'sea air', personally, as it keeps this from being too woody, and gives it a nice airy touch.

[edenssixthday]

Ogygia - I am having terrible luck with my BPAL testing today. Every time I try on a scent that I should like, it turns out to be worse than the previous one I just tried. This one is something I should love -- an ocean aquatic with kelp -- right up my alley! But it's just horribly rotten on me. It smells like... I don't know. It just smells awful. And it's soapy. Very green and soapy. Like Irish Spring. I'm definitely going to wash my arms now. I'm covered in all sorts of BPALs that went wrong on me. Maybe my skin chemistry's off today (?)

[Venneh]

In the imp, I'm getting an salty aquatic note, very similar to the note I get in Egle, minus the florals. On my skin, it's pretty much the same, except there's a deeper green and herbal note coming out too that's making it a bit more masculine. ...And then the wood comes out. In the end, this turns into a green woody herbal scent, completely removing itself from its watery roots. Pass.

Edited February 19, 2010 by Venneh

[bunnyrebecca]

I adore this one! It's easily my favorite of the five imps I've tried so far. It's fairly soapy on my skin, but there's definitely kelp and juniper. Very fresh and lovely, and I think I'll be getting a bottle.

[crebbsgirl]

So I should preface this review by stating that aquatics and I DO NOT get along.

 

Having said that, this scent was actually quite nice on me. Not something I would reach for often, but nice enough that I enjoyed wearing it while testing, and that rarely if ever happens with anything aquatic like. The wet stage was just slightly soapy, but as it dried, the soapy notes wore off and I was left with a relatively soft violet with woods impression. The aquatic notes were still present in the dry stages, but they weren't "sharp" like they normally are on my skin. Overall, this was a surprisingly soft blend, and I can see it being rather popular with those who like their scents a little cleaner than I do.

[moon_lemming]

I honestly did not remember Ogygia existed until I got a frimp in a recent Lab order. And once I read the notes I realized why: aquatic. Aquatics are soap on me.

 

Ogygia is no exception to the Rule of Soapiness. When it's first on, it's very lightly soapy with sharp violets in front, but as it dries it just all melts into one big soapy blur. Not Irish Spring. Maybe a blue-and-white soap.

Edited April 10, 2010 by karen

[donnatron]

Imp: Seaweed and salt. Touch of a berry scent.

 

Wet: It goes on like drier sheets. Salty drier sheets but drier sheets nonetheless. There is still a slight fruity sweetness to this and the cedar adds a very slight hint of gravitas.

 

Dry: Ogygia is a soft, herbal aquatic scent. It's very salty and skin close and kind of inappropriate in a really weird sort of way. It's ostensibly a perfume rather than a skin scent but there is something in this that makes it smell like lingering post-coital skin with perfume on it. It's a very fresh, clean scent but ultimately strangely, strangely dirty.

 

Throw: Mild.

 

Overall: I feel really uncomfortable with this. So fresh and pretty and clean and SO FREAKIN' DIRTY! I don't think I can wrap my head around this bad boy.

[angelicruin]

Violets and sea water. Not really getting any wood notes out of this. Does have a soapy quality to the scent on my skin.

[Blithgunde]

For me Ogygia is one of the fascinating lab creations that tell a story. You begin by getting off a boat on a very green island. Sea air and sea weed give way to an intensely green, sappy note; as if you are walking up a steep path inland. Then you smell pines and a faint sweet waft like a nearby flowerbed. There it settles to a creamy crisp refreshing scent. I could keep putting this on all day just to smell the progression from just applied to drydown.

 

Ogygia reminds me of Irish Spring, but only in the best way. Ogygia is what Irish Spring aspires to be. They both have the same elements: aquatic, pine, and green. Bur Ogygia is the cream to Irish Spring's skim milk. So if you've ever enjoyed Irish Spring, as I have, you could really love Ogygia.

[Ryvre]

I generally take pretty good notes when I try a scent. For this, all I wrote was "aquatic. " I was hoping for more cedar and cypress, but my skin was not on board with that plan.

[Alexanne]

If this oil had a color, it would be deep grey-blue.

The notes I smell while drying is lots of violets without the sharpness (love) with some aquatic note lingering in the background.

What I smell after it dried was definitely more of a soapy aquatic, pretty disappointing because my beautiful violets/woods/herbs are nowhere to be found.

The scent made me feel clean. Like I just washed with Irish Springs.

This lasts for a good couple of hours. As fades it gets even more soapy, though...

The throw was great. I smelled it at all times while wearing it, and it got to the point where I could no longer smell my wrist because I got so used to the smell wafting around me.

Verdict: Probably going to keep on trying this one in a desperate attempt to find my violets and woods. This is a very complex Irish Springs to me, so if you want to smell like that soap, then go for it and try it!

Edited June 3, 2010 by Alexanne

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

this one is chock full of notes i generally avoid (primarily: cedar, violet, sea)

that being said, it isn't nearly as bad as i was expecting! it does have a blue-soap-y kind of chemicall-y-"clean" smell to it that i was totally not prepared for. it is, however, headache-inducing, and not something i could wear.

[jiggahava]

Smells like a cross between a earthy, forest scent and a fresh aquatic one. The Pine and cedar are very strong at first, and it has a medicinal quality to it that I don't quite like. Fortunatley, the scent softens and smells somewhere between Thalassa The Galapagos Mermaid and Black Forest. Its soapier qualities have calmed down. I don't have too many aquatics that I like and keep, but I already own Thlassa, which fulfills all my aquatic needs, so I'll probably keep Ogyia as a decant. It's pretty though, and one of the most pleasant aquatics I have tried at BPAL.

[hkhm]

imp: very crisp, brash aquatic. it's difficult to smell anything else.

 

wet: much more woodsy that i would have expected at first sniff. plus the aquatic, while very strong, is not overpowering. i actually find myself sniffing my wrist and liking this scent.

 

dry: this is far more grassy than aquatic as it dries and i like it much better in the dry stage. the woods are faint but a nice undertone.

[Greensleeves]

In the bottle: Pale yellow oil. Fruity pine and musk.

 

Wet: Minty eucalyptus, pine and musk. Very cool on the skin.

 

Dry: Floral, minty, fake ocean/water scent, possibly violets. Sticks at the back of my throat unpleasantly.

 

After a few minutes: I detect a hint of something cool and clear like there was in Hurricane, a strange sort of possibly... ozone? The sweetness of violet is coming out, along with an herbal undertone. This is much, much more floral than I expected considering all the nice herbs. I think I'm getting juniper, which smells a bit floral to me as well.

 

After first hour: The heavy florals have calmed down a bit and I'm getting more of the enjoyable green notes, but not nearly enough. To me the florals evoke that 'commercial' smell that I tend to associate with people wearing too much chemical-infused bleah perfume instead of lovely Bpal. I think this blend just doesn't work for me.

 

At the same time, it isn't making me ill like those commercial perfumes do, so that's something positive.

 

After two and a half hours: The florals have mellowed a bit more and the blend has become a bit more herbal, and the commercialness has died down. Now it's mildly pleasant, but I don't really want to wait this long for a scent to get to a point where I think it is okay, but still nothing I would like to make part of my permanent collection.

 

After 5 hours: More of the same.

 

Final verdict: Not bad, but not something I want to keep.

[Nymeria]

Sea, soap, and a hint of something that you would want to scrub at with soap. The color of the Pacific Ocean on a cold, overcast day. The longer it's on, the less I get the soap and the horrible thing the soap was washing off and the more I just get a sulky, bitter encounter with the sea.

 

EDIT: The longer this scent is on me, the more I start to like it! I'm really happy, as I was hoping aquatics would work on me, but from the first sniff feared that my chemistry would say no.

 

Good for wearing: When I feel like reminiscing about winters in California, wandering barefoot down abandoned beaches.

Edited August 4, 2010 by Nymeria

[Ajila]

In the bottle - Salty water and a hint of something citrus

 

Wet on me - Washing detergent

 

Dry on me - A soft, salty, sea water with hints of soap

 

Overall - Aquatic scents don't tend to work for me and this is another such

[raisin]

Straight up, exactly what my dryer sheets smell like. I can't even pick out individual notes, it's just too precise.

[zmulls]

I generally take pretty good notes when I try a scent. For this, all I wrote was "aquatic. <img src="http://www.bpal.org/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_sad.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="icon_sad.gif" />" I was hoping for more cedar and cypress, but my skin was not on board with that plan.

 

 

Um, ditto for me.

 

This is a scent you want to put on and spend the first 20 minutes locked in a closet. It comes on too strong at first, and you have to let it settle in.

 

The "clean ocean" smell is very potent, and very effective. I can't complain at all about the main goal of the scent. But like Ryvre, I didn't get anything else (at least not more than the barest trace). And there are many aquatics that work better for me.....ah well, farewell to Circe.