Ra

[clover]

LIBER RESH VEL HELIOS: RA

Hail unto Thee who art Ra in Thy rising, even unto Thee who art Ra in Thy strength, who travellest over the Heavens in Thy bark at the Uprising of the Sun.

Tahuti standeth in His splendour at the prow, and Ra-Hoor abideth at the helm.

Hail unto Thee from the Abodes of Night!

 

Sniffing from the bottle: Hmm, it reminds me of Red Moon!

 

On first application: Yes, it's definitely like Red Moon, except without the spiciness. It's a very smooth red/orange floral...maybe heliotrope? I guess that would make sense.

 

After a few minutes: All of these LRvH blends seem to have a smooth, sweet base. I think maybe it's frankincense? Some sort of resin, anyway...

 

A few minutes after that: It has mellowed and blended very nicely. And strangely, it seems like there's a tiny little bit of some warm spice.

 

Conclusion: It's really kind of bizarre (and I mean that in the best way!)...it seems like it's incredibly smooth and sweet, but kind of burning hot at the same time! Really great.

[LiberAmoris]

This morning I had to get up at the crack of dawn so I thought it would be a good time to try Ra. When first applied to my skin, it smelled....green. It set me back because I was anticipating something that smelled the way I imagine the sun to smell: golden, yellow/red/orange and hot. But it smelled a bit like the inside of a dandelion stem, that milky verdant stuff inside the hollow stalks.

 

Within a few moments it was already changing, and a citrusy orange and cinnamon warmed up a floral scent that I can't determine. It's really nice and very warming, a perfect embodiment of the rising sun. I will enjoy using up my imp on cold winter days when I need a hit of some solar power.

 

ETA: Now that I re-read clover's post above, I can definitely smell the frankincense. Normally frankincense is not my favorite component, but here it's really nice.

Edited November 14, 2004 by LiberAmoris

[UltraViolet]

Wet

Bright yet warm and golden. I've no idea what is in this blend but my nose seems to smell citrus primarily and then what seems like amber, maybe heliotrope and an undertone of a powdery nature, and a bright floral note too.

5 minutes

Turning less sweet and more bitter with an almost lime primary note and the sweet golden amber type note underneath now.

15 minutes

Strong floral primarily with citrus and warm slightly powdery honey'd notes underneath. Unlike some blends the scent of Ra is getting better the longer it stays on my skin.

30 minutes

It's not lingering as much as I'd like but It's uncanny how Beth has turned the ingredients into something that exactly represents the sun; bright yet golden, powerful yet comforting. It is a masculine "yang" energy that emits from this scent but not so masculine as to feel too agressive. There's that beautiful little powdery warm golden note in the background that keeps this comforting.

 

If I had the opportunity I would actually buy another 5ml if I ran out.

[Sistinas]

From the vial, my first thought is grassy, like smelling a fresh cut grass field

 

After it dried on my wrist I was able to detect lavender and could not help but thinking

how similiar to veil it was. But now it has morphed and it is spicy now. Maybe there was

that scent earlier and I had not detected it, but now it is blatantly there now and there

is remnant of the lavendar. I was given Ra and Ahathoor as extras and I think my next order will include all full stations of the sun.

[Astburygrrl]

In the bottle: Sweet vert in feeling & scent..like a sunbathed jungle

On the skin: Very bright green, like the insides of a flower's stem..fresh & infused w/ life.

Afterhours: A mellow light green, mixed w/ golden amber & vanilla (at least thats what it smells like, heh) This is SO relaxing to me...plant life basking in the sun..and a twinge of aquaticness(perhaps the Nile? )

Gorgeous!

[ChupaChup]

Ra was a gift from the lab included in my last order and boy, am I loving it

 

Funny, we seem to be all over the place trying to figure out what this smells like To me, it has elements of Haunted, the soft citrus and ambergris, without the musk to darken it. I don't think there is any amber in this, I'm guessing that because my skin usually eats up amber scents and Ra lasts a good long time on me. But it's hard to tell because ambergris can smell a little like amber sometimes. I also don't get any green from it, just a cool morning sunshiney color. It's great!

[Theravada]

In the bottle I get the sharp, green citrus smell people have been describing. To me it smells like bergamot.

 

As soon as I applied Ra to my skin the sharp greeness started fading and something warm and sweet began to emerge. I smell a subtle floral that I think might be lavander. And there's a dusty, smokey note in here too...maybe the unidentified amber/resin note others picked up on. I really can't put my thumb on what it could be.

 

Overall this is a smooth, sweet scent brightened by a golden green citrus note. I really like this one!

[alston78]

In the bottle: A masculine, warm, spicy scent. Yum!

 

On my skin: I'm not sure what happened?! Everyone else described cinnamon and orange and frankincense, which I love- I"m just getting frankincense. Too much of it. On me, Ra is heavy, masculine, and smells way too much of incense- in fact, solely of incense. The smell dried and didn't change much on my wrist and after about 6 hours of smelling too incense-y and too masculine for my taste, I washed it off.

 

I'm so sad- I was looking forward to this one! Oh well- off to swaps.

[phaedrine]

This one, to me, isn't sweet or floral or citrusy at all!

 

It's definitely a red-gold scent, and was sweeter in the vial than on my skin.

 

On my skin, it instantly morphs in to the exact scent of a hot, dry, dusty day. The exact smell of the sun coming up over the mountains and baking the dirt and the heat rising in waves.

 

It's perfect for me right now, while it's freezing cold outside, to remind me of hot sun in the desert, right around the middle of August.

 

Yup, need a bottle.

[Ishtar]

I might be completely off, but to me there is a citrus/lavender note to Ra that is especially noticeable during the wet stage. As it dries, it becomes warmer and warmer. Yet Ra never gets hot, thanks to this fresh note that is like a merciful early morning breeze on the Nile river before the heat becomes intense. This is a bright, triumphant scent with a slight powderiness and a resine note to it (frankincense?)

 

I think Ultraviolet perfectly nailed it when she wrote that Ra is a yang scent. That is exactly what it is: energetic, bright, outwardly, a definite "masculine" feel but without the traditional notes associated to masculine scents.

 

I absolutely love this and now that I got to try two of the Stations of the Sun, I will order the other two. Those are fascinating scents.

[Shollin]

First sniff: Ra makes me think of marigolds, though I don’t really know what they smell like. It’s a warm, soft, golden scent with a touch of floral sweetness.

 

Wearing: Ooh. Instantly there’s a wonderful deep – almost animal – warmth that reminds me very much of The Lion. I suppose that might be amber. It’s sweet and lightly floral and gold gold gold.

 

and then...

 

ARGH! After drying down for just a few minutes it turns into nothing but flowers… powdery girly flowers. Stupid flowers. I think I’ll be sticking with Tum – sunset is much more my speed than dawn anyway.

[Grey Lady]

I registered with the forum mainly just so I could give a good review of Ra. I love love love this scent.

 

It smelled too complex for me to really pick out individual notes, but now that I see everyone mentioning frankincense, I can definitely smell that.

 

This one feels warm and comforting, but regal and refined at the same time. Will be getting a big bottle of this one.

[xoe]

Ra is really great at capturing the feeling of dawn. I can't really describe it better than that. It's sort of grey and pink and yellow. The scent starts out quite thick and then becomes more powdery. Not like baby-powder, just powdery. I can't think of a better way to describe it than that.

 

It isn't what I expected, but it is great.

[Julilla Regina]

I have no idea what this smells like! In the vial, it's kind schizo...incensy, but sweet? When I put it on, it was sweet...not candy sweet, but almost like a sugared orange peel sweet?

 

I'm flummoxed by it. I think you'd really have to try this on yourself before you could determine if you'd like it. It wasn't my type of scent, but wow, it's really interesting in a good way.

[Red_Hot_Mama]

Ra makes me happy, very happy. It's "fresh" & "clean" smelling on me with a bit of "ooomph"!

 

Upon rereading, this doesn't really seem like a "review". It is, however, exactly how I feel when wearing Ra.

[tempete]

I have to agree that Ra contains frankincense because it initially smells like dirt on me (which is typical of BPALs containing frankincense as a major component). As it dries down, the dirt smell disappears and Ra becomes a warm, golden but very masculine scent on me. I really suck at picking out notes blind, so that's the best you're gonna get from me

[diabolique]

i'm very much a morning person, and i could bask in the sun of the morning until my white ass looks like a lobster. naturally, i thought i would love this. indeed, it does personify the morning sun, but i'm not sure if i want to smell like that. ra is golden-red rising over that pale, dusky blue sky, chasing the shadows of night away. gorgeous, but definitely not for me. -sniff- i could've loved you, ra, i really could've.

[darkling]

In the bottle, Ra smelled sharp and green and bright.

 

On my skin, Ra vanished completely. There was no scent. I slathered on more but all I could sniff was a vague, spicy warmth with no distinct notes. I could only sense it when my nose was directly on top of my wrist.

 

Whatever notes were in Ra were devoured by my skin.

[voodoobaby]

In the bottle: Mostly floral with an undercurrent of sharp citrus--either lemon or bergamont. The flowers in this remind me of those in Goth Rosary's Funeral Flowers scent--very sweet and almost rosey. I agree with one of the above posters, this brings to mind marigolds. I'm almost positive I won't like this.

 

Wearing: Holy citrus! That is all I smell now. It's very sharp.

 

Later: And then comes the frankincense. Ah, what a welcome change! The citrus fades off, yet still remains tart and juicy enough to complement the dryness of the frankincense. I agree that there is something extra resiny and incensey about this. Amber is definitely a possibility. Every now and then I'll smell the floral scent in the throw, but it's hardly the most dominant note anymore.

 

Overall: I can't believe I actually liked this. This isn't something I would wear on a regular basis, but I will probably keep it for a special occasion.

[feline.by.design]

When I first applied Ra, it was a scent that was very gender neutral. It was a warm scent, a little floral, a little "something dark." I was really digging it.

 

However, about five minutes after application, the lighter, brighter notes disappeared. The base notes of Ra became more pronounced on my skin, reminding me of human sweat, strange as it sounds. This may be the frankincense note that was mentioned. It's a dark sort of fragrance on me, maybe a little dirty, even. Still very strong, though. It's as if as soon as the Sun rose, a dark cloud covered it up. After a while, the fragrance of Ra actually wound up a little soapy (!!) on my skin, which is something I don't think anyone else has mentioned. Were the florals lilies? I don't know, I'm rather confounded.

 

It's an interesting fragrance, and while I don't dislike the frankincense (?) note, it isn't something I really care to smell like. I think I'll give this to my friend Joe, as it is a very masculine scent in the end, and it's something he might like.

 

-doreen

Edited February 20, 2005 by feline.by.design

[Lina]

Ra- I put this on last night. It was the second time I have tried it. It is worthy of the name Ra.

 

In the imp: Really heady and maybe amber. I just try a touch of the imp wand because I am afraid it will be too strong.

 

On dry down: This is greenish and I still smell amber. It feels powerful and awakening. Probably better as a day scent.

 

Five hours: Morning has a tangerine glow with whispy blue and white clouds. The sun is coming and Ra is faint but still there. It is a warm comforting oil that I will wear again.

[gdogs]

my first thought? lush's skinny dip shower gel.

 

my second thought? lush's skinny dip shower gel.

 

my third thought? see above.

 

spicy and sweet at the same time. . . cloves, clary sage, and just a little bit of vetiver. . .enough to ground it (uhm, literally an earthy scent), but not enough to ruin it. and it pretty much stays that way for a long time. doesn't change much through the dry-down.

 

some have compared sybaris to skinny dip (sorry. . . i know some folks hate those types of comparisons). on me, this is way more comparable than sybaris.

 

this is a warming scent, a great fall morning scent. probably wont get a big bottle (that may change come fall), but will use my imp.

[Northernminx]

Warm spicey golden herbal, this was gorgeous, like sun warmed sage or church incense. I found this very soothing, but also somewhat masculine and since it didn't last overly long on me I'm sending it off to a new home.

[tsarina]

This smells like marigolds to me, like my mother's garden. It's so warm and golden, like summer. I can't identify the components, but it is a beautiful scent.

[OriginalWacky]

This was an extra sample the lab threw in, which is a great way to get folks to try something they might not normally order. I'm certainly not going to turn down the chance to try new things.

 

Bottle (Imp): Fairly sweet, almost woodsy scent. Could be flowery, but not overwhelmingly so, it's hard for me to tell. I can't decide if I like it in the bottle or not, but of course the true test is whether I like it on my skin.

 

Just On: Wow! It's floral, and got a sharp note to it as well. Almost stingy to my nose, but not as bad as say, cleansing products. There's one or maybe two notes that just jump right out and grab me.

 

An hour or two later: Well, it's not so strong and sharp now, but it's still pretty flowery almost, which could tend to make me want to pass on it. I'll have to ask The Mate's opinion as well, because it might be that it smells really good to others, and I just have a *thing* against flowers. I'm not exactly what folks would call a girly girl, so that's probably why the food scents and spic ones work for me.

 

Around 6 hours: It's settled into a very pleasant scent, mild and sweet, with a breath of flowers. This would probably be wonderful to make into lotion or something to keep the sharp notes from coming out so much on me. It seems to have fairly decent staying power.

 

12 hours: It's still similar to what I could smell at six hours, though much fainter. I don't think I'll be getting rid of this, but I'm not sure that I'd buy a bigger bottle either.

 

Overall: It starts out as too much for me, but fades pretty nicely on my skin. I pretty certain I am going to stick this in some lotion and see how it goes with that.

 

After reading other reviews: Sounds like this is something that everybody should try, because it's all over the place to different people. My cat wrinkled her nose at it, but she has pretty poor taste anyway.

 

Blessings,

Wacky