Olisbos

[Little Bird]

The ancient Greeks sure weren't shy about taking care of business. The port city of Miletus was once famed throughout the Mediterranean as a source of excellent stone, wood, and padded leather dildos. This scent is the celebration of an age-old pastime: polished wood, well-loved leather, and olive oil.

In the bottle and on my skin at first, this smells like the leather note in Quincey Morris + tomato leaf. It's this odd, green, slightly spicy smell. It also smells just a little bit citrussy at first (maybe orange-y?). It reminds me of gardening. This smells like a cowboy who worked all day in a leather shop filled with leathers & woods and then came home and tended to a garden for a bit. It smells strong, but comforting.

After an hour, this is almost all leather on me. Gorgeous, awesome leather. It seems cool and light (like a summer night), even though it has lots of throw and staying power. It's a beautiful, soft, clean leather. Love.

BPAL does awesome leather scents, and this one is another favorite for me.

[milo]

Normally I love leather and most woody notes, but this particular combination is just not something I would wear as a perfume. From wet to dry, just a lovely leather and woody note. If anyone has owned horses, or been around a horse barn, this smells exactly like the tack room with the leather and warm wood. Or a Western Store, that sells lots of cowboy boots, saddles, and tack. Very evocative, but something I personally wouldn't want to smell like, or have my so or room smell like it.

[Blithgunde]

Oh my, I'll 'fess up right now, I love Olisbos! It was love at first sniff too.

 

Olisbos goes on bright and woody and leathery. The olive oil pops out for me, all floral and citrus like the good stuff you save to drizzle on something special or to eat soaked up with crusty bread. The wood sings underneath. I can't identify it but I think it's a light hardwood. Oil and wood are merely the opening act. After I'm used to them the star comes on. Leather. Lovely leather, usually found hanging around expensive shoes, comes forth and takes charge.

 

The wood and olive oil lighten the leather so this scent is airy and bright. It stays a long time at this stage, releasing glorious leathery whiffs every now and then. When it fades it gets fainter and fainter without turning powdery or rancid.

 

 

[ami226]

Whoa that is some leather! Very very manly leather! I am afraid that this kind of leather is too strong for me...

[Christi]

As a child my father would take me to the horse barns. While he and his friends sat on upside down plastic buckets and chatted, I would hang out with the horses. This scent reminded me of that right away. It's funny because I had not seen the other reviews that said the same.

 

I smell old wood and leather. I did not pick up any of the fruity/citrus scents that others have mentioned.

 

I prefer the sweet leather scent of Mutter's U so this will not be a keeper for me.

[Schmoozy]

 

Smooth wood, worn leather and oil. Actually the olive oil smells like citrus and kind of sweetens the blend. Overall a beautiful masculine leather and woods scent. This is going to smell fantastic on Mr. Schmoozy.

[stellans]

Dentist's office. That's what this smells like to me.

 

ETA:

WOW. What a difference a year makes! This scent is now a smooth, wooden leathery mix that practically sings on my skin. I cannot tell you how happy I am not to have swapped this one away! It is a dryer blend than I normally like, but there's something intoxicating about that very dryness. The leather is also a much different scent than I normally love, but still...leather! I am also thrilled at how the olive oil lends a touch of sweet smoothness to this blend. 3 of 5 stars, easily.

Edited February 20, 2011 by stellans

[CitizenBree]

Dust, leather and something citrus-y. It's very strong on the leather...very realistic. This just isn't my cup of tea.

[zankoku_zen]

OMG - this is totally DeSade's chemical black leather. A little softer, but I still get that weird chemical black leather from it.

 

And perhaps, as it dries, just the bare hint of wood.

 

PASS.

[dawndie]

In bottle: sweetened leather

 

On skin: classic Dead Man's Hand leather with a citrussy *zing*

 

Half-hour later: delicious slightly-sweet leather, something I want to gnaw on

 

In conclusion: I ordered hoping this leather wasn't too gentrified, like the slick leather in DeSade. This is the rustic leather note that I love and is for some reason so calming and comfortable, plus a bit of sweetness from the olive oil and barely any wood to be found. Love it!

[TheOnliest]

It's kind of citrus-y in the bottle but not on my skin. The first thing I notice when I apply Olisbos is that it's very smooth, something I enjoy in a dildo scent. Seriously, whether I liked it or not, and upon application I was still undecided, I found it to be really well-blended. This is quiet, unobtrusive leather. I have to remind myself that it's there. The wood reminds me of the cedar in Tombstone, only not as sharp, and the olive oil, or what I think is the olive oil, smells green. In fact, it's green with wood in the background; it's like the smell of green leaves on a branch.

 

On one wrist the scent has faded to faint wood with just the tiniest bit of sweet leather; the other, the one I applied the oil to, still smells pretty green, although the wood is inching closer to the front. Overall I'd say this is a smooth, comforting woody scent. I'm looking forward to seeing how this ages.

 

 

[aquazoo]

Starts with that sharp hairspray smell. Luckily that tones down fast into shoe-store leather. Makes me wonder what those guys are really doing when they go in the back to get the shoes. Leather always seems masculine to me, but I would like to wear this.

[Spork]

wheee! leather! on wet it's a very citrus-y leather, then fades down to just leather and a hint of some kind of wood is lovely and comforting

[nekogrrl]

OMG I smell like I've been doused in olive oil.

[brwnpaperhag]

While wearing Lawn Gnome today I decided I needed a little more masculinity to the scent and opened my bottle of Olisbos.

 

After two and a half months of sitting in my bottle box, the olive oil has blossomed into some amazing orangy citrus, completely balancing out the heavy leather and lightening the wood. While it dries down into some dry, warm leather (I want to say the it would be white leather, not black or brown), the overall feeling is warm and supple, and the wood and orange in here are amazing and completely unlike any other scent I've experienced with bpal (or any other scent, for that matter.) The orange is perfectly bright and juicy, giving life to the wood/leather combo, which is both masculine and gentle at the same time. It's perfect for when I need to butch up a light fruity scent or darken a sweet foody scent.

 

I am in love with its overall smoothness (huzzah to dildo inspirations!) and I'm so glad my waiting has given me such awesome results.

Edited June 13, 2010 by bluberyapulsaus

[Argentwolf]

I think this was my favorite Lupercalia scent. It's pretty much as advertised: leather (soft, well-worn, supple brown kid leather, to be exact in my mind's eye), smoothly-turned wood, and soothing oil. I kind of hope that this becomes one of the perennial Lupercalia offerings, because it's just so simple and yet so very neat and sexy.

[simi46]

Wearing this, I keep being reminded of new car smell (with leather seats, obviously ). But not at all a bad scent, very much leather, although I'm not really getting the citrus others seem to be finding... O_o

[whisperstilled]

I've totally been looking forward to this. What's better than wood, leather, and olive oil? Mmmm.

 

In Imp: A strong green note that I assume is the olive oil, with a tiny bit of backing leather and strong wood. I was hoping for leather to be the predominant note here, and the olive is a bit strange - mingled with the wood, it makes me think of a home depot, not a sexy workshop.

 

Wet: Again, almost bizarrely green. This smells more like olive leaf to me (such as in Alecto) than olive oil. It's got a bit of a lemon kick to it, and I still get almost no leather, sadly.

 

Dry: Still mostly olive with little else. Disappointing. Where oh where is my leather? I'm going to assume this was a fault of my skin and not the oil, because I've heard great things about this oil from other people, but I can still only give it a 2/5.

[Altaira]

This is really bitter on my skin. I think leather just doesn't agree with me. It's hard to comment on specifics, because the bitter smell is overpowering everything else.

[iiinterstate]

In the bottle: Leatherrrrrrr. Yum.

 

On me: Oh man, this is good already. I can pick out the olive oil, but it doesn't go cloying on me like it did in Hanerot Halalu. After a few moments the wood comes out and blends smoooothly with the leather.

 

After awhile: Leather is definitely the primary note in here, and its great. I'd say this blend is gender neutral and FABULOUS. I generally like the lab's leather note even more after it has had some time to settle, so I'll probably be buying another bottle of this to age. This might knock Western Diamondback into second place on my list favorite leather blends <img src="http://www.bpal.org/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/magtongue.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="magtongue.gif" />

 

 

Edit: I haven't used this in awhile, and thought I'd try it out again before deciding whether I need to purchase the 2011 version. I say yes. This stuff ages like a dream.

 

son of edit: I meant to edit my old review but I guess I made a second one instead? Sorry mods!

Edited January 19, 2011 by iiinterstate

[angelicruin]

This is sharp on my skin. Smoke, leather, & wood on me.

 

I think I forgot that I had tested the 2010 blend last year with not so great results. The 2011 version, unfortunately, is much the same on me. Too "dry" of a scent for my tastes.

[filigree_shadow]

When it's wet this has an odd chemical-ish smell to it.

When it's dry, it smells like a vetiver single note on my skin. Seriously. That is all I smell.

 

Whenever there's a blend that has vetiver in it, I'm always one of the few reviewers saying it smells lovely and I like it. (Amidst all the people saying "Blech, vetiver!") This is why. This is exactly what vetiver smells like when it's on my skin. Olisbos seems to be fairly well-liked, so I can only assume that vetiver must really smell a lot different on all you guys. I have some sort of bizarre skin chemistry -- some notes that lots of other people seem to love really don't smell great on me, and some that people seem to hate are just fine for me.

 

It's kind of a dry, hazy wood scent. The olive oil was more pronounced when it was wet, but I don't really smell much of it when it's dry. I don't smell anything citrusy that people mentioned in reviews of last year's version, and I guess there's a smidge of leather in there but mostly it smells like a wood scent to me.

[calivianya]

I'm starting to think I love the idea of leather blends a whole lot more than I like the smell.

 

Wet on my skin, Olisbos smells like citrus-scented cleaning fluid.

 

10 minutes: I'm still waiting for the cleaning fluid smell to leave.

 

Later: Yep, the cleaning fluid smell isn't leaving. Olisbos and I just are not meant to be.

[SophieCedar]

Wet: leather and olive oil with a slight polished wood background. The leather is brown and definitely oiled. There's a buttery quality to it, not sharp or fruity. (whew)

 

Drydown: smells like a gentleman's club. Soft warm leather and warm sweet wood. Kinda like Herr Drosselmeyer without the pipe tobacco. Nice!

[cfrancesca]

2011: I get smooth and polished light wood, almost citrusy olive oil and smooth, oiled leather in the background. The leather does amp with time, but this version has a slightly sharp, chemical-type scent running throughout that wasn't in the 2010 version (or maybe there was, but it disappeared with aging?), I think it may be coming from the leather. It's now mostly leather on me with hints of polished wood and olive oil.

 

Comparing it with last year's, the 2011 version starts out softer on the leather and a bit stronger on that citrusy-type scent they both share, but when the it finally settled, I found the leather was stronger in the 2011 version.