Ochosi

[Ashenrook]

... His ofrenda is the soft shea he shares with Obatala, forest herbs, and sprucewood arrow shafts.

In the Bottle
Soft forest-y greenery with...milk?

On Skin: Wet
This is a very odd scent... Not a bad one, but odd none the less. Smelling this brings a strange visual to mind, so...bear with me for a moment.

It's like I just stepped into an entire forest...made out of shea butter. Like, literally the trees are made out of shea butter, but have herbs and wood switches jammed into them. I don't know either. @_@

On Skin: Dry
It's a surprisingly "fluffy" scent still. There's something I can't quite put my finger on about the combination of these forest herbs and the shea butter, but it strikes me as masculine.

Afternotes
Shea butter and wood. Kinda nice, but... I still find myself not incredibly impressed by it.



Verdict
On an American scholastic grading scale of A to F, A being best, I would give this a B-.

Compared to the last Excolo scent I tried, Obatala, Ochosi did not seem to have nearly as much personality on me – which is a shame considering I liked the idea of it very much. It's just that darned skin chemistry that didn't make this a match made in heaven like I was hoping.

[Vega]

Sniffed: Lightly creamy/milky, with a lush green, herbal tinge. Kinda reminds me of The Sea Foams Milk.

 

On skin: A fascinating blend of green wood and light, smooth shea milk. This is one of the few blends that really morphs on me. (Most blends smell the same in imp as on skin, and don't change much over time.) According to my notes, some days Ochosi is sharp evergreen softened with hints of milk, other days the shea dominates the wood and herbs. Most of the "greenness" comes from the spruce, which is a light evergreen that's not as intense as pine or fir. The herbs are very discreet; they mix very nicely with the sprucewood if they're there at all. The shea is soft, creamy and airy. Overall, this is a light, gentle, milk-sweet and refreshingly evergreen blend.

 

Verdict: Mmm, I do like shea milk! Time to hunt down more shea blends. Unfortunately, Ochosi is a pretty scent but ultimately quite forgettable.

[LotusSong]

In Bottle: I was surprised to open the Imp and be hit with a burst of juicy melon! That's exactly what it smelled like – a wet, ripe, juicy melon. It reminds me of ripe Honeydew in particular.

 

Wet: Yeah, definitely a melon. I was really surprised. It stayed as a melon for a bit, before a subtle floral started to emerge. It's neither a creamy, nor an overly sweet scent. It is very refreshing and light, like a spring breeze on a warm day.

 

Dry: As it started to dry, the melon and the floral switched places and the spruce wood showed up to the party. To my surprise, the spruce wood didn't overpower the scent at all. It mingled well with the other scents, forming something subtle and sweet. This scent continued to change after it dried all the way, and over the course of two hours the other notes left and all that remained was the spruce. The spruce stayed mellow the whole time, and never turned into cleaning fluid or soap.

 

 

I am so surprised by Ochosi. It is not something I ever would have picked out for myself, and I thought it was going to be a hot mess. Instead, it is a lovely and light scent. It hung around for a good four or five hours before slowly fading into oblivion. I'm not sure what's causing that melon and that non-soapy floral, but I'd love to find out! (Is it the shea?)

 

All in all, I am going to be buying a bottle of this in the future.

[SophieCedar]

Wet: sweet spruce and shea milk. Nice!

Drydown: ugh..something in the herbs is making me a little queasy. That's unusual. This turns really sour and bile-like on me. If there's melon in this, that could do it...melon hates my skin! I'm a little envious of everyone else's positive experience with this one. maybe I need to come back to it...

[imaginepageant]

In the Vial: The shea is lovely and light, but backed by the sturdiness of herbs and woods. The forest herbs make this smell a lot like Verdandi, but without the apples. This is Verdandi's younger, innocent sister.

 

Wet: It goes a little tart on my skin, but then mellows out and grows sweeter and warmer. The herbs and woods take a backseat to bright florals. This is a very cuddly, comforting scent.

 

Dry: I can't decide if this is an earthy scent or a tropical scent; it has qualities of both! The herbs and woods are shy, but still there grounding the blend, while the shea makes it sunny and beachy and tropical. This is so pretty!

 

An Hour Later: I kept sniffing my hand the entire hour, and for the longest time it was a pretty, summery scent. However, now it's getting that odd buttery smell that my weird skin chemistry likes to give so many blends.

 

Overall: I'll have to pass on this one for the phantom butter note. Even without it, this would likely have been too light and pretty for me, but I can definitely see this being a superb summer scent for others.

[AnyseLawsBray]

In vial: Sweet greenery, a touch of spruce.

Wet: Smooth creamy forest. Very unusual, but not bad. A fresh burst of herby soapiness- it actually reminds me of what The Aurora Spaceship Takes a Dive does on me.

Dry: The shea goes a little wonky at first, reminiscent of melon (agree with the honeydew comparisons). The spruce comes out more- not sharp evergreen, the same soft creaminess from before. I have never smelled anything like this! It's very fresh, airy even, but not insubstantial.

 

Verdict: I am really fascinated by this! A very green, clean forest scent that is somehow rich and almost even sheer, if that makes sense. I will have to give it another try before making my mind up completely, but I can say this: The shea goes a little strange in the middle, just... not right. Aside from that, it is so unique & different that I really want to like it. At the moment I am on the fence, but it's not looking bottleworthy for me. Definitely worth testing though!

[melrose]

It's certainly unique. I can't stop burying my nose in my arm, because it's constantly morphing. First on, it was lemon, a good kind of motor oil, and something comforting yet metallic.

 

The drydown is milky lemon. Very nice for this hot Houston summer.

[biocarolyn]

This is so airy and light, really feels almost fluffy!

 

The shea is fairly recognizable, with a lot of green scent on top. It brings to mind green ferns, or light green living growing things. There is nothing dark about this to me- just bright green spring new growth. It is sort of soapy feeling, but not in a bad way- very fresh, clean. This is a just-showered kind of scent. I can't really get any of the smell of spruce but since it is an evergreen I imagined something piney- nothing pine-like to me here, at all. Whatever wood scent that is here is more the feeling of wood rather than the actual presence of the scent to me. New twigs with the bark peeled off, not dry old pieces of lumber.

[vige]

forethought and blah blahs:

i love the description. this is right up my alley as far as concepts go.

 

in the bottle/imp:

green and crisp.

 

wet:

herbs and woods. very comforting.

 

dry:

it reminds me a lot of hemlock which i adore. a more crispy, light forest than a dark and snowy one. creamy and green. i love this.

 

overall opinion:

to me this is a warm weather version of hemlock.

 

verdict:

neutral leaning to masculine. i really like it! keeping to test more!

[Honey]

Oh, creamy goodness!

 

 

Imp: Smells creamy and yummy. Shea, definitely. Could also be some light chocolate. Really delicious. There are already herbal notes striking my nose.

 

Wet: This is awesome!! Creamy shea and fragrant spruce. Oh, that is so NOT generic but soft and green and lovely.

 

Dry: More wooden now then before. Creamy wood, slightly spicy. Not as herbal as in the wet stage. Alas.

[Suu4LC]

Hmm...I'm not a huge shea fan, but I am curious as to how this will smell. In the imp, it's a sharp green herbal slap in the face. Much stronger and sharper than I would have expected...I am wondering if it will mellow out on my skin.

 

Yes, the shea does come out a lot more on my skin. This is a strong shea/milky/green scent. I'm really not big on milky scents, and as this dries it gets more and more milky to me.

 

As this dries, it is definitely more of a milky/creamy shea scent with a touch of green, as opposed to that herbal green slap in the face. This really does continue to mellow nicely as it dries. It smells completely different on my skin than it did in the imp. A much more relaxed shea scent. It's sort of milky, without going sort of sour the way milk scents tend to do on me.

 

This ends up drying very powdery on me. A sort of soft powdery shea/herbal scent. This one is a HUGE morpher, and I imagine it would smell very different on different people. It didn't really work for me though.

[punkinpie]

I originally bought this for my boyfriend to try - but it smelled so sweet on him that I wondered if it might be better on me. In the imp I could smell the herbs behind the shea, but on my skin they sort of melded with the sweetness. I was told by someone at work that it smelled "very sophisticated." I worry that this is code for " you smell like the inside of a Vogue magazine" so I am going to take it for another test run later and see what happens. It lasted about six hours on my skin and the throw was strong enough that I could smell it without bringing my wrist right up against my nose. I think anyone wondering about this scent should definitely try it out just for the wonderful and unique smell in the imp/bottle.

[Gerbie]

In imp: Hard for me to pick out specific notes, something a little sharp which is probably the herbs and then a lightness behind it.

 

On skin, wet: The forest-y herbs attack! No sign of the shea coming out yet.

 

Dry: I picture this as a light green, sort of sea foam green color. It's nice, the shea butter comes out once dry and plays nicely with the greenery to become a very balanced scent. I would consider this unisex.

 

 

This smells nice, but there is just nothing here that "speaks" to me. Most of the fragrances that I end up loving are those that give me strong mental images and this just doesn't. It would be nice as a room scent or linen spray, but not something unique enough that I would want to wear it.

[mymymai]

In the Imp (ITI): I get something sweet on first sniff, which might be the shea, followed by herbs and the pungent aspect of sprucewood. There is a slight aquatic quality to this scent as well.

 

Wet: On my skin, the scent suddenly morphs to a lemon base surrounded by strong herbal qualities and a little wood. There is a faint cleaner undertone to this, so I hope that goes away quickly.

 

Dry: It’s much more floral once dried down, but splashes of spruce and lemon still remain. It’s a well-suited scent for a spring day as it is light and clean, but I’m not crazy over it like I have been over some of te others I’ve tested recently.

[Scorianelle]

Well, I had high hopes for this... sigh.

 

First Sniff: Soft, faint detergent and something silky (the shea?).

 

Second Sniff: Soap with a little pine (I'm thinking that's actually the spruce).

 

Wet: French milled soap. Creamy, a little sharp, with faint soapy herbs.

 

Dry (30 mins): Still smells like a mild cleaning agent.

 

Dry (1.5 hours): Drier, not creamy. A little spicy but mostly the same.

 

Dry (3 hours): Very faint. A soft soapy floral.

 

Throw: none.

 

Colour: Pastel Green.

 

The word to describe this for me would be 'underwhelming'. I was so looking forward to an herbal, woody scent. I should really learn to stop getting my hopes up. I'm going to try giving this to my brother - maybe it will work better on a boy. He'd certainly love the description.

[JazzieCazzie]

Working my way through my entire BPAL collection, A-Z, reviewing or revisiting every scent in the box. This morning has been a double-O Excolo test drive of Odin on one wrist and Ochosi on the other. I know I had this at some time before and never reviewed it. This imp was a lagniappe from a lovely forumite swapper!

 

IN THE IMP: Very sour, pungent, even bitter. If I were not testing EVERYTHING on my skin for the sake of a complete experiment, I would just pop the cap back on untested and put it in the swap box.

 

Dabbed very lightly on one wrist.

 

WET: Still sour but fading a bit to more of a tanginess. The overriding "category" for me is fruity. I am not getting any of the creaminess described by others unless it's sour cream. Definitely green citrus though.

 

DRYDOWN: This dries to a slightly tolerable level on me, more like a green lollipop. It's not completely unpleasant but it's a little nauseating. Green. Tangy. Acrid. Very fruity. And very perfumey.

 

OVERALL: This just doesn't work with my body chemistry, obviously. I don't think I've ever ordered anything with shea in it, so that could be the culprit but since notes aren't listed, who knows? I do know that I've never been a fan of the "commercially produced" shea products so I'm guessing that's the issue.

 

On a scale of 1-5, about a 2.

[milo]

At first, this is more like a sweet citrus. It does dry to a herbal evergreen, not really like what someone should be wearing, more like something you'd find in a mysterious bottle in a health food store or spice rack. Nice to try, but not for me.

[Jangzonrice]

Wet: creamy Shea and something green. Dry: Shea comes out a lot and mixes with the green woody scent. This isn't a favorite, but it wasn't bad...however, the bf thinks it smells like something his mother and aunts wear ( that's not sexy..... ). So I can't wear it around him... Throw is good and it stayed for about 5 hours or so.

[lucycat]

This was a frimp from the Lab.

 

In the imp: Foresty. I smell both the unspecified “forest herbs” and the sprucewood, sweetened by the shea.

 

Wet: Dark green, almost tingly spruce and those herbs. Somehow it’s almost edible, or maybe I’m just hungry.

 

As this dries, the sprucewood becomes stronger and stronger. I expected that, with my wood-note-amping skin chemistry. Even with the shea, this feels closer to Yggdrasil than to Obatala. Ochosi dries down differently depending on where I applied it: it’s much sharper on the insides of my elbows, and softer on the back of my hand, where the shea is much more noticeable.

 

This is a little soapy in the first hour or so, though not in a bad way. It would be great as a shower gel or shampoo scent.

 

The spruce gives this a Christmassy feel. Ochosi would smell great on a man, though I don’t think it’s too overwhelmingly masculine for me to wear.

[Jeni Mullen]

This was another frimp...but I can leave no frimp untested!

 

My scent palette: I'm a foodie that doesn't tend to like the lab's vanilla scent unless there's something sugary in it. Eat Me is one of my favorite scents along with Captain Lilith (more boozy but still sweet). I am slowly finding out that I don't like woods in my scents. I love FOREST smells (like pine needles, juniper, leaves, moss and grass) but sandlewoods, rosewoods, and things like cedar or oak just don't do nice things on me. I love Magnificent Autumn, Samhain and Druid! I like spices too as long as they aren't kitchen spices (like mint and sage). Frankincense smells a little like sage so I haven't been too happy with that in my blends either. Scherezade and Sapphics are my go to spice oils. My biggest no-no are florals. Lavender and Jasmine, ylang ylang and peony run rampant. That said, carnation and sometimes rose can be quite nice on me if they're toned down. I also am not sure about my take on citrus. Lime is overwhleming (but I liked it in Lily Witch despite the leather). Bergamot is nicer. Leather and hemp tend to give me headaches.

In the bottle: It actually reminds me of Druid. If I was a puppy my tail would be wagging! It's very much middle of the foresty.

On my wrist, wet: AH WHAT NO! Okay, Druid does this to me too, the pine is SO strong it hurts. I just have to wait for the dry down and it's bliss. So. Waiting. I'm looking at the notes now in the mean time and I'm guessing this is the spruce.

Fifteen minutes later: Um... I don't know... I don't think this appropriate to write but I'm getting a LOT of manure smells from this. The first whiff smells a lot like...uh...that...and then it sort of mellows in SPRUCE (okay, mellows isn't right...it morphs? Because man, this is strong!)

Thirty minutes later: I'm going to say that the manure smell is actually just grapefruitish...sort of like not ripe and therefore REALLY unappetizing grapefruit? I don't actually like grapefruit so maybe just grapefruit would be all right. Man, I sound so harsh. I've been typing up my sales post as I've been waiting on this and honestly I'm SO confused by it. It's not horrible enough to WASH OFF RIGHT NOW but it's sort of morbidly horrible... Oh gosh this one is so mean! I just can't describe it any other way!

 

Edit: It's been about 45 minutes and I was just posting these things before I went to wash my last two reviews off. I have to say that the manure smell is gone. It smells like Christmas trees now, like the little christmas tree air freshener I'll hang inside of our fake tree for fake realism. It's actually really lovely now but...I can't wait almost an hour not to smell like death.

Verdict: No, big no. I don't want to smell like I've been rolling around in a freshly planted garden. I'll stick to foodie smells! I'm actually a little heart broken. I've been trying to find a Druid-like scent that has more throw because after the wet phase of Druid I just am SO in love with it... And of course there aren't notes for druid, just a lot of guessing.

Edited December 12, 2014 by Yojenitan

[Veronica]

This shares much in common with Rapunzel. A young, bright green floral over a soft background. This is sharper and less floral than Rapunzel, but still very bright and not at all the sap-like, sharp floral green florals can often take.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Floral and sweet and herby

 

Dry: This is gorgeous. Creamy, a bit sweet, floral and lightly herbal green. I may need a bottle of this in the spring.

[Soupy Twist]

Cedar and spruce in the bottle. Goes on as a piney kind of wood. It's very soft and gentle. Kind of clears your head. I like this a lot!

[freyasfae]

Suprisingly sweet on me considering the presence of herbs and arrow shafts which I assume is the shea. Not overall, a scent I need a bottle of, but I do like the scent.

[joopjoop]

I hesitated to write a review of this one right away, because I've noticed that I tend to wax rhapsodic about almost all the forest blends I've tried - but then I never ever seem to reach for them or wear them.

 

But Ochosi is different.

 

It is the only 'forest blend' where a full bottle went directly into my cart at the lab after the first time I tried it. For the past few nights, I've been putting it on after I shower in the evening as a sort of 'reward' for trying out other - less successful - scents. And so without even realizing Ochosi has become rather special.

 

Ochosi leads with the Shea butter backed with herbs and greenery. In Obalata, I don't like the Shea, I find it too earthy paired with the coconut, but here it is terrific - fuzzy and creamy and just the slightest bit sweet. After a few minutes the spruce comes out along with another tree smell - one I can't quite identify, but that is green and a little waxy and from semi-tropical areas. The interplay between the shea, the spruce and other green/herb/tree notes all balance each other beautifully. It smells clean and herby and comforting. Much later it is a soft herbal shea scent. Blissful!

 

It doesn't have a ton of throw, sadly, but I'm willing to slather. It is excellent as a sleep scent. Man, I would LOVE to have this as a room spray.

 

My only concern is that the imp I have may be fairly aged. I really hope that the lab fresh Ochosi doesn't smell totally different!

Edited September 26, 2016 by joopjoop