Ouija

[asciident]

Lush parlor rooms draped in thick velvets and gilded in gold, unearthly whispering in the distance, fleeting flashes of wraithlike figures rushing just outside your vision, the chill of a phantom presence brushing by your cheek, the inscrutable knowledge that disembodied eyes are peering at you from darkened corners… this is the essence of Victorian-era spiritualism: rosewood, oak and teak notes with wispy blue lilac, tea rose, dried white rose and ethereal osmanthus.

Wet: VERY floral.

First on: Floral grandma soap.

Dry: Unchanged on drydown. Disappointing. Edited May 3, 2009 by Shollin

[TheOneTheyCallLuna]

Fizzy rootbeer. More rootbeer-esque than Stimulating Sassafrass Strengthener even. Later on this becomes...fizzy rootbeer in a wooden den with a flower bouquet on the table. I'm totes keeping this!

[stellans]

After applying and allowing the oil to sit on my wrist for a while, Ouija has a definite cologne smell to me. Very floral (and not entirely pleasantly floral at that). I do not smell any woody notes at all, which is a disappointment because I love the Lab’s wood notes (Twisted Oak Tree is one of my Top 10). I think it might be the lilac which is making this blend so much a drugstore cologne smell to me, because I don’t get any sense of rose at all, but since I don’t know what osmanthus smells like, I can’t say it isn’t part of the problem also. I’m hanging onto this imp for later trying, but it’s not what I want to smell like today.

Edited May 11, 2011 by stellans

[magikalbrownies]

i smell the wood but its very faint. this is one of those thats everything in the garden...and its roses like dried ones. at least thats what i get from it. applied, smells like rose soap. overall: no

[Suu4LC]

I saw a review above that said that this blend reminded them of Stimulating Sassafras Strengthener...I sort of get that vibe too when I sniff it from the imp. Like a dark, smoky, burned around the edges SSS O_o

 

Ok, on my skin the woody and floral notes come out a bit more, but seriously, this is like a dusky/dusty/scorched SSS to me Very interesting. If they made root beer incense, this is what it would smell like.

 

On drydown, I lose the "rootbeer" randomness I was getting before, and end up with a soft, woody/incensey scent covered by a breath of flowers. I liked random rootbeer better, but if you like woods/incense (the flowers tend to stay in the background when they aren't smelling like sassafras!) then you should try this blend.

[Caerphilly]

Definitely one of the more interesting scents I've tried. And one I like.

 

In the imp: Old wood. Kind of like the smell of we cardboard, but it's wood. And mint. Definite mint, like spearmint.

 

Wet: Very nostalgic. Like an old room of old furniture, smoke, dead roses and lace. Victorian. But it really smells like Spearmint toothpaste spread over an old chessboard. And I smell Strawberries. Don't know where that came from.

 

Dry: The rose is coming out!!! Oh, rose! How I love rose! The mint fades away completely, still slightly wooden, but powdery and light. Like a distant memory. That's how it feels I guess. I'm reading too much into this.

 

Overall: Lasts all day. Very light. I feel very nostaligic wearing this. It's a scent with atmosphere. Reminds me of Scarecrow, just because they're both interesting. I love it. I live the rose. The mint stage is a bit strange, but the rest of the day, I just felt very...I dunno, I just like it!!

[ricashaye]

I'm liking this scent quite a bit.

 

Very smokey, woody, with florals to give it a spooky Victorian feel. After it dried, the florals began to take over the initial smell of Cedar and smoke, making the scent a bit spooky, in my opinion. I like it a lot.

[rayvn1]

Dry, spicy tea rose here. Dusty and slightly woodsy. Very nice and atmospheric with light throw. Not something I'd reach for often, but I'm glad I tried it!

[tajana]

I was hoping for woods with a bit of flowers, but instead I get just a bit of rosewood around the edges of a big bouquet of lilacs, lilacs, more lilacs. It smells almost minty. It's not what I expected at all, but I sort of like it, because, well, I like lilac. After it dries down, lilacs, fragile dried roses, and a bit of dry, dusty dark wood. Teak and rosewood are particularly distinctive wood notes, and I definitely recognize them here. I wish they were a little bit stronger, because after an hour or so, it's almost all floral, mostly rose. Rose "turns" on me a lot of times, but it doesn't here, it behaves very well. The throw is light but the lasting power is very good. It does have kind of a creepy feel, and evocative of the concept, but I can't imagine reaching for this often.

[anna1850]

Stinky wood.

 

1.5/5 Very unpleasant to me.

[Mousesong]

Ouija

 

Right out of the imp, as soon as I put it on Oujia is a straight-up dupe of those Certs mints with the little blue crystals in them--you know the kind I mean? The wall of Certs is a bit offputting, but I'm glad I waited, because Ouija has firmly become one of my favourites. This is surprising, since I got it on a whim, and for the name.

 

(Also: spearmint, mint? Really? Where does that come from?)

 

I have found that I play very well with masculine notes. Wood, leather, tobacco, smoke--even the hated vetiver--absolutely love my skin and always snuggle down warmly. This was initially frightening to me, but I've embraced it. However, blends like Dee, which are extremely masculine, fun though they are, can be a little intimidating to wear all the time, and sometimes I feel like people comment on my perfume simply because they can tell I'm actually wearing men's cologne. Sometimes I want to feel girly but still enjoy my lovely lovely wood notes.

 

And--ta-da!--Ouija finally made it work.

 

Rosewood and teak are strong players here after the initial Certs smell. Rosewood in particular is surfacing in the best sort of way (it's one of my all time favourite notes), and the lilac and tea rose are lending the smell just enough gentleness for it to parse as "feminine" to me, or at least on my skin. The tea rose is dropping a bit of citrus, but my skin devours citrus (sadly, as I love it), so it's only occasional drifts of it, mostly buried beneath the soft mint and rosewood.

 

On the total drydown, the blend is balanced, beautiful--sweet but not cloying; wispy but not wimpy. It's a mauvey-purple smell with a thread of blue (since I smell in colours, apparently) and the mint becomes so subtle as to simply make a scent that should be warm by dint of so many wood notes, become cold. Sometimes when I lean towards my wrists for a sniff, I actually get that tight-under-the-skin feeling you get just before goosebumps when you step into a cold room, or out into the chill to get the mail. It's incredibly just how well this blend evokes, on my skin, spirits and seances. I've never tried on another BPAL that was truer to its name. Wow.

 

I smell incredible. I smell better when the mints die down, but even until then I smell great.

 

Only once before has an imp elicited an immediate "bottle. Now." reaction. Now I can happily say it's happened twice.

 

 

[obsidienne]

I get the weirdest effect from Ouija - a misty waft of sweetly floral spearmint, extremely icy, chilly and cold -- like the touch of a ghost -- over top the merest hint of dry rose and spicy woods. I think that maybe the lilac & osmanthus is creating this odd floral-spearminty effect? It makes no sense!

 

It's actually very pretty (in a weird way), but also gone in about a half hour. Left on my skin is a faint hint of wood and that's about it!

Edited October 13, 2009 by obsidienne

[Acushla]

Out of the bottle: Toothpaste! Or mouthwash, something very minty and alcoholic.

 

Upon application: Mouthwash fades (thank goodness) and I get a very dry scent, like preserved flower petals kept in an old wooden chest (I'm seeing a dark, dusty room with somewhat threadbare carpets and old lace curtains.) If I sniff too much there's a faint pickly note somewhere under there, must be one of the woods.

 

Drying: The woods take a back seat and the flowers move to the front, becoming very soft and creamy at the end.

 

Overall I like this scent but it's basically gone after about an hour. So far I'm planning on keeping it around though.

[symphonyinsilence]

Rose and baby powder is all I get. So I gave it to a friend. Note to self: no more rose scents for you.

[Stormslegacy]

In the imp: er....you're gonna laugh...this is the smell of the spice packet that comes from chicken ramen...

 

Wet: a sharp woody smell that gives way to a couple of flashes of strong purple floral. The floral is nice, but it has to put up a fight to stick around.

 

Drydown: The floral wins and smells nice--for about 5 minutes. Then it's straight to baby-powder. That's too bad.

 

Dry: still powder, 3 hours later. Not good.

 

Conclusion: Do not want. It's not even the nice kind of baby powder.

Edited November 17, 2009 by Stormslegacy

[Invidiana]

Nice, this doesn't come out very powdery=floral like I expected at all, but rather smoky, woody and slightly spicy with a rosy undertone. Very interesting and very Victorain.

[smgudan]

wet on skin: tobacco smoke, wood and faint flowers, interesting mix...

 

dry on skin: the tobacco smell goes away, and it smells like faint flowers in an old wooden box. lovely

 

only problem is, have to keep reapplying. only lasted about 3 or 4 hours

[misscoldheart]

Well, looks like I'm 0-2 today after my unfortunate foray with Veil this morning...

 

In the vial this smells like cigarette smoke. It reminds me of this polinaise room here that reeks bigtime of old cigarette smoke eventhough Minneapolis has been smoke free for years.

I put a small swipe on my wrist for the test and immediately got cigarette smoke and....mint? Is that osmanthus? Anyway, not good.

This quickly went away and in the time it took for me to take the dog out, everything faded to floral babypowder and then, nothing. Bummer.

Edited January 11, 2010 by misscoldheart

[impolight]

The hopes that this was going to be an eerie, creepy quality that could be borrowed and lend an unsettling aura for either Halloween or an attendance of a horror movie were dashed to bits upon discovering that this is a REALLY beautiful scent.

It has to be admitted that, upon first uncapping the Imp, there WAS a sinus-clearing bit of confusion... Is that...Wintergreen? Probably not, yet it equally dispells any illusions of the macabre...

There IS a subtle, woodsy note that could be associated with quality furniture in an antiquated parlor. The sweet, incorruptible essence of Lilac could also create the perfect sort of mood for entering into a trance...

As it dries on the skin, the Lilac really amps. Something juicy surfaces for a peek along with a wispy, smoky, gossamer haze of something powdery blue.

This could go with Ouija after all (yes! yes!) if in the sense that there is a fleeting reunion with something that should have been lost, yet fortunately, was not.

[DeltaCat]

Smells like a piece of wood that has been soaking in Pepto Bismol for a few months. Yelch!

[arieriddles]

This was incredibly evocative in the bottle. I got sweet tobacco, plush velvet cushions, whiskey in your tea and strong sucking mints. An interesting combination of warm and cold, if that's the right way to put it. Love it.

 

I also started to get Spearmint chewing gum. And of course, it hit my skin and turned into nothing but Spearmint chewing gum. Eventually the flowers starting peeking through, mostly dry rose. I amp any sort of rose like crazy, so for there was a fascinating (and not entirely unpleasant) war for dominance between mint and rose taking place on epidermis. Eventually, it just settled into rose, with hints of clean mint.

 

On the bright side, this does appear to eventually calm down into a rose that I can wear without being COMPLETELY overpowering. But alas, it is not for me.

[KesHiro]

Frimp in one of my orders.

 

I figured that this wouldn't work due to the floral and rose notes. Rose and I do not get along -- at all -- and florals are real hit-and-miss (mostly miss). But I have a good relationship with oak and teak and hoped they could save this from turning into a disaster. Sadly, I was mistaken.

 

In the imp, I get acrid, burning wood. Uh oh. This is not a good sign. Things go from bad to worse during the wet stage; here, I get medicinal burning wood. During the drydown, it smells like liniment and smoky wood. Dry, I'm left with floral muscle rub and burning wood; it eventually fades into the dreaded rose single note.

 

Aiieeee, this was an epic disaster on my skin. I suspect that Ouija would be incredible on the right skin chemistry. It *sounds* like a fantastic scent but it obviously doesn't work for me.

[RhinestoneHousewife]

In the bottle: I'm not sure what it smells like. Something slightly medicinal?

 

Wet on skin: OMG it smell exactly like Necco Wafers! I love Necco Wafers.

 

Dry on skin: Necco Wafers and roses.

 

Verdict: I like it!

[Tirzah]

I'm glad that I looked above at some of the other reviews, because I was starting to think that my nose was going crazy. Wet, this smells minty on me—like scope mouthwash. Not an entirely unpleasant smell, but it’s a scent I associate more with dental hygiene rather than one I’d like on my skin. When it dries, some of the woods come out with the teeniest hints of the florals in the background, but I’m still getting a hint of the minty in the background. Not sure what my skin is reacting to in this to make for the minty-fresh, but this one isn’t working for me. It's not offensive or anything; once dry, it’s quite light, and I can see its potential—though even without the mint, I’m not sure the woodsy-floral would be a scent that’s really 'me.' But not a loss, as I'm planning on passing this off to a friend who's enormously interested in 19th century spiritualism--maybe she'll get more of the seance-parlor scent.

[milica]

First, I skin-tested Ouija, then I read the notes and I was totaly confused. And now I see that I'm not the only one.

 

First few minutes, I get a strong, liquorice/mint, medicinal kind of scent. After 10 minutes, most of it goes away and flowers come out (there's that Victorian vibe), but there is still some of that medicinal scent left in the background. And after 30 min, all I get is faint wood, slightly sweet, my skin eats this up in no time.

 

Too bad, it sounded interesting, but not for me.

Edited June 27, 2010 by milica