The Oblation

[cecelle]

A stirring blend of dianthus, French lavender, blackberry, and white honey.

In the decant bottle: Smells like fruit tea (the kind known to Germans as "Rote Gruetze Tee") - the kind which involves mainly tried fruit, no tea leaves. The lavender hides behind the berries as an almost pine-y scent, giving it a sharp, sinus-clearing edge.

On me: It dries down to a dry berry scent lightly shot through with lavender - this isn't sweet or bubblegummy, but more like dried berries. Can't really pick out the honey at all.

Interestingly, I spilled some on my sleeve, and there the lavender is completely overwhelming everything else. I am glad it isn't doing that on my skin.

Final verdict: I like this. A dry, fruity scent. Very wearable.

[BlueStarGirl]

Love!

 

My first reaction to this scent was disappointment because I was mostly getting lavender and possibly dianthus, and much as I love Envy, I really don't need two of the same scent. But the fruitiness got stronger and stronger and what I originally noted as "something tropical?" now smells distinctly berry.

 

I now smell like a mug of blackberry tea with cream and sugar on the same table as sprigs of lavender. I need more Oblation *now*!

[Browneyes]

This is just love at first sniff for me

1) you have to like lavender 2) you have to like berry fruitiness

But then you're good to go!

 

Bottle: Smells like real lavender, and a faint undertone of blackberry

Wet: Perfect balance between the herbal lavender and the blackberry

Dry: This is such a realistic combination of the two main notes, which compliment eachother so well!

 

Love! Feminie, sweet, fresh, summery!

 

ETA. Hm. Fades quite fast. In less than an hour I have only a herbally scent left. Maybe it will work better in my scent locket, or if I SLATHER

ETA2. Lasts longer if I slather... And it's a really nice bedtime scent as well

Edit3: With a few months of aging, the honey really comes out, and it is soo smooth and sweet. Just gorgeous!

Edited August 12, 2007 by Browneyes

[smallvoice]

:sneeze:

 

I think I'm slightly allergic to lavender, because I seem to recall Somnus causing a similar sneezing thing.

 

This is a lovely, herbal and fruity blend, as so many other people have said. It's just like a tisane from the local tea shop. However, it is not the scent for me. There's something too sharp about it- I'm glad I didn't go looking for a bottle! However, I can see this smelling amazing on the right person.

[QueenFae]

Upon application: very, very strong floral smell wafting through thick honey. I've never smelled dianthus before, but I now I realize this is the top note on me. It smells like strong carnation.

 

On the dry down: The flower becomes less overwhelming and the softness of the white honey and lavendar comes out more. I can detect a tiny hint of the blackberry, but this is mostly a honey blend on me. I love the white honey note the lab uses, it's so very lovely.

 

This is a unique blend; it's floral while being deep, pungent, and sweet at the same time. Very contradictory for me, but it works. This is beautiful; extremely feiminine and very sexy. I like this very much.

[supremegoddessofall]

In bottle: Strongly lavender with a touch of blackberry.

 

On me: Interesting combination of lavender and berries with a touch of honey behind it. Can't decide if I like it or not.

[maijasu]

I smell honey and lavender, an interesting combination of sweetness and sharpness. It's nice, but I wish I could smell more of the blackberry and less of the lavender. Guess I'm just not a huge lavender fan.

[damuddymeg]

In the bottle: Sweet, ripe blackberries, dark and juicy. Lavender, slightly sharp and herbal. Also, something peppery, which must be the dianthus?

 

Wet: Wow. The lavender stands out and this is not at all what I'd expected. There's a faint amber smoothness of honey, and I'm getting a tiny bit of the berry, but really, this is all about the lavender at the moment.

 

Dry: The lavender really seems to steal the show for maybe a half hour. Then, slowly, it calms down and drops into the background. There is a point here that the scent is really reminiscent of Xanthe, which is good, cuz I love it. An almost peppery sweet fruitiness is what I'm left with, which is honeyed at the edges, and just lasts and lasts. Gorgeous.

[edenssixthday]

The Oblation - Wow, this is a very strong lavender-perfumey scent. There's definitely a few drops of blackberry in this that help sweeten up and tone down the herbal astringent scent of the lavender, but that lavender note is too strong for my liking. When I first apply it, there's a strong spicy note that's almost green and floral, which I'm guessing is the dianthus. The white honey swims beneath the other notes, providing a sweet and creamy aspect to this blend. I love the blackberry, but the lavender ruins it for me for the first 20 minutes or so. At that point, the lavender scent recedes a touch and the blackberry becomes the dominant note with the lavender right behind it. At this point, it kind of reminds me of Trick #1 (or is it #2...the one with the blackberry in it!) and it becomes a lot darker and deeper than I had originally anticipated. The throw is very strong and the staying power is about average.

Edited March 8, 2007 by edenssixthday

[SultryWolf]

in the decant: Pungent - the sharpness of lavender battling the sweetness of honey and pulpy blackberry.

on: Blackberry dominates, reducing the lavender to an undercurrent.

[filigree_shadow]

The blackberry is definitely strongest on my skin, followed by the French lavender. The lavender seems to be distorting the blackberry, and it ends up being an odd sweetly sour scent. Almost like blackberry wine. I'm having trouble figuring out whether I like it or not.

 

It reminds me a lot of Monster Bait Closet without the booze. That's how strong the blackberry is on me.

[Seelix]

So pretty The Oblation makes me want to wear babydoll dresses and combat boots and pretend like I'm back in high school (or possibly an episode of My So-Called Life). It has a very innocent feel, but there's something more underneath that keeps it from being straight scoolgirl perfume.

 

In the bottle, this is primarily fruity lavendar.

 

On, it stays much the same. The herbiness of the lavendar is rounded out beautifully by the currant, and the honey behaves itself, lending a sweet note to it. It doesn't last long on me, but it has such a lovely blend of delicate and robust that I don't mind reapplying.

[slave1]

THE OBLATION

 

In Bottle: Lavender

 

On Skin: The lavender jumps out of the bottle and down my throat. It is very storng and very sharp. The dianthus is very bitter and sadly the blackberry does the usual cat pee thing on me. Even my favorite note, honey, can’t make this scent work on me. The blackberry eventually becomes the most dominant. Overall it is a sour, sharp, herbal, fruity blend. It’s interesting but not something I’d wear. I might like it as a room scent but not as a perfume. Strong throw and long wearlength.

[grrrlennyl]

at first: wow. super-juicy, dark blackberry, honey, and lavender and something floral.

on: this is gorgeous. it's almost wine-like on me, but it's a bit too sweet for that. amazing.

1 hour later: blackberry wine: sweet, thick, and heady.

1.5 hours later: still gorgeous. a tiny bit powdery, but still mostly heady blackberry wine.

3 hours later: this is a bit softer now, but still has that nice base of blackberry wine.

5.5 hours later: sweet, powdery blackberry.

overall: i love this! it's a little heady, so i probably shouldn't wear it to work, but it's a lovely fruit scent that is perfect for cooler weather. woo hoo!

[storme]

In the imp: green carnation and lavender and blackberry. It smells almost medicinal, like a cough sweet.

 

On me, wet: mm, lavender and carnation and tart, ripe blackberries. This is lovely.

 

On me, dry: that's quite a sharp lavender and really fresh blackberries - the carnation and the honey don't really do much here.

 

Verdict: It's lovely, and I'm glad I got to try it, but I'm really not sure I'll ever wear it. We'll see.

[yeahbutnobut]

The Oblation

 

In the imp: herbal blackberry and lavender, with a touch of honey.

Wet on skin: sharp tangy blackberry with lavender. I really hope this isn’t the blackberry which turns to cat pee on me.

Dry: this is very pretty, mainly warm herbal lavender and fresh blackberries still clinging to their brambles, with honey winding through. Very much a lavender dominated scent for now, it smells very dark and purple. I’m just a little worried about the blackberry note since this does smell very slightly like the one in Monster Bait Closet which does turn to cat pee on me at times…although it is a little sharper, less sugary.

After a while: I’m now torn. This is a honeyed and herbal version of the Closet blackberry (can turn to kitty pee), mixed with sharper Bitter Moon one (which is gorgeous). For now it is doing the more pleasant reaction of ‘blackcurrant Ribena’ with added brambly greenness and delicious honey, but this blackberry does have the potential to smell like a territorial tomcat has sprayed on my arm. And then…darn it. It has now turned to cat pee. Bad kitty-I mean, bad blackberry! It smells like a feral feline has sprayed all over a bramble fringed with blackberries. Normally I adore honey but it seems that in this scent, this note is just enhancing the cat pee scent of the berry. It’s not outright disgusting, but it does smell disturbingly like what my garden smells like after the stray toms have invaded.

The scent just remains a suspiciously catty blackberry scent until the end…it has promising fruity aspects, as well as hints of the bittersweet blackberry gorgeousness that I got from Bitter Moon, but the berry is too much for me in here.

Verdict: this one was a sad disappointment. I was hoping for a gorgeous blackberry, like that of Bitter Moon, with lavender honey drizzled on top. There is a slight hint of Bitter Moon blackberry but there’s also a blackberry note to this highly reminiscent of Montresor and MB Closet…which have a reputation of turning to feline urine. And that’s exactly what happened here-the blackberry, whilst smelling bittersweet and fruity at times, at other times it was like a cat had peed all over the lavender in the garden. I didn’t get any carnation here, just ‘bad-kitty blackberry’ covered in sharp honey. I think I’m going to swap this one…I was hoping this would smell stirring and enchanting on me, but I don’t find anything romantic in smelling like a kitty had sprayed all over me. maybe this could be a hormone thing, and maybe I should try this with a scent locket…but I think this decant will be passed on.

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? Probably not. I do like smelling like blackberries, or even blackcurrant sweets, but not like tomcat territory marking fluid.

If you like this, try: Montresor, Monster Bait Closet, Bewitched, Faiza, Bitter Moon, Glasgow

[Jheya]

Wet, I primarily get lavender with a hint of sweetness to it. Not unpleasant, but more something I'd like to breathe in whilst taking a nice, relaxing bath than a scent I'd choose to wear as a perfume.

 

As it dries, the blackberry comes through, giving it a lovely fruity edge.

 

It's a very pretty scent that I do enjoy, however it still retains too much of a bathtime quality to be something that I'd really wear. If the Lab decided to release it in the form of a fizzyBOOM though, then I can definitely see myself unwinding in a hot tub after a long day, surrounded by this scent.

Edited March 21, 2007 by Jheya

[sarada]

 

This is SO beautiful.

 

I didn't order this because it seemed very simple and very much like things I have in many other blends. I never expected something to wow me quite as much as this has!

 

The honey is a perfect, sparkling, nectar-like honey that just hangs in a golden buzzing cloud around you. This reminds me a bit of Honey Moon, the blend that made me love honey.

 

The lavender -- well I love lavender so it's not hard to sell me on it. It's a gentle lavender, not harsh and herbal the way it can be sometimes.

 

The blackberry -- ahh, kind of like the fruitiness in Bitter Moon. I absolutely love the hint of berry in that blend. It's just the right combination of sweet and tart.

 

This is the perfect combination of notes that I love on their own, but only occasionally like in blends. All of them can become very flat and uninteresting to me in the wrong combinations. But something about the sweetness, herbal/floral and tart berry just meld perfectly in The Oblation.

 

I think it's definitely for people who are lavender fans to begin with, but wow...I'm so grateful for this. This will carry me through the spring and summer very well. I can see this really topping my list for spring/summer blends to wear this year.

[sh1mm3r]

Wow.

 

The only other blend I've tried with blackberry is Glasgow, and it is one of my top 5, particularly for summer.

 

This takes that blackberry and makes it much more grown up. The sweetness is replaced by the wildness of blackberries growing where other plants can't. I would almost venture a guess that blackberry leaf is in this as well, but that might just be the lavender.

 

Of course I adore honey so how I missed this when it came out is beyond me. I need to track down my own bottle now.

[elfmaiden]

Wet: All Lavender. I agree it's a herbal smell, but not unpleasant.

Drying: The blackberries show up and are balancing out the strong lavender.

Dry: A lush mix of ripe blackberries and honey, with lavender keeping things from getting too sweet in the background..

 

A very 'pretty' and juicy scent!

 

Jenn

[oedipa]

As I get more and more familiar with BPAL and its lovely and varied notes, I find myself ending up with less "this is not the blend I wanted it to be" swap bottles. Unfortunately, this was not one of them.

 

Wet: Oooh, smells like blueberries! Sharp lavendar undercurrent that makes me wary.

 

5 minutes: Lavendar is coming out in a big way and I'm not sure I like it! But there's a hint of blueberries which keeps me hanging on.

 

30 minutes: There is no lavendar, only BLUEBERRIES!! Ech, I smell like one of those highly-scented candles. It's making me a little queasy.

 

2 + hours: This eventually wore down to nearly-nothing after 5 hours or so, but before that I kept getting waves of blueberry candle smell that made me make a really unpleasant face. To the swap pile you go!

[TheIceMaiden]

The Oblation starts out lavender, buts its a sharper and more herbal lavender note than I'm used to. I wonder if this is a result of the dianthus? Thankfully the sharpness tones down after a moment and its all lovely, sweet lavender with a hint of blackberry coming through. As it dries, the lavender gradually fades out and the blackberry comes forward. The dry-down is blackberry with just a touch of honey. This is a gorgeous scent!

 

I'm someone who normally can't wear honey, especially aged honey, but the white honey in this is just perfect. I have no problem with it at all!

Edited January 5, 2010 by TheIceMaiden

[enderfem]

Bottle: Honey and lavender...and something tingly. Blackberry, probably.

 

On me: the lavender and honey provide a lovely undertone to a lot of juicy blackberry. Normally I don't like fruitier scents except apple, but this just smells so lovely and playful on me at the beginning, then deepens into something rich and dark. So complicated. One of my new favorites. Also has a lot of throw. Too bad it was an LE.

[dart]

But I'm getting a lot of lavender. And I seem to be the only one getting an almost citrusy scent from it. But Lavender does that on me at times.

 

Not bad but not for me. So into the swap/sale pile.

[ladybird]

What a wonderful sweet fruity rollercoaster of a scent!

 

In the bottle: sweet honey, and an almost appley scent. Swoon.

 

Wet: A sudden burst of sharp herbs, but the flowers and honey are still there under it.

 

Dry: The honey comes back to the front, tempered by flowers and beautifully sweet again. I can't even pick out which flowers are there - it all blends together in a wonderful warm spring fruity flowery blend. Oh, I'm getting giddy just writing about it

 

This is one of my favorites - it's a perfect spring and summer scent. I'm going to hoard it