Mabon 2004

[smallvoice]

... Blackberry wine and apple cider with hops, apple blossom, English ivy, hazel, sage, oak bark and myrrh.

Mabon is exactly as beautiful as it sounds. Oddly enough, the blackberry wine behaved quite nicely on my skin, rather than turning into urine, the way other wines with berries (Montresor, MB: Closet) have in the past. I only tested a sniffy of this, but it is stunning and subtle. The woods balance out the fruits to make it a complex and deep scent. Oddly enough, I don't know that I would use it enough to warrant seeking out a bottle.

[Meg]

In the bottle: Soft, fruity and slightly dusty notes, I think I get ivy and apple blossom most.

 

Wet: A musky berry sharpness, blackberry and sage coming through apple blossom. It smells very clean.

 

Drydown: The blend becomes richer as it dries down, I get more of the apple cider which is soft and sweet, and the blackberry loses some of its tartness to play along nicely with the apple. I get hops very obviously, and I think I can smell the myrrh hovering around the edges of the blend and adding its own little sparkle to the scent. After a while, a green aquatic that I guess is ivy, just springs out and takes over the blend.

 

Overall: This blend is very much in keeping with blends like Harvest Moon (all three of them), with warming, comforting fruity scents to represent the harvest. The myrrh in this one adds a little bit of a mystical aura to the scent, and the apple blossom makes it a bit powdery. It's a pleasant scent, but I prefer Beth's current blackberry (The Oblation, Bitter Moon), and I'm relieved that I'm not deeply in love with this one.

[ForeverLastcXs]

This is a gorgeous autumn scent! It reminds me a lot of Harvest Moon, actually. The apple blossom and blackberry are predominant on my skin, and they're lovely, but I can just as easily use HM to achieve a similar scent. Since this blend is so rare and hard to find, I'm glad I'm not totally crazy about it!

[alicia_stardust]

Mabon smells of apples and cider, sage, herbs, and a touch of dry wood bark. I also get the tiniest hint of decay, and to me that fits well since Mabon is considered a harvest sabbat. This wears well and is very evocative of autumn and the myths involved in this holiday.

[willowlux]

I finally get the "holy grail" for me of BPAL scents, in to my excited little hands and I was treated too....

 

Cherry Cola.

 

Cherry cola in the vial, cherry cola on my wrist. This didn't morph at all. It remained cherry freaking cola. I reminded me of bottle caps candy. It didn't have any staying power either with my chemistry as it faded in about 20 minutes. I am so beyond sad at the moment.

 

Poopies.

[suileach]

Cough syrup!? *weeps*

 

Oh, oh! Thank heavens. That medicinal note loses strength after a minute, and the scent becomes really amazing! I can smell the blackberry wine, the apple cider (spiced!), the hops, and the sage. Absolutely gorgeous.

 

This smells nothing like Hexennacht, but it has that same magical quality to it. I think I'm in love. Despite the setting-sun warmth of this scent, there's something about it that speaks to me of running water, reeds by the river, and quiet, still places. Beautiful.

[Jheya]

In the vial: I get vague whiffs of both fruity and floral notes, but the scent is so well blended that I'm having difficulty picking out any of the individual components.

 

On skin: The fruit identifies itself more clearly as apple once on skin. There's warmth to the blend, yet curiously it's a cool kind of warmth. It does put me in mind of autumn, where there's still warmth in the air, but cooler now than the summer heat before with the leaves becoming shades of red and gold.

 

~1 hour: Apple, and a slightly powdery note that tickles my nose. Beneath the apple there's warmth that grounds the blend. It's gentle and comforting and the individual notes mingle so well that I can't pick them apart.

 

~1.5 hours: It's pretty, soft and delicate, and puts me in mind of an autumn morning with the first hint of winter in the air and just a touch of mist. The tickly powder has gone, and the soft apples and warmth are lovely.

 

Thankfully, I haven't fallen head over heels for this though, considering it's rarity. If it were more common I'd consider tracking down a bottle, but as I doubt I'll reach for this often, I think I can let this one go. There are other fall scents that I can enjoy when the mood takes me, after all.

[zankoku_zen]

Okay, so I didn't seriously find this appealing in the bottle. I should know better now, shouldn't I?

 

I really get the apple cider, with a hint of berries, and woods. This is like the spring version of Samhain. The apple note is more like Fearful Pleasure of recent Weenies. However, when FP can be a little potpourri like, Mabon is smoother. Some of it might be aging.

 

But yes, apples, woods and just a teensy bit of berry. Lovely.

[Coldfire]

 

 

 

Decant: oh yumm! Blackberry wine!

Wet on Me: blackberry wine and myrrh. I’m in love

Drying Down: the lovely magickal blackberry wine with the myrrh and the cider all dancing together with the apple blossom weaving ribbons of notes in and out of the circle.

Dry: Heady but not overpowering. The absolute love. This is in my top ten for sure and I’m gonna have to track down more of this. This is blackberry wine incense with the first rays of Autumn tiptoeing in. A magickal scent for me.

 

[Dark Alice]

On me...wet.....Halls Mentholated Cherry Cough drops with a touch of fruit. Not. A. Fan.

 

Drydown. Halls Blackberry Mentholated Cough Drops.

[sookster]

straight sniff from imp is cider with apples and wine...

slightly sour..once applied...some spice...just a smidge...

this is interesting but not so great with my chemistry....

[fairnymph]

Sniffed: Rich golden oil. Tart, juicy-ripe fruit with hints of greenery, spice, wood and incense. I can pick out nearly every single note, except maybe the hazel which I'm not familiar with. Very complex and evocatively autumnal.

 

Wet: Similar, with perhaps more of a baked/jammy fruit note as opposed to fresh fruit. Like spiced blackberry-apple sauce simmering on the stove. I get a definite smoky edge, and a little astringency from the sage, and presumably the hazel. Some bitter hops and spicy green ivy. Not that sweet - this is unisex. Only very faint apple blossom.

 

Dry: A bit of a soapy edge - possibly this is a weirdness of the sage and/or hazel as well as a result of the apple blossom. I LOVE the oak note in this - it's round and rich without being too dry or strong. I'm sad to have lost the juiciness, though I do like the booziness that I get now instead.

 

Later: More spices, woods, myrrh and dark herbal notes emerging - an overall affect of darkening. It's actually gotten a bit tarter, fruit-wise, almost to the point of juiciness - the blackberry and baked apple notes are holding beautifully, and I think the tart-bitterness of the hops really accentuates them.

 

Summary: Slightly dusty-dry oak and amped spices (clove and allspice), slightly harsh sage and the edge of smoky-bitter myrrh make this unwearable, but I really love the rounder aspects of the booze/oak (reminds me of Montresor), blackberry, and baked apple notes. Very evocative and well-crafted. Lower throw but lasts.

 

Huh...the sweet musky boozy, oaky (almost vanillic, again like Montresor) fruity drydown is pretty nice - I keep sniffing myself. Most of the dusty and sharp notes have worn off - it's not something I'd ever normally like, but the spices are light enough that I might actually like this, To retest. The fruity/booze/vanilla-oak drydown is addictive!

Edited May 29, 2009 by fairnymph

[ami226]

Reminds me a little of Fearful pleasure... Only Mabon is.....

 

I get the lovely apple cider with what I am guessing is the apple blossom. Truly a yummy, yet beautiful scent! Wow!

[Aldercy]

Don't think I can muster a skin test of Mabon, as I just have an almost dry sniffie (courtesy of a lovely forumite), but... in the decant, it's kind of a creamy... floral... spiced wine... cider. It's a little sour for a moment (that's the blackberry speaking to me), but when I pull away a lovely "after-smell" hits me. I wish I could elaborate more.

 

I'm very glad I got to smell this one, but more glad that I'm not totally in love.

Edited October 23, 2009 by Aldercy

[thekittenkat]

First, I must say that I love blackberry fruit and leaf scents, and also apple scents, and so this has been a bit of a Holy Grail for me.

 

In the decant: Apples and blackberries all mixed together with something that's a little spicy and herbal.

 

Wet: snuffs deeply at wrist My goodness, but that is one of the best things ever! This smells exactly like walking through an apple orchard in the autumn. In the next field/meadow over is where they make apple cider in a little old stone building covered with ivy and surrounded by copses of hazels and overshadowed by oaks. There's a fence in-between with last of the season blackberries growing amongst a tangled thick vine, and some wild sage hiding under the brambles. In the cider-house is a shelf to one side with various jars of spices and other goods. For some reason, a jar of myrrh is open slightly. Off to one side is a barrel of hops, in hopes of apple beer.

 

The Dry-Down: Exquisite. If there's a matter of component issues, I sincerely hope that one day they can be resolved, and that Beth can re-create this work of almost sheer perfection once again. Until then, I will treasure my decant. And, best of all, this is not a morpher on me, as from first to last, it's just the same lovely scent. If only apple cider or hard cider or apple beer tasted as good as this smells...

 

If you like blackberries and/or apples, this is the perfume oil of wonder.

 

Thank you, LittleBird, for allowing me to experience this beautiful perfume oil.

[hkhm]

imp: a bright herbal apple scent.

 

wet: crisp, bright apples. this is the scent of apple orchards just before the harvest with blackberry brambles all around adding to the late summer feel. so beautiful.

 

dry: this dries to a rich, warm apple-blackberry scent. it's so lovely i can't stop huffing my wrist. so beautiful.

[ljaylh]

I wish I could go back in time and smell this one fresh from the bottle when it first came out, because I suspect the balance of notes has changed over the years. This is mostly apple blossom and myrrh on me, with a hint of hops. The oak bark comes out more after about a half-hour on my skin, and I think I can detect the hazel way back behind the apples. The ivy and sage are so well blended that I can barely find them.

 

This is one of those lovely comforting blends, it's quite soft and powdery but still has some substance - the apple blossom is gorgeous! And it's strangely invigorating.

[Gin]

Mabon was one of my first BPALs so it holds a special place in my heart. It smells like fruit and vines.