Oisin

[fallow deer]

A legendary warrior bard from Irish lore and a renowned member of the Fianna. His saga is detailed in two of the four great Cycles of Celtic legend: the Fenian and Ossianic Cycles. A lyric, wistful blend of summertime Irish blossoms and herbs, glistening with vibrant white musk.

At first: soft and powdery yet green and manly as well. I can see where the 'sexy man' comments are coming from, although this is definately wistful country cuddly jumper sexy rather than my man kind of sexy.

Drying: VERY strange. Perfumes don't usually do wierd things on me, but Oisin has become clothes /drenched/ in cigarette smoke the day after going to a very smoky pub. I got less smoke from Dia de los Muertos, less from Hellfire - this is very smoky and has lost all it's charm for me.

Verdict: more Irish tramp than Irish meadow... Sorry!

[Bard]

Although Dublin isn't a particularly "feminine" scent. There's something about Oisín that reminds me of a "masculine" Dublin. It may be the Irish blossoms that were so prevalent on me in Dublin echong in this scent and deepened by the white musk.

 

This scent is not as strong as I suspected it would be. It lasts a long time, but t never becomes too prominent on the skin. That might be a blessing or a curse. It's also masculine, but it's not overpowering. It reminds me of an elfin hero. It seems almost too refined for a human warrior, bardic or not.

 

I like this one a lot, but I have a feeling I'll be experimenting with it and laying other scents over it. It may become a scented soap in the future.

 

 

Oisín Haiku,

Warrior-Bard of yore:

He of valor great and name

Unpronounceable .

Edited April 14, 2005 by Bard

[diabolique]

this blend has made me realize that beth's white musk does WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL things on my skin.

 

when i wear this, i have a habit of saying, "goddamn, i smell sexy." nobody's disagreed with me yet, so that's a good thing.

 

i swapped for a bottle of this and i was going to give it to my boyfriend, because he loves anything celtic. sorry, daniel, but this is too sexy for you.

 

normally, herbal scents do absolutely nothing for me. they're headshoppy and smell like they were plucked from a hippy's garden. frankly, i don't want to smell like a hippy's garden. i have bad associations with herbs. a friend of the family is a farmer and he always smells like them. long story short, i don't like this guy, i think he's a douche, so i've never been fond of the smell of herbs because they remind me of him.

 

this is too sexy for him. way too sexy.

 

this is almost too sexy for me, but that doesn't stop me. bordering on masculine, oisin is light, and extremely smooth. the white musk doesn't go buttery like it usually does, and the outrageous-old-musky-lady smell never comes to play on my skin. it doesn't waft very much, but that's part of the allure.

 

i had a gay man hit on me when i wore this, and he promptly dug through my purse just to find my bottle and put it on.

 

i ordered two more bottles of this the day before it was discontinued. i'm sad this didn't receive the love it should have, because it's probably the sexiest BPAL blend i've ever tried, due, in part, to the miraculous way the notes interact with my skin chemistry.

Edited April 19, 2005 by diabolique

[metaldog32]

Again..I received this little imp as a freebie..and again, this was not on my list of oils to try..but I can't help it...I love trying oils that I wouldnt have picked..it's like free goodness just waiting to be discovered...I just can't resist!!!

 

Let me preface by saying I have tried Oisin several times now...first time I tried, made me mental opinion of fragrance and then moved on sans review. But...I have tried it again and again..and feel it deserves a review. Furthermore..I have this sort of dorky ritual when it comes to the wonderful freebie imps...must write a review before trying a new one..so Oisin must be written for me to be able to try more new goodness...how dorky am I??? LOL...

 

 

Sniffed from imp:I could see why many reviewers would go ga-ga if this was on a guy. I do get a faint masculine vibe from it..but overall I think I register the white musk intermingled with soft herbs and soft florals??? Smells nice.

 

Applied wet on skin: I am getting more of the soft herbal now...and the white musk..along with the floral..again in the backdrop. This smells wonderful..but for me, this is definitely a unisex fragrance. The other instances I tried this on, I immediately put it as a feminine fragrance..when I started reading other reviews today and saw many describe it as a guy fragrance..well..it surprised me. NOW I can sort of see their point...unless of course this is all my mind's idea of suggestive reading..LOL

 

Dry on skin:I get the white musk..and I am enjoying it..with the herbal and floral playing a very soft second fiddle...

 

The staying power of this is truly impressive. I wore this to the gym yesterday and worked out hard. Came home and sat in my sweaty clothes all day...changed out of my sweaty clothes and went to bed...I know..gross...but wouldnt you know..I could still smell Oisin loud and clear...to me that is impressive.

 

Bottom line: I like Oisin very much..but not enough for me to get a big bottle...I will enjoy using up my wonderful little imp...and am happy to know that my hunch was right regarding white musk..I do love it very much. It is harder for me to do darker ones but this white musk likes me as much as I like it

Edited May 1, 2005 by metaldog32

[SoapyRN]

Why, oh why did I wait until the last damn moment to get and try this blend.

One bottle. Just one, to last a lifetime. I will have to ration it out.

 

On to the review.

 

It has so much of what I love about Dublin in it that I would get another bottle of Dublin and add some more musk.

 

Like Andra said, this would smell fab on a gent. My gent, esp. It is sexy and smooth.

 

B-BPAL, that is before BPAL, I never wore perfume, certainly not CK One or any of those gender neutral scents sold in the stores. This is BPAL's One, made for a man or goddess. I am in love

[L-z_Empress]

This was a freebie imp (thanks Lab). Wet it smells like straight, single note white musk. As it dries, the white musk does stay as the most prominent note, but I can also smell some light flowers. For some reason this reminds me a bit of Unseelie. Unlike other reviewers, this scent is very feminine on me. Unfortunately, this scent is very commerical perfume smelling to me (puts me in the mind of the perfume called "Romance"). Not very me at all.

Edited May 12, 2005 by L-z_Empress

[Northernminx]

Gorgeous, utterly gorgeous. I thought I was going nuts and was wondering why this was so masculine until I read the description. The musk is sparkling and warm, a touch vanilla, but not overly so. As this dries down there's a faint touch of something floral and green but not really feminine, just fresh. I picture Oisin standing in a warm, sunlit field.

Loving this but it's masculine enough that I don't want to wear it so I have to find an unsuspecting male to give it to.

[Ishtar]

After not being able to wear Dublin, I was growing a little weary of masculine, Celtic-themed scents, but Oisin restored my faith in Irish fragrances

 

I could probably wax poetic about the crispness of the white musk, the softness of the blossoms and the slightly mysterious vibe surrounding the whole thing, but I will keep it short: from the moment I open the bottle to when it completely fades away, Oisin in sex in a bottle.

There.

 

The only downside to this fantastic blend is that it fades rather quickly, which means that I mostly use it at night, layered with my shea butter lotion. My Oisin-scented dreams turn out to be most interesting and on the graphic side, predictably enough given my very, very soft spot for Irishmen

 

I certainly do not regret getting a bottle of this unsniffed

[scourgeotheseas]

Oisin - From the Oblation Caravan circular swap.

 

In the bottle: Like some man's really nice aftershave. Musky, but light and clean.

 

On me: Yup. I get a very light musk, balanced really nicely with florals and fresh, clean meadowy feeling. Still smells like aftershave, though.

 

Drydown: This is a lovely, soft floral and musk combination. Somehow, it's still a masculine scent. I like it a lot, but would probably enjoy it more on a man. Mmmm...maybe not!

[harlequin]

This stuff is definitely sexay! I ordered Cerberus when these were released, because I thought it was the only one that looked appealing to me, and it didn't work out so well... the wonderful Diabolique went on about how good this stuff was and I looked at the description again and wondered why I didn't think it looked good the first time around... so I ordered a bottle, even if I had placed 2 orders the day before. hehe.

 

Sooo glad I did. I get a lot of the white musk out of this one. I can see the relation to whitechapel, though this one isn't as sweet as that is, even after the lime fades. It's not really floral on me at all.. slightly herby yes, but mostly, it's just sexlicious White Musk.

 

So gorgeous. Sad it's gone.

 

ETA: I didn't think it was overly masculine, myself. Would work great on a guy, but I won't have a problem wearing it!

Edited May 19, 2005 by harlequin

[ashtonrose]

Opening the bottle I immediately thought of my husband getting out of the shower. Sex in a bottle!

 

Wet: Still my man. I had to put it on him too and yep, it's what I like. Prominently a dew scent and white musk on him w/ florals in the background.

 

Dry: The florals come into play, but the dew and the musk are still there.

 

"A lyric, wistful blend of summertime Irish blossoms adn herbs...."

 

I'm wanting to put on my Celtic Visions CD and just smell Oisin and ......

[Lit Chick]

This is so blissfully wonderful on my husband. It's sexy, but not in a jump-your-bones sort of way. It's more swoony and romantic.

This made me go all snuggly with DH, and get little thrills of joy that I landed such a man. (Heh, and the night before, I was so exasperated with him). Men, take note - if you have been getting on your SO's nerves and have no idea why, open a bottle of wine, dab on some Oisin, and be rather quiet.

[gingersnapp]

This is beautiful, androgynous musk. It's got a creamy sweetness to it, not vanilla, but definitely floral. It's lightly spicy and just plan wonderful. Another great summer blend!

[tempete]

I got to try Oisin courtesy of the Oblation Caravan.

 

On my skin, there is something decidedly masculine about Oisin. I think it's because it contains a green note that reminds me of Irish Spring. Oisin fades really fast on me, leaving only a slight trace of an unidentifiable note that eventually turns soapy.

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

This one will grow hair on your chest. Seriously, I swiped it on (since I'm the household reviewer; must get Brian to review more ) and now I smell like a dude. A sexy dude, but definitely a dude.

 

DH and I concur that this would be a good oil to introduce a guy to BPAL if he normally wears commercial cologne. It smells an awful lot like Brut crossed with Old Spice, but *fancier* spices than Old Spice, and for a more sophisticated, er, brute. Brian said it will be his all-purpose scent when he's not in a particular fragrance mood. Nice and solid, but not as whimsically unusual as many of the Lab blends for boys.

[k00kaburra]

In bottle: Green and herbal. It's very bright, with hints of floral. Every drop of this liquid screams green; close your eyes and see rolling green hills under a blue sky with huge, puffy cotton-ball clouds.

On me: On my skin, the white musk and florals become stronger, although I could not identify them specifically. This is a beautiful green scent, perfect for man or woman. I purchased this because I figure anything benefitting the Comic Book Legal Defense fund is a good thing, but it's so perfect I would've gotten it even if it wasn't an Oblation scent.

[Shollin]

First sniff: Oh. This scent shimmers. It glistens, it twinkles, it dances in the morning dew. It’s a faint rainbow glimpsed through waterfall mist. In the vial, Oisin is purely bard, with no warrior in sight. Cushlamachree, this is wonderful.

 

Wearing: It’s more masculine, more rugged, on my skin, but still sparkling and light. I could not stop sniffing myself all day at work.

[LunaSea]

In the imp and wet on the skin, Oisin is very light and herbal. I quite like it - a nice, fresh scent. I agree that it is both a good summery scent, and would be fabulous to swipe on your favorite guy.

 

However, it is doing the same thing that Ides of March did to me and going rather powdery. I need to figure out which herb is doing this on my skin, as it is becoming quite frustrating!!

[Krista]

This one is a wonderfuly thick, musky scent. It's too heavy and masculine for me, but on the right person, it would be gorgeous.

 

I am horrible at picking out notes, but I can tell you this is a thick, heavy floral with just a touch of creaminess to it.

[OriginalWacky]

Bottle (Imp): I can't really smell it. Maybe kind of glassy?

 

Just On: Oh there it is. Windy. That's what I think of. And it starts smelling a little bit like fresh and breezy dryer sheets. My skin is so weird.

 

An hour or two later: It's pretty faded, and it's mostly nice smelling dryer sheets.

 

Around 6 hours: This is almost totally gone, but I guess it's still windy dryer sheets. Did I mention that I LIKE dryer sheets?

 

12 hours: Gone, gone, and gone.

 

Overall: I think I might like it, but it faded pretty quickly. I guess I should try it again, but at least I have a fair idea of how it smells now.

 

After reading other reviews: I'm guessing that the musk is what my skin turns to dryer sheets, which isn't all that bad, as I rather like them. The Irish blossoms are something I'm not familiar with, so I don't know if I found them in here or not. This was very well blended (like so many). I can't really say that I found this dead sexy as so many others did, but I enjoyed it, and would slap some on The Mate once in a while.

[isyche]

Oisin in bottle: very light but fresh. nice.

 

Oisin on me (hee): Ooh, now I can smell the herbs...light green herbs and fresh air and sunshine, a breezy meadow on a hilltop. OMG, love. I thought this might be too manly or cologney for me, but it's completely not; it's sexy/androgynous kind of in the same way Dorian is, and the musk isn't heavy or perfumy at all on me. My nose is glued to my arm. I'm so glad I ordered some before it went away.

Edited June 15, 2005 by isyche

[Witch's Dagger]

Oisin

 

I got this for a friend, but since I don’t use much when I test, I figured I could review it.

 

Preconceived notions: Sounds a little too light for me, but we’ll see.

 

In the bottle: Grass, herbs, wild flowers, and fresh air - a meadow.

 

On me:

Sweet frehs herbs, morning dew, sunlight filtering through the butting trees on a beautiful spring day. This is life and light and happiness.

 

In 20 minutes:

The same, I think there might be a bit of fruit in this as well.

 

In 30 minutes:

Vanilla, flowers (rose?), and the original scent: sweet, soft, pungent, and airy.

 

In 1 hour:

Sweet, floral, smoky. A very harmonious blend.

 

Overall:

This is very nice, but I was right - too light for me. I’m happy I got to try it, but I think my friend will enjoy it more.

[Tess]

I actually bought this for a romantic interest of mine, since he fancies himself a bard and was complaining that he doesn't own anything yummy smelling. *laughs* Lucky for me, I have an imp to keep all to myself.

 

In the vial - This almost smells like a facial toner... In fact, it's reminding me specifically of witchhazel tincure. There's an herby mix with it, but it reminds me of nail polish remover or acne pads.

 

Wet - astringent with a musky undertone. The herbs give it that slight twinge that I associate with perfume alcohol or other types of alcohol. The herbal is the strongest thing at this stage, with just that hint of musk underneath the astringency.

 

Drying - Gah! My skin has ABSORBED the herbs! =/ In fact, all that's left is a distinctly sweet white musk... And it's faint. I have to press my nose against my wrist to smell it. It's gone from nicely masculine to distinctly "femme." *sighs* Not that it matters so much, seeing as you can barely smell it on me at all. *pouts*

 

Dry (3 hours later) - Still a light white musk with sweet forals. It isn't at all like I expected, but I've been finding myself sniffing my wrist constantly. Plus, it seems that, while it's still a faint smell to me, it carries a bit of throw.

 

Overall - More feminine that what others are describing, but somehow addicting! I can't wait to smell it on someone who doesn't have a body that makes everything "PH balanced for a woman." =P I won't mind giving up my bottle to the boy, but my imp is aaaaall mine!

Edited June 17, 2005 by Tess

[Aredhel]

Rating (on skin): 5/5

Summarised in a word or two: Musky flowers.

 

In the imp/bottle: Very, very faint flowers -- I mean, very faint.

 

On skin, wet: Soft white musk and bright white flowers.

 

On skin, dry: After about ten minutes, I have to veritably smash nose to wrist to smell this at all.

 

Conclusion: This is a beautiful, musky floral when wet. I tried slathering a bit more, in hopes of making it last, but it still dies out within 15 minutes. If I thought I could make this last longer, I'd definitely go on the hunt for a bottle.

Edited December 26, 2005 by Aredhel

[shadow]

Oh wow. I don't know what happened to me, but suddenly I can wear musk. I never was able to before, it would always go to powder almost instantly. But I recently found it's my friend, and this is a wonderful musky scent.

 

Instantly on I'm surprised by how warm a scent it is. I guess I expected something sharp and cold and white. But instead it's almost creamy, light, sweet and soft. Instantly I think it's a great summertime feminine scent, but then my husband sniffs and tells me it's definitely a man scent. I think he just wants it for himself. On him it is a tad cooler and crisper.

 

It hasn't changed all that much since I put it on, it's still absolutely beautiful, on both of us. I think I might be catching a bit of the herb/flower notes in here. It really just grounds it a bit so it doesn't totally float away. If you like musk, or think you might like musk, definitely get your hands on some of this, because it's really, really beautiful. I'm so glad I decided to order a bottle even though I didn't expect I'd be able to wear it.