The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Oblivion is named for that feeling, a state of sensory withdrawal where the world softens at the edges. Not sleep. Not absence. Something closer to presence, made absolute. Seunghyun Lim built this around Maillette lavender, a variety prized for its clean, slightly camphorated freshness, softened by orris butter's powdery cream and lifted by yuzu's bright, almost translucent citrus. Cedarwood and sandalwood anchor the whole thing into something warm and human. The goal was never to fill a room. It was to be found.
Orris butter and yuzu are unexpected partners for lavender. The pairing shouldn't work, one's creamy and floral, the other's clean and citrus-bright, but they do. The yuzu cuts through the lavender's coolness at the opening, creating a brief sparkle before the orris takes over and softens everything into a powdery warmth. The result is spa-adjacent without being safe. Think of it as the scent of deliberate self-care, the kind that requires lighting something and doing nothing afterward. Cedarwood and sandalwood keep the composition grounded in warmth rather than letting it drift into something purely atmospheric. Neither note dominates, both prevent the composition from tipping into sweetness.
The evolution
The opening is cool and slightly sparkling. Lavender and yuzu arrive together, the yuzu adding a citrus peel brightness that prevents the lavender from settling into anything too herbal or medicinal. It reads clean for the first fifteen minutes, maybe twenty. Then the orris butter announces itself. This is the shift. Everything becomes softer, warmer, powdery in a way that feels creamy rather than dry. The transition isn't dramatic, it happens gradually, as if the fragrance is making itself comfortable on your skin. After an hour, the woody base begins to assert itself. Cedarwood and sandalwood arrive quietly, adding warmth and a faint dryness that prevents the orris from taking over entirely. The lavender never fully disappears. It stays in the background, keeping the composition grounded. What you're left with, two or three hours in, is close skin with a powdery warmth that projects almost nothing beyond a few inches. It is, in the best possible way, a private fragrance.
Cultural impact
Oblivion occupies a specific corner of the indie fragrance landscape, the lavender-forward composition that refuses to be aggressive or masculine-coded. Lavender has a complicated history in perfumery, often associated with bar soap or men's grooming. Circle of Lim sidesteps this entirely. The orris and yuzu reframe it as something soft, even meditative. This is the fragrance for the wearer who wants to smell like they just came from somewhere calm.
The House
Circle of LimCircle of Lim is a natural perfume house operating from Seoul, South Korea. The brand, founded by perfumer Seunghyun Lim, crafts fragrances that seek to translate nature's invisible energy into wearable form. Since launching its first collections in 2023, the house has released several distinct scent expressions, including Picnic Basket, Art Deco, Oblivion, Lost Generation, Mister Bungalow, and Watercolor, each arriving as an Eau de Cologne or Eau de Parfum. Wander's End followed in 2024, expanding the house's portfolio further. Circle of Lim positions itself as a bridge between the breath of humanity and the natural world, creating scents intended to feel connected to place, memory, and organic experience.
The Creator
Seunghyun LimWorking exclusively with natural aromatics, Lim builds her compositions from essential oils, absolutes, and botanical extracts. She never turns to synthetic materials, even when they might offer more practical solutions.





















