Crossroads

[Lori]

The forks of the road: an in-between place, sacred and tangibly magickal in innumerable cultures and faiths. This scent is dark with mystery, taut with power. A chill twilit garden of blooms over dry earth and mosses, heavily laden with incense and offertory herbs.

First sniff: I smell the Graveyard Dirt lying underneath this quite prominently! I haven't tried Zombi yet, so GD is the first thing this compares to.

Wet on wrists: Yep! It smells like the loamy G Dirt! But there is flowers too, which makes this easier on the nose for me. No incense yet coming through.

Drydown: A soft floral, with just a hint of the dirt left. Just barely a hint, so that for the first time, I actually like the loamy dirt smell. I had so looked forward to GD, as I love the smell of earth and actually used to eat dirt as a kid, but the loamy earth wasn't familiar to me. This is more like my mother's garden, in our dry climate...different flowers of course (I grew up in Zone 3 Manitoba, not the old South) but still familiar and nice.

After putting this on, I got out my cd of Crossroads, from the movie with Ralph Macchio, and am listening to Ry Cooder play some Mississippi Blues while I wear it. I loved that movie (what's not to love about a guitar contest in Hell?). I can imagine this is what the Mississippi smells like and I think maybe this imp will go to play with the Voodoo ones I just got from the Lab, for when I feel like doing that voodoo thang!

Now, I am getting a reminder of another favourite movie, Angel Heart! Yep, I like this scent! :-)

[malanna]

I kept on thinking this smelled like warm buck skin, I think because I thought Crossroads' description included that. But still, it does smell like warm buck skin, radiating it's musky heat. In any case, warm buck skins aside, there's definitely a lot of moss, a tiny bit of green dirt (green, as in, mixed with the moss), and some herbs, enough to add a tiny bit of sweetness to it. But it still smells like warm buck skin to me. I know, I'm a broken record.

[Rackham's Vanity]

Crossroads began as a light floral on me. My nose is still baffled by floral blends, but I could pick out soft field lily...maybe lily of the valley as well..and perhaps jasmine...although I often get jasmine confused with "bulb" scents: paperwhites, and hiacynths.

 

There was a curious and pleasant underlying sweetness to the floral that really interested me, but it lingered only briefly.

 

Then, as with Nocnitsa, the earth notes arose, and all I could smell was sourness. I really wish I could enjoy the Lab's mosses more, but the acidity of the loam completely takes over on my skin.

 

Crossroads finished as a gentle herbal with only a hint of the sour earth note.

 

I think I'll let this one age a bit and then try again. Maybe in the Fall.

[Miss Lynx]

Fascinating to read over the other reviews of this one -- people have gotten such wildly different impressions from it!

 

I wish I could have gotten what some of the other people did from Crossroads, something earthy and incensey, but no... For the most part, I got "I AM JASMINE, HEAR ME ROAR!"

 

On first contact especially, this was an overwhelmingly, almost blindingly strong floral. After catching just a faint whiff of it when my partner opened the vial last week, I put off trying it until the very end of my 16-imp Lab order. But eventually it couldn't be put off any longer... I do tend to try absolutely everything that comes my way, albeit lightly if I'm afraid of them as it was with this one.

 

So, jasmine overkill indeed. But over the following half-hour, it did mellow considerably. There was a definite darker undertone there, grounding it a bit, and eventually a bit of a herbal edge that made it a bit like the jasmine tea you get in Chinese restaurants, and I found myself starting to like it a bit, though it never stopped being predominantly floral.

 

However, it also disappeared almost entirely after that half-hour, which is weird considering how fiercely strong it was when I first put it on. But now I have to press my nose right to my wrists to smell it. And what I do smell now is not bad at all -- the (very) faint trace that remains of it has mellowed to a gentle, well-behaved jasmine, rather than the avenging goddess Jasmine intent on crushing all other scents under her merciless heel. If it had hit that point sooner and then stuck around longer, I might have liked it more, but no.

 

However, it is not getting swapped, because my partner is in love with it and wants a big bottle. It does seem to work better on her than on me -- the floral element is not as overpowering on her skin. But she's also a big fan of the dark florals, like the Raven and Dance of Death, which this seems to be roughly in the same family as. Me -- I don't dislike them exactly, but they just don't work so well on me, or at least not the ones I've tried thus far.

 

Grade: C+

[aedes]

Yeah, I got the All-Jasmine Network here, too. Really strong. Didn't go away. It's a nice jasmine, but a one-trick pony on me.

[Eros]

Sharp metallic jasmine both in the imp and first applied. Yay.

As usual, jasmine takes over :/ For about 10 minutes, there was a beautiful undercurrent of deep, wet earth but alas, evil jasmine says, "go away".

Might give this one another couple of chances, hopefully jasmine will let the other notes will come through. RIGHT.

[~AmusedMuse~]

This is country in a bottle. It is the scent of the great outdoors when you go camping. It is very earthy and I do detect a mossy note as others have previously noted. This makes you want to pack your camping gear and hit the trail. To me this is almost heaven. My scale of 1-5....5

[SeaMonkey]

I love mosses and this scent definately didn't let me down. Its a little perfumy in the vial, but on my skin, its all dirt and moss. There is a slight hint of florals, but they are hothouse florals and blend well with the moss, so that its not an obscenely floral scent.

 

I just rediscovered this imp today. I need to start wearing it more.

[Fefferbella]

For some reason this scent reminds me of visiting old plantation homes along the mississippi.

Dewey wet moss hanging from ancient oak trees... sweet star jasmine flowers and crisp southern breeze.

 

This is really lovely.

[iriedanym]

Crossroads has this lovely mix of loam, incense, tobacco (maybe not, but that is what I am picking up on), and flowers-I believe one of the flowers might be lily and possibly jasmine. It reminds me very much of Elegba, which is a scent I adore. I had expected Crossroads to smell icky, since I tend to shy away from things that have a loam/dirt smell (Penny Dreadful didn't agree with me after I tried it the second time).

 

Crossroads has what I call a "sunshine" note to it. Maybe it is from the flowers, but I envision standing at a four way path, the sun beaming down and warming the skin, and the rich, clay earth underfoot.

[ABrokenAngel]

In the Bottle: Nice florals with a grounded sense with the mosses, only a smidge of earth. It's not bad. It smells like a garden. Maybe iris? Not exactly sure but I like the floral in this one. I can barely smell the dirt in it thankfully since I truly dislike the smell of dirt. It's very perfumey.....like a perfume you'd expect to find in a department store. Not sure I'm 100% liking it or not. I doubt I'd wear it so I won't be heart broken if it doesn't work on me. It's not a scent that I can see myself moving in. It's very...dramatic. I'm more for lighter fragrances.

 

Wet: Flowers dirt and herbs. Sneezing.....yah....I wish I liked this one actually but the nose speaks it's opinion.

 

Drydown: That incense must have some sort of wood in it. Pencil shavings with a nice floral atop it. *sigh*

[Meg]

In the bottle: Sweet herbs and moss. It reminds me of "The Unicorn".

 

Wet: This is weird - it nearly disappeared the minute I put it on. When the scent comes back, it's very deep and dry, reminiscent of Zombi, it smells of earth and mosses with a subtle sweetness, perhaps anise.

 

Drydown: Jasmine! My favourite floral is in here, and it's really toned down by the loamy scent so that it's really hard to determine that it's there to sweeten things up. I can also smell the incense and the herbs are still there, muted. Sometimes the loam comes back with a vengeance - quite an earthy/smoky bite. But generally (as usual with me) the Jasmine dominates.

 

Overall: Wow. It's jasmine/herbs/earth and it's wonderful. I thought I loved Zombi, but not as much as I do Crossroads. There's a sparkle to the flowery scent of jasmine that gets dimmed by the sharp scent of earth and moss. It makes me think of an earth track in the middle of grassy hills at the crack of dawn, with stars still sparkling overhead. Beautiful, and I'm getting a big bottle of it.

[AlaskaSnows]

Wet: Soapy flowers, smells like it needs dilution.

 

Dry: Soap. A floral soap.

[Rinadoll]

I'm not sure what overwhelming scent it was for me, if it was jasmine or something earthy (or is jasmine earthy?), but it was much, much too strong for me. I could hardly bear to have it even near me, so it got washed off really quickly. Off to the swaps with this puppy.

[Ajila]

In the bottle - Incense and something green. Overall sharp and peppery.

Wet on me - Greener and more peppery and at the same time softer, the blooms making their presence felt.

Dry on me - Warm and herby, with the greeness fading to leave only incense.

[GemmaCat]

One sniff and this one gave me a nasty headache.

 

The heavy muskiness, deep notes with a distinct cream base and sharp overtones just didn't seem to work with my skin; wet or dry.

 

A lovely scent, but definitely one for the swap pile.

[fiddlehead]

Yowza! Where's the dirt and moss?

 

When I put this on I get a huge blast of jasmine and maybe some other flowers. I almost thought I got some hyacinth. But although there is a faint hint of *something* behind the flowers it isn't coming through very strongly. Some herbs?

 

Still not getting any dirt after about 15 minutes.

 

Still, if you like jasmine this is a nice scent. I'll try it again in Spring and see how it works for me then.

 

ETA: After wearing this a 3rd time I'm finally getting the dirt/moss note. It isn't as strong as in Zombi, which is too bad, but it's there. Perhaps it will intensify as the imp ages.

Edited February 3, 2006 by fiddlehead

[sideviewhotel]

At first swipe, this is all floral. As it dries, the incense comes up a bit and it mellows out.

 

Now that it's completely dry, it's all floral again. Yuck.

[amrita]

Wet, I think I smell an earthy blend of cherry, rose, and jasmine. As it dries, it starts wafting a "cherry candle" smell. Something about this reminds me of sweet and sour sauce (with florals). It's actually a really pretty and interesting smell, but I don't think it's for me.

[Sycorax]

A lovely frimp from lovelyza! Crossroads isn't the kind of oil that I'd normally give a go. I've been leery of dirt and mosses since I had a bad experience with Jazz Funeral.

 

Surprisingly, however, the scent comes off as quite light in the vial. I had expected something overbearing. It seems like a very well-balanced blend, with no one note holding dominion over the rest.

 

Upon application, Crossroads turns into once of the nicest earthy scents that I've had the pleasure of trying. Ordinarily jasmine doesn't do much for me, but I think it works well with the dirt and moss. It takes five to ten minutes for the floral to come out. Once it does it lightens Crossroads up and keeps it from being too incensey.

 

Crossroads didn't blow me away, but I'll be keeping my imp around. I can see this one possibly growing on me.

Edited January 31, 2006 by Sycorax

[blu°]

Sniffing the wand of my imp, I get something that resembles Lush jasmine products. Rather Fairy Jasmine than Flying Fox. Maybe Sex Bomb. It's mixed with herbs and something dusty-woody, though.

 

After application: Hmmmm... incensey jasmine. Very warm, complex, sparkling. There's structure in this, like smoke and dewdrops or something like that. The flowers are getting a sharp edge now. It winds up into a gardenia heavyness and sweetness, that I do not like too much. I rarely am alright with gardenia in strong doses. I'm still positive, though, that this will disappear on drydown. Hopefully. Right now, it doesn't look like it would. Will have to wait.

Just now, heavy honeyish-sweet flowers have taken over.

 

15 minutes: The waft of Crossroads is quite nice. Smoky, incensey, mossy. I think I officially am in love with moss. Sniffing my wrist, I still get that heavy, spicy gardenia winding up my sinuses. Nevertheless, something about the waft is indeed extremely delicious. Probably the combination of moss and incense and those florals. I don't really get the loamy dirt or anything Graveyard Dirt alike from it. I'm wondering how Crossroads might work diluted with jojoba. Maybe that would mellow the sharp gardenia a bit.

 

Drying this gets a lot more pleasant just as I had thought it would. After initial skin contact it warmthens and gets stronger, but then shortly afterwards it turns softer again, the earthy and smokey notes take over and it turns into something definitely wearable.

A very soft, slightly sweet, smokey-dreamy floral. And it is similar to Sex Bomb somehow. Definitely nice. Strangely, my left wrist seems to smell less floral than my right one.

 

The scent if sniffed from 1-2 centimetres distance from the spot where I put it, now is just gorgeous. Very bewitching, seductive and dreamy.

 

I really like this and will definitely keep it. Will have to try more to decide upon a possible bottle purchase. However, I can very well imagine myself feeling roundabout well wearing this more often.

 

Comparing my impressions with some of the other reviews, this scent seems to be so very different depending on individual scent perception and skin compatibility issues. I'm amazed by that.

As an example: On me this isn't a cool scent at all. I rather get the sunbaked earth feeling some other reviewers described. Very warm and sunny. The earth is not wet nor is anything about the scent aquatic on me. It's dusty and dry and sunny with the flowers completely dissolved and intermingled with the incense and herbs.

 

ETA: about nine hours later:

 

This reminds me of two other BPAL blends, Greed and Oneiroi.

 

It most resembles Greed when dry, because then the moss, which renders that sunbaked earth feeling, is the most prominent.

 

Now, I just reapplied over the rest of the former application which was still noticeable, and immediately thought of Oneiroi. That pleasant strangely fiery scent in it, like burnt sweet wood or sweet herby incense smoldering.

Edited February 6, 2006 by blu°

[jewelbug]

Imp: Strong heady floral. Is there jasmine? My nemesis, oh no….

 

Wet: Fumey flowers with a dusty dirt tone to it. Deeper, there is a cloying sweet floral, but it's masked for now under the dry dust.

 

Drying: This has a very earthy tone. Like dirt blowing in the wind, dank mosses hanging from trees and a strong floral. I still think the floral is jasmine like, which is bad for me. It's luckily not going catpee, but it's enough to turn me off. Something is almost…mildewy.

I spoke too soon. Within 15 mins, it's mildewy catpee. My skin has a way of distorting jasmine to very bad things. I think the earthy notes are actually intriguing, and I love Beth's earth notes in other blends I've tried. But this one goes bad jasmine on me. This jasmine isn't as bad as some, though. I actually DON'T feel the need to scrub my arm, so I'm sticking it out….

Late drydown: (3 hrs or so) This has faded to a sweet perfumey, slightly mildewy floral (at least the catpee went away). Oh, and there IS a touch of incense (unburned).

 

Overall: Ah well, some things are not meant to be. And for me, those things usually are my-skin+jasmine. Ah well, I tried. I enjoyed the dusty earth notes. I didn’t enjoy the bad jasmine. To the swaps.

[concrescence]

i really like this one. it started very floral, a kind of tropical or southern kind of floral, but has dried down to a nice herby, floral, incensey smell. the incense and herbs really ground the scent, and make it more mysterious and complicated. i can definitely see buying a bottle of this at some point

[Heretic]

In the vial: Floral, not sharp, slightly sweet.

 

On my wrist, wet: Yes! This is one of Beth's earthy, dirty florals that I love so well. I smell rose and something green blossoming in there.

 

After 20 minutes: This is fine and wonderful. I can pick out rose and dirt, as in my beloved Zombi, plus soft, mossy and incense notes that round out the fragrance. I'm thinking there is a more complex floral note than just plain rose (lily, perhaps?), but Beth's roses and I are so in love, it's what I smell first and foremost.

 

After an hour: I have yet to smell the jasmine that everyone is talking about, and jasmine is anathema for me-- it amps like mad on my skin and then it stinks. Crossroads smells like roses, and lilies, and magnolias behaving nicely in mossy dirt with a bit of incense wafting around. Very much like a less dirty Zombi. Deeelightful and bottle-worthy.

[batsy]

In the bottle: overpowering flower incense.

 

On the skin: It's like the incense child of Bayou and New Orleans. Heavy florals for me that just... my sinuses are punishing me.