Crossroads

[mountainwitch]

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.

I was hoping for moss--I usually like moss--and the incense, herbs, and all of the other dark and mysterious things a Crossroads would promise. I get . . . Jasmine. A darker-edged jasmine than the other two blends I've tried recently (Nyx and Twilight) but certainly similar enough. OK, skin, I get it . . . You like jasmine, and if jasmine comes over to play, no matter who else is in the party, you're going to spend ALL your time with her.

[Miseraya]

In the imp: Mmm... this smells like Zombi! I love Zombi!

 

On the wrist: Oh this smells so good. I'm not getting any of the incense, but I definitely get the mossy, dirty smell of Zombi in this, with less florals to get in the way..... I may need a bottle of this...

 

About an hour later: Bugger. Turned into incense powder on me.

 

Off to the swaps.

[lunareclipse]

Can't believe I haven't reviewed this one yet...

 

In the imp: green and smoky, maybe a little floral

 

Wet: Similar: dusty and smoky and mossy/herbal, with a sweet floral note (jasmine?)

 

Drydown: the sweet floral - yeah, that's jasmine - comes forward, but is balanced by the acrid tang of smoke. The mosses and herbs have faded away, more's the pity. It's still a beautiful, complex, and vaguely unsettling blend.

[porcelain72]

In the bottle: dirty hippie!

 

Initial application: dirty hippie!

 

Drydown: kind of flowery, kind of soapy. It's fading fast, which is surprising given the intensity of the scent upon initial app. I thought I'd smell this hanging around me all day. The interesting thing is, on my left wrist I smell flowers, and on the right incense.

 

The verdict: don't know about this one. It's…nice, but I'm still getting a feel on what scents suit me, and I'm not sure if this one works. I might be willing to give it another try, but if someone requests it for a swap I wouldn't mind giving it up either.

 

EDIT: Upon reapplication, this is growing on me. It's still a bit stronger than I'd like (my eyes actually watered a little!) but I think I may get used to it.

Edited August 2, 2006 by porcelain72

[sofiaviolet]

In the imp, this is very incensey. On my skin, it becomes kind of stale. I guess my chemistry didn't like it, because it doesn't seem to like most of the darker incense blends. Oh well.

[audesapere]

In Imp: Wet earth, spices

 

Wet-Spicy for about three seconds. Then earth, which literally smells like death on me. Oh, bloody hell.

 

That's as far as I got. My quixotic quest to prove that soil can so work on me continues.

[ND¢]

In the bottle: Definitely the garden of blooms and not the dry earth or mosses.

 

On my skin: I almost didn't put it on due to my disaffinity with floral scents. The herbs have a slight presence, making it not purely floral. It smells like jasmine, I think? With something organic and dark (the mosses and herbs maybe struggling to come out from behind the jasmine?) Enough to give it a darker tone than some of my other floral scent reviews (Thalia, Languor) but richer than Dragon's Bone, which also smelled floral on me. Given the reviews on the forum, I think I'm in the minority in not reacting as expected with this one. I thought it'd be less bloom and more... the rest of it.

[blackfelicula]

In the bottle: At first sniff, this reminds me of Muse, perhaps a little sweeter. It is floral to my nose, but not one that will put me off from trying the imp.

 

Wet: This blend hums. I’d call it a green scent. I can detect something dusty and dry on the undertone. It’s still registering as a floral to me, though herbal notes are in there as well.

 

Drying down: There’s a pungent sharpness to this blend that’s still reminding me of Muse. This is a mixed blessing. I have a bottle of Muse on the way. On the other hand, if I already love one of them, I’m less likely to buy another so similar to me. The differences are subtle to me. Perhaps I should try them side by side on another day.

 

Dry: The sharpness is less citrus-y than Muse’s lime, I think. The floral notes have taken a back seat. It’s still humming with a sense of power. If I had to make a comparison, I’d say that the floral/herbal part of this is reminiscent of Leanan Sidhe. As usual for me, the character of the scent varies with distance. With my nose glued to my wrist the sharper notes take over. Sitting up straight while typing, the floral/herbal notes round it out more.

 

Later: I took an in-the-bottle whiff of Muse for the sake of comparison. Muse is definitely brighter; Crossroads is much darker. Crossroads got much dustier after an hour or so. The down side is that the florals went soapy for a time before the dry earthiness took over. Once it goes dusty, it heartily invokes the image of sunset over a dirt or gravel crossroads in the middle of nowhere, marked only by a desiccated corpse dangling from a makeshift gallows and the distant call of crows.

[Diva Urd]

In the imp, this mainly smells of incense and different floral notes that I have the feeling I should be able to recognize, but can't identify.

 

On me, I also get the florals and the incense, maybe a tiny bit of moss every once in a while, but no earth. I think someone further up called this "Hobbit head shop smell", and I think this is quite accurate.

 

Crossroads has a lot of "oomph" on me, I'm gonna have to apply it sparingly. The floral notes are interesting - they seem like blooms on the edge of decay in a hot, humid wind, but not really ready to die just yet. The incense give the florals an almost ethereal quality.

 

It's a quite interesting scent. I'm gonna have to test it some more before I decide on whether I want more of it, but I do like it so far.

[QueenFae]

This is lovely! I first notice the bounty of creeping florals that shade the top of this scent with dark, night skies. I think I detect some night blooming jasmine and lotus. This is a many layered scent, and on the next sniff I notice the incensey, slight smoky note. It is very dark and creeping as well. There is a dry moss undertone, that gives this blend an earthiness, and makes it slightly masculine to me. Just lovely on everyone!

[tinyvulture]

florals (jasmine?) and herbs. the incense, earth and moss are not making their presence felt very much at all. i’m generally not a big fan of floral and herbal scents, so i just feel kind of “meh” about this. i do like jasmine sometimes, but here it goes all soapy. my husband, however, finds it really sexy, so maybe my nose is wonky today.

[zombiegrrl]

I realize that Crossroads' description specifically mentions earth, and that could work, but on me it is the *main* smell. So I smell like dirt. And quite a bit like an actual zombie kitty might. This is not a good thing --- though it could be quite effective as an olfactory addition to a zombie costume for Halloween. Hmmmmm....

[forspecial_plate]

Dang...on me this is all floral (jasmine?). Where is all the good stuff everyone else is getting? I'd be happy for some earth and incense. Moss? Nope. Nothing and I mean nothing but sweet, deep flowers. Reminds me of jasmine with a hint of rose or some other flower. Don't get me wrong it smells good, just not my thing usually. This is better off with someone else.

[Jia]

Yep, there's Jasmine in here. Which means, *wham!*, it comes to the forefront, dominates all the other notes, and then turnes to powder. Funfun. *swaps*

[yeahbutnobut]

Crossroads

 

In the imp: JASMINE! yup, one of those twilit blooms is jasmine…maybe honeysuckle. This reminds me of Luna and New Orleans.

Wet on skin: I immediately smell the dry earth-so different to the wet soil notes, this is gritty and dusty. I also smell some herbs and something peppery.

Dry on skin: jasmine and dry, dusty earth, a hint of something sharply green and cold, a little hint of resin, some herbs. Dirty jasmine. What an unusual scent, but I do like it. It reminds me of another jasmine scent, and I can also smell lilac in here. It's like fragrant flowers scattered over dry soil with herbs (sage and thyme maybe?), there's also some moss, and something which smells cold and almost dewy…a very intriguing combination. I hope this jasmine doesn't turn sour after an hour (that rhymes!)

After a while: yeah, the jasmine does go a little bit oily-smelling here, the drydown is an odd scent of greenish jasmine, moss, dust and an odd oily note.

The green, olive like scent I get here grows and becomes a little rancid over time. not so keen on this now.

However, after about 4 hours, this changes for the better. I get something almost like violet, and the jasmine sweetens, loses that oily scent a little, and though the scent is gritty and scrubby close to my wrist, the throw it has is sugared powdered jasmine, which is very pretty.

Verdict: this jasmine-centred scent is like a dirtier New Orleans without the spiced lemons, like dirtier Luna without the almond, and even has a hint of something Melisande like about it, maybe it has violet. It's a scent of dirt-covered jasmine with a weird mashed together collection of oily green notes on top of dry, gritty soil and moss. It's a very unusual fragrance, and I quite like it at first. I'm not keen on the dry, sharp, olive like green scent I get at times though, but the soft sweet jasmine throw is quite lovely. I don't think I'll keep it-it's not one of the nicer jasmine scents on me, I have others I much prefer.

Emoticon rating:

If you like this, try: New Orleans, Luna, The Moon, Twilight

Edited September 28, 2006 by yeahbutnobut

[Medox]

Just like flowers blooming from the earth. It starts as soil, then dries into a strong bouquet.

[storme]

In the imp: uh-oh, jasmine. And incense and much earth, but mostly, ew, jasmine.

 

On me, wet: dark loamy earth and dusty moss and cloyingly heavy jasmine over it all.

 

On me, dry: there's that soapy jasmine thing, heavy over pure dirt and moss. It's like someone scattered soap samples on a grave.

 

Verdict: Oh, I think not. It's not actually nasty, I note - the dirt and the soap balance out quite well - but it's really not my thing.

[nancybridget]

Green, yet perfumey. A pungent, herbal mix with a jasmine ending.

[steffanina]

Crossroads-

 

In Bottle: A very pleasant moist earth-and-loam smell.

 

Wet: Earth with strong florals. Smells a little rose-y.

 

Dry: Not as pretty as Zombi for me; it goes a little sour. And not nearly as delicious as The Premature Burial. I have to wash this off, already able to smell the sour floral here. The earth smell disappears, too.

 

Overall: Not for me.

[mooncityminx]

In the imp: a floral and dirt

 

Wet: Wow, strong floral. A little bit of something that reminds me of bubble gum. But mostly floral. Hopefully it will calm down soon and I will be able to identify it.

 

Dry: Still getting a very strong mixed floral. From the other reviews I gather that this is more of a skin chemistry issue than anything else. Oh well. Swaps.

[Medici]

In the Imp: Slightly herbal floral, slightly musky with a little bip of something sweet.

 

Wet: Wow. There's dirt in this? Where? I get no raw earth! I get a nicely grounded floral, a little damp moss. "Earthen" is a good way to describe it, but I can't pick off the dirt note directly. Nice.

 

Drydown: Jasmine steps out and smushes down everything else. It was peeking through earlier on and sweetening things up, but in the end it dominates and kills the richness I was digging in the onset.

 

Verdict: Not my cuppa.

[slave1]

CROSSROADS

 

In Bottle: Sweet florals and earth

 

On Skin: This is a very unique scent, the dominant note I can’t pin down! It’s sweet yet slightly pickley. I also get a “Zombi” feel from this right away and I’m thinking that’s because of the earth and moss. There is a cold feel, maybe one of the herbs is mint? It really is a nice refreshing chill. The sweet note is really racking my brain… what is it!?!? It’s a bit bubblegummy so maybe lotus? The sweet note is what makes this scent for me since I’m generally not into earthy or mossy blends. As the scent develops I smell jasmine and the incense is lightly spicy… a very sweet spice but it does make the scent quite powdery. This is such a neat scent, I will keep the imp for sure. Light to medium throw, short to average wearlength.

[amyberries]

In bottle: That same strange scent I associate with something of my Grandmother's, however, there's a fresher tone than in Darkness, which is nice - that'd be the herbs and mosses, then. Good, I was hoping I'd smell those.

 

Wet on skin: Immediately lighter, but somehow musty. Quite a crisp tone now, with herby-lemony undertones. There's a nice light floral suggestion there, too, just on the top. Getting the incensy note, too.

 

Dried down: Ha, I know what that reminds me of - magnolia. It's floral, but not sweet, due to the musky/musty base, but balanced out by the freshness. Might be the narcissus - I smelled that in Darkness, so it should be. Not my thing, evidently. Sadly the herbal note has diminished as the floral developed, but it's still not too girly. After a while it softens rather nicely, blending the notes and lessening that ozone-y layer. It's fairly feminine, mixed like this, but not too sweet still, which is good.

 

Decision: Hmm. Undecided. Sent it to a friend, instead, since she wanted to try it, and I wasn't keen.

[outofrhyme]

In the bottle:

Florals, herbs. Green, pungent, sharp, acrid.

 

Wet:

Predominantly herby. It's still green, pungent and sharp, but something in it is warmer. I get a whiff of the incense, too.

 

Dry down:

Still very herby. Almost medicinal, but not so much so that I would give it that label. I can definitely pick out the incense, too, and maybe a hint of florals. Not really getting very much "earth."

 

Later:

Umm... starting to get funky and more astringent. Probably my chemistry.

 

Final thoughts:

The description actually fits very well (except for the "dark" part), but not in the way that I expected. Reminds me of walking through classical ruins - it feels sunny, somehow, or maybe I've stepped into the shade of a dark building but it's sunny outside, and the plants outside are foreign to me but I can smell them, heated by the sun, their perfume wafting in the windows. Not sure how much I would wear it (especially with the getting funky after awhile), but I'm glad I tried it.

[Jishin]

This is all jasmine on me. Sigh. Oh well. The description was really cool, but I didn't realize the florals would be that heavy.