Crossroads

[oh_the_horror]

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.

In bottle: Sweet and floral. Something is kind of sharp and is telling me a floral note is going to turn nasty on me.

Wet and drying down: Ech, and there it is. Sharp, powdery floral irritating my poor nose. Where's my lovely oakmoss? Where are the herbs, dirt and incense? This is all floral on me. Several people have mentioned jasmine. It makes perfect sense since jasmine goes seriously nasty on me the second it touches my skin. This is awful.

Dry: Now it's just sort of a generic floral perfume that disagrees with me. If I try hard enough, I can maybe smell the other notes but I might just be imagining it. This sounded amazing and was a huge disappointment.

Note to self: Stay away from jasmine! Yuck.

[indicolite]

Wet: it doesn't smell like incense. It's been a long time since I've given incense a chance...maybe I'll like incense...

 

Dry: Nope, still hate incense.

[filigree_shadow]

I can't smell much incense over the moss/earth notes, but I can smell something floral. And the herbs. People who like those garden-like scents would probably like this. It reminds me a little bit of Jazz Funeral, but it's not humid like that one, it's drier.

 

These types of scents hardly ever work for me -- adding herbs to a mossy scent was like the kiss of death. Poor Crossroads never stood a chance with me. The only part of the description that sounded good to me was the incense, and I can't really smell any.

[hipslike___cinderella]

Freebie from the lab.

 

Mmm! I like this. Moss, flowers, herbs. I picture blue colored flowers... yes, definately a blue/green scent. Twilit garden, indeed.

Once it's on my skin... oh Lord, JUMPING florals. This must definitely be jasmine. Maybe a magnolia? The mossy notes recede into a trace. This flowers are sweet and sour. I can note the incense... myrrh?

Overall, this ends up as strong florals; a pretty floral, but probably only for those who LOVE florals. I wish the moss and incense notes stuck around longer. Take it or leave it, to me.

[bexone]

In the imp: floral -- light but not pale -- with an underpinning of something dark and dry.

 

Wet: JASMINE! No, seriously, all I can smell is the jasmine, and it's pretty much standing on a chair and screaming at the top of its lungs. I love jasmine as an environmental scent, and I don't mind it on me if it's tempered with something, but by itself it's aggravating my latent headache.

 

Drying: After about 15 minutes, this turns into JASMINE! with a base note of stale movie theater popcorn. Absolutely not for me.

 

(Note: this is persistent -- after three washings with two different soaps, I can still smell it -- but it's finally settled into a gentle enough floral that I could actually imagine wearing it. That seems like an awful lot of work just to smell pretty, though. )

 

I really, really wanted to like this for the name alone... but someday I will learn that Beth's "floral" and "bloom" scent bouquets just do not work with my skin. I might hang on to it and try it as a room scent or something.

[sd357]

Wet: damp incense and florals. Nice in the imp, ok on me.

 

Dry-down: more and more floral. This is a scrub-it-off-me-it's-making-me-sick-to-my-stomach sweet floral.

 

I didn't make it to dry. It amped up so strongly and sickeningly that I took lemon juice to it. Wow. Totally unexpected. I'd love to know what note or notes ramped up like that.

[xoe]

ON me this turns into pure jasmine or gardenia or some other white flower. It's not what I expected at all. And not really what I like.

[Rainclaw]

A rich heavy floral that morphs into an incensy not on drydown... not seeing the mosses and dirt.. smells heavy and reminds me a great deal of darkness..

[jasmine]

Freshly applied, this has a lot of throw. It’s radiating through the room with a vengeance. It’s a narrow brownish-green smell to me, not perfumey, but suggesting the ghost of perfume... as if flowers have been and gone, rather than the scent at the center of their petals.

 

As time passes, this develops a freshness that I hadn’t expected. It’s still very greenish brown, with shadows in the scent, but it’s like the scent of wind roving over a dark plain... there are plants and dirt on the plain, yet the overwhelming scent is one of the wind.

 

After a while, the sense of wind fades away, and it’s the scent of a still night instead, though the air still suggests that loam has been turned and green things have sprouted not long ago. It’s not a cold scent at all -- it’s a living one, tingling faintly in the nose. The scent of lost flowers still lingers. Weirdly enough, there’s almost a hint of sassafras in it. I don’t know that I’ll wear this again, since it doesn’t really mesh with my moods or inclinations, but it was interesting.

[brownbear]

This starts out as dusty flowers, then changes to soft flowers. After a while it gets pretty sweet on my skin. Then it goes a little weird and pretty strong.

[Jaided]

Yuck! I hate this scent.

 

The combination of herbs, dirt and insense is really overpowering. On me at least, it's not a 'nice' perfume, I certainly wouldn't wear it outside!

 

There are floral notes in Crossroads but it is not a sweet scent, on me it smells horribly savoury and very, very strong. I'd imagine it working better on a guy, though.

 

Definitely one for the swaps!

[bryghtrose]

This was just my first impressions from an imp with just a sniffle in it: I just got a very brief floral that reminded me of lavendar and rosemary. It disappated very quickly. Disappointing.

 

In my last order I got a frimp of Crossroads from the lab, so I decided to try it (again?) to see if there was anything different. This time my first impression was of an herb boquuet--not a bouquet garni, but like walking into a greenhouse and just smelling green and leaves and earth. I'm still not sure if I like it. I need to try it again to see if it is something I could wear long-term.

Edited June 20, 2007 by bryghtrose

[porcelina]

dirt, herbs and flowers. like an herbal zombi, and not as good. this is dusty and gives me a headache!

[kwsix]

In the imp: Chilly blossoms and incense

 

Wet on my skin, the florals get sharper and the incense fades away. Theres's something dusty and a little earthy in the background.

 

As it dries, it becomes more herbal but it's still predominantly sharp cold flowers. I don't know if I'm imagining it, but I detect a slight chemical scent - kind of like perm solution. It isn't horrible on me, and this review is probably making it sound worse than it is. I actually liked it in the wet stage, when I could smell the incense and earth. But it becomes too overpoweringly floral for my liking. Lovers of chilly, waxy, white floral blends should try this one.

[waternight]

In the imp: Very incensey, with some dusty, earthy florals in the background.

Wet/Drydown: White florals and herbs. Ooo, and that mossy note is showing up. This is a dusty scent. It really does smell like I’m standing on a dirt road, with that dusty earth blowing around me and the wind bringing me whiffs of flowers. There’s incense here too. Very evocative of the description. I really like this one, it beckons the nose close to the skin. As it dries a bit more, I’m getting a bit more of a sharp, dried-herb note.

Dry: Dry, this is predominantly a white floral scent, with just a hint of sweet, smoky incense hiding underneath. It’s pretty, but it doesn’t grab me.

 

Strong throw, too.

[maribouquet]

imp: floral and herbal, reminds me a bit of Bayou

wet: whoa, dirt and moss, too!

dry: meh, I get a vaguely sour, mossy scent.

[funkmoppet]

Awww, no.

 

The burst of moss under the florals when wet is fleeting.

 

Drying down, the florals are really amping up and I'm not getting anything else. And the florals are really WAYYYYY

too floral for me.

 

Skin won't play nicely with Crossroads.

[euterpe414]

When this one's wet on my skin and in the imp, it is lovely; it's a mixture of jasmine, some other night blooming flowers, dirt and mosses. I can't really detect the incense very much in this one, it must be grounding the scent. Anyway...this one reminds me a lot in feel to the Caterpillar, but is going a little bit more soapy, unfortunately. Apparently whatever flowers are in this blend do not go well with the moss on my skin, because when this is fully dry it turns very dusty, sharp and soapy. Alas, Crossroads and I were not meant for each other!

Edited July 29, 2007 by euterpe414

[fiddlefox]

Nice and pretty, unfortunately the Jasmine is overtaking the moss and I'm getting a bittired of jasmine... loved the name too, oh well... maybe I'll try a scent locket of it once I get one.

[aquazoo]

Bowling Alley. A nice heavy tropical flower is coming up now. Then it’s a garden surrounded by those flowers and a breeze and a nice drink. Quite beautiful.

[aRaven]

Wow I thought I'd like this one, but it just did NOT work on me. It smelled really nice in the imp - strong, but earthy.

First Application:

OMG the smell was so strong I could actually taste it. And it wasn't pleasant - it was sort of acrid and sharp. After a few it was still strong, but then the florals came out and continued to assult my senses. ylang-ylang and jasmine seemed to permeate my nose. I actually washed this off and still could smell it.

 

I have an odd chemistry I suppose, but this did not work for me.

[Trish]

In the imp: Earthy (as in real earth!) yet with a touch of sweetness and light from the incense and herbs.

 

Wet: Woah the loam just disappeared instantly to be replaced by florals and sweetness.

 

Drydown: I'm getting more moss and herbs now, with just a touch of incense. But it's mainly a floral on me.

 

Dry: The dirt is re-emerging, damp sweet loam. Over it is a mass of blooms, sweet yet dark, and there's a touch of moss, herbs and incense underneath. I'm not a fan of florals, moss (except oakmoss) or dirt yet this is rather nice! I can pick out jasmine which I do like but doesn't always sit right on me, however in this it's more subdued and grounded and so works better. Except now my nose is starting to itch and I'm sneezing. That's the first time I've had that reaction to Bpal! Of course we're in the midst of hayfever seson here and I already have it.

 

Despite the sneezing (which passed quickly thankfully) and my dislike of most flowers, earth and moss I think I'll hang on to this imp for a bit. I do like it but I'm not sure if I'll wear it enough to make it worth keeping.

[The_Merf]

On me, Crossroads is so fresh that it is foul. Permit me to explain--the dirt/earth and herbal notes in this blend are very, very "new." They do a great job of calling to mind freshly upturned dirt that has bright blooms and wild-growing herbs jutting out of it. It's an interesting combination of artifice (how did the dirt get upturned) and uncontrolled growth (herbs mixing with flowers). However, the fresh quality of these notes does not mix well with the floral notes on my skin; it makes the floral notes smell almost like they got too wet or something and started to rot a bit. Some people like that touch to their scents, but it makes my stomach upset, so I'll have to pass on further testing with this blend.

[ranyart]

This was a freebie from the lab in my first order.

 

In the imp: I smell flowers and just a hint of wet dirt - I can't pick out individual floral notes but I do agree with earlier posters who noted jasmine. It's faint to my nose, though; there are other flowers at play here.

 

Wet: Immediately the wet earth jumps to the forefront. I absolutely love dirt as a note in fragrance, so this was pretty exciting. The incense began to emerge at this point, but that and the florals take a back seat to the beautiful, dark scent of upturned earth.

 

Dry: Once this dried, the wet earth disappeared almost completely and Crossroads settled into a light, barely floral incense. I like the end result, but I don't know if it's a good fit for me. I really wish the dirt would have stayed past the wet stage; that would have made this a definite keeper.

 

I don't know if I'll keep this one or swap it out. I'll probably try it one more time and decide then.

[lainevierge]

Eep. The description of this oil sounded so good when I was picking out imps, but in reality it's way too flowery for me. It's a bizarre kind of flowery though with a hint of funeral flowers and stagnant water. It reminds me a lot of the spring flower type perfumes my mom always wore like L'Air du Temps. They were pretty on her, but they're just not me.

 

Edited to add : This just turned putrid on me, as in well beyond stagnant water and into something like superstrength bug spray...

Edited November 27, 2007 by lainevierge