The Twisted Oak Tree

[sarada]

Blackened, rotted oak wood blanketed in moss and choked by a cloak of grasping ivy.

My reputation precedes me, as a lot of people guessed this one would be in my order! I'm not sure if this is different from the version I smelled at Will Call but it definitely fits the bill for a scorched tree scent. It is different enough from the other woody blends that I've tried so far this year to set it apart in its own perfect little blackened, damp alcove.

First, the label: love blue labels! A beautiful dark midnight blue scene complete with bats. Oh how I love twisted trees. It is a different sort of smoky, blackened wood from that which we smell in some other burnt wood blends -- it is not the smoke of Brimstone or Djinn, for example. It is not the smoky gunpowder burn of Agnes Nutter or Bonfire Night. It is more like a trunk where the fire was long ago extinguished, and it is now damp, rotted and caked with moss.

It also reminds me of a darker cousin of October, with the crackle of dusty dried leaves and the refreshing blast of autumn air. The ivy is surprisingly strong in this as it dries. A crisp, green almost watery flourish of ivy growing out of the charred trunk. Ivy fans would do well to try this out, and wait for the initial smoky wood to dissipate to get the full effect of ivy. ETA: Fans of the Black Tower take note, this is similar in tone when it dries down, without the wine note.

I'm still waiting for the longterm drydown on this, I'm just testing it quickly out of excitement. This year's crop of woody autumn scents is everything I could wish for.

[fiddlehead]

Hmm. I got this hoping that it would smell like a real oak tree, moss and bark with a bit of greenery. Something like Zombi, perhaps, but with ivy instead of rose. It was not to be. On me, this turns to a very perfume-y green Ivy scent. I left it on for ages hoping something else would peek out but it stayed just the same.

[aine]

Wood, moss and ivy. Heaven.

 

The Twisted Oak Tree is an outstanding fragrance and I'm going to have to find room for it in my Top Ten LE list. It is everything I hoped for and more, an uncluttered spectrum of browns and greens. Unspoiled by fruit notes, or floral notes or sweet notes. I don't even detect a smoke note, just dry brown wood with soft moss and a lush surge of life from the ivy. So unique, but too natural to be 'unusual'.

 

Perfect. Must buy more.

[jolarocknrolla]

wow, this is really unique. Wet, it smells like a light, sweet smokey inscense. I get very little "green" at the onset. The moss/ivy comes out later in a really lovely robust way though and it has a slight sweetness to it (non-foody, non-floral) that is really unusual and beautiful. This is definately one that you need to try on yourself though, a must for fans of the "wood" notes.

[CiCi]

When I first applied this, I did get a whiff of rotted wood, but after it started to dry down, I could actually smell burnt wood, which I love. I grew up in a remote area in Minnesota where you burned your own trash in burn barrels, and I have always loved the smell of smokey burned wood and debris that was left over. After half an hour, out comes the ivy, which again takes me back to the 40 acres of gullies and trees that I grew up on. If you haven't purchased it, you must give it a try! It is just delightful!

[Tramp]

So many things going on with this - and it is one of those super well blended releases that makes it hard to pin notes down. Ivy, wet ivy. A whiff of burning/charred wood, green moss, and the perfume of the forest at night. Another amazing creation.

[funkmoppet]

Oh, I am a happy green fan, I am!

 

The big dark burst of oak and deep, deep moss when wet is so magnificent and lush. It starts with a face-full of wet, ancient forest, and slowly drifts back into the sweet smell of ivy and the distant breath of charred wood.

 

The dry is just glorious! A beautiful, beautiful wood blend that's dark green, damp and cool. So evocative, and so wonderful!

 

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Bitter, green, and wood notes.

 

Immediately on skin: This is very dry and green. The scent is sharp and wafting, and smells like dark, dry, dead wood and bitter green cut stems oozing noxious sap. It doesn’t smell bad, but that is the feeling I get from the scent.

 

After a few minutes: Oh. My. Goodness. This is GORGEOUS now! The scent morphed and the bitter note is completely gone. It’s green, mossy, and so intoxicating. There’s a note to it that’s almost aquatic, and the ivy is a very light fresh green scent. The blackened oak wood is still there, but blends beautifully with the fresh green note. It’s sweet, but only slightly so in a watery and cool sort of way.

 

Overall Impressions: Even if you don’t like green or tree scents, try this on out for sure. It may be scary at first, but it morphs beautifully. It’s a gorgeous aquatic filled with lush moss, deep green ivy, and dark wood. It’s very intoxicating and my favorite of the Haunted House scents.

Edited October 18, 2007 by Delirium1009

[portalkat]

I was confused when I first sniffed my arm because I couldn't remember what I had applied on that hand. It was a bit aquatic and sweet and green and then I realized that it was the ivy in the Twisted Oak Tree. I smell the wood strongest when wet, then somewhere in the background after it dries. The ivy continues to be the strongest note on me. I had thought that there would be a bit heavier wood note, but this is really nice.

[grifyn_whiffs]

The Haunted House blends have me so excited. Even the ones I don't want to smell on ME, necessarily, I still want to smell just to ratchet up my excitement for Halloween and scary stories.

 

What I get is burnt wood, initially... OLD burnt wood. The moss and green ivy come out to play after a minute... there's something slithering and green about that fresh vegetation note. Brrr!

 

And while I initially thought, "not ON me", this one settles into a chilling, brisk little scent -- woods, greens and smoke, a potentially masculine blend, but it makes me feel like I'm in the woods on my grandmother's farm, out toward the edge of the acreage where we weren't supposed to go, as lured there by my older, wicked cousin. Oh, I love it! This blend is gorgeous, scary and so much fun.

 

On me, this dries down to something beautifully mossy, with a touch of woodsmoke in the back, but the "rot" is long gone.... moss is not a note I would have thought "worked" for me, but this one does. It's wonderful!

[alicia_stardust]

THE TWISTED OAK TREE

 

Wet: In the bottle this smells incredibly green, ivy-like, and mossy. There's a dark bite to it that I have a feeling will come out strongly on my skin once I apply it.

 

Dry on Skin: For the first few minutes I smell the blackened, rotting oak. It has an almost sinister quality to it; it is sharp and has a bite to it. It almost reminds me of strong black pepper, the kind that makes you have to sneeze. The peppery quality fades off shortly and the ivy comes out in full force. It's incredibly green and twisting and the moss is a perfect addition to that. The ivy is crisp and watery and it rides out the remainder of the scent as the blackened, rotting oak slowly fades into obscurity.

 

I love the spooky atmosphere of all of these Haunted House blends!

[crimescenecleanup]

In the bottle: Ivy!

 

On the skin: The note that comes to the forefront is ivy - this is the really gutsy, true ivy note that's in Black tower, with out the metallic notes I have trouble with in Black Tower. Mmmm. It realy does smell like a fresh green ivy patch with little clusters of white flowers shooting up.

 

The background is incredibly fresh and green. Exactly like an oak tree. The bark, the leaves, snapped stems - it's amazing how the lab manages to bottle what smells like a fresh, living plant.

 

The combination of the oak tree notes and the ivy is stimulating and clean - Like the leaves were just washed with rain. It'd make a great refresher scent after a long day at work, kind of a wake-up call.

 

I don't get any of the burnt notes or "old" woody notes that others are getting. But then again, blends like Djinn and Incantation never turn dark or burnt on me, either. The "burnt wood" note turns to fresh linen spray. Yeah, I know, I'm a freak.

 

Of course, the dark greenery also add an element of mystery - it's like wandering through a fantastic wood.

 

The drydown after a few hours fades the ivy and develops a gentle, resinous sap note that I can't identify but it melds perfectly with the oak leaves and bark, and thgere's something golden in there, too, that reminds me of caramel and amber.

 

I've been looking for a perfect forest scent since I first discovered BPAL, and this is it. Finally, I smell just like a tree and can run around pretending I'm a dryad when no one is looking.

 

er, you guys didn't hear that.

Edited September 29, 2007 by crimescenecleanup

[CrazyPretzel]

I guess I've really got a thing for mossy scents, because this is the latest in a slew of BPAL moss scents that I've just gone wild for!

 

In the decant: green, woody, spicy, unisex.

 

Wet on me: damp earth a la Shanghai Tunnel or Singing Moon and a very refreshing green note. What a combo, dirt + super clean!

 

After five minutes: Still a happy combination of two opposite but complementary scents: rich, warm, almost spicy earth and crisp, cool, wet green leaves.

 

Drydown: A green earthy scent uninterrupted by florals. Very reminiscent of Singing Moon, one of my all-time faves.

 

Unisex, attractive and mysterious. Wonderful!

[Finny]

This smells like Burial without the juniper berry notes.

 

This blend is a fresh, damp, green, tree scent. No pine, just very green. A hint of aquatic note, almost herbal smelling. I love it.

 

The Estate Collection gets a 7 out of 7 for wear-ability. I wanted the bottles anyway, but I am so happy I can wear them all too! Fantastic Job on these!

Edited September 29, 2007 by Finny

[requieminblack]

Wet on my skin this smells like a Christmas tree. After a few minutes the earthy dirt comes out. I want to say this has that plant smell to it like a nursery/plant store. :sniff: yep, smells like a nursery. Musty dirt, green plants and..more green plants. As it fades the dirt goes away and I can detect a hint of a faint soft floral.

[edenssixthday]

The Twisted Oak Tree - This is totally different than what I expected. Use the word "rotted" in a scent description and of course, my brain interprets that as "decaying corpse" or something equally grody. This is not really my type of fragrance, but it's still not bad at all! It's mostly a sweet moss scent on me with a hint of wood in the background and a lovely layer of ivy and a pinch of dirt. I do wish there were more ivy used in BPAL blends because it's a gorgeous, green note. This has an average level of throw and staying power on me. I imagine people who are drawn to earthy/mossy type scents will eat this one up.

[flyingpizza]

Wow, this one was quite a surprise for me! After reacting very negatively to the aquatic/ozone tang of October, I feared this one would be headache-inducing as well. Not true! This starts off with a very true damp tree note then morphs into a burnt, but not smokey, wood. It settles down with a hint of a salty aquatic-ness and a sweet scent somewhere in between floral and foody. It's so hard for me to describe this one, but it's really a surprise winner!

[Babylon]

Very unique! Twisted Oak Tree smells like rotting wood - that earthy, damp smell of a tree decaying outside - soft moss, and green and faintly sweet ivy. This is a somber scent without any liveliness at all, and it's great. Like the Forbidding Foyer, I don't know if I'd wear this often as a perfume, but it's so evocative of its respective part of a haunted house that I can't help but love it.

[Blood onmy hands]

In the decant vial this is high pitched and sharply herbal with a cold mix of medicinal menthol.

 

On my skin, The Twisted Oak Tree reminds me a bit of Hurricane at first. It has a bit of powdery-sweet earthiness mixed with something like fruity berries as the undertone. The drydown of this is really strange on me though. I love woodsy scents and ivy and I can find neither of those things in this blend. I find myself wondering if I've got the same blend everyone else does.

 

I accidentally rubbed some menthol-vaseline-lip balm on my hands a while ago (thought it was my cuticle butter) and this smells just like that unpleasant experience before going oddly smoky to my nose. After 5 minutes on my skin I thought that this smelled like menthol and a dirty ash tray (smoky, dirty, and not-good). My boy said he didn't get the ash tray comparison, but that it just smelled like "vaporub" to him.

 

This will be making its way to the swap pile for me, it definitely doesn't agree with my skin or my nose.

[filigree_shadow]

I really like the Lab's oak and I was hoping I'd like this. The ivy's a little too strong in it for me to like it, though. It doesn't smell very mossy; mostly like dry wood and ivy. Except there's something really sweet in it, which is I guess the "decaying" part.

 

Interesting scent, but it's not for me.

[Medici]

In the imp: A fruity sort of oak, slightly on the dank side.

 

Wet: Oak and ivy, and a lovely hint of masculine moss that I quite enjoy. There’s something almost fruity about the blend on whole – a green, juicy papaya sort of fruityness that makes it almost tropical.

 

Drydown: Hot damn, that’s good stuff! I love ivy, and I love moss, and I love the fact that my chemistry sweetens the wood in this blend to give it a dark, sultry sort of edge.

 

Verdict: Getting a bottle.

[Eemia]

This is so beautiful and thrilling.

 

It's like a pitch black perfume, sharp and dark. The green is such a deep green. It doesn't smell grassy or juicy or even fresh. More like lush green plants that have been frozen with a thin layer of ice, turning them black and preventing them from wilting or browning. The wood is just a faint tone around the edges---almost sweet and very subtle. The dirt appears as it dries down. It's a little musty and still sweet.

 

I love the bleakness of this. For me it's a classic.

[annwfyn]

I don't think this oak tree is rotting. I can definitely smell the moss and the ivy, but it's more the nice sweet green scent of winter weeds growing in the crisp chill air. It reminded me incredibly strongly of a long walk I took in Cornwall last Christmas, when I went out prospecting for winter greenery to wrap around a Christmas stick. I wound up bounding through the woods, picking up holly and ivy, scrambling halfway up trees, and coming back muddy and moss covered.

 

I wear this, and I feel like I'm outdoors, and everything's alive.

 

I've found a replacement for the gorgeousness that was BPAL Dublin. It's fresh, it's clean and it's lovely. It's a little like Spider ought to have been as well. I suspect others may not like it so much - on me it hovers just on the right side of 'mild green fairy liquid' and I suspect it won't last long without a little bit of topping up, but I adore it.

[JennyGardener]

Very green, mixed in with the pungency of punky wood. There's a sour note that came out on Faerygirl at one point, but it was more muted on me. After drydown, there's a soft and almost smoky woodiness that is barely detectable. This oak tree isn't scary, it's just old. It's been home to lots of animals and there are probably many childhood memories about its trunk and ancient branches. It's very nice. It is, indeed, very tree-like. Anyone looking for an Ent perfume should definitely check this one out.

[penemuel]

This is a fantastic dark green, woody scent. I imagine walking through the deep, dark woods, no sunlight getting through the leaves, just dark green everywhere. The branches and trunks are gnarled and ivy-wrapped, and the whole thing would be scary if it weren't so beautiful...

 

If anyone has seen Tonari No Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro), this is the woods that the huge Totoro lives in...

 

I think I have to buy a bottle of this one.

Edited October 18, 2007 by penemuel