Ol' Roswell Cemetery

[eoifemacbeth]

A blend of native Georgian flowers, graveyard dirt and loam.

I've never started a review thread before. I hope I do this right!


I skin-tested Ol' Roswell Cemetery beside Graveyard Dirt 2008, to compare dirt notes.

In the bottles, it is DEFINITELY the same dirt note---ORC has sweet flowers lying just under the grave loam and of course GD is straight up earth.

The second ORC touches my skin, it's all about those flowers. They really are sweet, almost---lemony? The dirt is still there, which is awesome, and that amazing metallic tang in GD is starting to come out underneath the flowers.

Oh. Oh, my god, they smell a little bit like... I will absolutely flip my shit if that is daphne odora, because that's really what I'm smelling here. I'm smelling daphne odora. I'M SMELLING DAPHNE ODORA IN A PERFUME, YOU GUYS! Holy crap, maybe my decision to buy two bottles wasn't unfounded... except now I'm not sure I'll be swapping one of them as previously planned. I'm totally layering this like crazy with my Graveyard Dirt.

It's throwing very high and clear, but not frantically like a lot of florals do on me. Huffing it, the dirt and flowers are perfectly balanced, and it is so completely, perfectly like this beautiful graveyard on St. Simon's Island that I am actually wishing it were spring RITE NAO so I could wear this tomorrow. (And I never wish it was spring. Too much sun, yo.)

God, it's awesome. to Beth, for real.


(...so how'd I do? )

[hopeinfreefall]

This blend totally surprised me. In the bottle, I was trying not to make ewie faces as I sniffed it. It smelled like ighy wet dirt. I almost just recapped the bottle and moved on; however, I am was being a Bold and Daring Sniffer tonight, so I put on a teeny bit. Wet on my skin, I was still not enamored, though it did smell markedly better than my initial impression in the bottle. After sniffing ORC, I moved on to add other scents to the numbered spots on my arms, and after a few, I'd sniff all the spots again. It was really a fun game and Ol' Roswell Cemetery became an intriguing part of it because every time I sniffed it, I smelled something different.

 

Sometimes, I would catch whiffs of faint florals floating in the air. Other times, I would catch the more earthy resonances that are very much alive in the blend. Still others, I would notice something that seemed completely outside of the blend only to realize that it was simply another layer to the overall picture. I ended up buying two bottles of this one because I was completely fascinated by it and hope it continues to do neat and interesting things in the future.

 

I think what I found most interesting was that the way the blend seemed to take on some of the personality of the area it was named from. After all, Roswell is full of all kinds of history and color and different things meeting in sometimes interesting combinations. There is a lot to explore in Roswell and I kept finding new and interesting bits in the Ol' Roswell Cemetery blend. I truly think this is one of my more surprising BPAL finds because going into it, I was aiming to buy it more for the "Woohoo my first Will Call" novelty than for thinking I would love the scent. Turns out, I get all of the Woot! First Will Call! Squee! AND a totally cool, surprising BPAL find!

[MaidMirawyn]

I can't believe it took so long for someone to start a thread; I looked for one when I got home, but wasn't willing to be a thread starter!

 

In the bottle, all I got was dirt.

 

But on the skin? The first few minutes were mostly dirt, but then it changed. The florals came out, but they aren't cloying. It's light, with the earthy support from the dirt note. I can't single out individual flowers, but that suits the blend. It's not like the Roswell Cemetery is a neatly planted garden with carefully tended beds kept within borders!

 

Even this morning, I can catch whiffs of it from its spot in the crook of my elbow! Wish I had bought two bottles.

 

I'm so grateful to Lisa, Beth, and everyone else at the Lab and Lisa's store for their hard work in giving us such a wonderful Will Call scent and experience!

[naeelah]

Wet, it's almost all pungent dirt. It's about half sour graveyard dirt (the same note as in Zombi), half fresh, loamy potting soil. Buried deep are flowers.

 

As it dries, the sourness of the graveyard dirt gradually blends in. The tang never goes away, but on my skin, the loam becomes more prominent. Little by little, the flowers take over the loam (on my skin). I still can't identify all of them, but they're rich, thick florals. I'm sure there's magnolia but I couldn't say what else.

 

It really does smell like gardening time in the summer. The moist soil and lush flowers give the scent a heavy, damp character, like summer humidity. (It lightens up a little as it wears, becoming a bit cooler.) The sour, metallic tang of the dirt reminds me not so much of graves but of red clay, which as anyone who's been to the south knows, is like 99% of the ground here (I might be exaggerating, but not by much). Anyone who has gardened here has probably spent time churning up clay and blending loam into it, trying to create an environment where anything will grow. And every house I've lived in has had a magnolia tree, jasmine on the porch [1], and wild honeysuckle growing on the fence, so this scent is just like tilling soil in the back yard.

 

It doesn't last incredibly long, on my skin. The dirt fades in about an hour, and the flowers become much more muted after 2-3, but linger for most of the day.

 

[1] Well, we got rid of the jasmine vine after it got so huge that a possum family moved in. Drove the dogs nuts. Now we have some enormous trumpet lilies in its place. They bloom at night and the scent is so strong that it carries across the yard. The floral bouquet in this reminds me of them.

Edited February 10, 2009 by naeelah

[Aoibheann]

How exciting for Georgia to have her own scent!!

 

In the bottle: very, very earthy. Just upturned dirt... I have been digging in the garden. Strong, like it's all under my fingernails. Very moist. Then, I smell the neighborhood flowers on the breeze.

 

On: At first, still lots of dirt, but the flowers come out to play very quickly. It still smelled like I have been out digging and had that dirt on my hands all the time, but after a while the dirt began to fade and the florals became much more concentrated.

 

After an hour: All flowers, all the time.

 

 

[kinbote]

This scent starts almost all earthy and ends up almost all florals on me, too. Unfortunately I think it's all white florals, which smell like evil antiseptic once they hit my skin! After 4 hours or so it mellowed to something softer and graveyard-breezy, but for me it's not worth the in-between reign of moustache-twisting acidity.

 

I think this blend would be perfect for anyone who wants to love Zombi but can't because rose goes terribly for them. I'm glad to hear it's found some good homes!

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

Graveyard Dirt is one of my two most favourite BPAL scents...and i love obscure flowers. and wildflowers. and i was SO freakin' excited about this scent!

when i first tested it last night, i thought it smelled an awful lot like Penny Dreadful... but a little cleaner maybe? there's something in Penny Dreadful that makes me think of rust, and this doesn't have that.

i can definitely get the clean, pretty dirt scent that i love from Graveyard Dirt, but it almost smells like it has a touch of Zombi in there, too. but it keeps changing! constant morpher, this one!

overall: love. total love. dirt and the wildflowers i grew up with.

[lupidog]

Sniffed from the bottle and just going on, this smells totally of dirt (think Zombi). As it dries, flowers start to peek through... This really smells like rural GA on a hot spring or summer day. Eventually the dirt note fades to a very quiet whisper and it is all the light florals. They are light and sparkling but very sweet. Totally dry is my favorite stage. I am passing along my bottles to others and there is a tinge of regret in my heart. Not too much though, because the dirt note lasts just a LITTLE too long for my preference. I think dirt lovers are really going to dig this! Yes, I said dig. Like in the dirt. *slaps forehead*

[catatonic1242]

I wanted to love this, because this was my first Will-Call. Unfortunately, it's just not working for me.

 

In the bottle: Flowers and a vague twinge of Halls cough drops. I don't smell any dirt at all.

 

On, wet: Blooms left to rot in the vase.

 

On, dry: Grandmother's house.

 

Oh, well. I can't win them all, but I'm glad it works for some of you!

[tajana]

Weee! I'm so glad I got to try some of this!

 

Wet on the skin, I get wet dirt. Not as fungal as the one in Graveyard Dirt, more like the dirt I get in Penny Dreadful. The flowers pop up out of it very quickly. There's something sour in a tangy candy sort of way about this, and I think it must be coming from one of the flowers. And there are lots of them! I think I can smell honeysuckle, but I can't be sure, I'm absolutely terrible at identifying most floral notes, there are about five that I can pick out accurately. The florals here are light and sweet, and even though this is named after a cemetery there's nothing somber about it. As far as dirty florals go, I found Crossroads to be much, much, much darker and reminiscent of the night. Ol' Roswell Cemetery, on the other hand, is bright and fresh and reminds me of mid-morning, when there might be a little bit of dew still left on all the petals. It's really pretty as far as florals go, and I'm usually not a floral kind of girl! The dirt note acts as a base to the blanket of flowers, though, it's not as prominent and loamy as I would personally have liked. Still, this is surprisingly pretty! Unlike a lot of pale florals, is NOT soapy at all.

 

I am not sure yet what the ultimate fate of my decant will be. I like it more than a little bit, but it does not last very long on my skin before it turns into a faint, light bouquet of gentle florals. Right now I'm really tempted to layer with Graveyard Dirt!

[Skirt]

In the bottle, it's lemony flowers and not much else. Wet, it smells like a softer, more mellow version of the flowers in "Burial." Five minutes after drydown, it's dirt, glorious dirt, with soft flowers under it. Ten minutes later, it alternates between pure dirt and dirt with flowers. The flowers, while overpowering at first, quickly fall into the background and aren't cloying at all. I'm not a floral person, yet I always amp them, so this is a pleasant surprise that my skin is only softly expressing these. Yay!

[angelicruin]

Sniffing the bottle it has a very fresh, almost citrusy scent.

 

Once applied to skin though, there is no mistaking it's dirt. A very rich potting soil. Reminds me of early spring when I'm tilling the garden soil before planting flowers.

 

As it dries, I do get a bit of that citrus tang scent again, though it's layered deep below the dirt note.

Edited February 27, 2009 by angelicruin

[zankoku_zen]

I do smell some of the dirt in the vial, but not when I apply it. On me, rose has always been a dominant note. And here it's a very lemony, citrus rose. It's kinda soapy.

 

I'm glad I got to try it... and even happier it didn't work out.

[savage_rose]

In the bottle, I just smell wet dirt. Dirt with that metallic "wet" scent, like the ground right aftera good, strong summer rain. On, the florals immediately pop out...they smell like bright, blooming hothouse flowers. But instead of taking over the blend, they settle down into the dirt. It's just a perfectly balanced floral-dirt scent...perfect throw, it lasts a long time.

 

I'm normally "can take it or leave it" with dirt notes, but I love this. It's just perfect. And although I've only been to the old Roswell cemeteries in the Fall, I'm going to have to go back in Spring and see if they smell this good! I doubt it .

Edited March 5, 2009 by savage_rose

[femmefatale]

I am not a floral person, but I love this. The flowers and dirt are perfectly balanced. This really does remind me of a garden in the south. Not so much on a humid, hot day, but more in the evening or a spring day when it's not oppresively hot yet, but warm. Everything is growing and fresh and new.

Very pretty!

[Blood onmy hands]

In the bottle, this reminds me of Jazz Funeral. Definitely black dirt and perfumey southern flowers with hints of sour moss. On my skin, the scent is much the same, but gets a bit brighter, warmer, and more moss-y smelling, sort of like Bayou with more of a black dirt note. It also reminds me of The Premature Burial a bit. It's a humid southern floral with black dirt and sour moss thrown in. The drydown is prettier and less earthy (but still heavy on the moss), a little sweet and more rose-like on my skin (like a sweet yellow rose).

 

The overall blend might be a little too bright and sour for me to wear a lot, but I can still see myself reaching for this from time to time.

Edited September 21, 2010 by Little Bird

[gangstaknitta]

My father was kind enough to schlep to Harry's for will call and snag me some ORC.

 

This is exactly what I was expecting it to be...magnolias and dirt, springtime in Georgia. Definitely the same dirt as Graveyard Dirt (another of my faves) to my nose. Wet, it smells like moist, freshly overturned dirt, with a slightly sweet/slightly musky floral in the background. When it dries, it is the perfect balance of earth and floral. I normally don't like florals, but this one doesn't make my nose tingle (also has great staying power!). I used to blend GD and Kindly Moon together for a similar effect...for comparison, ORC is similar, but the florals aren't as sweet. I really hope that ORC becomes available again, because I will snatch it UP.

[topaz]

Hmmm, this one is interesting. In the bottle and throughout most of the past 2.5 hours, there is an almost sour tang. It isn't a nasty sour smell, just different. It's been so long since I've been through Georgia, I can't remember if this is what the dirt smells like. The tang mixes with some crushed flower petals but I can't pick out any one of the notes. This does have serious throw and every time I move, I get a whiff of that tang.

 

I'm not sure I'll reach for this one often but I will reach for it.

[msbcozad]

Ol' Roswell Cemetery

 

Yep, it's dirt. But... ooh, those flowers are awfully nice. There's a rose in there that's like a Crabtree & Evelyn rose (which works on me). This isn't something I'd wear often, but I'm VERY happy with my half imp.

[Lamia]

I applied this unsniffed.

 

Fresh on skin, it reeked of moldy dirt. No, that's not quite right. It was wet earth, and moldy flowers. Yes.

 

Extraordinary! The flowers managed to be rotting without being repulsive, crying softly "it's not our fault we were put down here in the dark airless grave!" while the dirt snickered and loomed around.

 

During drydown, the flowers sprang up defiantly, drying off and becoming soft, shooing the damp rot away.

 

Regretfully, this is a quick fade, leaving a faint residue of a magnolia-esque floral on skin, no dirt to be found.

 

Thanks, Hlinspjalda, for the decant!

[crebbsgirl]

This was a really wonderful dirt scent. I'm not really one for those, but this was just stunningly evocative. If it hadn't been so floral, I think I might have gone and tried to hunt down a bottle. As it stands though, there is a predominant floral overtone to this blend that makes it not so swoon-worthy for me. Penny Dreadful remains my favourite dirt scent.

[Monster]

In the vial: Floral notes mixed with dirt and possibly citrus?

 

Wet: Really sweet smelling flowers (almost fruity!), blended with dirt. There's definitley rose in this, but it's not overwhelming, just enough. The floral notes definitley overpower the dirt note in this one...however I don't find the huge bouquet that's in this to be obnoxious at all!

 

Dry: A few sweet herbal notes are coming through, lots of plants and live things in this...it's very complex and pretty. This doesn't smell somber to me at all. After about an hour the rose is more predominant.

 

Verdict: This doesn't smell like a funeral to me at all. This reminds me of a peacful spring day, sitting in the graveyard with a book and just enjoying the peace and quiet (in my case,only spot in my town where I can actually have peace and quiet and enjoy the outdoors all at the same time!)

I really love this one. Ol' Roswell Cemetary surprised me like Springtime in Arkham...a very floral blend that I keep finding myself going back to. A winner for sure!

[boxinghelena]

I'm a girl who loves dirt scents. This is just that, lovely lovely loam on me. It is wonderful on me!

[jewelbug]

 

This test was courtesy of a MnS skin test—thank’s Lamia! I am always impressed with BPAL's dirt note, and have been jonesing to give this one a whirl!

 

Wet: This was all damp dirt and sweet florals—sweet roses and magnolias, maybe?

 

Dry: The dirt dissipates quickly on me, and I’m left with a sweet floral—clean and sweet, like gentle roses and magnolias. This phase sorta smells like the fresh green floral I get from the Queen Croquet Ground BPTP spray. This faded pretty quickly, maybe 3-4hrs or so.

 

Overall: So glad I got to try it, and a wonderful dirt note as always, but since it didn't stick around and turned into a simple floral (i'm not a floral gal), I feel comfortable not needing to hunt this one down.

 

[tragedy]

I knew I was going to love this wayyy before I managed to snag some.

And I was right!

Its a bright dirt.

The classic lab dirt (which I ADORE) with springy light flowers.

I love it just as I do all the lab dirts and will love my lil imp till it is no longer!