Zombi

[Ghost of a Rose]

Dried roses, rose leaf, Spanish moss, oakmoss and deep brown earth.

 

In the imp: Oil is clear and a medium-bright pinkish yellow in color. Just for the first second I could smell a little rose, then it became all rich, fresh, potting soil.

On me, wet: On me the rose is slightly more noticeable, and it is indeed a dry rose, without the strength of a fresh rose. The earth dominates it, as does a secondary herbal green note - the moss, no doubt. This is a perfect realization of the concept.

After 10 minutes: The rose has faded even more into the background.

After 20 minutes: The rose is virtually gone. The earth and moss notes remain the same, with the earth note taking center stage.

After 30 minutes: Now the herbal green note has become equal to the earth note and they are in a nice balance.

After 1 hour: Same as above, now mild and delicate.

After 2 hours: No further change in the fragrance, but now faint.

After 3 hours: Almost completely gone.


Verdict: Earthy, green, fresh and cool, this is a great scent for hot weather. The scent stays quite consistent, with the changes I've mentioned being very subtle. The rose is barely there - I would have preferred more, and I know I would really love this layered with a touch of something like Rose Red. That would probably smell very much like The Queen's Croquet Ground (BPTP Atmospheric Spray), which makes me swoon with ecstasy.

My rating: 4 stars

(Edited to correct a typo)

[84trillion]

I did not smell the roses in this at all - or I am so not used to dried roses/rose leaf that I didn't recognize them. This is a scent that will be AMAZING on my significant other, though.

[sth0]

Wet: This smells SO rosy and mossy when wet. As it dries on the skin, the sharper green notes that were present fade into the background. The oakmoss dominates. The rose wilts and fades.

 

I think if you layered this with a strong, bold rose scent (not a fresh rose scent) that it would help to dampen the oakmoss and Spanish moss a bit. The mosses dominate so much that there is not even a hint of dirt from the wet state and the roses are clobbered to death. After awhile, I don't even smell dried roses very easily.

 

It could also be that I am incredibly devoted to rose as a note (in every form) and the oakmoss, such a bully, will not let the rose dominate. My chemistry amps rose up and it is not amping it up very much. Without the dirt element, this reminds me of helping my grandma make dried flower arrangements. She used a lot of Spanish moss and a rose fragrance spray to make the fake flowers smell alive but it did little to persuade.

 

Sadly, this is how I feel about Zombi; great concept but with my chemistry it is more like a zombie pretending to be human a la the movie My Boyfriend's Back than a romantic fantasy of a graveside resurrection. I expected so much more rose power! Darn chemistry.

[Quillifer]

I put off trying this for ages because - oddly enough, it has so many of my favourite notes in it, I was just sure I'd love it, and it didn't have any "I wonder?" element to it. And now I've got my imp, and have worn it several times, but it turns out I don't particularly like it. I prefer my earth notes to be a bit sharper, colder, less - well, less rosey apparently! There's a sort of dank murk to this that suits the concept brilliantly and tbh I don't like zombies.

 

My favourite fieldy/earthy outdoorsy scent is The Potter's Field.

[yakiguri]

Wet, Zombi is all dirt, but rose makes her dominance known as the blend dries. I never really get any mossiness, which is a shame since oakmoss is one of my favorite notes. An interesting blend I'm glad I got to try once but not anything I see myself wearing ever again.

[Dani87]

Imps: oh no I am getting the pine sol smell I got from burial

 

First on: still pine sol

 

wet: pine sol went away pretty quickly yay! It still smells very clean though.

 

Dry down: I do smell roses but they are not dry, they are drooping dying roses and very sweet. still smells very clean too.

 

Dry: the roses become dryer, and I get a somewhat dusty smell, but still clean.

 

Overall: I didn't get any of the dirt, or moss I love the labs dirt note, so I was a little disappointed, and it was not what I expected at all. I do still like it though, and will probably layer it with deep in earth, or destroying angel next time to get more of a dirt smell.

[Angel Spirit Girl]

Urgh! I do not like the soil note in this scent.

 

However, it fades after about half an hour and leaves the nice rose note alone.

 

I don't want to go through all that just to get the rose note, though.

[Missy_killer]

To my nose: Straight up soapy roses and lemon. I ALWAYS get lemon with my roses. Why do roses smell like lemons? Why?! I do not understand it!

 

On: Zombi starts off just like in the imp, but after about half a minute it gets harsher and the lemon gets bitter and sharp. It doesn't take too long before it mellows out again though, and when it does it smells very close to the "Fainting Couch" atmo spray from BPTP. I really though that the dirt would be more in-your-face and very prominent, but so far I haven't catched a single whiff of it. Odd.

 

An hour later and there's still no dirt here. I'm surprised but happy about it!

[child of drought]

In the bottle: …leaf litter and wilting roses. There is literally no other description I can think for it than that. It’s earthy.

 

On wet: Wow incredible change, it’s now fresh roses with musk and something I can only describe as a spice shop.

 

On dry: It’s now sharp and earthy with just an undercurrent of the rose, it’s the moss-y scents that seem to dominate this dry for me.

[elinox]

First Sniff: Tomato leaf?

 

Initial Wet Application: Rose is the initial thing I sniff once it’s applied to my wrists and it’s very feminine and delicate.

 

Beginning Dry Down (first 15 minutes) & Dry: This is really light on me so I just know it’s going to fade away into nothingness. It’s pleasant, if faint, and is definitely a gentle and dainty smell. Once this dried completely it was just rose with rose leaf.

 

My Reaction: Since my go-to for roses is The Rose, I was hoping to get a more earthy smell from this one. The rose is pleasant, but too light, so since it’s so faint I won’t be keeping this one.

 

Rating: 1

[EricthoDesalamander]

I have to agree with other posters that this scent is remineiscent of soil - fresh soil, that is. To be honest, on my skin it smells like a combination of fresh soil and wet funeral flowers.

 

The rose starts to make more of an appearance as it starts to dry down, but it maintains that freshly-turned-earth scent throughout. It reminded of The Reaper and the Flowers, but wit a more mossy - instead of a detergent-like - scent.

 

I don't think that I would buy a full bottle, but I would happily use the imp every once in a while to switch it up every now and then.

[ringmaster-red]

In the bottle: the earth and soil after a rainfall

 

Wet: Still the earth and soil after a rainfall. Very clean and earthy. I quite like it. Average throw. After a few minutes, it goes a little laundry detergent.

 

Dry: It’s just cleaning product rain and 0% soil. I like how it smells in the beginning, but now I’m disappointed. Oh well.

[brilliantcat]

Imp: Freshly turned soil and dry, dessicated rose petals.

 

Wet: Dust and dirt. An abandoned grave with dead roses. Miss Havisham's house. This is so evocative! I am transported to a place of nightmares.

 

Dry: Cloying roses and soil. Crazy interesting but not for me, thanks rose!

[vthesiren]

I knew I would love this from the description, and I was not wrong. Freshly-turned soil, moss, and rose petals strewn about. Love.

[Zii]

On me this is a dupe for Graveyard Dirt, which is NOT a complaint! It's the spicy dirt note that I love, sweetened just a little by the rose.

[mistri]

For me this is lots of rose in the bottle, then rose and dirt and moss when freshly applied.

 

The rose quickly damps down and is overtaken by the earthy dirt. It's a nice kind of dirt.

 

Unfortunately this faded even further on me. I would be tempted anyway, but I already have Penny Dreadful which gives me a sort of gingery dirt smell plus perfume, and I don't need two so closely related.

[Deliciousness]

In the imp: Florals, with a touch of something cold and raw, maybe dirt?

Wet on skin: The rose comes forward, but there is a bitterness contained amongst the sweet rose fragrance.

Drydown: Rose with what I'm assuming is oak moss.

 

This was an interesting blend for me. I'm not too sure I liked it, but I was compelled to continually sniff my arm. The rose is fresh and green, but there is also a background note, and I'm thinking it's the oak moss, that went somewhat alkaline and bitter. I think Zombi was quite strong and I had wish I had actually put on a little less - the smell was making me uneasy. I think I would rather have this as a room scent than a "perfume", it that makes any sense.

[Cazzadeathgirl]

got as an imp from my recent order....so, I own deep in earth and wanted to see the difference between them

 

In imp- a clear oil, on opening it's all earth! which is similar to deep in earth but the throw is slightly less on this 1, the rose is a fair bit more gentle as well.

 

Wet on skin- yet more earth with some dead roses coming through (I love dead roses, more so than the living- talk about morbid lol)

 

Dry on skin- not too much change really...the earth turns a more "ruddy" sort of scent, the throw is pretty small which I don't mind too much (not everyone likes to smell earth) it sweetens up slightly too

 

Overall- I LOVE this one! this will be replacing my deep in earth until it starts behaving itself (see deep in earth post)

[mymymai]

ITI: Holy heavy roses, Batman. We are talking rose garden amount with a bit of dried green and earth under. Interesting.

 

Wet: Roses, roses everywhere - dried and very dark red petals strewn on fresh soil with a bit of damp moss underneath. Surprisingly good.

 

Dry: It's much more earthy when dried, but the smell of dried red rose petals and rose leaves is still very much what define the scent. It's nice, but not something I'd reach for on a regular basis.

[batsy]

In the vial: Dirt, oakmoss, with a tiny hint of rose.

 

On the skin: decidedly a "brown" scent, the dirt isn't totally overpowering. I think I mostly get both mosses and dirt; I wish the rose had come forth more after dry down. Does evoke graveyards and New Orleans in my mind. This is a morpher for sure. Think I'll keep the imp.

[kitsch]

This is by far my signature scent. If Beth could continue making this until I die, that would be just great.

 

In the bottle: dirt, dirt and more dirt. A little tang in the background.

 

Wet: Strong, black dirt with a hint of roses.

 

Dry: HNNNGHHHH!!! Yesssssss! Everything comes together and I can't stop sticking my head inside my shirt to smell my cleavage. Humid (I don't know how humid became a smell, and not a feeling, but damn it, it's a smell now, ok?), turned earth and dried roses. Not that fresh, almost juicy smell of a fresh rose. This is a soft dry rose without going powdery. The soil note reminds me of when I left a bag of potting soil and compost slightly open in my yard and it had rained over night. The next morning I opened the bag and scooped some out for my planters with my bare hands and the sun had heated up the soil to this warmed, humid loveliness that you could feel and it stuck to my hands.

 

The scent lasts for hours and hours. It makes me feel sexy and spooky as hell. I want to bathe in a tub full of it. Gimme, gimme, gimme.

Edited November 14, 2014 by kitsch

[ModderRhu]

I definitely smell the "dried" aspect of rose in this perfume. that and the oakmoss are pretty much all I smell. maybe a tiny bit of dirt. it's a really calming, true to life smell. almost like a forest.

[keltiejean]

All dirt, and a tinge of something rotting in the back. Good lord. While interesting and a fun expire cd, this is so not for me.

[MautheDestroyer]

Freshly applied: Just wonderful! It's the smell of funeral roses and salty tears long withered and dried, with the earth somehow still freshly turned and the moss inundating the cemetery air, wet and rendolent with decay. It's wonderful, just wonderful!

 

Drydown: The roses are really coming out...they're not fresh and powdery, but dry and almost stately: it reminds me of a Victorian countess' funeral photo. The earthiness promises what will soon come- the fresh turned loam and the yawning depth in the grave.

 

Later: It fades quickly on my skin, a dead leaf and petal smell. I can still smell it strongly in my hair, though.

 

Overall- wonderful, just as described. Will definitely keep ordering more!

[lady_pandora]

I've been irrationally scared of the dirt scents. But when a frimp of Zombi arrived, and when another forumite mentioned it as refreshing and springy, I decided to give it a shot.

 

It starts out a sour rose for the first minute or two. I say sour rose, but I don't mean that in a bad way; I'm just trying (badly) to express that it's less sweet than, say, Roses, Pearls, and Diamonds, which I'd been wearing earlier in the day. The dirt note comes in quickly to complement it. The dirt is kind of an undertone; if you weren't looking for it, you might just think it was a rose scent. As the hours go by, the rose mellows out to a softer rose, and the dirt stays. How do they get perfume to smell like dirt? It's a nice dirt, too; the overall effect is like being in a rose garden with the soil moist and fertile, or based on the name, I suppose it could be funeral flowers at a fresh grave. It made me feel grounded and ready for spring.