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Penance

Crossroads

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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.

 

this starts as a generic bright green almost minty fresh scent. 2-3 hours later it dries down to a heady floral where rose and jasmine are the dominant notes. the earth and moss appear at this point, deepening the florals into floral but with a little extra something. am not getting much of the incense unfortunately.

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Can it be? A Jasmine that works on me?! I like the smell of Jasmine, always have. But this is the first bpal with jasmine that has worked on me. 

 

Best way to describe this is a heady floral. It has a perfumey quality to it, like many scents with jasmine or opium seem too. But I'm digging it! This just might be the scent that turns me on to florals :)

Edited by ziggystardust13

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In the imp: Lots of flowers, dirt, and herbs.



Wet: The floral notes dominate. I think that jasmine is one of the floral notes. I am also getting the moss, incense, herbs, and some dirt, but it is predominantly floral on me, with the other notes lingering in the background.



Dry: This is still very floral on me, followed by the moss, incense, and herbs. The dirt is still present, but it is even lighter than it was before, so it fits the 'dry earth' note of the description.



Verdict: I guess I like my dirt scents with more dirt! The floral notes used in this aren't really 'me.' I prefer scents like Deep in Earth and Zombi.


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In the imp: Dark florals with a little incense.

 

Wet on my skin: This is nighttime flowers with a little incense and earth.

 

Dry: Doesn't really change from wet, except the flowers strengthen just a tad. Definitely jasmine, maybe lily of some sort, moss, and wet earth. It's actually a bit similar to Sheol, but not as strong and with fewer types of flowers. It's pretty, but unremarkable. Will try it again in a few months and see what it does.

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Wet, this is a heady floral with strong incense notes. As it dries, it stays mostly the same, but calms down and blends better. A thick, sticky floral blend. Not for me.

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Imp: Sweet floral.

 

On, Wet: JASMINE! Ugh. That's a lot of jasmine. Do not want. But I'm going to give it a chance since I just had such a weird morphing experience with Brisingamen and it turned out wonderful...

 

Dry: I get a little of the incense in there, but it's still jasmine, jasmine and more jasmine... maybe some lilly or gardenia in there. I don't really like those either... I wanted to smell this dirt smell! Where is the dirt?! This one is giving me a bit of the sniffles too, as some florals tend to. I think I'll give it a pass...

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This is a powerful scent (on me). I get the jasmine that others mentioned, as well as a strongly medicinal amber/patchouli mix and a bit of sandal wood or ylang-ylang in it--that sharp, woody, almost citrus bite. It's not bad, but just not as subtle as I'd like, based on the description. Heady.

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Crossroads imp

 

Wet/Bottle - Herbs, slightly floral but not sharp. Almost...apple? there's no apple note, but that's what I'm getting.

 

Wet/Skin (5 minutes) - Definitely more floral, but I can't pick any specific notes. A little dirt, but not enough for me. I'd probably layer this.

 

Dry/Skin (30 minutes) - Dry, sweet and floral but not white/sharp floral which is nice. The dirt is all but gone, but i SWEAR i still smell apple.

 

I tend to like my dirt blends with MORE dirt, but if layered this could be really nice. I'll keep the imp and see.

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Well, this confirms incense in anything is an automatic dislike for me - even with notes I like such as moss and dry earth. The drydown got more moss and dirt, but the throw was still incense for me.

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In the imp: Soft, lush nighttime flowers, primarily jasmine. And, yeah, I agree with LexieBlom; I would have sworn there's apple in here! I realize this sounds WAY too sweet, but there's something reining it all in - herbs, maybe? It's a dignified, almost austere take on florals right now. Here's to the next stage staying true to ITI!

 

Wet: A restrained, dignified jasmine still. Mostly jasmine goes very va-va-voom on me, but this is a jasmine that likes to play behind closed doors. Perhaps just the barest touch of moss (hey, that could be where I'm getting that refined, austere vibe), but no dirt or incense yet. This is actually a plus for me - dirt scents have never been my favorites, and incense tends to go A) strong and B) sour on me, but neither of these have happened yet.

 

Dry: I've been dragging my heels on trying this one - I've been drawn to warmer, amber and/or leather and/or vanilla and/or boozy scents while the weather is cold - but I'm sorry I did! Now it's soft jasmine, anchored by moss and/or (non-sour!) incense - delicate without being fragile, understated, and utterly lovely. Still no dirt anywhere, surprisingly.

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In the imp: sharp, sour soil note and florals.

 

Wet: Florals

 

Dry: I was going about my day and started getting wafts of white, powdery florals. Ick. I was hoping there weren't any, but they've made themselves known. It's not a bad scent close up on the wrist, it's just beautifully blended flowers and a hint of moss, but the whites are knocking me sick so it'll have to come off :(

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Pre-sniffing: I'm a little afraid of this one because of the dirt note listed. Lab dirt usually repels me. I'm bracing for this to send me fleeing, like Burial, Deep in Earth, and Zombi do. We'll see...

Wet on skin: There's the dirt! But the rest of my first impression is of dried flowers on mossy earth with mist drifting over it all. Then the "mist" turns to dust in my nose and I realize it's the incense. It still gives the impression of drifting over the rest of the scent on my skin -- I like the strong image I get from that.

Dry: The dirt has gone faint. This turns to a quite powdery-dry incense, and then a light and very powdery jasmine floral. Powdery isn't my best.

Not for me.

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Wet: Cat pee. So one of the florals in this is Jasmine, FYI. There's some dirt in there too, and other flowers..so cat pee in the garden. As the cat pee scent fades away (thank goodness!) this become deep and dark and mysterious. Really interesting. I'm actually starting to like it. I've never really liked a scent with jasmine in it before.

 

 

Dry: Well, the other notes that I was digging (earth, maybe some incense?) have faded, leaving me with jasmine again. And while it's not cat pee anymore, it's still just not good on me. *sigh*. This went through a phase that I loved - it was dark and brooding and magical. But that phase is gone, and now it's just jasmine. :(

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Imp: Deep Floral Incense
Wet on Me: Yuppers. Floral and Incense
Drying Down: really heady. Getting rose and incense. No herbs, no earth
Dry: This is dark but rose incense dark. I tried but it's not for me.

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At first I get a sweetish floral incense, it's a little dark and herby. Pretty sure of the jasmine. It stays roughly the same as it dries, getting less sweet and more mossy. A very nice staple incense.

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To me, this is a much more wearable version of Bayou. Whereas Bayou turns out thick and cloying on me, Crossroads is Bayou-lite. Much softer, and I feel like I can breathe when I'm wearing it. Still, I have to be in the mood to wear such an overtly floral scent. I get mostly rose and jasmine with some moss.

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I retested this today because I was surprised by how much I liked it the first time, and I wanted to see if that lasted. Sure enough, I still like it. Wet it's the lab dirt note with flowers and greenery, and as it dries down I get some of the incense along with what I think are roses and jasmine, and it's all beautiful and a little dark and mysterious but not as melancholy as Zombi, which I could only really imagine wearing to a funeral. This one would be good on a dreary day when curled up with a gothic novel.

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Date: April 2018

 

In the vial: A beautiful floral and incense blend. It remind me of the incense shops at Ren Faire.

 

 

Wet on Skin: There's a high floral that I'm not that into. There are bright, fresh florals. This is a little high on florals and feminine.

 

 

Dry 30+ mins: I think I can scent lilies and jasmine. There are too many florals and not enough incense for me.

 

 

Worn 3+ hours: During the dry down, the lily and jasmine come out more. There wasn't enough incense for me to really enjoy this blend. Good for floral lovers though.

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First sniff from the vial: Hmm. This smells interesting.

I'd dismissed it on the discription, but I will have to try it.

 

On first application, it's earthy and sweet.

On the immediate drydown it gets very sweet and flowery, but in a dark way, like a blooming garden at night time. The smell of earth is still strongly there on the background.

 

This smells like the perfume of a female magician doing her magic in a night garden, digging in the earth, surrounded with blossoms and herbs.

 

Not one I'll wear much, but one I'll keep for magical occasions.

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I rediscovered this one yesterday. I remembered it as night-blooming jasmine, and I was shocked when I got a rather strong dirt note. (I am not the greatest fan of dirt notes.) But when dry it really feels like nocturnal crossroads. I do not often get images with scents, but this one shows me a crossroads under a dark moonlit sky, the night is neither cold nor warm, there is moisture in the air and there are choices to be made (after all, these are crossroads). I have several imps of this. When those are gone, I think I'll get myself a bottle.

Edited by Zorra

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In the imp I get a lot of pale florals and cool mosses. It's a surprisingly heady mix, definitely a garden after sunset when the temperature drops and a bit of a chill runs down your spine. On my skin there are still a lot of florals and I can definitely identify the jasmine mentioned by previous reviewers. Also I think lilies? Lots of flowers and some sharp herbs want to fly straight to the moon. The moss holds things down to the chill, undisturbed earth. Long after it dries, the headiness of the florals fades and I get just a hint of soil. The throw is good, wear length medium, no incense to be found. 

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In the bottle: As described - it smells like a cold breeze in a creepy, magical place.

 

Wet on skin:  Much less breezy, closer to the ground in the same magical place, digging in the dirt, surrounded by the herbs, moss & flowers.

 

Dry on skin:  Earthy & herby & magic, with just a hint of floral - so pretty & yet rather creepy!

 

After a few hours:  Herby incense. Very pretty.

 

Verdict: Not an everyday perfume because incense can be a bit strong on me, but very pretty! Definitely one that’ll get used a fair bit.

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This is all floral on me, mostly jasmine with a cloud of generic creamy whites. My skin completely eats all the other notes, though there is the barest hint of a tickle from the dirt and incense that are allegedly in there somewhere.

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