Rose Cross

[TeaLeaf]

A profound symbol of an individual’s personal initiatic process, spiritual refinement and evolution, synthesis, grace found as a result of trial and suffering, and the alchemical process by which we transform the raw essence of our souls through light in extension. This is a holy oil, a representation of the triumph of spirit over matter: purest rose with sacred frankincense.

This makes me feel like I am in huge rose garden that never ever ends. No matter how hard I try I just can't smell anything other then rose. My mother absolutely adores this one so it will be going to her.

[thelaurenator]

This is gorgeous. I LOVE frankincense. It's one resin that is light and pure, unlike many others. It has a very "clean" smell, despite being a resin.

 

Anyway, I also looooove rose, and this is white roses and frankincense. As the name would suggest, it is pure and angelic, almost ethereal. I can smell both notes equally.

 

Throw is quite good so far.

 

This is lovely, a keeper.

[carolinachiquita]

I love this one, on me it is a smokey and then sweet rose and then fades back into being a smokey rose again. I would buy a full bottle of this one, it's divine!

[lunaticana]

well, in the beginning there s a strong rose on my skin

later on the Frankincense comes over offcorse and it s not letting itself been chased off again

no, this is not something I like..

to bad, but enough other rose~scents around her for me to try!

[Argentwolf]

Auuuugh OMG!!!

 

Either I have only experienced very well-behaved, domesticated notes of rose before, or I just haven't had rose on my skin before. But this blend HATES me. And I hate it. From the second I opened the imp it was ROOOOOOOOSE, attacking my nostrils and pounding against my temples trying to give me a headache. And, wouldn't you know it, I not only amped it, but it lasted...all...day...long. Oh good Lord.

 

Near the end, it *did* morph into the sandalwood note, but it was far too little tempering, far too late. Aside from the very interesting morphing process, this blend holds no allure for me.

 

I will still have to experiment with rose a bit more to see if I just hate all roses, or if it's just certain blends. But I'm scared to.

[tacey]

Rose Cross

 

My first rose scent! My first impression was "rose powder", but with some thought, I can separate the rose from the frankincense and understand how that blend might seem powdery. It wasn't, I'm just new to all this.

 

It moved around a bit for the first hour or so, deciding how to balance the rose vs the frankincense, but once the argument settled nothing much changed. Short-lasting scent, although my first several oils have all been short, so maybe it's me -- basically gone by lunch.

 

After that hour of argument, I wasn't quite sure this was predominantly even a rose scent. There was a bit of a dusty edge, definitely with roses in the background, something a little purple to the front...greyish purple. Hazy. Think of clouds of incense in a church, only not smokey. I begin to see why so many people were calling it a spiritual rose, now. This is very prayerful. It rises above rose...

 

[if that description means anything at all to you, you've been sniffing the BPAL too long! But it's the best I can do.]

 

I don't think it's a "me" scent, but it's a fascinating introduction to the Lab's rose scents. Thank you, Beth.

[skepticism]

Vial: A Very clean, sharp rose with a hint of rosy sweetness

 

Wet: Frankincense is checking, downplaying the sweetness.

 

Dry: Way too sweet, no traces of frankincense at all.

 

Overall: Rose and frankincense are in my top five favorite scents, but despite my anticipation Rose Cross didn't do it for me. I loved the scent while wet and in the vial, but the drydown was way too sweet on my skin. This is the first rose blended oil I've tried from BPAL, so I'm going to have to pass on this and give the other roses a try. And as usual for me, I'm going to have to use my imp solely for oil burning.

[hlinspjalda]

In the vial: What is there to say? Rose, with an undercurrent of frankincense.

 

Wet: Really strong rose spike, with a sharpness underneath. Whew! The next 20 minutes are going to be intense

 

20 minutes: still rosy, but much more frankincense now. It smells like very strong incense.

 

One hour: much calmer now, more frankincense than rose. I like it, but it kind of makes me a bit dizzy when I snuffle at it.

 

Two hours: It's weird. Around my head I seem to have an aura of roses, but when I sniff my wrists all I get is frankincense.

 

All afternoon, every time I got warm, I'd smell roses around my head. At rest, or when sniffing my wrists, frankincense. That's kind of charming. Maybe that's what was happening with "Hymn" the other day, too: exercise makes me warm, the rose scent intensifies.

 

I bought a bottle of this.

[DarthArwen]

This was a frimp, I'm not much into florals and wouldn't have picked it.

 

It was rose soap on me. Very good, luxurious rose soap that I wish I could have given to my nana before she died. Unfortunately rose amps on my and it was just yelling ROSE IS HERE AGAIN!! and I don't even like rose very much.

[tehriaz]

what the hell?

 

I'm slathering myself in ROSE and FRANKINCENSE as we speak. hell must have frozen over.

 

these are two of my least favorite notes ever, that usually ruin blends for me. I only sniffed and tested this one to laff at the trainwreck. but WOW. this one just BLOOMS on my skin. it's so clean and comforting. I think maybe it reminds me of a box in my grandmother's house ten years ago.

 

this really is fantastic! might consider a bottle...

 

(what the HELL. I HATE rose and I HATE frankincense...)

[LadyLuckless]

I love roses and I love Rose Cross! The rose and frankincense mingle beautifully together to make a cloud of the most perfect rich and sweet rose incense. It's both grounding and uplifting, and would be a great go-to scent when I want to feel calm and in control, but still sharp. There's a bottle of this in my future!

[Gwydion]

In bottle: So much rose with some frankincense. Wet: The frankincense comes out a little more, but this is primarily a rose scent. Dry: Endless, endless rose with tons of throw.

[voodoocatwoman]

Interestingly enough, this scent smells exactly like Dove soap when it dries. Nothing more.

[kjirstiben]

This goes on 100% rose, a sharp, almost dried-petal rose, and quickly amps up to being a piercing dried rose.

 

After an hour, I still had a sharp (headache-inspiring, I feared), rose. At this point I thought there was no way I'd ever like this scent... it was one of the evil flowers on me. But at that point I started noticing some other notes emerging... some wood, and a sort of incensy backdrop. And then the screaming florals on top started calming down somewhat...

 

After another hour, and long after that, I had a mild, sweet, rose and wood scent that was quite lovely. What a difference from the first hour!

[oldgentleman]

I got Rose Cross as a frimp. I strongly dislike rose scents, and frankincense often does me wrong; but I tried it because the name was so compelling.

 

Imp: Fresh, crushed roses and rosewater. Pretty!

 

Wet on skin: It's fresh and it's very strong, but it's clean and natural: not stuffy or frumpy.

 

Dry down: The frankincense comes out and gentles the sheer, overwhelming rose-ness rising in billows from my wrist. Unfortunately, the frankincense has a bitter edge to it and the whole affair quickly ends up going sour. Literally. What's left of the rose scent is frighteningly old-ladyish.

 

30 minutes later, it's gone. Once again, my skin has chewed up another floral. Alas.

[milica]

beautiful rose, long lasting, fresh smelling, with a touch of frankincense, just enough for this not to be pure floral, but a bit dry, smokey and a tiny bit sweet scent. I love it!!!

[MCS4096]

In the Imp: Dried roses and frankincense, pretty simple! Its a little bit Catholic, a little bit underwear drawer sachet.

 

Wet: The frankincense amps some, it's resinous and spicy.

 

Dry: This is a nice simple combo, the throw is mostly roses, but smoky roses-- I wish there was a bit more frankincense but it's still nice.

[rayvn1]

On wet this was what I think of as BPAL's red or pink rose scent, as opposed to the Parliament of Foules or Moon Rose white rose scent. This kind is a little thicker and more cloying. Once this dries it is a thick, warm, spicy combination with the frankincense. Nice, but not one I'll reach for often.

[zankoku_zen]

Spicy resinous rose.... It's a straight up rose/frankincense blend.

 

Beautiful in it's simplicity and the frankincense does well to counterbalance the floralness of the rose.

[serafina pekkala]

Rose rose rose! Lovely wet petals of pale tea roses. I don't get any franckincense at all - it just goe powdery after a while. Still, a very beautiful rose oil. I get a bit of a sad vibe from this scent - but that may be just me.

[Ceisdein]

In the bottle: Dried roses and frankincense. It smells clean, and light and... well... wispy. Like thin smoke long after the incense is burned. Sunlight through stained glass. A pale, pale pink.

 

Wet: French rose soap. Different from the bottle to be sure but still okay.

 

Dry: Soap. Soapsoapsoap. Not even French soap, nope, plain old boring soap.

 

Overall: It was quite nice in the bottle, quite disappointing on me. I smell like I've been stoned with bars of Ivory.

[anna1850]

This started out OK but the rose turned very funny after about 30 minutes and ended up smelling like something I can't quite identify - kind of a cross between socks and lettuce.

 

It's not the same rose note as in Rose Red for example, or 2, 5 and 7. It's smells an awful lot like Hope to me as I had the same problem with that.

 

Anyway, whilst it's not truly terrible it's not something I'll be wearing again.

 

2/5 I like roses, just not this one.

[melrose]

Roses+Frankincense+melrose's skin chemistry=cough syrup.

 

Crap.

[angelicruin]

Sniffing the imp, it's lovely frankincense.

 

Wet on the skin, it's almost a balanced blend of rose and frankincense throw on my skin.

 

Dry on my skin, it's mostly tea rose with faint whiffs of frankincense. I like it, but not so much as to buy a bottle.

 

 

[Leopard403]

My skin amps all resins on my skin, so all I get here is smokey (and sometimes bitter? weird!) frankincense. No lovely rose to speak of.