The Twisted Oak Tree

[sedona]

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

Wow, this one was such a surprise!

I would never have ordered it myself as the description didn't appeal at all but the lovely evilmistressoftoast included it as a frimp in my Weenie decant circle order

Just to say that all the Weenies I've tried have either hated me with a passion or been very non descript and I didn't hold any hope for the poor old TOT when I applied it. Wrong.

This is just pure, dark, ancient forest without any hint of fir or cedar. It's sweet on me but with a slight touch of green bitterness to stop it being cloying. I wore this out in the garden today planting bulbs for spring and TOT smells exactly like the rich scent of damp soil as it is overturned.

Don't let the 'rotted' part put you off, this is really rather lovely

Edited to add lab description Edited October 21, 2007 by Shollin

[cranberry]

Hmm – this smells like wood and ivy most strongly. Moss is there in the background.

 

As it wears, the ivy gets stronger and stronger and I totally agree this is similar to the Black Tower, which I very much enjoy. I was expecting more dark wood from this scent rather than a predominantly ivy scent.

[melange]

While wet, Twisted Oak Tree smells exactly like its description. There's a rush of green and wood and ivy all over. When it recedes, I get more charred wood, followed by a cleaner greenness that reminds me of a very herbal, European soap I kept smelling and almost buying back about fifteen years ago... yet it's not soapy. Later on it gets more wood and perhaps a little resin, and in general it's very clean and shadowy-green. Perhaps it's the wood, but my skin gets along even better with the Twisted Oak Tree than with the Ghastly Garden.

Edited October 22, 2007 by melange

[Myotis]

I had been expecting more of a walk through the forest on a cool spring day sort of scent, but that isn't the case.

Despite it not being what I expected, I'm really enjoying this scent.

I think I'm getting mostly ivy and or moss coming through. No hint of wood at all.

It's refreshing on my skin, almost a cooling scent.

[euterpe414]

Surprisingly, on me this is mostly ivy with a bit of moss in the background. It's very cool, clean, and light as far as foresty scents go. I can smell a touch of the wood in the background which makes it a tiny bit smoky, but it never dominates. I really enjoy this one since I don't have too many scents with ivy in it (and ivy is such a gorgeous note!). Definitely a keeper, although I wish it lasts just a bit longer on my skin- perhaps this is one that's more suited for the locket.

[theseagrows]

this isn't what i expected at all. i expected more of a dirt-moss scent like zombi, but this is more green/ozoney and perfumey. i cant pick out any notes at all, i can just tell its perfumey. it's nice but not sure if its a keeper for me.

[suileach]

Yeurgh.. this is aquatic and perfumey on me..I daresay I almost smell like a wet dog.

 

I get a bit of smokiness as it dries and then I become 'smoky wet dog'.

 

...Man. Reading everyone else's reviews makes me feel as though I should give this another chance, but I'm not sure I'm up to it.

[jewelbug]

Imp: green, slightly spicy wooded scent

 

Wet: Sweet green scent, but oddly, its slightly creamy smelling to me. There is even a hint of something fruity in this...

 

Dry: Incredibly fresh, green woody scent with an unexpected sweetness. Not fruity...more like there's a bit of an aquatic in here lending that sweet cleanliness--maybe its the moss?

 

Overall: This is unexpectedly sweet, fresh and green smelling. It has a clean, aquatic quality to it that I really like. I'm considering a bottle, though I don't know how much wear it would get (not my usual scent genre). Lasts ~6hrs, pretty good throw.

[t_for_tau]

Damn, damn, damn.

 

Underneath, this scent is a wonderfully true dark woods scent, with a hint of creepy rot that's just perfumey enough. Unfortunately, on my skin this is overlaid with the strong smell of raw egg.

 

DO. NOT. WANT. I want that wonderful woods scent, but my skin just seems to make it turn to eggs. Off to swaps....

[DifferentDances]

Bottle: Okay, weird. This smells like freshly peeled carrots. O_o

Wet: Carrots with some crushed green weeds --the ivy?

Drydown: Whoa, this morphed. It's a very subtle woodsy scent with a very clean, soapy, green overtone.

Dry: All but gone.

 

My rating: 4/5. It's both an interesting experience and a lovely smell once it calms down. Not a two-bottle buy since it doesn't have great lasting power in its dry phase, but definitely a keeper.

[taramarie]

On me, The Twisted Oak Tree is green plants over burned wood. I didn't like it at first but it has grown on me. It's not something I'll wear often, but it'll be good for when summer is just turning to fall.

[PurringPulsar]

The Twisted Oak Tree

 

In the imp: a surprisingly sweet, almost minty-wintergreen scent of oak and moss and ivy.

Wet on skin: wintergreen or eucalyptus with deep green ivy and a hint of oak bark.

Dry on skin: ok, this is odd…but it's almost all wintergreen on me, with hints of pine and eucalyptus. It's the kind of mix of cold and evergreen notes that just about hints at snow and sleet, but is more of a cold rain scent, or maybe sleet. It is wet and chilly and green, and under that slashing rain, I smell the oak wood and it's bark. This is a dry, rough wood, a grey-green wood, with hints of moss and ivy. But the dominant note here is that cold, harsh wintergreen, which thankfully isn't as bitter as the one in Carpathian Mountains, but is almost reminiscent of it.

After a while: eventually this turns to pure wintergreen. Pure, piercing, cold and very medicinal, it overwhelms all the other notes-I still smell the greyish woodsy scent, but the more delicate mossy notes and hints of sweetness and ivy are smothered by the wintergreen.

Eventually, something unexpected happens. The wintergreen finally recedes (after at least two hours) and there's something oddly sweet. Now I wasn't expecting sweet, almost resinous notes here but that's exactly what I smell under the wintergreen, glazing the oak wood, and it's a kind of amber-like scent. Now I heart amber, this is reminiscent of that fantastic amber in the Emathides, and also the forest-amber nuances I got from Stranger in Camp. And that tempting, teasing glimpse of amber has me sniffing my arm continuously. Damn. I was going to trade this off…the wintergreen is still there but I can't resist the siren's call of amber.

Verdict: oh, this one has me torn! I really don't like the first few hours of wear-a harsh, medicinal, cold and bitter wintergreen scent. very little of the oak wood, the moss, the ivy…just loads of wintergreen that amps and takes over. It gives the impression of a hard frost on this twisted tree, but also has that intensely medicinal feel to it that makes me recoil. I think 'yes, this one's a swapper for sure'. But then after a few hours? I get amber? And that's a note I do love! And I can't stop sniffing myself. Ok, so what's it to be, keeper or swapper? I lean towards the latter because I just can't handle the first few hours of wear, even with that gorgeous amber drydown, it's not worth it.

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? not really.

If you like this, try: Hamadryad, Carpathian Mountains, Pumpkin 5 (05 and 05), Ulalume, Talvikuu

[blu°]

This has a bit too much of ivy in it for me to like it, it's very fresh and green, a really cold scent.

Well, I think it's the ivy that's so piercingly fresh and cold anyway. I always thought I liked ivy, but maybe it really is a bit much in here.

 

Anyway, the scent is not a no-no per se, maybe it's just the wrong time of year for me to wear a scent this refreshingly cold.

 

From sniffing the imp until application and quite some time afterwards this is all crisp fresh greenness. Once on skin the greenness gets a bit less sharp, like it was spread on a wider surface, loosing some density, becoming more agreeable altogether. It smells kind of watery and there's something sparkly in it that's really nice.

 

After about 20 minutes I can detect traces of oak and moss underneath but they stay faint throughout wear length.

 

I quite like that despite this freshness The Twisted Oak-Tree doesn't really smell especially cologne-y or masculine.

 

I'm still undecided as to whether I'll be swapping the bottle that is on its way to me or whether I should rather keep it and test-wear it again in warmer weather.

Edited November 26, 2007 by blu°

[n3m3sis42]

In the bottle:

Something very strong, like a more natural, mossy version of a men's aftershave product. I'm guessing there is an oakmoss note here, but since I don't even know what oakmoss smells like, I guess I am being influenced by the name of this blend.

 

Wet:

A somewhat acrid yet intriguing combination of musks and dirts that I'm not sure I am going to like, but you learn the most by trying the blends you're not sure you will like, right? The acrid note calms down quite a bit withint a few minutes. This does definitely have a slightly aquatic note (as others have mentioned), but so far, it's not strong enough to bug me (I generally don't like aquatics). The throw from this somewhat musky.

 

Dry:

This dries down pretty masculine on me, but that's not really a bad thing as I'm not the most girly of girls. I'm surprised at how much I actually like this--I was pretty scared of it from the description. On me, it's mostly musks, with only hints of greenery and dirsts and mosses.

[janeness]

In the bottle: Dark woods, bitter and sharp.

 

On me: Oh! this is lovely! There's a darkness to this and a memory of hiking the state park trails when I lived in Georgia. It's very clean and woody and green.

 

Later: The woods have settled down and a sweet earthiness comes out. It's almost floral and a little spicy. It's a very dark green scent with a bit of cool cave and a touch of burnt autumn in there. This is hiking NE Georgia in the fall and camping at Governor Dodge State Park in Wisconsin in the summer. ^__^

 

It's a lovely outdoors scent. A little strong on me at first, but it quiets down nicely and for the long haul.

 

I'm very glad I bought a bottle! (and I think it'll smell wonderful on my bf. too! Just as long as he doesn't take it all. )

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

sniffed from the bottle: almost minty, peppery

on skin: nose-wrinkling unpleasantness....almost vetiver. this is so not the smell of rotting oak. or ivy. at least not any we've got in our neck of the woods.

reminds me quite a bit of a lot of the uber-popular men's fragrances out right now, commercially, that all smell the same.

overall? absolutely never on my skin again.

[VioletChaos]

in the bottle: cypress resin and wet earth- WOW!

 

wet on skin: more of the same, really. the earthiness is still there coming on strong, but now there's a hint of sea weed underneith.

 

dry down: the resin has remained. there's a masculine sort of woodsy-ness to this.

 

in all: i like it, but not for me. excepting on the darkest of autumnal evenings. otherwise i'm more inclined to pass it or have my boyfriend wear it.

[Czarina]

In the bottle: cheap aftershave.

Wet: Ivy! Wow.

Drydown: oak, ivy and moss. Very very green and woody. As time passes I get a faint aquatic note.

 

I almost didn't try it from smelling it in the bottle. I'm glad I persevered.

[slave1]

THE TWISTED OAK TREE

 

In Bottle: Sweet woods and dirt

 

On Skin: The woods in this do seem old, dry and sweet… like they’ve been breaking down for years… mixing into the soil. It’s an odd scent, interesting for sure, but nothing I would ever wear as a perfume. In the background there is a perfumey note (the ivy I think) which starts to make me reconsider the scent. It’s quite pretty that note, and as it comes forward, the dirt and woods compliment it and the blend becomes quite distinctive. A woody and earthy perfume, very unique. It has a decent throw and average wearlength on me.

[MaeKitty]

In Bottle: Astringent, bitter, leafy

On Me: A ghost of smoke, like how a room smells a few hours after incense was put out. The ivy brings a sense of green, with a dark under layer of wood. I really like this one though I don't know that I'd wear it any other season than fall.

Edited January 30, 2008 by MaevanKayt

[olive]

Fresh, dry-sweet and very green. This is moss baking under the sun after a morning sprinkle.. it is very nice but the strength quickly wanes, and as it does there is soon nothing left but a very soft and elegant smelling perfume framed in moss covered oak branches.

 

For some reason this smell reminds me of both sunlight and wetness... like those odd moments where its raining while its sunny out.

 

This would make a great bar soap.

[forspecial_plate]

I like this....it's almost aquatic, reminding me of Cthulhu or Deep Ones w/out the wetness. It's a tart scent, more green than woodsy to my nose. It also reminds me of one of the Rappacini's Garden scents....maybe Belladonna? Not sure but this is worth holding onto.

[Akurarei]

Twisted Oak Tree

 

This is a scent that I never would have bought based on the description.

it just sounds gross.

 

anyway....

 

In the bottle:gross

I smell rot & lots of it! drowned wood, specifically ::looks around for alligators::

 

On my Skin, Wet:

ROT!

...............

wait, what's that?

it's an evergreen forest! and what? the darkest, wetest ivy ever!

mmmm....a thick forest just after a torential cold thunderstorm.

 

I also smell some wet earth, but only a little pinch of it.

this is all cold winds, thick black-green branches and wet ivy.

 

On my Skin, Dry:

No more earth, this is all cold wet black-green forest.

the ivy is doing interesting things to my nose!

it makes me think that there's something spicy nearby, then when I sniff more closely, is like a cool aquatic.

 

Verdict:

OMG - how could something that sounds so awfully decayed be so clean and fresh!!

completely took me by surprise!!

Lovely lovely!!

 

9 of 10 ranking!!!

[mspixieears]

I’m hard pressed to identify what I smell here, it smells very green and oaky, not at all of rotting wood. I think the greenness I get is probably the moss? Nice to have tried it but not one for me at all.

[brsis]

Initial thoughts: If that smells anything like it actually should... whoah MOMMA.

 

In the Imp: Wood? Maybe. Ivy? Quite possibly. Actually, this smells like...

 

... Black pepper.

 

On the wrist, wet: Pepper and wood. The pepper's not so strong, actually (Thank you, skin! Finally, you drink a scent I'm not so keen on!) There's a greeny tinge there that might be the moss.

 

Twenty minutes later: Peppery wood still, but with a rich dark undertone of ivy. Yummeh.

 

Verdict: Keeper and possibly one to look out for in the bottle stakes, depending on how quick I get through the imp.

 

Tl;Dr: Peppery woodyness, with ivy on the drydown.