Crucifixion

[Casablanca]

Frankincense, dried red roses, and myrrh with soft orris, labdanum, and red clove.

 

In the bottle, Crucifixion smells to me like frankincense, dried red roses, and a little myrrh sweetened with clove.

 

On my skin, my first thought is that the red roses are too dried for me, which was my only concern about this one... but after a few moments on me, they become more like very mature roses, perhaps in their last night of full bloom before they start to wither.

 

The frankincense is prominent up front, too. It's not as grainy as in some frank blends; it's more smooth.

 

After a while I find the labdanum coming out, but it always seems like a note permanently in stealth mode to me. Around the same time, the clove grows on my skin, but it's still acting as a support note. This is a spicy floriental rather than a floral or resinous spice, if that makes sense.

 

The throw on me is a lower than I expected; age might change this, but it's a close skin scent for now.

 

I like this as it is, but I'm very eager to know what it'll be like in a few months or more.

ETA: This is beautiful layered with Rose Cross for a fresher and deeper combined rose note.

Edited August 11, 2016 by Casablanca

[Aviatrix]

This is heavy on the frankincense, and I am not getting much orris. So if you are afraid of the orris note, you might still want to give this a try!

The rose is a definite dried rose, reminiscent of the rose in Cicuta, and the two are definitely in the same family. The clove lends a nice spiciness to the blend and complements the roses well.

Labdanum has a tendency to sometimes go sour on me, and this is verging on sour territory for a while, but luckily it never goes there!

 

Overall, this was a surprise favourite of the Unicorns for me. It has a definite gothic quality to it - with the dried roses, resins and clove combination that makes me think of a goth club in the best possible way

 

I have seen comparisons to Eve (OLLA), and while I think they may be in the same family, I don't find them all that similar either; the rose is stronger in this one, and there is less spice going on than in Eve. But they are both very beautiful "gothic" blends to me, and I am so glad I risked a blind bottle of this!

The throw is also pretty good.

[Jenjin]

Blind Bottle Purchase from the lab.

IN THE BOTTLE:
The days of Wine and Roses! I know it's not in the notes, but WINE!
WET:
Still getting something very dark with a wine note mingling with the resins and slight clove. I'm also getting the orris background that always comes across as "purple" to me.
DRY:
My nose is getting tricked! Carnations! This blend with the combo of dried rose and clove goes straight up spicy red carnation to me. I LOVE carnation so this is a good thing. I'm also still catching a lot of the resins, which give this a "dark" churchy vibe. Very soft blend with low throw.
NOTES:
I get the comparisons to OLLA Eve, but Crux is a much softer, floral version. I really like this blend, but I wish it was somehow STRONGER with more spice~.It dries down so soft and delicate that it's difficult to detect.

Edited August 12, 2016 by Jenjin

[claudia6913]

This. is. gorgeous! Soft, resinous, slightly floral but not overwhelmingly so. The red clove is a nice touch of spiciness but doesn't detract from any of the notes. This is blended beautifully and I can definitely see this one getting a lot of love. I know it will from me.

[whitewhale]

I do love roses and orris, and that was my main reason for buying this. I worried slightly about the frankincense and clove, but that was needless. This is the first scent I put on and I must say, the whole thing is a pleasant surprise. If I could put this into one word, it'd have to be "Christmas." Picture a cold December night, midnight mass on Christmas Eve, that bite in the air, the smell of incense and old wooden pews... it's downright beautiful. This wears very close to the skin, not much throw at all, and the rose doesn't come out until the drydown, but even then, there's no one aggressive note here. It's blended to perfection to the point that it's nearly impossible to pick out any one note (I mean, I could if I really tried, but I think I'd rather just sniff in Christmassy bliss). I think this will age beautifully.

[kmasden]

Alas, not for me. I love frankincense and clove and was hoping they'd dominate. This is all decaying/wet roses and the orris and myrrh on me. Someone mentioned a gothic type of scent and I'd tend to agree. It's warm and dark and I think rose lovers will find it far different from other rose scents, a good reason tho give it a whirl.

[Kay Torres]

I wanted to wear Crucifixion multiple times before posting my review. This one was a complete surprise.

 

In the bottle: I smell mostly just rose, frank, and myrrh. All very bold, all very strong. But the rose smells HEAVY, very full, like a bloom on its last leg. I suppose that's because it's dried rose???

 

Wet: Very bold, and very oriental. It's all sweet spice.

 

Dry: The rose comes out and softens on the dry down. It smells very sophisticated and mysterious. Not the greatest description, I know. But that's what I think when smelling it. The rose, frank, and myrrh are the major players, with clove staying in the background. I'm not really able to pick up the labdanum or the orris notes, but I suspect those are what make me think "sophisticated" when I smell this. It also smells so very full and heavy (pretty sure that I already said that). But, for all of its weight, it doesn't have a lot of throw at all; it wears very close to the skin. I find that I don't like wearing it in summer, but I feel like this will be a staple in fall and winter.

[TijuanaBible]

I am in love with this scent. It's close wearing, but I hope it'll come out a little bit with aging. I get beautiful resins with frankincense and just a touch of rose, but it's so well blended that it's really hard to actually pull the components apart. Definitely a gothic scent, as some people have put it. Maybe there's some orris in it? It's hard to to tell because like I said, it's crazily well blended. I definitely don't have anything remotely like it. I wasn't around to get OLLA Eve but if it's similar I could see tracking it down.

[Dark Alice]

This is gorgeous. The frankincense is indeed close to the skin. And the rose is so subtle. This is a wonderful skin scent. A bottle may indeed need to come home with me.

Edited August 17, 2016 by Dark Alice

[zankoku_zen]

Red roses, frankincense and myrrh. Touch of clove. Actually, this reminds me a fair bit to the BPTP Red Rose blend. It's got that heavy resin and lush red roses thing going on, with just a whiff of clove. Highly medieval. Good throw and medium wear length.

[Little Bird]

This smells so very much like Pulcinella & Teresina on me. P&T is labdanum, cedar, teak and red rose. I tried Crucifixion on one wrist and P&T on the other and I can't really tell them apart, even though P&T's oil is a lot darker.

 

Spicy, dark, woody resin with dried, dark red, sweet roses.

It's very femme fatale to me, and one of those dry, dark, gothic rose type of scents. Dried rose petals, resins and dark touches. I like it a lot, but I don't know if I need this and P&T...

[LizziesLuck]

Looking at these notes, this would have been a blind bottle for me, if it weren't for the orris. I have had zero success with orris. Of all the bottles that I own, there is ONE that contains orris. It has ruined every other scent it's in for me, it just reacts so badly to my chemistry. I will be ecstatic is this is another exception!

 

Wet: Wow! Rich, heady, dark. Really sweet, almost syrupy. Thick Myrrh and heady rose and.....powdery orris. Shit. Oh and it's amping, that's just perfect.

 

 

 

Dry: Orris. Which smells mostly like candied powdered violets, in this instance. (Yes, I know orris is the root of the iris plant. On my skin, to my nose, iris and iris root smell like violet. And they hate me). So. Sad.

[LiberAmoris]

Crucifixion is frankincense, red rose, and myrrh in almost equal parts on my skin. The rose really does smell dry...this is not a lush rose, brimming with dew and volatile oils, this is a dried rose that gives off a historic and slightly dusty notion of itself. The clove, labdanum, and orris support and add depth. There's a church incense angle here that I find really nice, and the overall scent is very relaxing to me. I agree that this will age beautifully, and I'll be pulling this out again in the late fall and winter to wear.

[VetchVesper]

Beautiful dark incense and roses. It has a similar vibe as Rose Cross and my beloved Caterpillar. I really like it, but I'm trying to decide if it's different enough to warrant a bottle. Definitely recommend a try for resin lovers.

 

ETA: Bottle done been bought!

Edited September 2, 2016 by VetchVesper

[Balame]

I'm glad I got the opportunity to try this before getting a big bottle.

I wasn't aware others were comparing it to OLLA Eve, but I think Crucifixion's initial "dried red rose" is similar to the "rose water" in Eve: crystalline and smooth, not powdery.

Unfortunately, that's where the comparisons end.

 

Crucifixion starts out beautifully, with that silky rose backed by sweet and ashy incense. It does have a gothic elegance to it.

Then, as it dries, it turns into a muddled mixture of potpourri and astringent, dry rose. It smells like old baby wipes, bleh.

I can tell this one could turn out lovely on other people... just not me!

[rosedamask]

Whoa, this is very different to what I was expecting when I read the notes! I totally agree with Jenjin and LizziesLuck about the wine and syrupiness, and was wondering whether it was a bottle mislabel before I checked the reviews here. On me, Crucifixion is like a dark, tart berry wine with a liiiiittle bit of incense around the edges when it's sniffed up close. I'm not getting anything floral, which surprises me - I blind bought some Crucifixion because I was looking for a rosy/floral incense that didn't go too sour/powdery on me, like Rose Cross does, but the wine-like quality of Crucifixion takes it a totally different direction. It's a very intriguing perfume, but I think I'll destash, because I'm already happy with my go-to berry/wine scents.

[milo]

Gothic blend indeed! I'm getting rose and incense, but it's so well blended that no one note really dominates. After a bit, there's a touch of vanilla thrown in, though that note is not listed. The whole blend is sweet, spicy, incensy rose. I'm hoping the clove comes out later. This reminds me of Red Rose from the Unity set from a few years back, though better. I do regret swapping that away....This may layer well with De Vos, which is a white rose blend to me.

[violetvorpal]

It has now been well over a month since I originally bought Crucifixion. At first, it smelled like red wine or berries to me. Now that it has sat and aged on my shelf I finally get the frankincense and rose smell when I sniff the bottle.

 

I was hoping for more clove when I bought this perfume. The orris is not noticeable to me. I have many other frankincense blends and I have not tried frankincense and rose together in a blend before. The rose is definitely a dark dried rose. Maybe even attar of rose because I think of the rose note in GC Lilith when I smell Crucifixion. The rose is more powerful than the frankincense in the bottle. It has been awhile since I've tried GC Lilith but Crucifixion is reminding me of it. I will have to compare them side by side.

Edited October 26, 2016 by VioletVorpal

[maudlinrose]

Either there are a couple of variations of this floating around- one with the wine/sourness and one that is dryer and spicier, or I just lucked out because on my skin, this is a well balanced dry spicy rose with dark frankincense and a hint of powderyness.

 

This is definitely a *dry* scent, and I dont get any sourness or wine, which I was very worried about! The orris is not noticeable to me, but it may be adding to the beautiful and complex depth of this perfume.

 

when it dries there is an earthy herbal (not green) depth to it. This is more resin-dominant then rose on me - the rose it hard to pick out. Its more like everything blends into a spicy floral incense scent.

Edited October 6, 2016 by maudlinrose

[Minh Scent]

Dark roses, incense and spice. Gorgeous, sexy blend that is aging perfectly. I get the orris in the dry down with a powdery splendor that mixes with the clove.

[Convallaria]

I was expecting something along the lines of Tabula Smaragdina, but this one is primarily a very sweet rose scent on me, with little "darkness" to it. Incense is the strongest at the opening, then it settles into roses sweetened with clove, but after that it's mostly just plain sweet rose.

[doomsday_disco]

Crucifixion just did not work with my skin chemistry. At first, I got the frankincense, rose, and orris, and then the orris took over, as it is wont to do, and made it a powdery mess on my skin. The myrrh just made the powderiness worse, until the orris calmed down somewhat, and the resins reigned. I was hoping for more clove, but alas, I only got a hint of it during the wet phase. Not for me, but it was nice to get to try it!

[Lucchesa]

Crucifixion is one of those blends where if I have the description in front of me, I can make out every last note.  Wet, it was myrrh and frankincense and rose, and I worried because resins/rose combos usually turn the rose sour on my skin.  Here that happened only briefly.  I could smell the soft orris, and the cola-like labdanum, and a tiny bit of clove, though it didn't last long on me.  The rose faded as well after an hour or two, at which point the myrrh and labdanum become the dominant notes.  I'm not sure I have any other scents where they are combined -- there's the soft, murky myrrh, its powdery qualities enhanced by the orris, and the golden labdanum, and they work much better than I would have expected. It's a skin scent, no throw, which is basically normal on my skin, but it lasts quite a long time.  

[alyelle]

In the imp: I'll be honest - it's slightly gross, and I blame the labdanum. The scent is predominantly one of decay: rotting rose petals and sludgy orris. This sounds extreme, and it's not the worst thing I've ever sniffed, but it doesn't immediately compel me to apply it to my skin.

 

Wet: An immediate improvement, like those dead roses are aging in reverse. There's a rounded depth from the orris, a dried-but-healthy rose note, and a surprisingly pink frankincense. Weirdly, no trace of labdanum at all.

 

Dry: Surprising (and surprisingly short-lived for something with resins). Its final morph is into an innocent, soft rose - fresh, young, and pale pink - with a base of orris. I'm glad I kept it; age has done nothing to improve the initial waft of death, but after the first few minutes, it's a lovely scent for winter. Mild-to-medium throw, very inoffensive.

 

Stars: ★★★★