Silk Road - Resurrected

[Teamama]

These long-dead scents are back for a limited time in a slightly tweaked form!

A panoply of cultural treasures, spanning the herbs, flowers, oils and balms of the Romans, the Byzantines, the Mediterranean, the Levant, Northern China, Eastern Europe, Iran, the Bulgar-Kypchak, Mesopotamia, the Crimean Peninsula, Anatolia, Antioch, and North Africa.

My initial swipe of the wand from my imp wasn't generous enough to reveal what's going on in Silk Road Resurrected. I slathered, with much better results.

 

Silk Road is delightfully dry, spicy, & smooth. I think the sweet spiciness at the start is mainly cassia or cinnamon. No burn on me. I smell saffron, sandalwood, & tea, plus that note that I can't identify in Love's Philosophy (the one that sometimes seems like wintergreen & sometimes like root beer.) Lots going on in here--those are only the notes I felt confident about. It comes together in a well-rounded, great-smelling whole, that's not easy to tease apart. I can easily imagine this blend evoking scent memories.

 

Medium throw, not especially long-lasting on unmoisturized skin.

 

If I weren't already devoted to Morocco, I would need a bottle. It's not the same, but it's similar. Try it while it's available, it's good stuff.

 

Edited to add: I needed a bottle. And then another bottle when it was available on Etsy. I reach for Silk Road Resurrected more often than Morocco, but about the same frequency as Bengal.

Edited September 1, 2020 by Teamama

[Minh Scent]

Starts with a very strong burst of spice which to my nose is cinnamon and clove dominant.The spice mellows out in time, but is there until drydown.I pick up the lightest hint of incense. Drydown is powdery, spicey sandalwood with a soft suggestion of floral.

 

A pretty perfume and agree with Teamama it is in the same family as Morocco.

[rix]

Wow, this is some STRONG cinnamon!

 

A few months ago, I received an imp of Silk Road in a package from the Lab. I was surprised, and I loved it. Hoped that meant it was coming back, but figured it was a lost one found in a drawer. Next thing I know, Silk Road Resurrected was announced, and of course I ordered immediately.

 

This is not the same, because of that strong cinnamon, which is a note I hate. Underneath, it smells similar, but I can’t handle the spice, it’s overwhelming, not really allowing any of the other notes to show their stuff. For the short time I wore it, the cinnamon didn’t settle down. Ended up having to scrub it off. I may put it away to age, or I may swap it away. Oh well.

[sprout]

I took it easy and didn't slather to avoid welts, as I'd read there's a generous amount of cassia in the original, but I needn't have worried. Those reports are either overstated or based on skin chemistry.

 

There's definitely tea, cinnamon, sandalwood, and the rest I'll guess as ginger, cardamom, saffron, neroli, and olibanum. The sillage is not smell me across the room, but this has aged less than 3 weeks. This comes across as spicy, dry, sweet and Eastern. Fans of Morocco and Bengal will like this one. I get a hint of cola too, so maybe sweet myrrh and frankincense but this doesn't smell like incense or smoky, it's dry, unlit resins. I don't get any patchouli or rose. This lasted well past 6 hours too, very impressive for an unaged oil!

 

Overall a very complex scent that has much to love and is well blended as well as well balanced. I would venture to say I'm liking it better than the original! It goes through a perfumey phase but the drydown is spicy, sweet and reminiscent of Underpants.

 

I will have to stock up on this before it goes away.

Edited July 9, 2018 by sprout

[boomtownrat]

I've never tried the original Silk Road, so I can't make any comparisons.

 

When I got my bottle yesterday, I couldn't wait to try it. I tested a bit in the crook of one elbow last night, where I got a hot ginger, neroli, and cinnamon combination, but it had only been off the mail truck for a few hours at the time. Today I'm wearing it on the backs of both wrists, where it bursts forth with cinnamon, cassia, tea, a little sandalwood, maybe some sweet frankincense. For the first half hour or so it reminds me of a less overpowering Poison with a tea note instead of the fruitiness that I normally smell in Poison. After about two hours the cinnamon and cassia have stepped back a little to make way for tea, ginger, sandalwood, and frankincense. The throw is less strong at this stage but it's still wafting.

 

It's somewhere between the sweet softness of Morocco and the spicy headiness of Baghdad. For those who have smelled Economic Recovery, the Black Friday/Cyber Monday frimp from a few years ago, this is like a sister to that.

 

At first I was concerned that it might give me a headache, as Poison could sometimes do when a lot of girls wore it in high school, but it doesn't. In fact, I'm compelled to keep smelling my wrists to figure out all the layers of notes. Still, I will apply it sparingly because it goes a long way, and I'll give it an hour or so to settle down before going anywhere if I know I'll be around people who might be sensitive to perfume.

 

This seems like the kind of oil that will age wonderfully.

[DryFrogPills]

This is interesting to me, as my imp reacted wildly differently on my body chemistry than it seems to have anyone else in the thread!

 

In the imp: In line with what's said above, I get spices, a dry desert wind, and hints of round and rich spices and balms.

 

On the skin, first few minutes: This is where I get a difference. On me, Silk Road rises off my wrist with EXACTLY the scent of the hot, muggy summer wind blowing past the hay field and through the wild honeysuckle when I lived in rural southern Illinois. There's definitely a tea scent (my heart says iced tea, but I think that's because of my associations of a rural summer), and some indistinct spices that make it richer.

 

An hour (and more) out: Gradually, the honeysuckle fades and the rest of the spices and resins and so on come out to play, although I never really am able to pick specific notes out of it, even the cinnamon or clove I suspect are here. It's a rich, heady panoply of blended aromas and I'm quite fond of it.

 

Overall, while I don't feel a need for a full bottle, I'm quite glad to have the imp, especially with the strong olfactory memories it gives me. Even if no one else seems to have gotten a fraction as much floral! (I actually tried it twice before posting this review, just to make sure the honeysuckle wasn't some quirk of my mind or senses the first time!)

[VetchVesper]

So, I did a review of the original Silk Road a while back, albeit, my experience was with a well aged imp. I was happy to grab a bottle of the resurrected version and I find it pretty tasty, but it smells pretty different to me from the original. Of course, I never smelled the original Silk Road fresh, so maybe with age, they will be more similar.

 

The original Silk Road smelled like dusty, mellow cinnamon with a backing of sandalwood and unidentifiable spices and woods. There was an old world feel to it, like something you'd expect a gypsy wagon or some hole in the wall shop in Egypt to smell like. It was very, very smooth and much calmer than most of the red hot candy cinnamon my skin tends to project. I'm guessing it was Ceylon cinnamon.

 

The new version is much more vivid. It still smells exotic and dusty but less esoteric. More like a bustling bazaar than a place of antiquity. At least, that's how my brain reads it. The cinnamon is still very nice, but it's more in your face. It doesn't burn, and it doesn't go red hots. There's a backing of something floral behind it though and a tad soapy. Perhaps champaca? It's still very hard to pick out individual notes. I don't smell sandalwood, which makes me sad b/c I love sandalwood. It's still a very nice spice fragrance though, and a nice alternative to Plunder, which just made me smell like strait up spice cabinet and gave me a headache to boot. I'm hoping, as this ages, more complexity will emerge.

Edited July 31, 2018 by VetchVesper

[doomsday_disco]

I received some imps of the original in my Trading Post orders over the last few years, and to me, it’s similar to Plunder, but with some incense. I am now going to test the Resurrected version on one hand and the original on the other to see how they compare.

 

In the bottle: This is a lot heavier on the cinnamon than the original. I am not sure if that’s because the original is aged, though. It still reminds me of Plunder (they both have cinnamon and tea).

 

Wet: The cinnamon is a lot stronger in the Resurrected version. The original is softer and smoother, but again, maybe that is due to age. You can tell that they’re the same scent, but I’m able to get more notes from the original because the cinnamon is a lot calmer. Even though this is very cinnamon-forward, it’s a softer cinnamon variety that isn’t burning my sensitive skin.

 

Dry: This is still mostly about the soft cinnamon, while the original has the cinnamon, tea, incense, and other spices. The incense in this is very light and the original is smokier, so I am thinking that that’s probably the main difference between the two.

 

Verdict: If you are a fan of Plunder or that scent family, there’s a good chance you will like this one as well. This is nice, but I already have a few cinnamon-dominant scents in my collection that I don’t reach for often enough, so I will likely end up gifting this to a friend that adores cinnamon scents.

[milo]

I had a super aged imp of this, and it smelled like a more spicier Morocco, rich with vanilla, and I really quite liked it, but found it was too close to Morocco to hunt any down. (Good luck anyways!!). I got an imp just to see, and it's not anything like the Silk Road that I remember. I can hardly smell anything, and what I do smell is kind of like stale red hots. This may end up like the original, but for now, I'm glad that I didn't spring for a bottle.

[Ghost of a Rose]

Imp fresh from the Lab.

 

If I tried the original, I didn't write a rewiew.

 

In the imp: Cinnamon and floral. It's an odd pairing, they don't seem to go together, but fight with each other. This will be interesting. I actually noticed the floral first and stronger. It smells like Magnolia, so yep, gotta be Champaca. My fingertips smell like magnolia (from the cap) without a trace of cinnamon. Interesting that everyone else got a fiery dose of red hots, while to my nose (or with my batch) it's more magnolia.

 

On me, wet: At first, it's just strange. Like nothing I recognize, and not entirely pleasant. I think it's that odd pairing of cinnamon and magnolia, but blended now. Still not a happy couple. Cinnamon and rose makes sense (think baclava), and there may be some Bulgar rose in this too. But cinnamon and magnolia is an odd couple.

 

At 5 minutes: It's already quite light, or maybe just hasn't warmed up enough yet to come out. The cinnamon is strong enough now to identify, but the stronger note is that odd blending. I'm concerned that it might be too light to pick out notes. I put on the same amount I always do, upended the vial tightly against my skin. I think it's equivalent to about one drop. I'm tempted to put on more. But my skin is sometimes sensitive to cinnamon, so I don't dare.

 

At 10 minutes, it is very faint. I'm going to put on more and start over. What I do catch is the cinnamon and magnolia sorting themselves out. Separating. It's nicer.

 

Redo, using two drops: Now that I can smell it much better, I'm picking up some woodiness. Otherwise it is the same scent. The wood helps to pull the two discordant notes together.

 

At 5 minutes: Again, it lightened up quickly. How odd. Again, I can barely smell it. My skin is just devouring this. That's never happened before. I think I may have to test it in a scent locket. But for now I want to just wait and see what happens.

 

At 10 minutes: My skin is starting to burn. Uh-oh. I shouldn't have put more on. I can smell the lovely magnolia champaca on my fingertips better than I can smell the complex scent on my wrist. (I tend to think magnolia because I'm more familiar with that than champaca. But champaca is a species of magnolia anyway, so either name will do.)

 

At 15 minutes: Although it is faint on my wrist, the throw is plenty strong, after putting so much on. I'd better stay home for a while. Both the cinnamon and the champaca are evident in the throw. All of this is so weird. My skin chemistry is obviously seriously messing with this oil. My skin still feels tingly but isn't reddened.

 

At 30 minutes: Still very light on my wrist, but now it's a nice warm cinnamon and wood scent. The throw is mostly magnolia with some cinnamon. It is beautiful both ways. I touched my face with my scented fingertips and now that spot is burning. (My facial skin is even more sensitive.) I will have to be careful with this one. Maybe confine it to the locket.

 

At 1 hour: With the cinnamon note faded, and the magnolia note gone from my wrist, I'm picking up a little ginger and maybe some black tea. The wood might be sandalwood. And perhaps there's some frankincense.

 

At 2 hours: It's very light and very complex. All mixed together now, so it's hard to tease out any individual notes except for some wood and light cinnamon.

 

At 4 hours: Nothing specifically identifable now, just a gentle breath of spice and incense. A little oriental-perfume-ish, a little powdery. Very pretty.

 

I just went out to the mailbox, and a new order has arrived. With a frimp of Morocco! How fateful is that? Now I can compare them.

 

Verdict: Well, it was sometimes a rocky road, but we got there. And smelled some pretty and interesting things along the way. I'll let this age a little, to marry the notes more, and hope for a change in my skin chemistry. I'll try it again this winter. It would be a great warming winter scent anyway. And I also want to try it in the scent locket.

 

4 stars out of 6

Edited September 5, 2018 by Ghost of a Rose

[Dancing Raven]

I have never tried the original, so I can't compare them.

Wet: Soft spices - I am thinking cardamom and nutmeg.

Drydown: It's definitely gaining spiciness. Now I smell cinnamon, cardamom, cassia, sweet clove, and black tea.

About an hour in, all of the above remain, but I can smell just a hint of sandalwood. I think I am detecting some ginger as well. It's very faintly floral. Carnation?

About 2 hours after applying myrrh comes out, but it hasn't morphed much beyond that. The cinnamon is the strongest spice, and it's causing a slight burning sensation on my skin. It's definitely a dry spice. I'm not getting any smokiness. I can see the comparison to Morocco, but that was far more floral on me. There is something almost buttery/almond underneath which makes me think of heliotrope. It's reminding me a bit of Snake Oil, but nowhere near as sweet, and it's so faint that it is the barest of impressions.

It stays dry and spicy with a hint of sweetness for hours. The base is sweet with the softer spices again. Throw is moderate. I like it a lot. I wish I had gotten some of the smokiness and frankincense that others got, though. 

4.5 out of 5 stars.