Just Breathe

This one changes a lot for me. I don't really get the Buddhist temple escape, but upon the opening I do get cold mountain air mixed with damp/wet dirt. Like how your plants smell right after you water them. There's also some sweetness that I can't place, I really thought I was going to see some sort of fruit in the pyramid but there isn't, maybe it's the bamboo? As it dries down it gets less mountain air and more sweet, the wet dirt is pretty consistent ( I love that smell, always like the Demeter Dirt but felt it was too weird to wear on it's own). It starts to smell quite similar to one of those new bug sprays by OFF, "soft and dry" is what it's called I think, or something close to that. Yet again I like this smell but others will probably think it weird if I smell like bug spray at work...in the winter. It also has a bit of an Aussie brand shampoo sweetness. I like this one for its weirdness and will enjoy wearing it, even if people might think I'm wearing bug spray, the perfume is for me :)

An unassuming woody fresh scent. Cedar and citrus notes for me are softly reminiscent of camphor though without the rather aggressive edge of actual camphor. It lives up to its goal of being a relaxing smell that encourages me to take a deep breath and "be here now". Wish it lasted longer but maybe that impermanence is part of its zen nature :)

This is so wonderful! Very refreshing but no citrus. Fresh tea and a great woody green bamboo. Great daytime scent for work.

I tested "Just Breathe" on a cold, grey, rainy day last year, and i was hoping for a breath of Spring. Christopher Brosius wrote that he designed this scent to calm, balance and center the wearer whenever you need just that. "Suddenly you're transported to a Buddhist Temple deep in the fresh green forest. Isn't that really where you'd rather be?", he wrote. On me it opened green and leafy, as i hoped. But within seconds it shifted to rich floral; i got hints of gardenia and jasmine. Now i love gardenia, and jasmine is good too, but i had hoped for something green and woody with just a hint of floral sweetness. And this was odd, because there are no florals listed in its components. One-half hour after applying, it was still richly floral - it reminded me of "Fracas", which i wear, but not quite as heavy or complex. An hour later it has dried down to a gentle green plus floral incense. Two hours later, it was still green and floral, but then i could smell the woods, which were subtle but grounding. Sillage is minimal. This is an intimate fragrance, and, on me, quite feminine. I'll certainly wear this, it is quite lovely. But i was, as i said, hoping for something green and woody with a hint of floral, rather than floral with a hint of green and woody.

I tried the absolute version of this and was a little disappointed as Just Breathe didn't deliver the wow factor that other CB scents do. On me, this starts as a spicy sweet wood note which is fresh and very pleasant. It melts into white flowers and a hint of moss, which would be wonderful if it lasted for more than five minutes. Alas, there's no lasting power and pretty much no sillage. This is definitely one to wear just to please yourself. At least with the bamboo and green tea notes I didn't smell like an air freshener!