Holy Cross Pineward 2026

Intriguing scent from Pinewards; it doesn't fall into gloomy forest nor bucolic collection, it's different. Lichen and moss are covering this forgotten cross, once a sanctuary, now left to the nature itself. Feels hopeless, somehow, like someone once went there to pray and now there is no trace of them anymore. The woody notes smell almost wet, and the coldness of the stone is still in there. Not my fave Pineward, but intriguing nonetheless.

I've smelled scents that smelled like damp stone, and I've smelled scents that smelled like dry incense. Holy Cross take the middle ground: it smells like dry stone walls of an abandoned church or a temple, overgrown with lichen. If you lean in close, you can still catch a whiff of incense permeating these long forgotten walls, carrying the fading memories of former rituals of worship that have taken place here, long time ago. But mostly, it just smells like dry stone, incense, and lichen.

To be completely honest, I still can't decide if I like this fragrance. One thing I can say with certainty is that it is unique.

Right when it's sprayed, there's something (to me personally) a little nauseating and synthetic — just flat out concrete, and LOTS of it. But once I fought through the dry down, I came to the reluctant conclusion that... yeah... it's pretty pleasant.

That concrete note fades into the background and becomes a more tolerable smell of old stones, and the incense comes through. Trying to describe it as a whole, I'd call this a very "moody" scent. It's a little spicy, a little synthetic, a little green. Think it's unisex but masculine-leaning for sure.

It's not for me, but if I had a bottle, I'd probably reach for it on occasions where I want to put off a "sweet but psycho" vibe.

Foggy, Grey, crisp, Snappy, ever so slightly smokey. Absolutely beautiful fragrance. a masterpiece.

A lightly smokey musk with a botanical backbone to ground it. Blended expertly. Ghostlike, Sheer, Waking up on a foggy spring morning after camping on a mountainside. The only thing you hear is the wind, the birds, and the water in the creek bed. Dry's down to something akin to juniper and cedarwood.

Comparable to L'Orpheline by Lutens and Wash Me in the Water by 4160 Tuesday. Not the same. Both of these are heavy on the Olibanum. Heady like incense. Holy Cross on the other hand is alive. Not the resin from a tree but the tree itself.

Unfortunately it only lasts 3-4 hours at most on my skin and its gone. But those fleeting hours are lovely.

Sampling Pineward Perfumes Holy Cross, a 2025 release that has a sharp, woody, fresh blend. To me, it’s reminiscent somewhat of Yves Saint Lauren M7 Fresh, but with more woody sharpness and density, fittingly less watery. I can see some connections to Tom Ford Oud Wood or Lalique Encre Noire, but it’s not as dark or dense as either of those two. Its note listing is a curious ensemble of accords that I’m not really familiar with, including watercress, blue yarrow, mountain bluebell, and bearded lichen, but there are some slightly more familiar elements, like juniper, pine, ambrette, musk, and a concept of “wet stone” that is familiar, and in that vein, it does sort of belong to a category of “dirty freshwater” scents that seem natural and evocative, including the abovementioned YSL M7 Fresh but also Imaginary Authors Mosaic and D.S. & Durga Pale Grey Mountain, Small Black Lake, all unfortunately discontinued but special in their own ways. All to say that Holy Cross is also splendid and nuanced, and one I might have to pick up.

Holy Cross is EDT concentration and as such as more modest pricing than their extraits, with the standard EDT pricing currently being $250/150/95 for 100/52/32ml, sold in the US mainly via the house website, though some other boutiques carry them.

8 out of 10