Ophelia

[brit_brat100]

Wistful and vulnerable: lotus, water blossom ivy, stargazer lily and white rose.

Keep in mind that I've been figuring out the hard way that foral blends probably aren't my thing, but I'm trying everything I get anyway.

Imp: ROSE...

Wet: Rose water. Actually, I love rose water. It reminds me of a grown up moment in my childhood. I might really like this.

Dry: Still lots of rose, but the water part fades. I get another flower here too, lotus? I'm bad at picking these things out, but they don't fight here. Just rose and lotus sitting together and the water wafts out from behind.

Final Thoughts: Because of the floral aspect, my first thought is to swap it. However, the rose water element has me really torn. It's a beautiful floral scent. Very femine, pretty, and a touch melacholy. I'll hold on to it for now and see what happens.

[lady d]

hamlet is one of my favorite plays (perhaps right after its absurdist nephew, rosencrantz and guildenstern are dead) and i've always felt for ophelia -- not long ago, i attempted a painting of her, a watercolor, where her body was made up of shattered bits of images, like a broken mirror (all she can do is reflect, and when hamlet, when her father, when her brother, are gone, she faces reflecting, being nothing at all), and they floated white-and-silver-pale amongst swirling violets, amongst greens and pinks and blues, carrying her down as along a river ... something of too much of water hast thou, poor ophelia (and therefore i forbid my tears) and o rose of may ...

 

i think this oil captures that idea better than my painting did. and that's really all there is to say of it -- it's feminine and detached, it's the lotus in the lake, it's that moment when gertrude sees the girl floating and knows there's nothing she can do for her, that she's already lost in herself far enough to drown and all that's left is the crushed scent of water and flowers. but it's so delicate and so pretty.

 

and that's why artists, and poets, and songwriters, i suppose, can't stay away from ophelia -- for that sad, distant beauty destined to break.

Edited March 23, 2007 by lady d

[Meg]

In the bottle: White rose and aquatic florals.

 

Wet: Rose, a very aquatic floral and lotus, I think.

 

Drydown: This is definitely very aquatic, and unusual. I normally hate lotus, but mixed with the slightly astringent, ozonic aquatic, it seems to work much better. Rose is also predominant, clearly a white rose, with some greenness to it. There's something generally citrusy that becomes quite clear in the blend, a nice tartness.

 

Overall: I've always loved preraphaelite paintings of Ophelia drowning surrounded with flowers, it's such a fascinating theme. This is definitely a very good way of illustrating the story, it's wistful but at the same time... bright? There's a brighness from the florals and citrus that makes the blend all the more interesting. Besides, this is the first blend to ever make me tolerate lotus. A romantic, feminine scent.

[Browneyes]

Imp: This smells a little like bubblegum... I fear the lotus.

Wet: The rose blooms and it is a good rose on me! I will take note of that! White rose works. And the lotus is thankfully not too much like bubblegum.

Dry: It does smell like rose-water. It is maybe a bit soapy, but very pretty nonetheless. This smells like I just washed my hands with expensive and luxurious rose soap. Which is not a bad thing in my book. It is very soft and feminine and wistful. I like it.

[jainabee]

I really felt like I was drowning in flowers.

 

This one reacted unpleasantly with my body chemistry— but who would expect Ophelia to be a *pleasant* experience? Ironically, this one lasted much longer than the other scents I've tried. Clingy?

 

Tragic.

[crain]

In the bottle: rose

 

On my skin: rosy, watery, girlie

 

Faded to a straight rose scent.

[jade_starlight]

Rose, rose and yet more rose. It's a soft and sweet rose to be sure, but still a straight up rose. Off to the swaps.

[QueenFae]

Gorgeous, wistful, tragic. This is a very watery floral, very serene, feminine; light blue or light green in color. This smells mostly like a watery lotus blossom on me, with a hint of sinful white rose in the background. It is very close to the skin and doesn't have a ton of throw.

 

This is just lovely, I wish florals lasted longer on me!

[La Soldier]

in the bottle/wet: VERY strong. generic perfumey scent...

 

drydown: the different floral notes start to come out as it calms down, and I definitely smell wet flowers. roses are the most prominent.

 

dry: a warm fresh bouquet.

 

a good scent, but not for me. off to swap.

[MurderOfCrows]

In the Vial: Wet florals. It's a water garden, plain and simple.

 

Wet: It doesn't smell any different-- these are all soft, wistful florals, gentle scents and sweet wetness. Very aquatic, which is appropriate for Ophelia, but the 'vulnerable' just isn't happening. This is an overgrown garden, thick and full of life... there's no fading here, no water-logged corpse. And that's probably good. This is Ophelia a live, when she still was innocent and in love, I think.

 

Dry: Not even after it's dry does this fade. IT stays very strong-- strong enough that when I got up this morning I could still catch whiffs of it on me and I put it on almost twenty-four hours ago. Sure it was just a little whiff here and there, but the faint scent of white florals were still there on my skin. I was pretty surprised at it's incredible staying power.

 

This is very pretty, and I think I will keep it -- I don't know that I'll order a big bottle, but it's very nice and I may, somewhere down the line.

[alliekat13]

Oh my god this is a screaming floral. It is so perfumey and strong I can literally taste it. I feel like I've been sucking on a bar of rose soap, oh god I have to go rinse out my mouth. Not much other than rose rose rose rose rose of DOOOOOOOOMMMMMM, with a hint of bubblegummy lotus. Excuse me while I go brush my teeth, and then proceed to scrub every trace of this objectionable rose scent off of me.

 

 

[Trish]

In the imp: Sweet watery rose

 

Wet: Very sweet rose with hella throw!

 

Drydown: I cannot smell anything in this except watery rose, although it may be the lotus that may be making it so very sweet. This is way way way too rose for me.

 

Dry: Attack of the killer rose!!!

 

 

I washed this off and I can still smell it in my nostrils!

[PersephonesChild]

This is lovely! I hadn't given the oil much thought, since I don't consider myself to be anything like the character Ophelia, but I got this imp as part of a random imp pack (chaos becomes me).

 

It's sweet and pretty, very much alive, and not overly sad-scented (definitely not a funereal oil). This is the first lotus scent I've tried that doesn't become bubblegum. In fact, there's a definite tang to it-- almost of very faint citrus, my guess is it's the white rose. I'm very excited the stargazer lily worked on me, since it's my favorite florist-shop flower.

 

However, I will say that as far as floral blends go, I don't like it quite as much as I like Marie.

[Kimocean]

Frimp from the lab, Ophelia: I was doubtful of this one. I like rose scents but both lotus and stargazer lily often turn me off. On my skin, this is wet white roses and is very pretty. The lotus adds a hint of sweetness but doesn't do the evil bubblegum thing that it does in some other blends for me. The rose is true though damp, like white roses just brought out of the refrigerator at a florist on a hot day with beads of condensation on them. Overall I like it though I'm not sure how often I'll wear it.

 

Just had to note how perfect this quote was for Ophelia!

Beautiful from a distance, but only up close do you realize that this scent is pretty dead in the water.

Edited June 17, 2007 by Kimocean

[Carmencita]

In the vial: White and yellow flowers and a pale peach.

 

On me: Soft violet and lily with faint fruit. The violet coming more apparent (yech)

 

Later: Very watery. Like a warm spring filled with lily pads and bouquets. Poor Ophelia.

 

Very nice for a floral scent... which I usually don't like. I may keep my imp but probably will not get a bottle.

[Extispex]

I've had pretty good luck with Illyria so far, and many of the Illyria fragrances are among my favorites.

 

In the imp, bubble-gum. Not a big fan of the lotus.

 

On my skin, rose mostly. A very pretty, somewhat watery rose. Nice, but not very me.

[Em-]

A very beautiful feminine floral for someone who wants something just a little more exotic and...sad...than your typical scent of that category.

[Miseraya]

In the imp: Very aggressive floral perfume. Yikes.

 

On the wrist: Wow, this is... very aggressive. I'm not even getting floral at this point, it's just screaming PERFUME!!! at me.

 

Drydown: Not getting any better.

 

Overall: Not at all for me, had to wash it off, scrubbed repeatedly with soap, rubbing alcohol, more soap, and I still had to hold my wrist away from me all night, not cool.

[willowtreeling]

Ophelia, one of my favorite characters and one of my favorite subjects in Pre-Raphaelite art...

 

Sadly, all I get is rose. It is a bearable rose--because it is white, not tea rose, but I can't imagine ever wanting to smell like this...

 

 

Get thee to a swappery!!!

[Alseides]

Though I don't like rose scents often, white roses are my favorite flower, and this description was absolutely irresistable - it sounded like an evocative, delicate, angelic scent, with the lightest and whitest touches of everything...

 

And it is!

 

Like a previous reviewer said, it's very "rosewater". And I smell all the other watery bits and pieces, the halo of white flowers. This is very, very pretty.

 

I didn't expect to like it as much as I do. Yay!

[stasha]

Aquatic rose to the millionth power! For me that scent amounts to lurking through a hot swamp in South Georgia which is fine in the wilderness, but not what I wish to smell like. It is pretty close to what i would imagine the famous Ophelia painting to smell like if I was in the scene, though. Just not for me.

[Eucatastrophe]

Roses, roses, roses.

 

I couldn't put my finger on what exactly I was getting from this until I saw a few posts up. Rosewater. I am not getting anything other than rosewater. Very strong rosewater.

 

Kind of pretty, but not for me.

 

Actually, I may have to wash it off as I think it's giving me a headache.

[filigree_shadow]

This one is maybe a little bit watery, but mostly it smells like rose. Not a soft dewy one, a rather green one. It smells like a fresh rose and as rose scents go it's not bad... just not the kind of rose scent I like. I like the softer ones.

[CrazyPretzel]

I'm not a huge fan of lotus, but I enjoy the rose-and-lotus blend Kurukulla. And Ophelia has lovely white rose in it. So.

 

In the imp: chilly, damp flowers. How creepy - must have been a cold pond that she flung herself into.

 

Wet on me: Lotus, but somehow made green and bitter, maybe by the ivy. Or - no, shoot, could it be the white rose doing that? I got a bitter/sour note from Helena too...

 

After a few minutes: Freakin' strong rose and lotus now. The sourness is still there but it's getting basically shouted down by these two floral notes.

 

Drydown: Rank, bitter flowers.

 

Eek.

[FallDaze]

In the imp I get a heavy floral. The rose is especially prominent. I'm a little put off by this as most strong florals tend to not work as well on me...

 

On the lily and lotus completely takes over with a slightly aquatic note detected.

 

After a bit the lily has kind of dominated and I can't really smell any of the other notes in it. Almost like a single note. I guess my skin just amps up lily scents