Lorelei

[sth0]

A tragic heroine from German lore. In despair over a faithless lover, she threw herself into the Rhine. In death, she has become a siren that haunts that river to this day, luring sailors to their doom. Neroli, sandalwood, ylang ylang.

Wet, this smells lovely. It has a clean, orange blossom smell but it is not as powdery as I thought it would be. More of a very light musk and super light sandalwood feeling in the background.

As it dries down, the orange blossom blooms up with a honeysuckle shadow. After 10 minutes, though, I can barely smell it I seem to have had the same experience many others have with this one. It would be absolutely beautiful sprayed through a room or on stationery but it just dies out on my skin.

[strahlend]

I'm kind of confused by this scent. It seems like I'm not smelling what I should be smelling from the listed notes.

 

On my skin this is a (pleasantly) soapy aquaitc along the lines of Jolly Roger. There's a hint of irish spring, a bit of wood, fresh sea air, and a sort of musky base. None of which I would expect.

I feel like I'm familiar with what neroli, sandalwood, and ylang ylang smell like, and I don't specifically detect any of those notes. I've never had that happen before.

 

Regardless, this is a clean, refreshing, pirate ship - but clean - sort of smell. It's very pleasant, and if I didn't already have that niche filled I would be all about this scent.

[JazzieCazzie]

Received as frimp from the lovely Labbies. Working my way through reviewing, revisiting and sorting every single scent I own -- imps, frimps, bottles, sniffies, etc. -- alpahbetically so I can finally post an exhaustive swap list in the coming weeks.

 

IN THE IMP: Just getting perfumy neroli. Kinda disappointing since I loves me my sandalwood and ylang ylang but not a big fan of neroli which tends to go soapy, bubblegummy and perfumy on me.

 

Dabbed on one wrist.

 

WET: Nothing but neroii and department store perfume. Zero ylang ylang. Zero sandalwood. A tiny bit of suntan lotion. I want to try to wait this out and see if on the drydown either of the notes I like come up.

 

DRYDOWN: I fight the urge to wash it off. But once the drydown begins, all I get is aquatic, soapy, perfume. And it gets stronger and stronger.

 

WASHOFF.

 

OVERALL: This is just not me and I'm not sure why none of the other notes came to play. Sigh.

 

On a scale of 1-5, about a 1.5

[Sidhechaos]

I've often looked at the scent and hoped I would get a free inp of it to try because it has three of my favorite notes in it. However, all three notes can be quite strong and I knew the scent would have to be very delicately balanced for it to work. While cleaning out from behind my desk the other day found a handful of imps that had escaped to the floor back corner and amongst them was and inp of Lorelei. I quickly tried some on and was thrilled to find that as usual Beth and the folks at bpal had done a stellar job. It neither has the overly bitterness that neroli can develop, nor the musty scent that sandalwood can be known for and the ylang ylang is not gaggingly over floral. Each note is represented at a perfect pitch with not too much nor too little and is blended perfectly. I can very much see this becoming almost a signature spring scent for me.

[milo]

Fresh, bright floral. Everything melds together very nicely here, it almost smells citrussy to me. This blend smells like the word 'cheerful, though I know that's not the description. I like this, though I wish the sandalwood played a larger role.

[heyjjudette]

I get a smokey floral with this. It's soft but powerful at the same time. Very feminine, I'm getting a lot of the ylang-ylang.

 

I'll be keeping this one.

[lohengrin]

In the imp: Mostly neroli, with just a little bit of sandalwood. Perfumey but not offensively so.

 

On skin, wet: The neroli is even stronger, while the sandalwood all but disappears. There's a hint of what must be ylang ylang, but not enough to really identify it.

 

On skin, dry: Unfortunately the distinctness of the neroli is gone and now all I smell is a pretty generic dark floral perfume. That faint might-be-ylang-ylang note never did come to anything, either.

 

After an hour: Same as the initial drydown. It's not unpleasant or giving me a headache, but it's not interesting to me at all. This was a frimp and I never would have tried it on my own, so I'm not terribly disappointed or anything. Or surprised. But I figured it was worth a try.

[alterosen]

I tried this without looking at the notes & got berries & soft woods, so the ylang ylang & neroli must be combining to seem berry-like to my nose. It's quite fruity overall with a little sandalwood wafting in & out, and a bit of something faintly aquatic in the background. I get a hint of orange occasionally, too.

 

I'm not a fan of aquatics generally but this is really pretty (& it gets nostalgia points because my Mum is from the Rheinland & Lorelei was a childhood story for me). Yes to a bottle purchase!

[doomsday_disco]

In the imp: The ylang ylang is quite prominent in the imp, but I can smell the sandalwood and neroli as well. Neroli can be problematic for me and has made some scents cough syrup-like on my skin.

Wet: On my skin, I can still smell all of the notes. The neroli is stronger on my skin than it was in the imp, but ylang ylang and sandalwood notes have taken the center stage... for now.

Dry: The neroli is much more prominent now, but it didn't go horribly wrong on me, and for that, I am grateful. The ylang ylang and sandalwood are still pretty strong, but now they are accompanied by the bitterness of the neroli note.

Verdict: While I am glad that the neroli cooperated with my skin chemistry, this scent isn't really 'me'.

[Veronica]

Almost entirely ylang ylang, shrieking and white and floral. Just a hint of bitter neroli and sandalwood.

[PrinceofcatS]

This smells heavenly but has a bitter sadness to it. Sandalwood always reminds me of perfumey tears and beachwood a little bit, and even though there's no water to this, the flowers + this scent really make it smell like the topic of a woman drowning herself for love.

 

The lab's neroli note doesn't always work on me, but this one seems to go wonderfully with the other two notes. The main floral note, which I assume is ylang ylang, is incredibly sweet, warmed and enriched by the sandalwood, and I keep inhaling it deeply.

 

This isn't something I'd normally wear, but it's very atmospheric and beautiful.

[Cali]

A beautifully light and sweet perfume ylang ylang being the most prominent. Yellow/orange tones. Very appropriate for summer!

[Missa_Moth]

I remember loving this scent years ago and I even had a 5ml bottle then. My chemistry must have changed over the years because now it doesn't work on me at all.

 

Imp: Sharp, floral, aquatic

Wet: Sharp, watery, soapy floral

Dry: Woody and still soapy, like waxed paper wrapped scented soaps. No throw.

 

Off to the swap pile for this one.

[marilyn eyre]

A very pretty aquatic blend, but I'll just stick with the imp for now.

[VetchVesper]

Huh... those are not the notes I was expecting for this one.  What I get is a soft, wispy, skin scent, more ozoney than aquatic, with a gentle floral sweetness.  I smell the white musk note that's in a lot of other GC scents like Fae and King of Hearts.  As this dries down, the neroli becomes more defined.  Lorelei remains demure and pretty on me, but doesn't' last very long and occasionally reminds me of a pleasant hair spray.  Fae is more my speed.

Edited January 14, 2019 by VetchVesper

[torischroeder9]

In the imp: Ylang ylang is the central note, accented by neroli and supported by sandalwood. 

 

On my skin:

 

Wet, it's very ylang ylang. As it dries, the ylang ylang quiets down a bit, and I get a bit of the neroli as well as the backing of sandalwood. 

 

Ultimately, this is a nice, inoffensive floral. The sandalwood helps give it grounding and structure, and the neroli keeps the ylang ylang from being too overwhelming. 

 

I do not know that I need an inoffensive floral in my collection (I'm just not an inoffensive floral kind of person), but this was fun to try. 

[ShadowEtienne]

This is lovely and entirely floral on my skin, the sandalwood never showed up and I'm not mad about it.

 

The neroli is the beautiful rich neroli that I love (not the sad sour one that occasionally jumpscares me and keeps neroli out of my very favorite notes reliably), and the ylang ylang is is tart and bright.

 

This is basically a two note on my skin, and if this was readily in stock, I'd definitely consider getting more of it.