Celeste

[Circaea]

Madagascan vanilla bean, vanilla orchid, orris root, and saffron.

celeste is very musky (a powdery sort of white musk, though not as sharp) with delicious vanilla notes. it's soft, just slightly sweetened fluffy vanilla cotton. it's very dry. i do like it, but i honestly can't decide if i would wear it or not!

This is exactly what I get from Celeste. It's lovely, but it's for someone else. I also get the similarity to Love's Philosophy. This is the kind of muskiness that made Morocco so bad to me, and that gives me a headache, so, while I'm happy and grateful at getting a chance to try it, I'll be glad to send it along to someone who can wear it.

As it dries down, the muskiness fades somewhat and the vanilla is delicious - kind of high and clear, not really warm, but very beautiful. And I can smell the slight booziness. i like this almost enough to deal with the headache. But not quite. Celeste, you're a very special girl, but it can't work out.

It's not you, it's me.

[tinyvulture]

This is the first Courtesan blend I've had the chance to try. My goodness! Heavenly. A rich, heady cloud of warm vanilla (like a bolder Antique Lace), enhanced with breaths of orris (think Black Pearl) and gentle saffron. The perfect balance of sophisticated and sexy. I appreciate how strong it is. Immediately adding to my "bottle wanted" list.

 

I will have to try them all now. That's how it goes.

[filigree_shadow]

I like Celeste. It does remind me of Love's Philosophy, and Antique Lace, and Morocco... pretty much everything everyone has mentioned. It's like a musky version of Love's Philosophy and a more vanilla version of Morocco. Sadly it does that overwhelming thing on me that Love's Philosophy did. It smells really good, but there is something about this scent that I get tired of really fast. I don't want to smell it for four hours. I'm tired of it after 15 minutes. I never end up wearing scents like this, and it always kinds of pains me to give them up because I like them... in super small doses.

 

I might keep my bottle around for a while to try one more time to wear it and see if it works.

[bellumed]

Wow. Lovely and ladylike, all vanilla and orchid. Just beautiful and delicate, but not faint, Celeste does have some body to it. Really a perfect feminine scent, a keeper for sure.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Mmmmfffggg. That vanilla is so good! But then the orris kicks in. Orris and I are not friends. At first it's actually beautiful in this, with the vanilla, but then it all goes a bit plastic and powdery at the same time. Sometimes scents recover from that on my skin, so I am waiting patiently before passing judgement.

 

 

Dry: I am back and forth on how I feel about this. It's a bit too sweet and powdery for me, I think, but there's also something so beautiful about it. I guess I like it, but wonder if it's really "me". It's the closest I have ever come to wanting to wear something with orris in it. I should know by now that I just don't care for it. Out of the alarming number of bottles I own, only 1 contains orris (Lyonesse). I think this will likely get passed on to someone who will love it fully.

 

 

ETA: So several hours later, this is gorgeous. Still a little powdery, but I keep catching whiffs of it and loving it. The vanilla in it reminds me of the vanilla in L'Estate. I need to at least give this a good full day wear before I decide on it. I don't love the wet stage. but the later stages of dry down are really something.

Edited June 26, 2016 by LizziesLuck

[Bamels]

Testing my stash due to nose change after having kids. Another one I have that I never appear to have tried! In the imp I smell a floral vanilla. Could go either way on me. Wet and on, it smells like a generic body cream, not too vanillary, not too floral. The florals are creeping out as it dries down. I'm not keen on this. It's not a horrid scent at all, it's just the kind of smell that you would get in regular shops. Pleasant, but not stash-worthy for me.

[celestia]

♔ Celeste

 

In the Bottle: Creamy, spicy flecked vanilla bean

 

Wet: This is a glorious vanilla musk that reminds me immediately of Antique Lace, though amplified and more full-bodied and slightly more sugary and vanillic. I don’t get much of the saffron anymore other than the initial blast in the application, but the saffron has lasted, it would have reminded me a lot of Love's Philosophy had it used the vanilla from Antique Lace rather than French Vanilla. On skin, it smells a lot like a stronger, more vanillic, more sugary and rich version of Antique Lace, the orris root lends more dimension to the scent by adding a slightly powdery feel. This elevates the scent, but also makes it slightly sharp to the nose. It’s not as sharp as initial reviews, most likely due to the many years of aging. The vanilla orchid also lends a slight floral tone, but it’s wispy and subtle, and only serves to add more depth to an otherwise vanilla-centric rush.

 

Drydown: The vanilla in this remains true and unchanging, and very evident this is the same, glorious musky vanilla used in Elfv4, Black Lace, and Antique Lace, where the vanilla proves to also be quite stable in strength, throughout all stages. This is not toothachingly sweet like straight vanilla cotton candy, it has a muskiness about it that allows it to smell more mature and perhaps even, slightly golden. The scent dries to an ever so cautious glow and smells like a slightly sweet, vanilla musk. It's a little heavier on the musk and less vanillic on the dry down.I love the drydown in this more than Antique Lace because there are hints of sugary vanillic cotton candy wafting through.

 

TL;DR: Beautifully rich, and musky vanilla

[ralenth]

Wet: Vanilla bean drenched in a soft musk.

 

Drydown: It almost smells like mallow. Celeste remains musky and sweetly flecked vanilla bean. As it dries further, the blend becomes more softly feminine in its muskiness. It's simultaneously genteel and seductive.

 

Dry: Pleasantly sweet vanilla without being too foody. There are occasional tinges of a soft floral, but Celeste remains primarily a vanilla-centric blend.

[Shadowdawn]

This is truly stellar! What a delicious (but not at all foody, this is definitely inedible) blend! I will agree that it is very similar to Love's Philosophy... and LP did not work out on me at all, sadly. It has some of the same, grainy, gorgeous, dry vanilla... but the saffron in it was far, far too potent, and to me smelled like insulin or certain types of plastics. Whereas I find the saffron amped astringently in the simpler LP blend... in this one, there is just enough oomf and complexity (plus, perhaps a darker vanilla) that the saffron has managed to keep to the back just perfectly! Here it's more of a spiced/grounding/earthy element. Even better, it fades off completely within the hour, leaving nothing but a dry, musky vanilla. I do feel like there's some form of white crystal musk in this, tempered by a gentle downy puff of something... orris, probably, adding that dry element. I love this... it is soft, deep, grainy/woody, inviting, refined, classic, sultry, grownup. There is definitely a gossamer/airy quality to it. Just delicious! What's unexpected is a hint of maybe a slightly boozy aged oakwood element. I imagine the woody stalk of vanilla might smell a bit like this.

 

ETA: I realize this is many, many years aged now-- and so, if some of these elements (being less sharp, amping more softly, quieting of the saffron, depth, dryness, etc.) are all due to the ageing, then I can say it's aged beautifully! 

Edited March 22, 2019 by Shadowdawn

[doomsday_disco]

Orris and I are generally not friends, but it is pretty tame in Celeste. I mean, it is very present, but the lovely vanilla note in this keeps it in check and prevents it from going vat of powder on me. The dustiness of the orris with the vanilla puts me in mind of some of the white sandalwood and vanilla blends. The orchid and saffron in this aren't loud; it is mostly about the vanilla and orris on me, but I think the saffron in this might be contributing to me thinking of sandalwood at some points when sniffing this scent. 

 

This is a pretty, musky, dusty vanilla, and I'm glad that I got to try it despite my aversion to orris. It's not something I need to hunt down more of, though (thankfully!).