Annabel Lee

[PersephonesChild]

A soft, innocent blend, touched with a funereal, gloom-filled air: wild peony, sweet pea, cucumber and white sage with sea lilies and moss.

I just re-read the poem for the first time since I got this scent, and I was inspired to review it, since the scent really exemplifies the poem. I find that the scent is very innocent, childish-- it's soft and powdery, in a babyish rather than old lady kind of way. It reminds me a lot of Ophelia, which I suppose is the sweet pea and waterlily kind of scent. It's also definitely a sad scent-- this could be one of the funereal bouquet scents. And while I don't get too strong an aquatic sense from it, it is faintly damp, like a breeze off the water. I don't wear this scent that often, but I definitely enjoy it when I do.

[Lamia]

Curiously enough, this smells like lavender on me. It's a beautiful lavender soap scent.

 

Not me. Back in the bag.

[reynardine]

Note: this sample is a few years old.

 

In bottle: lovely light floral, mainly peony

 

Wet: Sweet pea and some sage

 

Drydown: Still have the sweet pea, but now a touch of cucumber and moss. Extremely pretty scent!

 

Later: Went to soap on me within an hour. Going to have to put this on the swaps pile.

 

[countessmouse]

Almost overpoweringly sweet floral in the bottle and wet on my skin. It has finally calmed down to a very nice peony/sweet pea mix with just a hint of the moss. I like floral scents, but this is almost too "young" for me.

[angelamaria]

A brief introduction: I am an Edgar Allan Poe fan, and I've been hunting for the bottles of his since-discontinued series in BPAL, mostly to collect. Annabel Lee, in particular, is my favorite poem of his--well, actually, it's my favorite poem, hands down. It moves me, and when feeling particularly emotional, yes, it makes me cry. I gave an impromptu in-class reading of this poem when I was in high school, and I was almost in tears when I finished--and some of my classmates were, too. Needless to say, this was the first BPAL that I felt an actual emotional need to own (as opposed to "oh! pretty shiny perfume blends! want! *grabby hands*").

 

AHEM. Let's get on with it!!

 

 

In bottle: well, funereal is just about right. This is a gloomy, dark, sorrowful, and--yes--funereal floral. I wasn't looking at the description when I had my first whiff, and I immediately thought of funerals. I actually felt a little disappointed, and dreading the actual test--I'm generally a "bright" sort of person, and this does not seem like it would be something that would fit me. However, it IS a sweet, gentle, soft and innocent blend, it is perfect for the image I always had of Annabel Lee (sans the gloominess): a gently-smiling, almost-ladylike young girl just starting to become a woman. The florals are well-blended, but if there's any scent that I would say I get easier than the rest, it's the wild peony and the sea lilies.

 

Wet on skin: wow, this is actually brighter on my skin, not as gloomy--much more "alive". It's almost the same as the bottle scent, but without the almost overpowering gloominess and sadness. There is a kind of..."ache", though. Not a literal ache, but more of a feeling. This is...amazing. Very, very evocative of Annabel Lee, that sweet beautiful sadness, almost ethereal. ...What? Oh yes, the notes. Well, now I'm getting the lilies more, against the other florals, and there is an almost-woodsy, green note, which I'm supposing is the moss. And maybe the cucumber, so it's not too heavy.

 

Dry: same as above. Ohhhh, so pretty. So BEAUTIFUL. I love this. I love love love this. It's a soft, sweet floral, sometimes almost bubblegummy but never really going into that direction. It's a somewhat sweet-spicy-dusty sort of blend now, dry on my skin, so it's everything, absolutely everything that seems to encapsulate Annabel Lee. A young, pretty, sweet innocent girl; the young love they had; the ache of longing, the sadness of tragedy, and yet the brightness, almost-exultant sweetness of having that love and sharing that love with someone, even fleetingly. And amazingly, after an hour or two on my skin, I'm starting to detect a slight salty aquatic vibe with the scent that was NOT there before: which is AMAZINGLY apt, given the poem--you can almost see that "sepulchre there by the sea", and Annabel Lee becoming one with the vast waters, and the sorrow of loss, and salty tears. And oh lastly--this has AMAZING longevity. This is the first time that a scent has lasted me for the whole day! I expected, as with all florals, for this to be gone by midday, or not even as long as that--but it's past 10 hours now since I put it on, and I can still smell it on my arm. Good throw, as well, up until a bit past midday, when it started to be more fleeting.

 

Verdict: well, duh! This is probably the longest blend review I've ever done so far. A very, very worthy purchase, and I must hunt for more. I am sad that she is discontinued, but I am so happy to have found her.

[dementia_divine]

In the bottle: I get a lot of the sweet pea note from the bottle, followed by the other floral notes, and a bit of cucumber and sage.

 

Wet: I'm getting the peony, which I recognize from The Dormouse, and then the cucumber note. Then, the sweet pea note emerges, as well as a bit of the moss and sage. It's a very fresh, green, floral scent. The lilies are beginning to come out more as the scent begins to dry down, but the main notes by this point are the peony, cucumber, and sage.

 

Dry: This is peony-dominant. The sage is stronger during this stage of the scent, and the cucumber, lilies, and moss are still present. I'm not getting much of the sweet pea note anymore, and sadly, the scent is somewhat sour on me now.

 

Verdict: This was pleasant during the wet stage, but the disappearance of the sweet pea after the scent has been dry for a while made the scent a bit sour and herbal (thanks to the sage) on me. I am pretty sure it is the white sage that is problematic for me, as I tried the single note, and it did not not work on my skin. I was really hoping this one would work for me since I adore the poem it was inspired by, too.

[freyasfae]

I have been pleasantly surprised by how much I like sweet pea when BPAL does it. After the sickly sweetness of Bath and Body Works sweet pea scent, I had sworn it off. At first this is mostly sweet pea, and it is sweet, but not sickly so, and as it dries down the other notes start to come out and really balance the sweetness with a lush greenness.