Annabel Lee

[Medici]

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 plucked up Annabel Lee for the cucumber note originally, so in the end I think I'm a little sad that the cucumber is barely there.

In the bottle I get a very strong peopny that borders on bubblegum sweet. I like sweet scents, so I'm really not put off, but already my assumptions are totally shot.

Wet it's very much floral, with an underscored bit of green herbal that gives a bit of an edge - but not much.

In drydown the sweet pea makes an appearance, I'm reminded strongly of Titania without the heady berry rush. I think I'm having an off day with my chemistry, actually - because the first time I tried this I remember the florals being much more subdued in this stage. Originally, at this point, the sage picked up and the entire thing turned a nice, crisp green.

Towards the softening point it returns to the expected herbal, but still, sadly, I don't get any cucumber out of this.

Man what I'd do for cucumber and avocado and lime right now. Guacamole maybe. BPAL guacamole?

Well, in any case, that's not Annabel. She's lovely, but not what I was expecting at all.

3.5/5

[feline.by.design]

On me, Annabel Lee is more prominent with the sweet pea, especially in its wet stage, than any other note. However, I do have a cold, which I know makes for a wonky review, however I really enjoyed this fragrance, and would like to review it, illness or no. The cucumber sort of adds a freshness to this scent, but in itself doesn't smell "cucumbery." The fragrance is mostly floral, with green and *wet* nuances.

 

It was quite nice, although at the moment I'm not in the best mood to appreciate kindly florals (*a-choo!*). Annabel Lee seems like a lovely scent to wear during the warmer months. I enjoy nondescript florals, and even with my sensitive sinuses, Annabel Lee was a gentle fragrance with me, yet still potent enough for one of my coworkers to smell it on me a few feet away.

 

I like Annabel Lee. I wouldn't mind getting another bottle, however I think a single bottle might last me well.

 

-doreen

[Kittyflop]

The cucumber comes out very strong on my skin. This is very true to it’s inspiration – innocent and wistful! It’s cooling, green, and sweet. I’m not very familiar with the other notes but they blend together wonderfully!

 

Medium staying power – 3-4 hours.

[LushNatty]

I was predisposed to like this one, because I LOVED this poem when I was a kid. It's an old favorite.

In the bottle: herbs, water and flowers. Very light and dainty.

Applied: I anticipate that I won’t be able to wear this because sweet pea doesn’t work on me—turns to soap.

Well, it is turning to soap, but I must say it is a pleasant type of soap—like most sweet pea, it reminds me of this soap I got at Anthropologie with a Victorian-style wrapper. That was supposed to be a Jasmine soap, but it wasn’t very jasmine-y, just nice. Perhaps because the sweet pea is always most dominant on me, it reminds me a lot of Juliet. However, this one is much less soapy on me than that was. I can smell the lilies in this and they are very sweet, and they seem to be able to tone down the soapiness that I get from the sweet pea. I would say this is one of the better DimV scents, definitely. It’s nice—I may not get a bottle, but I also may. It has a nice tea-with-honey smell to it. It’s clean and fresh-smelling, and a happy smell.

On a scale of 1 to 5: 4.

[sophia_helix]

Soap. As bad as a violet scent, even. No cucumber, no peony...just a soapy, cloying average perfume. WAH! I was so looking forward to this one.

[Blood onmy hands]

Something about this one makes me violently sad. As in, when I wear this, I start crying and feel suicidal . I have really bad associations with the smell of sage, and I can smell sage lingering in the background with this one... so maybe that is part of the reason that this makes me so depressed.

 

Anyhow. Beyond that, this is a rather pretty blend. It starts out very pleasant. I can smell the lovely sweet pea with a green/aquatic background. The sweet pea fades on me pretty quickly though. The drydown is all perfumey peony and sage. It gets more perfumey and sharp as the hours wear on... and it gives me a headache.

 

I think I'll be imping out my bottle of Annabel Lee. For me this seems to trigger depression and headaches... two things that I don't need extra help on, lol.

[zillah37]

Annabel Lee smells so floral in the bottle that it's almost overpowering. I'm not a huge fan of flowery scents though, so I didn't try it right away.

 

However, once it's on my skin it becomes a very light floral, nothing overpowering at all. Then the sage and cucumber come to the forefront and it's just a light floral background instead.

 

It's absolutely lovely and calming. It smells so ... green. I love it!

[oatmealneko]

I had to wear this a few times to even be able to review it. I think it was mostly because it's very sweet, candy sweetness in the initial wet stage that threw me. I wasn't expecting it, so I stopped paying attention to it because it smelled too sweet. Then at some point, it smelled like it was going to turn into soap, & I was convinced it was another one for the sale pile.

 

I got some Annabel Lee on my sleeves of my sweatshirt, & couldn't remember where I got the nice nice scent until later. It's smells different in the bottle, wet, & dry.

 

In the bottle - a little sweet, cucumber's right there.

Wet - sweet candy scent, sweet pea, probably - light floral, a little bit of green, but hard to pick out.

Dry - Sweet pea with green, ripe cucumber, & sage, peony is very light, delectable floral. er, it's actually a lot similar to Empyreal Mist - fruity/sweet like comparison. Bleh. Confused my scents again.

Edited December 22, 2005 by oatmealneko

[mmcfa2]

light sweet and green initially on it makes my nose tickle,( like sniffing a bar of soap!) not sure who is the culprit, but the drydown isr apid and becomes soft and elegant without going a bit powdery. It is a light and bright scent, girlish and springlike and an easy one to love. I'l agree that it is simliar to desdemona, but desdemona is more straightforward, this is softer and has a slightly more herbal lilt to it. I'll keep this bottle just for fresh spring days or for when I want to smell like spring

[alicia_stardust]

This definitely smells green and sweet. It's light. I can definitely smell the cucumber both in the vial and for the first little while after I put it on my wrist.

 

I love this for the first hour. After that, it turns way too soapy on me.

 

I gave this a 2 out of 5 stars.

[modesty_blaise]

When I first applied this, I was thinking "whoa, what does this remind me of??", and yeah. Desdemona. But while Desdemona had some note that made it meh on me, this really works. It also has something in common with Titania, so I´m guessing my skin amps the sweet pea? Um, yeah.

 

All in all, a lovely, light floral. Sweet, innocent, wistful, you name it. Nice!

Edited December 19, 2005 by modesty_blaise

[maewitch]

I really enjoy peony, but surprisingly it's my least favorite part of this blend. Not that it's in any way unpleasant. The peony and presumably the sweet pea are the opening chords of this blend, and they strike a sweet high note, girlishly light and almost powdery. Nice, but not outstanding.

 

But as they pass into an echo of themselves, the cooler notes of cucumber and other green things begin to assert themselves, and that's when this becomes much more interesting. It smells like drowned fairies, nayads, lakeside mermaids by moonlight.

 

Cool, soft, innocent - but removed from frivolous femininity.

[Lit Chick]

Wow, the lab description of this is right on. It's innocent, girlish, and then it's very muted, a bit somber.

It's not at all depressing, but it's not purely light and happy either.

I love it.

 

Wow -it's really quite the scent. I expected a light, springtime floral - and for maybe 10 minutes it is.... and then it deepens. Just lovely.

 

Going straight to my top 10.

[pekeana]

In the bottle, I smell sage, peony, and sweet pea.

 

On me, Annabel Lee turns completely disasterous. It hits my skin and becomes a sickening combination of rotting hothouse flowers, rotting vegetation in a compost heap, *and* something vaguely pee-like. I can only begin to wonder where this went wrong -- cucumber, peonies, sweet pea, and sage usually love me. On the other hand, lilies and oakmoss usually hate me.

 

I guess this is just one of those blends that I'm meant to admire from afar, and not actually like myself.

[blu°]

This is very pretty. First on it's rather soapy and perfumey, which I think must be the lilies. Then it turns softer and sweeter. The sweet pea comes out really strong on me. Then there's something completely pretty-girly-angel-like in this, very very pretty scent. Some depth, too. Abysses, yes. I really think this is quite a goth scent. I like it though, there's enough fuzzy sweetness to catch the initial soapiness and make it wearable. The white sage is great in this. Hmmm.

In the final stage of wearing I notice the moss predominantly. Very nice. Almost warm. Deep. Delicious. I think, I can smell the cucumber, too, now.

 

Considering buying a bottle, but want to check out some more current LEs first before I decide. From all that I've tested so far, Annabel Lee turns out to be among the two or three favourites, though... Which surprises me! I don't really like aquatics at all and I usually try to avoid lilies, as they seem to turn soapy on me. But this is so really nice, I especially like the traces left in my clothes. It's actually rather difficult to test anything else, as I feel that urge to wear Annabel Lee all the time.

[Voleuse]

On first application, this is super-pretty. Sweetly floral, and very clean. After the initial bloom, it fades to a nice, sweet, faintly herbal scent.

 

This is, as others have said, a very innocent and girlish perfume. As it fades, I definitely get an aquatic note as well. Unfortunately, as with other ADiMV scents, this fades to almost nothing on me within half an hour.

[merebrillante]

In the vial: Lily of the valley.

 

Wet: Lily of the valley.

 

Drydown: Ooh. An aquatic note in there now - is it lotus? Much more sophisticated than the innocent topnote. Reminds me vaguely of Oberon.

 

Dry: I always look at the official description after I note my initial impressions. I now know that "lily of the valley" is my name for "sweet pea," 'cause that's what I smelled. But as this dries, I smell more of the cucumber and sea lilies. It has an oceanic tang to it that gives it more sophistication than the drydocks sweet pea.

[empi girl]

In the imp, and on initially this is very sweet, light, girlish. The sweet pea really stands out. As it dries (say, 30 minutes on) the sage becomes more prominent, and the moss, but still sweet underneath. For the life of me, it reminds me very much of Absinthe, even though they share no notes in common. It is the light, herbal, slightly sweet greeness that does it I think.

Edited January 5, 2006 by empi girl

[summer]

Oh, this is so lovely.

 

It is all fresh, crisp, slightly sweet white florals on me. I don't get much aquatic from it, which is a good thing for me. It just smells like springtime and fresh air. I am so glad I got a bottle.

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

First of all, I love this poem. Love it. How much? When I was a child, I named my beautiful blonde Labrador Retriever after Annabel Lee. It's just always seemed so mystical and romantic to me. *whispers my darling, my darling, my life and my bride under breath*

 

I love peony. But I dislike sweet pea and most lilies. Peony tends to get drowned by other notes, so I decided to wait for an imp of Miss Annabel.

 

Yeah, I was right. Lilies and sweet pea. Too cloying for me. I am super-picky about florals, and this reminds me of Aeval, which also didn't work too well for me. I'm not getting peony at all, although Annabel swoons and dies really quickly, morphing from super-sweet to gone in a flash (which it appropriate, really). Well, I will share this with my sister (fellow Poe enthusiast) and see if it works better on her. It does suit the winsome character; it just doesn't suit me!

[Sheila]

Annabel Lee is a lovely poem, and it reminds me of a great novel: Lolita. I can't help but think of Humbert Humbert's perversions (and Nabokov's disdain of Poe) when I read it!

 

This is all sweet pea and peony on me, both flowers I adore. Luckily I don't get any aquatic notes (because they're not my favorites), but I wish I got more moss. This is a bright, innocent scent--very sweet and girly. However, I wish it was a bit more "gloom filled." I get more "innocence" than "funereal." Still, it's beautiful and bright.

[jemz]

This is one of the first DiMV scents I rushed to try.

 

In the imp, it smells very floral. I smell lilies and sweet pea.

 

Wet on my wrist, it's a burst of sweet pea and something green underneath.

 

Drying down, the scent is absolutely lovely. A bit powdery but I guess that's the peony? But I love the scent of sweet pea that's bursting through since that is one of my favorite floral scents. The throw calms down and I keep getting whiffs of it as I work and shuffle papers and grab books which makes me smile despite fighting a nasty flu. It lingers too. Mmmm.

 

Definately keeping my bottle of this! I can't wait to wear this in the spring!

[malabar]

I had a good feeling about this one, as cucumber is one of my favourite (and least available) notes. I wasn't disappointed. It does go a bit fruity on me but the sage and moss provide enough spice to ground it. Yummy!

[bellis]

This is so gorgeous. Sweet and fresh and bright smelling. The peony and sweet pea are just lovely, with the herbs providing a richer spiciness. The cucumber is brilliant, making it a slightly watery scent without being necessarily aquatic. I get more of a dew or warm rain in a garden feel from this than a large body of water. I'm so glad I've got this, and it will be perfect in the spring and summer.

[Fefferbella]

In the bottle this is green, fresh and SO pretty.

 

Sadly, on my skin something in it turns soapy and almost sour smelling.

I've been wearing this in my hair, and it doesn't turn soapy, thankfully.