Helena

[SmileCat]

HELENA

 

I'll follow thee and make a heaven of hell,

To die upon the hand I love so well.

 

Rose amber, calla lily, night-blooming jasmine, water lily, and white rose.

 

You can't do Hermia without Helena!

 

I must admit, I am a self-confessed rose lover. This is another beautiful rose blend from Beth.

 

The blend of rose and jasmine reminds me a bit of Rose Moon, but while Rose Moon has an earthier woodsy base, Helena has a dewier one. Must be the water lily and cala lily elements.

 

I can't say I can pick out the rose amber (rose amber?) except maybe as another rose note, but it's a very pretty blend! I can definitely get a feel of Helena's self-martyring melancholy.

 

In the imp and on my skin stays fairly true but the rose does certainly come to the foreground.

[Keslynn]

In the imp, hello, rose!

 

On my skin, Helena is almost completely a wet, almost sour rose. It reminds me a lot of Wilhelmina Murray or Lady Luck Blues, and it's quite lovely. As it dries down, the rose remains dominant. If I sniff near my wrist, I can catch the white florals, but the throw is all rose.

 

Verdict: Helena is a gorgeous rose, but I feel like I already have rose blends that smell very similar. Probably off to the swaps.

[ladybird]

Oh, weep and wail! Helena loves me not!

 

In the bottle, it smells almost exclusively of rose.

 

On my skin, it takes on this weird sharp tone, almost chemical. Maybe the rose and jasmine aren't playing well together? I don't know what's wrong, but whatever it is, it doesn't go away on drydown - it just stays sour and sharp, with a faint hint of rose over it all. Ugh.

 

Very disappointing!

[edenssixthday]

Helena - When I first apply this, it smells of water lilies and little more. It's very pretty and innocent-smelling at this point. As it begins to warm up on my skin, the rose and calla lily blossom on my skin and it becomes an absolutely gorgeous, highly feminine, floral fragrance. I'm amazed that I can't detect the jasmine for the life of me. It's entirely rose and lily and reminds me of a blend that I might find in the Ars Moriendi category. The throw is light for a rose blend, but it's very pretty and sticks around for a respectable amount of time.

[bombus]

It is too flowery soapy to me, too innocent and sweet. I love rose but I can pass on this one.

[mrsveteran]

In the imp: Rose. And I don't just mean rose, I mean ROSE. I couldn't detect any other notes in this -- it was like a rose garden in full bloom. It's a great scent for Helena, but not for me.

 

Verdict: I left out the wet on skin, drydown, and throw categories because I wasn't even about to try this on. One sniff was enough to tell me that this was very, very, very much sweet, flowery rose. I'm sure it's a lovely scent, but I can't abide rose on me. Off to the swap pile where hopefully it will eventually go to a rose-lover.

[taramarie]

In the imp: Hello, tea rose! On my skin: It's like tea rose is the desperate, determined side of Helena and has beat all the rival notes back in persuit of my nose, its Demetrius. I'm hoping aging will make the other notes strong enough to fight back (c'mon, lilies!), otherwise Helena will have to go.

[The_Merf]

In the imp: Woah rose and lilies and just the slightest touch of light night jasmine. Very strong floral, very girly-feminine.

 

Wet: Really watery and light--I had to put a lot of this on just to get enough of a whiff to test.

 

Drydown and wear: There is a slight soapiness here (probably the white rose, which tends to do that), but other than that, I can barely smell this on me; it just soaks up into my skin. Off to swap.

[Emma2403]

Rose and jasmine together, I don't have my hopes up!

 

In the bottle: ROSE². Funnily enough, I quite like it, it's very much rose, but not the cloying old lady's rose.

 

On my skin: on me, it's quite strong and not watery at all. Still rose, of course, with something sour (hello jasmine!) trying to make an appearance.

 

After a while: arf, jasmine soap! Still a hint of rose, but it doesn't make it any better.

 

Verdict: terribly surprising, yeah... NOT for me!

[readiness]

in the bottle: ROSE

 

on my skin (which doesn't even amp rose): Rose ++++ I don't get the sourness just rose

 

verdict - not for me!

[supremegoddessofall]

Fairly generic soapy florals, with a bit of aquatics.

[sookster]

straight sniff from imp is a heavy rose blend...

unfortunately, the other notes never come thru...

a rose SN...boo for me and my dumb chemistry that amps rose to the upteenth degree

[yeahbutnobut]

Helena

 

In the bottle: beautiful white rose, like Parlement of Foules, but with more floral notes.

Wet on skin: holy crap, this smells just like Boots Soltan sun lotion. That's no bad thing though.

Dry on skin: gorgeous white rose with pale, watery flowers. Yes, it still reminds me of Soltan, but I don't mind…it's an aquatic-floral sun lotion scent, no coconut, and makes me think of summer holidays. However after a minute the flowers bloom nicely and it smells less like sun cream and more like roses and lilies. This is very pretty. There's something tangy to it as well, like the sharpness I got with the calla lily note in Cottonmouth, and it also reminds me of Ophelia.

After a while: this gets very sharp and a little sour. It's not bad though…I just worry that, after retrying Ophelia and having it turn sour on me, the white rose note that I loved so much is now starting to turn against my skin chemistry. I'd be heartbroken if that was the case, so I'm hoping it's the lily that is turning sour and not my beloved rose. The waterlily note is very pleasant and cool, and there's still that sun lotion smell, but with a sharp greenish floral note to it. No amber, sadly.

The sharp, almost aggressive sourness thankfully doesn't last and tones down a lot to leave a much more pleasant mix of roses and other flowers. The calla lily is dominant too, fighting with the rose to see which flower should rule over this scent. The waterlily and jasmine are gentler, a little bit shy in the face of the rose and calla. The rose and lily then make up, and the scent becomes a soft, fuzzy flowery scent with a touch of green, like a bouquet.

Verdict: this is a lovely womanly scent, a pretty floral, and one that might grow on me, but I don't think I need a whole bottle. The scent reminds me at times of a sun lotion I wore all the time on my summer hols in Sicily, so it brings back pleasant memories…but there are times when the floral notes go really sharp and piercing on me. It's not the 'evil jasmine' reaction, it's more of a sour lily scent (I just hope it's not the rose that's souring on me!) and I'm not crazy about this stage of the scent. The scent does calm down after a while into a soft bunch of flowers, rose and calla lily taking the lead with the other flowers supporting it. I was hoping for more depth from the amber though. I do like this, but compared with Hermia, this one is only second best. I think I should have just gone for an imp of this scent instead of a bottle. I think I'll keep an imp and see what age does-I have a feeling this will get better with time, may lose that sourness, and maybe it will improve.

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? just an imp's worth.

If you like this, try: Ophelia, Three Brides, Sepulchre, Viola, Hymn, Nuit

[zankoku_zen]

In the imp: Rose varnish

 

On Skin: ROSE BOOM!

 

Drydown: Even more roses.

 

Verdict: This is a great rose blend... at least on me. It's pretty and fragrant. I wish I loved roses because then I would love this. Unfortunately, rose-biased as I am, this is not for me.

[Blood onmy hands]

I'm pretty fond of white rose (*love* Parlement of Foules), but this blend goes all wonky on my skin. I'm not sure what exactly rose amber is supposed to be, but the rose in this goes sour and chemical-like on me. That on its own wouldn't be so bad, but all of the lily in this blend goes to soap. I wind up smelling like perfumey rose soap. Helena is far too sharp a scent for me.

[filigree_shadow]

At first it's an extraordinarily sweet rose. Not the creamy soft kind of rose that I like. But, it's also not soapy or artificial-smelling. As it dries it deepens and isn't quite so sweet.

 

It's quite light, too. I don't like rose scents that knock you over with their rose-ness. This one warms up into a pretty rose scent that isn't very strong. It has a faintly dewy quality and smells pure and rather innocent.

 

I'm not usually a fan of floral scents, and particularly not rose scents, but this is nice. I don't think it's for me, but I'd love to smell this on someone else.

[bryghtrose]

I love rose and jasmine, so when I saw a bottle of this on the forum, I grabbed it.

 

If Rose Red is the perfect winter rose, then Helena reminds me of summer roses: the fresh roses that bloom in early June.

 

The only drawback to this perfume is that it fades relatively quickly (within an hour), and I have to re-apply often. I like it better in the bottle than on my skin, so I might use it in a room diffuser, if I ever get one.

 

It is a lovely, balanced rose scent with depth and character.

[minervaish]

Of the two ladies, Helena is my favorite. Sadly, her scent refused to work on me until it have dried down for about 4 hours.

 

The roses turned to ultra-sharp soap on me immediately. Actually the jasmine might have had something to do with this too, but certainly the combination wasn't working for me. Eventually, it died down to the point where something (I'm guessing the amber?) tempered the sharpness enough that it became a beautiful soft rose smell.

 

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem reasonable to wait 4 hours for the payoof, so this one is likely on the way out the door.

[aquazoo]

Kinda bitter for a floral. I think it's the rose coming through, too strong for me. It's definitely a scent for rose lovers. Trade.

[Bagfish]

Pretty, pretty rose. This is lovely and watery and summery on my skin, almost pure rose with a little bit of lily. I don't smell any jasmine (yet), just a summery floral. Helena is simple on my skin, but very lovely indeed. I shall enjoy my imp!

[CrazyPretzel]

In the imp: rose!

 

Wet on me: Rose rose rose. Summer garden rose, huge and lush.

 

After a few minutes: Rose and something quite bitter. What the heck could that be?

 

Drydown: The sour/bitter note seems to be lingering, unfortunately. The rose is pretty but besides that Helena simply doesn't smell good on me. I have other lovely rose blends from BPAL, so I guess this one is for swaps.

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Very strong, but very life-like, rose.

 

Immediately on skin: Very strong roses and lilies.

 

After a few minutes: Roses, lilies, more roses, and no jasmine at all (unfortunately). It’s a pretty rose scent, though, and isn’t turning to powder at all. There is a slight resinous quality to it… maybe the rose amber is what’s giving it the strong, non-powdery rose note.

 

Later on: This is still really strong after a couple of hours. It’s a sweet rose and lily scent (mostly rose), but I don’t get much complexity from it. It’s nice, but not different or unique enough for me.

[JenM]

In the imp: wow, rose.

 

On the wrist: I can smell the amber more strongly. On drydown, the rose is turning sour on me. In fact, it’s turning into my BPAL arch-nemesis, Dove soap ca. 1975.

 

After 45 minutes: yup, dove soap. Damnation, yet again.

[valentina]

Normally I'm the person who is hollering about how rose and jasmine amps on my skin to an absurd degree, while everyone else is cooing "oooh, so pretty," but that's not the case this time.

 

I sniffed Helena in the imp and knew it was a rosy-floral, but it smelled fresh and clean to me. On my skin, it's certainly rose, but not absurdly so -- it's a floral that is predominated by rose, and in this case, the more delicate tea rose. The jasmine and lily, aren't really that apparent, but I think they give a bit of an edge to this scent that makes the rose very tolerable, and that's a rarity for me. There's a bit of soapiness that others have noted (I wonder if that is from the rose amber?), but again, that doesn't bother me. It gives the scent a certain youthfulness. And all in all, I sort of like the balance of this scent. I'll never be a big wearer of florals, but I especially think that the floral-adverse should give this one a chance.

Edited September 18, 2007 by valentina

[LauraB]

Rose! And rose and rose and rose and then possibly an eensy weensy touch of lily hovering somewhere at the top of the blend. I don't know what happened to the jasmine, but I'm happy without it. On me this is slightly sweeter and feels a bit more "perfumy" than London.