Cordelia

[Gladtobemom]

The essence of faith, love and devotion: lilac, lemon, green tea, wisteria, osmanthus, white cedar, and Chinese musk.

The imp was a freebie. I was looking for something floral.

This is really nice, Very light and floral at first sniff. Lilac comes through fairly strong, but it's blended very well--the effect is a gentle nose filling non-rose floral.

After a couple of minutes, the wisteria seems to win out. Oddly old fashioned smelling.

After an hour, it is still there, but very changed, slightly woody, slightly citrus overtone is there, and I can still smell some floral.

I mixed the rest of the imp with an ounce of fractionated coconut oil to use on my hair.
I'm wearing it now. This works very well and the scent is lasting much longer in my hair.

I like it . . . It's never going to be in my top 5, but I do like it.

[iheartbooks]

At first, Cordelia was very, very cedary. All I was getting was the cedar with some lemon and a very small bit of lilac. Now that it's dried, I'm mainly smelling a musky lilac and that is all. I like the lilac stage much more than the cedar! I don't think I'll keep the imp, though, since the lilac is turning a bit soapy.

[n1k1ta]

Lemony tea with a heady bouquet of flowers. Very romantic and rather Jane Austen-ish. I'm not exactly sure why I get that vibe, but I'm going with it. I see empire-waisted dresses and curly hair when I smell this perfume on me.

 

I get more cedar and lilac after two hours. Cordelia is very cozy and warm.

 

By four hours, Cordelia is musk and lilac. It's barely hanging on, but still so classic and romantic. I'm really surprised I like Cordelia. I was worried that it would be too snooty, but it's not. It's really quite beautiful.

[porcelina]

a light, ladylike floral, but the wisteria and citrus in cordelia is too much for me.

[Suusje]

Well, it starts of as cedar and develops into a powdery cedar. Not really my thing.

[mazikeen]

Its a strong floral. It's not delicate-- I appreciate that. Can't miss the lilac in this!

It's not really my thing, but it is nice. I'll keep the imp-- it could grow on me.

 

Tried again 11/11/08--

 

Tons of strong lilac. I had it on my wrists and tried to make food... gross. I had to wash it off. Sorry, Cordelia, you're not a keeper after all.

Edited November 12, 2008 by mazikeen

[Suu4LC]

I love this character. I'm not sure I'm gonna love this blend. I'm very meh on lilac and not a fan of cedar. Gah, do NOT like this in the imp at all. Green tea is hit or miss to my nose, and this is SUPER miss. Smells kind of like wood and sour white florals.

 

On my skin, I get pencil shavings. TOTAL pencil. Hamster bedding. No good! I do get peeks of the green tea and the florals, but this is wood chips ahoy. Pass!

[Caerphilly]

In the imp: I get nothing but soil and flowers. I love lilac, but lilac oils smells very soily and strong and unpleasant to my nose. Not like the flower itself does at all.

 

Wet: Still dirty and is giving me a headache. Very strong.

 

Dry: Smells much more like lilac flower now, but it's still dirty to my nose. A bit like incense. I have to wash it off. Not only do I already have a headache, but it's making me dizzy.

 

Overall: Not for me. It's the type of scent that even if someone else wore it, I wouldn't like it. It's to heavy and strong.

[cymbeline]

Smell alike: A less sweetened Lacoste for Women? (or other sporty feminine scents of this kind)

 

Color impression: lively green and white dashes

 

On me: A very joyful and bright tone. No roundness or wicked seduction here: this is a frank and honest scent. My skin turned it too aquatic on the edge for my liking (a bit like the smell young grass takes after the rain) but it still stays pleasant. Nonetheless, I am quite disappointed : musk and cedar, where are you ?!

 

Wearing: Totally a spring fragrance. It’s really the kind of stuff I could wear when needing something feminine but not too sophisticated (I can help thinking of sports or open-air activities). Too bad those kinds of perfume just don’t last on me :/

[toomuch]

One of the few flower ones I can wear. Very nice. It doesn't turn soapy.

[innocent]

Light... the lemon, green tea, and cedar are the strongest notes for me... accompanying them is something sweet and floral that makes my nose itch. Not bad, but not a stand-out for me. I don't really like cedar, and I have other light, airy scents that I prefer.

 

On the plus side, I agree with others - this is floral without a hint of soap.

[jehrichardson]

This starts with a juicy burst of lilac. I'm not a huge fan of lilac - I live in a place that is filthy with them in the spring and the scent is either not there at all, or overpowering like jasmine.

 

Here, however, the cedar resonates nicely with it, and the musk adds depth to what would otherwise be an overly heady sweetness. Lemon and green tea are unnoticable, or rather, the things they add to the blend are not smelling-of-tea or smelling-of-lemon. Thinking about their characteristics, they'd add herbal depth and a bit of brightness. Hmm... still can't say I'm getting it.

 

This is a delicate, complex lilac. Very lovely indeed, but as I'm not a florals gal this is not one for the rotation.

[msbcozad]

Cordelia

 

The floral isn't cloying, the citrus isn't too shouty, and the cedar isn't too woody. Everything is perfectly balanced and the mix of florals, musk, tea, and cedar makes Cordelia a lovely feminine scent that isn't too girly. I've been debating whether or not I should trade Cordelia away, but every time I wear her I fall in love again. I guess the blend is so perfect that there isn't one note that I absolutely must have on my skin even though all of them work nicely together. I suppose I'll hang on to her for those days when I don't know what to wear.

[LizzyLies]

Well, to me and on me, it smells an awful lot like flowers just picked from the garden, their roots still covered in dirt--but in the fresh, lovely, "Doesn't it smell good?" sort of way. The lilacs and the wisteria seem to be playing Duck, Duck, Goose and thus, they're nicely intermingled. And, I totally know that I'm getting musk and tea at the same time, which makes me think of a young woman taking her tea in the garden, a lemon wedge gracefully perched on the rim of the cup. She wears a crisp white gown and a creme colored hat to match with a pastel colored ribbon keeping it in its place while her lap dog sits at her feet, panting softly in the spring weather. Not bad, not bad at all. It's a tad more formal than I normally get, so I suppose I'll save it for special occasions that call for dressing up and being elegant.

[angelicruin]

Sniffing the imp, I'm getting strong floral notes.

 

On my skin, still strong floral and green tea. As it dries, it goes citrus floral.

[blacklacestatic]

In the Imp: Sharp, deep floral.

 

Wet on skin: Still a deep floral, less sharp, more earthy.

 

Drydown: Drab, dull nothing. I have no idea where this went, but it sure as hell ain't on my skin.

 

Overall: Sometimes with lilac, wisteria or cedar, my skin eats it all up till it's gone, leaving me with only the other, stronger notes. Unfortunately there isn't much here besides those three, leaving me with absolutely nothing. Not even the lemon shows through. Cordelia is not for me.

 

[cleske]

Something in this hates me with the fire of a thousand burning litter trays, which is disappointing because I wanted to hoard all the King Lear scents. It just wasn't meant to be.

[Gin]

Cordelia is very floral on me, but light. I didn't notice the tea nor the lemon, just flowers. Hours later, I think the cedar and musk showed up, but it's very faint. Meh. Overall, it's too light and too floral.

[MinxyMinou]

This started out ever so floral on me..the musk came out a few hours later. I couldn't detect the lemon or tea notes which is a pity.

 

The floral/musk combination was pretty enough but on me it was fairly unremarkable.

 

I think I will swap this one.

[Schmoozy]

 

Such a light, wispy scent. Soft lilac and wisteria mingle with cedar. Touches of lemon dart in and out, while the green tea and chinese musk stay firmly in the background making sure the florals do not get out of hand.

Overall a soft citrus floral with musk and cedar. Very pretty.

[DeltaCat]

What started out a very strong cedar on, dried to a light lilac and woodsy smell. I say woodsy because I don't smell that distinct cedar smell. Just a general overall wood smell. This is a very light scent with not a lot of throw.

[raisin]

I don't so much get "faith, love, and devotion" or any of the innocence I associate with Cordelia's character, but Cymbeline mentions "frank and honest", which are the bits of her character that come through for me.

 

I get mostly cedar (not so much hamster bedding, though, thankfully) and musk, with possibly some of the tea. The florals are pretty much gone (which is a little sad, because I love lilac, but never really picked it out here) and I don't think the lemon ever really showed up for me. This is definitely a feminine scent, and one I absolutely don't mind wearing for long stretches of time.

 

It fades pretty quickly on my skin, but I've had some luck with it in my hair. This is definitely a bottle candidate for me.

 

ETA: Well... Huh. Bottle has been acquired, and it's a completely different scent. I get almost entirely lilac, which is a surprise, with a little tea and musk underneath, maybe there's some wood there too. The musk and cedar come out a little bit more as it dries, making it recognizable as the stuff that was in my imp, but with the lilac still sitting on top. I like this even better than before. It's kind of nice to accidentally add another floral to my collection.

Edited September 21, 2010 by raisin

[tailoredshirt]

In the bottle: Nondescript heady florals. I'm feeling a bit sinus-y today, so I don't know if I can handle this one, but I'll try it.

 

Wet: Ugh, yeah, still heady florals. I am getting nothing but heady florals, and I can't pick up on any individual notes. It smells like old perfume left in the bottle for a long time.

 

Dry: I applied it about 5 minutes ago. I started sneezing and almost went to go wash it off, but now I feel like it's mellowed out a bit. The floral is definitely still there, very strong, but there's something a bit citrus-y underneath it. I'm not really getting any cedar, which is a shame because I like cedar. Maybe it's just clinging to the florals and I just can't pick up on it.

 

An hour later, it's calmed down a lot. Still floral, but sweeter. It's a pretty scent.

 

Overall: I like florals, but this didn't really work for me. At the beginning, it smelled like strong, generic floral perfume on me and didn't stand out as anything unique. It also gave me a bit of a headache, which was my fault for trying it today in the first place. The drydown was nice, but I don't have my nose pressed to my wrist the way I do with scents that I really love.

[reconditarmonia]

Wet: Lilac! *dances joyously*

 

Dry: Mostly lilac! (I don't know what wisteria and osmanthus smell like.) Something that is probably green tea. Not getting the lemon, which is a little sad. But I mostly bought this for the lilac anyway.

 

Quite weak on me after the first few minutes. Goes through a stage where it doesn't smell as true and then fades almost completely.

 

Edit: Gave it another try, as I tend to for anything I like at all, and I get more of the lemon/cedar/tea when it's wet. Dry, it's well-blended (it's hard to pick out anything but the lilac and maybe tea), but still very faint.

Caveat: I can't identify musk.

Edited June 23, 2010 by reconditarmonia

[Ashenrook]

In the Bottle

Green tea, punctuated by a floral scent – the lilac, I think. There's also hints of the white cedar milling around in the background.

 

On Skin: Wet

Oooo... Lilac. I was hoping it'd be one of the showcase notes in this because I do so love lilac. The green tea is right along with it, just as it was as I sniffed it in the bottle. Slowly the wisteria begins to manifest. Mmmm. So much love for this scent right now.

 

On Skin: Dry

I think I have found another new favorite note; White cedar. It has all the richness of actual cedar, but this is delicate and not threatening to kick my face in with an army boot like the regular sort tends to do. I'm starting to also pick up the lemon, but it's only a touch of it (which I am grateful for since lemon tends to go all lemon Pledge on me), and there is something spicy in the background... The "Chinese musk", perhaps? I almost want to say that there's some sort of cinnamon note in here...

 

The osmanthus eventually shows, in all its delicateness, as the finishing touch to this wonderful bouquet.

 

Afternotes

Cordelia is still lingering rather strong on me, even after nine hours. But it is this gloriously subdued whiff of tea, lilac, and osmanthus.

 

 

Verdict

On an American scholastic grading scale of A to F, A being best, I would give this an A. Perhaps even an A+!

 

There are just several things going absolutely right with this blend and it's one I would wear again in a heartbeat. The image it evokes with me is a Victorian tea house, complete with dry flowers, lace doilies, delicate china... all amidst a blooming English garden in a cool, but sunny, spring day. This scent might very well rival my absolute love and adoration of Black Dahlia.