Cordelia

[Emma2403]

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

 

In the bottle: very acid, nothing really distinct except the lemon.

 

On my skin: lilac... and tea. A clean, clear scent. Very Summerish.

 

After a couple of hours: it doesn't morph all that much.

 

Verdict: nice and pretty without being a big love.

Edited August 31, 2006 by Emma2403

[portalkat]

I happened to catch the scent description of this, saw the white cedar, dug it out of my imp box and decided to try it on.

 

Smells delicate and clean. The florals aren't screaming at me so that's good. I catch a bit of the cedar and the musk. I was wishing that it was a little stronger as I had my wrist pressed up against my nose...............OMG, suddenly I feel so queasy and nauseous and I need to get this off me now! I ate some ice cream to make myself feel better. What in the world was that, anyway. Maybe I'll have the courage to try it some other time - maybe

[Toby]

Lovely. The first note I caught was lemon, and while this fades a bit, it is still quite evident, with the tea adding a bit of dryness. There is also a bit of bitterness in the background, and I'm not quite sure what it is. I don't quite like it, but the notes in the foreground tend to swallow it up, which is perfectly alright with me.

[azhriaz]

This one fades quite quickly on me... the lemon is detectable, but my overall impression is vegetal. It reminds me of Scarecrow more than anything, which is odd. Very grassy.

[blackfelicula]

In the bottle: Cordelia smells like a mix of white florals and lemon on first sniff. Second sniff has a feel of green and something smooth. In the bottle, the mix is very well blended.

 

Wet: The lilac and the cedar are coming to the forefront and the lemon is taking a step back. I’m not getting much of the wisteria, which is sad since the wisteria that grows on my street haunts my thoughts every summer.

 

Drying down: The scent is warming up a bit, which on me smells like soap: generic I-just-took-a-shower soap. That is too bad. I liked what it smelled like when it was wet.

 

Dry: It is still soapy on me. It is not a disgusting soapy, just not one that I would go out of my way to smell like. Once in a while I get wafts of some of the notes, which is nice. Oddly enough, this scent goes rather nicely with the soundtrack to the movie Kundun that I have playing at the moment.

 

Later: It sweetened into a pleasant-enough musky floral, but the extended soapiness was off-putting to me. Ah well.

[mooncityminx]

In the imp: freshly cut grass and musk?

 

Wet: Lemony green cut grass. Oh interesting.Some subtle floral like jasmine. Yes, that is jasmine.

 

Dry: I'm getting wondeful jasmine and fresh lemon. For the Lushies, it smells like Silky Underwear Dusting Powder sprinkled over Avobath Very nice.

[supremegoddessofall]

Very soft. The overall feel is "tea," and the notes are really blending well together. Lightly musky, but not overpowering. I get light florals from the wisteria and lilac, and a touch of herbal from the cedar. Not getting the lemon at all. Very soft and feels delicate.

[The_Merf]

In the imp: This is a generic white floral when I smell it before trying.

 

Wet: Cedar leaps out of nowhere on this one--this could get interesting.

 

Drydown and wear: Sadly, the cedar thins out and this becomes what I like to call a "crystal-white" scent--almost transparent, as it were. It doesn't vanish on my skin, but the notes all blend together seamlessly to form this very clear cover on my skin.

[Babylon]

Wet: Lemons, lilac, and cedar.

 

Dry: Lilac and cedar, with something very powdery.

 

I think I'd like this more if my skin didn't turn whatever note it is into baby powder. The lilac and cedar together are an interesting combination that turns out to smell pretty nice, and not overly floral.

[phedre]

Light and pretty.

 

It's quite nice on me, staying in the light floral notes with a bit of musk peaking out underneath. The lemon never appears, and I don't get any green tea at all. It just stays very summery and feminine, and lingers close to my skin.

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

"What shall Cordelia do? Love and be fragrant!" (apologies to Will Shakes)

 

I'll be giving this to my sister, the ingenue thespian of the family. She already has Ophelia and Juliet; I'm hoping she'll get to play all these wonderful parts someday, and of course she'll need the right imps! On me, Cordelia opens with lemon pound-cake, similar to Follow Me Boy. Yum. She settles down to a beautiful, clean lilac-wisteria; a fresh floral with just a hint of lingering citrus. Very sweet and pretty.

[Musamea]

in imp: all cedar, all the time

 

wet: cedar with... pear? I'm definitely getting a juicy pear note, though it's not noted in the components, maybe it's the wisteria? It's very green and a little sharp, with the lemon gradually making its presence known

 

dry: Up close, it's spicy cedar/lemon, with whiffs of whatever it is that keeps reminding me of pear. The musk is starting to come out more and more and grounding the scent. The throw is all light, floral sweetness.

 

extreme drydown: Uh oh, the musk is turning really, really, really musky.

 

overall: This scent morphed so much that it's hard for me to pin down one impresison. It was initially really unique and clean and light, but then the muskiness absolutely killed it for me. I wish the osmanthus had been more apparent. Off to the swaps pile!

[sookster]

straight sniff from imp is green tea and cedar...how unique

 

once applied a lot of lemon and cedar...it does not change much...

again, an interesting scent with the green tea and cedar...who'da thunk?

[alliekat13]

In the imp: this is a pretty lemony floral. I love lemony florals!

On skin: oh........the cedar. I forgot about the cedar....all I can smell is CEDAR with LEMON!! Like i just polished a cedar chest with lemon pledge!!!!!! Why do I not get florals or green tea on my skin? After an hour: flowery wood chips. I don't want to smell like a playground.

[bardsong]

This was the first BPAL I'd ever tried, and it is the only relatively floral scent with any kind of staying power. Maybe that's because of some of the other notes? At any rate, it's definitely a bitter floral, and I love the tea and cedar notes.

[lady d]

gorgeous. i feel like a lady-dryad in this, a woodland queen wrapped in regal pine and cedar, a crown of lilacs in her hair ... and there's the green tea, and something like cut grass (like spring and outside -- like breathing fresh air --) and though it's been ages since i've read king lear, i can't help but think it suits. this girl is no flatterer with words store-perfume-sweet, but honest, plain and beautiful -- natural. it's gorgeous.

[CiCi]

On first whiff I smell cedar, tea and lemon.

 

An hour later all I smell is lemon.

 

Unfortunately, this is not a scent that I will be purchasing. It just doesn't work with my body chemistry. It smells like lemon pinesol cleaner on me. Guess I'll give this to my daughter.

[lady_pandora]

I almost didn't try this one despite my love for the play and the character, because lemon and I often don't get along. It came as a frimp with my last order (Thanks Lab!) and I had forgotten what was in it until after I tried it on.

 

Lemon, happily enough, is content to watch this one from the sidelines. Yay!

 

What this smells like is a delicate flower in a garden at night, surrounded by damp greenery. It's very subtle and very green, and the floral is almost imperceptible at first. Much like Cordelia's true worth...

 

Regan is more overtly "sweet" and "pretty" but that's kind of the point, isn't it? Now all I need is Goneril to have the full set...

 

Anyway, though, I like it. Very spring, very comforting.

[Peaches 2]

In the vial, this smells strongly floral with a plastic edge. I don't get any of the tea, lemon, or musk, and the cedar barely shows up to add a bit of grounding. Early in wearing, the florals are overwhelming, predominately lilac, but stronger than lilac usually is on me; perhaps the wisteria is having a synergistic effect. I detect a touch of cinnamon, which surprised me at first; after looking up osmanthus and finding that is literally called cinnamon flower or cassia flower in China, I understood. Since it started out so floral, it's warmer than I was expecting. As the spice amps up, I get more of that slightly plastic dollhead effect. About 45 minutes into wearing, I'm getting a bit of itching at the application spot that I associate with cinnamon. Maybe it's psychosomatic, but I don't think I can wear this one. Overall, I think I get my best spicy floral from carnation.

[Nia]

The very odd thing is that to me this smells mostly like lemongrass, especially in the imp. It must be the lemon. But no, it's the spicyness of lemongrass.

 

On me the lemon becomes lemon and the flowers are more noticeable. If the "warm/spice" feel is musk, it's official: I like BPAL musk.

 

A "bottle" verdict would depend on long long it lasts on my skin, as it is so gentle that I fear it will vanish in minutes.

[ariosa]

I think I'm starting to realize that I may not be a tea-scent kind of girl, as much as I want to be. Mind, I've only tried this and Dorian, but both have -something- in them that leaves me feeling kind of headachy. Both Cordelia and Dorian are -beautiful- scents, but they don't always sit well with me upon initial application.

 

However, if I wait out the initial 'ouch' moments, Cordelia is quite stunning. Lemon and cedar and musk dominate for me. Will be nice to use up my imp for the summer!

 

ETA: I can spell, really.

Edited May 6, 2007 by ariosa

[outofrhyme]

In the bottle:

Lilac, lemon, green tea, and some prominent notes that I can't identify - probably the wisteria or osmanthus.

 

Wet:

Lemon green tea and some florals, especially lilac.

 

Dry down:

Surprising amount of musk comes out on me. I think this is mostly musk and osmanthus. The lemon and green tea are still there faintly. A hint of cedar comes out as more time passes.

 

Final thoughts:

I'll give it another try, but I'm not sure about this one.

[303marlena]

In the bottle, I smell florals, at first I thought was honeysuckle, but learned from reading the notes it was wisteria--a wistful, sort of nostalgic scent. I do smelly mild "woodsy" underneath and a more sharp, perhaps you may say "astringent" green smell. I am not good a picking out individual notes so I just describe the olfactory impressions I get, hope that helps the other peeps out there like me who are not quite adept at picking out individual notes.

 

Wet/on the wrist: I would say if this scent were a color it would be green and white swirl! there are soft, white florals, not too overpowering, wood in the background, and green, fresh scent mixed

 

Dry: This one morphs a bit, but not as much as others I have sniffed. It did go thru a "lemon pledge" phase, that someone else mentioned, which had me worried, as I really liked it initially. Fortunately this did not last long and the light, sweet florals returned with the base wood and fainter green scent.

 

Throw was mild. Wearlength alas was not as long as I would have hoped, although I would like to try putting it in a scent locket/diffuser as some have suggested on other reviews. If this had better throw and wearlength, it would definitely be bigbottleworthy The wisteria definitely reminds me of warm sunny evenings in the South when the wisteria would bloom and throw out this heavely aroma. I did not really pick up much tea smell, or at least I did not recognize it if I did. Lemon smell did not last much past the "Pledge phase" and I am not sure if I smelled lilac as I am not recalling what it smells like. Perhaps because I was focused on the warm, sweet, nostalgic odor of the wisteria. If you like them, this is definitely a scent you should try.

 

As is, I will have to try the imp with a scent locket I have on order from ebay. IF it increases the throw and wearlength--I will be scouting out a 5 or 10 ml, its that nice. Very feminine without being too sweet and outdoorsy without being I dunno, smelling like a cedarchest perhaps??

[Miseraya]

In the imp: Musk... and something powdery, probably the Osmanthus, that always comes out as a powdery scent to me. I can almost guarantee that my body chemistry and this scent will not get along...

 

On the wrist: Getting a bit of cedar now, and something... sharp? Slightly spicy... like carnation almost. A tiny hint of lemon. So far this is working out much better than I had expected, but the musk is still lurking, waiting to ruin everything. Not getting any lilac thus far... nor wisteria, unless that is the spice I smell? This is a blurry scent to my nose, nothing really stands out above the rest.

 

Dry: There is something in this that is reminding me of Alecto, which of course, makes no bloody sense. Alas, this scent is not me at all and my chemistry has indeed perverted it and turned it into a powdery disaster. *sigh* To the swaps.

[faded_stranger]

When I first applied this scent, it was a very harsh, generic floral perfume. Then, within the next ten minutes, it faded and softened into something watery and white, slightly powdery, but very airy and, well... I'm not usually one to attribute emotions to scents, but this one was plaintive. Very feminine, and rather traditional. I'm grateful that the green tea note never stood out, though--living in Japan, that's the last thing I want to smell like. I also never got the cinnamon or rose that other reviewers have reported.