Cordelia

[couscous]

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

Cordelia reminds me of Shanghai, too, but I much, much prefer Cordelia.

I can sort of see why people aren't raving about this one- it's a light, lilac tea with a touch of lemon. I can't really smell the cedar, but I can feel it as a grounding note. Mostly, though, its lilac tea on me. I don't think there are enough lilac scents around, and as the proud and loving co-owner of a lilac tree, I'm happy to wear this one even though I don't generally like florals.

Why are people so ambivalent about this one? It's not because Cordelia isn't beautiful, because she absolutely is. I think its mostly because she's light, unobtrusive. She doesn't conjure up images of a young girl, or a powerful woman, or a mythical being, or a state of mind. She just is what she is- slightly spicy, slightly sweet.

Or perhaps its because we're all too used to lemon being used in cleaning products. Come on, people! Lemon is a lovely note, perhaps the loveliest of all the fruits. It can be astringent, sure, but it can also be elegant and summery. Cordelia is one of those summer lemons.

I wouldn't wear this regularly, but I love it for reminding me of those 4 or 5 weeks out of the year when a lilac tree blooms in Queens. . I hope more women try it so that the right "Cordelia" girl will emerge.

[teza]

So, I uh, giggled a bit trying this on because I see Cordelia and I immediately think Buffy/AtS-style Cordy. That association ASIDE....

 

The cedar scared me, but I decided to give it a try anyway. After all, it had lilac and lemon and green tea and musk! What could go wrong?

 

Well, the cedar and the lilac and osmanthus, apparently. The cedar is definately present when it is wet: it is sharp and green and sharp and green and sharply green. And cedar. That changes the instant it starts to dry on my skin, but the first BAM of cedar scares me. ;p

 

The florals in this are far too strong for me. It is a rich, strong floral scent. Very feminine. It seems predominately lilac with a touch of the other florals at the moment. I know from Whitechapel that lilac dies on me after an hour, but unless this lilac fades quickly, this one's a swapper too.

 

....

 

As it turns out, the lilac did NOT fade. It remained sweet and, as my darling little sister said, gross and old lady'ish.

 

I guess I'll agree with the old lady'ish'ness, but at least it's an old lady with MONEH.

[Ina Garten Davita]

First Impression: Woodsy but in a feminine way.

 

Second Impression: The warm woodsiness backs off and this scent turns into a very bright, sunny, clean-linen scent. It remains floral and fresh for a goodly while before the woods peek out again.

 

Final Analysis: The freshness changes into richness on the longer drydown. This really is a lovely scent. Decent staying power too. Very nice.

[evanesce]

I'm no good at these., but I'm making myself

 

The easiest way I can describe this is that it is something I would love to clean my house with. Perhaps it's the lemon. I like wearing though. Its light and floral. It didn't do much at all my skin.

 

It's not holding on very well though. There's no "throw" or anything..

 

Overall - I like it. I'll be keeping the imp and might consider a 5mL in the future.

[bellis]

In the bottle: green florals and slightly woodsy. Very pretty and fresh.

 

When I first put it on, it gets spicier and sweeter for a few moments, and then the cedar jumps forward. After drying, it's mainly a musky cedar, with some very faint sweet florals in the background. I didn't get the tea at all, which made me sad. Decent staying power, but it's a bit too woodsy on me.

[byrdie]

Bottle ~ A lemony, musky floral.

 

Wet ~ The same, but sharper.

 

Drying ~ At first, it smelled like the notes were blending well. Now more musk is coming through.

 

Drydown ~ The lemon and the musk are still battling it out, but there are spikes of greenery coming through as well.

 

Dry ~ A light, perfumy floral is starting to merge again with the citrus and the musk. After a while, the sharp greenery and musk rose up again, with just a memory of the citrus.

 

Fade ~ Hours later, it's relaxed back into a semi-lemony musk

 

Final thoughts ~ It's okay, but not for me. I'm not a big fan of musk or florals.

[Falathwen]

At first this blend was very woody and rather bitter. I noticed the cedar and lilac most strongly. I could not pick out the other notes in the blend. For a while it was a dense and strangely heavy scent on me, but I was bemused when the drydown turned out to be a light aquatic note.

[Rheliwen]

In the bottle, Cordelia is a lemon with a bitter herbal background. I didn't even realize this had lemon in it until I read the description before putting it on. So I have to say I developed some opinions of it immediately since I am not fond of lemon at all.

 

Fortunately, the lemon, though a very prominent note at first, isn't terribly overwhelming. I immediately smell the lemon along with a backdrop of cedar, and green tea. As it starts to dry, the tea disappears and a bitter floral arrives...and then it's all crayon wax on me.

 

Before it turned to crayon wax, it was mostly lemony green tea with a hint of cedar. I might need to try this in about a week and see if the wax smell goes away.

[shelldoo]

this on me is almost all green tea, a hint of lilac, and something nutty smelling, actually the nutty type smell is battling for top note w/ the tea, very intresting and compelling, i def will use the imp

[Loligo]

In the bottle, it smells like generic department store perfume, but with undercurrents of wet stone and herbs. Upon first applying it, that department store smell was strongest, but then the air around me started smelling strongly of lilacs. It's weird, if I put my nose right by my wrist, all I pick up is that dusty, powdery "perfume" smell and maybe some cedar, but the lilac is the scent that carries at a distance. I like lilac quite a bit, but there's something about this perfume that's old-fashioned and fussy. "Classy old lady", I think someone else said. Wearing this perfume would be like wearing a whole outfit of vintage clothes -- fun for special occasions, and very evocative, but not really *me*. I'll have to wear it again before I decide whether to keep it or not. It also faded very fast.

[Finny]

Giftie imp.

 

A light floral blend, it is sweet and lady-like. I was hoping the musk would be stronger, and mellow the flowers into submission. I didn't hate it, but still not the floral blend for me. I will keep trying each one, as hey, the next one could be "the one"!

[Aurelius]

Why does my body chemistry like to wage war against some BPAL blends and notes? I expected Cordelia to smell similar to Embalming Fluid or Kumiho. Instead I was stalked and attacked by a gang of flowers.

[surf-tormented]

Smells very earthy. I don't know if that is the green tea doing its job, but the experience is a pleasant one. The scent is like a freshly watered garden--soil, waterdrops, exotic waterflowers, thick herbal plants--this could be a bottle oil for me once my green tea spray runs out.

[olympia301]

A nice scent. Smells like roses and herbs on me. My problem with it is, once again, it's a good attempt but there is nothing unique about it. I would not pick it out in a crowd and say,"What a wonderful signature scent." Again, I would recommend it to those who want to be "pretty" but not stand out, to smell good in the indefinable way you can with natural scents. I really could not detect lilac here, or osmanthus (which I grow in my window, and it blooms well for me) or any of the other lovely things. They blend together to make a new entity for me, and it is pretty but too insipid for my taste. Too bad, but it happens.

[cosmic]

Bought an imp of this:

 

First impressions, bouquets and bunches of lovely, fresh, summery flowers! Also lemons, soap and engine oil(??) I've had this imp for about a month now and it seems to have changed a little, perhaps its my own body chemistry? I don't know. At first it was soft and flowery, very summer wedding wear. Now its sharper, dirtier, like a wet summer downpour and the earth is damp and steaming, the flowers taking on a bit of that. I really liked this at first 4 weeks ago, but it just smells a bit blah on me now. I want the original Cordelia back!!

[paperdoll]

White florals - ugh!

 

Sorry this isn't more helpful, but nothing about this blend works with my chemistry.

[cupide430]

Cordelia

Starts off with a smoky tobacco note. Seriously, this smells like wet, smoky tobacco. *reads notes* lilac, lemon, green tea, wisteria, osmanthus, white cedar, and Chinese musk Nothing about that says wet, smoky tobacco to me. Weird. Ok the smoky tobacco note must be the cedar note. It is starting to mellow and a light floral is coming out. The green tea note is making itself known and is really the only thing I can smell other than the cedar. The green tea is actually starting to overpower the cedar. After a while a floral comes out and joins the green tea note. Its a sort of fresh but powdery floral.

[arabella]

First Impression: Very faint, slightly watery floral.

 

Dries down to: A very faint floral. I think there's lilac in there, and a touch of cedar, but I'm not sure. There's also some underlying note that I don't like - musk, perhaps.

 

Additional Comments: After reading the description, I wonder if this imp, which I got in a swap, is old and faded in strength. Based on the ingredients, I should have at least liked it and, perhaps I would have, if only I could smell it. The underlying note I didn't like must have been the Chinese musk and that doesn't surprise me. Musk and I usually agree to disagree.

 

Lasted: Several barely discernible hours.

 

Rating: 1 out of 5

[Lycanthrope]

In the Bottle or Imp:

Faint cedar note with a bunch of light, delicate floral fragrances mingling about. Smells a bit astringent, must be the tea. Detect no sharp citruses.

Wet, on Skin:

Soft, delicate white musks and two light lavender flowers. Definitely a mix of lilac and wisteria, but the two florals are vying for centerstage. A touch of cedarwood is apparent here.

Drying Down:

The cedar that arrives at this point is slightly like a fresh-sharpened pencil, but is held back by the musks and florals, which are headed in the lilac direction. Getting more and more potent - I'm afraid this may be like my skin's lily amping effect. A base of green tea sweet tartness grounds the fragrance.

Over Time/Longterm:

About twenty minutes afterwards, cedar is all I notice, but gradually it becomes a true but very potent lilac green tea blend. If I sniff really closely, I can still tell that there's a hint of cedarwood. Not much wisteria...

Final Verdict?

Was looking forwards to a nice wisteria fragrance, but the lilac strangles it out, and in the end it becomes a chameleonic lilac/cedar blend. Unique, and worth a shot, especially if you like lilacs!

 

ETA. Beth is a blending genius. Went off to distract myself after my reviews, and then caught a whiff of Cordelia from my wrist. The wisteria is there, all of a sudden, and bang! I'm back at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens under the gazebo, in June, watching the wisteria dangle down and smelling that mix of vine woods and blossoms dance in the air. Wow. Crazy.

Edited July 10, 2005 by Lycanthrope

[Xiabelle]

Pretty and floral in the bottle. It's very bright. Lots of wisteria.

 

Fresh on, well... it's wet. It's sort of like you took a cedar room, sprayed it down, draped it in wisteria and a bit of lilac, and then heated it up. Very cedary with the florals threading through it. Too sharp for me, and it's making my nose run. I'm allergic to cedar.

 

Dry down is ok... now that it's been on a couple of hours it's faded into a pretty lilac with a twine of wisteria, but really, this isn't my sort of scent at all. It's a bit too cool for me, I think. There's something else going on in there, but I'm not sure what it is.

 

I might sit on this a bit, and decide.

[OriginalWacky]

Bottle (Imp): Slightly sweet, quite smooth.

 

Just On: About the same so far.

 

An hour or two later: This is really staying about the same on me.

 

Around 6 hours: Sweet and smooth.

 

12 hours: Just the last hints of sweet.

 

Overall: I'm liking this one.

 

After reading other reviews: Wow, I didn't get any individual notes out of this, and especially not cinnamon. But it's lovely, and I like it.

[Brianne]

In the bottle:

An odd floral note, not one I recognize

 

On me:

Cordelia was pretty much all the notes I was wanting to stay in the background, and none of the notes I bought it for. I love lilac and any tea note, and sadly - neither ever showed up on my skin. Neither did the lemon for that matter. However, there was another floral clearly present there that I didn't recognize at all, which could have been the wisteria or the osmanthus. It wasn't pleasant or unpleasant, either one - just kind of there. The musk was quite strong in this on me, and I was okay with that, because I do so love musk. The thing that ruined this scent for me though, was the cedarwood note. It was just too much. It gave the musk this bitter, odd, and slightly spicey quality that I didn't enjoy. Obviously, cedarwood isn't for me (first blend I've tried with it).

 

Final note:

For whatever reason, my skin just ate the notes I really wanted to smell (like the green tea) and amped all the wrong things. I will say though that this is one long lasting scent. I didn't really put that much on, and a whole day and about 4 hand washings later, I can STILL smell it on my hand.

[slave1]

In Bottle: Woody floral.

 

On Skin: The cedar and lilac are strongest. The wisteria gives it a light pretty note. The green tea is actually pretty faint, as is the lemon. I pictured this being like Silk Road or Shanghai but it’s actually much more floral and not as green and fresh as those two. The musk gives a nice depth that keeps it from being too floral.

[tinyvulture]

the cedar is kind of resiny and gives the scent a little backbone. the green tea and musk add a little spice. but mostly, this scent is very girly and floral. i can especially smell the lilacs. the lemon is extremely faint (in fact maybe i'm just imagining that I smell it at all.) too flowery for me -- off to swaps.

[~AmusedMuse~]

My Impression:

Oh the lemony goodness and flowers are certainly nice enough, but when you add the extra added green tea and spices it becomes much warmer and quite lovely.

Although I wish it had more throw, I believe it to be something I would & could wear on a daily basis. Quite lovely indeed.