Ophelia

[lunaticana]

Wistful and vulnerable: lotus, water blossom ivy, stargazer lily and white rose.

no no no this is not what I like or wished for an Ophelia scent to be..
it smells so not cheerfull in a way, dunno, weird
luckily there are a lot of other Illyria's that I do like
will try it again later on maybe, I m not a quitter! Edited July 27, 2008 by Shollin

[Kabooki]

I think I need to come to terms with the fact that regardless of anything else written in the description, if it mentions rose, then thats all I'll get.

 

When I first put this on its almost overwhelming how much rose I get, but it does mellow out as it dries down and eventually sticks close to my skin, but still the scent doesn't change and it remains rose the whole time.

 

This one just isn't for me.

[hkhm]

imp: roses and lillies.

 

wet: a sweet, soapy rose disaster.

 

dry: while far sweeter and, dare i say, prettier than all the other rose scents i have tried... still, it's all soap on me.

[gchris]

In Vial: Rose

 

Wet: Roses

 

Dry: All I get is roses all the way.

[noellenoey]

Bought an imp of this. Smelled really 'rose-y' when I first opened it in the morning. Around 15 mins later, it went powdery on me and gave me a headache the whole day :-\ Could still smell it after I took a bath in the evening. Well, sad to say, its not for me

[caitilarkin]

In the imp: Lotsa rose, but I think I can detect the more timid lily in the background.

 

Wet on skin: Sharp, soapy rose has scared away the other notes.

 

Dry on skin: Morphs from chemical-y rose soap to a more balanced floral over the course of an hour. Still, the rose remains soapy and sour, clashing with the clear sweetness of the lily and lotus.

 

I hereby decree rose the Official Note of Death on my skin. It has killed a couple of otherwise promising blends for me. But this would be beautiful on someone who can wear rose well.

[OhioSky]

Just got this as a frimp... This is a sharp, soapy, heavy floral scent and it hates me.

[Caerphilly]

In the imp: Very, very sweet floral. Almost too sweet. But it has similar notes to Helena, so I tried it on.

 

Wet: OH HOW SWEET!!! I had to wash it off. My boyfriend even said that the smell got in his eye and he had to leave the room. I asked what that meant, he explained it's like an onion, except in this it was the sweetness. It amped on me. I had to take another shower...after I had just taken one.

 

Overall: Way too sweet. After my shower I could still smell it on me. My skin chemistry did not like this one!

[obsidienne]

Ophelia is definitely wistful and vulnerable! It's also an extremely sweet aquatic floral that has great throw and staying power. This is not my first time wearing it, more like my fourth, so my impressions aren't exactly fresh.

 

Ophelia was recommended to me as a blend that smells mostly of roses, and in the beginning, that seemed the case; it smelled like a sweet almost candy-ish lily and rose to me at first. That said, over a couple of months of testing blends and constantly sniffing myself like a crazy person, I've realized that it's more the lotus that I smell than anything else... and lotus tries really hard to disagree with me (I don't think my nose could even understand or recognize it before having so much olfactory practice; I have never spent this much time and effort just smelling myself when Givenchy and Chanel were my mainstays! :> ). Lotus tends to smell almost like sweet sweet sweet floral grapes and also something else that is a bit icky as it dries on me. Fortunately, I mostly notice the ick only when sniffing myself really closely.

 

In the beginning drydown stage, the white rose and lily are definitely still present in the blend and sneak up on me now and again in a delightful way, but overall the lotus overpowers them. I can't really identify or detect the water blossom ivy, myself.

 

On far far drydown, the rose finally comes out. It's just like the white rose in Katrina van Tassel, albeit with less honey (don't know how the feeling of honey got into this blend, but some roses smell kind of spicy sweet anyway). The lily supports the rose but I wouldn't say it's a major factor anymore, and neither is the lotus. Thank goodness.

Edited October 30, 2008 by Shollin
Removed Lab description --Shollin

[Suu4LC]

Ehhh, uhoh, I don't think this is gonna work for me...I tend to have trouble with aquatics, and this has a strong aquatic vibe to me-the lotus and water blossom ivy are probably the culprits. It's like an odd salty floral...

 

The rose becomes very strong when this is on my skin. Everything else kind of falls to the wayside actually. This becomes pretty much a straight rose scent on my skin O_o Yeah, on full dry down this is ROSE. Just rose. I barely get anything else. Rose isn't really my thing, and it is rare for a rose bpal to really grab me. This is just meh rose. Not what I was expecting in this blend!

[Iceblink]

I was ready to write this one off as another lily-induced soapy mistake, but...it's better than that. (Yay!) There's a lovely watery quality to it and the lotus sweetens up the otherwise powdery lily. It's very, very feminine and delicate and wistful. I'm not going to be able to wear this as a day-to-day scent or anything but just to sniff, it's nice.

[waternight]

In the imp: Sweet, sweet floral! I get the stargazer lily for sure - YUM - as well as something else.

Wet: Yup... stargazer lily and something more. There's a very fruity-candy quality to this, but not in a bad way. Mmmm... now white rose is gently supporting the much stronger stargazer lily. Don't really get the lotus, and I couldn't tell you what water blossom ivy smells like. This is aaaaaalmost too candyish and sugary, but not quite. After a few minutes, the candy-sweet note settles down, as does the strength of the stargazer lily. The white rose is a bit more evident, and the lotus finally appears. These three florals blend very well together.

Dry: More lotus, and it edges back into candy territory. Unfortunately, this dries down to a rather generic candy-floral on me. It's pretty, and I can see how this would be glorious on some people, but not on me.

[Andrea912]

Imp: at first sniff, soft floral; then it fades to a rotten, putrid, floral smell

 

Wet: agh; it's worse; the above intensified; the white rose is most dominant...

 

Dry: yegh; still rotten flowers

[kjirstiben]

A wet, waterlogged floral. It's definitely deepened by the scent of ivy (bitter and green), and the white rose comes out noticeably. Over time, this remains a study in in contrasts: wet, bitter, rose, ivy. It leaves an impression of watery gloom. (Though I might be reading into it because of the name!) Very evocative, but I think this has solidified for me that I'm not terribly thrilled with aquatics.

 

Recaplet: Watery rose and gloomy, bitter ivy.

My rating: 2 of 5 (Meh.)

Color impression: Light filtered through green river water.

[fireflower]

Rose and lilies are the dominant notes. Very floral. Much like rose soap. Too astringent for my tastes.

[JunkieCosmonaut]

Too sweet and floral... It gave me a headache and nausea. :\ And it's really strong >.<

[CynicalPink]

Imp: Rose...

 

Wet: Rose...

 

Drydown: ROSE

 

Overall: Aw, man...this is so annoying. There's so much great stuff in the notes list, but it might as well be single note rose. So much for the aquatic white florals I was hoping for...

[Lyrical]

 

In vial: sharp, pale, rosy floral.

 

Wet on skin: rose - and it makes me cough! Then some other flowery notes come to join it.

 

Dry on skin: a rosy floral scent.

[anna1850]

Nice aquaticy floral. I feel like it needs a bit more kick or something though. Doesn't smell very strongly on me unfortunately.

 

3/5 Off to the swap pile.

[puellacaerulea]

Got Ophelia as a frimp with my last order. Many reviews mentioned Ophelia being all rose, all the time, so I was optimistic, as BPAL's roses work on me like whoa. However, I opened the imp, and on first sniff: holy cough syrup, Batman! I'm not sure which note it is that's reminding me of cough syrup (very medicinal, sickly-sweet smell), but I have a hard time thinking it's the rose. Could it be the lotus?

 

I tried it on anyway, hoping the sickly sweetness would fade and the rose would amp up, as it usually does on me. Unfortunately, this ended up not being the case; the (maybe) lotus note just got stronger on drydown. Some of the rose and aquatic notes started to come out, but the cough-syrupy note was still the dominant one by far. For what it's worth, it *did* draw compliments from bystanders in the car with me (suggesting that Ophelia does have good throw, as I only put a tiny dab on my wrists). However, the vaguely medicinal sweetness of the whole thing just doesn't do it for me.

 

Overall, it was worth a shot, but Ophelia and I just don't get along. If you do like very sweet florals, though, you might want to consider it. The compliments I got suggest my reaction to Ophelia is more an issue of personal preference than Ophelia actually smelling unpleasant. Still, I'll probably be swapping this one.

[Magpie]

In imp: A sweet bouquet of florals, not too sickly...in fact, quite fruity. Wait, wait, this smells like a tutti frutti! The old chewy sweets that were orange and pink and were like blackjacks!

 

On: I get the ivy and lily coming out underneath as well now. Nice. However, just getting more and more like a tutti frutti. Not necessarily a bad thing (I actually love the idea of smelling like one of my favourite sweets!) but not something I'd want others to pick up on unless I was trying to smell vaguely Lolita-ish. Very pretty and sweet for Ophelia, though. I always imagined her less lively and far more dreamy/away with the fairies: this to me says Bianca from 'The Taming of the Shrew' or Hermia from 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' than the lovely, tragic heroine I admire from Hamlet.

 

Over time, this is going rather soapier and less fresh. I also suspect that I shouldn't have slathered it...it seems pretty strong.

 

After about half an hour, this fades into a rather nice, elegant womanly scent. A bit more mature than I'd have expected from Ophelia - I would have pegged her as a dreamer with stars in her eyes. The lotus is pleasantly in evidence without being too overpowering, adding freshness to the scent. Not nearly as strong as I'd have expected either, actually a subtle and controlled scent. No candy rose as well, which is a good thing.

[angelicruin]

Inside the imp, roses and lily.

 

Wet on the skin, rose mostly with other floral in background. Drys down to mostly rose. The rose note really steals the show here.

[sparkleyturtle]

First sniff: Very floral and feminine

 

On: I am totally getting the roses and lily. I think the fact that it isn't overpowering might be due to the lotus, but I am not positive on it.

 

Overall: I like it, but I don't see myself getting a bottle of this.

[stardreamer]

For something that's entirely made up of floral notes, this is really surprising. In the imp and fresh on, it's as much fruity as floral; the initial fruitiness does fade in about half an hour, but it remains a light sweet summery mix that doesn't change much after that. I'm especially surprised, but grateful, that the rose never makes a serious appearance. No estimate of staying power, because I was out running around in the heat for a couple of hours and touched it up afterwards. Bottom line: this is going to be a very nice scent for warmer weather, especially when I want something that I'll notice but which will be relatively inconspicuous to other people.

 

(I should note that I've had this imp sitting in the "to be tested" box for well over a year. I know some of the scents come out different when aged; I don't know if this is one of them, but be aware that I'm reviewing an aged version.)

[voorishsign]

"There's a daisy: I would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died."

- William Shakespeare, Hamlet

 

Got this as a frimp Well, it certainly fits the poor dear - a sort of heartbroken floral. I'm awful when it comes to florals - I can barely tell flowers apart by looks, let alone by scents! - but I rather like this one, because it's not as cheerful as most florals, it's actually quite clean and a littlebit dreary. It's too feminine to work for me, but it's quite pretty. Definitely for fans of floral perfumes who want to try something that's a little different!

Edited September 27, 2009 by voorishsign