Lolita

[Deliciousness]

Bright, sweet and youthful, but swelling with a poisonous sexuality. Glittering heliotrope, honeysuckle, orange blossom and lemon verbena.

In the imp: citrus, bright and slightly sweet. There is a background note of bitterness.
On skin: Smells very much like in the bottle, slightly sweet citrus with a hint of bitterness thrown in.
Dry: This smells just like Lemonheads candy.

After the dry-down, I'm left with a sweet citrus floral (most likely the orange blossom coming thru); its very nice!

[ccelaya]

Wet - Lemon Verbana, Orange Blossom

 

Dry - Lemon Lemon and more Lemon

 

Sits - it gets sweeter, the orange comes out more. - Smells a little like lemon pledge cleaner.

10 minutes the Heliotrope comes out giving a sweet floral scent on my left wrist however the honeysuckle came out.

 

If you like sweet lemon scents this is the one for you. For me it's back to the imp box for this one.

[ringmaster-red]

In the bottle: harsh, almost chemical, fruity florals

 

Wet: sweet, dusty, florals. Then citrus & florals. Then green citrus, probably the lemon verbena coming out. Then it becomes slightly sweet and soapy, green citrus. It calms down after a few minutes, but it’s still sweet soapy citrus. Very light & sweet, warms up as it dries.

 

Dry: sweet and light with just a hint of citrus, and quite powdery. At 30 min, something’s a bit off. There’s something vaguely salty here. Then it sweetens up again (the honeysuckle maybe?). I like it a little but probably not enough for a big bottle. Small throw. At 2 hours, it’s all warm sweet musky orange blossom and honeysuckle, faint but lasting.

[lucycat]

In the imp: Flowers. It must be the heliotrope and orange blossom, because it's not the honeysuckle.

 

Wet, there's a burst of green, the only indication I get of lemon verbena in this blend.

 

After a brief phase of old-fashioned floral soap, Lolita dries down to a candylike sweetness. After a few hours, it's all honeysuckle on me.

 

This is another scent that's very pretty but not very "me."

[Zii]

The heliotrope and honeysuckle teamed up to make me miserable in moments and it had to come right off... It was surprisingly bitter and musky and not at all what I was hoping for.

[bubastis]

This one did not work for me at all, to the point of being nauseating. At first I couldn't tell what made me dislike this blend so much, but after a good hour (I put it on before leaving for work so I couldnt wash it off) it dawned on me: to my nose this stuff smells exactly like the stuff you need to drink before getting a coloscopy. They flavor that drink with some kind of artificial lemon extract and I once had to drink 3 litres of it in a short amount of time so I literally gagged on the stuff while drinking it

So it's probably the lemon verbena ruining this for me,I can imagine someone who hasn't shared my experience liking it very much

[red_as_rue]

Forgive me, but this is my first review.

 

In the vial, Lolita smells sweet, yet sharp and green and, dare I say it, a little like the organics bin when it has had large amount of citrus peel and scraps in it. This isn't exactly in a bad way, it's more just that it is evocative of the whole lemon, pith and flesh and all, that has morphed slightly, becoming headier and sweeter and more pungent.

 

Wet on the skin, the peel aspect of the lemon initially comes forth, but then the scent becomes something that is specifically more lemon verbena than the fruit. The aspects of this become initially more and more pronounced, until the perfume ends up smelling like lemon cough drops (exactly Strepsils, for any other stray Australian readers here).

 

However, as the scent dries down, it becomes sweeter and more powdery. The honeysuckle becomes more dominant, and the blend becomes more floral. The powder does actually accentuate the perfume, in a very pleasant way. I have a sneaking suspicion that it is actually the orange blossom on my skin, which loves to turn almost everything I try to some form of powder. I don't know what heliotrope smells like, but there is a bright, almost glittering note in the scent that is barely discernable. I only pick up on it the instant I actually start to inhale.

 

Sadly, this fades quickly and doesn't have much throw. However, pressing my nose to my wrist, I can smell a light, honeyed and very slightly citrus floral, clinging extremely close to my skin.

 

This is a very summery perfume, evocative of delicate but bright summer dresses, and the Dolores Haze (not Humbert Humbert's idealised Lolita), in the more recent movie adaption, not the books.

[Serena Reverberi]

I don’t get the orange, or the verbena, or the honeysuckle. Honestly, sniffed wet it smells strongly like bubblegum and something frizzy, like soda or champagne. As it dries down on my skin it gets AWFUL.

It’s sad because I love Lolita as a book and as a character but this doesn’t do it justice. It smells like an old aunt’s perfume, cloying, floral and alcoholic. Ew.

[kahmiel]

This smells like candy to me, a warhead or lemon drop or some sort of starts-sour-goes-sweet candy. It starts with me smelling the lemon verbena and orange zest strongly, and the sweet, juicy, candy scent is in the background, its almost bubblegummy, and then as it dries it come forefront as the lemon verbena and orange zest move backstage. It becomes a sweet juicy candy. Its awesome. Perfectly Lolita.

[miamaslegi]

181: LOLITA
GC: Ars Amatoria
"Bright, sweet and youthful, but swelling with a poisonous sexuality. Glittering heliotrope, honeysuckle, orange blossom and lemon verbena."

Received from Lab 2012

In bottle: Lemony. I hope this stays out of Pledge-territory. All I can smell in the imp is the verbena. It's almost citronella-like.

Wet: I really wish I could pick out the honeysuckle - I love the smell of them. I think the heliotrope is helping to tone down the verbena. I like this all right so far.

Dry down: Still mostly verbena, but a lot sweeter and nicer than I thought it would be.

Dry: Softly lemony floral. This is actually quite nice, but I don't think I need a bottle. I don't see myself ever reaching for something like this.

3.5/5

[hushmesilent]

*Sigh* I have had this imp of Lolita FOREVER, and it just doesn't get any love from me. I've tried it a few times but to me, it smells sort of bland. The lemon pops out, and that's pretty much what hangs around on me. I can smell some kind of white flowery note behind it, but it's not enough to make this interesting. I'm sorry, Lolita! I wanted to love you so much.

[DoktorDandy]

In the Imp: Another fruit loops one, hoo boy! Bad fruit loops too, to my nose. Nothing floral, and the fruit loop smell is more of an artificial tinge, rather than a real one- like fruit loops were all lemon in a vague way.

 

Wet: Straight up toilet bowl cleaner. Cleaning products yes, then goes more like Pledge, better then BOOM! Lemon verbena! Very distinctive! It's such a familiar smell to me- summertime outdoors as a kid, taking big handfulls of lemon verbena from a just about abandoned house whose backyard was overgrown with the stuff, until it had overtaken even the fences and spilled into neighboring yards. Unfortunately, this isn't long lasting, and something waxy creeps in. An impression of musky, white, easily bruised petals with a spongy quality, but most of the impression of the floral itself is absent. Weird. Not sure I like where this is going. I was hoping for a beautiful result from this, yikes. A sinking feeling has begun to sink in. Uh-oh.... It was so fun for a little bit there...

 

Dry: For just a little bit, I thought there was my beloved orange flower and honeysuckle. Alas, no! Fuzzy, sticky sweet somethings that feel wrong to me are blooming. Getting really hideous now. I tried to give it another hour or two but after maybe an hour and a half, two hours, I had to scrub Lolita off. A miss on me. Might be okay on somebody else, and by all rights, I love a lot of these notes, but Lolita went BAD on me. Poor Humbert Humbert- I hope Lo didn't lure you in and make you feel this bad... I guess this scent does follow the plot a bit.

 

Dear Lab,

Please, please. I'd rather try something fashioned after Humbert Humbert. It even sounds like a great name for a perfume. What are you wearing today? "Humbert Humbert!"

Poor lonely ol' Hum would probably smell way better on me than this shrill, spoiled young lady.

 

Thanks,

-Dandy

Edited June 2, 2015 by DoktorDandy

[Anita]

Got this as a frimp and was intrigued by the honeysuckle and the orange blossom.

 

in the imp: lemon, with a hint of sweetness that I suspect is the orange blossom

 

Wet: Exactly like in the bottle.

 

On the dry down: It's stays sweet lemon, but demure. Has an innocent quality to it, but very feminine as well. Has very little throw but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I think this is something my daughter would love to wear, and it would suit her very much. Off to her perfume box it goes.

[dementia_divine]

In the imp: I'm getting a lot of orange blossom from this, and what I think must be the heliotrope note. I can smell the lemon verbana as well. Sadly, I can't detect the honeysuckle note I was hoping for in the imp.

 

Wet: A blast of citrus is the first thing that occurs, thanks to the orange blossom and lemon verbana notes. I've tried scents with heliotrope listed in it before, but it isn't a note that my nose is able to identify yet. I think it is next in prominence, though, with the 'glittering' quality of the floral mentioned in the scent's description.

 

Orange blossom can be iffy on me, but it isn't sharp or bitter here. The lemon verbana note is becoming more prominent over time.

 

Dry: It is very bright at first, and I start to get more of the honeysuckle note in this phase.

 

However, then it starts becoming too sweet for me, verging on being bubblegum-like.

 

Verdict: This one is too girly and sweet for me. I'm not a fan of bubblegum, and the drydown of this scent is just too close to that association for me. I won't be keeping the imp.

[sarandipitee]

Super lemon and orange but on dry down a slithering green undertone appears. Candy at first, but with s hidden floral with bite, it's one I love for Spring, even though the heliotrope goes a little tiny bit sour on me.

[joopjoop]

Wow, this is a weird one.

 

In the imp it smelled almost yeasty - like something that wasn't quite done baking. First on the yeasty smell almost (but not entirely) goes away and this is a very pretty lemon scent. It settles into a nice lemonhead candy scent for quite some time. At this point, I'm into it - its a really nice soft lemon tempered by a slight sugary sweetness and the barest touch of honeysuckle.

 

Three hours later the citrus dissipates, the honeysuckle gets stronger and the weird 'under-baked' scent comes back to join it. I think it must be the heliotrope (based on my 2 minutes of internet research on what it smells like - that means I'm an expert now, right?!) I can't say I enjoy how this one ends up

 

This imp is going in the swaps pile, I'm afraid, but I think it would be stunning and fresh on the right person.

Edited October 9, 2016 by joopjoop

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Lemon candies! Oh, nope, was wrong - bathroom cleaner. verbena and I don`t get on well....

 

 

Dry: Still lemon cleaner. I can`t smell any of the other notes, the verbena takes right over.

[Coldfire]

Imp: light and bright floral
Wet on Me: fresh on my skin it starts becoming heady floral with the orange blossom swayin it's hips out front under my nose.
Drying Down: oh gods it has gone to RAID scent. way too cloying.
Dry: orange blossom and honeysuckle are tempermental wenches. you never know if they are going to be lovely and delicate or they will go RAID! guess what they went? RAID! To the trade pile!

[marilyn eyre]

Very lemony. Like a glass of lemonade with orange slices floating in it (you don't do that? it's the best way to drink lemonade.) I think it fits the name well, but I think it should age before I commit to a bottle. Like Lolita herself, actually.

[Lucchesa]

I liked Lolita better than I expected to, based on the heavy floral of the notes and the fact that the mitigating ingredient was not actual citrus but verbena, which can take over on me. I did get a lot of lemony verbena, but it didn't go into cleanser territory, and it also didn't get to candy sweet. The orange blossom and honeysuckle reined themselves in. A summer garden party scent, when you want to be a little bit sexy and maybe to feel a little bit younger than your years (but this is in no way a teenybopper scent on me). Keeper.

[Cali]

Oooh this is nice! Getting a touch of laundry detergent, but nothing too bad; soft, bright and bubbly! This is suuuuper summery, it even has some sort of warmth in it. Not for me, but very very cute!

[Miss_Unicorn]

This smells just like a perfune I could imagine Lolita wearing.

 

It starts of sunny and girly, a lot of citrus and a hint of floral. Very pretty.

Unfortunately, on me it fades to nothing on drydown, and turns to powder. I blame the honeysuckle.

 

It's too bad, because the book is one of my favourites.