Ella

Ella is the kind of scent you want to love, the one you're sure it's a safe blind buy. The one I'd use if I was gifted but wouldn't buy for myself. And the thing is, no matter how much I like it, there's something missing. The picture is there, the intention to let go and disco till dawn, but it is all hidden behind a smokescreen. There's no intensity, no color; it feels diluted and kind of dull. There's a very promising start with honeyed jasmine and the touch of civet really makes the perfume shine. Mild aldehydes in the opening, a narcotic floral heart with moss and animalics in the base, that unfortunately doesn't last and hold on skin. Numerous tries have given me the same result, so maybe it's just me or maybe it's the way the formula was created. But I somehow think that if you want the feel of 70's decadent and glamour packed Acapulco, disco pumping until early morning, when you head to the beach for a skinny dip instead of home, you have to go big and loud. That's what the era was about. And Ella has the potential but it lacks the power. It's a very good fragrance, I can see and smell snapshots of its salty, animalic licking husky voice, but I wish Arquiste had pumped it up a bit more. Él on the other hand does feel a bit stronger; he is the tanned, good looking stud that went to Armando's Le Club drenched in Kouros, and later on went to the pool, got naked, had a quick swim and then got the sexy blonde. I guess that the blonde (Ella) wasn't really in the mood that day. None the less both are a very good try to revive a genre and era of perfumery made gold, but sadly forgotten. Edit: just the other day I was wearing Ella from a sample and I was somewhere that got pretty hot. Suddenly I started getting whiffs of a beautiful scent, looking around until I figured out it was me. I guess this blonde needs heat to warm up, and thus I think it will make a great summer perfume! Needless to say, I now have a bottle!

What a wonderful feminine sexy scent. It does open particularly floral, almost fruity with honey sweetness and sexy civet. I cant say the rose particularly stands out at all. The angelica keeps it bright and airy. Once it settles then a little smoke, ambergris and spice surface. The sweetness has eased off a bit. I love this stage. I can imagine this scent giving the impression that it is quite heavy by the list of notes. It is completely to the contrary but it has decent sillage and good longevity.

The top notes smell like exquisite, fresh flowers, but there is a sexy, sexy, musky, jasmine drydown. Just the drydown reminds me of Fragonard's eponymous Fragonard parfum.

Ella is a big, vintage and animalic jasmine chypre. Fur-like, slightly smokey and earthy, worthy of an old Hollywood diva. Beautiful, grand and definitely old-school style.

Brightly beautiful with fresh feminine glamorous floral, yet super animalic and musky. Surprisingly uplifting aroma with hint of intrigue from the cigarette note