Zelda

Zelda, Zelda, Zelda! Oh, how I love Zelda! I discovered Zelda after reading a biography of her amazing but tragic life. I wanted to find a fragrance that was emblematic of this incredible woman, did a quick internet search, and found En Voyage and the wonderful Shelley Waddington's creations. And Shelley just absolutely nailed the essence of Zelda. The Magnolia, the smokey woods, the pepper...it all adds up to an Oriental group dream. Everything is perfectly blended and the fragrance is a wrist sniffer from top to bottom. If you like vintage orientals but want to try something new, this is a winner.

After the opening of spice, bergamot and galbanum starts to settle this is a creamy bouquet starring magnolia on a gorgeous, rich, slightly mossy bed of musk, sandalwood, vetiver with vanilla periodically dancing through for me. I don't smell rum at any point; I do occasionally get hints of something that my brain reads as coconut in the heart. Sillage and longevity are impressive. Zelda holds it's own in my cabinet full of vintages very nicely.

I get lots of odd, rich, sticky-sweet (sappy) balsam and spices as it opens. Warm but w/ a slight undertone of a cooler nature (magnolia, I guess, but can't discern it), this definitely is interesting and very different. To me it's not so much boozy as somewhere between creamy and roughly sugary, like a real sugar scrub with herbal and sandalwood ingredients. It smells like freshly dripped balsam from a cut tree and feels very natural. I'm intrigued but not yet sure if I like it. 3hrs later: ok, I definitely like it. It reminds me of Slumberhouse's Ore but with less of the 'Carmex' smell of that one, and a touch sweeter thanks to sandalwood and spice.

An amber in heart. Resinous with a surprisingly mentholated coolness that isn't unpleasant

I'm not feeling any woods in it, mostly honeyed florals, very warm and cozy.

The bourbon smell on this is so medicinal and realistic I can begin to taste it in my mouth after wearing this for a few hours! I'm afraid I don't like liquors like bourbon and whiskey, so perhaps that is influencing me, but I don't care for this one. It dries down to melancholy amber and vetiver. This seems much more masculine than feminine, and I can see a man enjoying this perfume more than a woman. But I do admire a perfumer's attempt to tell a story or evoke a person. I think that's an interesting concept. I was reading that Zelda Fitzgerald has been unfairly characterized as "crazy" and was actually a talented writer and painter who was driven into depression from her husband's mistreatment. Unfortunately, both of them succumbed to alcoholism. This perfume seems evocative of her wild flapper days.

After years and years of having this one on my Want It list, sad to say this was a letdown for me. I was hoping the magnolia would take center stage, instead all I'm getting is a balsam, woody, incense-y fragrance.

This fragrance was a tribute to writer and artist Zelda Fitzgerald the queen of the flappers and the famous wife if 1920's author F. Scott Fizgerald who gave us The Great Gatsby. This is indeed a flapper perfume and smells as vintage as a 1920's fragrance. There is something Gypsy about it, very bold and spicy, unisex, but never in the way that Yves Saint Laurent's Opium is unisex. This is still very much a woman's fragrance. Its a night cologne for the woman who goes out and gets noticed and never returns home alone. The galbanum punches my nose. Total chypre. A fresh bergamot is there but mostly the galbanum is the introduction. Then there is a Southern flower because Zelda was a Southern belle from Alabama, the magnolia flower. It's a big magnolia and there are additional abstract white floral scents probably jasmine and gardenia. The magnolia however is the reigning queen in this scent. Then there is balsam, spices, resins, woods, some incense and more woods moss and sandalwood. It can easily slide into Oriental fragrance land but I see it as what it's evoking: a flapper perfume. I have smelled similar stuff as in Places de Lices Twenties. This is not for everyone. The person who wears this is confident and strong. This is a strong perfume so apply with a light hand. I love it and I wear it when I go out on dates. Works every time.

I was really surprised how this changed over time. I own nothing like it. Goes on with this rich burst of magnolia, bergamot and galbanum with a slight green spicy dash. The bourbon starts coming through all while the magnolia is still present sort of making this fragrance intoxicating. As time goes on the smokiness of amber, balsam and musk become prevalent with hints of sandalwood and it begins to turn dark and a tad dirty but in a great way. I believe there is that hint of vanilla the entire fragrance with the vetiver but is extremely well blended to give it more character. This is what I would call a complex vintage modern kapow of a fragrance. Longevity and silliage are both in the excellent category. Leans more toward the feminine side in the beginning but dries down to an excellent unisex.

I feel like I just bathed in a tub of bourbon ball batter. Where's the bourbon on this list of notes? I get no lime, a little magnolia, a slight hint of sandalwood, but a stunning aged bourbon, crushed nuts, vanilla, and a smidgen of powdered sugar. Each holiday season when I make my bourbon balls, part of the recipe requires rolling out the balls in powdered sugar by hand. It's ooey-gooey, yummy, sensual, plus I'm maybe a little tipsy from always adding more bourbon and vanilla than required. It's a crowd pleaser recipe, like this scent...a show stopper. I'm thrilled to have found a gourmand, (to me, not an oriental), that I could see wearing all fall and winter. Two hours in morphs into a light floral/coconut skin scent....very interesting. Ps. I am not a bourbon drinker, just fyi

Sweet ,woody new oriental scent (reminiscent of vintage perfumes of '20's) ... It is inspired from the wife of the Nobel awarded famous American writer Zelda Fitzgerald! Dynamic and mysterious, an authentic representative of the zodiac sign of Leo, she was a stormy personality ... The opening is dynamic with bergamot and spices ... the heart rich in magnolia and blossom notes and a dynamic basis of muscs , vanilla , smoky amber and woody vetiver ... A very special and remarkable composition by Shelley Waddington.

Perfectly named scent. It has a sizzling character, like the woman you meet and never forget. It has a bourbonlike aroma in it, and the full composition is so spicy but not in an oriental way. It smells like an alluring woman after a nigh spent with Charleston dancing, drinking, smoking and kissing with a stranger. I only have a sample of 5 ml-s but it should be enough until we reach the twenties again ;)