IsaBella

One of my exes gave me this perfume for my birthday in 2004, when it could be easily found in stores in Europe. My mother fell in love with this scent, so I gave her a gift set of it and she still keeps the now empty bottle of Isabella.🙂 It was a great autumn and winter scent that spoke of temptation and seduction, and it got me tons of compliments wherever I went, even at the university, where most of my girl-classmates wore lighter scents. Isabella stood out from the crowd, as it was a sophisticated, grown-up scent, somehow vintage and yet modern. It made me picture Isabella, but not as she was in Blue Velvet, but in my favorite TV series, Twin Peaks. She is dressed in black velvet, which compliments her flawless complexion, her lips are painted cherry red, and she appears in the black lodge from behind the red curtains, her presence and movements as mysterious and graceful as a panther's. As a side note, IR was cast in Twin Peaks, but unfortunately she dropped out of the production before filming began. I miss this scent. It was one of a kind and also affordable. I think it was discontinued many years ago, its sojourn in stores woefully brief. Too bad.

Interesting one and truly surprising as to me, its notes pyramid seems to be unusual. What I get first is vanillic accord with iris note and heliotrope, then tonka, oakmoss and lemon. Tobacco note seems to be most noticeable at dry down. It is certainly one of the best oriental vanilla fragrances I have ever tried (apart form Eclix by La Perla and L by Lempicka). It is not overpowering, perfect fragrance for winter cuddles on the couch in front of the fireplace. Semi-sweet (vanilla does not feel gourmand), lovely juice to be enjoyed for approx. 6 hours. Not bad at all! The only annoying fact is that it is so hard to find - you seem to get perfume shops flooded with Manifesto but no one heard of Isabella for quite some time... Arrrrgggh :-)

I've just bought it from a local store. I like tobacco but I can't say I was thrilled with this perfume at first. It wasn't what I was expecting. I have Daring as well and I totally like it. This one is dusty and smokey and too much of a real tobacco. Not a tobacco dried leaf (which I adore!) but tobacco as it smells in unburned cigarettes (like Drum for example). It's not masculine though, it is just a 'rich' scent. I'd like the heliotrope to be wider and more distinguishable. It sweetens the whole composition. Fortunately I can't detect any trace of oakmoss. It smells very nice on my dress and on my daughter, while on me it's not impressive but I've just found out that it layers PERFECTLY with Strip by Agent and with Queen Latifah Gueen.

i sprayed this one once when i was for a city-trip in Praha. the whole day long i couldn't stop to sniff my wrists... i remember IsaBella as a delightful warm, spicy and vanillic scent with hints of tobacco. very sultry and feminine! unfortunately i hadn't the opportunity to go back and buy it and when i intent to buy it back at home, i realised it's a mission impossible to buy here. discontinued! what a shame! back in Praha 3 years later i hoped that mutch to still find it in the same store i tested it, but nope. no chance! :/

I used to have the perfume and a body lotion - the lotion smelled sharper, spicier and fruitier, irritating to some extent. The perfume was a typically winter scent for me - fruity/vanilla sort of thing - warming and a little cloying - Dior Addict reminded me of it a bit. I would love to have it again for the sake of memories but MY RED by Oriflame is a nice and reasonable replacement IMO.