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.

This is a wonderful scent to wear every-day.. its not a wow-scent but its warm, deep and make me feel feminine and gorgeous. Its not a loud scent - stays close to me when I wear it. It stays about 3-4 hours - I think thats good.

I had it long time ago and it was my favorite for a while. Honestly it was the sexiest EDP I ever had. Too bad it is discontinued.

it's so yummy! For me citruses are not dominant. It's like a little sour fruit icecream.

I was so expecting heaven: oriental vanilla and tobacco, the great Isabella Rossellini, what should go wrong? Well, for me, everything. I know, most people love it, but I would recommend to try before you buy (I did, thank spaghetti monster). Only because they are willing to pay rididculous prices for it, doesn't necessarily mean that you'd love it, too. Isabella is my reminder of that.

urgh!! this is too sour for me, even when i let it dry down. i didnt buy this myself and i wont purchase it i try to see how others like it, but i cant :(

My very good friend Arianna thank you once again for indulging me with fragrances. I was looking for a heliotrope. And boy did I find one. This is the smokiest, sexiest, darkest, spiciest, most aromatic heliotrope perfume I've ever had the pleasure of getting to know. First of all I'm a big fan of the Italian actress Isabella Rossellini. She did things I couldn't imagine she would do in the disturbing movie Blue Velvet. She was a sweet smart ageless sexy witch with a youth potion in the comedy Death Becomes Her. She was my favorite Greek goddess Athena in the NBC TV movie version of The Odyssey. Outside of her work as an actress she's a humanitarian, a classy lady, elegant, gorgeous and very sophisticated and intellectual. She enjoys art and cooking, fragrances, travel and fashion. I see a lot of myself in her and aspire to be even more like her as I grow older. When I heard she had her own fragrance line I began to buy all of them! This is my first Isabella Rossellini fragrance review. This perfume is clearly designed for mature women and by that I don't mean old lady, your mother or your grandmother. It simply means a woman of experience, sophisticated taste and a connoisseurship of fragrances. The woman who wears this perfume has a predilection for Orientals, spicier scents, chypres, oud, smoky florals, incense and or musky seductive scents. She's probably not into sweet gourmand candy fruity florals as I imagine Isabella avoids those kinds of scents. The opening is of citrus fruit. It's fresh and cool upon the first spritz. The heart is floral with magnolia and heliotrope. There is an additional flower in the base note, the iris, which is also a nice floral touch. Because of that opening of citrus and plus the heliotrope and iris, this scent will remind you of fragrances like L'Heure Bleu and Esprit D'Oscar. If you like fragrances like that you'll really like this one. It's a lot spicier, smokier and more seductive. I would not call it mysterious or too aromatic because there is not enough woods nor is there a patchouli. It's power and heft comes from the vetiver which is typically a men's cologne ingredient. The tobacco is also very strong and creates a smoke effect. The dry down is woodsy with oak moss. The scent comes off as strong and aggressive but at the same time it's powdery and sweet because of the heliotrope. You'd think that tobacco would overpower the heliotrope but she is riding high on a cloud of perfume that raises above even the smoke of tobacco. It's really such a lovely thing to smell. Heliotrope is my favorite flower. While it is true that heliotrope is at it's best in L'Heure Bleu I enjoy looking for heliotrope in many different fragrances. This is the boldest sexiest heliotrope ever. But she is not so forward as to be saucy or vulgar. And like I said she's not spreading her legs either. She is just standing there being beautiful and simply seduces by being there in the first place. She's a lady but she is self-assured and not afraid to speak her mind. She knows what she wants and gets it. It's a subtle but strong scent that has all the enchantment of a sorceress. This really does smell like a perfume I'd smell on Lisle the witch in Death Becomes Her. In it's practical use this is a formal evening cologne to wear with formal clothing or seductive evening clothes but still formal, like an elegant black dress or red dress. It's glamorous and sophisticated and something I could smell on Hollywood actresses as they strut their designer stuff on the Red Carpet on Oscar Night. A beautiful beautiful perfume I'm totally in love with. It's so me right now. This perfume is matching up with my personality right now. And it's so perfect for spring too. On the downside this fragrance is very hard to find. I'm not sure if it's selling on ebay. You might also want to check the Isabella Rossellini fragrance website or other perfume sites which sell discontinued fragrances. It was discontinued but it is still out there somewhere waiting for you to wear her.

When the drydown arrives, it's basically a unisex fragrance. The opening is a bit too feminine, at least to me, but it is marketed to women, after all. The notes seem accurate and it is reasonably natural smelling. The balance is somewhat off, emphasizing the fruit notes, but this may have been the perfumer's intention, for whatever reason. The drydown of this reminds me a bit of the opening of Dior Homme, actually. The longevity and projection/"sillage" are very good. One "trick" with this kind of fragrance is not to smell it close up on the skin. Let it mix with the air before it gets to your nose. Though it seems to be discontinued and hard-to-find now, it was apparently quite a bargain when it was first being marketed. Don't expect niche quality here, but if you like the opening of Dior Homme yet dislike the drydown, IsaBella may be the way to go, if you can find it, of course. EDIT: I realized that the drydown of this smells a bit like Python by Trussardi. Apparently, what confused me is that the listed notes for these two are quite different. It's also got similarities to Vetiver by Guerlain, far into the drydown.

This is surely a unique and (for lack of a better word) sophisticated vanilla. No Jessica Simpson or such here. This is for the League that enjoys Shalimar, L'Heure Bleu, Botrytis,Luctor et Emergo..., to enjoy vanilla but not a foody one. A reason for that is the very prominent note of oakmoss, which is on one side a genious twist to adding something specific and unusual to the vanilla-theme. At the same time it takes getting used to that note. What I love about the scent is the vanilla-tobacco combination (which I'd like to point out was done here even long before TF) and the heiotrope is rightout gorgeous. I sadly just don't get over the oakmoss note...

Love this perfume. I've long admired IR and bought this out of interest. I wasn't dissapointed it's her in a bottle. Very glam. Not a young perfume though. I had two of my daughters 17 year old friends over whilst I was trying it and they all liked it but said it was a bit too mature for them perfect for 25 and overs. It definately a very womanly scent. Very pleased with it if you like C5 or Joy you'll like this. Very reasonably priced as well. People who want to buy this will find it on ebay.

Bought the perfume today. Have to say it is a lovely sweet smelling scent.Another great perfume for a small price.So attractive and alluring.

My favorite perfume ever...unfortunately it's one of those discontinued perfumes ...no longer produced since 2006 :(

@ guest_Elena: I found it on an italian site of rare perfumes, if you want to have the link contact me by PM.

I was young and my mother used it once. I liked it. But it is no longer available

Smells really comforting and powdery.I love this.