Wish

Ignore the review by arielffs. I don't know what fragrance they are smelling, but it's definitely not Wish. I don't get much citrus at all - maybe a hint in the very opening, but it's not sour. The top notes are very short lived. This is an absolutely gorgeous beachy scent for summer. It's not beachy in a cheap sunscreen kind of way, it's more like a sea breeze mixed with sugar coated coconut macaroons. I am not at all a fan of coconut scents, but the coconut note here, which lasts throughout, is very light and airy. The two scents that could be cousins to this are Jennifer Aniston and Holidays by Mancera. Jennifer Aniston disappears after 30 minutes, while Holidays has a heavy tiare flower/coconut note that overwhelms for hours and hours. This beauty transports me to a cabana on a private tropical island with clear blue water. Somewhere only the very rich can afford to go. I bought the hand lotion at Anthropologie more than a decade ago and treated it like it was liquid gold, only using it on special occasions. I finally bought a full bottle of the perfume during the Black Friday sale at Amazon last year, and I can't wait to wear it this summer. Sometimes on a dreary winter day here in Ohio, I will spritz my wrist just to improve my mood. This has moderate projection for the first two hours and then a small scent bubble fading into a skin scent by hour four. It is very inoffensive. This is an absolute LOVE for me. I never want to be without it.

I discovered Lollia via a Margot Elena subscription box review. I signed up for the box and bought Wish and some other items at the same time. I’m a sucker for sweet scents, and age hasn’t mellowed that for me. The first spray is very sweet and fizzy (that may be my interpretation of pepper) and a bit citric. But not like a lemon-lime soda, just effervescent somewhat lemony sugar. It’s strong at first spray, but the sillage retracts immensely soon after. Then it settles into a lovely sweet scent with some unexpected depth. The citrus blooms, and a bit of cinnamon arrives. I get only a hint of floral, and a bit of powder. I also do not get any anise or licorice (thank goodness) but just a bit of almond perhaps? It’s quite lovely. I don’t consider this a teeny-bopper scent though a teen could definitely like it. It’s decidedly feminine and very sweet, but not in a Pink Sugar kind of way (I don’t find them similar at all). I have this in the perfume, body oil, body creme, and a lovely bath salt sachet that I keep in a drawer. Wish is nice for layering when I want to sweeten another scent. The sillage is very mild, the longevity good. The Lollia packaging is beautiful (everything available from Margot Elena is). Every item has been thoughtfully packaged and looks wonderful on the vanity or dresser. 11/10 packaging.

This was a blind buy for me. My first impression of this fragrance: yikes. At first spray, I got nothing astringent citrus and soapy white florals. Given a few minutes to develop, Wish is actually quite nice! The scent is reminiscent of the smell of a lemon square. I was surprised to see that most people rated this a spring scent, as I can't help but think of this as the colder side of Christmas in a bottle (snow and whipped cream rather than gingerbread and cider). Given the cinnamon and amber notes, I was expecting this to be quite a bit warmer than it is. In fact, this is not spicy whatsoever to my nose. I added Dolce and Gabbana Pour Femme to my collection last week, and I have to say these are much too similar for me to justify owning both. While they're more like sisters than twins, I really only have so much space for cold, citrusy gourmands on my little perfume shelf. I do think I like this one a wee bit better for its freshly-baked drydown over Pour Femme's floral edge than runs 'til the end.

The opening is a pleasant heady floral with a heavy dose of sugar, vanilla, and a hint of bergamot and cinnamon. The citrus seems to be more pronounced in colder weather. In the first hour or two the sugar gets pretty intense and the floral fades. There is an occasional "doll skin" scent that had me concerned this would be too sweet for me and I generally like sweet. There is also a hint of strawberry, like those strawberry shortcake ice cream bars. Its one of those notes that is occasionally standing out, but isn't dominate. Hours into my work shift I started getting a wiff of the most amazing honeyed vanilla with a bit of floral that smells occasionally like orange blossom and occasionally like almond. It is remarkably similar to the way Amouage Sunshine smells when you sniff the bottle. 13 hours later I'm still smelling it and it is awesome. It isn't what I am looking for for Summer or Fall . . . So I'm considering not sampling any winter scents and just wearing this all winter. It's that good.

Ahhhh Wish. The fragrance that started it all for me. I tested this in an Anthropologie a year ago and instantly fell in love. Wish starts out with a zing of a peppery bergamot, not spicy, and a bit sweet. I don't know if it's my imagination but the bergamot lends a light tea like addition. Not a bold Assam, but a delicate milky earl grey sort of addition that's hardly there but also there. It soon mellows out into a warmer, deeper sweetness, the pepper not completely disappearing but enveloped in a warm vanilla hug. The vanilla in this is not an aggressive cotton-candy sugar, but a sort of mellow warmth. I think of baked goods, but CUPCAKES is not the first thing to come screaming to my mind. The image this fragrance invokes is of a woman, wearing a simple and casual silk wrap dress, with a bit of careless bedhead hair, walking past a bakery where a tray of fresh macarons are being laid out. That's how this fragrance makes me feel.