Lalibela

I blind bought this because I've never seen such conflicting reviews and I couldn't handle the curiosity. I'm writing a very thorough review to help the others who are also very confused about this fragrance, lol. First of all the fact that over 170 people think that this smells like Narciso makes me think my nose is broken because this has 0 similarity to me, but okay. If I had to pick a fragrance to compare to this I'd say Maison Tahite's Floranilla. It has the powdery sweetness of Tom Ford's F*cking Fabulous, mixed with the coconut creaminess of Soleil Blanc; now throw in a bunch of pink flowers and you'll get this. (Side note: I feel like we need a "pink floral" category in perfumery - we have white florals and yellow florals, this perfume is a prime example of what a pink floral would smell like). Anyways~ If you google the words "milk bath", the images that come up are exactly what this fragrance smells like. It smells like someone who just bathed in flower-infused coconut milk, and then applied vanilla-scented lotion and baby powder to their entire body. The opening is a photorealistic bouquet of flowers - a LOT of peony and rose, a little jasmine and a little orchid. A couple of mins later the coconut, vanilla, and labdanum come out. The tobacco and patchouli are in the drydown- although they're extremely faint I do appreciate that they prevent this from getting overly cloying. Ultimately this settles into a creamy, lotiony, coconuty vanilla floral. It's feminine, posh, and sophisticated. I wasn't sure about the vanilla note at first but it adds a little something flirty and youthful (and sweet), so it's grown on me. Overall I'm quite happy with this. I love that in the midst of all other fragrances on the market this one is not like anything else (-I hope the TikTokers stay far away from this!!) I see this on an affluent woman vacationing on the Amalfi Coast or in Monaco. It does give me summer vibes because of the coconut, but I can also see this working very well in cold weather because of the powder and the creaminess. Post edit: still loving this and finally realized that it reminds me of. This is a more intense version of Nuxe body oil, and they layer together perfectly 😍👌🏼

Ok full disclosure, I heard of this gem from Jus de Rose on Youtube. She never misses a chance to say how Lalibela is her boss lady go-to fragrance. Maybe pushing too far when attributing it to the Mother of Dragons ( I would imagine she’d wear something spicier, darker, idk, less sweet, less floral). Lalibela is enchanting, it is quite simply invigorating. I never smelled anything like it. To me it evokes sunsets in a hot foreign land. Absolutely feminine, elegant yet mysterious, 100% unique. the french needs to come out now : il y a quelque de chose de fumée au coeur du parfum. C'est comme si chaque note avait bel et bien le pouvoir d'émerger seule, mais à chaque fois sous une fumée chaude. Vanille ? absolument, et fumée ! Coconut ? Mon dieu, oui ! Mais toujours fumée. Pareil pour le patchouli, pour les fleurs (difficiles à discerner les unes des autres d'ailleurs). It's comforting, cocooning, delectable.. First it smells way different on the bottle than on the skin. On the skin, and on me anyway, the journey begins with incense. Not the cold churchy one, (i'm thinking Comme des Garçons Serie 3 or Passage d'Enfer) Lalibela is a solar incense. Around it, we have a fantastic blend of florals and orchid coconut. It dries down to lose freshness and gets even hotter. Frankly, never could smell the woods of the base notes. Longevity is not the best, but I found that Lalibela clings powerfully to any textile ! GREAT sillage, intoxicating. On me it’s best not to wear it too often, I had once spent a few consecutive days wearing it and got tired of the biscuit cake sweet creamy ambiance. I will take care of this juice. Best worn in the summer on hot days. I live in Quebec, I found it weird to smell Lalibela when it's like -10 outside. Plus, on cold weather, the sweetness throws off the incense, which to me is the very heart of this scent. Worth the price, I'm personally convinced that Lalibela is a category of its own. It could very well be the only vanilla frag in your wardrobe and you'd be all set. I wouldn't picture this on a young girl, it's a very mature and complex fragrance.

@Creedaholic Because Memo keeps changing the composition of their perfumes and it's frankly annoying AF. I had my first bottle of Lalibela in 2011 and it had coconut and orchid listed, and was way more gourmand and slightly tropical in feel. It had nothing in common with NR For Her AT ALL. The new one does, it's not the same anymore. They did the same thing with Jannat and I find it very disrespectful of their customers. Here's a mini review from the Non Blonde blog, it dates from December 8th 2008, and she lists the original notes : "The last one I tested was Lalibela, named after an Ethiopian holy city which is a pilgrimage destination and has several ancient churches. Out of the note list (coconut, orchid, rose, peony, jasmine, patchouli, cistus, vanilla, tobacco leaf, incense and woods), what I'm getting in huge amounts are a dark and dirty rose and thick, heavy incense. This is a seriously gothic rose which makes the original Regina Harris oils seem like Little Miss Sunshine. The sales assistant called it "a sad rose" and I could tell he was not a fan, but I was captivated by this scent. It felt... purple, I guess. Deep, dark purple. It lasted on my skin for the rest of the day, into the night and until my shower the following morning, when I returned to the store and bought the bottle." https://www.thenonblonde.com/2008/12/memo-paris-lalibela-and-other-treats.html

Lalibela is a special, one of a kind fragrance. It’s a sweet, elegant, vanilla, floral with an underneath warmth and a beautiful intoxicating smell! It’s complex, smooth and alluring. It’s mostly a luscious, slightly jammy rose, full bloomed peony, sweet vanilla, tobacco and patchouli. My favourite from Memo Paris for sure! I have it in my collection for nearly 2 years now and I still have not found anything remotely similar to Lalibela from everything I have tested. The performance of Lalibela is outstanding. It is long lasting and projecting for hours on, I got so many compliments every time I wore it. I think that Lalibela, alongside Ylang Ylang Nosy Be by Perris Monte Carlo and Amouage’s Guidance are the most incredible, performance wise, and unique, fragrance wise, while totally wearable for the everyday use. Some fragrances smell absolutely amazing but don’t last while others last for ages but are very similar to everything else on the market! For me, it is one of those fragrances that I want to keep forever in my collection, it’s perfection in a beautiful bottle. It’s an expensive fragrance but it’s worth it! The packaging is a sturdy cardboard box with a sophisticated, classic but different design that any other brand I have seen. Possibly my most favourite fragrance packaging ever! For reference, I don’t think it’s similar to Narciso Rodriguez For Her!

This perfume has an interesting note, coconut orchid, also known as Maxillaria Tenuifolia, which is a species of orchid with coconut-scented flowers. Some websites describe the top note as coco, others orchid. But the creamy first impression is neither exactly coconut nor has anything to do with ordinary orchid. I would say it is a smooth milky floral note that does not smell like any generic floral perfume on the market. Not rosy, not white-flowery, just herself. The heart note is a concoction of flowers, incense, and vanilla, then lingers for more than 8 hours with the voluptuous creaminess. The scent profile is opulent but not too mature, in fact, quite youthful. How is this scent associate with Lalibela, the site itself? They are both grandiose, and perhaps the incense note is connected with religious ritual. The creativity is 10/10 for me. It stands up to the steep price tag and the niche lable. Memo's bottle design turns better and better with recent releases, whereas Lalibela's falls flat with the successors. But the juice itself smells so satisfying and so outstanding for me, a 100% white floral fragrance lover. If you like other "white" notes like fig, coconut, and vanilla, I also highly recommend you to try Lalibela as it is so well-blended. A safe and successful blind buy. Chef's kiss.