3
Helpful Review
A ghost, bottled.
L'Orpheline is an elegantly minimal, almost austere fragrance. It is intimate in the manner it cloaks your skin. It lacks the journey more complex scents take you on, but it is exactly what I wanted. A strong, dry, smoky incense with a musky dry down. It smells like midnight mass in a remote church. It makes me feel like a ghost bedecked in antique lace sitting in the wooden pews, mournful but serene. Undeniably gothic in the old sense of the word, the gothic of cathedrals, Victorian literature, and memento mori jewellery.
And yet, this is also a comforting fragrance. It is reminiscent of the incense soaked wood of old churches, and I find church to be as comforting and peaceful a place as exists in this world.
The sillage on this fragrance is not great, but I do not mind as I wear my perfumes for me, and this is definitely a divisive fragrance and not a crowd pleasure. The longevity is the weaker side of average.
I want to be the kind of person who could brazenly wear this cold beauty, but I'm not. I don't reach for it often and I have to apply it lightly, and only to my wrists as it is quite overwhelming close to the nose for the first 30 minutes. I do like layering this one quite a lot, as it's so unique and adds an interesting dimension to other perfumes. I wear it with Musc Noir Rose. I'm not usually into layering but this is my exception.
And yet, this is also a comforting fragrance. It is reminiscent of the incense soaked wood of old churches, and I find church to be as comforting and peaceful a place as exists in this world.
The sillage on this fragrance is not great, but I do not mind as I wear my perfumes for me, and this is definitely a divisive fragrance and not a crowd pleasure. The longevity is the weaker side of average.
I want to be the kind of person who could brazenly wear this cold beauty, but I'm not. I don't reach for it often and I have to apply it lightly, and only to my wrists as it is quite overwhelming close to the nose for the first 30 minutes. I do like layering this one quite a lot, as it's so unique and adds an interesting dimension to other perfumes. I wear it with Musc Noir Rose. I'm not usually into layering but this is my exception.