New Love

I love Sephora... for many reasons, including Philosophy and Bare Minerals. But one of my favorite things is the free samples you get with each order. I often pick things I've never heard of and probably forget to even try them. But I have run out of my usual perfume, Vera, and thought I'd order some perfume samples this time. I chose Stella by Stella McCartney and love it. I wear it all the time and it's not overpowering or "heavy" even though it's a floral scent. Perfect for me!

As I went to Sephora's site today to get a photo of Stella, I read the 1st page of customer reviews. I saw this one and wondered why I wasn't born with the same sense of smell. Then again, I can never taste all the flavors that are mentioned during wine tastings, either. I just describe them as "good" or "not good"!

arose in CT
Stella: A memory, a hazy dream, a song in the distance- 05.30.11
There is something so pure and honest about "Stella", it feels so different and unusual compared to any other fragrance I'm ever smelled. The dusky, inky berries and velvety rose, evokes a fascinating combination of dew and dryness, like water on paper (the last love letter). There's this timelessness and agelessness, even, of the rose; it rotates between a lemony-fresh rosebud covered in morning dew, to a dusky, vuluptuously over-ripe bloom at the end of a hot day, finally being cooled in the night air. The amber lends a subtle, retro quality that brings to mind jazz records playing the breeze, hot summer nights lingering over books and thoughts. But mostly, "Stella" is a story - a story about women. Young girls and older girls; mother and daughters; grandmothers and great-grandmothers, ancestors you never met. It's feminine, but not gender conscious (it could, even, be an androgynous, unisex scent, such is it's subtle modernity) and the kind of scent that ties generations together; I could see this on a jet-set urbanite in 2011 or imagine it wafting from a women's boudoir on the prairie, circa 1885. It's simply timeless and very distinctive and it will inspire you to remember, to linger and reflect on life. Again: Oily-rich, aged rose soaked in water, crunchy greens (with tiny hint of metallic dust) with a dash of soapy, creamy petals (peony?), a grape-berry hint of deep rose and a dusky, skin-scent amber, one that settles into something akin to solar musk. Overall, it smells very sheer but with a gravity to it, like clean, aged linens; refined but also very natural and laid-back. A great scent.

I love Stella... the perfume and the cuter-than-a-bug's-ear Stella that I hope to meet in person one day. I think she and my daughter would be best friends!

Stella Bella