A Wren Says

I was in Ulta the other day and got a chance to smell Bella Hadid’s new line of fragrances, Orebella. There were four in the collection. Salted Muse, Night Cap, Blooming Fire, and Window2Soul.

From what I could tell, based on the display, they intended Nightcap to be the big seller. It smelled quite gingery, would a bit of the vanilla coming through to avoid it turning into a spice bomb. (I know that is a fragrance but I couldn’t think of any other wording.) It was definitely the favorite for me out of the group.

Nightcap Notes:

• Top: Ginger, cardamom, Guaiacwood
• Middle: Vanilla, cistus
• Base: Sandalwood, patchouli

Then there was Salted Muse. I didn’t understand it, and because I’m toxic, that made me like it more. Bloomin fire and Window2soul didn’t speak to me. They were fine but not my jam.

Salted Muse Notes

• Top: Sea salt, pink pepper
• Middle: Olive tree accord, fig, lavender
• Base: Cedarwood, sandalwood, amber

All of the first impressions were using the scent strips. Then I sprayed Nightcap and Salted Muse on skin. I will say that night cap remained by favorite, but salted muse was more wearable than I thought it would be.

The instructions on the bottles say to shake well. It seems like the fragrances are heavily oil based to avoid the alcohols that Hadid found herself sensitive to. In fact, each fragrance as the “ÔRELIXIR™ base” with a blend of almond, jojoba, olive, shea, and camelia oils and snow mushroom. I think that choice might have hurt the fragrance longevity. The scents seemed to wear off of my skin pretty quickly. Salted Muse was gone by the time I got home from the store, maybe an hour and half later. (Correction, I couldn’t smell it no matter how hard I tried, but the other person I made smell for it could detect it when it was right under the nose.) Night cap took a little longer to fade off, but it was definitely under four hours of wear.

All of the fragrances were $72 for 50 mL. When it comes to fine fragrances, that price is reasonable, but I don’t think it is for me. I honestly think that it would make more sense to remarket these products as fragrant body oils. Because it is sprayed like a traditional perfume, it just isn’t shining like it should. This seems like it should be applied all over your legs and arms, especially because there was so much intention to add in moisturizing elements. That benefit is lost if you just spray this on your pulse points.

I wouldn’t really know how to recommend this product. Perhaps if you are a Hadid superfan? Even if you are looking for alcohol free perfume, you could probably just try a solid perfume. This is though the beginning stage of this brand. I would be curious to see what comes next.