Tags
Basil, black narcissus, Fantôme, Fantome, general catalogue, narcissus, seaweed, strawberry, tart wild strawberries, watery graves, wild strawberries
Scent Name: Lorelei
Manufacturer: Fantome – General Catalogue
Scent Description and Notes: “Tart wild strawberries, basil, black narcissus, entangling seaweed, watery graves
At its heart, Lorelei is a strawberry-forward fragrance, but much like the Lorelei of legend, there are much darker things lurking not far below. This is a jammy and tart strawberry that is encircled in a bed of salty seaweed and sweet basil. There is a watery quality that submerges the entire scent, and adds an intense dewy quality to the strawberry and basil without making it read as an entirely aquatic fragrance. The heady narcotic floral of black narcissus lurks underneath it all.
Narcissus was a common note in vintage perfumes and cosmetics, but the opulent and loud floral has fallen out of vogue in the world of respectable, clean fragrances that dominate the market today. It is equally represented by facets of sweet floral, spice, and musk aspects to create the dark and sensual fragrance of blooming narcissus. This flower was also chosen for Lorelei as it hearkens back to the Greek myth of Narcissus, who ultimately drowned due to his own vanity and beauty.
Lorelei is described as possessing long hair the color of sunrays, which would draw the eye along with her siren’s song among the grey rocks and water. We chose wild strawberries to act as this siren song to draw one in with the allure of sweet strawberry among the darker, stranger notes.
Her origins in German folklore are as nebulous as her classification as a monster. Some tales label her as a siren, nymph, or the vindictive daughter of the spirit of the Rhine River, and some paint her as an avenging ghost.
The Lorelei rock itself sits at the sharpest and most dangerous turn of the Rhine in Germany, and has inspired numerous tales of creatures, from gnomes to sirens, that inhabit the rock and cause sailors’ destruction. A natural phenomenon causes the sound of the river and a nearby waterfall to echo off the rock. This creates an otherworldly murmuring sound that brings to life the tale of Lorelei and her song, which can still be heard by those brave enough to venture close.
The earliest known written legend that “explains” the strange acoustics of Lorelei rock was a ballad by Clemens Brentano telling of a sorceress named Lore Lay, spurned by her lover and condemned to live in a convent, who fell into the Rhine from the rock. While traveling to the convent in the company of three knights, she asks to climb the rock in order to get one last glimpse of her lover’s castle. They oblige her, and while looking, she sees a ship in the river. Imagining her lover must be on it, she leans over too far trying to spot him, and falls into the river along with the knights who try to rescue her. The murmuring sound heard by the rock is from the knights who are still calling her name.
Later variations build on the myth of her as a siren, especially a popular poem by the German poet Heinrich Heine, “The Lorelei,” which reads:
I don’t know what it means
That I am so sad at heart.
A legend of days gone by,
I can’t get it out of my head.
The air is cool and night is coming.
The Rhine calmly courses its way;
The peak of the mountain sparkles
In the evening’s final ray.
The fairest of maidens is seated
Wonderfully up there,
Her golden jewels are shining,
She’s combing her golden hair.
She combs it with a golden comb,
And sings a song;
It has a wonderful,
Powerful melody.
The skipper in the little boat
Is seized by it with savage woe.
He looks not at the rocky reefs,
He only gazes toward the heights.
I think the waves devour
In the end the boatman and boat;
And this, by her singing,
The Lorelei has done.
” – https://fantomeperfume.com/products/lorelei
Bottle Design and Artwork: This is a 1/40oz imp of perfume oil from the company. The cap is black while the label is a sumptuous gold printed with black lettering. The name of the company is in the largest font in bold block letters, followed by a smaller, more blocky scent name. Below that in a thinner font is the title of the collection. Bracketing the top and bottom of the label in tiny, thin font are the location of the company, the ingredients, and the amount of oil within the imp. The label art is as follows:
Scent:
- ITI: Strawberries had heady narcissus alongside an almost loamy basil strike out first, but soon are tempered by a cool somberness like a fog creeping through secluded coastal streets. I’m normally pretty particular about my strawberry (most perfumes and oils I’ve come across strike me as Chapstick or candy artificial), but this one just has a flash of that before shifting to strawberry jam with the welcomed dimensions of the green and moody aquatic-flecked florid tones.
- Wet: On the skin, narcissus, dark and green-edged with hyacinth tones, seem slightly sweetened with strawberries growing near a sea facing cemetery alongside a patch of sweet basil The narcissus is on the narcotic side, and that shifts to flash a glimmer of red sweetness at its core before the other tones tempt one to a welcomed green-tinted stupor.
- Dry: The berry after about 20 minutes is jammy but rounded, like a swirl of berry jam set against warm oatmeal and a whisper of basil far in the background in back of a softening narcissus. It’s dark and shadowed, but alluringly warm. Interesting. Slightly musky strawberry tones edged with narcissus, dark and warm at the same time, remain on the skin after 13 hours.
Other Impressions: [Wet] “Berry-scented pencil pouch that held a bunch of Tootsie rolls for a month, but was emptied out yesterday. I like it!”-Tony