Description
Loretta is the second fragrance from the line of Tableau de Parfums arising from collaboration between perfumer Andy Tauer and filmmaker Brian Pera. Miriam, Loretta and Ingrid are the characters from the series of movies “Woman’s Picture” by Brian Pera, and three perfumes are named after them.
Loretta is a young woman who works as a maid at a motel. She is shy and withdrawn, but creates her own life in a fantasy world where she danced and falls in love with a man. She is sensual, sexy and seductive, but she has a secretive dark side.
The fragrance is a composition of sensual white flowers, dominated by tuberose and accompanied by jasmine and orange blossom. Dark ripe fruit like plum give the composition additional sweetness with velvety rose also on top. The dark side of the character is captured by notes of patchouli, ambergris, leather, sweetened orris root and woody – resinous tones.
It is available as 50 ml Eau de Parfum.
Loretta was launched in 2012.
unsotrono – :
There is something very nice about it that I haven’t figured out yet.
But why does it smell like gasoline??
I waited maybe it will change and go away but persisted.
I don’t know what to think of this. I do not hate it but maybe I can’t wear it.
Rollby – :
When I first tried Loretta more than a year ago, I felt a bit disappointed.
I was expecting a ripe fruit drenched tuberose. Leather. The bad stuff IFRA wants out of our diet.
Sorry, perfume.
Instead I got a kind of musty gasoline accord, something that I wasn’t expecting at all, and that I would later find amplified in Sotto la Luna Gardenia.
I couldn’t for the life of me imagine the star of the movie by Brian Pera wearing it. It wasn’t right.
Many wearings later I kind of found the appeal in Gardenia, and while I no longer feel like crawling out of my skin when I wear it, I long to be in Lorreta’s skin.
Tauer offerings tend to divide people; love or hate. And if you hate them at first, there’s a little voice that whispers “try me” deep inside the bottle.
Loretta has evolved. Or rather, I’ve evolved.
Now, under the misty halo, there’s everything I wanted from her.
There’s a ripe fruitiness I can’t quit figure, but it feels extremely decadent. The kind of ripeness that is well past expiration.
There’s a tuberose that feels austere, but at the same time elegant. The matriarch tuberose.
The gasoline accord feels more like an ‘oily’ accord. As if the perfume was drawn as an oil canvas, rich in color saturation. The leather and the Tauerade add a musky feel to the entire picture.
I guess that I saw Loretta, the protagonist, as full of life. But that’s not the case.
Loretta lives in a dream world. And as is so often the case, imaginary is quite often more vivid. More languid.
It might work or it might not. I’m happy that I kept paying attention to the little voice, because when I let Loretta take me inside her world, her imagination became mine. I dreamt her dreams.
As much as it sounds austere and weird, it isn’t. After all it’s a tuberose fragrance. With animalic leather, and plum, and carnations. It’s a powerhouse floral, in the dream dimension. I’m just happy to be there, whenever I feel like escaping my world.
Out of the 3 offerings, I found my alter ego in Loretta; she’s strong, powerful and long lasting. She feels with her heart, and if you’re one of the lucky ones to enter her world, well it’s a hell of a ride. But be prepared for it; she ain’t easy, and she ain’t here to please you.
She’s just here to help you please yourself. A hedonistic tuberose ride!
ampek – :
If there were fruits other than plums in Loretta, she must have eaten them during her work shift before undoing her demure uniform and revealing her alter ego, a dominatrix. Dark, fleshy almost wine-y plums and full-on leather dominate this scent on my skin. Tuberose usually throws her weight around when present in a perfume but here she and Rose submit to whip-wielding leather. A frankly carnal pleasure with no discretion. Moderate projection and good longevity.
LilNi – :
Let me start out by saying that this smells like how I wanted Rose Flash (from Andy Tauer’s Tauerville line) to smell. A lot of people really loved Rose Flash, but on me there was a plastic/jammy smell to it – almost like those scented plastic strawberry shortcake toys. However, underneath that plastic jamminess there was something I did like – a warm resinous tone. Loretta basically takes the jaminess, combines it with the spicy resinous base notes, and adds a dash of Le Maroc pour Elle for good measure.
Definitely not for those looking for a discreet scent. Like everything from the 80’s (lucky scent says that perfumes from the late 70’s and early 80’s served as inspiration), it’s a big scent. However, I think it’s still tasteful and it’s definitely keeping me interested since I keep smelling my arm. I could see someone in the original “Dallas” show wearing this – all pearls, big hair, and shoulder pads at a high society party looking to avenge an ex lover from what was a discreet affair.
Also, I ordered samples of Loretta and Sacrebleu and the same time. I tried Sacrebleu Intense on the same arm and on the dry down, I can’t really tell them apart – except for that Loretta is definitely the bolder, juicier, more assertive of the two.
Katrin73 – :
Strangely addictive, sultry, smoky, spicy fragrance.
The first spritz transported me to a dying bonfire where there is lots of wood and smoke and the faded smells of its contents. I also smell a dirty leather briefcase among the smoke which morphs into an outstandingly sweet perfume by the addition of beautiful fruit and florals. Jasmine in the composition makes this very spicy to my nose and tuberose adds sensuality and sweetness.
This is a masterpiece of olfactory art and I think it most certainly captures the essence of the character of which this is meant to represent. It’s a very clever creation.
Possibly the nearest smell to this is Olympic Orchids Artisan Perfumes Olympic Amber.
This perfume lasts for hours with a sensible silage, but spritzed into the cleavage area and wow!! Stunning, but stunning!
Assicmunc – :
Loretta is a pretty fragrance, vivid, erotic, with artistic vintage vibe, could be worn for a costume party when you are dressed up as a maid, but I can’t see it as an everyday fragrance for someone like myself.
The leather with resins a little tiny bit skanky, I wouldn’t call it rubbery, more smoky type of leather, and scandalous for sure
Sweet from plum and tuberose with fruits, Loretta let us see her good side as well, I would say that Loretta not even a tiny bit shy, but cunning as a fox.
All notes are well pronounced in this fragrance, including ambergris, so make sure you are a potential lover of all included in the pyramid.
Translation into the image – scene when Emmanuelle Beart sings and dances “Pile ou face” in the movie “8 women” by Francois Ozon.
Naughty naughty naughty……
tutxan – :
LORETTA got me hooked from the first sniff. I do not think this is particularly pretty fragrance, but it’s so unique that it got me sniffing my arm all day trough.
It opened with a blast of weird bubblegum leather and even weirder tuberose, in some levels it reminded me of my favorite Comme des Garcons DAPHNE.
LORETTA is a very playful fragrance, it is a bit kinky and sexual yet childish and playful (the bubblegum note). It has a weird animalic undertone making this raw and sensual.
As I said before it is a very addictive fragrance and I love it to bits. I did not get head-over-heels for the drydown, so I won’t be getting a bottle, but I enjoyed the journey nevertheless.
Def. worth a try!
Kolobok02 – :
Starting with a dark, strong and airy with grease feeling bursting all over the tuberose and jasmine adding up with a slight bitter orange. It smells sticky, light rubber-like that isn’t bad but not good either. I felt neutral wearing this right off the bat. So at the start, I can only say, Ok so this is how it started. I can’t even imagine that the perfume is dancing on me.
Sadly for the next 15 minutes, it is as if this scent has been misplaced and very hard to understand and where are the rest of the notes but the resins along with ones I mentioned earlier.
But indeed, Loretta is a full blown feminine scent for ladies 30 and up. Loretta for me is a woman that is hard to understand. A woman that is observing but be careful when you talk to her for she may look shy, but she is as sharp as a two bladed knife. This scent is mysterious but tragic.
Where is the sensual tone? I can never go further creating a story behind the scent. But Loretta is such a beautiful to utter a name that the fragrance failed to justify at all. A perfume so dark, oily and thick that I couldn’t even see where my olfactory journey would end up. But bottom line is, I am not happy, I am not pleased and I am not wanting my woman wearing it.
I have Loretta all over my body (I should have worn Miriam instead), applied them in different areas after I had a shower. I shall take Loretta to my sleep, hoping that no nightmare would come to me. Feel free to wake me up after 6 hours to a bright new morning away from this dark, sad and moody olfactory experience.
Can’t wait to bath myself with the beautiful Lonestar Memories when I wake up 🙂
Серж – :
Just recieved my purse spray and tried it yesterday. My first impressions were very sweet and fruity almost like a supercharged feminite du bois, later it morphed into “orange star” before a woodyish finish. I only got fleeting whiffs of tuberose and a kind of light mothbally smell . I am wearing it again today and I am struck by Bulgari Black rubbery note I’m getting.
I like it and am quite intrigued by the way it morphs and changes. My husband commented that I smelled nice which is quite unuasual so all in all interesting.
valerio3376 – :
I was lucky to try this new perfume thanks to a generous fragantican (katarina82). Now I can’t make comparisons with the perfumes suggested below as I have never sniffed them.
On the first sniff I was sure I have smelled this before as the immediate opening notes were smilar to Poeme and Fracas but that is where the smilarity ends. Once the loud, smack in your face tuberose, calms down, it turns fruity (dried plump fruit) and deliciously spicy. It is almost like a spicy tutti-fruity tuberose. At that point it reminds me of Sacrebleu which I love for the very same notes. Thereafter it calms down to a very very nice cinamony white floral. The longevity was pretty good and so was projection. I kept getting whiffs of this from underneath my top and thinking mmmmmmm……
The question is, would I buy a full bottle of this? Well, I guess, if money was no object, most likely YES. At this point in my life, probably NOT but I would most certainly consider buying a body spray/roller ball.
My only concern is it might end up becoming an irritating scent after a while and you would most definitely need to be in the right mood for it.
cdk492InsuffBooni – :
This is similar to Le Maroc Pour Elle. Loretta is a nice young fruity scent, thick and yummy. It sits nicely on the skin for a while and ends with patchouli, which I don’t like, but here, well alright …
For the women who love this type of scent, it is probably a master piece, I recognize the quality. So, if I got a bottle in a raffle, I would gladly wear it, but I will not go out and buy it.
hbo139bedyWelty – :
I tried this for the first time last evening. On the paper strip it was fabulous. Deep, multi-faceted and fascinating. Then I sprayed it on my arm, and, as often happens, the scent developed differently. I loved the heavy fruity and spicy top notes and the middle with the “skin” ‘I may be a bad girl’ scent. But the ultimate drydown bothered me because I kept smelling a floral almost bitter note jumping out at me and ruining the whole effect. At first I thought it was lily, but looking at the notes, it appears to be carnation.
I continued to try my decant of this scent at least 3 more times on my skin and got my husband’s opinion as well after a trial on his skin. What we both noticed in the middle notes is what I had not noticed before- the plum overtakes everything and with the other warm resinous notes it smells of decadence- overripe fruit right on the verge of rotting. I think it perfectly conveys what Tauer was trying to convey with the fragrance, the decadence, the woman on the verge of darkness, so as a piece of olfactory abstract art it’s perfect– if it were in a museum.
However, I am sticking with my original impression of this juice, I just don’t think it’s wearable, at least not for me.
Андрей_ – :
This has Andy Tauer all over it. To me, this is a blend of the three Tauer scents: 01 Le Maroc Pour Elle (rose and wood), 09 Orange Star (orange blossom), & Pentachords Auburn (cinnamon and woody notes). Since I happen to have all three FB’s of the aforementioned, I am not sure if I would spring for a bottle of this or not. I have a very ample sample, so will try this for a few days and see if I start to crave it, as I did Andy’s others. I think Andy Tauer is brilliant. He is absolutely one of my favorites.
The only thing about this for me was, I was really hoping for more of an “oriental” flavor… I was hoping for less of what Andy has already offered up to us in his current line, and more of something in the Kenzo Oriental meets Mauboussin Mauboussin range. More plum, more labdanum, resins & dry woody, less sweet rose & orange blossom. But that’s just me. Seriously, no real complaints with this. And, like all of Andy’s frags, this has big booming monster Sillage and longevity. You get your money’s worth folks. Another thing too, I find that I notice Tauer’s scents on me throughout the day, where, with most other fragrances (even CK Obsession), I can’t smell the scent on myself after 15 or so minutes. And I end up over-spraying. Which, for other people, might get annoying since they say they can smell my scent even when I can’t detect it. But I buy this stuff for ME. So, my Tauers last longer in the bottle than just about anything else I use.
Overall: 9 out of 10 for me. If she was more unique to my already happy Tauer nose, I’d give Loretta a 10. Edit: And, I think I’ll go for the FB… she has grown on me over time. The plum (one of my favorites) and orange blossom are divine. And the drydown is perfect for me. And I can’t say it enough… longevity! Just wonderful.
Edit: I would like to add that since I originally tested Loretta, I have come to realize what she represents with regard to the film Woman’s Picture. Loretta represents the charactor in the film and Brian Pera and Andy Tauer collaborated on the scent with the charactor in mind. So, while my review was “cold” (as in, without knowlege of it’s context), it was just a straight up review of my impression of the juice (which is pretty damn good on its own and as an introduction to Tauer’s creations if you’ve never experienced them). I’d like to watch the film (and plan to) and revisit the scent with the context of Loretta, the charactor, in mind.
Miron™ – :
I have been anxious to test out Loretta since its announced arrival here on Fragrantica. Spicy tuberose by Andy Tauer?! Loretta seemed to be a sure bet so when an opportunity to test it out—and meet the mastermind behind the creation—came up I seized it. It was a dream to test it out but it was a surreal experience to have Mr. Tauer spray it on a blotter strip himself and ask for my thoughts. Hmmm, my thoughts…
I have to come clean and admit I was not knocked out that first spray. It begins as pure, over-ripened plums with loads of spice. My mind immediately went to Tom Ford’s Black Orchid Voile de Fleur. I love the plums in BOVdF but it has been done once already. I was too tongue-tied around Mr. Tauer to grab the bottle from his hand and try it on my skin. I brought home a sample and tried again.
I tried it on freshly showered skin around 8 am yesterday morning. Again, I was met with very spicy plums that had lingered a day or two past their prime. However, Tauer’s genius made its appearance about a half hour later with the transformation from pungent plums to a dried bouquet of tuberose, dotted with orange blossoms and jasmine. Tauer stated he wanted to show a duality of the perfume’s nature and he does it so well with a slightly dusty bouquet of preserved flowers that could easily belong to a Miss Havisham-type of tortured soul. It is at this point absolutely no other fragrance compares.
A few hours later it was still going strong, but not overpowering, and transmuting once again. This transmutation became sensuously skin-like without resorting to a muskiness and sweet without being gourmand or ‘vanilla’ (both literally and figuratively speaking). There was a strangely beautiful sunbaked-skin note—I swear I think I even smelled a faint sunscreen note—which I can assume came from the ambergris and an ambery, resinous quality that kept things a bit dark, a tad sinister, and abundantly erotic. This feeling of vintage eroticism was not dirty, tawdry, or gratuitous; it was a reminder that every woman is a sexual being, even the Miss Havishams of the world. This phase of the scent stayed through the night into the morning. I’ve since showered and spritzed myself with Loretta, ready to take the ride again.
I can’t say I am well versed in all of Andy Tauer’s creations but I’ve noticed a pattern where his fragrances may not exactly knock its wearer head over heels initially. The ‘wow’ moments have hit me upon a second or third wearing. Loretta has continued to leave me awe-struck with every wearing. This will be the third day I’ve worn it and I’ll definitely mourn the day I finish my sample.