Sometime between teasing the impending launch of Ôrebella, a beauty brand that just landed at Ulta, and cowgirl-ifying her closet, Bella Hadid changed her profession to "Scientist" on Instagram. Weeks ago, I received an explanation why in the form of three crystal-shaped perfume bottles.
Finally, I can share Bella Hadid's Ôrebella debuts with an intense perfume trio, designed alongside the fragrance houses Firmenich and Robertet. There's Window2Soul, a sheer floral comprised of rose, jasmine, and lemon; Salted Muse, a woodsy combination of sea salt, amber, lavender, and pink pepper; and Blooming Fire, a spicy blend of bergamot, patchouli, and Tahitian monoi flower. Each scent retails for between $35 and $100, in quantities of 50mL to 100mL. (Hadid has also hinted that more scents could follow.)
Entering the celebrity scent arena isn't a total surprise: a trademark search in February hinted Hadid's label would include fragrances, haircare products, and lotions. What is unexpected—and worthy of her new job title—is the experience of using each scent. Ôrebella levels up the homemade fragrances Hadid used to make on her family farm into color-changing, shake-to-activate formulas. There's an element of eye-candy, and some experimentation: As each perfume's shade and consistency changes, the brand claims, it activates potent, long-lasting, and skin-hydrating ingredients. (Note that Ôrebella is pronounced "aura-bella"—like an energy reading only Hadid can provide.)
The collection's inspiration was ultimately more down-to-earth than it may appear. "My way into fragrance was being on my farm with our lavender plants, and we have a cute health food store down the street from my house there," Hadid said in an interview with WWD. "They have the craziest variety of essential oils, and I’m obsessed with putting things together that you wouldn’t normally smell."
Hadid allowed Marie Claire to test just how unexpected Ôrebella's fragrance combinations are before its arrival in Ulta stores nationwide on Friday, May 10. I spent the past few weeks shaking, spraying, and all around living in Ôrebella's three new scents to discover whether the label has crafted one of the best 2024 perfumes. (I also asked Marie Claire editors to try and rate all three scents in a blind fragrance test on Instagram.) Read on for my honest review.
The Packaging
Ôrebella’s three fragrances arrive in boxes color-coordinated with each formula’s shade and a shiny gold embossed brand logo. Window2Soul is assigned a light jasmine purple; Blooming Fire is a dusty desert amber; and Salted Muse is a seaside aquamarine.
I've tested many fragrances over the years, and the word "bottle" doesn't capture these perfumes' containers: They’re more like crystals dug up on a spelunking expedition deep beneath the Earth’s surface or meteorites discovered on a SpaceX trip to a galaxy far, far away. All three sizes—10mL, 50mL, and 100mL—arrive in oval, crystalline containers with shiny oblong caps. The glass is clear to see the aqua, amber, and lavender liquids inside (and later, to see the formula transform into a milky foam with a few shakes).
It’s not hard to imagine the oblong shape on Hadid’s vanity next to her crystal pile and 12-step morning supplement routine, but displaying them on my counter wasn’t quite as intuitive. It took turning the bottles over a few times in my palm to realize one facet cut larger than the others had enough surface area to stand it up on its side. (For $35, Ôrebella also sells a gold stand to prop up the 100mL bottles.)
The Fragrances
For their otherworldly packaging, I assumed Ôrebella's scents would tap into some as-yet-undetected-on-Earth ingredients. Instead, they refined and tweaked familiar fragrance profiles.
Salted Muse has the woody-meets-sea-salt vibe I typically associate with ouds or even men's colognes, with twists of lavender and pink pepper. Then there's Window2Soul, a more romantic blend of rose and jasmine with creamy tonka bean notes that emerge after the scent has fully dried. Of all three fragrances, Blooming Fire is the most assertive: a spicy, tropical blend of Tahitian monoi flower, patchouli, and bergamot notes. (I could almost smell this one through the box.)
Taking a whiff of each perfume isn't as straightforward as a quick spray on the wrist. These start as a semi-translucent, oily juice that is only application-ready once it's vigorously shaken up into an opaque, milky liquid. This motion, the brand says, "activates" each perfume's bi-phase formula—and made me feel like I got a minor bicep workout each morning. It's a hypnotic extra step: I would catch myself shaking the perfume just to watch it change, without necessarily applying it.
All three scents were semi-detectable on an air-spray, but they packed an obvious, aromatic punch once I rubbed them into my skin. They lasted eight to ten hours each day without needing a re-up. I learned to limit myself to one spritz on my inner wrist; any more, and I felt a little like a walking perfume counter (especially with the intense Blooming Fire scent). While I have eczema-prone, highly sensitive skin, I made it through back-to-back days of heavy dousing without any flare-ups—a tribute to the brand's non-alcoholic, and paraben-, phthalate-, sulfate-, and gluten-free formulas. However, I didn't notice extra soft skin from the purportedly hydrating snow mushroom and five-oil moisturizing blend infused into each fragrance.
Week one, I rotated between all three scents. By week two, I latched on to Window2Soul as my would-buy, absolute favorite. The rose-jasmine-lemon combination felt just right for the transition from spring to summer; it smells like a sunny afternoon in a courtyard garden. Meanwhile, Blooming Fire had the warmth and weight I associate with more of a winter scent—and Salted Muse was too close to my husband's sea salt cologne to feel like it could also be my own scent. (But if you prefer muskier fragrances, I can see it becoming your top select.)
Covertly packing Window2Soul on a work trip to Paris helped tip the scales in its favor. It earned compliments from both journalists in the press pool and sources I met. My old jasmine-lavender everyday scent always resonated with me, but it didn't exactly get noticed.
The Final Verdict
Ôrebella made a strong, heady first impression. These are the sorts of fragrances that come out of the box vying to be a one-and-done signature: I can't imagine any of the three perfumes layering into a more individualized fragrance wardrobe with others I already own. Their formulas would easily overpower another scent applied just beneath or on top of them. Like a Hadid sister charging down a runway, they're intense and instantly noticeable. What's less obvious are the skin hydrating benefits of its layered formula—but I'm willing to keep wearing the perfume to see if it just needs more time to become obvious.
Window2Soul was my front-runner for a perfume that felt both wearable and distinct from other scent profiles I've tried before. It's the packaging and shake-to-activate formula that feels the most unique for all three scents—thanks to the TikTok-friendly chemical reaction on display in an avant-garde bottle. Shaking them up, I could see why Bella Hadid has felt like a scientist lately.
Ôrebella is now available to order at Ulta.
