Lyra
The sweet headiness of this botanical natural perfume lies in the melding of jasmine and ylang ylang at the heart. In aromatherapy circles these essences are considered relaxing, euphoric and strong aphrodisiacs. The word aphrodisiac comes from the name of the Greek Goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite.
The origins of Lyra began with a custom perfume for Roxana's daughter Eve. The formulation was shifted when the fragrance was included in the line. We settled on the name Lyra, the protagonist in the Phillip Pullman book trilogy His Dark Materials, since Roxana and Eve were reading the books at the time and fell in love with the story.
When the perfume was created for Eve it was a very simple sweet, heady, floral perfume with a sample, traditional composition of an amber base, florals at the center and citrus top notes. The fragrance was reconstructed keeping the primary elements and adding in a few others. During one of the formulations a "happy accident" occurred and altered the formula creating a much richer and complex fragrance.
The color harmony for Lyra is a pale pink also called blush. The crochet pouch that accompanies the higher priced versions of Lyra has been created specially for the fragrance.
There are twenty different essential oils, absolutes and C02 extractions in this perfume. The solid and liquid perfume versions have been created by hand utilizing pure, plant essences. Main notes include: Vanilla, jasmine, ylang ylang and citrus. Many experience an anise note, although there is no anise or fennel in the ingredients.
Lyra is available as a solid and liquid perfume in the following varieties ranging from $8 to $200:
Solid Sample and Sample sets
Liquid Perfume Sample Sets
1 gram in vial
4 grams in a bottle
Flacon, with 7 grams
Mini Compact
Solid Perfume in Round Compact
Solid Perfume in Oval Compact
Testimonials and Reviews
"This may now be my favorite! Roxana creates only the best and purest of perfumes and I'm so excited to be able to purchase and enjoy them so much! Lyra is beautiful - light and smooth citrus and licorice with jasmine throughout and a lovely amber base. Roxana and Illuminated Perfume hold a special place in my hearts:)"
~ Merissa
"Lyra is the signature perfume I've been waiting for."
~ B
"This is a beautiful compact with one of my favorite scents, Lyra. The metallic paper really does make the honey bee sparkle. I love the pretty amethyst color and the antique tapestry look of the compact. Everything was wrapped beautifully! Thanks for the extra sample :) Highly recommend this seller!"
~ Carrie
"A rich, full-bodied, sweetly tinged amber, floral fragrance that evokes the essence of Fall with its warm sensuality. Through a veil of tropical flowers, the amber and somewhat licorice tinted base glows leaving a dry down trail of light citrus so as not to allow the amber to overpower." and "The glowing amber floral fragrance exudes an ethereal waft of a bonfire note arising then transitioning in a light citrusy orange drink at the end of my sensory-awakening tramp in the cool, late October forest."
~ Victoria Austin, Sniffapalooza Magazine
"...vivacious, euphoric affair with the immediacy of flowers, especially the fresh, almost fruity piquancy of what seems like orange blossom, jasmine and tropical ylang ylang singing out of the bottle like alto voices in melodious thirds. Inspired by the brightness of the night-sky asteroid near Vega but also the heroine of the book "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman, the floriental Lyra is shining with its own bright veneer. This white floral composition is especially appreciated in a natural blend as there is none of the florist shop headspace of department store fragrances: rather the blossoms exude a deeper, more solid, hefty presence in the accompaniment of a classic warm base of ambery resins and hesperidic overtures. Perhaps the only drawback is the rather limited lasting power, but this is something that can be easily amended by re-application."
~ Elena Vosnaki, Perfume Shrine
"Lyra is described as a "veil of tropical flowers, [with an] amber base, and an effervescent twilight of citrus notes." It is an extraordinarily lovely and subtle creation, completely wearable at all times, and smells to me less like a perfume and more the way I wish I actually smelled. It evokes the sweet, soft scent of a beloved child's skin."
~ Heather, Memory and Desire
"Lyra is orange and bergamot over amber. According to the website there are tropical flowers in there, but I don't get much, certainly not anything that I would normally think of as tropical: no hothouse gardenia, no over-the-top tuberose. I could be crazy but I think there's a touch of heliotrope in there. It's tropical in that bright, sparkling way that Patou did with Colony, but there's no pineapple."
~ Tom, Perfume Smellin' Things
"Lyra- This one feels complex and multifaceted. There's a candied orange in there that doesn't become too sweet. Unlike Tom, I did get the tropical flowers, and surprisingly enough- I liked it. A lot. Out of the four here, Lyra is the strongest and most tenacious, but it stays close enough to the skin to make it very wearable."
~ Gaia, The Non-Blonde