Lola Montez was born Marie Dolores Eliza Rosanna Gilbert to a British soldier and an Irish beauty in Grange, County Sligo, Ireland. When she was just a toddler, the family followed her father's regiment to India. He died from cholera shortly after their arrival, and her mother married another British officer. Montez, then called Eliza, was sent back to England for schooling, and there she blossomed into a willful and wild little girl with a reputation for mischief. At 16, Eliza eloped with a British officer and moved to Calcutta. They separated five years later, whereupon she took up the name Lola Montez and embarked on a career as a dancer. Unfortunately, dancing was not her strong suit. However, she gathered friends and lovers in her travels, and gained both popularity and notoriety because of her extraordinary exotic beauty, tempestuous charm, and fearsome temper. During this time, she took on the mantle of courtesan, and cultivated relationships with artists, aristocrats, and politicians, enmeshing herself in Europe's fashionable Bohemian literary circles. Lola was no shrinking violet: she would crack unwelcome suitors across the face with her whip, and once fired her pistol at a disappointing lover, sending him fleeing down the street with his pants around his ankles. When her lover, Franz Liszt, grew exhausted by her passion and fury, she smashed their hotel room to pieces. Lola Montez was very, very Rock Star. In 1846, she became the mistress of Ludwig I of Bavaria and was made Countess of Landsfield in 1847. She wielded a tremendous amount of power behind the throne, until Ludwig abdicated in 1848. In 1851, Lola moved to the United States, where she reinvented herself once again and became an actress. Some years later, she moved to Australia and resumed work as a dancer, entertaining Gold Rush miners. After trotting the globe her whole life, she ultimately settled down in New York, where she spent her final days doing charitable rescue work for underprivileged women.
HER PERFUME
Pomegranate, red carnation, pimento berry, red plum, patchouli, heather, tuberose, thyme-moss, foxglove, Easter lily, Scottish moss, Tunisian jasmine, and Indonesian clove.
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