Youth Dew (1953)
by Estée Lauder

I actually prefer the modern Youth Dew to the older stuff, although the old was nice too, and more complex. I personally find the current one more wearable. The vintage version wears me, although I love smelling it on someone else. The newer is sweeter, more vanillic, and reminds me of root beer. I think it has less patchouli. I also get an odd sweetish odor that reminds me of pink pencil erasers from school toward the very end. The bath oil is nice as perfume, and I've read that you can buy the extrait around Christmas. I've never tried that but people who have say that's the one to get. Overall, YD is a bit too much for me. I weary of it. Sometimes, though, I just have to smell it because it's the right time of year.

I've heard from others and even my own mother that this is a shadow of what it was. I've never tried the vintage stuff, but none the less, I like the modern Youth Dew! It smells disconcertingly musty and spicy top to base, but there's something intriguingly off-beat about it, from its tangy, brusk citrus and spice opening to its rich ambery-oriental base ( I don't find it floral ). There is some accord here that strikes me as uniquely "Youth Dew", but I'm at a loss to name it.

The longevity and sillage are really quite epic. I wear many powerhouses, but this is unquestionably a one-spray fragance on me.

The naming of perfumes (or anything else) is interesting but tricky when the passage of time is considered: I remember my twenty-year-old sister wearing Youth Dew in the early ‘50s. Then “Youth Dew” was an appropriate name for the fragrance worn by my beautiful sister. The name doesn’t fit now days because changing fashion is the one constant in fashion. I don’t want to call this “dated” although I don’t have a problem with that particular vocabulary word, but I do get ‘50s images in my mind in conjunction with the aroma of Youth Dew. It opens citrus and then very quickly moves to a spicy floral – cinnamon, clove, and ylang-ylang prominent with strong indolic colorings. But as soon as the heart notes show up, they are shadowed by the ‘50s vibrations from the base – the ‘50s version of patchouli and balsam, I believe. The heart and base fix the fragrance at a point in time, and I can do little more with this fragrance because it is has become more of a memory rather than a present reality. In trying to be objective, I would say that I like Youth Dew, but there are several others of its era and type that I prefer, because Youth Dew doesn’t seem to have very much uniqueness in its composition or delivery. Thumb’s up for the memory, but neutral for the actual fragrance.

Recent reviewers taliaseki, Nukapai and JennieJenJamz have all said exactly what I wanted to say about Youth Dew. It's a hideously old and musty relic that should have long been discontinued, and confined to Osmotheque and Le Musée International de la Parfumerie.

[Original submission date: 27 September 2008]

I do not care for Youth Dew. It is too dark and strong and woody and spicy for me. The following anecdotal episode happened only a few hours ago...

I caught a whiff of some heavy, dark and majorly outdated old lady perfume while at a hotel. I turned to see what I thought would be an overdressed, over-bejeweled 70-year-old woman but it turned out to be a 25-year-old gal who had it on. She said it was Youth Dew. You cold have knocked me over like a feather. She should not have worn it. That perfume is a crime on someone so young. Even her pretty figure and and charming face could not support such an asphyxiating and dated fragrance. I was not so gauche as to tell her the perfume was all wrong for her, unflattering to say the least, and that it aged her. Whatever would possess someone so young to wear it? What a fragrance faux pas that was!

The modern formulation of this scent reeks in a very pungent way. Everytime I've tried it, it smells like it's 'turned bad'. I have never been able to enjoy it. With that being said, I have had the good fortune of smelling the original Youth Dew - courtesy of a fellow basenoter - and it is rich, warm, and compelling! I do not know how such a poor evolution has been allowed to take place...maybe that's why Lauder put out Amber Nude...so I have to give a thumbs down for the current fare, and two thumbs way up for the original!