Private Collection (1973)
by Estée Lauder

A heavy, rich and sophisticated green floral that would probably smell very nice on the right woman. I found it a bit too pungent and vegetal for its own good, and an underlying wax accord (which became more prominent during the drydown) made me realise what may have inspired Mona di Orio’s house note (which is my main gripe with this relatively new niche house).

Private Collection is okay but it's definitely not for me.

This is like a richer, more floral version of Alliage, which I adore. I would say that you could wear Alliage during the day, PC at night. It shares the same lovely, wet-cut-grass scent as Alliage, but with a honeysuckle/jasmine note that makes it sultry, while remaining green. Nice.

I had a rather extraordinary encounter with this perfume recently. Encouraged to try some 'older' scents (which is a bit of a joke, for someone who wears no. 5 as a staple), I sniffed this one out at my local department store. It was quite an olfactory experience, and one that is rarely encountered with today's rather bland scents.

The top notes hit me like an almighty smack in the face: green, green, green, but humid and jungly like rotting vegetation beneath a shaded tree canopy. Startling, though not altogether revolting. Top notes lingered for a good half hour.

The middle notes were the most interesting, and pleasing part of the fragrance: again, a very vegetal smell, and one that, for a long time, I could not easily place. And then it struck me: cooked quinoa -- yes, that very particular smell of hot, cooked quinoa. Quite comforting, but unusual!

Remarkably, the drydown lingered just a short while, although not before my partner had come home and said (somewhat non-committally), 'Oh, you smell nice.'

An intriguing scent, but -- for me -- one that peaks far too soon.

Yum. I don't have any of this currently, but it's lovely stuff. I first tried it in my early 20s, and it smelled a bit too 'mature', but I liked it anyway. Now that I'm more mature myself (>ulp<) I truly love it.

Sophisticated, elegant, classic, confident. These words perfectly describe Private Collection.

It was my signature scent as early as age 17 and continued thusly until I ventured toward other designers years later. It is still the standard to which I compare the dry down of every parfum or EDT I try because the wonderful green top notes dried down to MY scent, as if Estee Lauder's designers created it exclusively for me. It changed to fit my chemistry, something only Chanel's Allure has been able to do.

This green floral is a very strong, elegant scent for the same people who like YouthDew, not because they smell alike (which they don’t) but because it feels like an old-school type of scent.
It’s very difficult to make something out of it in a clear way because it has many, many flowers and they all come together very smoothly like a well-layered canvas, and it’s very much original in the way it smells so IMHO, it’s one of those must-smell scents.
A little goes a long way but it’s all very womanly and very sophisticated so any overspraying can be forgiven.