Private Collection (1973)
by Estée Lauder

Private Collection is one of those few fragrances that I can honestly describe as timeless. It could have been done in 1923, 1953, or as it happened, 1973. It’s not merely a classic, but a classical structure: a soapy, green aldehydic floral on a dry chypre platform. It’s stately and reserved, yet just short of stuffy, perhaps because of the keen, bitter edge lent by its prominent galbanum note. The opening burst of powdery greens and aldehydes peels back partway to reveal a clean jasmine and narcissus accord as crisp as a starched, pressed collar. Private Collection runs a linear course once the green floral chypre heart coalesces, the major developmental event being the emergence of a dry, yet rounded rose from among the other floral notes.

Like many of Estée Lauder’s offerings, Private Collection is potent and enduring. It projects well off the skin for several hours before settling down into its moss, white musk, and wood foundations. Cool, clean, and almost entirely bereft of sweetness, Private Collection is utterly genderless, and used in moderation it would make a great alternative to conventional “fresh” men’s scents.

A very green floral, but not green in the contemporary, fresh and light, often quite synthetic-smelling, citrus/tea/grass kind of way. No, this is the pungent, poisonous, green of days gone by. It's not entirely unpleasant though - not like Joy which turns into pure compost on my skin - it's more challenging, fascinating yet possibly sickening if you're not in the mood for it. After a while on skin it warms up and sweetens ever so slightly and the white florals begin to bloom, though it's still a very green fragrance, with the pungent smell of hyacinths taking centre stage. I love hyacinths, so I'm happy. The flowers in this composition smell "natural", if that makes any sense. I'm not referring to the actual ingredients or anything, I just mean that they smell as though they would actually fit in among lush green vegetation, much like Carnal Flower does to my nose. A lot of big white florals with jasmine, tuberose and gardenia have a lot of other stuff going on, notes of musk, manure, coconut, cardboard, felt tip pen, plastic, wax, powder, blue cheese... This one doesn't.

The top notes of this are truly fascinating. Dark, green, tart and coolly vegetal, they captivate in a smooth, sophisticated way. It's almost like a refined version of Diptyque's L'Ombre Dans L'Eau, without the bright, sour brackishness that fragrance suffers from.

Sadly, Private Collection's charm is short-lived. In half an hour a tsunami of baby powder engulfs this fragrance, and it becomes flat, powdery and very dull indeed.

Like Trebor, I detect a waxy note which, to my nose, emerges deep into the base. For good or bad, it makes little headway against the powder tide...

Being an obsessive lover of green chypres, I hunted this one down today and tried it. First spritz "Eureka"! Unabashedly green, green, green and not in a citrus way. More leaves and swamp funk. I was in heaven and a bought a bottle on the spot. Tres stupide! Will I never learn? Two hours later the heady opening had grabbed its passport and left the continent. What was left was a thin spicy trail remeniscent of a diluted Youth Dew - my dreaded nemesis!! GRRRRR! My bottle goes back tomorrow to be replaced by the large size Knowing - things could be worse. So far I would have to say, if you possess Miss Dior, you really don't need Private Collection. Miss Dior goes on brighter and more fiercely, this attention getting stage lasts long enough to be satisfying and the resulting delicate spice drydown is artfully interlaced with rose, very sophisticated, long lasting and great sillage. Sorry Estee, I still love you for your other offerings. . . .

If I were to create a mixture containing Ten parts Chanel 19, Ten parts First, One part Estee, it would make Private Collection. I consider this fragrance almost too busy, however I love this genre. And it's a scent that I am always pleased to recognise on someone else.

I imagine Estee herself, in a massive, elegant, white-stone-tile sort of sixties mansion, wearing cream or beige, choosing her chypres of the sixties and seventies, always having to have that certain, same lingering effect... always having to be unmistakably Estee... And this one is probably the best of the bunch. Perfectly Unisex as well.

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.