Spellbound (1991)
by Estée Lauder

The first time I encountered spellbound was in 1994. I was given a small sample and I really liked the smell. Sensual. Unique. When I wore it to class, a stranger asked me what I was wearing. How can I forget. Only two perfumes ever drew random compliments in my life. (The other one was Tresor, which, regardless of the compliments it drew, was too sweet for my taste.)
Based on that pleasant memory of the random compliments and how I had liked the scent, I gambled on purchasing a big bottle. But this time, something is just not right. I like the scent when I first spray it on (and I do make sure I use a light touch and spray only once), but as hours pass on, the scent changes on me, so something... awful. Like... it just blocks my nasal passage. A blocking scent. I don't know how else to describe it. And that awful scent lasts so long, too. All through the day - even after a shower. Could it be that my chemistry changed in the past 15 years? Should I just give up on this scent, put it aside for now, and hope that my chemistry will change with time again? Ahhhhhh. Don't know what to do. The 3.4 oz bottle is sitting on my desk staring at me.

Love it! If I have a signature fragrance, this is it. EVERY SINGLE TIME I wear this, I get compliments galore. Women love it, and men absolutely adore it. As others have mentioned, it does last an incredibly long time...I can put it on and the next morning still detect it.

I don't have a problem blending it with lotions, etc. I use it with Bath & Bodyworks Warm Vanilla Sugar, as well as their Riceflower and Shea lotion and they blend extremely well without changing the notes of the fragrance.

Spellbound grabbed my attention with a vengeance when I began exploring Lauder fragrances. The first thing I thought was 'prostitute'. Streetwalker's juice. Amazing stuff that pulled me closer and pushed me away with equal intensity. I wonder how this would smell on a man, and what people would think of a guy reeking of Spellbound if they don't recognise the perfume. Intriguing, and the vulgar power of it is beyond ostentatious. So brazen that I can hardly think of a suitable situation whence it could wear one. Because wear you it will, unless you're much larger than life. Perhaps a fancy dress going as our whore?

This one is way too strong for me. I don't get the vanilla or fruits or flowers - just overwhelming spiciness which makes my eyes and nose run and gives me an instant headache. Like other reviewers I would certainly advice caution, because if you are in any way sensitive this one is likely to make you ill.

This is a dangerous one as a signature scent for reasons mentioned by other reviewers, but it clings to everything, so it might be a bit tough to find a compatible scent to alternate with it. I actually thing that the parfum is safer than the eau de parfum because the application can be very carefully controlled to tiny dabs instead of potentially dangerous sprays.

The clove note is also much more dominent in the eau de parfum. The parfum comes in a strangely HUGE bottle, though.
I think it lasted me for about six or seven years of daily application, sometimes twice daily.

My first "real" job was in a department store, and I worked just across from the frangrance counter. Every day, at the beginning of my shift, I would spritz a fragrance, try it out all day, wear it home....I ended up fully clutched in the heady embrace of Spellbound. I was 18, and it should have been wildly inappropriate (maybe it was) but I wore it for almost a decade. I have a strange body chemistry that burns off scent at a wild pace, and most frangrances rapidly turn into something resembling Lysol.

This is a love it or hate it fragrance....and men generally LOVE it. Love it, comment on it, waft along on the trail (very definite trail) it leaves in your wake. Women generally not so much. I actually had a female colleague file an official complaint requesting that I NOT wear any frangrance in the workplace....at this point I realized that my own nose had begun to go "blind" to it, thus resulting in apparently drastic overapplication. (The gentlemen continued to be...well...spellbound, however.) I've given it up as a dangerous habit....but my husband, who entered my life near the end of the habit, still mourns the loss.

Stylish female classic, I rember my mom using it once and I can recall how she applied only very little and yet it lasted for more than a day. Oriental musky notes with a floral and deliciously lush fruity touch. Very long lasting sensations. I mostly like if women wear it, with the condition that it matches the outfit, their age, the season and the time of day. Good especially for mature women, it would rether seem bizarre if a teenage girl used it, maybe beginning with the age 25+ onward.