Pure White Linen (2006)
by Estée Lauder

At the risk of fragrance heresy I will admit that White Linen’s starched, sexless, and uptight demeanor never appealed to me. Pure White Linen does for the original what Eau Première has done more recently for Chanel No. 5 – it lightens and brightens the formula with soft green and fruity floral notes, presumably to appeal to a younger, “hipper” audience. Yet where Eau Première smells like a reasonably close variation on No. 5, Pure White Linen makes only oblique references to its predecessor: lots of aldehydes, spanking clean florals, and most importantly, a “scratchy” white musk base note.

Pure White Linen’s top notes are a blend of fruit, mellow, grassy green notes, brisk aldehydes and (yes) white florals. The overall effect is sweet, perky, and far more relaxed and amiable than mama White Linen. The floral notes come into sharper focus over time, with crisp jasmine and rose occasionally recognizable within the mixed bouquet. Persistent green notes and that signature White Linen aldehyde and abrasive white musk accord prevent the heart from growing overly sweet or cloying.

Pure White Linen holds its shape for several hours without much evolution once its core structure falls into place, projecting boldly from the skin all the while. The clean musk and wood drydown is prim and proper, but far sweeter than the first White Linen, with the screechy, nails-on-a-chalkboard effect that so sours me on Lauder’s original buffed smooth by powdery materials. (Heliotropin?) Pure White Linen may end up smelling more prosaic than White Linen, but it’s also much friendlier; a smell for humans, not mannequins. Given my usual predilection for originality and innovation in fragrance, I’m almost ashamed to admit that I enjoy it much more than the original.

8th January, 2011.

I loved the original white linen so I decided to give this a shot - hoping that it would be a modern/younger version of that lovely fragrance.

The fragrance is quite airy and fresh, but there is an underlying scent that is not quite pleasant.It has a decidedly synthetic note to it that smells distinctly like fabric softener.

While I can understand the desire to smell 'fresh' and 'clean' I think some frangrances go too far; the result is that sensuality, romance and sometimes feminity are often sacrificed.

16th August, 2010.

clean fresh daytime scent, i prefer the original though

27th March, 2010.

Well lookee here, they kinda did A Scent by Issey Miyake three years before he did! I only consciously smelled Pure WL today, and though the start is less vegetal and more floral than that of A Scent, after half an hour or so, the basic bones are much the same, I find. BUT the vegetal-ness is what I crave about A Scent, so this is a no buy. Pure WL is very very nice, the epitome of non-offensive modern clean department store fragrances. I can't imagine anyone hating it... or craving it. And that list of notes, please, it's all so seemless I couldn't possibly identify a single one.

4th January, 2010.

Clean and free floral. Evocative of doing the laundry.

17th December, 2009.

A fresh and breezy scent with a soft fruity-floral top. I like PURE WHITE LINEN better than the original even if it does come across smelling like an overpriced fabric softener, albeit one you can wear anytime and anywhere.

23rd November, 2009.