Beyond Paradise Blue (2006)
by Estée Lauder

Beyond Paradise Blue is to an island beach what Paris Las Vegas is to Paris, France. Like Paris Las Vegas, it's a completely contrived rendition of programmed preconceived expectations, with very little to do with reality. BPB is much too choreographed to connote a real beach to me. That's not to say I don't like it. In a Disneyland-Make-the-Fantasy-Reality kind of way, Beyond Paris Blue is a lot of fun. To me it's a vacation at a resort (Mirage in Las Vegas, maybe, or Mandalay Bay?); reading a hard cover novel by the chlorinated pool, surrounded by perfectly maintained landscaping, having drinks served. For some reason, the smell actually does remind me of pool water, even though it doesn't smell like chlorine. PBP is not an overtly feminine scent, and its floral notes are heady rather than sweet. (Must be the "Eden's Mist Water Flowers" ??). The orange flower note brings to mind the Coppertone of my childhood, (or maybe that's the "Sun Kissed Skin"? LOL!), which may be why I'm reminded of s swimming pool. PBP is rather like a combination of Bobbi Brown Beach and Michael Kors Island. I cannot smell any of the individual notes the Estee Lauder website lists for this fragrance. It's not a scent with many facets. What you get at the beginning, you get at the end. Also, it's not very long-lasting. If it lasted longer I'd have given it 4 lippies, because it does smell attractive. The bottle is lovely - it just glows among my other bottles. I'll enjoy wearing this on very hot days, maybe when I'm gardening or doing errands, but I don't love it enough that I'll repurchase it. I probably won't even use up the whole bottle, and soon it will become a clean-smelling air freshener.

This, i think, is the better and improved version of the original BP. Even though both showcase a long list of ridiculously named, far-fetched ingredients, this one actually delivers: where BP was a loud fruit basket nutcase gone awry, this BPB one is much softer on the sweets and the fruits, and more about “water flowers” and it has very fresh, alluring top notes that cannot be missed, giving a cool opening door to the midnotes wich are still very fresh.
Thanks to the powers that be that this rendition of the orange blossom note –wich is here in the midnotes- is one of the best ones out there (yet soft) and gives it a very welcomed touch of flowery freshness to it.
And thank the people of EL that that dreaded fake banana note on BP (wich is not listed but it certainly smeels like it –maybe it was the combo of some of the fruits there) is gone.
The top notes are somewhat more unisex than the rest (mid and basenotes), wich are more on the femenine side of the spectre.
Another thing to point out is that sun-kissed skin accord, wich smells like the softskin of a clean woman on vacation-that is, a woman who has lots of oranges at breakfast, luch and dinner-and that means good news here also.
Very attractive, the ad is very in sync with the scent, and well, thumbs up. I can now toss away that BP (the original version) , or maybe I will still use it as a room spray from time to time, as I have been doing lately.
So is BPB watery ? yes, in a beachy kind of way; how’s the logevity any good? Still not so much but I like it as it is. What about the sillage? Sillage can go crazy here: at the first hour it’s there all right, then dissapears, then it reappears back again. So I guess it’s a personal thing. All I can say is that on a woman it’s great and it makes me smile.
The funniest thing about BPB is that it feels related to the original BP, but the difference is that this cousin smells way better.