Reviews of Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia (2007)
by Estée Lauder

As much as I tried, I simply cannot like this fragrance; therefore, I must respectfully disagree with all the glowing reviews PCTG garners. I've tried it numerous times, and each try is like wearing something radioactive with a ginormous half life. I even decanted some into a roller ball bottle so I could avoid spraying. No success there, either. Long story short---I hate it. I wish I didn't, but I do. I turn to Fracas when I want a good tuberose.

The name had me expecting a conventional aldehydic/indolic white flower, but what comes out of the bottle is something else altogether, and I can see why opinions are so deeply divided.

There are indolic white flowers here, but they ride in on a bold and novel accord of pepper and overripe cheese that reads like an exaggerated take on the pungent (and yes, cheesy,) undertone that distinguishes gardenia from other white flowers. You’re liable to find it either mesmerizing or whiplash-inducing, depending upon your temperament. The pungency is slow to fade, but as it does the tuberose becomes more conspicuous, to the point where it eventually dominates the composition. At the same time, Tuberose Gardenia grows more simple and transparent, eventually revealing the spicy - woody base that has all along provided a firm backbone for the composition.

Three or four hours on and Tuberose Gardenia has evolved into a spicy/woody composition, generously topped with tuberose. The scent remains remarkably potent, even after the indole and aldehydes have retreated, and the generous sillage hangs around for hours. I don’t know that this will ever be a crowd-pleaser, but at its price it probably was not intended to. Distinctive and surprising, and I rather like it!

When I first tried this scent, I was immediately taken by the deliciousness of the scent in total - I did not know tuberose and gardenia would become the two notes that I love completely .
I left this scent for a while, trying out more gardenias and tuberose fragrances.
I have come full circle back to this perfume .
I can completely appreciate this perfume for it's fresh simplicity - like a classic shift dress . The perfume is a paradox of light,fresh,tinkly gardenias and the deep indolic nature of white florals. Although this is 'light' in character, it is a long lasting perfume.
I think I have found my number one gardenia scent.
This will be a modern classic .
Creamy white south sea pearls are the gem equivalent to this beautiful fragrance !

This is an amazing fragrance. I am now a convert. I love how the gardenia impression is extended and then fades into the tuberose so that you don't know where one leaves off and the other begins. But what really got me was last night when I was in our office upstairs and I kept smelling something delicious that I thought was wafting through the open window, but no, it was me hours after I'd applied PCTG, and it had morphed into something even more gorgeous than it had started out. A very nice surprise, and I now want a bottle, particularly the one with the stones on it because it's so pretty. Another one to save my pennies for. :-/

Thus far, I've found virtually no EL fragrances agree with me...except this one!! It is wonderful, a little tropical and exotic. I would wear it on a summer vacation to some warm, sunny island. It simply makes me happy to be wearing it. Longevity and sillage on me are both incredible. However, definitely not for everyday for me. I'll get a decent decant before our summer trip to Kaui, though!!!

Tuberose Gardenia is a scent that I adored from the moment I tried a spritz on my wrist. Then I immediately hated it. I couldn't stop smelling my wrist or make up my mind how I felt about it all night. I knew I either loved or hated it. Terrible! But wait. . .why was it so maddeningly familiar? Mesmerizing. Tuberose Gardenia haunted my thoughts for days. I dreamt of lush tropical places with dark exotic flowers. Sultry tuberose changed to heady gardenia and back. My husband bought it for Valentine’s Day and I just bought another fragrance from EL's Private Collection today: Amber Ylang Ylang. Both Private Collection perfumes are simple, elegant, natural and familiar. I will continue to wear them both as long as they are made.

The top notes come racing out the door and have a very strong floral blast in the opening. I love neroli and the neroli and lilac [sorry I got just a teensy bit of rosewood] pack quite a punch!

Not a very 'green' scent, if that's what you were expecting (unlike the super green original Private Collection by Lauder). Just bright, airy and with the volume turned up high.

The middle notes are my favorite - my nose started to be able to tell the difference between the tuberose and the gardenia at this point. Maybe a little lemon (or some other citrus) shows up at this point and the gardenia becomes slightly 'creamy'.

Dry down was a little linear, but that slight vanillia-ish bourbon note was nice, if a little spice-less. Not a hint of powder anywhere.

Sillage is embarassingly strong. Longevity is above average and perhaps the parfum will ramp up the longevity even more.

I know someone out there is asking themselves - is PCTG a Unisex scent? I think it is. I approached PCTG warily. Carnal Flower by Frederic Malle and it's coconuty spicy tuberose was 'thick' on me. I felt like Carnal Flower was wearing me. So I asked a few people (non-fragrance people) if they thought the PCTG smelled too 'feminine' on me (including my husband) and everyone of them said no. A friend said it smelled really 'clean' to him, like I'd bathed in an expensive soap, which confused me. But I took that as a compliment. :)

I decided to stop trying to second guess everyones reaction to it and JUST WEAR IT again and again (office, first thing in the morning, to bed). In the heat - it surprised me. It didn't really blossom like I expected it to. Very surprising. Maybe Ms. Lauder (Erin, Estee's granddaughter who is marketing the PCTG herself) doesn't want a scent that is to be worn outdoors?

The scent smells like it has been very well thought out. It's serious. I think it smells like real absolutes of the flowers. Perhaps its not, but these floral notes seem crafted and complex. Classy too.

Which, happily, is what I expected.

Nukapai, you and I must have the same chemistry, I got the 'chemical' note you mentioned though it didn't even take two minutes. Too bad, when you love tuberose and gardenia you are always looking for that perfect combination. So far for me, I've only found it in Goutal's Gardenia Passion.

I'd heard that Harrods stocks the Estee Lauder private collection Tuberose Gardenia, so I went over to sniff that. The sales assistant was entertaining: "I wear this all the time and I swear people lean towards me on the train to sniff me. It's such a lovely perfume; the arabs buy it by the bucketload!". I thought this was a Tuberose done very well - I tried some on my skin (which was a precious commodity reserved for fragrances I might like to buy), but within about 2 minutes, an odd chemical note emerged, which lurked underneath the strong tuberose and felt "wrong" to the point of making the perfume unpleasant to smell by the time it had settled. So, it doesn't suit me. Bummer.

Why does this cost $300? It's a beautiful scent but not worth that price tag I think. I once used a scent that I bought from Genovese drug store also called Gardenia about 15 years ago, which was my senior year in high school, and it smelled just like PCTG. That scent cost around $8. I wish I could remember the perfume brand. I have never seen it since.

Tuberose-Gardenia is one of those fragrances where I say, "This is beautiful. But it hates me." I got a decant of this, and the day it arrived my 17 year old goddaughter was visiting. I've turned her into a Perfumista, so she couldn't wait to try my newest prospect. We applied the Tuberose-Gardenia in the same places on our arms, at the same time. On her, the scent started out very green, became a full, rich gardenia, and disappeared within the hour. On me, the scent smelled like the freeway air in August. It lasted all of two hours on me; an unpleasant two hours, because it gave me a headache. I love tuberose, and gardenia, and I wear as many fragrances with these notes as my chemistry will tolerate (not all at once), but something about my skin brings out the piquant smell of asphalt from gardenia and tuberose essences. So this one's not for me. It's too bad, because this is reasonably priced and in a very pretty bottle.

MUST HAVE IT. But it's heartbreakingly expensive, the horror. To me this feels like having just rolled around in a field of jasmine. Not for every day or every situation, by any means, but when I'm feeling girly and expansive, this is what I want. Probably not to be, with the state of our currency...

Over the years, Estee Lauder has marketed some fantastic fragrances...Youth Dew, Cinnabar, White Linen, Pleasures, Beautiful, the list goes on endlessly. Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia is undoubtedly one of their finest! This is a high quality-high class floral! It holds it's own up against the likes of Carnal Flower (Editions-Frederic Malle created by Dominique Ropion). For comparative purposes I wore the two together for a side by side testing. Ultimately, CF - being straight forward tuberose, came off to me as decidedly more masculine than PCTG. PCTG possesses the authentic dewy sweetness of a delicate white gardenia flower, which in my opinion pushes this frag into the realm of femininity. Being a Lauder, I expected it to have a good amount of projection and staying power - I was not disappointed! A floral lover's dream, this is a must have - the bigger the bottle, the better!

I too am no great fan of EL's fragrances. I find most to be run of the mill, with no discernible outstanding quality which would make them memorable or unique. I was given a bottle of Beautiful quite some time ago that I used for possibly three sprays...gave it away. And, just as the poster above, I too purchased Beautiful Love as an impulse buy. While I will wear it occasionally, it basically sits amidst a sea of my other used-less-frequently bottles. That being said however, EL has finally done it right and I recently had to succumb to a purchase of this new exquisite masterpeice. This fragrance is astonishingly beautiful. There is none of the synthetic aroma you may find with other florals. It succeeds in capturing a true floral essence...as if you have emersed yourself in a wondrous, yet non-overbearing sea of real tuberose, gardenia and Jasmine petals. Here's to hoping that Estee's daughter continues to be a key player in the development of new and upcoming EL fragrances.

I'm not a big fan of EL fragrances. I recently bought Beautiful Love on impulse because I liked the notes listed. I'm now regretting the purchase, I find it quite synthetic and overly heady with no refinement. Fortunately it wasn't very expensive. After trying Tuberose Gardenia, however, I'm compelled to write this because this is really exquisite. The citrus notes give it an airy feel. The floral notes are blended delicately so it's not overpowering. This is not a run-of-the-mill EL and it's a winner with me, I look forward to adding it to my wardrobe.

This smells SOOOOO good. I tried a sample a week ago and I fell in love. The 300 dollar price tag made me sad, as I could not buy it right away. But soon! It is floral without being too much, so warm, inviting and oh-so pretty. This is such a signature fragrance, ideal for any time of year, any occasion.
The bottle is GORGEOUS too. Gold with gemstones stamped into the lid, exquisite!