Fragrance Reviews by hels

This is my first review here on Basenotes. I just got home from Bloomingdale's, with a nice big bottle of this perfume... and given that it's from Estee Lauder, willingly bought it with no 'free gifts' either (shocking).

This is the most magnificent fragrance I have ever smelled in my life. Until now, my favorite perfumes have consisted of Mitsouki, Caleche, Joy, Shalimar, Chanel #5, mostly older classics, or 'traditional' perfumes. While I own dozens more perfumes (I have contributed quite a few photos to Basenotes perfumes, taken of my personal collection), these have been my favorites to date. Newer scents always seemed to lack something.

The reason I even ventured to try this is because I read Luca Turin's Blogspot, where he had this to say about Beyond Paradise (June 05, 2005), "The fact is that perfumes, like species, usually evolve in incremental steps. When closely related, they can even interbreed to produce rare and splendid hybrids. Estée Lauder's latest, Beyond Paradise, is one such marvel. If it had a coat of arms, it would be a four-generation mosaic of fleur-de-lys. This is the matchmaker's dream come true, a perfect heir to several princely houses of fragrance...
Beyond Paradise begins with the most breathtaking floral chord ever, a hundred close-miked voices singing
in unison. That alone would suffice, but what happens next is even more
remarkable. A great artist at the peak of her powers, Becker has taken the bone
structure from Cristalle, the tempting flesh from Diorella, the flattering hue of J'Adore and the radiance of Tommy Girl, and fused them all into a seraphic being we foolishly thought would never come: the Perfect Floral."

I HAD to smell this work of art...the perfect floral? And having smelled it, I had to own it, at any price (and the price is very reasonable, even at Bloomingdale's).

For the record, I think most Estee Lauder perfumes are terrible, I couldn't even review them, I would have nothing good to say.

When I read these reviews, I was stunned. I have no idea what 'fragrance stores' pass off for Beyond Paradise, but please head for a department store and smell it again.

Luca Turin is right, it is, in fact, "The Perfect Floral", and absolutely breathtaking in balance and nuance. While not everyone might be able to wear it, lucky are those who can. Helen Starkweather