White Linen by Estée Lauder, 1978

On me this is soft, delicate, fresh and clean. Loving it! Another classic from Estee Lauder :)

How I wish that I could find the male equivalent of White Linen, but encountering this in any circumstance is a delight. The aldehyde and citric accord in the opening lends an incredibly taut feel to the early bars of this fragrance. The wonderfully energetic mid notes evoke scenes of Edwardian ablutions in sumptuous manor house settings, with crisp starched clothes laid out for the day ahead. This is an olfactory sorbet, cleansing the palate, then providing new, fresh tones for your own edification. A masterpiece.

Be prepared for a man's review of this fragrance! I bought this one for a girl but I tried it first. Out of the Lauder fragrances for women I've smelled, this one is probably the easiest to pull off for a man. Anyways, the initial opening is a burst of aldehydes, which smells pretty powdery and really brings the image of a spotless white room with a square crosshatch window to my mind. I honestly cannot say that the opening has much citrus in it. The middle notes and base notes definitely remind me of linen, which seems to be a common association people make. This perfume really gives me the impression of a woman who is already taken and perhaps married. When I think of a girlfriend wearing it I imagine her in a conservative summer dress in a nice clean house in the country, with the breeze floating through the window as we caress on the couch under a ray of sunlight after a morning of passion. This is definitely not a clubbing or going out scent, since it might get lost in such an environment I feel. I feel the serenity in this bottle would clash with the wrong personality.

If you've ever wanted to know what sharp aldehydes smell like, give White Linen a try. This fragrance is an aldehyde overload, so much to the point that it smells like a white, sparkling bathroom. There's huge doses of powder, soap, laundry and flowers in White Linen. The clean qualities are so bold that it's sometimes difficult to point out any individual notes. While I do love aldehydes, I prefer them in smaller doses. White Linen is a scent I like my sheets to smell of, but perhaps not my own skin. This fragrance is also typical of those 80's fragrances, being a monster in terms of sillage and reliable in terms of longevity. I'm only 20, so strong perfumes such as this one make me feel too old before my time. Not saying that this is a so-called 'old lady scent', but it does have more mature connotations. Along with that thought, personally I find this fragrance far too chemical, powdery and sharp for my liking.

I love this perfume, it's perfect for everyday summer wear. Clean, old fashioned soapy smell with strong flowery notes, particularly jasmine and lilac. It has a great inside of drawers wood smell base note too, mostly sandal and cedar coming through. It's definitely an old fashioned kind of smell, but I think almost so uncool it's cool. It makes me think of clean clothes hanging on a washing line waving in the breeze on a summers day, skipping through long grass and being young in general (despite the old lady link!)

I have worn this in the past and I do like it, though I preferred the parfum to the EDT or EDP. It definitely does its name proud and evokes freshness just about as well as anything could. I would give it a glorious thumbs up .... except there is a sharpness to it that becomes unsettling after it lingers for a while. And, as with all EL fragrances, it lingers strong for way too long a period of time. I do encourage you to try it, though. It may just be the reaction her perfumes have on my skin. Update: One of my friends who works at EL got me a pure batch of this and it is awesome. The best! I adore it! I think they sell it as White Linen Pure or something like that. This is the one to get! It will change your mind ... it did mine!

The aldehyde opening reminded me of No.5, which I was not expecting. At first I was afraid that it was going to stay stingy and sharp, but it warmed up quite quickly into sweet very nice wearable scent. Not that much like linen, but I suppose you might get that if you look for it. Yes, it is a bit old lady, a bit Ivory soapy, in a good way. Nothing stale smelling, and no spicy carnation. Very very nice. I think I will throw the bottle in my bag and take it to work.

Sparkling clean, like an Ivory soap absolute with a dash of rose; oh! and those wonderful aldehydes! For most people this would probably be considered dated, to me it's nearly avant-garde...

This is so pretty, so clean, so polite, so soapy, so chaste and so pure that could be a perfect scent for Nuns. It is as much interesting as much it could be your favourite washing powder. It would need to be seriously decontexualized in order to be a little bit intriguing. Maybe if wore by a tattooed bourlesque-ish girl dressed in a black leather dress could be more appealing.

When I tried White Linen on a test strip It was love at first sight W.L was the first Fragrance In my opinion to recreate freshly dried linen that just came out of the drier or or cloths drying in the Wind under a clear blue summer sky on a clothes line and when i received a sample bottle of White Linen i was ecstatic and sprayed on my skin Then it turned sour on my skin and i was a bit puzzled is this a bad sample because sometimes perfumes do go bad due to age or manufacturing or it's my skin chemistry some scents don't work on some scents and maybe this is not one of them I don't want to pinpoint that White Linen is a mere disappointment which is not or a average run off the mill Fragrance i really think it's the harsh aldehyde with the with the mixture of Lemon and Honey Aldehydes have to be carefully blended to make sure not get a plastic and cloying smell smell but nether-less a unique Treasure.