Any Estee Lauder fans?

I own Knowing (parfum), Tuscany Per Donna (edp), and Beyond Paradise edp and parfum.) Knowing and Beyond Paradise are excellent. I think Beyond Paradise a bit more pleasing than Knowing. But I think others might argue for the Knowing because they like the oakmoss note in it. Beyond Paradise is a rich, big, pure floral. Knowing is a Chypre (a fragrance with an oakmoss note.) Tuscany per Donna is good but not what I would call "interesting".

I owned the Beyond Paradise edp before the parfum. I bought the parfum on ebay (full, but out of box) and so don't know its history. I was dissapointed in the pure parfum. I wonder what conditions it had been stored in. The edp is sensational.

I love both Private Collection and Youth Dew - both are best in pure parfum. I reviewed both on my blog:
http://ayalasmellyblog.blogspot.com/...ollection.html
http://ayalasmellyblog.blogspot.com/...youth-dew.html

I love Intuition. I think it's really unique, special, and lovely. Many years ago I used to wear Beautiful. I remember getting compliments constantly on it. I still love the fragrance but I wore it on my first wedding day (the marriage ended in divorce) so the scent memories with Beautiful are unfortunately negative. Over the years I've enjoyed Spellbound, Cinnabar, Knowing, Private Collection, Dazzling Gold, Aliage and Azurée. My two favorites are Intuition and Cinnabar.

I love Estée Lauder. It is one of the brands, together with Chanel and Guerlain that really makes me dream. Those are the companies I own most fragrances of.

I have Estée Lauder's autobiography from the mid '80s. I the book she explains how certain scents came to her and how they got their name almost by accident.

She said that when she had an idea for a new fragrance, she could "see" the perfume or the woman who would wear it. At a party she saw the light from 2 chandeliers shimmering in a glass of champagne. 500 tests later she had her perfume. She handled samples to friends to test the new, then unnamed, fragrance. "What are you wearing?" "It's Estée's perfume." Estée it became.

Private Collection wasn't meant to be put on the market, at least not at that stage. She was working on a special scent. She loved it so much she kept it for herself. People kept asking what she was wearing. Her answer was that it was from her private collection. Later, Saks Fifth Avenue called saying they had had several requests for her "Private Collection" perfume. The office answered there wasn't such a fragrance. Saks said they simply had to have it. And that was it.

Of all her fragrances Estée Lauder said that White Linen was her favorite. She named it White Linen because she envisioned the woman who wore it as fresh, crisp and clean. People said the name was a big mistake, that it didn't sound glamorous enough. But her motto was not to listen to gratuitous advice.

On one particular fragrance in development people kept saying she smelled so beautiful over and over again... duh! Yes, that became Beautiful.

Though it's not what Estée Lauder explains in her biography. Cinnabar came as a reaction to YSL's Opium who Estée thought was a copy of her Youth Dew. Cinnabar was the Youth Dew for the 80s, the first bottles even sported the name Soft Youth Dew. The last fragrance Ms Lauder helped created was Spellbound which this time had to become a Youth Dew for the 90s.

In her book Estée Lauder sauys - Create. Don't copy. - and I think that is what they for a very longtime did at Estée Lauder.

If you go to the fragrance page on www.esteelauder.com many of her classics are well explained. Not only the ingredients but also the idea behind them.

I would like to stand up and be counted too. Estee was my first serious perfume that I bought after receiving the first pay check, always liked Private Collection, Youth Dew, White Linen, Aliage. Wore Pleasures for about three years and as my wedding scent, but grew tired of it, I suppose. Was sort of disapponited with Beyond Paradise and YDAN though. Have not tried Cinnabar and Intuition, need to.

Beautiful is beautiful, and is leading in sales here in the USA, but it is not for me and not for most people in my building at work after last summer one colleague was wearing it exclusively for two weeks in a row contaminating everything in the radius of 20ft of her presence. I guess, it is how long her bottle lasted.

I didn`t use to like E.L. much, but that has changed! I bought Private Collection when it came out, but thought it had a weird smell of vegetables; now I love it.
My fave is White Linen Breeze, which I find less aldehydic than the original W L (which I also like). I also like Knowing, Pleasures and Cinnabar very much. Intuition, I didn`t care for, don`t know why. I haven`t tried Beyond Paradise, but I will next time I go to town. I used to have Estee body lotion, and remember getting compliments for it. I never bought the EdT, as I considered it too strong.
This thread inspired me to do some more Lauder-sniffing - thanks!

I'm a fan of several Lauder scents. Aliage, Estee, and Private Collection and Knowing are my favorites. Aliage is one of my autumn scents because to me it just crackles of the cool, crisp outdoors during that time of year. Estee and PC are elegance and sophistication but I have to be in the right mood to wear them. Two more of my cooler weather frags.

Cinnabar and Youth Dew sometimes disagree with me because they're so strooooong and have what smells like a lot of clove. There are times, of course, when they blend "just right" with me, particularly on those downright cold days.

i am definitely a fan of EL's scents, specially the whole pleasures line.... but it's sadly not up there yet with chanel,givenchy, guerlain and yardley(yep... i love yardley)

This may not immediatly sound like a post about Estee Lauder, but please bear with me:
I used to love an all-but-unknown perfume, a woody chypre by the name of Jean Marc Sinan, which originated in 1982. The house also offered several variations on the theme with similar names, such as Jean Sinan and Sinan de Jean Marc, but the first was the best. (A product called Sinan Live is currently listed on the internet, but I do not know it if even remotely resembles the original product.)
Sadly, Jean Marc Sinan was discontinued after about five years. In those pre-internet days, I looked everywhere for remains, but to no avail. Finally, in 1988, the fragrance counter at Saks guided me toward a new product which "smelled very close to it."
Sure enough, it was close enough to satisfy me (and keep me from crying about another lost perfume for the rest of my life.) It was perhaps sweeter, more honeyed in the drydown, and a bit harsher in the topnotes.
But it still delivered the same incongruous olfactory message: orange pop effervescence fizzing up your nose while sitting on a large, overturned log in a moist, mossy forest.
What ever happened to Jean Marc Sinan? The overlap on the demise of one product and the launch of the other provoked my curiosity. I always wondered, did the formula somehow creep into Knowing?

As opposed to Microsoft's motto..."copy, don't create?"

Anyhoo, I've noticed that three of the top 5 women's fragrances in the US are Estée Lauder products.

Top 5 women's fragrances in US dept. stores in 2005:
1) Beautiful (Estée Lauder)
2) Pleasures (Estée Lauder)
3) Beyond Paradise (Estée Lauder)
4) Chanel No. 5
5) Angel (Thierry Mugler)

Love The new Tom Ford Youth Dew Amber Nude, great fragrance and so many compliments, also Pleaseures is still a good one and love the fushia pink lipstick called Dolly.

I loved White Linen for a long time when I was a teenager, finally kind of overloaded myself on it.

I loved Spellbound as a young woman, but sort of wore myself out on that one, too.

I owned Beautiful, a gift from a boyfriend years ago, I wasn't terribly impressed with it but I wore it anyway until the bottle was used up.

I owned Estee when I was very young - about 11 or so - got it as a gift for doing a runway show at a local mall. I liked the smell of it, it smelled like high-end makeup to me, like expensive lipstick. I wore it as my "sophisticated" smell for fancy occasions. Nowadays I consider the harsh aldehydic edge to be a little too rough for me, almost like an odor of oils/waxes that have gone rancid.

I currently own Youth Dew Amber Nude, and I luff, loave, lurrrrve it although one short spray is definitely enough or it overwhelms me. I have owned Youth Dew body creme in the past and it was also just delectable in my opinion. I owned a small bottle of the edt as well, but I couldn't find a way to spray it so that it wasn't instantly overwhelming, it was just so strong.

I have Cinnabar and find it very long-lasting and great for Autumn/Winter.
I also love Alliage for different reasons - a cool, green scent. I know a woman who wears Beautiful and smells absolutely divine. Does anyone know what makes EL so much more long-lasting than other scents (aldehydes?)

Dear purplebird7, with no authority whatsoever, I bestow upon you The Best First-Post Award.
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You obviously know your way around a fragrance, you clearly have an emotional connection to scented products, and--this is the part where I get emotional--you hyphenate your compound modifiers. You are so welcome to basenotes!

Thanks for the kudos, Quarry. I am glad to find this community. I am obsessed with fragrance. The sense of smell is vastly underrated by the human species.
Back on topic, YOUTH DEW is my favorite current. In this era of weak, chemical-smelling perfumes, I am proud to wear the old-fashioned ingredients of cinnamon, clove, rose, amber, patchouloi and balsam, fragrances used by women for thousands of years. (Do I smell a sexy animalic note in there? Is it civit?)
Let the other girls wear their insipid, watery florals and boxes of orange and chocolate candies. I am the Queen of Sheeba, Cleopatra, and Helen of Troy. I cloak myself in the dark, luxurious concoction.
Many women used YOUTH DEW in the 1950s and 60s. I hope young women rediscover it. They will smell very individualistic. (I don't mean Amber Nude, which has a chocolate base.)
May Estee Lauder never quit making the original.

I love Intuition. Almost 3 weeks ago I ordered a bottle from a seller on Ebay, immediately paid with PayPal, and haven't heard a thing, nor have I received my Intuition. Beware of DebCamp56!

I digress (sorry, had to vent) -

Also:

White Linen is lovely. Not one I would wear but I love to smell it on others.

Cinnabar - one of the sexiest scents ever. I like this better than Coco.

Knowing - a perfectly beautiful chypre.

Spellbound - way underrated imho. Unusual and sensual.

wow...good to find a thread about "knowing"...the other day i encountered a woman who was wearing a fragrance that smelled very familiar to me...actually i thought it was her husband wearing something...but once i did discover it was indeed the woman i asked her and she replied estee lauder's knowing...i was astonished as it smelled very close to Terred'Hermes...i kid you not...was almost exactly the same...very strange indeed...

I too am a fan of some EL scents (and quite of bit of their makeup), but have always loved Cinnabar. Opium was a tad too harsh for me and more suited to a few women I knew. But I loved Cinnabar because it was warm, sensual, yet not obnoxiously strong, and made me feel like a grown woman. There were many established strong perfumes that I tried, but never worked on me - Arpege, Chanel 5, and many more, but Cinnabar was great. Many guys in college complimented me on it and I still love it for fall/winter.

Youth Dew was nice too (especially the bath products that turned the water Aegean blue), but I've heard some here say it's not the same as the original - don't know if that's true. I haven't yet tried YD Amber, because I liked the original enough, but will sometime.

Estee is a pretty, warm fragrance, and reminds me of a more elegant version of Wind Song, a fragrance I loved as a young teen.

White Linen gives me a raging headache and I used to have frequent business meetings at an office in the GM building in NYC where EL was (still is?) headquartered. When this fragrance first launched, every single woman in the company, and in the GM building apparently wore it. Elevator rides there were brutal.

After that, I've been often disappointed by many of the scents - too sharply green, too sweet. I like Beautiful on others, but never on me. I liked Dazzling Gold, but never bought it, and preferred it to Dazzling Silver. Knowing was interesting, but off somehow - a bit dry.

I'd like to revisit some of the scents to see if my perceptions have changed, as I know some of my fragrance preferences have over the years. I've heard that some younger women associate EL with an older clientele, but that may be because at least in the USA, EL is only carried in department stores and never in places like Sephora (although I think Sephora just started carrying Clinique - owned by EL) or drugstores, and so have had trouble lately reaching a younger demographic.

One of the most memorable things about EL fragrances to me, were actually their print ads. I loved seeing the new color photos of Karen Graham especially, then Paulina, and the subsequent others, beautifully dressed in elegant settings. They were always beautiful and classy and confident, with interesting fashion and interior/exterior settings, and never overtly sexual, just elegant. Even their ads for their American Beauty line at Kohl's with Ashley Judd as the model, are set/photographed the same way. I haven't liked most of the unimaginative print ads with Gwyneth, but just saw a new one lately that was better framed/shot. I know this has nothing to do with the actual fragrance, but I appreciate good design, so mention it anyway.

FundingUNIVERSE.com has an article detailing the history of the ESTEE Lauder company. There is an in-depth discussion of all of its products, with nice back stories about the genisis of many of its various scent lines, and lines that grew out of ESTEE LAUDER including Aramis, Clinique, Prescriptives .

I found the article while searching for information about SOFT YOUTH DEW, of which I have a bottle. It is not the early version of Cinnabar, as many people believe, but it is an alternative updated version of Youth Dew which was released in 1978, at the same time as Cinnabar. Apparently, both products were marketed for a short time only but Cinnabar quickly won out and the SOFT YD was discontinued. It is a shame, too as Soft Youth Dew is a wonderful scent, unique and stands on its own. It is not as oriental or ambery as Cinnabar, more dry bay leaf/rum spices and totally yummy.

If you are an ESTEE Lauder fan, check this article out. It is very imformative and contains a wealth of info you won't find elsewhere. I wish they had more articles on other 70's cosmetics companies, as I have tons of vintage fragrances and am always looking for more info on them!

I have always had an on/off relationship with EL fragrances. Some are too synthetic or weird on me, or just blah, while others seem to work well. I have worn White Linen successfully, also Aliage. I liked Cinnabar for a while, but then its ultra spice seemed to overwhelm. I had a Spellbound gift set but I thought it was rather boring. Tuscany per Donna was beautiful on a friend, never wore it myself. Beyond Paradise and Pleasures smell like household products on me, but they are lovely on others. I wish I could wear Pleasures because I love its spring-like prettiness. Knowing is probably my favorite, and I think it smells good on me, rich and floral chypre that is potent, gorgeous, long lasting. I also like Beautiful. I think it works well on most people if they like this type of floral fragrance. If I wanted this type of fragrance, however, I might look at 24 Faubourg or Guerlain's Jardin des Bagatelles (sp?). My one EL disaster was Honeysuckle Splash, it smelled so sickening on me that I threw it away. I never know how my skin is going to react to an EL fragrance. I have to live with one for a while before I can make up my mind. Estee is on my "to try" list. I bought my mother the dusting powder as a stocking stuffer last Christmas and I thought it was a lovely scent. If I were to go out now and buy an EL fragrance, it would be either Knowing or Estee.

Wow ...I haven't thought about Cinnabar in years! I loved it in High School and to this day just the name Cinnabar reminds me of a football game on a crisp night in Ohio. Most of the other EL perfumes manage to give me a migraine unfortunately ( I tried and tried to wear Beautiful though). Youth Dew I love but can't bring myself to wear because it was a signature scent for my Grandmother and Mother-in-law. It brings back so many wonderful memories for me that sometimes I stop by the EL counter and grab a scent strip of Youth Dew.

An award well deserved! I didn't realize that was Purplebird's first post! Kudos!

Estee Lauder's scents, for the most part, are original and bold. My two favourites are nothing like anything else I can find around. Like Purplebird though, an Estee Lauder perfume has replaced a discontinued love. My first perfume, Abishag from the gifts shop in the Israeli Museum in Jerusalem, was sadly discontinued. It had the exact unusual top note of Private Collection. Never smelled this anywhere else... The base was somewhat like Parfum Sacre. You can imagine how sad I was when it was discontinued... And I wasn't clever enough back in the day to keep the empty bottle for future sniffs...

My interest in Youth Dew was awakened, strangely, by the release of the Amber Nude scent. I liked it, and wanted to compare it to the real thing. It was around Xmas time, and they had the pure parfum. I couldn't resist. The price was about $89 or so, very good price for pure parfum IMHO. I never looked back (and not even gave a short glance towrads YDAN... even though I find it very pleasant and unusually sensual in the watered-down fruit market that is today's perfume). A tiny drop is all that is needed. I also got the bath oil on eBay (not sure if it's available nowadays in a brick and mortar store?). This is one of the most sexy perfumes ever. And yes, Purplebird, it has enough civet in it to make you feel like the cat!

I love Knowing (SO sultry and exotic!), Youth Dew (try the bath oil), Beautiful (too sweet at first, but gorgeous "dry down"), Private Collection (my very fave) and Cinnabar.

Estée strikes me as a bit geriatric and somewhat cloying, but it's still nice enough (when worn judiciously). A friend of mine wears only the lotion, and this seems to work just fine.

As for Aliage and Azurée, well, I'm a bit of a hypocrite on these counts in that I often call Cinnabar the "poor man's JHL," but have been known to deride Aliage and Azurée alike for smelling like -- IMHO -- lesser renditions of their male cousins (i.e., Aramis 900 and Aramis, respectively).

The newer stuff (e.g., Pleasures, Beyond Paradise, etc.) leaves me cold for the most part, in that most of it smells just like a lot of the other crap out there on the market.

I get that "household product" smell from Pleasures too, specifically one dishwasher gel i had back in Maastricht when i was there and i loved it, so even if it does have a certain household smell to it, that is just the way i like it!

Bumping this as I am contemplating some Estee Lauder gems...anyone wearing either Pleasures or Pleasure for Men?

l've never been fond of Youth Dew, as most of the women l've smelled it on have doused themselves in it, & it is VERY strong, although very distinctive & unique. The landlady of one of our local pubs wears it however, & on her it smells quite different, almost like Magie Noire! l'm guessing she has learned to use just the right amount, but l can't imagine wearing it myself.

l remember sniffing some others in the '80's/'90's; Cinnabar l found too hot & spicy for me at the time, although l think l might appreciate it more now. White Linen & Beautiful weren't really me either, probably because of the aldehydes.

l was disappointed with Beyond Paradise after reading Luca Turin's high praise; on me it smelled rather like a plastic flower, & didn't last well.

l do, however, ADORE Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia, a radiant beauty which is one of my very favourites. lt was also the one that started me on a more serious fragrance journey, & led me to basenotes!
l also tried & liked Amber Ylang Ylang; a very elegant & soft amber, & Jasmine White Moss; again an elegant, crisp fragrance with a beautifully soft jasmine at its heart.

l'm currently loving Bronze Goddess, which l only discovered recently. Although it is reminiscent of suntan lotion, l find it way more sophisticated than the usual "beachy" scents. On me it has a warm & enticing woody feel, which l find very comforting on a not-so-warm day here in England.

l've never tried Pleasures, but l am curious about it.

On the whole l agree that EL's fragrances are generally good quality, & way more elegant & sophisticated than most of the mainstream dept. store fodder. l also appreciate that their marketing style is far classier than the typical over-sexualised ad material commonly seen nowadays, & l respect them for that.

Knowing is still fantabulous!!!

I used to find Youth Dew gave me a headache, but these days I can wear it and love it, especially in the Bath Oil version. It's a real classic. Ayala's blog is excellent, and I really enjoyed reading your comments on both EL perfumes.
Can't wear Beautiful, though, as on me it goes really sickeningly sweet! But, as with Youth Dew, that may change.
A funny story about YD - many years ago, when I was a teenager, pne of my teachers, a glamorous "older" woman (she must have been all of 30!) always smelled fabulous. One day I plucked up the courage to ask her what her scent was.
"Er - Mitsouko," she told me.
But when I tested Mitsouko, it smelled nothing like that on me, so I gave up on it.
Fast forward to about 10 years, and I'm testing Youth Dew in a local pharmacy. And bingo! That was the scent my teacher wore! And I still loved it!
I guess she was embarrassed to say the name in front of me!

Not a great fan of her range. I did wear Cinnabar,Private Collection and borrowed my mum's Youth Dew(it always stained clothes too), I couldn't wear it round my neck as I itched but on my wrists was fine.

This is what I mean. I need to locate this, Pleasures, Azuree (howver you spell it), and White Linen for starters.

I have done a complete turn around on Estee Lauder fragrances. They didn't suit me years ago, but now there are quite a few I really enjoy, including ones I used to dislike, i.e., my SotD - Pleasures! It really suits me in the summer heat. Beyond Paradise, too, smells best in hot weather, imo. I also love Pleasures Exotic (love the mango in that). I like Bronze Goddess, Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia is gorgeous, and I love PC Amber Ylang as well. I think some of the classics have been reformulated (Aliage, I've read, for one). There is one EL fragrance that I have worn consistently over the past few years and have never grown tired of it, and that is Pure White Linen. I love that one.

As my neighbour's pink clove (wallflower) gift made me suddenly crave for carnation
and Garofano or CDG's are a bit too 'flowery' for me,
Vitriol d'Oeillet is not out until july
and Poivre I have not sampled yet
well... I remembered from wearing 2 bottles some year ages ago
SPELLBOUND
and I love it again (especially when lightly applied) !
carnation with a bite, and a very SL gingerbready amber in the drydown
happy girl here !

Recently I was at the Estee Lauder counter buying some eyeliner and they were having a gift with purchase that I really wanted to take advantage of. You just had to buy a fragrance, oh DARN! Hehe. So I smelled just about all their scents and fell in LOVE with Intuition. I've worn it quite a lot since. Love it for all those times when I want to feel sexy but not really smell to obviously like im wearing perfume. Especially in group of friends no one even notices it because its unexpected. I think they just think I smell good but don't register it as a perfume. I will probably smell their line again soon, but for now another big vote for Intuition!

For me, I have enjoyed them for a long time:

White Linen
Pure White Linen
Dazzling Silver
Beautiful
Pleasures
Pleasures Intense (this one even got a reaction from the DH's co-worker!)
Knowing
Beyond Paradise
and the marvelous, classic Azuree!

I just won an 11 piece set of minis of most of these^^^ plus cinnabar, intuition and a few others (not dazzling silver...I have never even heard of her!) an eBay auction for 39.99! Yay, now I can join the conversation!

Looks like I need to investigate Intution. And I've been meaning to try Dazzling Silver ever since LT called it a *sucked silver spoon.* Poor Dazzling Gold, the less dazzling twin! Nobody ever comments on that one. I also want to try Private Collection. I may have finally grown into that one.

I adore Youth Dew, Azuree, Aliage, White Linen, Cinnabar, Private Collection, Beautiful, Knowing and Spellbound.

How could l have forgotten that l recently bought a bottle of Brasil Dream? lt's a fun, flirty tropical floral, but l'm wearing it today for work!

Amen to that! Beyond Paradise really blooms in the heat.

I love and own a few Lauders; Beyond Paradise, Beyond Paradise Blue, Beyond Paradise for Men, Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia, Knowing and Beautiful. My mother always wore Beautiful when I was a kid (she now wears MyQueen by Alexander McQueen) so I have an emotional attachment to it as well as loving the way it smells. I think the perfume my mother wore (big blousy scents such as Safari and Beautiful etc) really influenced the perfume I wear.

Anyway, I've just gone off on a tangent. I admire Lauder for producing high quality scents at an affordable price without changing the formulas.

I love Brasil Dream - it's quite an addictive smell !
I also have a big love for Beyond Paradise ! I have gotten a ton of compliments from wearing Beyond Paradise and from the most unexpected people.
Cinnabar is excellent and with the way Opium is now.... Cinnabar is looking even better.
Of course I love Tuberose Gardenia and I loved Amber Ylang Ylang as well when I tried it. I would love to get some Amber Ylang Ylang !
The original Private Collection is a classic .
Of course - Youth Dew- I went through a major Youth Dew phase- vintage ,modern, soap ,cream, powder.............

My Mom wore Beautiful when it first came out - I remember her sipping wine and saying " Beautiful " and sighing with pleasure .
Pleasures- I would like to know Pleasures ,on my own terms - so I may get a small bottle to try .

There's always some Estee Lauder around in our family !

I absolutely love Spellbound. It's easily my fave of all her frags.

Private Collection has just entered my collection. It has the most
venomous green, green, green opening I've ever encountered,
followed by the clearest pine note in the middle.
The drydown is completely different; sweet and powdery.
What a masterpiece!

The rest of them are not for me.

ha ha ...Dazzling Gold isn't a bad scent by any means- if you like fig it's worth a sniff. actually prefer it to DS. And I rarely get comments on my fumes at work but DG got a few "you smell good" remarks.

Now I'll definitely sample DG - before they discontinue it and it disappears.