Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess

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I want to believe that we aren’t smack-dab in the middle of January and that it’s going to be summer soon and I’ll have time to build that planter box I always wanted in the backyard to start a vegetable garden. But the truth is, we are smack-dab in the middle of January and to ease the winter blues a little, I tested out Bronze Goddess that Undina from Undina’s Looking Glass very kindly sent me.

Bronze Goddess

Bronze Goddess

In Bottle: Coconut, with a smooth floral and a hint of jasmine. Very nice and very summery. Just what I wanted.

Applied: Coconut top note with a lovely citrus backing it up. The citrus mellows out as does a lovely soft jasmine note flows in. The coconut is taken away from bubbly, girly, silly coconut scents and given this grown-up edge that reminds me of something expensive and the jasmine with the tiare notes really help give it that sophisticated feel. I get the suntan oil comparisons some people have for this, but suntan oil tends to be more one-dimensional and Bronze Goddess definitely has more going on than coconut. Bronze Goddess reminds me of clean, fresh linens, coconut, and a tropical holiday. It dries down with a more mellow coconut note and a classy white musk with sandalwood that keeps the fragrance away from “teenaged girl coconut” and more in the territory of “grown-ups coconut”, heck, I almost smell the salty sea air and the beach sand in this.

Extra: Bronze Goddess was an Estee Lauder limited edition and disappeared in 2011. If you want to get your hands on a bottle, some discounters still carry it, eBay has it, but otherwise, you might have to wait and see if Estee Lauder brings it back at some point.

Design: Simple and lovely. The design has this tropical, summer, beach vibe to it that’s very appropriate. It’s clean and bells and whistles free with a warm color palette. Just the way I like it.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Floral

Notes: Mandarin, bergamot, jasmine, tiare, orange blossom, magnolia, myrrh, amber, vetiver, caramel, coconut, sandalwood.

I really like Bronze Goddess. It is the quintessential smell of summer and the tropics to me. It’s light, it’s pretty, and it makes me happy! What doesn’t make me happy is the fact that it’s discontinued and really needs to make a comeback.

Reviewed in This Post: Bronze Goddess, 2011, Eau Fraiche.

Estee Lauder Beautiful

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A pleasant surprise arrived for Christmas 2011–a book of perfume samples. Many of the fragrances were new and I was just thrilled. Estée Lauder’s Beautiful was one of the first I pulled out and giddily peeled back the flap to smell.

Beautiful

Beautiful

In Bottle: Extremely floral and a bit powdery. There’s no floral standing out, it’s just a big homogenous bouquet at the moment.

Applied: Initial hit of citrus then the floral bouquet rolls into town and takes over the whole operation. From then on, it’s all flowers all the time. Now, I love a good floral fragrance. But the key is balance and moderation. It seems like those are the two things missing from this iteration of Estée Lauder’s Beautiful. I heard the original Beautiful is a far different animal. So don’t turn yourself off from the classic based on what I say about this contemporary version. The florals in Beautiful really do smell like a confused mish mash that doesn’t quite know what it wants to do with itself. The scent seems to suffer a bit from over composition where there are too many ingredients vying for space and there just isn’t enough space to go around. The result is a fragrance that people can distinguish as “flowery”, but no one can truly say what kind of flower. I’m not the kind of person who just likes smelling like a bunch of flowers. I wanted more depth to it than this, but Beautiful settles into it’s explosion of florals in the midstage then ends it all with a bit of cedar at the end as my nostrils continue to burn from the florals thrown at me earlier.

Extra: The first iteration of Beautiful was released in 1985. It has since gone through a few cosmetic changes and some formula changes. I do not have any access to classic Beautiful, which is a real shame as I’d love to see how it compares to this.

Design: The bottle is reminiscent of Calvin Klein’s designs. I want to say Obsession for Women comes to mind when I look at this, but Beautiful is a little easier on the eyes. It’s metallic cap really helps pull it together a little more.

Fragrance Family: Floral

Notes: Bergamot, lemon, cassia, fruit, blackcurrant, galbanum, mimosa, magnolia, carnation, chamomile, tuberose, orange blossom, freesia, lilac, narcissus, jasmine, neroli, clary sage, violet, iris, lily of the valley, ylang ylang, marigold, geranium, sandalwood, myrrh, vanilla, vetiver, cedar.

As I looked up the notes list for this one, I found every single source listed an enormous amount of stuff. I just ended up picking out what I thought I could get out of this. In the end, I’m sorry, Beautiful, but you really just smell like flower stuff.

Reviewed in This Post: Beautiful, 2011, Eau de Parfum.

Estee Lauder Pleasures

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When I first smelled Pleasures, the only Estee Lauder perfumes I was aware of were White Linen and Youth Dew. I was afraid of Pleasures and other Estee Lauder perfumes because of the iconic status of some of their fragrances.

Pleasures

In Bottle: Pleasures is actually a very approachable modern fragrance set as a dewy floral. It’s light and gentle and highly wearable without the need to understand it first.

Applied: Starts off a sweet little kick from the pink pepper and the violets. Freesia adds a jolt of clean and sweet to the opening too. I can barely smell any tuberose in this. In fact, aside from a slick, creamy quality that settles close to the background on the opening I can’t even get tuberose. Pleasures evolves into peony and rose. The rose is a modern interpretation, clean and fresh and coupled with a crisp set of lily and lily-of-the-valley. The fragrance is such a benign blend of florals. The dry down doesn’t move too different, introducing a soft sandalwood mingling with cedar while clean musk keeps everything lumped together.

Extra: Pleasures and the Pleasures line of flankers is like Estee Lauder’s modern floral attempts. And they succeeded. Pleasures is a great clean, fresh floral. There’s not a whole lot of personality to this but it is successful for what Estee Lauder tried to make of it.

Design: I’m always underwhelmed by Estee Lauder’s bottle designs. They tend to be simple, which I like. But for some reason, the designs also remind me of the 80s. And not just the 80s in general but shoulder pads in floral print dresses. Pleasures is no exception to this. The bottle is simple, easy to hold and easy to spray. It just isn’t really imaginative.

Fragrance Family: Fresh Floral

Notes: Pink pepper, violet, freesia, tuberose, berries, poeny, rose, lily, lilac, jasmine, lily-of-the-valley, geranium, patchouli, sandalwood, cedar, musk.

I’m all right with Pleasures. I think it’s a very well done floral that could be a good contender in the modern fragrance arena. I just don’t find it interesting at all.

Reviewed in This Post: Pleasures, 2010, Eau de Parfum.

Estee Lauder White Linen

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White Linen is one of the most universally recognized fragrances. It was and still is everywhere though its popularity has waned a bit in recent years, White Linen is still one of the perfumes I associate instantly with clean, soap and aldehydes. White Linen

In Bottle: Big, bright and loud. White Linen wastes no time building up suspense. It comes roaring out of the gates smelling of soapy aldehydes right away. Just so you know what’s in store.

Applied: The aldehydes in White Linen is probably one of the first things anyone will smell in this fragrance as they are incredibly predominant. Those aldehydes coupled with a drowning rose note make this fragrance extremely recognizable to me. I can understand why someone wouldn’t like this. On the one hand, you’ve got soapy sparkly aldehydes. On the other, you have a dewy, slightly sticky red rose that are coming together like two fragrance forces on the battlefield. The aldehydes in White Linen do not get any meeker as the fragrance progresses. They stay up front as the scent turns into a rose so scrubbed and soaked in soapy water that it sparkles as it wilts in a bed of powder. During the middle this fragrance does a very strange thing in that it introduces the civet on me in a bed of otherwise clean. So in between smelling like sparkly soap, I get a waft of something just a bit off. It’s a bit distracting but highly amusing. White Linen is a powerful fragrance that will project like crazy. A lot of people also find her overbearing so if you are going to use this stuff, ease up on the trigger finger. Fresh until the last moments, this fragrance dries down like freshly wetted perfumed soap.

Extra: White Linen is probably one of those recognizable classics that people either love or hate. I tend to see the hate for this more often and I can see why people are repelled by it. If you want to see what the fuss is about but can’t quite figure out White Linen, its flanker, Pure White Linen is a softer, easier to wear, and more muted version.

Design: White linen is bottled in a bent frosted glass bottle with a metal cap. It’s a pretty iconic looking bottle with a fine design though the frosted glass always makes me think of Avon.

Fragrance Family: Adehydelic Floral

Notes: Aldehydes, citrus, peach, rose, jasmine, lilac, iris, lily-of-the-valley, ylang-ylang, cedar, honey, amber, civet, sandalwood, tonka.

Probably the only time I’ll smell distinct civet in a fragrance and it was hilarious the first time I detected it in White Linen. Here I am, enjoying a bed of aldehydes and rose then all of a sudden something smells a wee bit off. Like a tiny fart, the civet makes this fragrance worth a test just to experience a bit of civet’s power.

Reviewed in This Post: White Linen, ~1980, Eau de Parfum.

Estee Lauder Youth Dew

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Youth Dew by Estée Lauder was released in 1953 as a bath fragrance and for years, it was the fragrance that women reached for much like Light Blue by Dolce & Gabanna is reached for today. Youth Dew’s popularity might be waning with the ages, but it remains a relevant piece of fragrance history. Youth Dew

In Bottle: A citrus scent with a kick of something heady and dark underneath. Youth Dew has this shadowy undercurrent that’s very endearing to it for me but it’s also this shadowy undercurrent that a lot of people would say this smells like grandma or some other silliness like that.

Applied: Initial blast of citrus and aldehydes receding into a spicy, mature floral scent that echoes that darkness in the juice. Like with most aldehyde-based scents for me, they never really go away and end up lingering throughout the fragrance. The florals hover around the animalic and dirty. A lot of modern fragrance wearers find this offensive because perfumistas refer to this “animalic and dirty” note as “indolic”. Indole being found in either jasmine or clove and in Youth Dew’s case, probably the clove. Maybe even both! The gloves are off on this one. The spice and florals do little to temper the indole in Youth Dew but if you let it stay on long enough and focus, a strange thing happens–it becomes easier to understand. Youth Dew isn’t “smelly grandma”, it’s a complex, daring fragrance that you aren’t going to get with your Light Blues or your Circus Fantasies. If you really wanted sexy, this is probably the stuff. It smells like what it is and you can accept it or get out as far as Youth Dew is concerned. Anyway, after the mid-stage that indole note hangs around for a bit into the dry down that, to me, smells mostly of patchouli trying desperately to clean up the mid-act.

Extra: Youth Dew is a strong fragrance. It comes on strong and leaves a strong impression and it’s gotten something of a bad rap over the years. People call it, “granny juice”, “hell juice”, “smells like corpse” and a multitude of other things. But Youth Dew is a piece of history, whether these people like it or not. But please, Youth Dew lovers, go easy on the trigger.

Design: Youth Dew is bottled in a ribbed glass affair with a bow tying it in the middle where the bottle gets a little thinner. It’s topped with a golden metal cap that has some detailing near the top. I can see its concept borrows from the figure of a woman and appreciate its subtle homage more than Gaultier’s bottles which are often more literal. In general, a simple design but an effective and memorable one.

Fragrance Family: Oriental

Notes: Aldehydes, orange, peach, bergamot, cinnamon, cassia, orchid, jasmine, clove, ylang-ylang, rose, tolu balsam, peru balsam, amber, patchouli, musk, vanilla, oakmoss, vetiver, incense.

I’ll come clean, I don’t like the smell of Youth Dew. But I don’t hate it either. It’s not a fragrance I can really see myself wearing because I can’t get past the indole in this stuff but it is a classic through and through and if nothing else, you gotta give credit to this classic.

Reviewed in This Post: Youth Dew, 2000, Eau de Parfum.

Estee Lauder Dazzling Silver

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Dazzling Silver is a lovely metal floral etched like a clean straight line that was released in 1998. It’s strong, not surprising, given Estée Lauder’s often vocal fragrances. It’s a synthetic, a very proud one at that as it makes no attempts at trying to convince you otherwise. Dazzling Silver

In Bottle: Perhaps it’s the loud and proud synthetic smell of this but Dazzling Silver immediately reminds me of Clinique Happy. Another very proud, very daring synthetic scent that’s more well-known than this. Dazzling Silver has a metallic element to its soft but powerful  florals.

Applied: The florals are the main stars of the show here and it’s really no surprise. Florals are pretty much all that’s in Dazzling Silver and not a whole lot else. If you’re looking for a smooth gourmand or smoky incense note you aren’t going to find it here. Dazzling Silver does floral well as the fragrance goes on like a competent synthetic floral and ages like a competent synthetic floral. Your initial application will have an element of that sweet metallic note. I don’t know if I’m making up the metallic note but something in this reminds me of that cold, coolness that metals tend to have. It gets a bit greener as it ages, it remains clean and the florals remain strong. The best thing about this stuff is its longevity. You’ll find this floating around you for a good long while smelling relatively like the pretty floral it is right into the dry down.

Extra: Estée Lauder is a New York based cosmetics company founded in 1946 by Joseph and Estée Lauder. You’ve probably seen their makeup somewhere before. And if you haven’t, you’ve likely seen a subsidiary of their brand around. A few favorites of makeup afficionados include MAC, Clinique and Smashbox.

Design: Dazzling Silver is held in a clear glass bottle with a frosted glass cap that’s reminiscent of White Linen’s design with its soft, frosted glass look. There’s no fanfare beyond the cap but the bottle’s design is pleasant to look at and easy to hold. The sprayer is just fantastic.

Fragrance Family: Clean Floral

Notes: Lily, wild lotus, Japanese mountain orchid, purple vanilla orchid, sunset orchid, passion flower, rose, magnolia, sandalwood.

I’m not much of a fan of Estée Lauder’s fragrances. They are lovely, I’m sure but the brand often has this feel of being more sophisticated than I am. Every year I get older, Estée Lauder’s scents seem to age as well and thus remain out of reach.

Reviewed in This Post: Dazzling Silver, 2004, Eau de Parfum.