Views from a Paris window   +  review

Estee Lauder

Estee Lauder fragrances are recommended to me time and time again. So far I haven't been able to find one that I get on with. Most recently I tried Sensuous. But it's a bit on the sweet side for me.

OsMoz lists the notes as ghost lily, magnolia, jasmine, ylang ylang, sandalwood, pepper, mandarin pulp, honey, molten woods and amber. Perhaps it's the amber base, perhaps it's the sweetness of the honey. It comes highly recommended and the review over at Now Smell This is excellent.
Azuree is an Estee Lauder perfume that I'm keen to try. It's included in Luca Turin's select list of 'five star' fragrances, which already sets it apart from the crowd. Apparently Selfridges and Harrods are the exclusive stockists in London, so I will make a special journey to try it. Its reputation is as a 'sunshine' fragrance. Any perfume that brings the summer to you has to be a good thing. The note include orange blossom, Tahitian flower, gardenia, coconut, vetiver, myrrh and sandalwood. Sounds delightful.

Bronze Goddess has had a lot of coverage lately and for a summer fragrance it's certainly charming. But it's a real beach scent and not something I could envisage wearing the whole year round.

Jasmine White Moss is a recent 80s revival for Estee Lauder in the Private Collection. The name of the fragrance sounds like it's going to be light and transparent. But Jasmine White Moss is, typically for Estee Lauder, a big fragrance. I tried it recently and I didn't love it.

Four other Estee Lauder fragrances that make it onto Luca Turin's 'five star' list. Pleasures, White Linen, Beyond Paradise and Knowing.
Pleasures was released in 1995, and is the fore-runner to current popular scents like Marc Jacobs Daisy. It's all about smelling clean.

Knowing is a rose chypre, released in 1988. By all accounts it's 'big' perfume. The reviews at Basenotes are almost universally positive.

White Linen, a floral fragrance, released in 1978, was created by none other than the empress of perfume, Sophia Grojsman.

Grojsman is the creator of perfume successes incuding YSL Paris, Lancome Tresor, Elizabeth Taylor White Diamonds and Calvin Klein Eternity, to name a few.
Finally, Beyond Paradise is a floral fragrance that Luca Turin can't say enough good things about. It's impossible to find a quote that fully sums up his enthusiasm.

So, back to the Estee Lauder counter I go. One of these has got to smell good on me...