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« Best of 2009 Round Robin | Main | Here's a Post About Shoes Now ........ Perfume Later! »

January 05, 2010

Comments

Suzanne

Loved the photos, loved your post! Private Collection is hands down my favorite Estee Lauder perfume. It's one of those scents that, while evocative of the '70s, transcends them . . . so uniquely unto itself it's hard to describe, but I think you nailed it when you called it "darkly exuberant." Yes, perfect!

Jeanie

I wore Jean Nate and Fracas and Joy "borrowed" from Mom.I also loved Givenchy Le De. but that was a bit "lady"for me. my brother's girlfriend wore Rive Gauche, but I couldn't and his wife wore Fidji from Givenchy.Now I'm a mad mixer and can't bear wearing only one scent. I have to mix everything up and have a different "thing"happening every time

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Qwendy

Love to hear from you here! You wore Fracas, really? Funny how we both couldnt wear Rive Gauche though. Keep up the Mad Mixing! XXX

Qwendy

Suzanne, yet another episode of scent-twindom! There must be others. PC definitely transcends time in a way that many dont. Lets wear it tomorrow!

Perfumaniac

Thanks for the sweet shoutout, Qwendy. You've inspired me to take a dip into Estee Lauder's library of scents! I just got Cinnabar in the mail, and want to revisit Youth Dew (which is an acquired taste for sure!). Let me know when you're ready for the ol' swappity swap! I also like the idea of thinking about fragrances through the decades. My perfume sniffing has been so random, but one of these days I will begin to think in decades, too! Great post!

Qwendy

Hi back, I cant wait to hear what you say about the Lauders! Scents always seem to evoke decades to me (excluding the 90s and 2000s of course ; ) In books and perfume and movies I always get moved to look at concurrent things when I get excited about something.

Swap time is coming up soon, I promise! XXX

M. Wilson

I have Lauder Conflict.

I approve of Estee Lauder. I remember reading that it's still associated with the family, and that they still insist on the baseline fragrances (White Linen, etc.) being affordable. I don't know if it's true, but it made me like them.

And when a perfume is from a not-French company, I like it to have a not-French name. (Not that I object to French perfume, but I see no reason why one language should own the whole perfume vocabulary.) So I like the Lauder names.

Problem is, I still can't like the fragrances, except for Jasmine White Moss. I try modern White Linen over and over, getting past one note only to be tripped up by another.

So I think I'm off to hunt down a decant of Private Collection. Those notes (Galbanum! Galbanum!), and your review, make it sound like a Lauder I might be able to bond with.

ChickenFreak

Qwendy

Hi CF, Im totally with you on the Lauder Approval and Conflict (except I cant find ONE contemporary offering to like except Youth Dew, and how contemporary is that ?! ) which is why I loved rediscovering the original formulas from the 70s. Our Lauder Approval is based on the past anyway, as the present has certainly been overtaken by contemporary marketing and formulations, albeit by true Lauders, so dip into the originals, easy to find on ebay, as I know I cant offer you any of mine ; )

jessica

Great post. I always love to read about others who have time related fragrance memories. I was a pre-teen in the seventies, but I have tons of fragrance memories from the time due to my mother. Neither fragrance was particularly high-end, though she did have a treasured bottle of Joy that she wore on special occasions.

I was given two thing by her as a child--one I know because I was just so enchanted by it-a solid Charlie perfume in a gold hippo. Charlie, not glamorous by any means, but very 70s. I lost it along the way, but scored one years ago on Ebay. Every so often I'll open it up for a whiff. I almost lost my marbles when I caught a curious friend shoving her finger into the waxy perfume!

The second thing she gave me was a miniature bottle of Halston. I guess it was either a sample or a GWP. In any case, I doused my Barbies with the fragrance, and oddly this was around the same time I was starting to become sexually curious-as were my Barbies. I bought a bottle at some off-price retailer and every blue moon when I'm in some vintage Diane V wrap dress I'll spritz it on and imagine I'm hob-knobbing with Bianca, Capote and Halston at Studio 54.

Olfacta

OMG that Vogue cover! And that halter dress! I often say those who feel nostalgia for the past should have to live in it for awhile. Still...I loved the 70's in LA, before it turned into New York, all that stuff that Woody Allen mocked so well in "Annie Hall." The whole decade has gotten a seriously bad rep, but I think that's because those who were there are just a little, er, embarrassed.

Unfortunately, vintage PC goes plasticky on me. Which is just sad. Many of the Lauder scents do. There's something about that base. Still, though, like you, I appreciate the American-ness of them and also EL's insistence that fragrance doesn't not have to cost an arm and leg to be good.

Qwendy

Hi Pat! Gosh I can't imagine what's in the base to do that on you, so sorry! I do know all too well the sensation of not smelling what other people are in one scent or another, it happens to me all the time......

I wish I knew the LA you lived in, but I was in NY, watching Woody Allen films ; )

Lucy

Beautiful post! I am glad you have found Barbara at Yesterday's Perfume, you two have a lot to say to each other...

Qwendy

Me too! Sadly she wont be around when Im in NY, it would be heaven to sniff with you both!!!

Mals86

I'm with Olfacta there on approving of Lauder's general philosophy regarding wearability and reasonable price point of perfume for adults - but not being able to wear a single one. Not one! There is something in the base that nauseates me: two hours in, I'm gagging and running for the soap, no matter what it is, or how beautiful it was before. I thought vintage might break the curse, and found mini bottles of PC and Knowing. Both were gorgeous for a couple of hours, and then That Base showed up.

Isn't Yesterdays Perfume a terrific blog? Always enjoy those reviews!

Qwendy

Hi there, nice blog! Wow, thats so interesting, we all are so different arent we? Only Cinnabar has that effect on me, although I havent tried the newer classics like White Linen etc. Im happy we found eachother anyway, and ditto on Yesterdays Perfume!

women perfume

i love it infact attract me alot thanks

Laurie

I had no idea Private Collection is from the 70s! I love how heavy it is..you wear it and walk into a room and it just says LADY PERFUME to everyone. Now I am thinking it was for women who wanted to compete with essential oils that everyone was discovering in that decade.

Qwendy

Hi Laurie, thanks for stopping by! YES, thats exactly why I loved it so much as a teenager, yet felt so daunted by it! And your take on PC and the essential oil trend of the time is brill -- thats probably why everyone pestered EL to make her own Private Blend public. I well know how it is to be behind/ahead of trends when they catch up!

Roxiemcmoxie.wordpress.com

Great post. for the past couple of years I have also been getting nostalgic for the Seventies and the perfumes that remind me of that decade. My mom had a solid perfume compact of Aliage, and she wore Charlie, so I bought both fragrances. I've also acquired Halston, Ciara, and Enjoli (remember the commercial "I can bring home the bacon..."). All of the classic cyphers seem autumnal to me too. Of course I also had to pick up Jontue and Love's Baby Soft because I wore those as a teen in the 70s and early 80s. It's nice to know there's someone else reliving the 70s through perfume. I never tried Private Collection, but now I think I'll pick up some of that too.

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