It has been nearly two years since I posted anything on my blog. I’ve been quite content to comment on Basenotes for those two years. However, there has been a “disturbance in the Force”, so to speak, and I am choosing to address it here, where I’m a bit more free to speak my mind without being perceived as being argumentative.
On Basenotes, vintagists and modernists are at odds over the move by Estée Lauder and Frédéric Malle to “evolve”, “curate”, or “reimagine” (all their words) a set of five classic Estée Lauder feminines into “legacy” versions of the original fragrances. This kind of reinterpretation could mean anything – returning to the briefs, returning to the original formulas for the launched fragrances, or trying to approximate the perfumer’s original thesis.
Underneath all that, is the likelihood that the fragrances are being modernized to appeal to current tastes, and to smell just a wee bit less long in the tooth.
I’m familiar with this idea. One of my favorites from Caswell-Massey, the venerable Number Six (mine was recent Gold Cap), was re-done, back to the original idea, using modern materials, but trying to recreate what was smelled by George Washington in the late 18th century. The “new” take on the original is called Supernatural Number Six, and I love it. This new/old fragrance is, however, noticeably different from the long-evolved Gold Cap fragrance, which wandered through numerous formulas over 230-plus years. Supernatural Number Six does not smell “old” in the vintagist sense. It smells like a brand new fragrance in a style so forgotten it doesn’t actually seem old. It essentially seems novel.
I am not familiar with the vintages OR the current formulations of the five Estée Lauder scents I’m about to sniff. I can’t compare them to anything other than my own, generally modernist tastes in fragrance. I am half-expecting to like if not love these re-creations.
Yes, I love vintage, but when forced to pick, I usually pick modern. Here, I have no idea what the vintage or even the recent fragrances smell like. I am only answering one question – do these five /new fragrances smell good to my modern tastes? To my “vintage-naïve” tastes?
Let’s find out.
The Discovery Set
Here is what Estée Lauder says about the fragrances in the new Legacy Collection.
Experience two extraordinary scent artists. Five ingenious sensorial experiences.
Iconic scents, ingeniously evolved. Mrs. Estée Lauder, the creator of indelible masterpieces. Frédéric Malle, the acclaimed perfume editor who has reimagined our legacy fragrances for the 21st century.
This Discovery Coffret Gift Set includes 5 Eau de Parfum Mini Spray Vials (0.05 oz. each):
AZURÉE LEGACY: This is your sensual, second skin. Your sixth sense. Your alter ego. And you wear it like no other. A sublime, sensual blend evokes the warmth of Mediterranean aromas. Fills the air with expectation. With eagerness. With intimacy. Capturing the minerality and rocks of the seaside, brimming with herbs: Tarragon, Spices, Patchouli. Olfactive Family: Woody Aromatic.
PRIVATE COLLECTION LEGACY: A verdant bouquet emanating pure refinement. A symphony of green notes. A unique accord of Tarragon, Basil and Galbanum. A creative ratio of Sandalwood and Patchouli. Olfactive Family: Floral Green.
WHITE LINEN LEGACY: An expansive concerto, a neoclassical accord. Lush Jasmine and Rose warm up to soothing notes of Amber, Musk and Vetiver. A voluptuous bouquet. Olfactive Family: Floral Aldehydic.
KNOWING LEGACY: An olfactory tapestry of the richest textures. Rose Damascena in the middle. Fleshy Patchouli and Sandalwood notes. Smoldering Amber. Magnetic dark notes. A Black Current cap, layered with Orris’ lavish texture. Olfactive Family: Fruity Chypre.
ESTÉE LEGACY: An intoxicating Floral Musky cocktail. A base of Sandalwood and notes of Honey. Ylang-Ylang. A Carnation accord: Clove, a touch of Rose and Jasmine in abundance. Olfactive Family: Floral Musky.
OK – I will follow the same order in my sniffing. (Spoiler – I didn’t.)
AZURÉE LEGACY
OK, here we go. I’m opening the box.
First the cardboard shipping box. Very carefully taped and labeled, no damage, no smells.
I opened it to find a near-perfectly-fitting Aerin box inside, nicely padded with fine paper. I had ordered an Aerin discovery set as well, and got some freebies for my wife (which she really, really liked – thank you, EL!). A very nice box, with a tied bow by which the box is opened. Yes – be careful. I wasn’t expecting that.
Both discovery sets and the free sample intact. Both discovery sets look wonderful. The samples are actually transparent glass – they look more translucent or opaque in the image above.
Azurée is the first sample in the Legacy Collection set, starting from the left. I will spray both a blotter and my skin.
WOW. My first impression was that it smells OLD. It smells GREAT, it smells FRESH, but it smells OLD. It smells like a bygone style.
I immediately smelled an extraordinarily clean leather. There is sharp, biting green to it, which is much cleaner than my sample of Cabochard.
I took it to my wife. She was thrown for a loop. She said the same thing that she says about Eau d’Hermès – that the fragrance is “too stimulating”. This roughly translates as high-impact, an attribute she does not like. Her favorite fragrances are subtle things like Jour d’Hermès. This all figures. This is a fragrance from an era and style she does not like.
My wife even likened the fragrance to a drug from her youth called “sī-nā” (pronounced “see-nah”), which we eventually figured out was “glue-sniffing”, or more precisely paint thinner, from which the term derives.
Sorry – Azurée Legacy is not “paint thinner”. Yes, this is a very high-frequency green leather, really cold and biting, but having just worked with some polyurethane and paint thinner two hours earlier, no. This is quite a bit nicer! LOL!
I knew a lady who had the same reaction to Sel de Vétiver – that it smelled like paint thinner. What can you say? There are people who don’t like sharp leathers, nice icy irises, and crisp greens. Too bad!
Looking at the notes on Basenotes, the fragrance I’m smelling makes sense.
- Head
- cardamom, basil, tarragon
- Heart
- jasmine, clove, clary sage
- Base
- patchouli, oak moss, vetiver, sandalwood, cumin, leather notes
The greenery is all there in the head and the heart, with the tarragon and basil really working for me. The cardamom freshness, and the clove and the clary sage are making me think this isn’t too feminine for me. The jasmine isn’t out of my ballpark by any means, although – gotta be real here – this is obviously an older feminine style.
I think people will recognize this.
The oakmoss is working a real chypre here, aided by the patchouli. The leather is just outstanding. The vetiver, sandalwood and cumin form a woody base that is very classic, and reminds me of my cleaner and more transparent Chanel feminines.
I just have to say that I really like this fragrance. I can imagine that older vintage may have stronger and darker aspects that are not here, but those aspects would be turn-offs for me. What I love here is the clean, biting, icy, high-pitched, transparent leather. This is an immaculate and very fresh fragrance in an old style.
Don’t mess with this stuff!
Let me re-read what the website said:
This is your sensual, second skin. Your sixth sense. Your alter ego. And you wear it like no other. A sublime, sensual blend evokes the warmth of Mediterranean aromas. Fills the air with expectation. With eagerness. With intimacy. Capturing the minerality and rocks of the seaside, brimming with herbs: Tarragon, Spices, Patchouli. Olfactive Family: Woody Aromatic.
That’s interesting. Sel de Vétiver was trying to capture a similar Mediterranean sea-side saltiness, also using vetiver and mineralic (saline) notes, albeit with more emphasis on iris, not so much on the jasmine. Azurée Legacy is a bit more aromatic and herbal, and I do like that.
I just have to say, for people like me with no experience with OG Azurée, this is a great scent. It’s sharp, clean, green, aromatic, and reminds me of other great perfumes that I love.
Indeed, I think I got my money’s worth just on this sample.
Which perfumer did this?
Looks like all three – Anne Flipo, Bruno Jovanovic, and Carlos Benaïm.
Good job, people!
PS – there is huge sillage on this fragrance. I barely sprayed any, and my wife is commenting how she can smell it out in the hallway and in the other rooms.
Then, 5 hours later, after I scrubbed it off for a night out at a low-fragrance event, but left the blotter in the room, she came back in and said the same thing. I’m giving Azurée Legacy 5/5 on sillage.
Verdict: Good stuff!
ESTÉE LEGACY
Change of plans. The second sample in the box is Estée Legacy, which also happens to the musky fragrance I need for Musk Thursday on Basenotes, so here it comes as my second wear from the discovery set.
Whoa. This is also an old style, with real musks that border just a teeny-tiny bit on skanky. This is accurately described as a floral musk fragrance.
I smell the clean and very gently warm musks, including laundry musks, but there is also a slight skank that seems really, really like something out of the past. It’s both animalic and indolic – and probably a mixture of both.
A ripe carnation and a real woman. Good stuff!
This is a very interesting fragrance. It smells very Estée Lauder – that kind of “cosmetic clean” that typifies the Estée Lauder area in every Macy’s that you’ve ever walked through. The sillage of Estée Legacy is straight out of that style.
I do not pick up the skankiness in the sillage, nor in the drydown.
There is a real balance to the scent. It’s a pleasant melange, with no one note overpowering the others. The musks are prominent at first, but the scent dies down into a less floral and less musk-prominent mix with time. I think the same point about balance can be said about the florals as well. There is a listed carnation accord, and I can sense it, but none of the florals are ever individually prominent to my nose.
Take a look at the listed notes.
- Head
- carnation accord, clove, jasmine, rose
- Heart
- ylang-ylang
- Base
- sandalwood, amber accord, musk, honey notes
The touch of clove makes for a spicy carnation if you look for it, but it’s not a spicy scent by any means. It’s a very clean floral, with great transparency, but some powdery, stereotypically cosmetic character.
The honey notes in Estée Legacy are definitely there, and some of the micro-skank is probably beeswax, but that prominent animalic beeswax smell in Antaeus is not present. Likewise, the amber is restrained, giving a touch of warmth but no more. The drydown is very pleasant, and there is decent sillage, though not nearly as bold as Azurée Legacy. The powder picks up a bit toward the end.
Here is what the website says.
An intoxicating Floral Musky cocktail. A base of Sandalwood and notes of Honey. Ylang-Ylang. A Carnation accord: Clove, a touch of Rose and Jasmine in abundance.
Reimagined by Frédéric Malle, Estée Legacy maintains its original essence, with ingredients and architecture elevated for a quiet sensuality. The raw magnetism and sophistication of New York. Sparkling intrigue. Infinitely magnetic. Impossible to resist.
“Estée Legacy is magnetic… A quiet addiction.” —Frédéric Malle
Olfactive Family: Floral Musky
THE LEGACY
“It was young, exciting, sensual… But my kind of sensuality is not blatant or harsh. It is seductive and suggestive. Think of a glass parson’s table on a white fur rug. Sleek, cool, sophisticated. Think of velvety voices. Think of light in champagne.” —Mrs. Estée Lauder on her original masterpiece
I totally get the “quiet addiction” thing. It’s a high-class feminine smell, but absolutely without bombastic florals, pushy musks, stiletto spices, or “hot amber”.
Again, I have never smelled the current or the vintage. I just know that this composition seems to be very on target. It’s both classic and modern, like seeing a lady exec in a chic retro style clicking down the street in Manhattan.
PRIVATE COLLECTION LEGACY
My initial reaction was along the lines of “Where’s the beef?”
The beef is there, but sometimes, it’s subtle.
This is an interesting, mildly green, mildly musky, but very clean fragrance. The galbanum is very measured, and actually has trouble staying noticeable on my skin.
I really have to wear this fragrance on clothing, to maintain the part of the scent that I like.
The scent is stereotypically Estée Lauder. I mean that in a good way. I like this scent, but not in a way that I personally would reach for it. If I smelled it on a woman, it would please me. It smells clean – pure – feminine in an upscale way. The woman who wears this has class. Maybe too much class for me, but that’s OK.
The world can’t have too many classy dames!
KNOWING LEGACY
Well, this test turned into a bit of a disaster, right from the start – but what a great-smelling disaster!
Found my favorite, right here. WOW.
My spray sample failed to work properly, in large part because I refused to press down ridiculously hard, which was what finally needed to be done to get the juice to move. Once I did, I got the healthy spray I needed, but before that, trying all sorts of half measures, I only got tiny amounts to move part-way through the mechanism, all while pressurizing the sample. This caused leakage all over my hands – a real mess.
But what an excellent-smelling mess.
This is a GREAT rose. Complex, unique, timeless. This fragrance smells classic, not dated. There is a dark, woody, powderiness to the rose, which reminds me just a bit of the highly respected but deeply discontinued Nombre Noir, which Luca Turin always praised, and which I was lucky enough to sniff and review.
Knowing Legacy could easily be worth the sticker-shock price – at least to me. For me, this fragrance is comparable to a Chanel Exclusif, or any of the other luxe collections from top-end designers.
The listed notes are useful:
- Head
- raspberry, blackcurrant
- Heart
- rose damascena, orris concrete
- Base
- patchouli, sandalwood, vetiver, labdanum, styrax
Everything is there. The rose is just jammy enough to make it interesting – NOT enough to make it juvenile, tooth decay, or “angelic” in a Mugler way. In fact, Knowing Legacy is much less fruity than things I love such as Galop d’Hermès and Gucci Guilty Absolute Pour Femme. But Knowing Legacy does have some of their modernity. Not completely. There is still some “old” to this fragrance.
The base is solid, woody, natural, and leans masculine enough, that the whole enterprise can be mentioned in the same breath as dark/spicy rose classics such as Portrait of a Lady, Rose 31, Nombre Noir, etc.
You will note that the image above shows leather, and yes, there is a nice leather here, which brings the scent much closer to Galop d’Hermès.
This is my favorite from the bunch. It stands out from the others as a strong and distinctive rose scent. I can easily recommend this fragrance.
WHITE LINEN LEGACY
Smelling this one, I can finally put these fragrances in the order that I like them.
- Knowing Legacy
- Azurée Legacy
- Private Collection Legacy
- Estée Legacy
- White Linen Legacy
I’ll explain the order at the end.
White Linen Legacy has an intriguingly fresh-spicy scent that I find very refreshing, but also somewhat challenging. Ranking the five fragrances, I could see WLL in every position from second place to last.
I can see how some people are turned off by White Linen. The aldehydic notes are somewhat unreal, being rather textural, and border on annoying. Fortunately for me, they are fresh and almost spicy, and this offsets the occasional moment where I wonder what in the heck I’m smelling.
Thus, I get the genius of White Linen. However, and difficult as it is to admit, I can’t be a fan of White Linen Legacy – and likely not of the original, either. It just doesn’t make me swoon. Worse still, there are moments when I just want to scrub. I just can’t take it. There is a kind of vegatal screech to the “white linen” that feels like nails on a chalkboard.
Basenotes reviews on White Linen would easily apply to White Linen Legacy. However, never having smelled White Linen that I can recall, I have to leave that comparison to others.
The notes listed for White Linen Legacy make sense:
- Head
- aldehydic notes
- Heart
- rose, jasmine
- Base
- amber notes, labdanum, musk, vetiver, cedarwood
I would say that it has a typical Estée Lauder base, some very clean florals, and a shocker “aldehyde and vetiver” accord that changes the texture of vetiver into something new and fascinating – perhaps best described as the “white linen” part.
But somebody else is going to have to love this one. It just ain’t me.
The Legacy Collection
SO – let’s look at that list again – in my preferred order.
- Knowing Legacy
- Azurée Legacy
- Private Collection Legacy
- Estée Legacy
- White Linen Legacy
Knowing and Azurée are the two Legacy scents that really grab me and don’t let go. I’m more of a rose guy than a green guy, so Knowing takes first place, and Azurée takes second.
At the other end of the list, White Linen Legacy just bothers me sometimes. It’s a great scent, but it’s not for me.
Of the two remaining, Estée Legacy has a slight animalic facet that makes me wince a bit – whereas Private Collection Legacy has nothing of the sort. That makes coming up with numbers three and four easy. I find Estée Legacy sexier and almost certainly more enjoyable on a lady, but I find Private Collection Legacy more wearable, personally, as a moderate but refreshing green scent.
And for you?
My recommendation is that you buy the discovery set and figure out what you like. You can get it as the $30 sample set, or the $90 mini/decant set. The latter is really attractive.
The Retiree Community
Finally, I reiterate a question that I’m not really able to answer, other than on general principle.
Should Estée Lauder replace the existing line with the Legacy Collection counterparts?
The existing line being one which I have really not smelled, and know nothing about – particularly in the vintage.
I would say NO, just on general principle. The Legacy Collection consists of excellent fragrances, but I suspect that replacing the also but differently excellent old ones will not go over well with the fragrance world.
I’m very happy, for example, that Caswell-Massey still carries the old “Gold Cap” Number Six. On the other hand, good old Tricorn appears to be GONE. And GONE is not good.
Two is better than one, but one is still better than zero.
Meanwhile, I am very glad that I smelled these five “new” fragrances.
I do hope that you, too, will get the chance to smell the Legacy Collection. Most of all, I hope that some diehard vintagists will smell these, so that we can have some very critical reviews.
Diversity. Of opinion. As well as fragrance. Is good.