REVIEW: Estée Lauder Youth Dew EDP...

My first encounter with Estée Lauder Youth Dew EDP was in my mid-teens - we're talking around 45 years ago, yikes! One of my school friends was wearing it, and I was instantly entranced with it's beauty. In retrospect, this was my first ever experience of an "oriental" perfume, and quite possibly set the stage for my love affair with this fragrance category that continues to this day. She let me spritz a little of hers, and then promptly said "I don't like it on you, it smells different".  Needless to say I was shattered, and being the silly young thing I was, pretty much erased the thought of ever making this classic fragrance mine...

But I've never forgotten it, or that first impression, and finally decided to add it to my collection when I saw it on sale at Priceline late last year. I stashed it away with my other orientals, which I really only wear in the cooler weather as they're invariably so intense, but now it's time to make up for all those lost years, and make this passion-worthy elixir a part of my life ♥...

So what's so special about it? It's one of those scents I would classify as timeless - spicy, warm, sophisticated, complex, elegant, musky, earthy, powdery, and sensual. One of the longest lasting fragrances I've ever experienced, you need a good scrub to remove all traces of it, but loving it as I do, I'm not scrubbing anything! The list of ingredients is impressive as it goes on forever, but I've plucked out the most predominant ones: top notes of rose, peach, jonquil, lavender & orange, middle notes are jasmine, muguet, orchid and spices (clove & cinammon), base notes of moss, vetiver, amber, vanilla, ylang ylang & patchouli. It's quite a heady mix, but somehow it all comes together to create a heavenly masterpiece...

It was created in 1953, and first arrived on the scene as a bath oil, but with the intention for women to wear it as a perfume. Apparently back in that era, gals didn't buy perfume for themselves (can you believe it?) - they used to wait for their fellas to give it to them on birthdays, Christmas or some other special occasion. But Mrs Lauder got around that particular "taboo" by releasing the fragrance as a bath oil, so it was ok for any woman to just go out and buy it - genius! And there's another story on the net that to convince a retailer to stock it, she "accidentally" dropped a bottle on the floor, and the store was overwhelmed with women asking what it was, and could they buy it. Clever lady ♥...

To me, the bottle is the perfect representation of what's inside - stunningly feminine and opulent, the gold trim and bow contrasts magnificently with the deep amber of the liquid. It's not expensive either (RRP $80 for 67ml, but I paid half that on special), and it's one of those rare perfumes that smells the same intoxicatingly blissful from first spritz to dry-down, all the way through to up to 12 hours later...

If you love Obsession, Opium or Poison, this is a sure bet. Some folks have complained about the name, saying there's nothing youthful or dewy about it, but I don't care a fig - it looks and smells divine ♥...

Have  you ever tried Estée Lauder Youth Dew? Do you have any other Estée Lauder fragrances in your collection?

Take care of you,

kats xxx