Private Collection

8 reseñas

Mostrando las más recientes primero.

• Selene

  July 18, 2017

  

  Excellent review by La DameDeNoir. I will add my vision: Private Collection is one of the most original aromas of the 70s. From the first spray, it smells of freshly cut wet grass; the green notes are strong and easy to detect. I am struck by the quality and naturalness of these notes: they don’t smell synthetic or aggressive, but truly natural. As it settles, the floral side, as fabulous as the green one, claims more attention, where the sweetness of linden and honeysuckle take possession. Just like Aromatic Elixir is herbal with chamomile, Private Collection has sweet green notes with linden and honeysuckle flowers. Two green fragrances with great floral presence. Orange blossom is shy but present, and the chrysanthemum puts it as a central note; I feel they blend to give a single note. Over time, it becomes sweeter and powdery, with a melancholic and romantic aspect worthy of highlighting, reminding me of early 1900s florals like Amarillys by Lubin. It is delicate, glamorous and smells very natural, which strikes me most. It is like walking along a path with wet grass surrounded by the sweet aroma of linden.

• remy

  November 7, 2017

  

  What a beautiful perfume! Thanks to exchanges, I have been able to know and love fragrances I would never have tried otherwise. This time it is my friend Casablanca77, whom I thank for her generosity and patience in introducing me to the world of green chypres. In my opinion, it is the prettiest in the series. If Cristalle seemed dark to me and Cristalle Eau Verte very citrusy, Private Collection is right in between, relentless and present. Its opening is powerful, herbal, bitter, astringent and very humid, with natural green almondy notes. The heart is an exuberant bouquet of juicy white flowers: orange blossom, narcissus, hyacinth and honeysuckle, all green, humid and bitter, surrounded by citrus and herbal touches. Perfect for the hottest summer heat. The base is a earthy oak moss with soapy and woody notes of musk and cedar. It is a classic and retro green floral chypre that gives an unparalleled sensation of cleanliness and crystal freshness, like diving into a frozen lake at dawn facing a dark forest. Deeply exquisite and elegant, ideal for semi-formal events and work, granting an impeccable image. I will use it in spring with Cristalle Eau Verte and Versense, although now I enjoy it without waiting. Its trail and longevity are legendary: about 7 hours on my skin. The trail is enjoyable for men and women. The minimalist and opaque bottle hints at its radiant freshness. Little publicised, it passes humbly through our lives, a trait of the best. Very undervalued, it is a cult perfume for those who wear it and worthy of being your personal fragrance. It already occupies a place among my 5 favourites. A treat, I can’t stop smelling my arm. Many thanks, Casablanca!

• Josesan

  September 19, 2018

  

  By courtesy of Casablanca77. And all the way with the seventies: the era of sparkling, confident, urban women in high heels. Goodbye to pink and Doris Day; hello to psychedelia, Liza Minnelli, Manhattan, Saturday Night Fever and Studio 54. The 1917 ‘CHYPRE’ by François Coty gave way to this olfactory family. What must a chypre have? A Mediterranean forest with heath, almost turpentine-strong notes, woods, mosses and patchouli. Sour bergamot, oak or beech moss (or synthetic due to prohibitions), deep and humid patchouli, and the key note: a wild resin, labdanum or heath. But an urban chypre, perhaps synthetic. This family goes great with synthetic notes because nature doesn’t always give such intensity. PRIVATE COLLECTION DE ESTÉE LAUDER has it all and is a paradigmatic chypre. Its opening is very rare nowadays. Not many women or men smell like chypre. It is tremendously aldehydic and musky, or vice versa; the borders blur for me, without continuity, perhaps due to my pituitary. I love these openings. What times when, as a child, these aromas smelled of an older lady leaving church, hair lacquered and towering with furs and carmine! Now I am addicted to these accords: they smell of a made person, with feet on the ground, who knows where they come from and where they are going. PRIVATE COLLECTION DE ESTÉE LAUDER is also something floral and fruity. The flowers and fruits ask forgiveness for being in the middle of the base accord, but in a sibilant way, to distract from the labdanum and moss. When these lower their guard, lemon, jasmine, ylang-ylang, rose and pear enter so discreetly that they are not expelled, but their vapours are noticeable at every step. It does not avoid the indolic residue of jasmine and narcissus, which gives it carnality and sensuality. The dry-down is typical of good chypres: it is related to ferns and classic barbershop soaps. Nowadays, anyone who enjoys a perfume like PRIVATE COLLECTION DE ESTÉE LAUDER must feel fortunate. Such products are not launched on the market, nor is there much people willing to wear them. It is powerful, mature, nothing discreet, resounding and sophisticated. A true perfume of the Classical School. A Marlene Dietrich interpreting Helen Faraday in ‘Blonde Venus’.

• Casablanca77

  January 26, 2019

  

  Private Collection is the undisputed king of green florals, unrivalled in strength and green heart. I am writing this posthumous review as it seems the house Estée Lauder has turned off the tap; its availability is now a memory in almost every outlet. Removing it from the market is a great loss for our treasury of treasures, now saved by whoever can. It is already a dead legend, exactly what they wanted, because in the Estée Lauder tradition it should have been a living legend. Now you can only find it on the English website, I don’t know for how long; let us prepare its funeral or wait for the miracle that they regret it and keep it. I don’t know where to start, there are so many wonders reaching the nose that it is difficult to think of ingredients. Its opening offers pristine, beautiful freshness, naturalness, strength and power that no green floral has today, possessing you from the first second. Then comes an apothegmatic heart phase full of flowers, ponds, meadows and forests at their peak, leaving you to feel only their incredible nobility. What strength this perfume has! What real life is bottled in that bottle! When I put it on, I think I smell Beauty, as opposed to banality, a respect for perfumery and for working in a laboratory as God intended, not to make a designer perfume but to create history. For me, wearing it is representing a passing time, paying homage to the true perfumery art of Estée Lauder. It pains me to speak of it as newly exiled; it didn’t deserve it. Private was that space of absolute learning in the 21st century to learn from Art, a jewel for kings available to mortals. Although its price boasted power (50 ml at 80 euros on the web), it fulfilled far more than double any other green floral; I feel shortchanging it by comparison. It is simply an eau de parfum that touched Parfum concentration, without lies. Elegant, mature but with agile moves, it never had a possible rival; whoever dared approach its essence could not compete in potency. It is the true Rosetta Stone of any green floral; its chrysanthemum is magnificent, never a flower so well conjugated with green notes, always tempered by hyacinth to avoid being too melancholic. It is impossible to be down with this perfume; it is all power, the glory of a lost time. In fact, I don’t know anyone who has smelled it without commenting that it is a unique piece, enchanting many at first sniff. What did this perfume have? After years of weighing, I conclude it had absolutely everything. As its definitive departure seems inevitable, I would ask its guardians not to let it go like a drunken man; it would be the end.

• clarbloom

  December 9, 2024

  

  In 2021, in the midst of depression and the pandemic, I lost my sense of smell and taste for months. Perfumery was my only solace, so reading others’ reviews was my salvation. Thanks to La DameDeNoir, I developed a love for greens, but as a student, I had to be strategic. Shortly after recovering my senses, I found a vintage bottle of Private Collection (about 20 years old) on todocolección and, seeing it was cheap, decided to take a risk. In the park, smelling it for the first time, it was like a slap: freshly cut grass on a sunny plain, with weeds and flowers under a sun that cooks the sap. It is photorealistic, capturing a futile moment that gains value. Ideal for warm spring or summer days. On my skin, it lasted 6-8 hours, the latter half close to the skin with little evolution. It doesn’t bother, but it’s not invisible either; it projects metres and is noticeable. It is strident, sharp, aggressive to the nose like alcohol, the opposite of usual sweet or amber scents. It is fresh, but not clean-fresh; it feels old, from the 70s. Natural but not wild. It reminds me of my piano teacher and my grandmother. It has great personality; you must try it before using it daily. It is moving that jewels like this still exist, connecting us with other times. I used it for a whole year, almost like an antidepressant: when anhedonia returned, I would sniff my wrist to transport myself to a garden where everything moves slowly. Dressing my dull skin with such a maternal and regal perfume astounds me, making me feel a power I don’t possess. I understand that I, my teacher, my grandmother, or Estée Lauder had pretensions that lifted us every morning.

• clarbloom

  December 23, 2024

  

  In 2021 I went through a strange depressive episode and extraordinary personal circumstances. I tested positive for COVID; although it was a flu for me, it left me with after-effects and I was unable to smell or taste anything for half a year. As perfumery was my only solace in those dark times, I didn’t take well not being able to smell, but I found relief in reading the olfactory logs of others. Since then, I frequent the forum in the shadows and read the reviews of my favourites and classics. Thanks to La DameDeNoir, I began to develop a hyper-fixation on the green family, although I had to be selective as a student with few options for expensive hobbies. Shortly after recovering my senses, I found a vintage bottle of Private Collection (I think it was 20 years old, which would make me vintage myself…) on todocolección and decided to take a risk because it was cheaper than the selling price. I went to collect it and, instead of going home, I went to my favourite park to smell it for the first time. It was like a slap: it smells of freshly cut grass, not the plot grass, but the grass of a plain in the suburbs with several types of turf, weeds and small flowers under an incandescent sun that cooks the sap and evaporates the dew. It is very photorealistic and captures a futile moment that gives it much value. It is suitable for warm and spring/summer days. On my skin it lasted 6-8 hours, the latter half close to the skin with little evolution. It doesn’t bother the neighbour, but it’s not a second skin either; it projects a few metres and is noticeable. As for practicality, it is quite strident: sharp and aggressive to the nose, like ethanol. Being accustomed to sweet or amber aromas, this is at the antipodes. It is fresh, but not clean-fresh; it feels old, from the 70s. It is very natural, but not too wild. It reminds me of my piano teacher, who also loves old-school greens, and my grandmother. It is a perfume with great personality and before buying it for daily use you must try it. It is moving to know that jewels like this are still on the market, reformulated, connecting us with other tastes and times. I used it for a whole year, day in, day out. For me it was like an antidepressant; when anhedonia returned, I would bring my nose to my wrist to transport myself to an idyllic garden where everything moved slowly. Dressing my dull skin with such a maternal and regal perfume astounds me to the point of thinking I possess certain power. I understand that I, my teacher, my grandmother, or Estée Lauder had pretensions that helped us get up every morning.

• Gabriela Zephora

  August 4, 2025

  

  In a world of copies and artifices, Estée Lauder’s Private Collection remains authentic and true to its origins. My perception may be biased by childhood memories, inheriting my grandmother’s olfactory passion. It is green and floral, yet refined and sophisticated. The first thing you notice is the chrysanthemum, hyacinth, linden flower, and moss (present throughout the fragrance), with elevated green and herbaceous notes, wrapped in a powdery aura and balanced bitter accords by the sweetness of sandalwood and amber. A very special scent; I imagine this is how Baudelaire’s brides smelled. The Art Deco-style bottle is exquisite. Longevity and projection are excellent. Recommended to try.

• Gabriela Zephora

  August 7, 2025

  

  In an era of imitations, reformulations and artifices, Estée Lauder’s Private Collection remains genuine, preserving its original DNA. It is very possible that my way of feeling it is conditioned by childhood memories (I believe I inherited my father’s grandmother’s passion for perfumes). It is a green, floral aroma, but refined and sophisticated. The most noticeable in the opening is the chrysanthemum, hyacinth, linden flower and moss (which I notice throughout the life of the fragrance), wrapped in elevated green and herbaceous veins, with a powdery aura and balanced bitter accords by the sweetness of sandalwood and amber. It is a very special scent; I imagine this is how Baudelaire’s brides smelled. The Art Deco-style bottle is a masterpiece. Longevity and projection are excellent. Recommended to try it.