Youth-Dew by Estée Lauder

It doesn’t smell like Youth or Dew, to be honest. It’s interesting and could be a signature scent, but for everyday wear it’s too complex and feels heavy. It reminds me of an aunt or mother from my childhood. I wanted to love it because the notes are exquisite, but it ends up being intimidating.

Hello, this review is about this perfume. I have it in my collection, and the 70s version has always been a heavy user in my home. Two months ago, I bought it at Primor in Madrid for around €40 and found the price difference with the Estée Lauder website curious. Finally, I opened it, and what was my disappointment: a tremendous alcohol opening and a very rapid evolution on the skin; it seems they’ve reformulated it in a shameful way. Such a huge disappointment that I was left speechless. Be careful because the fragrance you buy today, wherever you buy it, is different; of the original, only the memory remains. If Madame Estée Lauder were to rise again, she would take half the company with her. I’m posting this because no journalist reviews the vintage items on sale and mentions it. My influencer friend was given one as a gift, paid for, and acknowledges the same thing, yet on her website she still claims it’s the same and wonderful. In summary, be careful with current vintages; most have nothing to do with what they were. Companies base themselves on allergies (no one has died from using Youth Dew), but the business of low quality at a higher price is fashionable. It’s up to us to stop the deception; those who like it, fine. Let everyone spend their money or continue maintaining the reformulation story. In the 90s/2000s, they did reformulations, but you paid for quality; they were always done to enhance and renew, not to smell like nothing.

A scent from my childhood with my mother; I keep her old bottle of oil, over 40 years old, which still smells of it. She used it, and I saw her looking very elegant. When I became an adult, I noticed the scent and told her it reminded me of her very much, so she gifted me a set ten years ago. I have half the bottle left and use it on very special days, like today, New Year’s Eve. I read reviews saying it smells like a witch or gothic, and they’re right. I adore that spicy trail that lasts thousands of hours. It’s sublime and beautiful.

Youth Dew is perhaps the most complex perfume in my collection; it requires a prepared nose. It starts with a strong aldehydic lavender that pushes you away, then comes a spicy cinnamon and cloves that dominate everything. As it dries down, it’s pure smoky resins and dry oakmoss; it reminds me of tobacco. It has a distant touch of Coca-Cola with bubbles, but more like Coca candies or coffee, nothing sweet. The longevity is extreme, exceeding two days on the skin and doesn’t come off easily with water; it gets trapped in the skin and bathroom steam. It doesn’t project metres away, but creates a bubble around the body for about six hours. The trail is elegant and mysterious. It resembles Opium Parfum a bit but without the sweetness, and also Avon’s Timeless. This ‘youth dew’ is only for winter, not even for cloudy days.

It’s like those typical 80s perfumes that take it all and wrap it in a warm, homely feeling. I can’t think of another description. It’s warm, spicy, and very comforting. A 10/10 in the perfumery.

In the end, after some hesitation, I bought this perfume blind and received the Swiss version. It immediately smells of Coca-Cola, but once applied and dried, that note vanishes to reveal the aldehydes, bergamot and cloves, giving way to exquisite incense with a balm that overwhelms the senses. It works brilliantly in summer and autumn alike; it doesn’t give me a headache, doesn’t cloy and isn’t heavy. It doesn’t project much, but it makes me feel special, not like a soft drink. It doesn’t resemble Shalimar or Le Baiser du Dragon, although it shares those balsamic spices with vintage Opium, which left our mothers speechless. I also thought of my Coco Chanel for its elegance. Smoky perfumes drive me mad, but Youth-Dew isn’t an esoteric shop like LouLou; it’s more sophisticated and luxurious, like the reception of a five-star hotel or the interior of a brand-new high-end car. A powerful scent for powerful people. What a magnificent Youth-Dew Joséphine Catapano has left us, combining musk, amber and sandalwood in all her fragrances! Her masterpiece? This one! 9.5/10.🔥

I’m absolutely taken with it. At first it’s quite strong, but then the soft scent of white flowers emerges. It’s exquisite.

My mother’s signature fragrance. I grew up with this scent when she would hide it away alongside Anaïs Anaïs and L’air du temps. She said it was to stop me from wearing them, but I always found them. I remember it lasting almost 24 hours; I don’t know if they’ve reformulated it. I haven’t had the chance to smell it again as it’s very difficult to find in my country, but if I do find it, I won’t hesitate to buy it.

It is an incredible fragrance. With Youth Dew, something unique happens: I adore it, finding it complex, characterful, intense, and very sensual, yet difficult by current standards. That sensuality is like the model Paulina Porizkova dressed in black: imposing, beautiful, and owning a strong femininity. I think of Sophia Loren, María Félix, or Monica Bellucci, very feminine… but every time I try Youth Dew, I don’t see it matching the style, attitude, or mindset of today. Obviously, it is my own prejudice, and perhaps it is because I cannot imagine a ‘Youth Dew woman’ retouching photos for Instagram, glued to her mobile, smiling for the Audi with a baby tattoo, drinking gin tonics with fruit, complaining about restaurant trifles, or striving to feel glamorous. My imagination gives that woman the strength to rise in adversity, to sweat sex appeal picking up the children from school in a shirt and jeans, to bring war and peace to love, to speak clearly without violence, to wear elegance not fashion, to be dignified in the darkest hours, and to tame a complex fragrance without effort. I know, a perfume is not a personality, but sometimes it helps to make one. Anyway, it is a great fragrance and I think it is worth trying, understanding it, trying it again, and if you like it, enjoying it intensely.

Very wide sillage, lasts a long time on skin and clothes, and is not for everyone.

How lovely the people here are!!! I absolutely love reading your reviews!!! I didn’t know about this perfume, but you’ve made me want to try it. Thank you, Fragantica family, for writing such tender and well-expressed impressions. 😘

This is a perfume in every sense: you put it on and both you and those passing by know you’re wearing perfume, and that’s how it should be with all of them, since that’s why we spend the money, to smell. Youth-Dew represents an era of scents that could blanket an entire city, excessively strong perfumes with a thousand notes (as they should be) where one fought to see who wore the most extravagant. It reminds me very much of YSL Opium, but if I had to choose, I’d stick with Opium because it’s darker due to that characteristic incense and other things. Youth-Dew is excellent and sadly is falling into oblivion; it’s hard to find a perfumerie with it visible; it always ends up on lower shelves alongside brands that didn’t pay for prime display. It has a kilometre-long trail, which is incredible today when they tend to reduce intensity, and 12 hours of longevity on skin. If you like vintage aromas like I do, don’t hesitate to try it. I would have bought a bottle if it weren’t for its strong resemblance to Opium.

It is a very opaque, resinous, and spiced saturation, very oriental. Delicate to wear because one drop too many can be excessive thanks to deeply penetrating notes: clove, spices, balsams, cinnamon… Dynamite. That said, one drop brings beauty and elegance similar to what I feel with Opium or Coco… A classic, timeless, superb, and powerful elegance. History reveals that it was originally a bath oil until it became a perfume due to the success of its scent. A very balsamic beauty perfume, tempered, full of strength and intensity like Joan Crawford’s, drinking from her Pepsi-Cola bottle which resembles the bottle very much. It was her perfume. Difficult to understand, elegant, glamorous, and fragile yet strong.

This perfume reminds me of my childhood. My mum used it and still does; when I was small, smelling it gave me a headache, it’s very heavy. But with the years, my taste changed. Definitely not for me, but I’ve grown fond of it because when I smell it, I can’t help thinking of my mum. It’s a perfume full of memories, a guilty pleasure; I must confess that more than twice I’ve taken it from her dressing table to apply it myself, mind you, it’s never out of stock. I recommend it in very cold climates and at night; only a little is needed so as not to go unnoticed. I don’t recommend it in warm climates, unless it’s at night. I agree with a comment: a true lover of perfumes values and understands all fragrances. Every perfume has its own thing; they are art that very few appreciate. There’s no reason to express oneself poorly. This perfume certainly isn’t worn by just any lady, and whoever wears it denotes much character and confidence; it is elegant and of high class. It’s not for everyone 😉

It smells like Coca-Cola with spices to me. It’s not for me, I don’t like it, but I can understand its success in the 50s; I imagine American WASP girls from residential neighbourhoods sneaking out at night to a drive-in with some lads, scenes from American Graffiti come to mind (although this film is from the 70s about memories of the 50s).