Estée Lauder - Bronze Goddess

The first day of summer

Estée Lauder's Bronze Goddess is being billed as a limited release for 2011 but it has a longer history. It was first released as a body oil under the name Azure Soleil in 2006, as part of the Tom Ford for Estée Lauder collection and re-released as a perfume in 2007 called Azure Soleil Eau Fresh. By 2008, Tom Ford had created his own perfume line and Estee Lauder changed the name of Azure Soleil to Bronze Goddess but kept the formula nearly the same.

If you would like to feel and smell like you've been to the beach, but don't have time to get away, Bronze Goddess is the perfume for you. It starts with a summery squeeze of citrus but becomes a creamy, coconutty floral with a warm salty edge.

To me it smells just like expensive french sunblock - I have a tube of 50+ Vichy at home and it has the same "creamy rich flowers and coconut" smell. Underneath, salty amber base notes mimic the smell of warm skin just out of the ocean being dried on a white sand beach.

It's gorgeous, but I admit that after wearing it a few hours, I sometimes feel the need to go shower and clean up before dinner, the way I would do on holiday at a beach resort.  But keep this one around for the cold days of winter, and it will make you feel the sand between your toes again.

A new flanker, Bronze Goddess Soleil, was released this summer. It's very different from the original. Bronze Goddess Soleil starts with a stronger citrus notes - I smelled grapefruit. As it warms up, it becomes a fresh greenish floral that's predominantly lily and jasmine to my nose. It dries down to a light musky and wood base. The only thing that ties the two perfumes together in my mind is that Bronze Goddess Soleil seems to retain a little of that warm skin character underneath its florals, the way that Bronze Goddess does.

While I liked Bronze Goddess Soleil at first, I got a little bored with it after a while. I still prefer the original for it's unique and almost perfect simulacrum of beachiness.

For other great beach perfumes, try Parfumerie Generale Bois Naufragé or Creed Virgin Island Water, both big favourites of mine.

House: Estée Lauder
Nose: ?

Bronze Goddess Notes: coconut milk, sandalwood, vanilla, vetiver, myrrh, amber, mandarin, bergamot, lemon, orange, tiare flower, jasmine, magnolia, orange blossom and lavender.

Bronze Goddess Soleil Notes: citron, bergamot, tangerine, lavender, petitgrain, pittosporum, neroli, orange blossom, jasmine sambac, grapefruit tree blossom, pink lily, blonde woods, iris, ambrette seed and crystalline musks.

Estee Lauder - Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia

Glorious gardenia

On a whim the other day, I bought a bottle of Estee Lauder Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia. It was on sale at Winners. Sometimes I think this means that the old stock is being dumped because a reformulation is coming out. Or it could just be old gift boxes (it was packaged in a gold box with the body creme) are being cleared out to make way for the new Christmas stock. I bought it unsniffed because I remembered reading that it is one of the great gardenias perfumes, and a true gardenia is hard to find. They weren't wrong; Tuberose Gardenia is an astounding, rich, and life-like gardenia.

Gardenias are the smell of fantasy. White, creamy and thick as birthday cake frosting, the opulent smell of gardenia makes me imagine shimmering pale silk and midnight trysts in southern gardens. Tuberose Gardenia smells the most like real gardenia of anything I've ever smelled that's not on an actual bush.

It starts with green notes like leaves and a little wood to add to the illusion of a living flower. The heady gardenia is paired with tuberose - there is a touch of wintergreen in the opening notes and I can just taste a hint of bubblegum sweetness later. As the perfume drys down, I smell much more jasmine, with its distinctive gasoline tang.  There's also a little indolic orange blossom and some cool lily in the white floral bouquet, but gardenia is the star.

Tuberose Gardenia is a compliment getter. It has significant sillage - just 1 little spray on my wrist and men passing me in the hall turned to tell me I smelled great. It also lasts straight through to the next morning. It's a perfume for a woman, not a little girl. I wouldn't wear this to hide in a crowd, or go to the pub, but I will wear it when I want to feel like the most beautiful woman in the world.

House: Estee Lauder
Nose: Aerin Lauder
Notes: neroli, lilac, rosewood, tuberose, gardenia, orange flower, jasmine, white lily, carnation and vanilla

Photo: vigilant20