Private Collection by Estée Lauder {Perfume Review & Musings}
Private Collection by Estée Lauder was launched in 1973 after having been part of Estée Lauder's own very private collection of fragrances - at least this is how the story goes - only shared at one point with a few friends, in particular Grace Kelly to whom she offered it as a gift in the years preceding its official launch. It is reported to have been a favorite of the Duchess of Windsor as well.
Finally, pressured by multiple admirers of the fragrance, Lauder gave in and decided to market it. As the advertising copy read "All you need is one beautiful drop to know why Estée Lauder was keeping Private Collection perfume to herself."
The scent of privilege that Private Collection exudes has resisted this movement of democratization and despite the fact that it is now available easily through the Estée Lauder website at a most amicable price, it might still select its wearers through its olfactory branding of money, luxury, and class. This branding becomes even more apparent when one looks at the succession of advertisements throughout the years that have pointed to the ideal Private Collection woman: she is ever the incarnation of chic and her natural environment is the living room or reception space in which she welcomes her guests as she is emblematically pictured as the most suave of hostesses. The fragrance has consistently been marketed as a formal perfume although its green notes lend it an active, day-time character too which makes it versatile enough.
My perception of the popularity of the perfume today is that it is one of the less mainstream Estée Lauder perfumes, comparable in that respect to Estée, Spellbound, Azurée, and Alliage, but that amongst those who know it and carry it off well, it is very much appreciated......
The perfume was composed by nose Vincent/Vincente Marcello who is also the author of Yatagan by Caron, which in its own way is also an assertive scent with a very distinctive personality and a tremendous potential for seductive power.
The notes, as described by the Estée Lauder website, are honeysuckle, jasmine, and citrus in the head notes; orange flower, ylang-ylang and coriander in the heart notes; sandalwood and patchouli in the base notes.
This description varies markedly from that of Jan Moran who herself lists greens, hyacinth, citrus in the top notes; jasmine, narcissus, rose, pine, reseda in the heart notes; oakmoss, cedarwood, amber, and musk in the base notes.
Osmoz offers a third variation: top notes are green notes, orange blossom, linden; heart notes are jasmine, reseda, chrysantheum, rose; base notes are sandalwood, heliotrope, musks.
Each of these could be partial descriptions of the scent whose smooth blending lets on a few notes without showcasing them separately. In this manner, there is no nuanced mosaic of impressions but rather a bold and elegant statement about power, money, and self-assured femininity. It also conveys a certain sense of classicism as it tends to trigger, in me at least, a feeling of recognition rather than surprise. I could not quite put my finger on it, but as its sillage meandered about, I felt it calling towards me like a siren call and it felt like a signature perfume although I had never worn it in the past.
The perfume (pure fragrance version) starts as a vivacious explosion of citrus underneath which a bed of deeper animalic notes is already perceptible. The green notes, the third important group of notes here, is present, but it is not clear to me at what level of the perfume they were added because I mainly sense them near the bottle and a little further down the road in the development. It smells akin to the recent Le Labo Tubéreuse, I found out. When one does perceive the green notes in a distinct manner, they come through as very sappy, making you think of cut grass, stems, and balsamic woods. This rendition of the greens may appear surprisingly frank and to the point; indeed it smells very much like a popular shampoo from the 1970s called Herbal Essence Shampoo by Clairol.
It must be added that when Private Collection was released, it came after Shiseido Inoui, Chanel no 19 which was issued in 1971, Estée Lauder Alliage in 1972, and just before Amazone in 1974. There was then a vogue of the green floral, a trendy wave on which Private Collection rode.
Its green notes can smell almost metallic, although this coolness is offset by a powdery-soft background. The scent seems to have the diffusion and luminosity of a chypre although it also feels more like an oriental thanks to its warm woody base. There is a solar arcature of tangy citrus over this warmth which is traversed by the fishy metallic undertone of ambergris and refreshed by the crisp green notes. The sillage, on me at least, behaves more like that of an oriental, feeling closer to the skin, hushed, deep, and offering a vintage feel.
The composition of Private Collection, I find, is efficient rather than poetic. It is like a business card, if you will, that signals your presence, a beautifully well-presented one and even an interesting one. I cannot abstract completely from the impression that despite its richness, even lushness, it smells relatively simple to the nose. Three main accords operate: citrus - greens - animalic notes and there is very little ambiguity or complexity in the message delivered by the perfume as it seems that these three ensembles cooperate between themselves and reveal a beautiful team-work effort rather than leave pockets of unanswered questions and space for self-introspection. Despite this trait, Private Collection feels like a very special fragrance, as glaringly and obviously special as a solid bar of gold.
The "pure fragrance" retails for $45, the cologne for $26 on the Estée Lauder website.
Sources: Jan Moran, Fabulous Fragrances of the World II, www.thehistoryof.net
Pictures are from Images de Parfums and Okadi.
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Comments
I came across Private Collection very recently, as I gravitated towards the vanity table of a rich and lovely, 50-something Lebanese lady at the Ritz... There were
four atomizers of it, and no other scent!
I remembered it immediately from my North American childhood in the 70s. She says it's been her signature fragrance for over 20 years. Suits the description perfectly, doesn't it? She couldn't understand why I should, myself, own dozens of scents, and commented on her own faithfulness to places and people. PC is a lovely scent indeed, yet it does have that no-nonsense, I-mean-business vibe that I associate with the wealthy, philanthropist ladies-who-lunch!
Posted by: carmencanada | February 6, 2007
Private Collection is one if my favorite perfumes. I still have my 20+ year old bottle, and it smells as rich and wonderful as it did when I bought it. I rarely wear it since it evokes a certain time and place in the past for me, but I love to pull it out for a little sniff when I'm feeling nostalgic.
Posted by: Kathy | February 6, 2007
Helene,
I perceive Private Collection's evolution completely differently than you!
To me it's a multi-faceted green floral with a tad of chypre nuance. Animalic is not a facet I experience there. Instead, for there are greens at the top, than there are myriad of green-tinged flowers (orange blossom being the only one that really stands out), and the bottom is woody-mossy.
But my review of it on SmellyBlog is more accurate than that:
http://ayalasmellyblog.blogspot.com/2006/03/private-collection.html
Posted by: Ayala | February 6, 2007
Carmen,
What a great living illustration of this scent's personality. It definitely has the stature of a signature scent for me and the no-nonsense vibe is very much present indeed.
It is interesting to see how perfumes are like psychological portraits not just in image terms but in olfactory terms as well:)
Posted by: Marie-Hélène | February 6, 2007
Kathy,
I understand your predilection:) It is always amazing to me to see how Estée Lauder scents are able to convery an idea of wealth and luxury while selling their perfumes at such affordable prices!
Posted by: Marie-Hélène | February 6, 2007
Ayala,
I actually understand how one would focus on the green aspect of PC at first because that was my initial take on it. But then, somehow, my nose tended to brush them aside and pick up on a golden hue rather than a green one. It also changes quite a bit on my own skin -- I actually did not recognize it a couple of times as being PC, which is a good sign, in this case, that my BC is appropriating it. I am wondering also if we are talking about the same concentration. Is "pure fragrance" what they call their edp? Mine is not in a drop-shaped flacon.
Thanks for the link and please don't forget to link back to this post for your readers to access a plurality of views:)
Posted by: Marie-Hélène | February 6, 2007
Marie-Helene,
My review is based on the pure parfum, in the drop shaped bottle. Perhaps this and our body chemistry differences can account for the different perceptions?
Posted by: Ayala | February 6, 2007
Ayala,
This and also I feel my own focus on the citrus impression of the scent. It struck me also in Le Labo Tuberose how the citrus accord was important although not advertised as such.
Posted by: Marie-Hélène | February 6, 2007
I just purchased the parfum no more than 1 week ago, having loved the smell from my childhood & smelling it on the "rich" aunt I had in my family.
Not an easy scent for a guy to wear (I only wear it when I'm staying in...) but I love it & it triggers many good memories in me too of sophistication, formality & wealth.
Posted by: Mike P | February 8, 2007
Mike P,
Thank you for sharing your memories -- it makes me curious to smell Private Collection on a man:)
Posted by: Marie-Hélène | February 11, 2007
Private Collection has been my signature scent since I graduated from high school in 1979. At the time, it made me feel sophisticated and elegant. I would "Layer" it - starting with the cream, pure perfume and sealing it with the powder (which distracted me at the time with it's glitter glow).
When they discontinued all but the pure fragrance spray and lotion, I wondered if I could continue with the minimal offerings. I switched to Chanel #5 and went back to the layering regime. Although it was a solid replacement, it never measured up to the no-nonsense, confident feeling I got from wearing Private Collection.
At 48, I am back to being the Private Collection woman I was always meant to be and feel at home again in my "Signature Skin".
Posted by: kate wood | November 30, 2008
Thank you for this wonderful account of what it means for you to have a signature perfume.
Private Collection is such a great scent.
I always think of it as of a gold-bar of a scent, bottle shape included, long before Paco Rabanne gave a literal twist on the idea.
Posted by: Marie-Helene Wagner | December 1, 2008
Private Collection is beautiful fragrance that I wish could stick to just being green and sporty. Instead, the balsamic notes dry down and pushes it into a green-oriental category much like Boudier by Vivienne Westwood. I gravitate more towards Aliage and Lizsport (which has weak staying power, but oh-so green)when the warm months arrive. However, I will always respect PC for its longevity and class.
Posted by: Cindy Poole | April 25, 2009