Estee Lauder Youth-Dew Goes Retro Style: New Packaging = Updated Scent? {Fragrance News} {Perfume Review}
Estee Lauder have released a new bottle packaging for their classic fragrance Youth-Dew released in 1953. They re-edited the bathroom tile blue flacon of the 1950s according to the Estee Lauder website. Advertisings from that era show that actually, the small-waisted bottle was also commercialized in the late 1950s some time after the initial introduction of Youth-Dew as a bath oil and beauty product......
The blue bottle does not replace the transparent glass bottle, it is just another option for nostalgics or people who like retro packaging. We have the new blue bottle and it is a bit greener and darker than on the picture shown above. The flacon is coated with a thick rubber material; it is not blue glass.
Scent-wise, the perfume in the blue bottle seems to be a bit muskier and sharper, slightly lighter, less sweet and heavily animalic amber-y (ambergris) than with the eau de parfum we have from a few years back, but this might be due to age.
Actually we are pretty sure that the new jus has been lightened up. It also smells less "dirty"; the herbal-y facets are less pungent. The rose is less heavy too. Same for the clove note. At any rate, it smells a bit updated and younger, fresher smelling, shedding a bit of its heavy oriental personality. It makes it more easily wearable. Otherwise it retains the unmistakable spicy character of Youth-Dew.
The 1.8 oz blue bottle retails for $25.50.
Previous Posts in Fragrance News:
Yvonna K Possessive Now in the US
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Comments
Such a shame... tampering with an original classic. Luca Turin is right about messing with original compositions--don't mess with the formulation and if you do, just give it a new name.
Posted by: Rob | February 11, 2008
My impression is that perfumers have to constantly update their compositions to make it fit the raw material context. Sometimes they do that and mainly want to preserve the original formula, but there will be perceptible changes and at other times, they really want to "update" a formula. In the second case, it can indeed be frustrating to expect to smell the same thing and smell something else. And then, there is the flanker type variation on a formulation. Here everybody agrees that it should be perceived as different.
Posted by: Marie-Helene | February 13, 2008
Leave formulas alone. People trust in the original. People become confused. If you want to change something, then, yes, give it a new name. Most people dont accept change very well especially when they already love something.
Posted by: sharen carlo | July 10, 2008
I just wanted to say that it is a tricky task for perfumers to maintain the fragrance formulas while having to deal with slightly different ingredients over the years yet it is a normal part of their jobs. It is unavoidable, I think, that some alterations will occur overtime. Sometime it can be for the better.
In the case of Youth-Dew I remember another episode where I was able to smell a subtle yet perceptible difference between the scent that came in a gift box and the single packaged one. I returned my purchase and since then I do not dare buy gift boxes as it made me feel they were trying to save money on the concentration. The perfume in a single bottle had a bite and character to it that had been watered down in the gift boxed one.
Posted by: Marie-Helene Wagner | July 11, 2008