White Linen Estēe Lauder 1978 Eau de Parfum

White Linen (Eau de Parfum) by Estēe Lauder

Bottle Design Pierre Dinand

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7.4 / 10 301 Ratings

A perfume by Estēe Lauder for women, released in 1978. The scent is floral-fresh. It is still in production.
Pronunciation

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Main accords

Floral

Fresh

Green

Powdery

Chypre

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Lily of the valley Jasmine

Jasmine

Bulgarian rose

Heart Notes

Carnation

Orris root Violet

Violet

Base Notes

Moss

Vetiver

Amber

Perfumers

Sophia Grojsman, IFF (International Flavors & Fragrances)

Ratings

Scent

7.4301 Ratings

Longevity

8.0227 Ratings

Sillage

7.3218 Ratings

Bottle

6.2221 Ratings

Value for money

7.453 Ratings

Submitted by Kankuro, last update on 03/20/2025.

Interesting Facts

White Linen was launched together with Celadon and Pavilion in a collection called New Romantics. The three fragranced were marketed as being able to deliberaty combine with each other. Insofar, Estée Lauder can be regardes as a pioneer of the layering concept.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

White Linen Parfum

White Linen Eau de Toilette

Pure White Linen Eau de Parfum

Charlie White Musk

Labyrinthe Libertin

L'Orchidée Terrible

Reviews

18 in-depth fragrance descriptions

08/01/2017

6
Bottle 7
Sillage 7
Longevity 9.5
Scent

MadameVizard
13 Reviews

MadameVizard

Top Review 6

Snow White, Red Blood

Chanel Nº 5 has many ilustrious heirs, mainly, across the ocean. Among those, White Linen helds a honored place.

In spite its cold, brooding, abstract forefather, White Linen is pure romanticism, although in its simpler, less complicated way. It evokes images of inmaculate, freshly washed skin (it is said that one of the inspirations that Coco Chanel took from her famous Nº 5, was the perfect skin of the famous French courtisan Mimi D'Alençon), of Nivea Creme (the familiar accord of lemon, lily of the valley, rose and jasmin, also rebooted in Lorenzo Villoresi's Teint de Neige), clean sheets drying hanging at the sun, white dresses and expensive soap. I can easily imagine a Victorian, or Edwardian beauty wearing it. But, although romantic in spirit, this pale beauty of perfect manners hides a rebelious spirit. It could have easily been the perfume of Lucy Seward in the 1979 film version of Dracula. This is a passional woman, although polite and inteligent. Blood under the snow. Rosy warmth under the white coldness

The rose-lily-violet combo makes it very old-style, but the crisp aldehydes gives it a modern twist. One of the best perfumes of the last 40 years. One of the best rose-violet fragances in the market.

I only could wish that the sillage and lasting power were a bit stronger, and that the perfume version was still available.

03/28/2012

7.5
Sillage 7.5
Longevity 5
Scent

Missk
1357 Reviews

Missk

Top Review 3

The scent of freshly washed linen

If you've ever wanted to know what sharp aldehydes smell like, give White Linen a try.

This fragrance is an aldehyde overload, so much to the point that it smells like a white, sparkling bathroom. There's huge doses of powder, soap, laundry and flowers in White Linen. The clean qualities are so bold that it's sometimes difficult to point out any individual notes.

While I do love aldehydes, I prefer them in smaller doses. White Linen is a scent I like my sheets to smell of, but perhaps not my own skin.

This fragrance is also typical of those 80's fragrances, being a monster in terms of sillage and reliable in terms of longevity.

I'm only 20, so strong perfumes such as this one make me feel too old before my time. Not saying that this is a so-called 'old lady scent', but it does have more mature connotations. Along with that thought, personally I find this fragrance far too chemical, powdery and sharp for my liking.

07/15/2012

jtd
484 Reviews

jtd

Very helpful Review 6

Dazzling White

I enjoy White Linen for the fact that it is cheapness done well. Conceptually so downmarket (soap) yet executed so brashly (1 part aldehyde, 1 part laundry detergent musk, one part whatever your notion of a bar of “floral” soap is.) This is the olfactory equivalent of holding a large tuning fork to your skull, but for hours. I can imagine for many women this might just seem simple, oldish in style and unsubtle, but on a man, it’s a great alternative (sparkly) to so many current men’s fragrances (fresh.) The camp of wearing a squeaky clean girly fragrance is added enticement.

But I have one particular use for White Linen. I’m an RN and work in a hospital. Search the blogs and you’ll find plenty of discussions about inflicting fragrance on those around you, the hospital being the ultimate battleground for this argument. I have a few scents that I wear to work, each with a different strategy as to why it works. White Linen is easily my favorite, since it’s akin to being in drag in scrubs. On a man I think this simply reads as so-clean-you-still-have-soap-on-you clean. The only comments I’ve gotten from my patient are, literally, “You smell so clean!” I imagine if were a woman wearing this she might be accused of wearing too much or too strong a fragrance. It’s fun screwing with gender assumptions in general. With perfume, it’s a delight.

09/16/2012

7.5
Bottle 7.5
Sillage 7.5
Longevity 8
Scent

Sherapop
1239 Reviews

Sherapop

Very helpful Review 5

Bright White Soap, Parfum is better than EDP

Every now and then I get in an "old lady" floral aldehyde mood. It happened today while cleaning up a room which had succumbed to the forces of entropy over the last couple of years. As usual, when I finally decided to roll up my sleeves and engage in arrant domesticity, I was rewarded by the discovery of lost perfumes. Today's discovery was a mini of Chanel no 5 eau de parfum and Chanel Allure Homme "All over Refreshing Tonic". I donned the former and will be testing the latter in the not-too-distant future, as a part of my "Give Men's Fragrances a Chance" campaign, inspired by bloggers Bryan Ross at From Pyrgos and Christos at Memory of Scent.

So, the day began in Chanel no 5 edp, which had the usual effect upon me, not of the olfactory ecstasy apparently experienced by so many in an encounter with this juice, but of causing me to reflect upon why we value what we value in the realm of perfume. Floral aldehydes are smelling more and more dated to me as I test more and more sweet patchouli and fine niche perfumes. On some days, they simply smell wrong, and nearly every day when I've ever tried to find the magic in Chanel no 5 has been one of those days. Today was no exception to the rule. At one point, I even felt like taking a bath. I cannot imagine that this perfume will continue to survive if the current trends of sweet laundry scents and fruity patchoulis persist much longer. To a person weaned on those sorts of compositions, Chanel no 5 smells worse than dated, it smells pre-historic!

With Chanel no 5 already lingering in my nostrils, I decided to take up my Estée Lauder WHITE LINEN extrait once again. I did experience the ecstatic floral aldehyde moment wearing this perfume a while back. Then, in my infatuated state, I purchased a big bottle of the eau de parfum, which turns out to have quite a bit more oakmoss--or at least so it seems to my nose--and this muddies the clean bright white waters of the composition, making it far less appealing to me.

When I tried the extrait once again, I discovered that I do very much prefer this perfume to Chanel no 5, but oddly enough it has always smelled to me more like white Dial antibacterial soap than anything else. Clean, clean, clean, incandescent light. WHITE LINEN parfum is to me what could perhaps be most aptly described as the ultimate abstract aldehyde!

01/31/2012

5
Bottle 10
Sillage 7.5
Longevity 7
Scent

Lola82
362 Reviews

Lola82

Helpful Review 2

Hanging in the Breeze

When I tried White Linen on a test strip It was love at
first sight W.L was the first Fragrance In my opinion
to recreate freshly dried linen that just came out of
the drier or cloths drying in the Wind under a clear
blue summer sky on a clothes line and when i received
a sample bottle of White Linen i was ecstatic and sprayed on my skin Then it turned sour on my skin
and i was a bit puzzled is this a bad sample because
sometimes perfumes do go bad due to age or
manufacturing or it's my skin chemistry some scents
don't work on some scents and maybe this is not one
of them I don't want to pinpoint that White Linen is
a mere disappointment which is not or a average run
off the mill Fragrance i really think it's the harsh
aldehyde with the mixture of Lemon and Honey
Aldehydes have to be carefully blended to make sure
not get a plastic and cloying smell but nether-less
a unique Treasure.

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