Youth-Dew Estēe Lauder Eau de Parfum

As I'm currently wearing Youth Dew more often again, I want to share a few words about what I think is a great masterpiece and take the opportunity to compare it with the old formulation.

Youth Dew was one of Estee Lauder's first perfumes that wasn't actually a perfume at all - at least not in the traditional sense. Launched in 1953, Youth Dew was a highly concentrated bath oil and an attempt to make American women more independent in a highly conservative society. At the time, it was normal for most women to have no bank account and little money of their own and for their husbands and partners to occasionally give them luxury cosmetics such as perfume, regardless of what women's tastes actually were. These products usually spent their lives gathering dust on some dresser, to be used at most once a year.

Estee Lauder had a vision in which every woman should make her own economic decisions, so she launched Youth Dew, disguised as an affordable bath oil that almost every woman could buy. This idea was such a success that the bath oil was used almost daily as a dabbed fragrance and perfuming was no longer limited to single occasions. A short time later, the completed perfume was released on the same basis - the birth of a legendary fragrance with a fragrance composition that would inspire countless perfumers for many decades to come and was a pioneer for classics such as Opium (1977) Parfum, Coco Eau de Parfum, or Obsession Eau de Parfum.

Describing the fragrance itself is, as with most fragrances of the past century, relatively difficult - The Pyramid is a collection of the noblest, richest scents and nothing stands out particularly strongly. Instead, it paints a grand whole scent painting, ambery and luminous, set in an antique yet simple frame. The old formulation has an intense, warm spiciness that is made supple and deep by the various resins and perfectly rounded off by the rest of the olfactory smorgasbord. Underneath is what I always affectionately call an animalic "cat fluff" note - something that always reminds me of the smell of groomed cat fur. The way the vintage version unfolds on the skin is an absolute experience in itself that never ceases to amaze me.

The current formulation, on the other hand, is a little soapy, comparatively lighter with lots of spices and flowers, but also more minimalist impressions. The balsamic notes have definitely been toned down, I smell almost no animalic notes. It is more sociable, more adapted to the times, and yet the DNA can still be clearly smelled, which is a miracle compared to other reformulations. It is still a magnificent fragrance, but no longer as rich. I guess that's the way of things.

What I find so special about Youth Dew is that, compared to similar vintage spice bombs, it doesn't scream DIVA, but exudes a restrained, refined elegance. I never feel overdressed with it, but definitely always particularly well-dressed! No matter how often and for how long I explore other fragrances, applying Youth Dew always feels a bit like "coming home".