Featured Fragrance Review: Estee Lauder Private Collection Amber Ylang Ylang

I am a fragrance lover through and through. I have many, many bottles and vials of perfume from all over the world due to my membership on makeupalley.com. A few years ago I became nearly obsessed with trying every perfume I could get my hands on. Now, I still love fragrance but I do not have the urge and drive to acquire everything I hear about. If someone gives me something or I am standing at a counter with perfume, I will give a spritz or two. I also have a good friend who regularly obtains samples and bottles of rare fragrances and I am the lucky person who she shares it all with. I am not an Estee Lauder fragrance fan in general, at least the modern releases. Every one seems to be a fruity floral, which I have no interest in.

The Granddaughter of the venerable Estee, Aerin Lauder, has decided to venture into a different realm with the creation of two fragrances that have been dubbed "private collection" fragrances. Ms Lauder is the "creative director" at Estee Lauder. These are exclusive to a few limited stores. They are not available at every Estee Lauder counter out there. Here in NYC I have seen them at Lord And Taylor, Bergdorfs and Saks. I believe they are also at Nordstroms and Neiman Marcus. The first fragrance that was released last summer was Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia. The newest release from this fall is the one I am speaking about here today, Amber Ylang Ylang.

The description taken from the Estee Lauder website is as follows: "The second fragrance in Aerin Lauder's Private Collection, here in Eau de Parfum Spray. Warm and inviting. Luminous and intimate. The richness of Amber and Ylang Ylang combine with the luxurious depth of Sandalwood and Vanilla. The cap is a work of art, with a hammered gold texture." The notes listed are as follows:
Fragrance Type: Oriental Amber

Top Notes

Ylang Absolute
Italian Bergamot
Geranium

Middle Notes

Bulgarian Rose Absolute
Cinnamon Ceylon
Incense

Base Notes

Vanilla Bean
Sandalwood
Amber


I love warm scents and anything with vanilla and amber featured immediately interests me as long as it's not overly heavy or sweet. I do not like anything that smells like food or has a really dense, suffocating quality and I am relieved to tell you that this is neither of those. A good friend commented that this was extremely similar to Guerlains L'Instant only better ,and I have to completely agree with her. I have always liked L'Instant but it's very unpredictable on me. Sometimes it's perfect and other times it is just too thick and heavy for me. This fragrance is a more subtle, smoother L'instant to me. It's warm, comforting in a blankety way and pretty simple. The rose, cinnamon and incense really are not identifiable but they give it some body and interest. I was really worried that the ylang ylang would ruin it for me because this is a note that I find to be a deal breaker with a lot of fragrances. It can have a sharp, medicinal quality that leaves a jarring edge to a perfume if it's featured as a prominent player, but it is used to perfection here. It seems to keep this fragrance from being too heavy while still letting it be it's soft smooth self. The amber and vanilla are the skeleton of this and what it all boils down to in the end. This is very easy to wear and not all that exciting which is good when you want something that you really don't have to have an event to wear it to. I would never wear this in warmer weather but this is a perfect sweater weather fragrance and I am very pleased with how well done it is.

I would like to mention that the pure parfum is really beautiful and the star here. It is rich and rounded and not obnoxiously strong. It lasts for many, many hours the and only smallest dab is needed. As far as the actual
scent, the difference between the EDP and pure parfum is just a matter of lasting power and strength of the base notes but if you like this scent either formulation is acceptable. Overall I think this is very well done and definitely worth checking out if you are a fan of fragrances like L'Instant or warmer ambery vanilla's. The price points for this fragrance are $65 for a one ounce bottle of EDP, $120 for a 2.5 ounce bottle of EDP and $300 for a one ounce bottle of pure parfum.

That's all for now! :)