Estee Lauder 15/11/23

[Vienna]

I was once given a bottle of Beautiful and can`t say I liked it but accepted it in good grace and wore it until the bottle was empty. When my 2 older sons still lived at home and were in their teens neither of them had much money. One was a student and one was a young soldier who usually arrived home on leave just a couple of days before Christmas. On Christmas Eve the pair of them would pool their money and do a mid afternoon dash to Boots. Whatever was left on the shelves and was within their budget they just did a lucky dip and bought me a perfume or gift set of some description.
I had some good ones and some bad ones, Beautiful was neither good nor really bad, it was just sort of a bearable smell. The worst I ever had was Elizabeth Arden Sunflowers which honestly smelled like cat pee on me. I waited until both sons returned to Uni or Barracks and then gave it away.
My Mum loved Youth Dew and buying a gift wrapped bottle from a Manchester department store was her yearly treat. Just before Christmas we`d travel into Manchester and I`d be allowed to choose a new outfit and new shoes as my Christmas presents. I was around 14 or 15 and I loved those Christmas outings. We`d go into one of the large beauty halls and the smell of perfumes would hit you, a heady mix of all brands and all kinds of smells. The Estee Lauder counter was always busy and you could buy items which were already wrapped in gold foil paper with a red ribbon and a piece of tinsel on it.
The ladies on the cosmetic counters all looked smart and elegant, many wore lovely suits and pussy bow blouses, hair done and a full face of makeup. As a young teenager I loved testing the lipsticks, eye shadows and perfumes whilst Mum was making her purchase but I wasn`t yet allowed to wear makeup and there was little money left over for anything else. We`d then go to the handbag department and my Mum would stroke them and admire them. She owned just 2 well used bags, a black one and a brown one both of which she`d had for years. She fell in love with a light grey kid leather bag but there was no way she could afford it with 4 children to buy Christmas for and just my Dad`s wage.
When I left school at 16 and started work my wage was £7 a week. The first Christmas after starting work I bought her a grey kid leather bag which I`d saved for and it was as if I`d given her the crown jewels. She still had that bag when she died aged 67.

 

[maymorganlondon]

I was once given a bottle of Beautiful and can`t say I liked it but accepted it in good grace and wore it until the bottle was empty. When my 2 older sons still lived at home and were in their teens neither of them had much money. One was a student and one was a young soldier who usually arrived home on leave just a couple of days before Christmas. On Christmas Eve the pair of them would pool their money and do a mid afternoon dash to Boots. Whatever was left on the shelves and was within their budget they just did a lucky dip and bought me a perfume or gift set of some description.
I had some good ones and some bad ones, Beautiful was neither good nor really bad, it was just sort of a bearable smell. The worst I ever had was Elizabeth Arden Sunflowers which honestly smelled like cat pee on me. I waited until both sons returned to Uni or Barracks and then gave it away.
My Mum loved Youth Dew and buying a gift wrapped bottle from a Manchester department store was her yearly treat. Just before Christmas we`d travel into Manchester and I`d be allowed to choose a new outfit and new shoes as my Christmas presents. I was around 14 or 15 and I loved those Christmas outings. We`d go into one of the large beauty halls and the smell of perfumes would hit you, a heady mix of all brands and all kinds of smells. The Estee Lauder counter was always busy and you could buy items which were already wrapped in gold foil paper with a red ribbon and a piece of tinsel on it.
The ladies on the cosmetic counters all looked smart and elegant, many wore lovely suits and pussy bow blouses, hair done and a full face of makeup. As a young teenager I loved testing the lipsticks, eye shadows and perfumes whilst Mum was making her purchase but I wasn`t yet allowed to wear makeup and there was little money left over for anything else. We`d then go to the handbag department and my Mum would stroke them and admire them. She owned just 2 well used bags, a black one and a brown one both of which she`d had for years. She fell in love with a light grey kid leather bag but there was no way she could afford it with 4 children to buy Christmas for and just my Dad`s wage.
When I left school at 16 and started work my wage was £7 a week. The first Christmas after starting work I bought her a grey kid leather bag which I`d saved for and it was as if I`d given her the crown jewels. She still had that bag when she died aged 67.

What beautiful memories you have described.

 

[Patsy]

Youth Dew!! The worst perfume of all time (except for maybe Poeme). It managed to give me nausea and a migraine all at the same time.

CC

Georgia Beverley Hills was another headache inducing perfume as well. YSL perfumes do the same to me.

 

[China Girl]

What a lovely post Vienna, your mum sounds very much like my mum was.
Do you have her grey bag now?

As for EL perfumes, they are all far too strong for me.
I tried their Magnolia on my wrist one day in the Summer, I couldn't wash it off, had to use bleach on my skin to get rid of it

I love the ANR serum though, and use it under my PCMC.

 

[Vienna]

What a lovely post Vienna, your mum sounds very much like my mum was.
Do you have her grey bag now?

As for EL perfumes, they are all far too strong for me.
I tried their Magnolia on my wrist one day in the Summer, I couldn't wash it off, had to use bleach on my skin to get rid of it

I love the ANR serum though, and use it under my PCMC.

No China I didn`t keep the bag because it was a similar style to the ones the late Queen used to wear and I would never have used it. The kind you just hook over your arm. Mum was the first female in her immediate family to die and quite a few of her belongings were given to her sisters. Not her jewellery but things like her bags and shoes, her "best" coat and other bits and bobs, the remainder was given to charity.
She didn`t have a lot of jewellery and Dad kept hold of most of it for a while but then shared it between myself, my sister and sister in law but I did find a string of broken pearls when sorting her stuff for Dad and he told me to keep them and they turned out to be quite a surprise especially as I almost threw them away !

 

[donna255]

Georgia Beverley Hills was another headache inducing perfume as well. YSL perfumes do the same to me.

Y the feminine is gorgeous. And Rive Gauche too. For some unknown reason YSL released a male perfume called Y which can cause confusion.

 

[Vienna]

Y the feminine is gorgeous. And Rive Gauche too. For some unknown reason YSL released a male perfume called Y which can cause confusion.

I love Rive Gauche. In fact most of my perfumes are somewhat old school. I love Houbigant Quelques Fleurs , Van Cleef First, Dior Forever and Ever, plus others. So many of the modern perfumes smell like fruit, air freshener or cleaning products.

 

[boffy]

I love Rive Gauche. In fact most of my perfumes are somewhat old school. I love Houbigant Quelques Fleurs , Van Cleef First, Dior Forever and Ever, plus others. So many of the modern perfumes smell like fruit, air freshener or cleaning products.

Oh I loved First by Van Cleef and Arpel but cant remember the smell now.

 

[donna255]

First is still around, you need to go to department stores to smell. Another elegant feminine perfume.

 

[Snowstorm]

White linen is my all time favourite Estée Lauder fragrance.