Youth Dew Amber Nude

Estee Lauder
Youth Dew Amber Nude
Notes: fresh tea, grapefruit, bare skin accord, magnolia, ginger, black rose, red carnation, jasmine, ylang-ylang, patchouli, amber, vetiver, dark chocolate

The original Youth Dew came out in 1953, a powerful scent in a dark brown juice, ferociously spicy with patchouli, carnation, and cloves. My mother wore it, but I always had an intense dislike for this perfume. Designer Tom Ford worked with Lauder to create a modern version of this classic, changing some notes, yet keeping it the same.

YDAN opens up with the notes that I smell in my memory, a powdery patchouli and amber mix, but unlike the original, this is far more subtle. The mere opening of the vial doesn't release the scent to a crowd of folks stampeding to get out of the room, as with the original, and I have to put my nose to my skin to actually smell it. The scent soon becomes a little fruity with a heady rose and spicy carnations. The drydown is a bit animalic, from the indolic quality of the jasmine, with the barest hint of something almost vanilla, probably the dark chocolate. And the patchouli and amber scent keeps making their presence known. If there wasn't that powdery amber quality to it - something that always reminds me of those horrible too-soft scented toilet papers - I could almost say I like Youth Dew Amber Nude. That's saying a lot, since I find the original completely horrifying.