Reviews of Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia (2007)
by Estée Lauder

Nukapai, you and I must have the same chemistry, I got the 'chemical' note you mentioned though it didn't even take two minutes. Too bad, when you love tuberose and gardenia you are always looking for that perfect combination. So far for me, I've only found it in Goutal's Gardenia Passion.

I'd heard that Harrods stocks the Estee Lauder private collection Tuberose Gardenia, so I went over to sniff that. The sales assistant was entertaining: "I wear this all the time and I swear people lean towards me on the train to sniff me. It's such a lovely perfume; the arabs buy it by the bucketload!". I thought this was a Tuberose done very well - I tried some on my skin (which was a precious commodity reserved for fragrances I might like to buy), but within about 2 minutes, an odd chemical note emerged, which lurked underneath the strong tuberose and felt "wrong" to the point of making the perfume unpleasant to smell by the time it had settled. So, it doesn't suit me. Bummer.

Why does this cost $300? It's a beautiful scent but not worth that price tag I think. I once used a scent that I bought from Genovese drug store also called Gardenia about 15 years ago, which was my senior year in high school, and it smelled just like PCTG. That scent cost around $8. I wish I could remember the perfume brand. I have never seen it since.

Tuberose-Gardenia is one of those fragrances where I say, "This is beautiful. But it hates me." I got a decant of this, and the day it arrived my 17 year old goddaughter was visiting. I've turned her into a Perfumista, so she couldn't wait to try my newest prospect. We applied the Tuberose-Gardenia in the same places on our arms, at the same time. On her, the scent started out very green, became a full, rich gardenia, and disappeared within the hour. On me, the scent smelled like the freeway air in August. It lasted all of two hours on me; an unpleasant two hours, because it gave me a headache. I love tuberose, and gardenia, and I wear as many fragrances with these notes as my chemistry will tolerate (not all at once), but something about my skin brings out the piquant smell of asphalt from gardenia and tuberose essences. So this one's not for me. It's too bad, because this is reasonably priced and in a very pretty bottle.