New Perfume Review Estee Lauder Beautiful Absolu- Editing a Big Floral

When I began my personal learning about perfume I asked lots of people for advice. One excellent piece I got was to go to the mall and spray a strip of all the classic perfumes. Then I would take that strip and put it in a small zip-lock bag. I was then able to take the masterpieces home with me to examine them more leisurely. I remember spraying Estee Lauder Beautiful Eau de Parfum as an afterthought one day. It turned out to be the strip I spent the most time trying to understand.

Created in 1985 Beautiful EdP was a big floral. That adjective should maybe be in all caps to accurately describe it. What fascinated me was within all that power there were distinctly recognizable strands. It was one of the earliest experiences I had in writing down what I thought I smelled. I still think of it as one of the great examples of this type of perfumery.

For it’s 35^th anniversary we are getting a new flanker Estee Lauder Beautiful Absolu. When I received the press release at first, I thought this was going to be another riff on the original. Instead it was something quite different. It is as if the creative team imagined what Beautiful would be if it were being designed in 2020. That meant some editing was necessary. That all caps big had to be reduced to small caps or removed altogether. It results in a version which is just right for today.

Mackenzie Reilly

I was unable to find out who undertook this task of editing the perfume made by Chant, Grojsman, Benaim, and Gavarry. I hope they step forward because it is a nicely done effort. (UPDATE: Perfumer Mackenzie Reilly is the person resposible)

If there is a floral which stands out in the original, it is tuberose. There it is turned up to high volume. In Beautiful Absolu it is dialed way back. It enhances the creaminess of it. What is lost in bringing it back is the intense green which shows up at overdose. In this case of Beautiful Absolu lily is used as a softer surrogate. It forms a gentler tuberose accord. Then instead of the entire floral shelf of perfumer ingredients a small curated group of marigold, rose, jasmine, and ylang-ylang provide more flower power. It ends with the same sandalwood and vetiver base of the original but with the same care to keep it lighter.

Beautiful Absolu has 10-12 hour longevity and average sillage.

I am fascinated to see how accepted this will be by today’s fragrance consumer. It has all the things which made the original Beautiful live up to its name. Except this version makes it much lighter. I like to think a new generation can be drawn to one of the great florals even if it has been edited a bit.

Disclosure: This review is based on a sample provided by Macy’s.

–Mark Behnke