White Diamonds Parfum

I love all the formulations of this, including the powder and body lotion, but the pure parfum is my favorite--intense ylang-ylang aldehydic white floral over creamy sandalwood, with a distinct luxury-soap smell. I guess to many people it must smell like a bevy of Baptist ladies at church on Sunday, or their least-favorite coworker Joelle, or their grandma's most obnoxious frenemy, or maybe, if they're lucky, one of their own beloved relatives. That's the paradox of a hugely popular fragrance: more people are likely to have already formed associations with it, specific memories that you simply cannot logic out of them with arguments focused on this note or that note or the perils of reflexive snobbery or the fanciness of the creator, Carlos Benaim. As your grandma no doubt said to you sometime, there's no accounting for taste. I guess I'm lucky because I don't really have any problematic associations with this perfume. For some reason, I gravitated to the flankers first, and it didn't occur to me to seek out the original. But then two different women I know confessed to me how much they loved this fragrance, and I discovered that I also love this fragrance. If you love aldehydes and yellow, white, and pink florals, well, this is the perfume for you. It's shockingly inexpensive, and it performs like a beast. A critic I admire said that this was a scent that was meant to waft up from décolletage, and I'm inclined to agree, although I think this mostly occurs to us all because of Ms. Taylor's famous bosom--you know what? It doesn't matter. It's just hyperfeminine and floral in all the ways I love best, but there's enough wood in the base to ground it. It's not so far removed from my beloved Samsara, although there the sandalwood and citrus are equal players with the floral notes, and here the florals reign supreme. I find the pure parfum juicier, creamier, less soapy and aldehydic, and more ylang-ylang forward than the EDP, which I also love, and the EDT, which is quite nice, too, although substantially less rich and complex. They can all be layered effectively, or worn alone. I spray the EDT once on my hairbrush, brush through my hair once or twice, and it's definitely more than enough to scent my hair (I can't even imagine what the EDP would do--it lasted more than 48 hours on a slip of paper, and the parfum is best applied by the drop). One thing you can say for the entire White Diamonds line is that the bang for the buck is simply unmatchable. Update: My friend the estate-sale habituée brought me two little vintage bottles of the parfum, which I compared to each other and to my new bottle of the pure parfum. The older ones do smell somewhat richer and more intensely floral, but this is a matter of degree, and they're all close enough that I'd probably fail a blind sniff test. I gave one of the vintage ones to my mom, who recently mentioned that she had always liked WD but hadn't had a bottle in years. Tiny as the bottle is, it could potentially last her indefinitely, since you really don't need more than a couple of drops at a time. And she is loyal to her signature scent, mostly, Cashmere Mist, which is obviously a very different scent profile.

My mom received this perfume as a Christmas gift from my dad in 1991 or 1992. It was the big dab bottle at the time. She accidentally knocked it over and it spilled all over her bathrobe and dresser one day and she felt bad. The top of the bottle was loose and didn't close properly. It was pricey at that time for her to replace it. She saved the nearly empty bottle which she still has. I was in middle school when this was released, and never really liked perfume and didn't pay much attention to these things. But I remember my mom opening the perfume and sampling it. And I remember when it spilled. I think I was in 8th grade. Over the years, my brother and I bought White Diamonds gift sets for her and for my aunt who also likes it. They were always available around holidays. Two years ago, I bought two White Diamonds mini parfum dab bottles and gave them to my mom and my aunt in their Christmas stockings. I wish I got one for me too since they sold out later. The perfume and EDP smell better than the EDT, which I have. I read the parfum is discontinued. Is the EDP made anymore? I can't find them anywhere in stores. Only the EDT. I like the dab bottle design but they seem to be discontinued and only the spray bottles of EDT exist now. The perfume has the typical big 80s and early 90s perfume smell I remember as a kid. I can't detect specific notes. But I like the perfume more after trying my mom's new small bottle at age 37. It is not as strong as I remember, but not sure I'd wear it. My mom was in her early 40s when she first got it. I am 39 now but I feel like this kind of scent is too strong for me. I don't believe age matters when it comes to perfume, because everyone is different and it depends on how perfume works with our chemistry and how we feel about it. With my personality and looking younger than I am, I think it comes off as too mature for me. My mom has always been very youthful too, but her style seems to suit it more, and my aunt too. They can carry these better than I can. But White Diamonds is a classic to me that says 80s and 90s in a bold way. I like it and would keep a small bottle for my collection. I'm glad my mom has that small bottle that I can take a sniff of now and then.

I received a mini in the mail the other day and tested it after my shower that night. As soon as I smelled this beautiful parfum on my skin I went right back on ebay and bought 2 more bottles. This is so well blended that I had a hard time picking out individual notes, though the ylang and lily show up early, and a creamy tuberose comes through in the heart. The aldehydes are not an assault on the nose but are soft, and the overall scent has a creaminess to it like a fine milled soap. I don't smell heavy spices, as some do, and maybe that's because this was manufactured by 3 different companies and had gone through as many reformulations. It could just be that I have a later formulation where overt spiciness was omitted or toned down, though I am picking up something like carnation (not listed in the notes), which for me is adding a little soapiness. Is that the spiciness others are smelling? I have no idea, nor do I know what version I have, but it doesn't matter because I love it anyway. For a dabber this has fantastic silage, though I can't speak to longevity because I was lulled to sleep by this blissful scent. Can’t wait to wear this again while out for a night on the town where I’ll be better able to judge the finer aspects of this scent. As it is now, I feel fantastic just wearing it and it is so beautiful it actually made me feel that way too. That’s a big plus in my book Update - My bottles are all 1st. formula Parfums International. I also purchased a 1st. formula PI edt version. Smells just as lovely.

My mother always wore the parfum, never the EDT spray. Now that I'm an adult I can see why, haha. It's liquid gold! As I dabbed it on, I quickly realized that this el cheapo Chanel No. 5-alike is more competently assembled, smells more natural, and is overall much nicer than the majority of the expensive "niche" perfumes. Today was a depressing day indeed. The EDT & EDP are more discordant and soapier, I much prefer the parfum. The formulation seems to have changed a bit over the years, although it's difficult to place my finger on the finer differences. It's still an aldehydic bomb of ylang-ylang, creamy white flower nectar, powder, and santal. Older bottles put more emphasis on yellow flowers, they smell a bit more lush and less alcohol-y, but the new ones are still pretty good. I understand the comparisons to Ysatis, but to my nose White Diamonds is softer, soapier, and more floral. There's a bit more emphasis on rose and the powdery notes, it's not as heavy on the spices, woods, or amber. Ysatis dries to a dense ambery chypre base, whereas this is more of a straightforward floral aldehyde. This iteration of White Diamonds gets you closer to Chanel No. 5 than you may yet realize. The parfum is hard to find, but they go for next to nothing online. Edit: I see gift sets that include the parfum in rack stores during the Christmas season.

WHITE DIAMONDS the PERFUME version not the 80% alcohol EDToilette. is exquisite. Powdery, feminine, men holding my hand, opening my Bentley door, giving me Lilacs and Orchids, Diamonds and First Class Flights. It drives many men to new heights of giving, I know, I have worn it night and day, after bathing, after sea swimming, after Ice Skating after ***. I am known by the lovely scent and everywhere I go I am touched and adored by seekers of my aura. The PERFUME version is very, very hard to source and I buy every bottle I see. I know this site is for your personal views but if you cannot say anything nice do not say anything at all. Parfum that sells for millions and millions of dollars just cannot have anything wrong with it, it is not possible, it is nothing less than a phenomenal, wild success, I bring beauty and glamour to some peoples dull, grey lives, just me and my WHITE DIAMONDS. People are always cheered and refreshed when in our company. I am easily upset and I only hear nice things, I am deaf to nastiness and cruelty. I do all I possibly can to help Animals in distress. Thank goodness most perfume essences are synthetic and Lab made, not derived from Civet cats or as a result of the hideous Whaling of yesteryear. Beauty without Cruelty is for me.