Ellen Tracy

This one makes me so happy every time I wear it, I reach for it often. I feel confident, strong but still feminine, like having someone nice hold your hand just because they want to. It starts out with a bergamot-citrus blast that very quickly turns into a fruity note that is not excessively sweet. The peach and plum are there, but not candied, rather they are lightly mulled or spiced. The sandalwood note is predominant as this perfume dries down, enriched by hints of oakmoss, orris root, cinnamon, and a touch of cedar. I see the floral notes listed, but really don’t get the scent of any single bloom—just a general feminine feel; and a lightness, almost a crispness that keeps some of the heavier notes from taking over, I think which also comes from the faintly lingering bergamot-citrus notes. It is certainly a musk, in a very pleasant and androgynous way—with the musk and sandalwood, this really could be a perfume for a young man or one who likes a lighter scent. My daughter tells me “you smell like Grandpa at the lake”—by which I think she means I smell a bit like a fresher version of Old Spice! I find this scent to be very well blended; I’m using my imagination a bit to get the single notes, as together they create such a perfect whole. It transitions smoothly as it dries down, changing subtly depending on conditions (skin moisture, temperature, stress). While it changes, it never strays far from a warm, spicy sandalwood musk. I’m mid-30’s, BTW, and do like light spicy scents, Orientals, sandalwoods and musks. I find Ellen Tracy to be unique and calming. It isn’t a gourmand; it’s not a bower of flowers; it has no patchouli (notes which seem so ubiquitous and overdone). It isn’t “too” anything—not too fruity, not too sweet, not too floral, not overwhelmingly musky, masculine, or dark; it’s “just right”. And frankly the price (1 oz for $10 at TJ Maxx) makes it that much better!

Oh, Ellen, Ellen, where have you been all my life? Well, at least, the years I have started to appreciate perfumes the way they should be - how they smell on me, and affect my mood, and not what smells good on others (although, on rare occasions, there have been some overlap here). Thanks to a generous sample of "Ellen Tracy" from a wonderful Fragrantican, Raina, I am in fragrance induced nirvana... This fragrance is so absolutely beautiful, I am having a hard time describing my experience except that I feel reborn... The many, many notes in the composition are so artfully blended together, I am also having hard time singling them out. The ones I do sense are: sandalwood, peach, plum, musk, hyacinth, amber, freesia, carnation, and tonka bean. I do not get any citrus whatsoever, and I am VERY happy about that. I find the citrus, on me, tends to get masculine and sour, and not too many citrusy fragrances work with my chemistry. Anyway, back to Ellen Tracy... I generally like sandal but, in this composition, I love the sandal. It is smooth, warm, feminine and sexy, and that's just how this perfume makes me feel. The amber and musk are deepening the experience, and the hyacinth is just at the right level of intensity to make it all zesty without being too punchy. This fragrance feels as cozy as a warm rice pudding on a cold, dreary day... smells a little like it, too... Sillage: soft, close to skin, 2 inch no trail Longevity: moderate - about 5 - 6 hrs. My full size bottle is on its way! Thank you again, Raina, for introducing me to Ellen Tracy!

Ellen Tracy, I think I love you. I found this in a set of four rollerball minis at TJ Maxx. Applied to my wrist and inhaled, excited to see if I liked this one as much as I do ET Bronze and ET Ellen. And I do, I do! But in such a different way. As a fairly new student to deciphering notes, I wondered what I would find upon smelling this for the first time...and the first thing that came to mind was, oh my gosh, I am smelling a more feminine version of Burberry Men, a scent I bought for my husband to try. Could this be right? I immediately came to this site and searched the notes in ET and compared them to the notes in Burberry Men. The notes in common that jumped out at me are cedar, sandalwood and musk. These must be the notes that always bring to my mind walking on a crisp, sunny day in autumn beneath trees whose leaves have turned brilliant colors and are starting to fall. That's how Burberry made me feel when I was searching for a new scent for my husband...and when he was less than impressed, it became mine and I loved it. This is part of what's so fun about this site, discovering what notes stir your soul and bring you to a vivid place in your mind. You can paint a picture with a couple of spritzes. I'm thinking ET will be a definite staple for me come autumn.

I picked up a bottle of the peony and rose and thought, eh...safe enough, good price, I'll take it! The bottle was pretty also. I noticed mine that I bought was a plain bottle but I sprayed some on my wrist and shopped some more. I kept smelling something wonderful, and thinking it was the perfume department I'd just passed, I shrugged it off. The scent was still around and I was trying to sniff where it was coming from and it was ME! It was MUCH better than what I'd smelled in the store. I even thought it might have been another perfume I tried earlier and not the Ellen Tracy one. I got home and checked on here because this was WAY too lovely! The one I got wasn't the peony and rose I tried in the store, it's the plain Ellen Tracy and I'm so happy! This was a pure accident and to me this perfume has that certain something that puts it above too many other perfumes. It's safe, yes, and good for work and not offensive to anyone and I agree with all the other reviewers here that like it except for ONE thing, this has that certain SOMETHING that takes it over the top for me. It's so incredibly desireable to me. It's a fave for sure! Clean and so preppy. I bet Elizabeth Taylor smelled like this in Father of the Bride. :-)

Reviews are about as scattered as the list of ingredients. However, she is pretty just the same. I actually started wearing this over a decade ago after smelling it in a grocery's bargain bin. Those moments are like finding a winning ticket on the ground after a horse race. Amongst the 26 boasted notes: 5 different fruits ranging from berry to citrus and stone to spice, there are 12 different types of flora, 2 selections of wood, some root structure and a few well placed dollops of modern aldehydic chemistry. It's enough to make your head spin. Ellen Tracy is a bold female voice, unbelievable in price, and I know this may seem absurd to some readers, brilliant right out of the gate. By the time you reach the heart, and the perfume has reached its apex of charm, character notes become soft and warm - sophistically tender. This is the layer that seems to come up wanting with other smell-a-likes. This is the smell of a woman who commands her life, but always makes time for others. This is the professional who leads from the front, or the mother who whispers in place of a shout. This is also, always at the ready in my home, to don for my own comfort. And at these prices, it's quite plainly, a gift!