Aliage

It’s hard to imagine today Alliage as a sport fragrance. For starters, are there even sport fragrances marketed to women today? And what is marketed for men is a synth wood/watery/metallic mess. That or a sweet, Axe/body spray dud. Well, back in the good ol 70’s, Lauder envisioned Alliage. A sport fragrance for the dynamic woman that loved the outdoors, exercised, and even in a sweaty environment, acknowledged the need to smell good. On a man? Simply dashing! Alliage works wonders for me. At first I thought that my bottle might have been changed by the passing of time (I have a 70’s bottle of Eau d’Alliage) but with subsequent wears, I realize that this is the smell of it and what Lauder envisioned. Alliage smelled today, is far more butch and masculine smelling than 99,99% of men oriented releases. It’s green, piney and leathery. It’s full of the herbal bitterness of wildlife, forests, countryside and even the coast. Pine, conifers and resins atop flashes of lemon and bergamot. Galbanum is BIG here. It’s the main star, with heavy and hefty doses of moss, musk and lavender. It is utterly refreshing and revitalizing, and I can’t help but wonder that Jean Martel drew inspiration for his seminal Paco Rabanne Pour Homme a year later. Alliage isn’t floral. It feels more like a cousin to Bandit and Cabochard in a more thumping American way. I can totally see a woman wearing it to a tennis match, a polo match or horseriding. There’s leather lurking underneath, with some heavy nitromusks, a very pronounced vetiver, and a gentle shaving cream accord that many I’m sure, appreciated well outside the sporting field. It’s dynamic, vivid, calming and luxurious all at once. The simple angular bottle with its ribbed silver cap fits it perfectly. Even as an edt, it boasts, like all Lauders, impressive tenacity and sillage. It definitely holds to a full day of activity, with a freshly bottled freshness I’ve come to discover hidden under its deep green and brown facade! Today, it works as a perfect masculine fragrance as well. It always did, but fragrance gender is more blurred today than it was 4 decades ago; today, the genderless quality of perfume is more celebrated. The sad thing is that 99,99% of younger (and not so) people today, would probably frown their nose at it and dismiss it as an ‘old lady’ and ‘old man’ smell. Bad for them, better for anyone of us who can appreciate it. 9.5/10!

Estee Lauder’s Aliage is a determined and admirable attempt to bottle sporting summertime and make it available all year round. As orderly and well managed as Centre Court on finals day, this is a fragrance marshalled with ex-military precision. The opening is a brisk moss lawn made brilliant by warm sunshine. There are hints of citrus and a slightly malted fruitiness that tries but never succeeds in deposing tart as the chief mood. This green persists throughout the heart and is without doubt the main accord, a definite resinous pine becomes apparent and then yields somewhat to vetiver. There is a distant spiciness and a definite element of powder, but these seem medicinal, belonging far more to the locker room than the beauty parlour. The dry down is more a three set match than five and seems to end quite decisively in a tie break that takes one almost by surprise. All in all Aliage is a miraculously summoned up ray of sharp sunshine available on any day. In the midst of foul weather we should all be truly grateful that such things exist. ************* This is without doubt a game suitable for mixed doubles. Notice Aliage has recently regained its missing ‘l’ and once again become ‘Alliage’. Sadly in so doing it seems to have lost much of its vigour and derring-do. Catch the old magic where and while you can.

Aliage, 'new' (May 2012 batch) vs. 'vintage' (poss. late 90's/early 00's) The older Aliage is so amazingly green, 3D green, like balsam/pine essential oil and camphor, forest air, a mulch/soil drydown, for more see my other review a few down. The new, when compared side by side, relies far more on woody notes than pine and green notes. Shockingly, I smell MORE oakmoss in my newer bottle (listed fairly high up in the ingredient list, as well as treemoss further down.) I can smell the oakmoss from top to bottom, as well as the fresh spicy nutmeg, rosewood, cedar, and vetiver, with a hint of peach. The lush, camphor green is present as a ghostly sidenote that occasionally weaves in and out, but does get stronger the longer you have it on. I actually enjoy my current bottle very much, as much as the 'old' Aliage, but this is an example of a perfume truly changed by reformulation, vs. small tweaks over time. Side by side they are not even recognizable as the same perfume. I read with interest Assiduosity's edit that Aliage is being reformulated yet AGAIN, this time I would guess not for the better, and I went to the Estee Lauder website for another bottle of one of my favorite perfumes before it is gone--alas they are already out of stock of Aliage, maybe waiting for the new reformulation to come in?

Very gratified to read TillyWave's review of this fragrance, because I was not aware that it had been reformulated. I used to wear this almost exclusively in the 1980s, occasionally switching to Prescriptives' Calyx or Joan Collins's Scoundrel (I know, I know, it was Revlon!) and when I recently purchased a new bottle of Aliage, I thought I'd gotten old stock or something. It smells like a very, very concentrated version of the old formula, but without the green, citrusy notes. The old Aliage was more aldeyde than chypre, as well. I still like the fragrance, very much in fact, but it's not the love affair I had with the original Aliage. Lots of reviewers (good reviewers, too!) are calling this scent "green," but TillyWave is right. If you had smelled the old version, this isn't the same green. The new formulation is spicy by comparison. The original was better.... significantly better, but this is still nice in a heavier, more subtle way. I miss the grassy notes. Miss them a lot.

I'm testing both the vintage and current formula today, wrist to wrist. At first speay, they're very similar, but the vintage version is sharper and greener. They start to show very different notes within a minute or so after application. The current version has noticeable wood notes and comes across as more earthy and a little bit soapy. They both have a kind of camphor/menthol note in the background, although it's more pronounced in the current version. I smell no floral notes in either. Yep, after some wear, the difference is very clear and they are two different fragrances. The vintage version is a green dominant chypre fragrance, and the current version is a wood dominant chypre-ish fragrance. I like both, but am more drawn to the vintage version because it's so very, very green. My husband likes the current version because of the wood and camphor-ish notes. Staying power is weak on the current version, but the vintage lingers quite a while and stays green the entire time.

@MLHaskell, it's not you. You haven't changed, but Aliage has. I wore this during the Summer of 1985, right after I graduated from high school. I also continued it into my first real job later that Fall. I can't tell you how many guys adored this fragrance. I had many questions about it. Back then, it was a bright, fresh, natural and green fragrance. There was nothing like it. I smelled the reformulation several years ago, even before they put them in the "House of Lauder" bottles. It was most definitely, not the same fragrance. Gone was the clean green sensation, and it was replaced with something totally different, almost a staleness. I was so disappointed. So, it's definitely not you. The fragrance has changed. It's just not the pretty perfume it used to be. I think I might order a decant of the original formula from Surrender to Chance, like dismalharmony did. I really miss Aliage.

Aliage--the first perfume that made me a perfume lover! I must say I was afraid to sample this again after about 40 years of not smelling it. How could it possibly live up to my memory... several other vintage scents that I have re-tried decades later have been disappointments. But THIS! Holy cannoli it was every bit as unique and powerful and envigorating as I had hoped. It is just its own very specific, highly unusual creature which means much more to me now having tried several hundred other scents since I the last time I owned this. If you are looking for something very outdoorsy and very much what a bad-ass-boss-lady (or guy!) would wear, then this is a gem. I probably won't buy a bottle on ebay or anything cuz I'll worry about the condition of the juice... but I absolutely will order more decants of it. It is love all over again.

l haven't been able to buy Alliage anywhere for years. When l suddenly remembered about it and started looking for it in the net l discovered that there are two kinds. The 70s original "Alliage" and a later reformulation "Aliage" (different spelling). l cannot compare them now since they are not to be found in Europe but there are many articles in the net saying that the smell is definitely different now. l remember only the old "Alliage" since my mother was using it in the 70s and it was really strong, apparently even too strong for some. Somehow it reminded me of black pepper. The reformulation, as they say, has made it softer and more flowery. l cannot forget the old 'Alliage" - it was beautiful. Despite the fact that it was so many years ago l can still remember the smell very well and l would definitely recognise it instantly.

So apparently Estee Lauder has redesigned the bottle for Aliage, among a number of its older landmark fragrances like Cinnabar and Azuree, and has unfurled a new marketing campaign that showcases these scents. Where I live it probably won't arrive for a while, if at all. Can anyone who lives in the US - I'm assuming that is where the launch is taking place - have a sniff and let us know if this is yet another reformulation, a return to the vintage juice (too good to be true, I know) or just the same stuff that they market now in a refurbished bottle? Aliage was my very first scent and to this day I haven't found anything that compares with the wonderful original scent. I miss it so much.

When I was in college, I rented a room from one of my profs in his big house. He had a younger, very beautiful girlfriend who stayed over sometimes. She wore this and smelled fantastic. She turned me on to Grape Nuts too (lol)!! She would shower in the morning, spritz on Aliage, then go downstairs for a bowl of Grape Nuts (Isn't it funny the things you remember?) I think this was the first designer perfume I ever bought, even as a poor college student. These were the days of Calvin Klein designer jeans and white, silk button down blouses. Now, when I wear this gorgeous perfume, I always think of her. Spicy, delicious, and beautiful! LOVE IT!

I have an older bottle, not exactily vintage, but maybe 90's version. Dark deep and positively unisex, with a heaping dose of a dank northern forest dripping with oakmoss on a murky spring day, when it's been warmer and raining and bringing out all the flavors of the earth. At times bitter and camphourous and yet sweet, in the way that these rich perfumes can be. There is debate about labeling perfumes as winter vs summer, but I wore Aliage on a summer day and it was overwhelming--I almost felt ill from wearing it. A colder day is better for wearing Aliage, it settles much better, and its dark deep notes flower better that way.

This fragrance is incredibly crisp and green, refreshing without being insipid. This fragrance demonstrates one possible path to "freshness" while avoiding the Scylla of "bracing to the point of assault" and the Charybdis of total banality. Aliage has that sort of preppy-dykey 70's vibe of a woman looking great in an athletic and fresh-faced way, in spite of an unflattering haircut and shoes. I suppose that image was planted in my brain by viewing the old ads but trust me, it's quite apt. I appreciate Estee Lauder for keeping this fragrance alive and available.

mschnabel666- I have the same bottle. I purchased it sometime in the mid to late 2000's. IIRC it was quite soon after they changed the bottle from the original shape. It is, unfortunately, not the vintage version of Aliage but a reformulation and very inferior to the original. Yes, it is more masculine and more bitter. Earthy rather than green as it used to be. I can not wear it and my husband really does not care for it on me either. I only keep it in my collection as a reminder and a commemoration of the fragrance that I once loved.

Lately started trying some fragrances targeted for women, to expand my collection and horizons. I was able to get a decant of Aliage. It's very nice, definitely more of a unisex fragrance. In fact, it reminds me of another "masculine" fragrance from about the same time frame (early-mid 70s): Grey Flannel. For me, Aliage actually comes across as a greener, more-masculine version of Grey Flannel. Will be an autumn/winter scent for me, especially for more formal occasions.

Aliage is now a corpse scent . It used to be vivacious . It can barely be recognized . It is flat and boring . Estée Lauder continues to destroy the rich , complex, and long lasting scents that Estee produced in her lifetime . Do they think teens are going to buy Aliage anyway ? Hard to understand their logic . This is now a BORING perfume . If they hatchet Beautiful and Youth Dew, they can kiss American women goodbye as customers.

I was just rereading some of the reviews here (to procrastinate) and anyway... many of you are upset about the reformulation and so I’ll suggest ordering a decant from Surrender to Chance, if you’re in the US. What I bought from them seems to be just what I remember from the 70s. It made me so happy!

Love crisp, cold, green scents. These hold some of my earliest scent memories when I first fell in love with fragrance. Cristalle, Chanel 19, and my Aliage. Love these crystal beauties. Love wearing them in the dead of winter to breathe in the cold air and catch snowflakes on my tongue.

Aliage is a very underrated scent. I personally think it one of Estee Lauders best second only to Youth Dew. It manages to be a very green scent that is also rich & sensual , a combination that few perfumes accomplish. I have only tried the vintage version however.

I had Aliage around 10-15 years ago. I could smell mainly the nutmeg and cinamon. It did not sit well with me, I put it in my parents' bathroom and then I realized that I would prefer it on men. And since it's such a classic I see it as a work fragrance for winter.

Oh how much I loved this! I wish it was still around.