Beautiful Magnolia

Smells like Versace Bright Crystal sans yuzu and mahogany. Also, it’s in a more refined bottle since Bright Crystal’s marketing and packaging is to appeal to a different demographic. So, if you love Bright Crystal but hide the bottle and you’re not very fond of the sour yuzu note at the beginning of Bright Crystal nor the intense woodiness in the dry down, then this would be a perfect alternative. Also has a good resemblance to Eternity Aqua as well. They have similar notes in common. Some say it doesn’t last long, but I beg to differ. It’s most likely because you got used to the scent after a short time, but I bet others around you can smell it just fine. I couldn’t smell this either after about an hour, but a friend complimented me on this scent after I’ve worn it for over 7 hours. They say when you can’t smell a scent on yourself after a short time, it’s then that a scent suits you. Since I’ve received a lot of compliments while wearing this recently, yet I’m not able to smell this after a short time, then maybe that is true? If you’re a magnolia fan, this is a must try. The intense version is more iris much like one of the newer LVEB versions, rather than magnolia. If you love iris, give that a try. Since I already own an iris scent I’m fond of, then the intense version is most likely not for me. I could change my mind though. I have not tried the L’eau version which I hear has lavender. I’m guessing that could be similar to Libre perhaps? I’ve, for the most part, had good luck with Estée Lauder perfumes over the years. If there was a miss here or there, it was only a matter of personal taste rather than the quality of those products. Every perfume is not meant for everyone and neither is every product out on the market. It is for this reason that although reviews can be helpful, I’ve found it’s always best to sample first. Since a lot of scents offer a travel size spray option, that is a perfect way to try out a scent in your own environment to see how it wears vs. trying it in the store. It’s too easy to get scents mixed up because of the commingling of other scents having been sprayed there in the store. If a scent doesn’t work for you, you’re not out a lot of money and you can easily pass it on to someone else. Edit to add: tried the L’eau version yesterday and it smells more like Acqua di Gioia. Not exact, but close. Edit to add 2: I’ve worn a sample of the intense version and I find it quite nice for evening time for warmer weather in spring and fall and daytime during the winter. With the summer heat we have here, the L’eau version would be best during the day and this version for evening. It gets cool here but doesn’t get cold much during the winter, so this would be perfect for daytime. My other iris scent I can wear in the evening during the winter and on days we’re having a cold snap.

Overall I like this. It's pretty, feminine, uplifting and has more than decent silage and longevity, like most EL scents in my experience. Yes, it's generic but that's not what is preventing me from buying a bottle of this. What bothers me is that somehow the top notes - especially the lotus - never fade. They are pleasant enough but they overwhelm the composition and never give the base notes a chance to shine. I would prefer them to recede after a while and let the wood get some of the limelight. I find that the scent creates a sort of shampoo-ey scent bubble around the wearer that, although pleasant, smells a bit synthetic in an aquatic way. After I tested this I revisited Beautiful Belle which I had tested a few years ago when it came out. I found that it also has a sort of unbalanced top-heaviness and even a discordance between the notes. I don't find the same discordance in Beautiful Magnolla. I think I will test this a third time because there are certainly aspects of this fragrance that really appeal to me despite its drawbacks. Update December 2023 - so two years later and I now own a mini of this that came in a free gift from a purchase of Estee Lauder products. Am I crazy? When I just sprayed this now it suddenly threw me back to 1986 when I owned my first bottle of the OG Beautiful as a university student. There IS something in here that recalls the vintage OG and I did not smell it ever before on the multiple occasions when I sampled this scent in the store. I am thrilled of course and plan to purchase a FB of this when I'm done with my mini. Update 6/24 - I got a really great deal on a 30 ml bottle of the 2022 Wonderland edition. Although I do prefer the aesthetic of the regular version, the red bottle with the star charms is cute and, most importantly, the fragrance is the same.

I LOVE this and it may be HG status for me. Discovered inadvertently while sniffing and sampling fragrances at Sephora, I went on my way to give things time to develop on my skin. I was enchanted by this one and kept sniffing my arm. I had to go back and get a travel size spray. The full size is $$ and it takes me forever to get through any fragrance anyway. Now onto the scent. This reminds me of Halle Berry Exotic Orchid and of the drydown of Britney Spears' Curious. Softly aquatic and floral but no sharp notes. With these types of scents I always get a hint of leather too. I love fragrances that tend to hover in the mid notes and this is one of them. I live in a hot climate and I can see this feeling just right on a summer day. Not sweet or gourmand or sharp or screechy citrus. It's softly clean like others have mentioned... like a nice shampoo. I do just a couple small spritzes on my arms in the morning and I enjoy the scent almost all day. It radiates softly around me. I don't like my fragrance to yell. This hits all the right spots for me.

This is a BEAUTIFUL flanker. I find myself craving it and wanting more of that sweet blend of magnolia and lotus. Julia called it a "duet" in her article, and that's the perfect way to describe how this smells. A fresh perfect intermingling of magnolia and lotus, where neither pulls to overtake, they just gently intertwine. Magnolia never becomes too sharp, just a gentle sparkle, and lotus never too murky, just watery enough. Gardenia is there, too, kind of blooming inside the main duet to add some flesh and body, while rose petals float by in the water flowing around the lotus. It doesn't make much sense, but I can see a magnolia tree by a river bank, with lotus in the water, maybe one gardenia bush just starting to bloom, and someone has scattered a small amount of fresh rose petals in the water - they've just scattered them, I can still seem them falling from the air. Maybe it's not earth-shattering to most people, they'll just smell a watery floral and call it a day. But I do love it and think it's beautifully done.

Wow, I'm a little surprised at all the negative reviews. The sample that I got prompted me to get a full-sized bottle, I loved it so much. To be fair, I do not know what magnolia smells like, so I had no expectations. It was a free sample so I was all about that, regardless of what it may or may not smell like, LOL This is such a soft, feminine perfume. Starts off on me as a bright, warm floral, and dries down a bit musky. I do have both this and Britney Spears Curious, and while their openings are pretty different, the dry down is fairly similar, though I would say Beautiful Magnolia's dry down is sweeter and more floral than Curious. It's not a complex scent, and I will agree that the performance isn't the best, but it's such a lovely scent that I bought the full-sized bottle. It smells like a warm blanket on a sunny spring day and I love it!