Bronze Goddess Eau de Parfum

* full 100 ml EDP with box available for swap * Alright, this also has been on my want list for a hot minute, so imagine my joy when I finally found a 100 ml bottle of this, sealed BNIB for 40$ from a girl in Moscow. I think I am developing a bit of an obsession for finding a good deal when a fragrance is sold at an exorbitant price, but anyways, I am digressing. I will start by saying that I hate the marketing strategy Estee Lauder adopted with the Bronze Goddess line. I get it, this was meant to be a limited edition when it first came out, but given that it had an enormous success, why didn't they keep a couple versions (say, EDT, EDP, and skinscent) as regulars in their collection? What's the point in reformulating Bronze Goddess every year? And now any version of this is almost impossible to find and sold at unreasonable prices. Not to mention that if one falls in love with one of the fragrances, it's so easy to get mistaken and buy a different formulation. It really frustrates me. I feel like I'm holding the menu at one of those stupid restaurants that have a 50 page menu where all the dishes are basically made with the same ingredients but in a different order, a sloppy mess, hundreds of choices all similar but all different. Anyways. Let's talk about the EDP. I do think this is richer and creamier than the skinscents (I have tried a couple) that I tried. If I had to give this juice a color, I would give it a golden, shiny, thick, glowing color, just like the bottle. Liquid gold. This is sweet, cozy, summery, but also remains fresh, it is not cloying, or nauseating, it's sweet in a comforting way, and it's very summery and beachy. I love how the notes are blended together, the main ones standing out being frangipani, coconut, and vanilla, with a bed (or tanning bed) of bergamot around them. It does not have a suntan lotion vibe, it's not creamy in that way, but damn this is delicious. I love this. The frangipani stays fresh, and it doesn't make this overpowering, nor does it suppress the other notes. I hate frangipani some fragrances, I feel it heavily in some Paco Rabanne ones, and it smells obnoxious, like that one relative that gets drunk at every family reunion and no one can stand them. It's a tricky note that can become rancid to my nose real fast. The bottle is gorgeous. This is a keeper for me. I am still very frustrated with how this whole line is managed, and that unless you are super lucky and find this on a resale, even duty frees ask 150 bucks for it. But, still, this is an amazing fragrance. Longevity is extraordinary on clothes, lasts for days, and stays on pretty well on me all day. The skinscent I have tried stayed on well on clothes too, they have a good grip on clothes or something. Sillage and projection are moderate to good, but I would not want this to be a powerhouse. It is perfect as it is to me.

I bought this as soon as it was released because Bronze Goddess *should* have been my favorite perfume (given the notes) but instead it's something I love/hate. The original skinscent has an accord or note that smells horrifically synthetic on me and when it kicks in my throat feels like I'm coming down with a cold. Scratchy and irritated and uncomfortable. I bought the EDP to see if they solved that issue and initial tests say they have! Rejoice! I've worn this for one day, it was delivered this morning. Our weather is currently cold and crappy so not ideal weather for BG. But I couldn't wait. Sprayed immediately. 1. This is not a powerhouse fragrance. It is fairly light, and one could easily spritz away more than my usual 3 sprays and not be overpowering ot others (at least in the cold, heat may change that). 2. The horrific synthetic note is gone. (again in the cold. Will edit once summer comes). 3. Still isn't as coconut dominant as I would like. Ah well. 4. On me, after wearing for 6 hours I can say this develops slowly, but surely. It's not a huge change but it is there. First spray is a gentle blend of white florals and a creamy sweet milky/coconut vibe. (No suntan lotion, yay!) Over a course of a few hours the flowers change a bit, until I was clearly smelling the frangipani and coconut milk (a very diffuse and abstract take on it). Layered over a bed of cashmere wood and musk. These last two are very well blended, neither stand out. But what I smell isn't distinctly either so I'm calling it both. I feel like this is a grown up version of Bronze Goddess. If the original was a 20 something slathered in sunscreen, drinking a sugary cocktail on the beech this is a woman of indeterminate age (but definitely a bit of experience). She's grown up a bit, she is sitting sensibly in the shade of a beautiful flowering tropical tree and she's got a far more grown up drink in her hand. ;) I like it.

I'm quite liking this one. Definitely a summer in a bottle kinda scent. It's dead in the middle of winter here in West Australia and I'm craving summer so badly, this at least let's me pretend it is just for a while. Where tom ford Orchid soleil makes me think of a deserted coastline, untouched and surrounded by dune shrubbery, right at the hottest part of the day with no breeze( my favourite kind of beach); Bronze goddess edp reminds me of the opposite, late morning on a tropical oasis looking beach, shaded by coconut palms and lush green bushes fill the air with the sweet perfume of tropical flowers in bloom, a light cool breeze is blowing by and my skin is warming under the glow of the sun, I'm sipping an ice cold glass of coconut water and breathing in the clean beach air. It really is your typical beach scent but as usual with estee lauder, it's impeccably well blended and the coconut is nice and natural, without that synthetic nauseating pineapple-y fruitiness to it. The cashmere note gives it a clean linen type freshness which keeps it from being too sweet. Overall I quite enjoy it and I'm really craving coconut lately so this is hitting the spot

So, I’ve read the comments and let me pose a question for you all. - each of you I’m safe in assuming come from a family. Mother, father, siblings ect. You each have the same name, same genetics (siblings and cousins) all similar and represent a lineage. Yet, not every single one of you is exactly the same. All different qualities and personalities that make you unique. Well, this is the same with fragrance. I know this is long winded just for a perfume but it’s distracting when there is a fuss that this shouldn’t be in the BG family. Yes it absolutely should. It has the fine makeup on the BG family but beautifully individual as well. I like it. I like all of them. I simply sniffed with my pure coconut perfume and molecule for a bit of an extra kick and it’s great. No need to freak out, make it work for you. This is nothing new fron a Lauder

So I am doing an Estée Lauder stint today. Fine with me, because I love Lauder's scents. They often work very well on my skin, and many of them - among them Bronze Goddess - have good sillage/longevity. Also, buying Estée Lauder make-up-sets was one of my grandma's little vices. She was a city girl from Vienna, loving the opera, theatre and cinema, but she moved to the countryside when she got married. I do not think she ever got to appreciate her beautiful garden (I rather suspect she was bored out of her mind by it), but she did enjoy her Lauder lipsticks! Anyway: Bronze Goddess is lovely on my skin! I get the frangipani, the coconut and the vanilla. I do not know the other Bronze Goddess perfumes, so I cannot be disappointed by comparison. Is ignorance bliss? Oh, I don't know :-)