Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia

As a true tuberose lover it is hard for me to resist the temptation to leave any perfume featuring tuberose unexplored, even though I have my favorites and really don't want to find any new favorites that I HAVE to have. My favorites are Serge Lutens Tubereuse Criminelle and Annick Goutal Tubereuse, and with those a part of my everyday life it's pretty hard for a tuberose perfume to get my attention but this one sure did. In fact my favorite two became my favorite three. First I smelled it at Nieman Marcus on the paper strip since I was not even going to give it any skin time, I just wanted to give it a quick sniff test on the test strip but right away I loved what I smelled. Then once I doused my wrists with it and let the fragrance dry down and develop. I know that it is a women's perfume but I am a firm believer there is no such thing as a women's perfume and a men's perfume. I think that even coming up with the concept was a colossally stupid idea, as if we cannot decide for ourselves what we wish to smell like. With that said, I believe that a lot of the women's fragrances smell much differently when a man wears them, further making them much more masculine than when worn by a woman. As a tuberose and gardenia lover I grow tuberose in my garden and gardenia in my greenhouse so I am very familiar with the exact smell of the live blooms and by so many of the comments on these sites it is very obvious that many of those commenting are not. This perfume is predominantly tuberose with gardenia as a secondary focal point. The many tuberose perfumes exhibit the tuberose scent in very different ways by focusing on different qualities of its scent profile. In this perfume we smell the sweet, creamy, rich floral qualities of tuberose while the wintergreen (salicylate) and camphor aspects of the natural fragrance are present but not emphasized so the tuberose in this perfume is sweeter, creamier and more purely floral with less of the camphor, green, wintergreen notes than the natural live tuberose flower. Also there are the sharp more citrus qualities in addition to the generic white floral contributed by the gardenia. As with most white florals this perfume as very good sillage. In general white florals are not something you wear if you don't want everyone sitting at your table to know you're wearing a white floral perfume. If they say that the orange blossom and other flowers are in there, I trust that they are, but I would be less than totally honest if I said that I can distinctly smell them. I just smell a beautiful rich and decadent tuberose mingled with a crisp, fresh gardenia. I am not sure if this is an eau de parfum but I would imagine it is because it does last a good 6-7 hours on my skin and it is not one of those perfumes that changes much as you wear it. After the first few minutes that is what it is and take it or leave it, that is what it's going to be, and for me it is something great that I could not deny a spot among my top favorite tuberose perfumes. I'm certain that any tuberose, gardenia, or white floral lover will, like I feel, never want to be without a bottle of this. It's a great perfume. Definitely now in MY private collection!

Since reading Luca Turin's glowing review of this scent as a young teenager, I have wanted to try this seemingly excellent rendering of gardenia. I wasn't disappointed - Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia is a classy, creamy white floral that does exactly what it says on the tin. Gardenia is a notoriously difficult note to emulate in perfumery - it has to be synthetically rendered, and thus, has resulted in many a misnomer (Chanel, Elizabeth Taylor, Penhaligon's et al.). I smelled gardenia flowers in France, and can confirm that PCTG features a realistic gardenia note. I also owned a rather good rendering of gardenia in soap-bar form once. It is a creamy, slightly sweet, slightly tropical white floral note - less carnal than tuberose, smoother and less tropically sweet than ylang ylang, less indolic yet more intense than jasmine, and earthier than all. There is a greenness to it, but more smoothly incorporated into the white creaminess than in other white florals. I am a lover of white florals, and so blind-bought a big bottle of the EDP. It certainly paid off - this is a simple yet spectacular white floral scent, nothing unusual, but remarkable in its execution. Gardenia is king here, the focal point of this scent, bolstered to perfection by sweet tuberose and other soft white florals. I get some hazy lilac in the opening, followed closely by the creamy gardenia that unfolds on my skin. The tuberose is sweet and muted, serving to enhance the gardenia. As it develops, clean, powdery jasmine rounds it out, and I get a nice, heady lily note too, unmistakable but restrained. There is a green undertone adding dewy, stem-like freshness but without taking from the creamy white florals at the heart of this scent. A little powdery vanilla adds sweetness to the drydown, and it becomes slightly musky as it fades. The sweet white florals remain until final fade. Sillage is strong and longevity is long-lasting - a little goes a long way. A masterfully-composed, classy white floral, this is elegant, timeless and ageless - not too carnal, not indolic, not too sweet, not artificial. Perfectly judged, it features a natural-smelling, high-quality white floral bouquet with just the right amount of sweetness and greenness. Rich and creamy without relying on the liberal use of vanillin, this is the real deal (and much more affordable than its quality suggests). Bonus points for the pitch-perfect gardenia note. A personal favourite. Faultless. 5/5.

One of my first perfumes. Was always a vanilla girl as a kid, and still am, but when it comes to florals, gardenia was my first floral love, and to this day, remains a favorite. Got this many years back when I was a young teen, shopping with my dad. Neimans at the time had a great cosmetics department and that’s where I’d find all my make up and beauty must haves that I’d ask my dad to get me, a true daddy’s girl, and he was my world and loved to spoil me. This perfume is a beautiful timeless scent, I lost the cap unfortunately at some point in the past 5 years, but I keep it in a cabinet or a perfume shelf I got. It isn’t something I wear often as I have newer scents that I like to play with and tend to sometimes for get about the oldies, esp if they are out of sight. But when I do remember to reach for this, it always smells as it did the very first time. Heavenly white florals, it’s strong enough that you know it’s there, but never too much or too little. It really is just the right amount. I looked to see how much I had left and was a bit saddened as I have only about 1/4 of juice left in my big bottle, but I’ll be testing the new one by aerin and hope they are similar. I wouldn’t mind finding the other bottle version of the decorated cap, though I'm not sure if there’s a difference in scent, I just know that I used to be amused by the perfume solids EL made with crystals and cute themes. I know EL has ruined a lot of the beloved fragrances loved by reformulations like Tom Ford perfumes, and since I’ve only owned this one bottle and am pretty sure it’s discontinued? I think that’s a shame. If I’m wrong then it’s not. Cause this is one of the most elegant scents I own, I always feel classy and feminine, and while I do think it would better suit a lady that’s in her mid twenties or later, I don’t think this is something that a 15 year old couldn’t wear, or at least on weekends, but as I said, I’ve had this scent for quite some time. I never got old lady vibes, to me it smells like a fairytale, with a cleanness combined with the white florals, gardenia being the star of the show, that make it so wearable and ageless. I will never tire of it as it’s a gem for life. Whenever i wear this, I think of my father, carrying a sentimental smile on my face.

Earlier batches of EL Tuberose & Gardenia were simply divine. The current formula is still good, however it smells more like jasmine sambac than gardenia or tuberose. (Tuberose was never dominant in this fragrance in the meantime.) It is colder, not lush & tropical like the previous version, and distinctively soapy, which makes it harder for me to wear... So, to give this fragrance an edge and some warmth, I tried to layer it with certain other fragrances I have. Here goes the result: Layered with L'occitane Eau des Vanilliers: A precious vintage indeed... Since EL Tuberose Gardenia already has bourbon vanilla -which became totally unnoticable after several years of maceration- I thought the two fragrances would complete each other. Well, actually L'Occitane devoured EL the moment it was sprayed over it. Madagascar vanilla dominates the composition while the Tuberose Gardenia accentuated its tropical element with a slight but noticeable gardenia hue... A success. The result is overall sweet. No soapiness... Layered with the Body Shop Vanilla: The quality difference between two fragrances became obvious in this combo. They worked fine together, the vanilla and gardenia, but frankly they seem like 2 friends where the fun loving, extrovert, girl next door is seducing an introverted, cold princess into go some sight seeing together... Layered with Yves Rocher Vanille Bourbon (vintage): Kudos, because back in time, even cheap (i.e. affordable) fragrances were made with such quality. This is the closest to the actual original bourbon vanilla note in the EL! And the two perfectly complements each other, in harmony... Layered with Yves Rocher Tendre Jasmin: I think this is my favorite combo over all. Tendre Jasmin dominates the composition, giving such a lovely, sweet and warm edge to the Tuberose Gardenia. The result is very close to the Spanish jasmine I adore, and it is quite realistic... Minty, but not cold and very elegant. I think the orange blossom note in both fragrances loved each other here. This combo seems like a very harmonious marriage.

I can't believe I haven't written a review for this beauty yet, I've been wearing it for a long time. The opening of Lauder's Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia is stunning. Refreshing, luscious, heady with a truly gorgeous gardenia. Thick, creamy, smooth, vegetal, subtly indolic, with an earthy, wet, mushroom touch, this is the closest I've come to "gardenia" in perfumery. The gardenia fades to a realistic yet almost translucent tuberose in the heart. This tuberose is creamy, sweet, and indolic but not overpowering. It doesn't go in the 'overripe cantaloupe' direction as so many do. Other nondescript florals peek through (the carnation note is subtle but vital to the seamless texture), a touch of vanilla maintains the form and color, the final phase reveals a soapy floral base. This one is restorative for me, it's a lovely perfume. Heady and opulent without offending or overwhelming the senses. Classical sensibilities beautifully rendered for the modern world. It's a Lauder release so it's well thought out and it smells fantastic for at least 3 hours. Most new releases only smell good for about 10 minutes, and most new white floral releases smell like screechy soap abominations. As for the Gucci comparison: Tuberose Gardenia doesn't smell anywhere near Gucci Bloom. That perfume is shrill and soapy from the get-go, and it is sorely lacking in realism and refinement. Tuberose Gardenia is so lifelike it has what can only be described as a 3-D effect. This perfume is expensive and hard to come by, but believe you me, it is worth every penny. If you want to get the most out of this beautiful gardenia, apply the perfume to clothing. If you want to find a bottle at a reduced price, I suggest habitually checking the Saks off Fifth website. The 30 ml bottle will occasionally come up for a good discount. You can also try the Lauder discount retailer "the cosmetics company store", although this website does not restock as frequently. Best of luck good smelling people!