Hey Posse, Hey Posse Hey hey, HEY POSSEEEEEEEE! Portia from AustralianPerfumeJunkies with an old favourite of mine. Earlier this year I discovered Azuree still for sale in Europe so I have a couple of older juice and a new one. Today I’ll be writing about the modern one I bought then. The differences are less marked than you might think, I feel that the Lauder corporation has kept this one as close to the original intent as possible. Yet the current formulation feels lighter and more buoyant. More relevant.

Azuree by Bernard Chant for Estée Lauder 1969

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Aldehydes, sage, bergamot, artemesia, gardenia, basil
Heart: Cyclamen, orris, ylang-ylang, jasmine, geranium, rose, vetiver
Base: Leather, amber, patchouli, oakmoss, musk

We are RAPIDLY heading towards the holiday season. I was raised a Catholic so in this house we celebrate Christmas but I know many of you will be celebrating a wealth of different things. Even the non religious have rituals that coincide with the season. Last year through the season I wore SO MANY FRAGRANCES that I was awhirl. This year I think I’ll wear a single fragrance for the whole season, yes, you guessed it Azuree by Estee Lauder.

From Estee Lauder UK: Introduced in 1969, Azurée was inspired by the blue of the Mediterranean near Mrs. Estée Lauder’s vacation home in Cap d’Antibes, off the coast of France. When asked to describe Azurée, Mrs. Lauder said, “Azurée is a golden girl, languorously basking in the warm Mediterranean sun. She is the eternal optimist spreading sunshine everywhere she goes.”.

Photo Stolen Flickr

The thing about Azuree is that it reminds me of another Bernard Chant fragrance, the first fragrance my mother gave me as a teen, Aramis. The modern Azuree is even more of a memory jolt than the vintage. I just LOVE wearing it and though it’s meant to invoke the French Riviera, I think the time when the French Riviera smelled like this has gone, gone with the cleaning up of waterways, the lack of Gitanes smoked endlessly, petrol smells hardly coming from the scooters and even the suntan lotion smells different. Nowadays Azuree smells like Christmas. The heady aldehydic rush is quieter than the original, smoother and less herbaceous in your face, more floral but as if they were green flowers. I know, doesn’t really make sense. Then the woods and leather basically hijack the bouquet and hold it under them until they too fade into a warm, crackly amber. It is sweeter, softer and altogether more wearable.

Photo Stolen Pixabay

You know what this fragrance smells like to me? It smells like unconditional love. It smells of empowerment, growing up, getting dressed up to go ice skating with the gang from school or rehearsals for theatre productions, the smell of frantic fumblings in the back seat of the cinema and going for coffee in Oxford St on a Saturday morning after wandering the markets there. Modern Azuree takes me back to the years when I, and my life, were only possibilities. It seemed as if it would stretch out forever in the glorious sunlit wonder that my extremely lucky youth felt like most of the time.

Photo Stolen Flickr

Further reading: Bois de Jasmin and Now Smell This
Galaxy Perfume has $75/60ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $3/ml

What will you wear to bring back happy memories this holiday season?
Portia xx