Beautiful is just, well, Beautiful! In its original vintage formula. But it’s also kind of an oddity for Lauder standards. Back when it launched, the mighty 80’s, Lauder had Azurēe, Private Collection, Youth Dew, Cinnabar... it lacked a big floral, but somehow it wasn’t what you’d expect from the house. Among the bitchy chypres and the fiery orientals, genres Estēe knew to a T, Beautiful was the obvious missing choice for the repertoire. But it also feels out of place. For starters, there’s no signature to link it to Lauder, and secondly, Bernard Chant and Sophia Grojsman? I couldn’t recognize their style even if I was gun pointed with a vat of Beautiful. Beautiful was launched as a permed, romantic and shoulder padded wedding perfume/bride. At least that’s what the ads wanted you to believe. But underneath the excess, it’s a stunner of gigantic proportions that somehow left an imprint for the forthcoming Boucheron and Amarige, and also set the standard for romantic but excessive floral arrangements/perfumes. In a cultural way, Americans had Beautiful, Europeans had Ysatis. Straight from the opening blast, the floral bouquet permeates the air. Tuberose, jasmine, carnation, mimosa, ylang ylang...the richest, most buttery florals don’t lose time to let you know they’re here. The accompanying salvo simply stays in the background. A hint of violet and lilac provide classic austerity but it’s short lived. And the rich base enhances the florals with vanilla and amber. There’s no modesty. Beautiful is gigantic, intoxicating, engulfing. And it’s got all the right to be big; it feels as if it took the best qualities of Ysatis and americanized them, imprinting the style of the house and instead of going for overt animalism, going for a more classic touch. Because at the end of the day, Beautiful is a gorgeously composed big floral that shines from beginning to end. Everything smells bigger than life, everything feels real, just like the era felt it was the bigger and better version of reality. Beautiful wouldn’t have worked in a different time. Lauder followed on the big trend launching Knowing a few years later, and smelling them side by side, you recognize in the latter glimpses of the former. Beautiful was anti Lauder because Lauder had simply not done this genre before. You wanted green florals, floral leathers, chypres and orientals, you had the best America could offer at the nearest department store counter. But once the fragrance does it’s 24hour run on your skin, it’s unequivocally Estēe Lauder at its best; the house welcomed the 80’s floral, made the best out of it, and made it feel like one more of the impressive and supremely classy house catalogue. There was drama and opulence, but also some dryness, some oakmoss and woods to make it stylish and avoid smelling cheap. And that’s were the artistry of Beautiful lies; it was bombastic but couldn’t hide it’s elegant pedigree. Sillage and projection of mid 80’s edp is big but restrained, coming alive with temperature and movement variations. Longevity? From ‘Yes I do’ to the end of the honeymoon. Or at least like a night out with Andy Warhol!