SpellBound by Estée Lauder

Rare, and I like it. The fruity opening gives way to a note that brings me a memory of honey. Maybe because the sweetness is emphasized without being cloying. Then it dries down with significant complexity. It’s one of those fragrances that comes and goes, making itself known. It’s not a monster in terms of projection or sillage, but it constantly plays, comes and goes, and turns around, almost by magic. Sweet and innocent at first, it maintains that line to gradually take you to a more complex terrain, with an animal note, a civet that modulates the whole without being the protagonist. There are many notes in this fragrance; it’s hard to distinguish them. The overall impression has a synthetic aftertaste at the start, but nothing annoying, then it disappears. One note dominates over others depending on the phase. It would be a fruity opening, sweet but not cloying, then floral, and a final amber phase with vanilla and animal notes in equal parts. Vetiver, cedar, and sandalwood don’t want to show up for me today. And that is its great virtue, its constant movement, the way the different phases relate. From the start, it’s a non-stop ride. It has that aura of great compositions. Vintage clear glass bottle, smooth body, reminding me of other houses’ bottles, though here the shapes are less rounded. Precise gold spray and collar. I feel it’s unisex.

I used this wonderful fragrance years ago for dinners with my father, friends, or formal outings; it left a prodigious trail full of mystery and sophistication. A while ago, I managed to get a miniature with a sprayer, and it was still wonderful, so enchanting and sophisticated… How much I wish to find a full bottle to add to my collection. A unique perfume and another masterpiece by Estée Lauder.

Spellbound has left me spellbound, just as its name suggests. Its opening, its heart, and its dry-down are characteristics of a great creation. It’s impossible to stop smelling it over and over again. Even if you don’t bring your hand close, its effluvia come to you. It has left me transfixed. This perfume by Sophia Grojsman must have been a bombshell in its time, because it is very, very unusual. It has a sweet, fruity synthetic characteristic that dominates the entire life of the fragrance, and this is a very long life. I was warned about the specialness of this perfume, but it has surpassed any warning. It is an absolute amalgam of fruits, flowers, some woods, in short, a lot of components that are very difficult to break down individually, making a powerful, very characterful whole that could easily be an object of cult today. It is a sweetness that, without becoming narcotic as it could have been in the 80s, has a luminous beauty that gives it some lightness by mixing a very dense formula. I take off my hat to this great perfumer again and again; she always, always moves me. I think she could reach (for me) the status of the best perfumer of all time. She becomes so incredibly good that even when she does something synthetic, she imbues it with an elegance that is impossible to ignore, because this elegance is her personal signature. The carnation in Spellbound is a fantasy carnation, mixed with beautiful fruits; it’s like imagining holding carnations in your hands while taking a bite out of a high-quality red licorice. It treats the perfume with components that seem unreal and very luminous, making it leave behind those synthetic scraps that one might initially find strange, but which turn into sweet warmth as they evolve, thanks to resins, amber, and vanilla… Perfect for varying from everything else in your wardrobe. If you want something with the sweet opulence of the 80s but with a luminous and modern character (as of today): Spellbound. It is a perfume that carries a lot of positivity in its formula because it is an explosion of many components treated differently, yet ending up offering a result that, no matter how strange it may be, works. I see this clearly in people who are extremely original, who go their own way, who have that characteristic where everything they do resonates, people with a lot of fire, exciting people, people whose eyes shine when they explain something to you, people who dream while awake.

A sweet-citrusy point of juicy fruits and fresh flowers with sandalwood, very typical of my beloved Sophia Grosjman. This wonderful floral perfume has a bit of Paris, a little Volupté at times, and a juicy peach reminiscent of Trésor and Yvresse. The top is fruity: blackberries, juicy fruits like peaches, ripe red plums, a touch of raspberry and apricot, interwoven with hints of orange blossom and vetiver. Towards the end, at five hours, soft traces of vanilla, amber, and benzoin appear, nuanced by cedar. I didn’t detect civet or animal notes, as I’m reviewing the current market version. Beautiful, feminine, voluptuously floral, and warmly floral, just like everything this artist creates. On my skin, it lasts about six hours, being very potent during the first hour.

I bought it and I regret it… in the end, it leaves a sugary alcohol scent, unbearable…

The Great Enchantment of Lauder, I love it and it was born as the synthetic and most sensual perfume, it’s true. Nowadays, neither the extrait de parfum nor the eau de parfum is available; the eau de parfum was intense and wonderful, almost reaching the limits. I will never understand how this perfume disappeared until the body line and its small sizes. It was like black magic love, a bomb.