Estee Lauder will launch Modern Muse, a new fragrance for women, in September. Modern Muse is reportedly the brand's "first major women’s scent statement" since 2003's Beyond Paradise and aims to "cast women as stars in their own lives".
Modern Muse was developed by perfumer Harry Fremont and features notes of mandarin, tuberose, lily, honeysuckle, dewy petals, jasmine, patchouli, vanilla, amber wood and musk.
Estee Lauder Modern Muse will be available in 30, 50 and 100 ml Eau de Parfum, a 30 ml Parfum will be introduced in 2014.
(via wwd)
Update: see a review of Estee Lauder Modern Muse.
Sounds fairly indicative of the recent trends for watery florals. Still might be worth a sniff.
They’re usually very well done, even if I don’t always love them.
Could be interesting 🙂
Yep.
I havent had my coffee yet, so take all I’m going to say like the ramblings of a grumpy guy.
Modern Muse? Really? This goes right there on my list of weird perfume names like Provocative Woman.
Also this looks like the White Linen bottle with a different cap.
And the list of notes makes me think that maybe they have too much unused stock of raw materials for the Private Collection and they want to go through it. Water it down, mix it up and recoup the costs. And maybe make a profit.
All said, probably Mr Fremont has made a wonderful perfume that not only smells great but go on to sell millions. But the ad and the concept …. a muse, an art gallery, the model posing with the bottle in a very forced way. Its too literal to be true. Too first year-design and advertising work assignment.
And for those who say that criticism comes cheap, and where is my constructive input.,, I’ll leave you with this idea: changing the name of the perfume for one of the classic muses would have made all the difference…and you could use the other names for the flankers.
See? It wasnt so hard! Now out for my shower and coffee, after wich I’ll see everything peachy keen again 😉
KG…glad you showed up…no matter your mood. Wanted to ask you if you’ve sniffed any of the Fueguia 1833 Patagonia perfumes…or visited the Buenos Aires store?
Hi Kevin!
Yes I’ve been to the store and the pop up stores in some malls here.
I like it. The line has some “Argentinian” vibe in which the smells refer to country stuff like wild herbs or woods.
But quite polished nonetheless, and good staying power IMHO.
If you want to contact me personally, I am in Facebook as Pedro D’Ardis say you are Kevin from NST so I can add you.
I am not loving the name either. Pass the coffee 🙂
I like both bottle and the notes, but I find it strange that Sensuous and it’s flankers don’t qualify as a “major statement fragrance”? If not, what was Sensuous?
My thoughts exactly…either that means they’re going to invest way more in advertising for this one, or that the advertising for Sensuous did not pan out as hoped.
Fronted by model Arizona Muse.
I was wondering this myself.
Well, I still hadn’t seen or tried Very Estee, which may mean that wasn’t in very wide distribution to begin with. And this bottle sort of looks like the Very Estee bottle I think? Interesting how they position this one as their first major release since 2003 – sort of implies Sensous isn’t living up to their expectations as a pillar fragrance, although it certainly seemed to be selling well to me.
Anyway, I’ll surely try this as I love Lauder.
What I find ironic here is that the bottle design and ad of a perfume with “Modern” in the title look like something straight out of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s times. The model is styled like a flapper and the bottle with that art deco cap and the boozy and faded tones of the ad just look very 1920s to me. Interesting ad concept for something called Modern Muse…when it appears more as shades of Zelda Fitzgerald.
But that’s the era of Modernism! Maybe it’s actually a double play on “modern,” as in the time period/art movement as well as the sense of “modern” as “contemporary.” In which case, it’s kind of clever.
So I too just thought it was a dumb name… the word “modern” is a little the word “interesting”– it rarely is. But you may be right!!
They’re definitely going for the 20s, wouldn’t be surprised if there was a Gatsby tie-in as with Tiffany’s and Brooks Brothers. I’m already sick of Gatsby.
Like Emily I think of Modernism when I hear “modern,” it’s kind of confusing since modern-era perfumes include “classics” like No.5. And maybe the target audience is a little older than the standard Sephora new-release target, this doesn’t look like it would appeal to the Aquolina/Lovestruck crowd and “Modern Muse” sounds a little retro.
“Like Emily?” I mean *Elisa*! Pass the coffee, kaos.geo.
I think I drank it all 🙂
This, like a lot of the Estee Lauder perfumes, doesn’t seem too unique or interesting, but I do tend to like most of the women’s fragrances they have, even if I wouldn’t wear some of them. I was a fan of Beyond Paradise years ago (can’t stand it now), so I’ll be checking this one out. I tend to enjoy florals that have a warm, vanilla base, but I find the addition of patchouli intriguing. Too bad we have to wait until 2014 to try it.
Okay, first the salty part:
“Cast women as stars in their own lives?” But the tag line is “Be an Inspiration.” So it’s either “Be an Inspiriation … TO YOURSELF” which is pretty egotistical. Or it’s be someone else’s inspiration, and someone editing this whole ad campaign decided last minute that it was too passive sounding and tried to inject some girl power in there, awkwardly. Just call it “Diva” and you cover all bases.
The tuberose, lily, honeysuckle, dewy petals and amber wood accords Estee Lauder uses are all very sweet and chemically – too many accords like this = a sweet, chemical floral. But people who lament the loss of Black Orchid Voile du Fleur should probably take notice.
Maybe this IS Very Estée? The bottle and notes look the same. I never saw or smelled that one even though my best friend works for EL. I wonder if she knows…
Hmm. She says no. They do seem very similar. (She hasn’t smelled this yet)
The bottles are similar-ish. Mostly the colours, not the shapes (bottle or cap).
There was a time when Estee Lauder had something original to bring to the perfume table but that seems like ancient history now!
Despite all the hubbub with regard to Beyond Paradise and its fabricated fragrance molecules, it seemed overly concocted and falsely floral.
This new EL is already giving me a migraine…tuberose plus vanilla!
What ever happened to Beautiful perfumes…oops! That WAS what Estee Lauder was all about.
What the hell did they Consider Sensuous if not a MAJOR Fragrance Launch? and what happened to Very Estee??? Getting Tired of these Reindeer Games Fragrance Companies play….
Sampled Modern Muse this week at Dillards. It wasn’t for sale yet but available to try. I found it to be pleasant, long lasting, and nice. There was a watercolor painting in my grandmother’s house of an English flower garden beside a path to sun-dappled woods. If your bedroom window was open beside this garden in the watercolor, it would be awash with what this fragrance smells like. It is definitely not a pencil sketch or block print — it is soft, colorful floral petals mixing into one another.
I didn’t choose the painting when we were cleaning out her house, and I probably won’t choose to buy this fragrance. But I might choose a spritz or two for a day’s pleasure if I walk by a bottle.
I sampled this today at Macy’s and was hoping to be a fan as it started out quite well…. After about fifteen minutes all I could think of is AquaNet hairspray…..with the same “pinchy-ness” that Spellbound had….terrific staying power though.