Until Elizabeth Taylor Forever Elizabeth, my experience with the House of Taylor was limited to White Diamonds’s grande dame aldehydic floral and Black Pearls’s delightfully trashy peach and black patent leather. Given these extremes, what could Forever Elizabeth smell like? A delicate composition of violets, jasmine and musk, that’s what.
If White Diamonds, Black Pearls and Forever Elizabeth were at a party, White Diamonds would be sitting on the couch while suitors brought her snacks, unaware that the ingénue would morph into a diva before the night was over. Black Pearls would be adjusting her corset and practicing a bump-and-grind in front of the mirror in preparation for a show later that night. Forever Elizabeth, though, would be in the corner, writing poetry, lost in her own world.
Forever Elizabeth was released in 2002. Its notes include dewberry, apple, Italian mandarin, tiare flower, violet, orchid, rose, Egyptian jasmine, cloves, sandalwood, amber, woodsy notes and white musk.
After my experience with the Playboy fragrances, I wasn’t going to take any dumb risks with Forever Elizabeth. I sprayed just the tiniest amount on my forearm and left the house to run errands. Up wafted sheer, cool florals with a veil of jasmine hovering over them. The fragrance was subtle and clean. When I got home, I chanced a full spray, then two full sprays. Still, Forever Elizabeth stayed tender and quiet.
My first impression of Forever Elizabeth is of violets and clean musk. In other words, it smells like a hotel guest lotion. Nothing special. But before long, the shampoo aura lifts, and rose wets the violet, while jasmine adds a wispy, tingly volume. I smell a hint of what might be black currant, too. If I put my nose close to my arm, I get violet, rose and greens. (It’s not the violet-rose of lipstick or face powder.) Further away, I smell jasmine.
Soft wood — not pencil shavings or sweet sandalwood, but almost bleached like driftwood — joins the musk as the fragrance settles. Forever Elizabeth lasts only a few hours on my skin, but while it lasts it’s pretty and restful. Some people will be disappointed with Forever Elizabeth’s short life and tight sillage, but I’m finding it a restorative break from the rest of the week’s reviews. I’ll keep the little bottle I bought to spray on my pillow for naps and to freshen my dresser drawers.
Elizabeth Taylor Forever Elizabeth Eau de Parfum can be found online for as low as $19 for 100 ml. I bought a 30 ml bottle at Rite Aid for $12.95.
I really liked this one, but never bought it. Maybe I will check my Rite Aid today. A friend and I sipped wine one night and classified all ET’s perfumes by her roles in movies. (My friend is not a perfumista, but I love her anyway.) We classified Forever Elizabeth as the National Velvet scent.
I wish I’d been there with you! That sounds like a fun game. So far, this one, White Diamonds, and Black Pearls are the only Elizabeths I’ve smelled.
It was a fun night, but I don’t think I remember our choices for every scent. Several years ago, SO bought me a mini coffret of her various Diamond scents in parfum form from Ebay. It has White Diamonds, Diamonds & Rubies, Diamonds & Sapphires, and Diamonds & Emeralds. They are all quite nice dabbed lightly.
I wonder what perfume would have suited Butterfield 8? I think I’m going to rent that movie tonight.
Angie, I’m happy that I’m not the only anachronism that rents movies! Any chance you’re a regular at Movie Madness? That place makes me smile! . . .
I still have a VCR, too, just in case my favorite movie (from Movie Madness or other) is on VHS. Basically, I’m working my best to fulfill Portlandia’s insistence that it’s still the 1990s here.
This sounds so Pretty! Have you ever thought of Reviewing “Passion” and putting it up against those wall bangers White Diamonds and Black Pearls??? I’d Love to read that review!
I haven’t smelled Passion yet! So far, though, I’ve really been enjoying the Elizabeth Taylor perfumes. I’d been ready to be all snobby about them, but the joke’s on me. I’ll definitely seek out Passion.
(Like Passion isn’t a wallbanger. 😉 )
I keep in mind to go gentle with it…
Angie, my bottle of B. Paris has been relegated almost strictly to room spray (I like the violet, but it’s a bit prim for me). When my bottle starts to run low, do you think this might make a good replacement? I find that I quite like my house smelling of a clean, green violet scent!
The only thing about Forever Elizabeth is that it’s a really quiet scent, so if you’re looking for a real smack of fragrance, you won’t find it. But it would be great spritzed on curtains and lampshades, I think.
Ok. Good to know! I don’t suppose Rite-aid has testers for me to get a feel for it? 🙂
I don’t remember, but they might! It’s worth a try.
Marjorie Rose – I use B Paris exactly the same way! I spray it on my bedroom pillows before I put the pillowcases back on, and the scent lasts for days. I’m going to look for Forever Elizabeth this weekend at Walmart/Walgreens – it sounds right up my alley. Plus, I love Elizabeth Taylor, she was such a wonderful actress and so very beautiful. And then to top it off, she loved animals and was a hardcore AIDS activist. What a lady! Angela, Drugstore Week was a blast! Can’t wait for next year!
Yes! Pillows are a good idea. I’ve been known to spray it on my comforter. It’s a good going-to-bed scent!
I don’t recall who wrote the review, but the folks here discussed White Diamonds after Ms. Taylor passed away. She really was an amazing lady! I think it’s easy to forget what a ballsy thing it was for her to speak out in support of AIDS research.
I did the White Diamonds review!
My favorite pillow-spray right now is the simple and simply perfect Guerlain Eau Imperiale.
I love her AIDS activism and dedication to animals, too! Just thinking of her testifying to all those stuffy senators who refused to acknowledge what HIV was doing gives me chills. She was an amazing woman.
I quite like White Diamonds in the parfum, delicately applied. I smell WD a lot on the Ladies Who Grocery Shop the same time as I do, and it’s nearly always a big cloud. Urk. Tough to deal with if you’ve had a tuna sandwich for lunch.
Bought my MIL Violet Eyes, and that one’s rather nice too, if not very distinctive. If I remember, it’s largely rose and musk (no violets, which surprised me).
Now you’ve got me pondering what perfume *would* go with a tuna sandwich! Maybe Piment Brulant?
Violet Eyes really is quite pretty. I nearly bought it once, after you wrote about it Mals. It does smell rather synthetic, and that is what stopped me, but I’m going perfume shopping today, so what the hell! Maybe I should throw snobbery to the winds.
Yes, let that snobbery fly away and stick to someone else!
I love the White Diamonds commercial! Those eyes
She really did have remarkable eyes.
This is a bad perfume tbh, Liz Taylor’s only bad scent. I would say she was a natural at perfume making because her scents are just so good, and some of them like White Diamonds, could arguably be described as modern perfumery masterpieces. But Forever Elizabeth is not that, the quality and creativity was just not there. I’m not sure how much she was involved in it tbh, it was the first of her back door scents I guess. Up until then, all her previous releases had been huge and bombastic, full of media glitz and heavy promotion, but Forever Elizabeth was just there, there was no commercials, she didn’t promote it, etc. The brand seemed to have lost prestige by then. Maybe she was over it, or was too sick, but this was not up to par with the quality and creativity of her previous scents.
Then came Gardenia, which was also released through the back door but it is VERY good. Gardenia was one of Liz Taylor’s favorite flowers, and in fact, before her own perfumes, Tuvache’s Jungle Gardenia was her signature scent.
Then came Violet Eyes, another cheapo, poorly done fragrance, but the scent is at least beautiful, which can’t be said of Forever Elizabeth.
Anyway, just sharing my opinion, I think FE is really bad, cheap, not representative of her house or style, it’s just no good. No wonder Luca Turin gave it a very poor review.
Ironically it must be one of the big sellers of her brand, because where I live, the only Liz Taylor scents we get are White Diamonds, Passion for Men and Forever Elizabeth, and FE is always in stock and always sells.
I would say Forever Elizabeth is a true Elizabeth ARDEN scent, cheap, unremarkable, forgettable, annoying, tacky. I know Elizabeth Arden is the parent company of Elizabeth Taylor’s company, however her first releases could not be any more different from Arden’s scent library. They were truly quality, character driven perfumes.
I’m looking forward to trying the other Elizabeth Taylor scents, too.
Thanks for weighing in with your opinion! It sounds like I enjoyed it better than you did.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen Forever Elizabeth, but I do have a mini of Passion that I found in an antique shop, which I bought totally not knowing what it was. I don’t know how old it is, but I know it’s old enough that the juice has discolored a bit and turned kind of an olive green. Like you I was all ready to be snobby about it when I figured out what I had just dropped by $4 on, but I honestly like it.. I also have a 30ml of ET Gardenia that I found for $8 at TJ Maxx. It’s nothing super special, but it is a decent light gardenia for the price. And now, after going and reading your Black Pearls review, I totally want to find some.
Black Pearls is wacky and interesting–a real surprise at the drugstore, in my opinion.
I found a bottle of White Diamonds at a garage sale for $1 after your review and picked it up. It’s a bit much for me – I’m usually the one serving the canapes and filling the drinks, rather than being served on the couch – but I’ll chime in on how great Liz was. What a life! And beautiful doesn’t even come close to describing her looks. Enjoy Butterfield 8, love that movie. Oh, and I still rent too, and borrow DVDs from the library, and always check Goodwill & garage sales for used DVDs. Earlier today I found Love, Actually for fifty cents at a sale across the street 🙂
To be honest, I’m usually the canape and drink server, too!
Hey 50 cents beats the cost to rent a DVD by a long shot!
I found a number of Elizabeth Taylor fragrances discounted on Bluefly.com today, fyi.
Thanks for the hint! They show up quite often at Goodwill, too.
omg, I don’t live in the US but then when are they sold?? It seems her perfumes are in the bargain bin everywhere.
They’re still sold full price at drugstores–I see them all the time.
drugstores like which? are they sold at all on department stores? what about places like bergdorf goodman and saks or bloomingdale’s?
I don’t know about Bloomingdales and I doubt they’re at Bergdorf’s, but I’ve seen Elizabeth Taylor fragrances at Mervyn’s, Sears, and JC Penneys and at drugstores like Walgreen’s and Rite Aid.
I wonder why they lost prestige, like how come this doesn’t happen to chanel or other houses?
I’m not sure how much prestige the House of Taylor had at the get-go, but mighty houses do fall–sometimes temporarily and sometimes for good. When I was a teen, you could buy Chanel No. 5 at the drugstore. Rochas used to be a classy house, and now you’re lucky if you can find them at all. Lucien Lelong, Nina Ricci, and others. Guerlain and Dior are odd ones. I still see the occasional Shalimar and Dune at drugstores, but otherwise you have to “shop high” to find them.
Well, 1 oz of Passion originally retailed for 165 dollars, and 1 ounce of White Diamonds cost 200 dollars and debuted on Marshall Field & Co in 1991, and Black Pearls also cost several hundred dollars upon its release. That’s why it’s surprising how low end her perfume releases became beginning with the release of Forever Elizabeth.
Astonishing!
I like Forever Elizabeth, but I don’t love it. Violets and freesia do weird things with my chemistry the day after I wear them that involves nauseating migraines. And I am not a fan of White Diamonds after early in our marriage my husband gives this to me as a Christmas gift as “I bought you your favorite perfume!” –and it was not only NOT my favorite perfume but I had never even smelled it at the time. Um, yeah. I just can’t get the cross between a cheap 2-bit stripper and my mother-in-law out of my head when I smell it. However, I DO LOVE White Diamonds BRILLIANT! It is one of the best lily-of-the-valley based Springtime bright floral around. Fortunately the same husband worked for Elizabeth Arden a few years ago and I was able to stock up on Employees Day.
I forgot–I like Passion as well, maybe even enough to buy it. But I ADORE Gardenia! This is my Summertime go-to. It smells like Savannah Georgia in the summer, sipping dacquiri’s on the waterfront and dreaming about pirates….
Oh, I love your vision of the southern summer! I’d love to be right out there with you on the waterfront…
That’s so funny that he was sure it was your favorite fragrance! And now you’ve made me very curious to try White Diamonds Brilliant. It’s astonishing how many Elizabeth Taylor fragrances there are!
Since I can no longer find Coty’s Muguet Du Bois (sp?) ET’s WD Brilliant is the only thing I have found to fill the void. It is not quite as pure but the other florals make it more wearable IMHO.
I’m going cross town / outta town this morning to buy curtain rings but I know that nearby is a discount pharmacy. This company tends to set up on suburban fringes and in odd places where the rent is cheap. The one I’m going to today is next to a paint shop. It’s great for low income earners because the prices really are lower but they put you to some trouble to get there. Anyway, I don’t get there often so I this will be my personal celebration of drugstore week. Yay!
I have never seen Forever Elizabeth here and I wonder if it has ever been distributed here. I’m struck by bohan’s remark that ET’s brand had lost prestige by the time it was released. Maybe I’ll see it today but I doubt it. White Diamonds, on the other hand, is everywhere.
Do let me know what you buy, if you buy anything! Also, I’ve found drugstore staff to be a lot more lenient than Macy’s staff about letting you make a few samples from testers if you’ve already indicated you’re buying something. (You don’t think I really bought any bottles of the Playboys, did you?)
Angela I hope you at least bought a few magazines. I mean Hugh Hefner cannot live off people making samples of his testers!
And yet somehow I’m guessing he’ll get by….
A stupidly large bottle of Tea Rose to use as a home fragrance, and a roll-a-ball of White Diamonds. Actually, now that I’ve been wearing the WD for a few hours I’m starting to wish I’d gone for a stupidly large bottle of that. It’s darned good. I’m loving the way it blossoms on my skin. I’ve just re-read your review of it – magnificent review, and a great tribute to Elizabeth Taylor. I can certainly see myself wearing WD on days when life’s disappointments start to get too much.
I’m glad you snagged samples of those Playboys. There is a limit to what you can be expected to take for the team!
Tea Rose will be nice as a home fragrance. As for the Playboys, anything for NST readers!
Ross and Marshalls sell her stuff. Oh, and I love Portlandia!
Oh yes! And TJ Maxx, too.
An ex once proudly gave this to me as a gift, thinking that he was buying me a special perfume. Needless to say it doesn’t have the greatest memories but it’s nice enough for a drugstore perfume.
Sounds like the ex might have kind have been like the perfume….
If you mean not long lasting, then yes! My now husband knew he was the on the mark with Chanel and roses. 😉
A keeper for sure!
I like a few of Elizabeth Taylor’s scents, White Diamonds and Passion are very nice in small doses. To my recollection, Passion is a plush floral over a chypre/musk base, it is a very (very!) big scent, dabbed in small doses though, it’s lovely. It has great staying power.
It sounds nice!
I was at Sears today and Passion and White Diamonds were available as $12.99 10mL fragrance minis in blister packs. The highlight of the fragrance section – get this – Lady Gaga Fame. The black boxes were looking tired, next to the hideous Nicki Minaj bottles.
Fame sure did a quick nosedive! As for the Nicki Minaj bottles, they scare me.
Turns out I came across a bottle of Black Pearls a little over a week ago in an antique/resale shop, but I passed it over because I had no idea what it was, and it was before I had read your review. I looked BP up on Fragrantica last night to see what it looks like and such, and I recognized the bottle immediately!
According to people at Fragrantica it was reformulated and brought back, and the new version sounds like it isn’t a leather scent at all, but more of an amber oriental kind of thing. Apparently you can tell if the bottle is the original version or the new one by whether the bottle is clear or frosted glass. Frosted is the old one. So now I want to get back to that shop and see if the bottle is still there.
That’s a great tip about the frosted versus unfrosted bottles–I had no idea! I like Black Pearls. I don’t wear it a lot, but it scratches the itch when I want something offbeat and just a little trashy.