According to Woman’s Wear Daily, Elizabeth Arden released its new fragrance, Untold, to attract a younger audience to the fusty brand. To many, Elizabeth Arden is known as the prized cosmetics line of American matrons and for its tubes of eight-hour cream. Elizabeth Arden wants to change that. WWD quoted E. Scott Beattie, president, chief executive officer, and chairman of Elizabeth Arden as saying, “This [Untold] is a modern interpretation of a woman, which will bring younger consumers to the franchise. We believe this will be a gateway for those consumers to show the brand is relevant to them. And we believe the concept — which is downtown New York cool — is universal enough that it will play well globally.”1
The article also notes that fragrance comprises half of the brand’s business, and Elizabeth Arden hasn’t had a major fragrance launch since Red Door in 1989. They must be expecting a lot of Untold.
And how does the fragrance hold up? Is it the young, New York cool fragrance they’re counting on? For my take on it, let me refer you to the episode of Sex in the City where Carrie insisted to her boyfriend, Berger, that she could identify a real Manhattanite by looks alone. Berger denied it, and pointed to a woman in a bar. Carrie was sure the woman was a tourist, because she was wearing a scrunchie in her hair. Carrie ended up being right. To me, Untold is a scrunchie in the perfume world.
Perfumer Clément Gavarry developed Untold. Elizabeth Arden came up with a clever gimmick to describe the perfume: Untold’s notes represent different facets of a woman’s femininity. Pink pepper and bergamot signify the “vibrant” facet of a woman. Pear and blackcurrant bud LMR2 are the “unpredictable” part. Gardenia petals and Egyptian jasmine LMR are “refined,” and patchouli heart LMR and sandalwood are “mysterious.” Finally, “heated” ambers and “hypnotic” musk are “sensual.”
Untold’s pear wafts up the instant the fragrance hits skin, with pink pepper and jasmine not far behind. The pear fades quickly and melts to sweeten the generic white floral mix that takes over Untold’s heart. A hint of woody musk reminds you that Untold is another mall perfume of the 2010s, but it isn’t insistent enough to trigger a migraine. Eventually, the fragrance quiets into a nicely behaved vanillic wood. In short, Untold smells like a lot of other department store fruity florals.
With two squirts from the sample vial, Untold’s sillage isn’t loud, but I’d hesitate before wearing it to a cubicle farm. It lasts about four hours on me — not long, but decent.
If you love pear and consider yourself a romantic, try Annick Goutal Petite Chérie. If you’re intrigued by the pear-jasmine combo but like a leaner composition with maybe a little moss thrown in, seek out a bottle of Bill Blass Nude. Finally, if you're fine with apple rather than pear, and you’re young and on-trend — possibly the market Elizabeth Arden was going after — try See by Chloé. If you really want New York (or anywhere else) cool, start digging around in niche lines.
There’s one group, though, that I bet will love Untold: the traditional pearl-wearing, manicured Elizabeth Arden customer.
Elizabeth Arden Untold Eau de Parfum comes in a pretty faceted bottle that twists slightly and is wrapped in a silver-tone strip. The Eau de Parfum is $49 for 30 ml; $59 for 50 ml; and $79 for 100 ml. The line includes body cream and shower gel and is available at many department stores, including Macy’s, Dillard’s, and Bloomingdales.
1. Women's Wear Daily, 6/27/2013.
2. LMR stands for Laboratoire Monique Rémy, the in-house naturals facility of International Flavors & Fragrances.
Pear= unpredictability. Alas, it is rather predictable that a certain amount of now young cool women will turn pear shaped in about 40 years.
Elizabeth Arden sells a great deal of fragrance to a younger audience. However, those bottles go under brand names like Paris Hilton etc. (I am certain that they also have a younger celeb, but I am not sure who she or he is).
Good point about Elizabeth Arden’s acquired brands. And excellent point about pear smell and pear shape! At least society hasn’t got to the point in its zeal for sliver-thin bodies to actually fear smelling like a pear.
EA doesn’t have Paris Hilton, but they do have Britney Spears, and Nicki Minaj & Justin Bieber. And Elizabeth Taylor, of course 🙂
What a range of celebrities! At least Liz Taylor (R.I.P.) won’t have to endure an Elizabeth Arden celebrity perfume party.
Those are pretty much licensing deals, rather than brand acquisitions. Estee Lauder, in contrast, has acquired actual brands (such as Bobby Brown) to stay current, and it then lets the original designer continue to make the fashion decisions.
It seems to me that Arden, if it wants more cool, would do better to buy a non-radical niche brand* (Atalier Cologne, or Ineke for example) or hire a noted perfumer to present an individual vision, the way Guerlain and Penhligans have done, and then put their department store counters behind them.
* Not for instance ELO which is fond of perfumes smelling liking bodily functions
They probably want to make money more than they really want to smell cool–and they think that attracting a younger demographic will draw more EA consumers.
Women in their 20’s aren’t as anti-pear as older women because we were tweens/teens when Jennifer Lopez, Beyonce, and Shakira became popular, and then Rihanna is also pear-shaped. Two of the biggest trends in plastic surgery are butt implants and breast implants in smaller sizes. Girls in their 20’s are doing thousands of squats per day in hopes of getting a bigger butt. My friends who are my age tell me that they’re jealous of my waist-to-hip ratio all the time but my mom is telling me that I need to lose weight from my hips. I wasn’t raised in the time of Jane Fonda exercise videos so I find the concept mind boggling.
I’ve noticed more softer bodies out there among women in the 20s, and I’m glad to see it. A person can be healthy and still have curves. And smell like pear!
I think your review is pretty spot on. It is a fairly conventional fragrance and a lot more conservative than I think they (EA) would like to admit. Personally, I really liked the conventional glamor or it and thought it performed well technically. Would I buy a bottle? I doubt it, but I would not mind having one at all.
Untold is–as you say–balanced and pretty. If I were going for something conventional and well-made, though, I might find myself over at the Estee Lauder counter. But if I loved Pear, it would definitely be Untold.
Young, NYC cool? If you believe that, there’s a bridge tacked into that ad I wanna sell you. Don’t even need to smell it, just check out that bottle and the model’s dress – scrunchies both.
I know! The model and dress are beautiful, but hardly “downtown cool.” Even a dork like me figured that one out. At least the fragrance does match the ads.
Logged in to say the same! That campaign clearly plays to AE’s traditional demo and most definitely won’t be bringing younger consumers to the brand.
I would love to wear a fragrance that genuinely smelled like its concept was downtown New York cool, though. Does anyone have any recommendations for a European?
Love your username!
I agree! It made me laugh.
Haha, thanks!
Several perfumers, including “Le Labo” seem to define Tuberose as the NYC note. I have never actually seen a tuberose in New York City, although I guess you can say that the agressive of the scent matches the stereotype of the character of a New Yorker.
Aedes de Venustus (probably smelled wrong) is the original niche perfume boutique in NY . It has commissioned three fragrances(though I believe the first is discontinued). Both I believe have been reviewed on this blog.
Of course, in real life, when you say downtown New York cool, you are probably thinking of an artsy crowd. In my experience, truly young artistic types rarely have money for luxuries like perfume (or rent in New York’s down town neighborhoods Actually, these sort of folks have largely moved out of Manhattan and are now uptown in Brooklyn, the home of CB I hate Perfumes,
DS Durga and Joya are also small Brooklyn perfumers.
Back in “Downtown” Manhattan, you will find cool fragrance stores, particularily in Soho. They include brand stores for Atalier Cologne, Le Labo selling their own lines, as well as Aedes, Min New York and a few others. The prime New York store of Henri Bendel has lots of niche perfume compaies Check this website under Perfume Shopping in New York. Any of the lines sold by these stores would count as “NY cool” judged by the Carrie Bradshaws and others judge people by whether or not they wear scrunchies.
Nicely summarized!
P.S. The model in the ad appears to actually be standing in Brooklyn, with the Manhattan skyline hovering across the famous bridge.
So maybe she’s cooler than we think…
Thank you, that’s very helpful.
Great rundown, Dilana! What about the Bond line? Maybe it’s just their names, but they seem “NY chic” – at least in concept – to me.
I might even venture further and say Jicky has a whiff of the street professional about her…
How about Bulgari Black? Bulgari may not be a super “cool” line, but the tarry note is cool. Or maybe a ridiculously old-fashioned smell, like My Sin? In my book, that’s cool. (But no one would mistake me for cool, that’s for sure.)
Thanks, I will give it a try.
You probably have better suggestions for me!
The bottle is clunky and one of the hardest bottles to spray for me.
I thought it was a pretty bottle–but then I tend to like heavy bottles. I didn’t try spraying it, though. It can be a real deal breaker if you have trouble spraying from it!
Yes, at least with the 100mls, you can’t easily hold it your hand. The design may work better in the smaller sizes.
Good point about the smaller size.
Pear in its juicy variation is a very perilous note in the modern perfumery. A pear-centered Idole d’Armani that I LOVE has become the biggest failure of Armani and L’Oreal and had been discontinued very soon. Than Ferragamo made the same mistake with Attimo. It seems that modern ladies doesn’t like pear fragrances. I have not tried Untold, but if it has sth common with Idole it will not be successful.
I’ve definitely noticed that people have very strong feelings about pear!
Me wonders if that is the note that goes very awry on me in Burberry Brit and Slumberhouse Pear and Olive..the dry downs make me queasy!!!!
Pear doesn’t always survive into the dry down, but maybe that’s it!
I am a traditional, pearl-wearing, manicured sort of person and EA is too fusty for me. They may be in trouble.
Uh oh. I guess EA will have to depend on the Nicki Minaj perfume for their “cool” (if you ask me, kind of creepy, really).
I’m an older, fusty kinda gal, and wear a lot of EA when I want to project the aura of a pearl wearing manicured EA patron!
Actually EA is the kind of scent I go for when I want to smell just ‘nice’ and unobtrusive. Their Green Tea and all the flankers have been fun — soft, floral-herbal, generally pleasant and not offensive in close quarters at work. Surprisingly, they have had some great noses work on their scents…..
Did Elizabeth Arden make Sunflowers? I used to know a woman who wore it, and she smelled heavenly.
Yes, Sunflowers. I used to buy that as a gift for my daughter and nieces when they were in their early teens. They still have it on their web site.
I used to have “Blue Grass” a long time ago, it was one of my favorites, and have wondered if it is worth trying or if it’s fallen to reformulations ..
I once read somewhere that Blue Grass was one of Queen Elizabeth’s favorites!
Actually, I forgot, I have tried Untold. My mother has been buying from the same SA at the EA counter at the local Macy’s for years. After the two of them discussed cataract surgeons, the lady gave me a sample (I believe those sentences are exactly what the folks at Arden are worried about).
I tried on a train. It was, as I recall, a white floral that seemed very feminine to me. I could not quite place the pear note. And then I forgot I tried it.
Bottom Line: Every perfume loving woman needs one well made fragrance that is “pretty” This would be a good candidate for that role, but I would not cross the floor of Macys for it, except to say hi to my mon’s friend.
I laughed out loud at your comment about the cataract surgeons!
Also, I do agree about how nice it is to have a nicely made, “pretty” fragrance on hand. My choice from the niche lines would probably be Parfums d’Empire 3 Fleurs. From the department store lines, I’m not sure which one I’d choose. Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia, maybe, or some juicy rose-violet.
Actually, I hear cool teenagers are agitating for the return of the scrunchie!
…And everything old is new again.
Seriously, though, to me “cool” is whatever is authentic to the person wearing it. Scrunchies can be worn with confidence, comfort, and–by some–wit.
I love the fact that there is a Wikipedia entry for the scrunchie. It states “A scrunchie (or scrunchy) is a fabric-covered elastic hair tie, commonly used to fasten long hair. Large, elaborate styles and diminutive, unassuming forms are available in many different colors, fabrics, and designs.” I dig the anthropological approach taken by the author 🙂
My scrunchies are definitely in the unassuming category — they are black to blend in with my black hair. My dreadlocks have gotten to a length where I like to be able to pull them back and out of the way. When I was young, and they were shorter, I let them fall over my face, like Joey Ramone. It would drive my older co-workers nuts because they couldn’t see my face when they were talking to me. Ha!
That’s so funny! If I’d known the scrunchie had its own wikipedia entry, I would have linked to it. The combination of dreadlocks and scrunchies is especially intriguing. Dreadlocks take the conventional right out of the scrunchie, and I’m sure Carrie would have agreed.
I am also pearl-wearing, older than average here but not fusty at all (IMO). This sounds dreadful, although the photo is interesting. Not a fan of Arden anything. Not a fan of department store anything.
Pearls should get some credit, as should older women. We have taste, we have money, we have the memory of great perfumes warped by IFRA. SL understands, Amouage understands. PdN understands. Chanel should but not convinced. Older women (~50/60) don’t smell of lavender, baby powder or fruit.
Yikes, hope not too cranky. Scrunchies are functional but as attractive as leggings. I do not understand the return of leggings, except as pajamas-with-pearls. Most females over 10 just look awful in leggings. Free us from the 80s.
Leggings are definitely making a comeback, sometimes thinly disguised as yoga pants. They’re not for me, either. (But I’m guessing a lot of people would scoff at my wardrobe of vintage dresses.)
I am all in favor of experience and taste. Plus, as you point out, pearls do not necessarily equal fustiness. (Of course, I can’t help thinking of everyone’s seasoned-woman idol, Helen Mirren. Or Charlotte Rampling. Or others, who would stun in pearls or leather pants.) The smart marketers will figure this out.
ROFL! But as a “woman of a certain age”, I take exception to the lavender in your line-up. Jicky is a well-bred classic!
You’re right. Jicky is wonderful. And I love Gris Clair. So perhaps some of us smell of gorgeous lavender 🙂
And don’t forget Vero Profumo Kiki!
Im bout to go all boring business man but this review made think about business and stocks for some reason due to how apparantly lackluster the management at EA is, and EA stock is $35 dollars (which was actually up) compared to $67 dollars for Estee Lauder stock (which was actually down) at the end of todays market. For me to take EA seriously as a competitive American brand in the current and future global market, they need to quickly either discover some new talent, poach someone from Estee or Europe, or put actually work with what they got but some personality into not only the fragrance and make up (which at the end of the day in the business world does not matter as long as it moves units, and an example is Chanel makeup which is not worth the price but it has Coco’s initials) but the ads, packaging, etc. Will their classics (Red Door, Sunflowers, White Diamonds) continue to sell well in the next few years…? Their only strong point as brand realistically is their celebrity division which I think is now a very over-saturated market ( How much longer will Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber sell fragrances? How does Britney Spears still sell fragrances?) Elizabeth Arden could really be a great brand and business is just being shoved down the hole of stupidity!
sorry for the rant, really in the zone typing up papers tonight.
Very good points, agreed!
Thank you for your insight! I’d be no good as a businesswoman, but my rant is about focus groups and trying to catch the marketing wave. It seems to me what Estee Lauder does well is to take measured steps away from trends. For instance, Sensuous isn’t radical at all, but neither is it a fruity floral or a musky patchouli woods. Where is vision? Where is taste?
Good point, Angela. And if you’re trying to “catch the marketing wave”, then it’s already passed you!
This is true!
I agree Estee Lauder does well distinguishing its products, EL see’s openings in the market and avoids having to many similar products, Estee Lauder and Clinique are both owned by EL and to me they seem very different and draw different crowds, but at the same time there are many people who use both brands, just different products.
They do seem to have succeeded there. For instance, I’d be more likely to buy a Clinique lipstick but a Lauder fragrance.
My mom would never buy anything Estee Lauder ( She says it’s for old ladies…) but my whole childhood I remember having to wait 20 mins sitting at a Clinique counter every 2 months or so while my mom restocked on make up mainly. When I was around 8 or 9 I fell absolutely in love with Clinique Chemistry. I don’t know why, last time I smelled it i was very disappointed yet amazed I used to beg my mom to buy me this bottle of cologne out of all colognes. Though the only time i was ever offered cologne to smell was when mom was marking her hand up with different shades and the Clinique SA’s took pity on my boredom and handled me some bottles.
I haven’t tried Chemistry. Is it discontinued now? People talk a lot about Wrappings, too, but I’ve never tried that one, either.
Little did the Clinique SA know she was helping kick off a love of perfume!
Is Tom Ford’s line still done with Estee or is it now totally in-house?
I’m not sure–I’m horrible at keeping track of all that. Plus, doesn’t–or didn’t–EL own Jo Malone at some point?
I do remember they hold the prestigious Ford Mustang license 🙂
That is kind of funny, isn’t it? But I like Mustang!
I was in Ulta after work today and happened upon a tester of Untold, so I thought I’d try it out. I agree with Omega on the bottle. I found it awkward to hold and spray at the 100ml size. I had to shift it around in my hand a couple times to find a comfortable enough position. As for the scent.. meh. It kind of reminded me of Micallef Ananda, which has the exact same shampoo-ish pear note at the top. So far it seems that pear goes one of two ways on me: it’s either shampoo-ish like this and Ananda or it’s overly sweet like Pear & Olive.
Pear is one of those notes that seems like it would be innocuous, but it can end up kind of awful, depending on how it’s handled.
I recall hating Red Door last time I smelled it, which was years ago. Probably because of that I never bothered with the 1996 release, 5th Avenue. But what is interesting for me is the apparent softening and feminisation of EA’s fragrance style with Pretty in 2009, and now Untold. Red Door and 5th Avenue were strong fragrances which imagined independent career women living chic inner urban lives. Now we have fruity florals in heart shaped bottles.
But EA is not alone. Once there was Chanel No 19. Now there is Chanel No 19 Poudre.
I’m not sure whether to be worried about the down-turn in feminist commitment, or happy that women can enjoy their femininity without overly strong, assertive fragrances that act like suits of armour.
Oh, now that’s very interesting! Someone needs to do a dissertation on this. Remember the assertive (but elegant), character-driven green chypres of the late 1960s and 1970s? Then we moved to the loud, easy 1980s, then to the ozonic and unisex 1990s. Now we’ve buffeted through some mini-trends (fruity florals, woody musks, fruity patchoulis) but where are we perfume-wise?
Here are some reasons I believe fragrances have gone softer, with lower sillage and less flamboyance.
Success of the anti-smoking movement, which meant scents didn’t have to cut through heavy atmospheres, people noses became more sensitive from breathing fresh air, and the people sensitive to fragrances were finally able to carve out scent free zones.
Population explosions that have made less land available for wild collection and cultivation of fragrances, in favor of more food crops and land development for housing, etc. Population also means we are all closer together, in public transit, on airplanes, in our workplaces, and more people compete to buy expensive ingredients..
Competition for jobs means people choose ‘safer’ scents with less self expression, at least during working hours.
Increased scientific technology makes it possible to study effects of scent components on health and the environment — we are more aware of what some chemicals ultimately do to our bodies and our natural environment, so we’ve changed many formulations.
Science also makes big changes in the way we collect ingredients, process, measure and evaluate scents — headspace technology, for instance, is very different. They look at the basic configurations of scent molecules on computer screens now; synthetic ingredients can be more easily created. Also, there’s research on scent and emotions!
We’ve become a little more aware of how cruel we have been to mother earth, and animals overall, so the way scents are collected from nature has changed. I hope that is due to increased compassion everywhere!
Finally, women’s lives have changed. Young people now have little idea how restricted we were way back when — we weren’t supposed to perspire, few sports were ‘ladylike,’ we weren’t encouraged to work outside the home, our self expression was pretty limited. Even selection of personal fragrance often depended upon gifts or opinions of a spouse, and there were definite community standards on what fragrances could be worn by whom.
I’m hoping we get past this sweet fruity floral pink phase soon, just as we got through that ‘clean’ fresh laundry scent that was so overdone. I’m hoping for more herbal/spicy wake up scents, myself.
Oh, this is so interesting to me!
I’m maybe on the borderline between being target-market for these newer scents and a little too old (in my thirties). I think there *is* something to be said that younger women aren’t feeling the need to assert themselves the same way–in fact, statistics suggest that girls are far more successful than boys these days. They have higher graduation rates in both high school and college, they’ve done better with job security and pay raises during the recession, and I don’t think folks feel the glass ceiling in as pronounced a way. That said, I think it’s a bit of a false sense of security, as there are still measurable differences in the top-earners and in who holds positions of power.
SO, does this influence my fragrance choices? Probably at work it does. I need to come across as an authority (I’m a teacher), but I also don’t want to offend my boss (a male peer)–so I choose carefully. Not fruit or powder, but those would be safer choices than noseful of chypree!
What would you say are some good work fragrances for you, then?
I think one of the best scents that strike the balance between adult/ authority figure and yet not aggressive is OJ Woman. I keep a travel spray in my purse, and if I’ve forgotten to spritz in the morning, it pretty much always feels appropriate. I also like soft leathers (Cuir de Lancome) or soft spicy orientals (Omnia) in the winter. I avoid my heavy-hitters like Memoir, Tea for Two, or Champagne de Bois.
I guess I should say I’ve worn some fruity scents to work (Traversee du Bosphore) and powdery scents (Lipstick Rose), but they are “adult” enough to be a clearly different aesthetic than the Victoria Secret scents my students are wearing!
For historical perspective on these very questions, I can’t wait for Barbara Herman’s book, Scent and Subversion, to come out. Details on her blog:
http://yesterdaysperfume.typepad.com/
OJ Woman is a favorite of mine, too. And thanks for the link to the new book, Annemarie–it looks great!
Fascinating analysis! Maybe we’ll have more scents that smell of fresh-cut grass and earth, then. Or, maybe we’re becoming more individualistic, and the market will provide more diversity.
Excellent capsule analysis!
You make a good point about perfume no longer having to compete with cigarette smoke.
At a deeper level, we have seen the emerging predominance of the idea that ‘clean is sexy’, rather than ‘dirty is sexy’. If clean is sexy, that probably means that perfume has to be more subtle.
I love pear and floral together, i don’t love the overly sweet though. I will make an effort to try this fragrance.
It isn’t sticky sweet, but I sure wouldn’t call Untold dry. If you like pear, you just might like it, though!
Bottle and packaging look so cheap and tacky.
I like the slight twist to the bottle, and I think the faceting is interesting, but the fact that it’s difficult to spray is a real problem.
A false promise, Untold’s story has in fact been told countless times, so many it’s insulting to find it yet again in yet another new bottle. Screechy sweet fruit, a soupcon of baby powder and please, please – would IFRA finally ban pink pepper already! On me anyway, a scrubber of lamentably fierce tenacity.
Yeah, maybe “Untold” didn’t really nail what the perfume was all about…
yeah but has anyone found out where we can get that dress?
did any one out there find out where to get the dress the model was wearing in the EA Untold Perfume commercial ?
It’s a gorgeous dress! Unfortunately, I don’t know who made it. Good luck tracking it down!