I remember trying Clinique Aromatics Elixir1 in my early twenties (didn't like it then) and forgetting it existed till I met someone 13 years later who wore it all the time. When I first met her, I said: “You’re wearing Aromatics Elixir, aren’t you?” How could I remember a perfume I had tried so long ago and never wore again? (I was proud of myself…what a memory! what a Nose!) But I can take only partial credit for this feat; Aromatics Elixir is distinctive, and one of the few perfumes with a strong oak moss note that I now enjoy.
Last week, when I reviewed Aramis (a fragrance that shares Aromatics Elixir’s perfumer, Bernard Chant), I admitted oak moss is not one of my favorite fragrance ingredients — an understatement. Oak moss is something I imagine as a brittle, sticky thread that takes over other ingredients as a virus overwhelms a host. Because of its use in older perfumes, it also imparts vintage character to fragrances that makes many men and women say words like “grandpa’s cologne” or “old lady scent.”
Aromatics Elixir is almost 45 years old and it was created when oak moss was a major player in the fragrance world. I never got the chance to try Aromatics Elixir when it launched; my review is based on a brand-new sample of today’s formula (that still smells very much like the Aromatics Elixir I first encountered).
Aromatics Elixir has a beautiful opening, a soft herbal tea note mingling with fast-receding aldehydes and crisp moss. What happens next is a 'floral arrangement' in the brash, American "country-house" style: everything but the garden troll thrown into a vase and producing a mingling of leaf, wood and floral aromas (creamy rose, jasmine and lily of the valley are stand-outs). Ylang-ylang makes a late entrance and ushers in Aromatics Elixir’s base notes: musk that does not really “bite” but certainly nibbles the nose (no candy-floss white musk here) and a woody amber accord with noticeable patchouli. The final phase of Aromatics Elixir smells like a fancy sandalwood-infused cold cream with a drop of camphor added for zing.
Aromatics Elixir has great diffusion and lasting power; I would characterize it as a semi-exotic, refined perfume with a vintage touch.
The Clinique counters are always brightly lit and use colors that don’t appeal to me (springtime pastels). I wonder how many people ignore Aromatics Elixir (almost always on a bottom shelf) as they buy lipsticks, sunscreen, moisturizer, or more contemporary, mainstream fragrance offerings like Happy and its “positive attitude” clique of flankers. Men: if you haven't already, do sniff Aromatics Elixir next time you are near a Clinique counter; its potent mix of ingredients is completely suitable for you. Aromatics Elixir had a limited edition flanker of its own three years back, Aromatics Elixir Perfumer's Reserve, and I missed it! This November a new Aromatics Elixir flanker debuts: Aromatics In White. I think a smoky/incense Aromatics Elixir flanker is in order. If you have a long history with Aromatics Elixir…do comment!
Clinique Aromatics Elixir Perfume Spray is available in 10, 25, 45 and 100 ml sizes, $31-70; the 100 ml floral-design bottles at the top of the post are limited edition, buy now or (perhaps) forever lose your chance.
1. Listed notes of: chamomile, rose, jasmine, lily of the valley, ylang-ylang, moss, patchouli, musk, sandalwood, amber.
Kevin, your review is spot on and why I love AE so much. It is one of those everything but the kitchen sink (save for the bakery case or laundry musk) fragrances and they just don’t make ’em like that anymore. It’s right up there with Sisley Eau du Soir as a chypre powerhouse and just inspires confidence whenever I put it on.
Do you know where I can find those beautiful engraved floral bottles? I snapped up two bottles of the Perfumer’s Reserve and it is so gorgeous! You might like it more since it isn’t quite as heavy on the oakmoss and the florals really hum. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it will be brought back and added to the line on a permanent basis. That and an AE bath oil would be just perfect.
ABScent: Robin told me yesterday those floral bottles come out around the holiday season…you can buy them at http://www.clinique.com. Nordstrom had them in the holiday AE “box set.
I found the engraved floral bottle on Amazon and bought 2. The bottle is beautiful and the “reserve” scent is fantastic.
Every time I go to the mall (not often! maybe two or three times a year) I go over to the Clinique counter and torture myself with a sniff of AE, just to see if I still hate it.
Yep. Still hate it.
Although I smell the oak moss in it, and it has a huge floral presence, what I get slammed with is that patchouli. I’m sensitive to it anyway, but… wow. SLAM. The other thing that jumps out at me is the, er, urine smell of it. I mean, seriously, AE always smells like somebody peed on a rose hedge. Which used to puzzle me, because I couldn’t pick out what was creating that effect. It wasn’t blackcurrant, it wasn’t grapefruit, what was it?
Finally dawned on me: it’s the sage. Which Luca Turin mentions as smelling urinous to some people, and clearly it does to me. Can’t manage the ELixir.
I once spritzed it on a card and then got back into the car with my husband, who promptly demanded to know what smelled like cat litter box. I pulled out the handful of scent strips and let him smell them one by one – and sure enough, it was AE. I tucked it back into the bottom of my tote bag, where I forgot it for two days, and then was in a panic, lest my nice Coach bag smell like a urinal. But no. What was on the card had morphed into a gorgeous, Beautiful-style overloaded floral bouquet, very clean and lush, in which the rose is prominent for me.
I can’t wear it, and would probably recoil from someone who had just sprayed it on (that sucker RADIATES) a few moments ago, but I think it’s perfumery at its finest: distinctive, noticeable, and solid, while giving absolutely no one the impression that you just got out of the shower. Too bad that attitude has gone out of fashion among mainstream perfume offerings these days.
Yes, sage – even when working with herbs, pulling leaves, etc, sage can have that “was the cat here?” kind of effects.
Ann/Mals: sage often smells “meaty” to me…at least the sages I grow.
mals: yes RADIATION is a good term for Aromatics Elixir. Afraid I get no cat pee at all…I have my beloved Serge Lutens Miel de Bois for that! HA!
I haven’t smelled AE in so long that I can’t even remember what it’s like. I read the notes up there and I think it should be something I liked, but I never liked it. Maybe I haven’t smelled it for at least a decade? Maybe I should revisit. Who knows?
It’s not cat pee… nope, that’s definitely my-son-missed-the-toilet-again pee. There’s a difference. 🙂
Sometimes blackcurrant smells like cat pee to me, but I like blackcurrant.
It’s nice to see someone else admit to not loving oakmoss. That said, I should really give Aromatics Elixir another try, because it’s been a few years since I’ve smelled it and it really is a great perfume—even if, as Mals says, I can’t wear it myself.
Janice: they need an Aromatics Elixir candle.
They actually launched a gift set last year in Europe with a candle!
happy888…ah…I will have to look at the contents of the box here this holiday season!
I never liked iT but then I foundation THE edt version. Even in stoers they don’t know it.
Much more wearable for me!
Funny is it I also have Beloved Amouage, so AE my cheapest and Beloved the most expensive.
Sooooo many times wearing Beloved I hear… Ooooooh Aromatics Elixir smells sooooo good in you!,,,……..
Sorry for writing errors,!,,foundation should be FOUND
Stoers should be stores.
bonardi! Don’t worry…those misspellings are a part of our electronic age…which is why I use a regular PC keyboard whenever I can to write my comments!
Aromatics Elixir. I tried. I REALLY DID and still am from time to time to like it but something just doesn’t sit right on my skin. (Someone actually said it smells like soy sauce on me..yeah. )
BUT! The AE Perfumer’s Reserve is the complete 180. It is utterly gorgeous. I have 2 bottles and I love them so much. I just wish Clinique made it permanent as I believe it will have quite a following fan base.
Dear Clinique, if you are reading this, bring the Reserve BACK!
happy888…surely Clinique has heard that loud and clear…from MANY online forums. Or maybe Clinique does not have its ear to the perfume ground so to speak…?
I would guess that it’s no longer possible to make Perfumer’s Reserve under IFRA guidelines. I’m guessing it’s not, but that’s just my usual paranoia, not any info on the ingredients, etc.
Noz: since it’s a limited edition…they should make it for the US using what they will, and IFRA be damned.
Kevin,
Nice review. Thanks.
I tried so hard to like AE because I like patchouli.
My first attempt was a disaster. As I wore it, I was asked more than once if I was wearing Youth Dew (Ewww)
Gave up the bottle immediately. One more item in that “Salvation Army” bin that begs to be taken there, you know…
A couple of years ago, I read about the AE Reserve and could no longer find it at Clinique. Multiple phone calls from Macy’s to Neimans resulted in the usual “sold out…so nice…an amazing gem…wish we had any”.
And of course the resulting “lemming” that we all suffer from.
So I ended up snatching the “AE Reserve solid perfume” blind on the Bay.
Wore it and on the first day, a co-worker asked if I had visited my mom in her retirement home on the weekend.
Because my coat could have caught the “old folks” scent, she said.
LOL
I tell you Kev there’s no winning with AE!
I say: Clinique, give it up. Or at least commission Tom Ford to fluff it up like he did with “Azuree” a few years back. This guy’s got his pulse on things and knows how to sexy-up an aging lady.
A Tom Ford Aromatics Elixir Limited Edition could become iconic I think!
I loved the Tom Ford Youth Dew, I was an awkard teenage boy when it came out and would always try to spray it on as I walked past the EL Counter without drawing any attention but usually would get caught and get weird looks from the very heavily made up women who always seem to work at EL counters.
chandlerb: I was always interested in Youth Dew that I saw in photos…it looked like molasses! But need to sniff it.
No, no, no! I love some of Tom Ford’s scents, but he can leave AE alone, thank you very much. It is lovely as it is and the Perfumer’s Reserve is perfection.
Mutzi: I doubt TF would mess with Clinique…too “down market” no doubt (don’t know if you’ve looked at the prices for his makeup, skincare, etc.)
eric: I’d certainly give the TF version a sniff! And you know…I don’t think I’ve ever smelled Youth Dew! I’ll sniff that next time I’m in Nordstrom. I still have my hefty sample of AE…so will wear it this weekend and see what people say.
Looooove AE now. I get a great big green chypre with roses thrown in. This is a recent conversion though… I used to find it too overwhelming.
ojaddicte: I also get lots of rose and other flowers from this…
I like both oakmoss and chypres, but can’t handle AE at all. Always thought it was the patchouli, but maybe it’s the patch/sage combo, as Mals mentions. And yeah, it’s instantly recognizable. It was someone’s signature scent where I used to work (not a small place!) and you could always tell if she’d just walked down the hall or exited the elevator.
I’m in Australia and AE is displayed very prominently at every Clinique counter (along with Calyx these days, which is a welcome development). No need to stoop to the lower shelves. AE is so different from most mainstream fragrances today that I’m perpetually surprised to see it so well supported. At Christmas the counters are loaded with AE gift sets, and that must be a sign it has a big following, or Clinique would not bother with the extra production costs.
I can wear a lot of big fragrances – Obsession, for instance, melts beautifully into my skin – but I can’t do AE.
annemarie: seems to be a love or hate scent.
Aromatics Elixir how I love it! I think application is key with this very divisive scent. I usually spray it on a cotton ball and then dab that lightly around my neck and shoulders. The Perfumers Reserve is gorgeous and probably worth whatever you have to pay for it. I really like dry, medicinal, herbaceous scents and AE satisfies this desire. Though they are nothing alike, really, Yatagan is the other one I like to wear when I am craving a fragrance that smells completely different from anything else.
Stinker: I love Yatagan too, but rarely wear it…maybe twice a year. Probably AE would fall into that category too for me.
Aromatics Elixir and Chemistry were both my first experiences with any type of scent, sprayed on while my mother bought make up.
It is a very distinctive and is one of those scents that imprints on your mind, but almost all the EL scents I have smelled that were created prior to 1990 are like that. I wish the quality control had been continued on into the 21st century.
When I tried AE initially (in the 1990s?) it smelled like it had a big plasticky vinyl note. I don’t know if AE changed, or my nose decided that was OK, but when I tried it again o/a 2008, I found that I loved AE and still do.
I also enjoy the cozy Perfumer’s Reserve, but “Aromatics in White” – !??!!!! – I’m appalled that they think they can do a “fresh, floral” flanker of AE – that’s like an easy listening version of Lou Reed (try imagining Lou Reed in white).
Lou Reed in white!! That’s a hilarious image.
noz: I’m ever hopeful (and almost always disappointed)…but I look forward to trying Aromatics in White.
As someone who works at the Clinique counter, let me tell you we are HORRIFIED whenever a customer sprays themselves with AE because the counter REEKS of it for HOURS and even though it is a very sophisticated fragrance, it really has nuclear sillage.
peter: that’s funny…the woman at Nordstrom who made my sample acted as if she were handling nuclear waste as she filled the vial!
The AE soap that comes in the holiday gift sets is euphoric. Wish they offered a box of three.
Jj, that’s too bad; looks like bodywash is all they are offering at the moment.
One Thursday night many years ago, the owner of the villa we rented as an office announced they will be “treating” the building with rat poison over the week-end as they do each year and could we protect our plants and other things. It was annoying especially as we were expecting the General Manager of our affiliate from a neighboring country on Friday and we had other priorities for the day.
Bright and early on Friday morning I walk into the office to be met with a cloying smell that made my throat feel sandpapered. “did they apply the bloody rat poison already? I feel faint” I gasp. “Er … no” whispers the receptionist. “The lady you were expecting is here already, her flight was early. You are, we are all, ehm, smelling her fragrance”.
Yes, the lovely, Morticia Adams-looking lady bathed in AE every day. She mentioned going through an entire bottle a week. Sorry AE fans, that is too much.
If the rat poison had any smell, we did not detect it on Monday, however our office reeked of AE for a week.
Fast forward to now – maybe I’m reaching a certain age but I like AE more and more now, and even venture an occasional SINGLE spray. I wish it came in a lighter version.
In fact I think Eau du Soir imitates it – or tries to.
Nile: better the “poison” you can detect than the invisible kind? HA! Imagining a person using a bottle of AE a WEEK is…well…astounding! Surely it affected her genetically?
Aromatics Elixir was too strong for me as well, until I discovered it through the less potent flanker, Velvet Sheer. But it was not until last winter that I truly fell for the original. I can’t even remember how that happened… I have only the smallest bottle as a little goes a long way. I only spritz a tiny bit on one wrist and then dab it on the other wrist and the neck.
Oakmoss is not the dominant note there. And I actually suspect that you might be mistaking the character of old-fashioned Chypres, which are heavily laden with aldehydes in additional to the moss, amber, patchouli and earthy herbs such as sage or thyme. The oakmoss itself is easily lovable, unless you do not like the scent of the forest, undnergrowth and hints of salty seaweed (all of which seem to be nearly universally loved, from what I gathered from years of hearing people’s favourites).
Some don’t even consider Aromatics Elixir to be a Chypre, but a Patchouli-Floral. And I tend to agree for this one. The entire perfume is mostly relying on the contrast between patchouli and hedione: one deeply earthy and almost sweetly cloying (the sage and chamomile notes only accentuate these aspects); the other light, airy and expansive. And there must be some indole in there as well, either from real jasmine or from a jasmine compound. Rose is another dominant element in this bold fragrance.
Ayala: no, didn’t say oakmoss was dominant…it’s rather fleeting in AE (and aldehydes are in just about every fragrance…in varying amounts and types). I have several oak moss absolutes and it never fails that people who sniff them associate them with “old fashioned” perfumes…they say the same thing about Chanel No. 5 and Arpege…blasts of aldehydes. Of course perceptions vary…I actually had a person tell me that she bought Timbuktu because it reminds her of a contemporary Aromatics Elixir….
If there is one perfume in the world that becomes immediately recognisable after just a sniff this has to be Aromatics Elixir. And this is a blessing and a curse because you have to wear it in a way that defeats your associations and others’ as well. Perfumer’s Reserve manages to escape the automatic associations by being an impression of AE rather than a flanker. I am looking forward to see how the new flanker competes. If you want to try another variation of AE try Aramis 900. It is a floral version of AE, lighter and less monumental, but the AE genes are in there for sure.
Loved it at first sniff in my 30s still love it at 60. Currently wearing the solid which came out several years ago. I rarely post but I had to comment on one of my long time loves. Looking forward to trying the “white”version. I should also mention that I am also a fan of Youth Dew. I wear a few drops of the bath oil as a fragrance.
AE is one of those classics whose construction, quality, and distinctiveness I admire and respect, but it sits on my skin about as comfortably as a burlap sack. I remember first smelling it a few years ago, when my experience of perfume was mostly of the modern, fresh/floral/aquatic/woody variety, and I was bowled over at how incredibly BITTER Aromatics is. It reminded me of Campari mixed with chamomile tea…or, less charitably, bile. I’m surprised you find the opening so lovely, Kevin – for me it’s the bumpy dirt path you must traverse before hitting the smoother, paved road of the drydown.
I’m late to the party here but wanted to mention the Eau de Toilette format Bonardi spoke of. It’s available in Europe and the UK, and from the States, I bought in on Amazon (.co.uk). Still long-lasting, same fragrance notes but milder without being “dumbed down”. I find I can wear this version much more easily than the full strength version.
Hi Lizzie, wearing AE today and having a look at Kevin’s review. I am so glad I read your comment, I live in Europe and found the eau de toilette format cheaply on line. I love AE in eau de parfum format, but I am sure a milder version fills a need for me on some days. AE is one of the scents I get compliments about strangely enough, maybe because of the sillage? Thank you again Lizzie!
Enjoy, Hamamelis; I’m so glad I could help!
I rediscovered Aromatics Elixir recently; bought both the lotion and the perfume spray. I am surprised at how much more I like it, now that I am older and more of a “non-conformist,” as the Clinique promo implies. A lot of people stop to ask me what I am wearing, and often remark about how “clean” the fragrance smells. However, when a couple of my friends tried it on themselves, they didn’t like it nearly as much. I am lucky it smells good on me, and apparently, not overpowering. I like the fact that not many people wear it, so it’s truly a signature for me.