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Vanes94 – :
I bought this as a cheepie for layering. I like it. Wouldn’t mind a little more bergamot and spice, as others have voted on the notes they are less noticeable. Great easy scent. Smells like a slightly musky rich white floral cologne, which is also indicated on the pyramid votes. I have the big 4.5 oz splash bottle that I picked up at TJ Maxx for $10 and am very happy with it compared to some other things I’ve gotten there recently. It also seems to smell a little better than the smaller spray bottle of it that I have, but that could be my imagination.
Mcloi – :
I have much love for vintage drugstore fragrances. Emeraude, Tabu, Sand and Sable and many more are personal favorites, and yet it’s taken me a while to get to White Shoulders. I see the smaller bottles on sale every christmas in Walmart, but never purchased those.
The version described here is a vintage, and it’s drop dead gorgeous. Big white florals with a hint of spice, good longevity and sillage, how did I miss this one?
A few sprays and I’m a fan even though there’s gardenia and lilac which usually give me headaches. There’s a very slight similarity to Ysatis and that makes me love White Shoulders even more.
Lovely, lovely, lovely!
max151082 – :
My relationship with White Shoulders is different than most of the other perfumes that I love. Two beautiful people, a close friend and my favorite aunt, wore it. I loved it but they wore it so much better than I ever could. My good friend Lori, who was already so gorgeous that she needed absolutely no help, looked even better when she adopted this as her signature fragrance; I recall sitting next to her and her White Shoulders made first hour English class go by so much easier! It’s become a perfume I have wonderful memories of and when I smell it occasionally now on other people, for a moment I go back in my mind to the days I spent foraging around on my great aunt’s dresser handling the dozens of perfume bottles she had, with mysterious-sounding names like Styx and My Sin; White Shoulders was of course there too, and I’ve loved it ever since. Rather than dated, I would call it timelessly beautiful.
FoXl4R – :
I love this and it is so distinctive, somehow in a class by itself. I also think it used to be more marvelous. I loved this in college and still do, for sentimental reasons. It does seem like a young woman’s fragrance.
FAIMIPLAITA – :
Its a classic for a reason. Fresh florals, spicy sandalwood give it warmth.. its still alluring. I have the vintage and its lovely.
hiSlejereurry – :
LOL! White Shoulders? One of the most sexy fragrances in history. After WWII, it was LEGENDARY on the West Coast. The returning sailors and soldiers loved it. My aunts, after the war always wore it, and I LOVED it. Responsible on it’s own for the baby boom. It’s like one of those gardenia corsages with white wax on the tips of the petals to keep them from browning–only for the duration of the date. I wore the perfume for a while and the gals I worked with hated it, but none of the men. Hmm. Classic, classy floral bomb. Love it!
cvjkby-lbvf – :
I have the vintage Evyan version of this fragrance. When it dries down on me I find a hint of sunscreen / cocoa butter smell . I know that is crazy but I mean that in that in the best possible way. I am a huge floral fan and when I am in a certain mood White Shoulders is all that I wear.
волк – :
I wore this a lot when I was a teenager in the 90’s . I see it came out in 1945 . Being a Pisces I guess I really am an ‘old soul’!
prizrackkk – :
The latest incarnation of this nostalgic scent is stunningly bad. It’s actually quite shocking as to why any company, let alone one with the clout of Elizabeth Arden, would alter this so cheaply and have the balls to still send it out to market. Absolutely, positively CANNOT recommend this latest Frankenstein’s Monster. Someone should be thoroughly ashamed and publicly humiliated for allowing this train wreck to occur.
The VINTAGE, however – is a beautiful creature – so far removed from the current that you’d think I were lying. Gorgeous, LOUD, white flowers, absolute care had to be taken to not over indulge.
Current formulation isn’t even fit to be used as a bog spray.
Апельсин – :
I just received the vintage version of this from Ebay (the gold round cap EDC with gold label on front)…it smells nice but OMG so sickeningly sweet. I think my throat closed up from the fragrance because it is SWEET and powerful too.
The smell is similar to lilac soap…syrupy…thick…monstrously sweet. I didn’t know bombshell fragrances existed in those days…color me surprised.
This could easily have passed for a modern scent by Elizabeth Arden or Lancome, unfortunately I buy vintage to stay away from the sugar candy pop flavors.
I agree with some of the comments below, this reminds me of blonde hair, pretty blue eyes and soft ivory skin (just my association). I am of southeast Asian descent and feel a little funny wearing it. They should make “yellow shoulders” with bamboo and rice notes hehe =]
liewayThawl – :
I have been wearing this since the 70’s and always have it on hand. Please add Evyans other fragrances such as Most Precious and Great Lady I am very interested in what others think of these. The more vintages to admire and read about the better. Love this site. Thank you!
arye – :
EDIT: The magic hasn’t gone away. I get home from a difficult day at work, have a glass of wine, and spray this. “Mmmmm!” is immediately what I say. I don’t know if that makes me unfashionably retro, but I just adore this scent. Potent, narcotic, it smells sharp from the aldehydes but mellow and sweet from the delicious white flowers. It is not a gourmand, but its rich floral lushness is like dessert! I have everything from Portrait of a Lady to Miss Dior Absolutely Blooming – but THIS, this, is something different. Like the violet tinged soft blues and grays beloved of Marie Antoinette, like the giant gilded harp in her apartments, like her ladies playing sweet guitar tunes in the Petit Trianon as she enjoys the scent of white flowers, packed into Sevres vases, nearby, a riot of jasmine, gardenia, and tuberose.
ORIGINAL: Ok, now THIS is a find. I read about this being Barbara Bush’s favorite and it being a classic “old lady” (SUCH a silly term!) perfume. I saw this at Tj Maxx and took the plunge and MY GOD. This is such a beautiful white floral I nearly fell over. I’m obsessed with Big White Flowers, this is a Big White Flower perfume if I ever tried one. I get mainly lilacs, gardenia, jasmine, and tuberose, on a base of clean musk. I work at a lingerie shop and wear this so much – my coworkers laughed at the name but loved the floral aroma on me! I love the spray, and I bought another splash bottle of the EDC to dab on pulse points. I’ve been wearing this obsessively. It cost $10! I have just turned 30 and fallen in love with this scent. At this point I am wearing it almost every night. Not always during the day because its sweetness is so personally pleasurable I don’t always want others to experience, but when I do you can bet I am feeling myself. You need this. Now. It makes me feel like Claire Foy as Elizabeth II in The Crown (I know Her Majesty doesn’t wear this, but she should!).
kykan – :
I wore the Evyan formula in the late seventies and loved it. In the nineties I got nostalgic for it again and bought some and I really didn’t care for it because it didn’t smell the same to me. I didn’t realize it had been reformulated by then. I decided to give it another try after reading the reviews here and saw that Elizabeth Arden is making it now. Well, I am so glad I did because the EA formula is pretty much identical to the Evyan scent. The moment I opened the box I immediately recognized the scent from long ago. It’s such a feminine soft floral scent that’s timeless. The silage and longevity is fantastic also. I got a three piece set with the lotion, parfum and edt for a bargain at Burlington. So, I really recommend the EA version for those who were disappointed with the parfum international version. The commenters that call this an “old lady” fragrance just don’t understand a classic scent. This fragrance would have been considered an “old lady” perfume when I was younger and wore since it was worn by women from my mother’s generation. I enjoy scents from my grandmother’s generation to current fragrances.
jane_andy – :
Re: the review below, it’s true that a lot of the old White Shoulders ads involved demure ladies waiting for their suitors. But the fragrance itself doesn’t really evoke that for me. It’s just a lush, classic tropical white floral that is perfect for anyone who likes fleshy, naturalistic floral perfumes.
If you think such perfumes are “grandma” material, keep in mind that your local Whole Foods is selling plenty of single-flower perfume oils even in 2018.
Heck– I wear White Shoulders a lot and I’m loud, opinionated, feminist and the farthest thing from Donna Reed!
The current version of White Shoulders (by EA Fragrances, the budget division of Elizabeth Arden)smells cheap, sweet, and oddly urinous. I don’t recommend it.
Fortunately you can go on eBay and get an original Evyan bottle for not much money, and then you can experience the true glory of this stuff. Don’t be afraid to buy an older bottle; this is a high quality fragrance and Evyan sealed their bottles in such a way that the scent is perfectly preserved. If you can’t find Evyan, then get the Parfums International version (they took over from Evyan in the 1980s-90s and kept fairly true to the original formula).
I highly recommend the bath oil. It wears like perfume, and stays close to the skin and gradually unfolds a bouquet of delicate flowers including jasmine, ylang-ylang, gardenia and lilac. Very very pretty!
nikvik – :
Another beauty ruined by reformulation. Why? Why? Why?
Used to wear this constantly back when I was in my twenties. It was so ladylike and expressed so many things I held dear: graciousness, refinement, good taste. White Shoulders wasn’t just my signature, it was my image in some ways.
Old WS had that sharp green hyacinth/lily/gardenia combination I have not since found anywhere else. Always fresh. Plus I loved (and still love) the tasteful peach colored packaging and the name. No, I did not have actual “white shoulders” because even then I was always running and getting runner’s arm tans, but I thought with White Shoulders I could be like those refined ladies who did not feel compelled to exercise to exhaustion, work themselves silly with careers, maintain a house, and try to be everything the way society compelled them. My bottle of White Shoulders uplifted me because it made me think of a time when being a feminine wife and mother was enough.
Another beautiful concept ruined by the ugly reformulation of modernism and the devaluation of womanhood. Thank goodness I still have part of an old bottle.
WrileVibe – :
I was a kid in the ‘80s when Evyan (which had produced this scent since 1945) was going out of business and selling White Shoulders to companies that would produce it more cheaply— first Parfums International, then Elizabeth Arden. As a teenager I thought White Shoulders was a total granny perfume with its sweet, languid white flowers. The old-fashioned cameo on the box didn’t help matters. I was way more into bold, trendy scents like Poison and Calyx. I was missing out on a real beauty!
With the benefit of time and maturity, I’ve realized that White Shoulders is a timeless tropical white floral fragrance, beachy and cheerful and very well done. Definitely get the Evyan version on eBay (it’s available cheaply and tends to hold up very well over time). Current Elizabeth Arden version available in drugstores is okay, but smells like a cheapened and alcohol-doused duke of the real thing. I’m not always in the mood for a narcotic, sweet, fleshy white floral but when I am— White Shoulders is at the top of my list!
cch805speagoessenda – :
This is not what I was expecting. I have the Eau de cologne, have already ordered the parfum. I think I was expecting something unwearable; please keep in mind that I love vintages and vintage inspired fragrances, and yet, I was expecting something musty and stilted.
I was wrong. Even the edc concentration is a lush gardenia and tuberose scent; it is almost tropical. It is perfectly wearable. It is a floral bomb but it is not powdery or mossy. The sillage and longevity are so-so for the edc. I will update next week when my parfum arrives.
Reminds me a wee bit of Beyond Paradise but softer.
NiLssan – :
I began wearing White Shoulders right after high school, I wore it while I served in the Army through college and the first year or two after I got married. Then I began to expand my fragrance wardrobe to many different perfumes and I went many years without my old favorite in my collection.
I recently decided to revisit this dear old friend and purchased a new bottle. While the bottle looked the same it was not my dear friend any longer, she had been reformulated and when I first sprayed her she was nothing like I remembered her. Fortunately after this new incarnation began to dry down it began to develop closer to how I remembered my old friend, but while it is a close facsimile it is not quite the same. I will keep this new incarnation around for the memories and hopefully find a vintage of my dear friend.
1457471 – :
This was my favorite Authors perfume. I always wondered what it smelled like. A few times in her books she would reference it’s fragrance. I bought the original fragrance on ebay, I love this perfume. It’s one of my favorites. My husband really loves the smell too. Out of all my perfumes, this one is both our favorite. Sad that it’s a hard and rare find.
Firdavs – :
Like many reviewers, I remember this from my childhood, an elderly great-aunt or an elderly neighbor or family friend wearing this. I had been wanting a bottle, “for old times sake,”..to see if this was the sharp nose-burner that I remembered from my childhood. I saw a large bottle in TJMaxx so cheap, I could not pass it up. I did not realize this is a splash bottle, and I do not see the name Evyan anywhere on the box nor the bottle.
Anyhoo…this is a clean, refined white floral. A little soapy. Reminds me of the crisp white flowers from my childhood, when things just seemed to smell nicer and truer. So, this does have a bit of an ‘old-time’ smell, in that regard, to me. But this is not sharp like I remember. But I would say you definitely need to love or like white florals and clean soapy type scents to like this. To me, this is pretty much white floral, and the lilac does come through a little bit on the dry down..again, the old-time, real-deal, lilac smell.
All in all, reminds me of a vintage bouquet of white flowers with a few lilacs thrown in. Perfect for Spring and into Summer. I love white floral, I love clean and soapy scents, and I love lilac..so I love this. But I do also generally appreciate old-time classics. ❤️
magaeva_tatyana – :
This perfume is so amazing it deserves a second review! I hunted down a vintage bottle on ebay and lucked out big time. From what i have read vintage white shoulders typically ages poorly so i knew i was taking a risk.
This has been my best find to date! I wish i could post a picture. Its a mostly full 15mL pure parfum in the orginal pink lace round box with its orginal white packaging with gold writing. The bottle is glass with beveled edges and has a gold embossed foil label. It has a round glass stopper, but also came with a atomizer which is pink. Mine has the orginal and it’s in closed instructions. The juice is a light golden yellow and from what I can tell it’s been stored in the two boxes in a well airconditoned room.
The scent seems fully intact. Not a sour note, nothing harsh or off. Its gorgeous sweet lilacs and white flowers with juicy peach and vintage adlhydes. Real civet is pretty amazing lurking in the background with the oakmoss. What a score! Worth the risk.
I have to say the current EA reformulation is very true to this early vintage. Its a bit less natural smelling, yet captures the orginal’s spirit and old school qualities.
I also have the Perfumes International version from around 1993. Its much sweeter and contemporary smelling, not inline with the Evyan formula at all.
I will cherish my treasure, wearing it sparingly. I want the pleasure of knowing I can smell this for a lifetime, maybe even pass it on to a loved one.
Vera1958 – :
I was given this as a gift, decades ago. I liked the Gardenia-ness of it, but not the soapy-ness. I wore it fairly often, and then it ran out. I have not smelled it in years. I wonder what i would think of it now. In its favour, i will say that this was my introduction to the whole concept of “White Flowers” and also it was the fragrance that turned me on to Gardenia, which holds a great fascination for me. Had it not been for White Shoulders, i would not have known how important Gardenia would become in my scent-o-verse.
Also regarding the ageist comments: I cannot imagine why anyone would come here and deprecate healthy women for living good, strong, long lives. I get the same negativity in music forums because i prefer acoustic to electronic music. Silly humans.
muxei1 – :
This review is for the original scent made by Evyan, not any other company that may have bought the rights. In fact, this is really a review of the Youth and Beauty bath perfume. I bought my bottle in 1975 and I still have some left in it that smells as perfect as the day I bought it. A bottle today sells on eBay for hundreds of dollars…and for good reason. It is divine and rich with the essence of a ripe, not overripe, peach and recently opened gentle gardenia, not cloying ones like funeral flowers; the combination is heavenly. It is strong and the sillage is great. People will notice, in a good way.
tregross – :
Very long story short, I had to have this. In an episode of That 70’s Show Eric buys this For Donna as a gift, when this aired (1998 maybe) I asked my mother ( who was a teenager in the 70’s) if she remembered it. She told me it was an old lady perfume even back then and that it was one of my great grandmother’s favourites.
So I would chuckle when I saw a bottle in the drug store and gave it little thought until recently. Last week I was trolling fragrancenet probably early in the morning when I stumbled upon this vintage beauty. It was so cheap, so I ordered some in a set with parfum, body lotion and EDC spray. It arrived three days ago, I’m obsessed, I have worn it every day!
My first reaction was: this, yes I know this from some where or some time. The aldehydes are old fashioned, soapy and delightful. For just a moment you get that damp dish rag effect, but that wears off and you smell glorious lilac and white flowers. Narcotic jasmine, Tuberose and LOTV. Some peaches and a hint of spice for good measure. The dry down is my favourite part, the florals step back, cviet and oakmoss take center stage and round out the show with a very soft finish. You will be sniffing at your wrists all day. It lasts fairly long when layered with the body lotion and I prefer the smoothness of the parfum over the EDC. But with 133ml I’m going to spay a lot and often because I adore every moment of this. I can’t wait for spring and summer as I’m sure this will be best worn in warmer weather. If you like nostalgia, vintage cheapies, pretty florals or are an aldehyde aficionado, you should probably already own this.
kyze1982 – :
Blind buy for $10 at Marshall’s. I was curious because my mother used to wear it, and I love vintage perfumes. I was surprised at the splash bottle and transferred it to an atomizer. The scent is heady, smooth, creamy, uplifting, calm and comforting. White flowers are dominant, especially gardenia — I don’t get much of the base. It is strong when you first apply it, fills the room. After it settles down, it only lasts a couple of hours (it is cologne strength). White Shoulders is a great introduction to narcotic white flowers, kind of a gateway perfume. I’m glad I bought it, will wear it a lot as I drift off to sleep.
FEWRAL96553030 – :
I have to write another review of White Shoulders. This is my third review, but please bear with me. This will be my most detailed review, and I’m going to try my best to sum up this iconic American classic. Just a warning, this will be a long read.
White Shoulders is officially my first vintage! I got a circa 1975 Cologne spray by Evyan for a very decent price online. This is so exciting! White Shoulders has become my favorite fragrance, and I’ve stockpiled it in all forms: powder, cologne, eau de parfum, and I’ve owned 3 of the sets that have the parfum and body lotion. All forms of this are beautiful to me, and the cologne lasts a good 8 hours on me, which for me is longer than some EDPs!
White Shoulders is a classic floral, and to me it is very unique for it’s category, and it becomes more unique the more I understand it’s composition. This opens with clean, soapy aldehydes, but they are not “clear a room” Chanel No. 5 aldehydes. They are soapy, clean, and light. This also smells a bit green in the opening, probably courtesy of the African orange flower, or perhaps this is the grassiness of the lilacs and lilies. This is topped off with a touch of sweet peach, which lasts throughout the fragrance. When this first dries, lilac dominates the fragrance. If someone asked me for a recommendation for a lilac scent, this would be it. The only other notes I could see being in the middle notes are Lily and Lily of the Valley. The airiness of this reminds me of Estee Lauder’s Pleasures. This smells like a garden of blooming lilacs and lilies in springtime, like a fresh picked Easter bouquet. This never becomes a heady, big white floral. The drydown is probably the most lovely part of this fragrance. The dry down is sweet, with benzoin and peach. Perhaps there is a light touch of musk, but definitely not enough to make this animalic. The dry down to me almost smells like vanilla, but I think this is just the benzoin playing tricks. This fragrance stands out to me compared to other fragrances of it’s time, and that may explain it’s lasting success and popularity. I could be wrong, but popular perfumes I’m familiar with at the time of this fragrances release around the 1940s were much more intense, usually glamourous florals and orientals with sparkling aldehydes and intense woody-musk bases, or spice bombs like Estee Lauder’s popular Youth Dew. I found a source dating this as far back as around 1936, and this was perhaps one of the first fragrances that broke this pattern, offering a sweet, light floral. The only fragrance this is slightly comparable to from it’s own time in my experience is L’air du Temps. I could be wrong however, considering much of what was out in that time frame no longer exists.
I’ve now smelled White Shoulders by each house it has been made by in it’s life span: Evyan, Parfums International, and currently Elizabeth Arden. I’m most familiar with Elizabeth Arden’s formula, however I now own an Evyan vintage and a Parfums International version. The Parfums International version is what I assume came out just after Evyan went out of business, as it is most similar to Evyan’s formula. The only difference is that it is slightly more “chemical” smelling, but overall smells like a good impression of the Evyan formula I have.
After smelling this vintage Evyan, I’m happy to say that though Elizabeth Arden’s formula is different, it is very faithful to the original, and the only differences between the two seem to be due to the time they were made. Evyan’s formula is a bit more waxy. The aldehydes are far more “perfumy.” The lilac in Evyan’s formula seems to be more concentrated. If Elizabeth Arden’s formula is a lilac bush, Evyan’s is a single lilac blossom. In fact, I’ve found two candles that perfectly embody these differences. If you know a store by you that sells Hallmark brand candles (oddly enough I couldn’t find them on their own website), look for Lilac Blossom and Lilac Bouquet. Lilac Blossom smells to me almost exactly like Evyan’s formula, while Lilac Bouquet smells more like it’s current formula. The vintage formula smells less “green” than the current formula, and overall smells more mature. Elizabeth Arden’s formula takes a more realistic approach on the lilac note, as it smells more like lilacs in a garden. I also think Elizabeth Arden’s formula has more fixatives in it that are commonplace in modern perfumery, such as linalool, which may make it smell more “sweet”. Side by side, both formulas lasted 8-12 hours and had the same silliage, which I am so thankful for. Recently smelling a vintage No. 5, I realized how it’s been butchered over the years by poor reformulations, and have heard one too many tales on here about other iconic fragrances being subpar to their vintages. Thankfully, and thanks to Elizabeth Arden, White Shoulders has been spared, and it’s current formula is faithful to the original and lasts just as long. I just hope now that Elizabeth Arden keeps this classic on the shelves for the long haul. If you are purchasing this, I would recommend the eau de parfum version. It is not as common as the cologne version, but it is closer to Evyan’s version, and packs more of a punch.
Updated May 2018
marsel.74 – :
Just purchase this today, I happen to be at TJ Max looking for a purse. I didn’t realize it’s the splash kind lol. I guess I need to buy a perfume bottle.
@Jadeopal
I didn’t think to read by whom I just assumed by Eyven until I saw your post.
On my box and bottle does not read by anyone? Mind Looks just like the photo here, the splash kind lol.
Looking for fresh soap smell the fancy kind that you see wrapped in pretty paper, like what you would see at TJ Max.
mixamsv – :
Just purchased this fragrance after yearning for a long time. Gorgeous fragrance and top quality as well, but I am a little confused as mine says by Elizabeth Taylor. Can anyone tell me difference. Everything else looks the same so what’s the story behind it.
Babek – :
I was in high school in the late 70’s when I discovered White Shoulders. I was about 16 years old. A fellow Pom Pon girl was wearing it and I asked her what perfume she was wearing. At the time we were all wearing Jovan Musk, Wild Musk, Jontue, Enjoli, Heaven Scent, Toujour Moi, Wind Song, our mothers’ Coty and Houbigant fragrances, and all of the Love’s colognes. This was something different, something spectacular. She answered, “White Shoulders.” I quickly gathered some babysitting money and bought the most expensive perfume I had ever owned. My friend’s mother told her that it was “old lady perfume.” I had no knowledge of the history or age of the perfume, and our local Crawford’s store was selling a bountiful amount of pink bottles. I wore White Shoulders for years, and years, into the 80’s. Men were still swooning at my neck while dancing to Prince and Michael Jackson and all the other women wore loud, booming fragrances. Then, White Shoulders disappeared. Or, at least I thought it did. I tried other fragrances for a time making Camp Beverly Hills my fragrance until that, too, disappeared. At some point I saw White Shoulders reappear. I believe the first reincarnation was by Parfums International, and then there was another, and then Elizabeth Arden. The horror of the first version by PI was enough to make me cry. It was a chemical disaster that turned rancid immediately. The next company’s version was nearly as bad. When Elizabeth Arden started producing it I had hope. It is not as terrible as the first versions but it is no Evyan version. Evyan’s masterpiece was a warm floral that radiated from the skin. Those who picture June Cleaver in pearls are missing the point. Who cares the name, the era or the type of woman it was marketed to. As a perfume created to compete with fine French perfumery, well, there has been no comparison, then or now. Only Aveda’s #6 personal blend or the original Love, has the same radiant quality that White Shoulders did. It was spectacular. I have purchased vintage versions and sadly, they have broken down. I envy those who have gotten a good bottle and are able to experience that again. There is nothing like it, not even by Jo Malone or Diptyque. One can sniff the bottle of a newer version, and get a good idea of the magnificence that it once was, but when applied, it is nothing like the original. Perfumery in general has declined due to prohibited ingredients and mass production of smell alikes. Chemical compositions have taken over and we may never experience anything like White Shoulders again.
mgerchikov – :
I’m fairly young at 33 for this perfume so I feel like I am a lot less hampered with whatever cultural baggage this scent has. I am a big fan of soapy scents, they just seem to work with my skin where other fragrances like citrus seem to clash with my body chemistry. It does transport me to my childhood, I feel a bit like I’m back in the 1980s but in a good way. People should give this fragrance a second chance.
KATSY32 – :
A review for late 1940s? Eau de cologne. To me this is predominately a white floral musk. With the musk and powdery amber, it smells alot like a “floral scented candle”. I feel like I’ve just walked into a quaint little gift shop. The florals are weak and distant- not like fresh flowers. I guess anything that still smells wearable after 70+ years deserves a round of applause, but this is probably not something I would wear.
an-ya – :
Evyan’s ‘White Shoulders’ has been difficult to get hold of here in the UK (unlike in the USA). I could only get the cologne version and unfortunately it’s as watery as an orphan crying in the rain. From this, I can only gauge that the eau de parfum must be far more thrilling. It does remind me a little of Roja Dove’s ‘Scandal’ (which is an utterly divine and awe inspiring white floral) but this is a very, very, very, very, very, very, very pale reflection of Scandal’s fading memory.
Longevity and silage are both poop.
In essence; a faded floral with potential beauty.
mikael14 – :
I love vintage White Shoulders. I have stockpiled it in many forms…perfume, cologne, powder, body lotion (both creamy in pink tube and the original in glass bottle) and the original bath oil (which I believe has better silliage and longevity worn as a perfume…even more so than the perfume). My mother wore this fragrance when I was a child besides her Chanel No. 5, so I am a devotee of vintage scent. The real stuff…made from real ingredients. This is just a funny little anecdote. Some years ago I was modeling for a charity event. Doris Day was there. It was an animal rescue charity and numerous celebrities were there. My mom and a few of my friends used to call me “Doris Day” because I resemble her. As a matter of fact a woman approached me on a bus back when I was in my 20s and didnt have a car and asked me if I was Doris Day. Aha! I was in my twenties riding the bus. Doris Day was in her 60s retired in Carmel, CA. Ya, I’m Doris Day!!! Anyway, I digress. At the charitible event Miss Day approached me and said, “A little piece of advise…knock off the White Shoulders! Everyone and their mother wears it!” Then she proceeded to tell me that she was at a nightclub or might have been a party, and the man she was dancing with said, “Oh, I love White Shoulders!” She said that was the last time she wore it. When a man is that familiar with a fragrance, its time to move on to something else. Now, I still wear my vintage White Shoulders and I think of myself closer to not only looking like Doris Day, but smelling like her…at one time in her life. And that ain’t bad.
duo132elipseskism – :
This year, after Christmas, I’m getting myself a half off gift set. To me this is not a powdery bouquet, but a simple lovely tropical island single flower scent.
turok2000 – :
I just picked up a half ounce eau de cologne bottle for 12$ USD at Wal-Mart. For this classic, feminine icon White Shoulders!
White Shoulders creates this feminine pink chiffon cloud of powdery soft florals that is just to die for.
I’d even recommend this one as a blind-buy, if you know that you like: powdery, floral, floral-sweet fragrances, t