Knowing

Every time I try some expensive, niche stuff I feel conned. What was I thinking? Then I spray a little Knowing and I remember what a true PERFUME is supposed to be.

Knowing by Estée Lauder has insane longevity. I sprayed it on a scarf and it still smelled like Knowing 8 months later. Unfortunately, it’s not really my style. I’m not a huge fan of aldehydes, and I usually gravitate toward softer, more intimate scents. This perfume gives me the image of an ambitious woman in her early 30s in New York: slicked-back hair, breaking glass ceilings, drinking vintage wine in an immaculate high-rise apartment with her equally successful partner. She is powerful, polished, and unstoppable. I respect her, but I am not her. My hair is loose, I’m wearing linen, and I’m probably somewhere quieter.

Out of the historical frags from this house I think this one is the best maintained out of the rest It smells wonderful a little floral a little soapy a distinct scent balanced perfectly compared to other scents in its time I would recommend overspraying for maximum performance and projection The only issue is it’s hard to wear it in the regular it needs specific settings and mindset at least for me A very good scent probably overlooked and underrated

This was my girl's night out perfume in my university heyday...it was dark and sensual and lasted for-ever. Whenever I threw this on, it felt like the sexiest sexy I'd ever sex'ted. Accessories included a little black dress, ankle-cracker heels and deep red lippie. It also marked everything it touched with a lingering scent that honestly...mmm

[We are talking some vintage early 90's EDP] Knowing is one of the last gorgeous plush chypres in the old style, unashamed to allow its warm animalic heart to swell through the rest of the symphony of fruits, flowers, spices etc at its heart. In the old parfum version, if you can find some, it really displays its charms. Even today's EDP version which has had its civet/oakmoss magic dialled back a notch actually makes for a gorgeous unisex. For those worried, this is a far "easier" wear than Dior Homme Parfum, and way more beautiful. It truly is the sister scent to the gorgeous Lauder for Men. Now come at me with sticks etc....

knowing ... it is always near me and I still have as well the 1988 flacon as a newer rendition. I can tell a thing or two on how it came into the world. since reading the Vogue US (next to the Vogue [not 'France' but] Paris, Harpers Bazaar US, Vogue Italia & Vogue UK) the chance were, I already smelled these newly launched perfumes before they hit Europe, especially with 'the Americans'. it was totally my decade (and from my mom). I remember for the first time seeing the spectacular advertisement for Knowing, two pages, the left one shiningly black, to the right the Otherworldly Beautiful Paulina Porizkova, with an extraordinary finely chiseled face and from Polish Heritage. she was stunning. you saw the perfume version of this new perfume: 'Knowing', which immediately I found a genial name. to know .. in cases of Love. an advertisement in the Vogue US then costed 40,000 $. two pages were 80,000 $. I remember it all. the perfume flacon had a white cap, the Edp a matte black cap, like the flacon in torsion, a contortionistic perfume. I loved the whole concept. and what a perfume it was. it was a BIG Perfume, she took space. she anticipated Sisley's Eau Du Soir and was an aldehydic Chypre, a Feminine Flower Fougère, a Hyper [quasi-] Floriental 1980s Witch, a Civet, Oakmoss, Rose, Tuberose, Mimosa, Jasmine, Orris but also Amber, Wood and Patchouli complex fragrance. this was a Stately Perfume. I read the narrative of this perfume in 1988. Mme Lauder, Estée herself [but she turned out to be her daughter: "Evelyn Lauder (née Hausner; August 12, 1936 – November 12, 2011) was an Austrian businesswoman, socialite and philanthropist. She married Leonard Lauder, the son of Estee and Joseph Lauder, who co-founded the Estée Lauder cosmetics company."], vacationed in the Méditerranée and suddenly in the evening smelled a scent of a Flower she couldn't identify. that it was a White Flower was obvious as the scent grew as the evening turned into the night. this flower was Pittosporum. and I have smelled the Pittosporum which is a small Typical Indolic White Flower on an evergreen shrub. I brought my nose to it as that already wasn't a priori necessary and it was as if my nostrils got clawed by fangs. this flowerette gave off such plinking, clear but also at the same time Asphyxiating, Narcotic, Luring, Pissy but above all Creamy White Enfleurage smell off to its environment. now there is another plant (shrub) with White Flowers which made my dad with his WolfNose almost puke: Ligustrum, Privet, Troène (Northern Hemisphere). I had to think about that flower. the Pittosporum stood in the Botanical Garden in Delft, connected with the University. and I had to smell it for Knowing. Knowing has all the characteristics I love in a perfume. her austerity, her haughtiness, her hysterics but very restrained. (her Capriocity.) the Moss and Green Notes, Orris and Bay Leaf, the Cedar and Lily of the Valley give her a Madison Avenue Jet Set kind of tenure. this is my favorite Estée Lauder perfume. the Flower Powder explosion, the almost Chanel-like Crispness, yet the sheer animalcy of her Civet, Plum, Mimosa, Double Orris give her a Wildness yet perfectly poised and bejeweled. it is a sheer Dame of a Perfume with sinister, satanic deep waters of wilt and depth and anciennity.

My little story... So on Saturday I went to glasgow thetre, it's very cramped in there and throughout the whole musical I kept getting lovely little wiffs of this, to my nose potentially unisex vintage fragrance that was a patchouli oak moss bomb, quite green, deeply aromatic and unlike anything I had ever smelled before but I was desperate to find out what it was, i eventually twigged that it was the woman sitting in front of me, she's older than me I would say 60s but very beautiful and well dressed lady. I politely tapped her on the shoulder and asked her what perfume she was wearing as I've had such amazing wafts of it during the show, she looked at me a little confused then smiled and said in a sweet Scottish accent it's estée lauder - knowing. I didn't wait a minute longer I was ordering it. Not blind but safe at all, but if you like mysterious, deep, vintage but incredibly beautiful fragrances then try it, and let it dry down before making any assumptions. This is my favourite vintage perfume now, I'm so glad I have it in my collection.

The composition is a rose chypre with an extraordinary oakmoss base: aldehydes, mimosa, rose, coriander and pittosporum opening into jasmine, rose, orange blossom and lily of the valley, descending into oakmoss, patchouli, vetiver, civet, sandalwood and honey. The oakmoss is structural rather than decorative — this is a genuine pre-IFRA chypre in the mode of Femme and Mitsouko, the mossy base doing what it did in the great decades before regulation made it nearly impossible. The civet adds a faint animalic warmth that the moss ground-level supports. The honey in the base softens the whole composition into something that, after several hours, smells intimately of skin. This is not a comfortable fragrance in the commercial sense. It is a commanding one. The current version is reformulated; the vintage with the full oakmoss and civet concentrations is the correct version if you can find it.

When I first smelled this on paper while randomly smelling women's fragrances with my wife I knew I wanted to try it for myself. A chance encounter a few days later allowed me to sample on my skin and that was more than enough to place an online order. In an overnight skin test, Knowing lasted 24+ hours on me; it's like a more floral and fruit-integrated Kouros with a better middle for spice and the civet dialed back to be noticeable instead of prominent, with a very similar base. I believe this is a better chypre than Kouros. The open is aldehydic spicy green notes and powdery rose with background lightly sweetened fruit with a noticeable but palatable civet making its presence known without being overbearing. The rose remains deep into the heart as those green notes evolve into a complex blend of patchouli, powdered cardamom, dusty cedar, and assorted florals. The base is absolutely gorgeous; Kouros fans should compare the notes because they are near identical, just in different concentrations. Spiced oakmoss and continued patchouli with background civet sits atop more of sandalwood / cedar combination with hues of a balsamic musk. The scent profile changed on me multiple times in my testing and it possesses an eternal longevity that requires effort to remove, so just be wary as it is your SOTD whenever you decide to put it on, plans be damned. As burly man that could be mistaken for off-season Mr Clean, Knowing is a top 10 frag in my collection of 250. It's awesome and I hope more dudes give it a chance.

The way I was so surprised by this. I'm absolutely in love. My mother picked this up at a thrift store and gave it to me. Usually fragrances you find there smell like a dusty old lady fart, last thing you smell before you die, grandma's funeral type shit. But this one, well it does smell kind of matronly with the aldehydes. I usually avoid that note because of the associations with old ladies and I'm like a grown ass man but this hits different. It reads more unisex. This is a rose chypre, which is something I didn't know I needed in my life. It's very bitter and sharp on the initial spray. Oakmoss, my beloved. Then the heart is a very lovely waxy aldehydic rose. Then it dries down to a very woody musky base on my skin. Absolutely beautiful, highly recommend for chypre lovers. Both men and women. Would wear year round, maybe a little heavy during the summer. Otherwise it would make a lovely signature scent. Also another thing I've noticed for me, others say this is a beast mode fragrance and fills a room turning old ladies to dust but I just don't agree. It lasts about six hours on me and has minimal projection. Like from intimate to maybe moderate, at least maybe a scent bubble.

Id left a review for Knowing about a year ago, but havent worn it in a long while so here's an update! First off, Knowing has THEE MOST beautiful, super clean Patchouli along with that fresh Rose and the slight greeness from the OakMoss... WOW! Its really just freakin' GORGEOUS! It perfectly Unisex for today's pallette bc the florals dont really stand out as "Florals". They offer this bright/Freshness along with a density from the fruits, amber, Sandlewood. I mean its perfect. Also, while its always had great performance, when Id been wearing it nearly a year ago around when Id gotten iy, it wasn't "BeastMode" anymore I thought bc of the obvious restrictions to OakMoss, well, since its been stored away in its box for going on 9 months, my bottle has become VERY STRONG! Initially Id do upto 5 spritzes and it had more moderate projection while lasting a long time. Just now I did just 3 spritzes and its almost over-powering, so Maturation really does make a difference in Knowing. One of my all time FAVE Chypres.a 10 putta 10 masterpiece and imo, smells much more modern than one might thing bc of the freshness!

Similar to Paloma Picasso but more animalic, more musky, less patch and less rose.

Blind buy but wouldn't recommend it as a blind buy at all! Very bitter up top, something between Turkish coffee and beef gravy. Can understand why someone else says it smells 'spoiled' as it is an odd and polarising fragrance no doubt. Will come back and edit this if I change my mind and find something new and endearing to add. EDIT: now that the bottle has settled somewhat and I am giving it a second chance, upon first spray I am getting freshly munched celery and then a strong boozy Irish coffee. It's very odd at first and you may want to scrub it at this point. If you give it time though it develops into something VERY akin to a bitter dark chocolate spooky patchouli fragrance very similar to old Magie Noire bottles. Oddly enough there is enough fruitiness to pair with completely contrasting fragrances..I got it to work with SJP's NYC funnily enough. It's unusual at first but if you give it a chance, it could grow on you as a mature classic.

(Review of a vintage EdP from 1990) Knowing slides right in to the genre of floral chypres for women that actually can be worn just as easily by a man. Think vintage Dioressence and you’re on the right track. And just like Dioressence, a very bold character lives in the bottle. I suppose that’s the point of “knowing”, right - when you know something, you’re confident about it. The perfume is confidence in a bottle. The opening and the heart are achingly gorgeous - well, the whole of the perfume is, honestly. Rose is somehow allowed to fiddle in the air with a sheerness and frivolity that hooks you instantly. It is found hand-in-hand with bergamot and other hesperidics, and also quite famously pittosporum, which was quite novel for the time. Evoked by what seems like a citrusy jasmine, the pittosporum also has a green edge that comes in very handy when this top cedes to a heart of a loamy and slightly green patchouli accented by florals. The florals of Knowing are quite restrained, powdery, and elegant, which reminds me a lot of what Guerlain used to do with florals in their masculine perfumes (think Habit Rouge and carnations). What makes Knowing very interesting and fun to wear is immediately noticeable in this transition from the top to the heart as the note evolution does not happen in perfectly timed concert: the hesperidics leave first, leaving the rose to do the work, then an orange blossom comes up from the heart to relink the hesperidics and the rose, while the pittosporum more slowly gives way to jasmine and patchouli. Then, as if by a survivalist imperative to launch itself, comes oakmoss in that grandest of vintage mannerisms. On my skin it takes over the perfume completely; on a blotter it has a much more nuanced presentation with the floral vocalists in tandem. The damp woodiness of the oakmoss ushers in a stunning dry down of woods, vetiver, civet, and honey. There is a bit of an amber lean to the base, but it is convincingly an old school stinky chypre - dry aromatic woody, and a wet, slightly sweet, and certainly funky fecal accord from the civet and honey combination. The base maintains the belting operatic contralto timbre the perfume started with; as Knowing evolves and dries down, it doesn’t lose strength, confidence, class, or elegance, it simply moves on to the next part of the melody. Estée Lauder used to be very good at this type of thing - call it loud, American confidence if you will, owning the room so to speak, and they essentially told us they wanted their perfumes to do so right from the outset with Youth Dew. Knowing is going to own the room you walk into. It projects and sillages like warfare, but yet it smells intricate, intelligent, and divine. It’s not all talk and no trousers. In the massive genre of floral chypres this is one of the best ever made, right up there with Dioressence, which, for me, is high praise indeed. Legendary.

It's the chypres for me! Between Knowing and Thymes Goldleaf, I'm in heaven. They just work best with my body chemistry.

i wanted to like this one, i really did... it s has some very poetic reviews, and still,... it s so offensive to my nose! a SHARP detergent like opening which will not go away easy, followed by more aggressiveness. never woody, but when it finally becomes tamer some one freaking hour later, it does lean a bit powdery. but still feels damp, cold. i sprayed it on my wrist, 1 time, and some 45 min later, got a headache, the perfume lingered around like a vile aura around me. i get that cypre are an acquired taste, buc can someone aquire this from me, as i cannot wear this? 😔 i ll let it sit for a month and try again, but that detergent opening, and continuation... omg edit. my aunt, who is also not shy of strong scents, tells me this smells of bathroom cleaner. even lesser than what i said. this is BAD. BAD!!!

Compared to other chypres, this is more high-definition and dramatic. Rich, pervasive, uncompromising. Only wear it to work if you're there to establish olfactory dominance because it will cut through anything. The opposite of cloying. The antithesis of lighthearted. The absence of girlishness. It may be too disturbing to wear in pleasant company. Big love!

I don't understand this one. It smells like it's spoiled. :( before you down vote this honest comment, remember everyone has a different scent perception. If everyone liked your perfume, it wouldn't be a unique choice. Not a safe blind buy, even if you love 'old lady scents'.

Gorgeous juice! OMG -- nothing compares to this. I found a vintage bottle on EBay and snagged it since my old bottle is down to a few more sprays. I compared this to my other chypres but there is no comparison. Something in the formula was done perfectly!!! If you haven't tried this, get your hands on a vintage. It's GLORIOUS!!! Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Knowing is one of those finely crafted chypres where the notes are set so precisely that often no seam can be found. First smelling blindly, I was only able to detect oakmoss and the vaguest of fruity-florality. Gazing now at the listed notes, I marvel further at the complexity of the composition. This is not the more usual overdone floral bouquet. Rather, herbs, spices, wood, and greenery all play the larger part here. Indeed, to my mind, Knowing's close relations seem to lie among the masculine chypres, ...though most I have considered veer off as either too green or too floral. I'm a bit appalled that some consider this similar to the rather rank Paloma Picasso. In the drydown alone there is a vague resemblance with Nicolai's New York Intense. I haven't smelled Odalisque, also by Nicolai, but I see that it is mentioned in the comparisons.

Man, Ive smelled many Chypre fragrances from High-End Designer, as well as a few "Niche," but in the end Knowing has got to be my all-time favorite Chypre for sure! The way that the Patchouli is done in this fragrance is simply STUNNING and may be one of THEE CLEANEST, most beautiful interpretations of a Patchouli note that Ive ever come accross. The Plum and florals are also amazing and also very "Clean/Fresh" smelling and don't necessarily come accross as "Florals" or "Fruit" unless ofcourse one takes the time to really dissect the scent as they experience it. The aldehydes are NOT overly soapy, "Cigarette like" or off-putting like maybe Cabochard's Grès can come accross to some noses (although I LOVE Grès) and the note truley jist makes this dna more effervescent and almost ethereal. Now with all that saif, Knowing is still a dense fragrance which has amazing performance as far as projection and staying power go. Knowing is most def Unisex" for today's pallette and as a man, I feel 100% comfortable in wearing it. Also, I had purchased Paloma Picasso's Chypre fragrance for my mom years ago and can honestly say that besides the fact that they're both "Chypre fragrances" they just aren't all that similar imo atleast. Paloma Picasso is more "Dirty" or "anamalic" and I feel that the aldehydes are more prominent in Paloma Picasso's fragrance which is also AMAZING in its own right. Anyhow, I have to give Knowing a 9.5 outta 10. Its very close to perfection and one of my top fragrances out of my nearly 200 plus bottle wacky collection which includes everything from Classic Cheapies, High-end designer as well as Niche frags. Well, many thanks to whomever took time to read my long a$$ review, but there's just so much to say about Estee Lauder's Knowing. A Stellar fragrance INDEED!

Thank you, Carcher, for this poignantly lovely review of a fragrance that always smelled so beautiful on others but on me was simply awful. You’ve captured the true essence of the soulful mystery of perfume and how it has a direct route to our hearts and minds while eliciting the fondest of memories.

Carcher, I love what you cared enough to write about your mother and she sounds amazing. I'm so happy that you can enjoy this scent thinking of her! I love this perfume. I have also found it to be a man-magnet. Just looking at all the notes that conspire like a well--practiced, harmonious choir. Made at a time when scents were mysterious, mesmerizing, and impossible to ignore, rather than like deserts. I should wear it more than I do, and thanks to you, Carcher, I think I will do just that.

My mum wore this perfume for 30 years, every single day, until the day she passed away. I smell this perfume across the room on someone else and it hits me. I know it instantly. It is strong, it is bold, it is a memory. Her grandchildren still remember this smell as hers. I would smell it on my dog and on my furniture when she left my house. I have a bottle in my closet that I can smell when I want to remember her. As a child I remember people always complimenting her on her perfume. Men would always flock around her, she was beautiful and feminine and they were drawn to her. For me it is not a scent dna I would ever wear, nor could I imagine only ever wearing one perfume for 30 years! It has been interesting as I learn more about perfume about why she wore this one, learning its notes. The longevity and silliage is unquestionable. If you want a vintage scent that enters the room before you do. This is it.

I bought this on a whim, but OMG, it was awful!! Such a sharp note that I couldn't get past it. I let it sit for two years and sprayed it again today for the second time this fall. It's wonderful. A soft, mossy, musky scent. I'm glad I didn't sell it...Maceration is the key !

It's funny this oldie-but-goodie staple was created in '88, jus happens to be my birth year. This is THE scent I distinctly remember seeing on my Mother's vanity tray AND smelling on her skin— EVERY TIME I THINK OF HER. Knowing truly IS a trip down memory lane for me, for it represents my Mom's [R.I.P] signature scent. This frag. hold a huge part of my heart, it's second-skin but not too powdery. It's grown–up, not "mature" imo; but I'm 💯% biased here, obvi. ✝️ 🇺🇲 ❤️

Piss-soaked forest floor.

Veeery Strong, veeery beautiful, temperamental, but worth the risk. You can smell every note in the pyramid and maybe even some that aren't. Laundry aldehydes, and an enormous patchouli are there from the beginning, along with melon and plum. The melon fades but the plum remains and blends with the sweet, medicinal tuberose. Cosmetic orris, dry mimosa pollen and a fresh, pink musky rose lend a powdery, nebulous effect. There's nutty coriander and a combination of hot spices that smell a bit like cumin. There's simultaneously a warm honeyed vibe and a savory salt & pepper accord. Knowing reminds me of pine cones. Not the old, brown, dried out ones that fall to the ground. I'm talking about the young, fleshy, green cones that drip tree resin. It smells like the forest on a cool day, where leaves, twigs, morning dew and even a bit of squirrel sh*t coat the ground as you walk. Yes there is an animalic aspect, even in the modern formulation. I call it temperamental, because on the wrong day you can spray too much and unleash a skunky, onion stank that will garner negative attention. On some wearings, it can even smell ever so slightly cannabinoid. It's a serious fragrance only for true chypre enthusiasts.

@bomber81 Your description was so utterly vivid and so spot on it honestly let me speechless. My grandmother used to wear this and I’ve always loved it so much. She would’ve been 100 on 08/22/2025 a day after you left your description. So wild. She lived in a house on to coast with live oaks, Spanish moss, resurrection ferns and lush marshland. I go visit everytime it’s her birthday as mine is two days before hers. Luckily this last trip I got one of her bottles of Knowing by Estée Lauder. Everytime I open the cap I am immediately transported into a hug with my grandmother. Thank you again for your description. I’ll remember it too everytime I smell this glorious fragrance!

smells like the older formula for chanel no5. the one mom used to wear to work. i want a bottle so bad