Pure White Linen

Does it ever happen to you? That sudden flash of scent memory after applying a perfume you’ve definitely never worn before, only to realize it’s strangely familiar? It’s like running into an "old friend" you haven't seen in years. Well, I just had that realization again. There is something incredibly rewarding about discovering a familiar soul in a completely different package—the nose simply does not lie. I grabbed this bottle (which I almost forgot about) while searching for an inoffensive spring scent. A couple of hours later, I caught a very, very familiar whiff. It was far too familiar for a first-time wear. After a bit of mental digging, I found the match: Elizabeth Arden Sunflowers Morning Dew. While the opening notes differ slightly, they become remarkably similar after an hour or two. It settles into something fresh, citrusy, and optimistic. It stays close to the skin and feels wonderfully clean—the perfect companion for a bright spring day.

I like very much this perfume that was unfortunately discontinued.

Soapy, fresh, clean, and healthy. Smells like youth, and by that I do not mean it smells young, it smells like youth itself. If this perfume were a goddess it would be the ancient Greek goddess Hygeia (ὑγίεια), goddess of cleanliness and health. Pure White Linen is just so deliciously fresh and 180° different from the caramel pistachinillas smelled everywhere. Definitely the best quality freesia note because it gives rich sweet greenness without being sharp. Sublime for spring or summer.

Perfume of the gods, literally the first two people I talked with at work were like damn you smell good what is that?? They gotta bring this back fr 😔🙏

My MIL found a cute little mini bottle of Pure White Linen in a drawer and gave it to me. It smells like a fresher, greener, slightly less aldehydic White Linen. I like it, but I prefer White Linen when I just want to smell scrubbed and righteous. This is a bit fruitier and softer, which for me detracts a bit from the clean aspect. I think the freesia might be too prominent for my tastes, or perhaps it's the apple-pear combo. I'm pretty sure that red tulips don't have a scent, so that note might be more hypothetical/aspirational.

OH, this is so much better than the white linen-which I found not so lovely! This is a more beautiful soft sweet floral, no heavy patchouli(which I don't like), so I must have the original vintage one which I found on Ebay in a small decant bottle, so lovely soft and sweet 💖 with a touch of musk, quite nostalgic and pleasant...

this was a lot more minty/green/sharp to my nose than I expected, so after my tester finished I didn't repurchase I was hoping for something more clean, soapy, aldehyde-y, like fresh white linens drying on a line, but that didn't happen and I moved on to other scents.

This smells exactly like a dryer sheet in the best way I will be spraying this on my clothes

This was a beautiful fragrance. Discontinued, was a marketing misstep to only offer it for sale in the largest bottle size. I never purchased it for that reason. Wish they would've brought it back in a 50ml.

A sharp beginning with a hint of caramel. Then a clean cedar floral. Later a mellow floral musk. I like it more and more as the hours pass. I’ll be wearing this again!

Got a 20-30ml in a bottle from my friend and immediately gave it a try. I'm a huge fan of all the original WL scent and love it a lot, I also remember going through all the flankers that were so popular couple of years ago, but not really finding anything in particular in them. But our scent tastes change with time and I wanted to see how much I changed. There's lot of mint in the initial couple of hours. It's the garden mint, rubbed between your fingertips, with a hint of citrus, not enough to make it pleasantly mohito-ey (?), but clean and maybe a tad bit too refreshing. Nothing whatsoever to resemble the original, clean, soapy, aldehyde-y WL. Well, that happens a lot with flankers. It's just a different story behind these white linens, that were dried in a herbal garden, in between alleys of citrus trees, all soaking the beautiful scents from around. I was so anxious to get to the other delicious notes that maybe I overdid the sniffing and eventually got tired of the mint. But then I got something fluffy, round, white coming out of the scent - like musky, sweet, peachy? Very intriguing, mixed with the weakening mint and citrus. Nicely surprising. May not be my scent, but seems to be a fresh, unobtrusive choice for warmer days. Will probably get back and update my review.

Since I enjoyed the original White Linen, I was under the impression that this was a lighter and fresher version. It was very pretty and delicate when I took a sniff from the bottle. Unfortunately, on me it wasn't. When I first apply it, I am immediately turned off by the scent... alcohol and powdery dusty linen?? I have no idea what it is really, but it just smells like a bouquet of old, dry, moldy and decaying flowers drenched in disinfectant. If I may be less harsh with my words, it resembles grass clippings and fruit rinds that have been composting in a flower garden for some time. To be honest, I hardly detect any of the sweet crisp fruitiness. It's sour, pungent, bitter, sticky enough to make you scrunch your nose and wonder "Wow, is this really what I/this smells like?". Something is getting in the way of me liking this, maybe the grapefruit... maybe it just went bad. When I am trying to ignore it, it actually smells kind of ok. When I go ahead and stick my nose in, again it's the scent of way too old potpourri flowers and fruits. The only notes I find enjoyable are in the dry-down. I can detect the cedar and heliotrope and it's quite soft and nice... but then the patchouli kills it with a gag-o-rama drool/BO smell? It fades by the 6 hour mark on me before it becomes something I can tolerate. I didn't bother wearing it out because it was too offensive to me, even my man got a little nauseated when I walked into the room. So, I suppose a highlight is that it has decent longevity and silage. I wouldn't say this is worth it. I know it's a discontinued fragrance so it's a bit pricy, but it's only good if you know you like it. I don't know, this was a weird one and not what I expected. I tried very hard to like it, I even tried to layer it with something a little sweeter to see if I could save it. It just isn't something that works for me, and I so badly wish it did! At best, it smells like a cool, sweet grandma's house.

Like other reviewers, I find no resemblance to White Linen in PWL. I wore White Linen and someone gifted a huge bottle of PWL to me by mistake or I would never have tried it. I disliked it - the citrus and gardenia were just too sharp, too much, and it didn’t work with my chemistry. Four hours in and it smelled as it did when first applied - nothing developed. The strength and longevity were certainly impressive, though! I tried it a few times a year (this bottle is at least twelve years old) with the same result - until today. I’m amazed by how beautiful it is! I reveled in it all day at work. Maybe I had to learn how to detect the notes and how to appreciate it, and my chemistry may have changed, too. This is not light, clean, or airy on me. It is a little heavy - the patchouli and cedar maybe, keeping it grounded. I applied it fourteen hours ago and my daughter just came home and told me I smell good. To me Pure White Linen is quite a different scent, but my experience with florals is limited. Now that I’ve fallen in love with it, I see that it’s discontinued. Punishment for not recognizing what a treasure it is sooner!

Boy, do I hate this one! First off, everyone's body and NOSE are different, so no offense intended to anyone who loves it. But to me it smelled like someone melted a Yankee Candle on a Bounce dryer sheet. Instant scrubber for me.

-A discontinued scent that the counter still kept a bottle of. -Opens smelling clean and fresh. -Dries down a touch too perfumey for my liking. (-)

Loved this perfume. Used at a freshener for the livingroom only though. Generally not a fan of estee Lauder parfumes. But this one is beautiful. Just not my style for wearing.

Delicate, aristocratic, crispy scent of the many components. I feel all kinds of flowers..white flowers! For the lovers of the white flowers this fragrance might be a safe blind buy. Very well-blended flowers! Cant even tell what this fragrance reminds me of..I would say, that nothing from Estee Lauder reminds it even slightly..This scent is on its own:) There is no aldehydes here, like in White linen. There is no retro feeling at all, like in "Beautiful" or "Dew". It is a modern scent in a good way. There is the feeling of cleanliness. Fragrance is clean here, but without any sharpness, no synthetic musk- very very appropriate, soft cleanliness. P.S:I could not expose on this fragrance any critics..even, if it would be paid to me for that:).

Oh, isn't this just lovely? I get very, very clean white flowers, airy, delicate, understated and just lovely. It's definitely pure, definitely white, but linen I don't get at all, and I see no similarities with White linen. This one feels like getting out of the shower and putting on some nice body lotion. Very nice and very comforting.

Having experimented with loud and divisive perfumes over recent weeks, I blind-bought a bottle of this and it was like a hug. Just so comforting and classic! Perhaps that is where my heart truly lies. This is a really delicate and elegant fragrance, but fresh and sweet enough that it can be worn by any age. It smells clean without smelling soapy (a personal dislike) and also evokes imagery of warm sunshine hitting your shoulders on that first hot day of the year. I adore the subtle floral notes in here - particularly the honeysuckle, which is another personal favourite. It is a proper skin scent - it stays close to you but, like Chanel Beige, smells as though it has been your scent your whole adult life. This is a class act - feminine, classy, understated, and - in my view - a safe blind buy. This will become one of my staples.

Love this fragrance! So fresh, clean, green, and floral in the best sense of the world. The honeysuckle, heliotrope, freesia, tuberose, grapefruit and apple combination create a garden fresh scent that will sweep you away!! I hope Estee Lauder never takes Pure White Linen off the market. It really doesn't have the DNA of the original White Linen. It's its own scent and it's very original. I can't compare it to anything else. And as always, it has that unmistakable Estee Lauder quality. Pure White Linen is delicious and captivating. A wonderful addition to my collection!

This is the version that approaches the ideal of the feminist perfume that Estée tried with W.L.. It is not a total perfection, because yes, unlike the original one, it has the sobriety and verticality of a perfume for strong women, but its missing something that paradoxically the original version have: power, and no, I'm not talking about transmission power, because yes, the original one bends you anyway, but this one also have that part, by power I mean that vibe of coldness and esteem that a feminist perfume conveys. For example, Safra C. is the same powerful human wearing a 90's power suit but also in a cardigan and a pair of pants, and her perfumes compliment her power in both cases because of the smell of the "coat of arms" it's that feeling that makes us say at first smell that it's an elegant perfume, with spicy cold notes. This fragrance has the spicy-cold but is missing the elegance part, although yes it is clean, fine, refined, yet it does not have that elegance. I honestly don't know where Estée went wrong with this line, in the original I know, that honey and that benzoin insufficiently controlled and unprocessed, at this one, I sincerely don't know what is missing or what is to much...It is definitely a wearable perfume, a strong career woman can approach it and not make a mistake, but it will never be her signature because it will not be able to fully project her aura. I find it really funny how it is among the few perfumes with tulips note, which is considered the flower of feminists, for the towering symbol and at the same time for the elegance and refinement of the clean smell and yet, it does not reach that threshold, while other perfumes that do not have this note define "la dame féministe". Strange. It's a good perfume, ladies, but if you're looking for a strong feminist signature, no, it's not, it's more of a clean holiday daytime scent. Honestly, I have a bottle for a few years, I haven't finished it yet and the only time I reach for it is when, after I have guests or came from a visit in the afternoon on a weekend or a national holiday, I relax by taking a short shower before watching a movie, that's when I sometimes feel like using this perfume, but I don't leave it overnight, usually after the evening bath it is replaced with something else, soo... it's good to have in your wardrobe but it isn't a fireworks.

This to me has nothing to do with the original White Linen..This one is very fresh, clean, ethereal and soft skin scent..Great at any temperature. Love the bottle.

Had to have it back, so clean scent. At first spray you feel a beautiful non lemon citrus, then, white flowers come and later it becomes a fresh soap scent. I love it for summer and spring, though I have had many complements during fall too.

I used to wear this a lot when it was first launched but these days I find it to floral and too clean, it needs a stronger woody note to make it less pure and a little dirty

For the price, I was very disappointed. It's not the scent itself, it does have a similar scent to the original, just weaker in some ways. What is added to it is the problem. There's something so sharp it literally burns my nose. By the time I get to work and my nose has stopped burning, the scent has weakened until I feel no one can smell it. It wears like a cheap body spray. I suppose it's possible that my sinuses are so fried by the tear gas effect it has upon first spraying it that I just lose my sense of smell, but no one has mentioned it smelling good, and I can't smell it either, so what was the use of throwing away over 100.00? For a clean, summer scent, I still favor Cartier's Baiser Vole.

As the name indicates it’s a soft, delicate and elegant scent. Very classy floral which just makes me feel comfortable and makes other people feel comfortable around me as well! I use this perfume (or the rose n roses from Dior) if I have a business meeting, somehow people get really relaxed quite quickly as this scent reminds many people for something, I was the same, I thought it’s a familiar scent which makes me feel home (if that makes sense??) I get nice comments when I’m wearing it and I would highly recommend it to anybody.

I love to wear White Linen in the summer. Someone gave me a gift of Pure White Linen by mistake a few years ago. I’ve tried to wear it periodically, but really disliked it. It just “sat” on me, never developed, and was just way too sharp and strong. It’s pretty far away from my usual woody, spicy, and gourmand scents. I came back to it again this month, and as things do, something has changed. I don’t get anything clean or soapy like White Linen. I would never have made a connection between PWL and WL as I find them nothing alike. The PWL florals are what really stand out to me. The longevity is amazing - I’ve had it on for 9 hours today and it is still strong. I fully expect to be able to detect it in the morning. That fantastic longevity is characteristic of all the EL perfumes I’ve used. So I’m to a “like” stage with PWL. It really is a perfect daytime scent, inoffensive yet different and a little sophisticated. It’s quite lovely at this point and it’s getting a touch of sweetness. Glad I gave it another try.

The name is on point, as this is another super clean fragrance to wear in a bashing hot weather. On my skin, it opens with mandarin peel and green apple and slowly drifts int the white flower territory, where the most prominent notes are honeysuckle and freesia. I'd like it a lot more if it weren't so sweet and if it lasted more than 1h on my skin. 6/10

Ordered a tester of this. Slightly conflicted... 'Pure White Linen' would be a good name for this IF this perfume was less sweet. It's a solid white floral clean laundry-like scent but that extreme sweetness just makes this a bit tacky for me and takes away from the airy linen vibe. Still a good fragrance though. Sillage and longevity moderate on me.

Crispy, fresh and glacial, Pure White Linen is perfect for warm, humid weather, its a far cry from the usual citrus and aquatic summer fragrances that are around. PWL opens with a sharp, green, ozonic blast, according to Estee Lauder's website, this has a "Cool fresh air accord" which may be what I can detect on the initial opening which melds with the dewy green notes, the ozonic feeling stays on my skin throughout wear, the green notes mellow out and gentle floral notes start to emerge; red tulip and white freesia to be specific, then the cedarwood peaks out towards the end of the drydown and rounds off the ozonic and floral notes which helps to ground and add depth to the airy accords. To me, the linen part of the name, is more of a texture than a scent, its the olfactive interpretation of how a freshly washed, line dried linen shirt feels against your skin during the hot weather, its fresh, its cool, its effortless to wear, I'll even go as far to say its great for year round wear. If you like shower fresh scents, are a fan of DKNY Women and especially if you're a fan of the sadly discontinued A Scent by Issey Miyake, this may be worth a try, it has the same ozonic greeness that A Scent has and a similar cool ozonic feeling as DKNY, simply wonderful!