White Shoulders Evyan for women

I keep thinking about finding a vintage bottle and one of the vintage dusting powder boxes to add to my personal collection (too many!) of fragrance. This was by far my favorite 1960's-1970's to use as a fragrance....the days of my high school memories. It is NOT an old lady fragrance.... eBay has some wonderful items that capture my memory form opening the presents under the Christmas tree in the early 70's; either from my parents or the boyfriend of the year... White Shoulders was always on my Christmas list back then...

This is THE white floral, as far as I'm concerned. It is always the very first perfume my memory conjures at the mention of that fragrance category. That big, lovely gardenia at the beginning.

It is, in my mind, an absolutely chaste, but silently proud scent. It is revelling in a spotless reputation, good breeding, and impeccable manners--but somehow, it's not quite high-and-mighty at all. It fails to judge the habits of others. It lives and let lives--but it's gonna live right.

I have reviewed this before, but wanted to encourage anyone who wants a spring, summer fragrance that is fresh and feminine to give this a try. I put this on tonight to go out and I could not stop smelling my wrist. No matter what wonderful fragrances I try I am always amazed by the beauty of this perfume. White floral with a lovely tuberose and lilac scent that is soft and powdery. It is ageless and anyone can wear this soft summery scent. White Shoulders is beautiful, feminine and very girly while still maintaining a classic feel that can be worn as a dressy fragrance or a companion to jeans and a crisp white summer shirt and sandals. Oh, it is so lovely!

There is no scent more lovely than White Shoulders to the women of my family. It is a floral filled with gardenias and tuburose that dries down to a soft powdery smell that says I am proud to feel like a girl, no matter what my age. It is classy and feminine, perfect to spray on after a long bath and relax in the scent of white flowers on your skin. Personally I do now want to smell like a dude nor like Strawberry Shortcake... I want to smell like a lady. To all the "smells like an old lady" reviewers... I would rather wear pearls and smell of White Shoulders than reek of what passes for women's perfumes today. I am 58 btw and proud of it!!

Response to twolmichelle:
I so totally agree with you! It was about time for someone to point these!

Here we go again; all the "old lady" references are just plain rude! People should like what they like, period! For those who insist on expressing their limited imaginations and underdeveloped sense of smell in terms of associating age groups and fragrances, I say grow up! I can only hope that if they are lucky enough to reach a ripe old age, they will be made fun of for their fragrance choices. How juvenile and just plain silly. They cannot understand fragrances developed in a time period other than the past five years because they are prejudiced and haven't experienced a wide range of frags.

Now, on to WS. It's a killer scent, extremely romantic, heavy gardenia and white flower beauty. To me, it has a beachy quality, like the original Coppertone suntan lotion scent. It also has a "sunny" feel, warm and fresh, yet fairly intense. It makes me incredibly happy to smell it and has such strong olfactory memories associated with it (YES, IT WAS MY GRANDMOTHER'S SIGNATURE FRAGRANCE!) She was a fantastic woman, at any age. Frankly, I would be proud and happy to wear anything associated with my grandmother. Let's not forget, our grandmothers were young and sexy women. Who's to say they weren't beautiful and sexy OLD women too? To devalue an age group on this blog is just shameful. You are devaluing yourselves in the process. You are young now, will grow into middle age and beyond, so think about how you will react to what you are saying now when you are 60. Why can't you just simply say you like or dislike something due to your personal preferences without insulting women of a different age? It's like, "oh, the horror! I smell like an older, wiser, experienced woman that I am too young to even begin to understand." The age discrimination here just sickens me. I enjoy Fragrantica very much, but if I see one more "old lady" reference by rude young women, I am going to scream. Better yet, I am going to stay away from this website. Or create one where there is respect and harmony for women of all ages without prejudice.

Ah, White Shoulders. I remember sniffing this at Sears as a young girl and thinking it was so pretty. Fast forward to the present and I still think its pretty. I think this is one example of a scent that smells just as good, or dare I say, better, in current formulation than the past. I have compared the current WS this to an older version and they are a bit different. I like this better. This is a lush dense floral, thanks to the gardenia and tuberose, but there is a fair amount of lilac to lighten and sweeten this just a bit. I also can smell the peach in the background. Throughout, there is a green note that contributes just a bit of earthiness. This is a strong floral, so a little goes a long way.

There's a reason this is a classic. It's a delicate, beautiful floral that develops a touch of powdery spice in the dry down. It also has the bonus of being appropriate for all seasons & climates.

Such a sweet (but not sickening) white floral! I love the gardenia and lily notes. To be used sparingly, too much can be nauseating. When applied lightly it is delightful.

This is a classic feminine fragrance and despite others calling it an old ladies perfume, I personally think the smell is dateless. At first spray you might think it's a little too complex and hard to handle, but as it dries down, you really start to appreciate it and realize how beautiful the sent is on your skin.

Received my Estée Lauder Tuberose Gardenia tonight and spritzed it on my wrist right away.... I loved it so much and it immediately took me back to the three decades I smelled this same scent on my grandmother, great aunts, aunts and mother in the perfume they all wore, White Shoulders. (I was really surprised but also excited by this!) Back then I never liked it and it bothered me that all the great women in my family wore it at the same time. Fast forward to the present... and most of these classy women I adored are now gone. I recently asked my mother for the last of her old bottle of White Shoulders for a keepsake but it had gone bad. So to experience this same scent in Estees version today is a real delight and I find that I love it, although WS is more affordable.

This is my mom's signature scent.

I just wanted to add that I finally got the parfume, and OMG this is how perfume should smell. It just blends on my skin my boyfriend said I can't wear anything else and he keeps sniffing my neck. This perfumes makes me weak in the knees. Parfume has no more hint of old lady its pure woman to me! I think I may be physically attracted to perfume, LOL! She's so rich and complex with a slight hint of naughtiness.

I need to get my hands on a vintage bottle now!

Trying to be open minded and sniff some older fragrances that didn't give a fair try. This fragrance reminds me of a snobby girl at church that was a typical "mean girl". So here I am thinking I might have been biased about this scent. I found a tester at a department store and had a little spray. Oh my, overpowering at first, then excruciating floral sweetness and then pungently putrid. I am so sorry, it didn't get better or the notes more interesting on my skin. It smelled like decay and dead flowers soaking in moldy water. No offense to anyone, but I don't understand the enduring popularity of this fragrance.

I bought a bottle today at Wal-Mart of the EDC. I havent worn this perfume for years since I was about 15. I remember that I stopped wearing it because I heard once it was an "old lady" perfume. It was a shame I did that because this perfume plays lovely on my skin and was even back then just blended right with my skin. It is defiently my signature scent and how I think of my personality. Soft feminine but an underlying sexiness. I must love the dry down of the oakmoss and civet. It is true smell of a woman at least on my skin. I think I will go back to wearing White Shoulders. She also plays nice w/ Vivienne Westwood Budoir and VS Very Sexy. Not so w/ DKNY Be Delicious. So happy we are reuntited again.

I grew up in another country and have not smelled WS until I was in my thirties. I ordered it blind (EDP) and while I was waiting on its arrival, I had an opportunity to smell it in EDT version in the store. I was disappointed, thinking that I would not be able to wear this. It was so unpleasant. But when my EDP arrived and I tried it, I realized it was not the same as EDT version. I loved the one I got! Because so many people in US smelled this perfume on their parents or grandparents and associate WS with "old ladies", I only wear it at home. But I love it when I wear it!

Generally I dont like heavy floral fumes, especially gardenia, but I found a vintage 5 oz. spray bottle of EDC White Shoulders & wanted to remember how it smelled. Instead of a light spritz, a heavy spray came out of the tall bottle & my wrist was covered w/a powerful jasmine/gardenia scent that went straight up my nose. No cheap drugstore cologne in this bottle; this is the real thing. At first I winced at the strong gardenia smell that lingered in the bathroom for awhile, but after 15-30 minutes it softened on my skin, not yet powdery but not as strong. I think I love it, so feminine yet womanly.

Some new fumes are filled w/so many synthetic chemicals that hit you so hard, its hard to know what its supposed to smell like. This vintage bottle is pure EDC White Shoulders, no chemical smell to it at all. Since it was my mothers I'll wear it occassionaly & think of her.

My mother wore WS for since I was a little kid, so I know the smell well... she sent me her old bottle from the 80's that had a bit left in there. It was glorious but very strong. I loved it.

So after reading reviews I figured I would be safe to go ahead and get a recent bottle...so I thought. After the initial spray, I kept wondering, why the heck am I smelling piss? I do get the florals, but I also get the worst pee smell ever.

Also, it certainly doesn't smell the same to me in a bottle to bottle comparison, which is a shame. Whatever changed in it, changed for the worse where I'm concerned.

I also get this same nasty pee note on skin with shalimar, so maybe its Jasmin.

Well phooey! Thankfully, I didn't spend too much but will have to search out another vintage somewhere...*sigh*

I purchased a very small bottle of this in vintage parfum concentration for my mother very recently. There is a lily note in it that I really like. Sadly, the majority of the composition brings to mind harsh bathroom cleaners. Indeed, it's a bit harsh and unbalanced.

This is the "cheap" kind of fragrance of long ago - a tangled mess of synthetic florals over a base of real sandalwood and oakmoss that perfumers would kill for the opportunity to use in their compositions these days.

It's very sentimental for my mom. It was her mother's fragrance (they were poor) and she was distraught that today's version left her cold. This little mini, I've been assured, is the real deal.

It's amazing how a fragrance this cheap and clumsy can withstand the test of time while stuff like Schiaparelli's Shocking and Givenchy Insense dies a swift death.

White Shoulders was one of those frags that had certain associations for me, none good but all ancient so when I saw a large bottle at TJ Maxx for $10 I decided to have another try. This time around I caught a bright whiff of gardenia and lilac (which I love), followed by a softer lily-of-the-valley and green notes, all buoyed on a musky cloud shot through with wisps of oakmoss & civet. Plays nicely with my skin chemistry, but doesn't last too terribly long...perhaps because I have the splash & not the spray? In any case, a keeper!

I only wear this in the (small) perfume version which is nice although not too long lasting. In addition to the lovely white florals, White Shoulders has an unusual, not very pleasant, initial "peppery" note. EDC seems too far removed from the real fragrance.

This scent is not at all what I expected - I find it smells fruity, woody, musky and slightly spicy, not the fresh white floral I was waiting for. I like it, I find it warm and complex, but I don't love it. It also feels faint and not long-lasting.

Not Bad picked this up dirt cheap today at Big Lot's for eight dollars. Have not worn it in years. Still a very beautiful scent. Spray lightly it is strong.

This is what I was looking for when I smelled/bought Shalimar and Gloria Vanderbilt. :) I put that perfume and this one in the classics category. I didn't like either of those at all.

As soon as I opened the box for the 2.75 oz edp of this one that I got for just $6.99 at an outlet store today, it was love. I really like it on as well. A soft, feminine scent. A relative who is older than me wears this, and it smells heavenly on her. I like it now, too, and am looking forward to wearing it. :) It is the scent of lady like pink if there is such a fragrance.

Just finished a bottle of this and immediately purchased another. Very disappointed! The bottle is frosted instead of plain glass, otherwise the design and colour of the liquid is the same. It now smells like a lot of today's fragrances (if you know what I mean). I hate when this happens - either some of the ingredients become too expensive or the manufacturer decides to try to capture another market.

This is such a nostalgic perfume...I think everyone has a memory of a loved one associated with it. My grandmother and I wore this at the same time back in the 80's, and an aunt that I was very close to wore it when it first came out. It is, in my opinion, the most feminine fragrance ever. I love the combination of gardina, lilac, and iris. So powdery and vintage...

I've got to get the original powder and puff and a vintage bottle for my boudoir...

Love it...me, Mom and Nana. Something special in the memories ....

White Shoulders is a perfume I have loved for many years and it has never lost it's charm! This fragrance smells very floral with gardenia and tuberose in the forefront. I do love this perfume. It is so light and feminine. If there was ever a perfume that smelled "pink" it would be this one. The old powder container was a work of art with a fluffy pinky peach puff topped with a satin bow. Very lovely.The powder is still available, however the box is not nearly as pretty. No dressing table is complete without this classic perfume.

My mother and I have polar opposite tastes in everything. Any time she likes a perfume, it's something like Aliage, L'Air du Temps, Charlie, or White Shoulders. Although I never refer to any perfumes as being for "old people," I can't help but think any perfume my mom likes probably smells stale and gross. She's not old...but she's also not what I would call modern.

Anyway. White Shoulders was surprisingly fresh. It's not modern (in comparison to the perfume trends of today), but it's not dated either. The lack of intense oakmoss helps it to fool me into thinking it was created post-1989. I get a lovely bouquet of tuberose, lilacs, and green leaves. It's very pleasant! It's a perfectly sunny perfume.

Mom was right about this one. Maybe her tastes aren't so bad after all. She'll be really excited when I tell her how much I like this one, since we never agree on anything.

(To anyone reading this, I am being somewhat sarcastic. I love my mom dearly and respect our differences)

This is a cozy scent that is really beautiful, floral (jasmine?) and slightly powdery. Lady-like. I love putting it on after a night-time bath or shower. I have the splash (not spray), a big bottle and it was very reasonable. Although some think this is an old lady scent, I genuinely hope that it sticks around...I'm just over 30 years old and think WS is very feminine and warm. Putting it on is like a hug! That's the best way I can describe it. Not a scent I put on all the time, but will always have it around.

Truly a classic, but even to me at age 58, this one seems to be showing its age. I think it would be lovely on an OLDER WOMAN (than me!). It's just a little too powdery and too much white floral to appeal to me; I would only wear it once in a blue moon. I like it, I appreciate it, but I don't love it. BTW lasts for hours (8 hours and counting).

I did an earlier review of the parfum-just wanted to add that I recently tried the cologne.I get more of the green notes with that one than the parfum:just an FYI:)

Since you asked, White Shoulders would have been considered sexy in the 1940s when this fragrance was created. These days white shoulders would be a reason to go to the tanning salon and get a tattoo of a butterfly . It reflects the era of the perfume. It has sold well for 60 years under the name White Shoulders and is considered a classic by some. It is known as a perfume that your mother or grandma used to wear.

My Mom and sister love this perfume but don't wear it around me because it makes me so sick and dizzy. I HATE this perfume, it makes me so ill that if I am around someone wearing it I have to get up and move away. I love the smell of night blooming jessamine (which is NOT a jasmine as many folks think) at a distance, but some jasmines, especially star jasmine, just choke me. Allergies maybe? I don't know.

When I was a kid (maybe 8 or 10?) in the mid-90's, I had a make-up & perfume set for my birthday. As I grew up, I picked the perfumes I like and dumped the rest in the sink (at the time, I thought they were kiddie perfumes and didn't know better). There were two that survived, I used one up for everyday use (it was shaped like the J'adore perfume, but I still don't know what it's called) and kept the other for more formal wear. The latter was this perfume. I was amazed when I learned it was the famous "white Shoulders" perfume recently. I still have the 0.25 bottle and I use it for career interviews. Because of this perfume, I love the smell of jasmine & the warmth of sandalwood. I agree it's for spring & daytime use because of the florals, but I also feel it's too stiff and not whimsical, which is perfect for a professional use or for occasions that require a more serious tone.

My mom loves this perfume. It smells soft, flowery and feminine on both of us...(too soft for my taste). It's the perfect scent for her as she definitely don't like strong scents. Some of you say that is too strong...I guess our chemistry (me & my mom's) blend nicely with this fume. Very elegant and classy.

I've been aware of White Shoulders since I was a teen, and I have never ever gotten any of the base notes listed above! That is really too bad because I love amber, musk and civet. I assume that the scent has been reformulated, however my teen exposure would have been before anything like that was done. Anybody here ever smell the base notes listed?

When I was younger, people would "gift" me this scent constantly. Unfortunately, I have never liked it much. Too sweet-jasmine-powder smelly. The box looks soft, but this perfume is so strong! I'm a southern gal and usually like scents that remind me of home (jasmine) but not in this case. I also tend to smell it on old people, so probably associate it with being geriatric.

My grandma got this for me for Christmas and I'm 13 & I don't exactly like the strongness of it. Two or more sprays are WAY TOO MUCH and make you choke on your breath. I got the 4.5 FL oz. and I haven't even made a dent in it. Secretly, it's the only fragrance I would not wear regularly. To please my grandma, I put it on at night and I've found it gives me pleasant dreams.

My grandmother wore this her whole life until she died at age 93. It brings back a lot of memories. Not a perfume I'd ever wear, but one that I love to smell on other people.

I also once asked for White Linen and was given this instead. I tried to like it but it just gave me a headache. It was way too strong and sickly sweet on me. I gave it away.

I was really disappointed with the smell of this one. It is the second bottle shown among the two pictures of white shoulders...the one with pink liquid and broad golden cap.
It smells awful...more like chameli ka tel(jasmine oil), and it has got an oily feel, and a very strong smell which I was just not able to handle.
It reminds me of a girl from school who used to apply the chameli ka tel....and I felt nauseated after smelling it.
A very bad buy for me...not my kind.

I love this classic floral scent. Not too heavy for me and blends well with my body chemistry. Funny how I love more of the fragrances that "old ladies" are supposed to be wearing. I prefer to call them classic scents and I like wearing the classics more than the non classic scents. I hate to see people saying some of these fragrances are "grandma scents."

Just as good as I remember. Soft, floral, feminine. Youthful, yet classic. This is my new signature scent.

I have the eau de cologne formulation and it's much lighter and mellower than the perfume. Sweet but never cloying, balanced and charming. Women seem to perceive it differently than men do. Women tend to think it's a nice-girl, tame scent and men think it's so feminine that it's devastating. White Shoulders is the most beautiful economical cologne that I know of. It's never off-putting but it can be quite linear. It layers well with other scents, however. I like to wear it with Coconut oil perfume from The Body Shop. I wouldn't know about it smelling like grandmothers, though. My grandmothers wore Opium and Paloma Picasso!

This review is for the EDP: White Shoulders is one of the most direct floral perfumes I have ever sniffed - the first and most enduring accord conveyed here is of white flowers, and only white flowers. There is no postmodern flourish, no antisocial contrast, no synthetic bombast. Just tuberose, gardenia, jasmine, lily of the valley, and lilac, with emphasis on the jasmine. And man, is it beautiful. The quality is stunning, considering the price of White Shoulders. There are none of the screechy synthetic notes that one sniffs in other drugstore floral perfumes. The jasmine is especially delicate, elegant, and naturally sweet-smelling. The interesting thing about White Shoulders is that its modest composition and naturalistic character make it alluringly feminine, and also brazenly unisex. There's also a hint of antiquity here. I'm reminded of Kirsten Dunst as Marie Antoinette, and can't help but feel that something extremely close to White Shoulders was diluted in her bath water. Sniff-sniff's point regarding the raw sexual potency in this sort of floral magic is well taken, and I would only add that on a warm spring evening in the French countryside, this fragrance would also add significantly to whatever sexual charisma I might possess. Truly timeless, an underrated gem. If only all floral perfumes smelled this good!

I love smelling this scent on women. An old flame wore it as her signature scent, and it always smelled great on her. I buy it for my wife, even though it's not her "cup of tea", she wears it for me when we're out together.

It can be a bit fierce when first put on, but it settles down into a glorious scent that (pardon me, ladies) makes me rock-hard every time...

floral, sweet, powdery and vintage. it also, has something too strong for my taste; slight cloying factor is present.
maybe I'll give it another try, since there are many wonderfully combined floral notes in here.

Application of this evokes a feeling of being outside during a hot summer evening when the air is filled with the most wonderful scents of that season; jasmine, gardenia, warm grass, melds very pleasantly with a hint of something warm (sandalwood?) I even get a hint of suntan lotion. Fresh and sultry at the same time, easy and versatile to wear. One of the longest lasting perfumes(12 hours layered with the lotion!) I have ever encountered and one of the only florals my husband is crazy about. Thank you

This is one of the few scents that I remember hating when I was a teenager. My aunt wore it but she was a chain-smoker and bathed infrequently so that's probably why it smelled so terrible. I should probably give it another chance.

Another classic fragrance that is unbearable to my nose. Heavy.

My Aunt used to get a bottle of this every Christmas back in the 60's. She would let me try it on and when I got old enough to wear perfume, this is the first one I got - the smell still takes me back to great times in my life!

Sigh. Love this on other people, but it turns weird on me - kind of sour.

MOM perfume is a theme here :) mine also wore this & hawaiian white ginger anyway its apretty ultra feminine white floral.....white flowers is what it always immediatly brought 2 my mind and for all who say old lady perfume & grandma perfume both of my grandma's in there youth were beautiful enough 2 be movie stars in my opinion & if it's WS. or channel No5 or youthdew by Estee Lauder ....these beautiful woman choose these fragrances & this is why they have REMAINED they are classics for a reason ;) so go pull out pics of your moms & grandma's etc . . when they were 16-30 & remember they was not always a grandma ! also that someday if we are lucky we will be someone's grandma & smellgood doing it LOL

White Shoulders is a honeyed tuberose,lilac and lily of the valley to my nose.I don't get any spice and I know the honey scent is coming from the amber.I can see why it has been around so long-it's gorgeous.It's one of the most feminine perfumes I have ever smelled-I just feel so pretty and romantic when I wear it.I adore the bottle-it has such a lovely vintage look:)

@miahreis
What a beautiful story-my condolences for your loss*hug*

I really like this scent,never smelled this before I've seen the bottle just never smelled it until my mother came home with a big bottle of the splash cologne from a garage sale..It's a plain bottle with a profile of a woman(reminds me of a cameo)But has a beautiful soft floral scent, similar to Tatiana.The look of a bottle can be deceiving,I have smelled horrible scents in very pretty expensive bottles.And some of the nicest scents have been in plain inexpensive bottles.

I first smelled this perfume on my favorite resident at a nursing home I used to work. She quickly became my adopted great grandmother and every time I hugged her I got a whiff of a sweet, powdery, floral perfume that smelled amazing. I have always been able to tell her my troubles and about life. She always told me, "whatever you say is between you, me and God; and God and I don't tattle!" She's the only one who's ever held my hand, which I'll never forget. I have a bottle on my dressing table usually for nostalgia purposes. She passed away last night, and of course I'm devastated, so I sprayed this on my wrist and have been smelling this while wiping my eyes every three seconds LOL. I love and miss you, Uva! Thank you for introducing me to this wonderful perfume! I'm going to wear this to work tomorrow with the pink sweater you gave me :)

My Grandmother's signature scent and still loved by me! I wear it when I want to have her energy around me. A very girly vibe indeed!!

Lovely. My mother let me use hers when I was 11. It still smells the same. I like that it's never sharp and never turns powdery or soapy all the way to the last delicately wafting breath of it. I got samples of Poup'ee today and out of the vial I immediately recognized WS- I put it on and it was like a fraternal twin sister of WS- maybe not identical twin but not just any sister- one who's either a twin or trying really hard to be just like her big sister White Shoulders!

It was another bargain from TJ Maxx, only $9.99 for 4.5 oz. cologne. I bought it based on the reviews and tried it today before going to work. The first impression, "oh, no, I don't have time to jump back in the shower and wash it off. How can all of these people be so wrong? That will be my first perfume disappointment." So, I decided to brave it, and go to work "as is". Sorry my co-workers, you will have to deal with my experiments. While driving I noticed a beautiful flowery powdery smell and suddenly understood WS. It is not an "old lady" smell. It is a "proper lady" smell. A picture of a warm spring/summer day in a country site from 19th century comes up. Imagine a small wooden house full of kids with a kind lady teacher. She is wearing a modest but very clean dress. WS is her smell. It is not sexy, spicy or demanding attention. It is a smell of a church going lady, mother or teacher. After you brave the first "plastic doll" notes (probably aldehydes) you will be pleasantly surprised by beautiful flowers. The longevity and silage of the perfume are good. I would be wearing it to the doctor's appointments, kids' soccer games or teacher-parent conferences.

White Shoulders is surely one of the great classic fragrances of all time. Its is neither dated or old lady.I wore this in my early 20,s and it made me feel beautiful, feminine, and perhaps grownup but never like an old lady. I find White Shoulders to be one of the most divinely natural smelling florals ever created. This is what I loved the most about it. If I closed my eyes and inhaled, I would swear I was standing in the middle of the most pristine and heavenly flower garden on earth and oooh those aldehydes. (this is also a wonderfuly clean fragrance)
The sent of heavenly flowers and cleanliness. It is highly unlikely that this lovely classic will ever become obsolete.

This lasts and lasts on me. The sweet, soft florals take on a spicy, carnation note over time, and finally fade to a sweet powder. White Shoulders is a timeless, romantic scent that I love more and more as time goes by.

This is a lovely floral scent, it smells like lillies of the valley and jasmin. One sniff and I was in love. This fragrance reminds me of a super-light version of Joy or Diorissimo, it's sweet and comforting.

White Shoulders is the perfect proof of that something doesn't have to be expensive to be good.

I have a vintage and the new formulation, love them both, The new version is very similar to the old, so I can't understand why people hate so much elizabeth arden version. I know that the original fragrance seems to be more complex but, both version smell great.

White Shoulders 'Arden' cologne stay extremely close to the skin.

I'm in my mid 20s and just purchased this, and I have to say I love it! It is a very creamy, dewy, green, sharp spring time floral. Goes on quite strong, so use sparingly, but has great lasting power. Such a clasic, beautiful scent. It makes me think of watering a flower garden in late may.

White Shoulders conjours long lost memories and love
long forgotten like a message in a bottle from years
ago collects our treasured feelings and nostalgic
wistfulness; Rose petals lies gently on a alabaster
windowsill basking in the early summer sun glowing
in hues of pale pink and blood red blowing from a
rose garden giving a scent of intoxicating spender
A summer breeze blows though delicate white lace
curtains gives the sweet scent of French lilacs
floats in the air and adds an aura of peace and
tranquility, and Relaxes your Grandmother's white
Persian Kitten after playing with her Antique
pearl necklace.

My favorite aunt wore this when I was litte. She could wash her clothes and you could still smell it and it smelled great on her. Every time I see it I think about her.

my first love gave me this perfume one year. i loved the jasmine scent,the hint of lily of the valley and amber, the soft blush of warm fragrance as it dried onto my skin. i loved the bottle, putting it on, just everything about this perfume. one of my all time favorite romance scents. a classical winner.

This is a very sweet floral. Sweet, sweet, sweet and very nice. I really like this scent, I can tolorate some of the really sweet ones and this is one of them, another that I really like is Jessica Mclintocks original perfume too but it has to be summer for me to ware the sweet ones like this.

The first wear White Shoulders was my older sister way back in the 1960s. Then my other older sister in the 70s until today. The fragrance never changed. It remained the White Shoulders then and now! So sweet, so flowery -- strong,yet so elegant!

This frag still rocks!! For those saying it's "old lady" style umm ok a girl in her tweens bought a bottle right in front of me FOR HER SELF ok. On me this a very strong jasmine fume. Just long lasting and gorgeous. i will be purchasing a couple of bottles of this stuff very soon. It's my next fume goal. I luv lusting after a frag till I aquire it, especially one as beautiful as this. Why oh why do I have this addiction?

When I was a girl, I remember smelling White Shoulders on the women who wore it, and I always wanted to someday be able wear it as well as they did. Now that I'm around the same age as those women were, I have sampled the current White Shoulders in the store and was so sorely disappointed, because what I smell from the bottles of today is NOT the same. To me the reformulation smells, well, funky..... a bit like cat wee-wee. I was so sure that this offending scent was not what I remembered from the 70's. So lucky, me I found a vintage bottle. Oh, glorious White Shoulders, THAT is what I remember!!! Like a reviewer before me said, creamy, beautiful white floral. There is something very special about the original version that I just can't explain, it's beautiful, elegant, sweet & creamy, so lady-like.

I have never smelled the vintage version and only have the modern one. So I have no comparison point but can only review the modern version. I do like it -but since its strong for my taste, I use it very sparingly - just a couple of sprays. I also use it in a rotation with other fragrances since I don't think I could use it continuously, my nose tires of scents easily, particularly the more potent ones. However, within these parameters, White Shoulders is a perfume that I do actually enjoy quite a bit. There is something in it that draws me, not sure which note it is. I do not associate it with grandma since she never wore this particular scent.

first,yea this was my moms perfume;
she wore it amazingly thru her all to short life, she was a white shoulders girl, in the fifties as a teen this was the fragrance she chose as her first and remained true to it! like a modern pink sugar girl she came with all the accoutrement's W/S soap, bath oils parfum, perfume, cologne, powder gosh you name it she had it lol, when she took a bath our house literally smelled like W/S.. that's not a bad thing,people say it smells old ladyish my mom never got to be an old lady so i never tied the two together threw her life she was reminiscent of the beautiful Elizabeth Taylor and the perfume fit her well...that said ,my wife loves florals and this is one of the best from the beautifully delicate pink boxes with the cameos to the elegant bottles filled with this wonderful juice its just so feminine the scent opens big and fresh with very sweet flowers and keeps growing! to us the gardenia scent, i think, is the predominant smell, big flowers hard to tell maybe its the jasmine or lilac? it's so pretty very strong and real long lasting unfortunately being my mothers smell i don't find it ,say,attractive on my wife's neck but i still think its awesome and spray a little around here and there just to reminisce and enjoy, left on moms dresser was a bottle of 'most precious' close to the same bottle and label as white shoulders obviously a sister a little ? sweeter any body remember or know anything about this one? thanks :)

I had never tried this because I thought it was something that grandmothers wore. I heard people say they didn't like it and their mother wore it ect. Well, one day I found a vintage bottle and put a little on my wrist. I then understood why it still sells after 60 years on the market. It is a very nice white floral perfume. It's not for me but White Shoulders is a lovely vintage fragrance. If your grandmother does wear this then buy her some more of it.

I do like the smell but I wouldn't wear it! I think its definitely something my grandmother would be wearing, so maybe when I'm older : )

I did get the .25 ounce size, what attracted me to it was the bottle I just think its so cute and pretty! I am using the bottle that I filled with my sig scent to keep in my purse, since they don't make a mini for it : )

The modern version smells like a scented sanitary napkin or something, but the vintage....ohhh baby, the vintage that was made by Evyan smells gorgeous! Sweet and oh so creamy jasmine and tuberose that always gets me compliments whenever I've dipped into my vintage bottle. Takes a few minutes to develop after applying but after it's dried down for a moment it is truly stunning. The original White Shoulders by Evyan is definitely in my top white florals of all time, right alongside Fracas and Michael Kors.

I wore this for a while in high school and have a small bottle on my dresser even now. My mother never wore perfume but did like White Shoulders. It's very sweet but fresh and clean, and I smell the lily of the valley and lilac the strongest. It keeps a green, soft, damp flowers smell on my skin which I love...reminds of lilacs with dew clinging to them. I used to wear Most Precious in college which is similar, but sharper and less sweet. I can't find that fragrance anymore though...

Sassy1, thank you! I hate the "that smells old!" remarks... just not polite. Also, your review is exactly what I was thinking... STRONG white floral with TONS of a nostalgic feel. Whenever I take a dabbling of White Shoulders from my mother's dresser (I need to break down and get my own bottle already lol), I feel so classic and feminine. I am instantly transported to thinking about one of my favorite 1940s classic movies. If strong, "dated" florals are your thing, then you will certainly appreciate White Shoulders. Gives me a good feeling whenever I wear it.

Reminds me of my Grandma. Not saying that's a bad thing, it just brings back memories of her. Not something I would wear, but when I smell it I remember her.

I just love this.I have found that I do like aldehydes.Mostly i am an oriential flower girl butt,I keep going back to this when i am bored with others.Its another great one for powdering the sheets.Lasts for days in bed and always makes me smile when i bury my head in the pillow.Not a grandma smell either.

Profound White Floral. Not for everyone but from time to time I love to reach for this garden floral. I can pick out each floral it seems: gardenia, jasmine, tuberose, lily-of-the-valley, lilac, lily and orris. White Shoulders is quite strong and definitely not for the weak! It's classic sharp beauty shines thru yet it doesn't weigh you down as the "old granny" smell. A timeless evocative beauty still holding her own.

Nice oldie but goodie fragrance!

A classic - was given to me by a relative as a teenager (in the 1990's) when I asked for "White Linen" which reminds me of my mom - so I was surprised when I got this... hahaha... at least they got the "White" part right It took me awhile to get used to it, but I actually began to like it - surprise surprise. I have noticed I tend to like aldehydes and this one is no different. A beautiful floral and if you are an aldehyde fan you will like it.

It's a loud and proud floral loaded with lily and gardenia. Not a bad thing, but probably too strong for most. My grandma wore this one and yours probably did too. This may make it too dated (not "old" girls!! I hate that connotation!) for current frag wearers but personally, that doesn't bother me. I love strong florals and this one is a permanent fixture on my dresser. Great to wear in winter when you want to bring back the sun. It's been around since the 40's, so it's a classic worth trying.

This was my very first perfume. It was given to me as a birthday gift in the early 1960's. I loved it then and I love it now. It starts out with a beautiful sweet floral and powdery fragrance but as the dry down begins, the spices take center-stage. White Shoulders is a true classic that has stood the test of time.