Bronze Goddess Azur – review, comparisons and (no) dupes

If you ever wanted to know EVERYTHING there’s to know about Estée Lauder’s Bronze Goddess fragrance, you’re in luck. If you’re here just for the 2020 Bronze Goddess Azur review and its potential dupes, to scroll down.

To me, Bronze Goddess Azur from the 2020 Bronze Goddess collection has some characteristics of Tom Ford Neroli Portofino and the original Bronze Goddess Eau Fraiche Skinscent (henceforth dubbed Bronze Goddess/BG OG). It’s by no means a dupe for either fragrance as some fragrance boards propose, nor for Tom Ford’s Soleil Blanc. It’s a nice summer fragrance, ALTHOUGH I don’t adore it as Neroli Portofino and Bronze Goddess individually and have one very big complaint about it.

Flankers

When beauty brands have a fragrance hit on their hands, they usually start to flood the market with flankers – fragrances that are basically the same as the original, but different.

A REAL pro at this is Estée Lauder. When they did a collab with Tom Ford in 2006, they released a fragrance called Azurée Soleil. AS flew off the shelves, because it had that unique twist on coconut and tiare that you know from BG. It was re-released the following year, and in 2008, EL released Bronze Goddess: The OG that was a very close copy of Azurée Soleil (reviews differ of this quite a bit, and having smelled neither of them, I can’t say).

Bronze Goddess through the ages

(or, 2008 to today)

I just spend a fun 30 minutes trying to understand the releases of BG through the years: Let me take you on a journey. (Be aware that due to European Union laws around the safety of fragrance ingredients a LOT of fragrance formulations changed in the early 10s.) Lauder re-released Bronze Goddess (OG) intermittently since 2008, PLUS various flankers (there have been at least four). Alberto Morillas is the perfumeur behind Azurée Soleil, Bronze Goddess and its various flankers.

In 2019 they changed it up and released an eau de perfume in addition to the notoriously light Eau Fraiche Skinscent Bronze Goddess, which I smelled and didn’t like. To me, it smelled straight up like Guerlain’s Eau de Meteorites with a powdery violet that doesn’t read summer fragrance to me, but, well, Meteorites.

To make it even MORE complicated, Tom Ford has since released his own version of OG Azurée Soleil called Soleil Blanc (and a flanker to that!) that is heavier on the creamy and spicy notes.

Bronze Goddess Eau Fraiche: The OG

I’ve often mentioned Bronze Goddess on the blog – it IS my favourite summer scent, and I love it unapologetically.

The official description:

Top notes bergamot, mandarin, lemon; middle notes tiare flower, magnolia, jasmine; base notes are amber, vanilla, coconut milk, sandalwood.

It is, in my opinion, one of the best solar fragrances (‘solar’, in perfume speak, meaning a certain warmth and radiance). For me it’s fresh tiare flowers and a coconutty suntan lotion. I get flashbacks to a very fancy Miami hotel where they used something incredibly similar to fragrance their spa. What’s not to love?!

A quick word on Neroli Portofino

I reviewed it before, and don’t have much else to say about it.

Basically, it’s bergamot, lemon, mandarin, with orange, orange blossom and bitter orange. Throw in some herbs, and a musky base note, and there you have it – a fresh, green orange. I dare anyone to blindly test it next to 4711 and point out Neroli Portofino to me.

I nevertheless love it in scorching heat and humidity – it feels like a fresh shower. BG and NF are absolutely, and in no way, alike: but for the fact that they’ve something about them that says ‘vacation fragrance’. You know what I mean: the one is the beachy, suntan lotion, coconutty thing, the other is a refreshing orange blossom.

Finally! Bronze Goddess Azur review

Official notes:

Top notes – Sicilian Lemon, Italian Bergamot, Calabrian Mandarin.

Heart notes – Moroccan Orange Flower Absolute, Neroli Bigarade Petals, Fig Nectar.

Base notes – Coconut Milk, Musk, Cedarwood, Ambrox.

First impression

For me, there’s an unfortunate problem with BG Azur, and this is I don’t know how it smells – at least, after a while. When I spritz this, I get a burst of citrus fruits, not unlike Neroli Portofino. Nice! Refreshing! Love it! Curious to see what happens next!

But then, it kind of vanishes on me, and I have to actively burrow my nose in my wrist to get the base notes – which, for me, is mainly a generic musk – that ‘warm skin’ scent, with a very faint coconut note, like a sunscreen I applied in the morning and smelled just before hopping into the shower in the evening. But: sillage, longevity and projection (it wears very close to the skin) are virtually non-existant.

Worth it?!

What really annoys me (I mean, I will use this up, no problem, especially as you’ve to bathe in it to smell it) is that Lauder did this before, and did it better with 2011’s Bronze Goddess Soleil, a flanker that opens with a BIG citrus accord and then dries down to the creamy tiare-/gardenia-filled coconutty BG goodness that seems to vanish in the case of BG Azur.

I can imagine Azur being nice during hot days when you just need a quick spritz of freshness. I just don’t exactly see the REASON of Azur. If I want a big blast of Neroli, I’d reach for NP that has great longevity on top of that. If I want the carefree beach scent I’d reach for BG. Azur is a bit like the summer of 2020 – seemed promising from afar, and then turned disappointing really quickly.

50ml/1.7 oz for $68 at Estée Lauder. I got mine discounted for €28 so if you’re tempted, keep your eyes peeled. (It’s €32 at Parfumdreams at the moment of posting.)

Please note that this post is not sponsored in any way. We buy products ourselves, with our own money, and don’t accept exchanging goods or money for reviews. We are completely independent, and our reviews reflect that.