This is a beautiful fragrance. I agree with what a lot of others have said in their reviews, in regards to perhaps dabbing this one on rather than spraying, as it is quite a strong smell. Lovely though. Not an "old lady" smell by any means, but don't think this ones suited for young girls either... A lovely, sophisticated and mature fragrance.

Knowing, like Angel, is the perfect example of a fragrance that deserves its five-star rating in Turin & Sanchez' "Perfumes: The Guide," yet is unwearable for me. It is a lush rose chypre of great quality and distinction, in a hefty, artistic, asymmetrically ridged bottle that befits an elegant and mature classic. All the same, I feel sick every time I try to wear Knowing. It has a raspy, nail-varnish-like quality that I associate with old perfumes that have soured from exposure to the light. While I recognize intellectually that Knowing is simply swimming in oakmoss, and not the least bit sour or stale (having been purchased a year ago from Macy's), it nonetheless offends my nose and makes my head spin.



I can wear Aromatics Elixir and Cabochard just fine, so it's not that I am averse to loud dry chypres... But something about Knowing just never settles down for me, never becomes cozy and wearable. Shame. continued >>

What makes Aldehydes Patcholi Jasmine
Sandalwood & Civet a good perfume
ingredients i just don't know. 90 %
of my perfumes That i love are these
ingredents it's Romance Wraped in a bottle An
elegant perfume perfect for
going to a high class Resturant
Going to a Posh Fine Art Museim
having a candle light dinner with your
signifigant other. i'v notice some a leather
note in this perfume i'm deffinily buy this again
when it runs out. continued >>

my mum has this perfume because she recieved it as a gift from her friend. I am 24 and i adore it! its very strong and so i dont feel its something i would wear right now at my age but most definitely when im older i will bathe in this stuff lol... mind you if its over sprayed it can be too much but rightly its amazing!

I had trepidation before trying it because it's supposed to be a BIG 90's affair. I heard that one spritz and walk through are more than enough...so I spritzed and waited for a full-on attack. Smelling this fragrance was like walking up to the biggest,nastiest-looking bouncer in a club and being met with Mr.Manners. The juice is powerful, but it is so well blended that you can almost forget it's there. Kudos to Estee for her great nose!

Okay..... I am going to be honest. This perfume smells like urine.... But that is only in my opinion and a few of my family and friends.

I used to wear Britney Spears' Fantasy because I like sweet scents.... everywhere I went, in elevators, buses, people complimented me on my perfume. However, when in a different country I lost my wallet. Magically, a girl sitting next to me in a bus that day asked me if she could buy whatever perfume I was wearing right then and there...so I sold my Fantasy.

I got Knowing as a gift. Since I like to always wear perfume, even if I am not a fan of the scent, I wore it regularly until I had the money to buy one I really liked. Tip: Don't spritz it on yourself like a body spray...its STRONG. My nose grew immune to it but my friends told me that once I left their car my scent was still flying around in the car...and not in a good way.

This scent is not girlish or young.... in fact it smells kind of old-fashioned to me. If you want to really make a statement in a room, wear this stuff. It doesn't fade away like other perfumes do. But, my dad still told me it smelled like "urine".

I sampled this today, one tiny spritz on each wrist, I am a lover of "big" scents (mostly orientals) and the majority of my collection is what some MUAers often refer to as "old lady" perfumes. That being said..I found this stuff extremely potent and pungent for the first 30 minutes or so.


At first, I smelled a very strong synthetic rose or floral scent...then it morphed into what I can only refer to as the scent of autumn. Burning leaves, campfire, the last of summer's flower petals blowing in the wind.


4 hours in, Knowing has dried down, but doesn't fade away. She's still strong, but she's grown in a dark mossy delight of incense, woods, rose, and a dash of spice and cream.


Part of me feels like this fragrance is lovely, mature and I'm surprised that I've ended up liking it since I prefer spicier and stronger musks. Knowing definitely holds onto those floral notes, but it's not too girlish. In fact, I think a man could wear this.


First impression : This is a fragrance that a woman would buy but a man wouldn't. Meaning, it smelled nice and womanly but somehow lacked sex appeal. 80s, early 90s. I felt like I should be wearing a power suit with a bob haircut, like this was a scent that a career woman would wear. She wants to be taken seriously, she needs something to last all day, she wants to retain her femininity but she also wants respect and never wears her skirts too short.


After an hour, like a 30 year old woman, she bloomed...growing more into herself, She's not trying to fit in, she's not trying to make waves by being shocking or "different". She simply is.


I never thought I would love a fragrance with as much rose as this one has but I have a feeling that Knowing will grow to be one of my favorites.

I try hard to surmount my difficulties with Estee Lauder because I appreciate the compositions so much - but Pleasures turns into celery, White Linen screeches and Cinnabar is an old eraser on me. However, I kept going back again and again to Knowing because I adore chypres and really loved Paulina Porizkova in a tux.
So I wrestled it like a cranky old boar in the forest over three days, and it finally clicked. It's grand and lush and slightly prickly, in a wonderful way. Finally an EL that feels like a version of me.

What a discovery! it is an excellent perfume. It is a very special aroma that changes with time it is flowery/spicy/woody.
The dry down is very dry, but smells good. It is a unisex perfume. Sensuous Noir is a mixture of Knowing with Sensuous, the aroma of Knowing with the base of Sensuous.

This used to be my essential perfume back in the day when I worked behind the reference/research desk at a large public library. It used to mask any bad smells (and believe me, if you've ever worked in some parts of a library there are a billion of them) coming from people or things.

My colleagues would groan when I wore this perfume because it is loud and not everyone's cup of tea, and to be honest, I used to drench myself in it. I had one colleague who wouldn't get in the lift with me, he hated it that much. However, it got me through dealing with many of the great unwashed that I would encounter through my day because all I could smell for the first half of the day was myself and Knowing. Of course, the more I applied the more immune to the smell I became. Knowing has great lasting power!!

I have no idea of notes or other nice-ities of the perfume. I like it, but it's not a perfume I adore. It was used so I could save my Coco or Mitsouko for me, not work.

I have smelt this on others and it's lovely, but I think for me it now has too many bad associations (like the crazy guy who used to follow me around sniffing saying, "You smell like a girl..." or the other punter who used to come and request some glass cabinet books on guns of WWII and then take his shoes off when reading, but I digress), so I won't ever buy it again.

The other reviews say it all much better than I. It is a lovely perfume and is very striking for the right person, in the right time and place. But I just can't wear it anymore.