Reviews of Red Door by Elizabeth Arden

Red Door reminds me of rose hips - with their dry-sweet syrup and seeds that are ground up to make itching powder.
But of course Red Door is a perfume, and these shiny hips have a perfumey secret: scratchy orange blossom, dark plastic tuberose and a powder-puff drydown.

Even though it's over 30, Red Door doesn't feel old or past it, it's one of those scents that make their own rules. It makes a fine dandy masculine.

A sweet (but not gourmand) and strong fruity floral. Very good performances with a vintage feel.

Must be worn only in small quantities, then Red Door is pleasant. Otherwise it causes an agony both for the wearer and everybody around her.

Jasmine, honey and sandalwood is quite prominent in Red door as well as musk.

A diehard aldehydic powerhouse fragrance, powdery and soapy with a floral oriental touch.

It's never suitable for a blind buy...

Even after so many decades, Arden Red Door EdT never ceases to amaze me.

It's a fresh, clean experience that lasts all day. The sweetness of the honey and anise mixes nicely with the orange blossom, peach and plum. The spice and floral note don't cloyingly overtake the overall fragrance and simply accent the smooth opening. The base adds a slight warmth to this otherwise uplifting experience.

Whenever I smell this on a lady, I instantly recognize and admire it! Arden Red Door EdT still ranks up there among my all-time favorite ladies' scents.

I don't care what you say, I love Red Door. It's always been something that I sniff in passing while at the perfume counters, and I'm always shocked by how much I like it. Admittedly, I love big 80s spicy perfumes, big vintage scents, and hate today's sickly-sweet fruity-desserty bombs, but Red Door is almost it's own thing. Rose-y but spicy with an interesting drydown that is sweet but not too sweet. I can always tell when I've been wearing it because I pick up the shirt from the day before and inevitably, I have to take a big inhale and say, "Wow, that's yummy." I have Shalimar and Chanel 5 & 19 and Serge Lutens Ambre Sultan, among others, and I like Red Door almost as much as those other, fancier perfumes. I have the lotion and the perfume -- bought for a grand total of $30 at TJMaxx. Great price is a bonus! I only wear a little if going to the office, but on weekends, I load up when I'm in the mood for it! It just makes me happy. Haters gonna hate, but oh well.

Don't overdo it.
On some this smells very nice.
When my sister wore it I remember the scent of honey and jasmines
When I wore it I got orange and cinnamon scents
It's a nice frag so long as it's not overapplied.

I found this at my mom's house when she passed. Use very tiny sprays. It last 16 hours. My husband likes it on me. I only wore it because it was my mothers and could not bring myself to throw it out.

Just like No.5, this is definitely a powerhouse. My way of describing it ~Proceed with caution & use sparingly~...too much it'll give you a headache for sure. My mom and I share a bottle. I'm in a love hate relationship with this one. I've had both positive and negative views/ comments whenever I wear this one. Anyhow, I treat it as one of my elegant and sensuous lady perfume :)

Holy s**t! Why would anyone in their right minds want to smell like a can of bug spray?

You can probably kill a cockroach by spraying Red Door at it...unfortunately, along with any other life forms - plant, animal and human - within a 1 mile radius.

Garish and hideous odor...

I tried this for the first time today at Sam's club. My first instinct was to go to the ladies room and try to wash it off. At first spray, It had the fragrance of bug spray and plastic. As it began to dry down, it became this wonderful fragrance of spices, honey, amber and resins with some floral Which I love! I can see where one would have to only use a small amount though as it can be overpowering. This fragrance is so different from the junk that is called perfume today. To me, all those named after movie stars and rock stars smell the same. I will definitely be adding this one to my collection!

Open very carefullyFirstly I had a generous helping: The opening blast us orange blossom, peach, honey and a rather mundane rose unite to form a lipsticky note - very sweet, crass, loud, shrill and garish. This blast lasts for several hours and reeks of artificiality. Later ylang-yang, orris and benzoin provide a bit of a counterpoint, and the end is the most attractive part, with musk merging with the now attenuated lipstick. Silage and projection are tremendous, and I cannot fault the splendid longevity of nine hours. Applying it more cautiously it inflicted less olfactory damage on my surroundings, but did not improve otherwise. Open very carefully.

It served a purpose...and oh what a purpose it served!! Love it for what it represents...late 80's glamour!

I was on an e-site where Red Door was listed as one of their top sellers, consistently apparently. I was given a small bottle when it was released and couldn't give it away fast enough. This was worse than fly spray to me. I cannot believe that the cornerstones of stunning perfumes are being restricted due to 'allergens' when Red Door can survive as a top seller. Oh well, one man's meat is another man's poison.

Back in the early 1990s I wore this to death. I always got a lot of compliments on it. I feel this is better in cold weather.

Unfortunately something has changed, the fragrance or me, I don't know. I bought a bottle out of pure nostalgia and it has an unusual cat pee note I don't remember before. I do wish the fragrance industry would stop with the reformulations.

Very elegant scent - it reminds me of my mother, who always choose these very strong perfumes. I wouldn't wear it myself since it's very lady-like and very "perfumed". By this I mean that it's not very natural and soft.

I was introduced to Red Door when I was 12 and in a teen modelling contest and they included a small sample in a gift bag of goodies. I find the fragrance is good if you don't really like intensely sweet floral notes. Instead Red Door possesses deeper resin as it's most memorable scent.

I reintroduced my nose to Red Door around Christmas time a few years ago. Although I found it a little cloying on my sinuses.

Hated it from the start. I think it's the Jasmine which I have never liked in perfume form.

When I first smelt Red Door I fell in love with it & wore it all the time. Now however, I find it too strong for me to wear without getting a headache - I actually gave my last bottle away for that very reason. I do still love it when others wear it due to it's elegant nature, but I think it is best left for a younger person to wear, as it lasts forever.

I still have an old bottle of Red Door that I forget I own. It's from 'back in the day' (yes, the 1990s) but it still smells just as I remember. This was my signature scent when I was seventeen. Like so many reviewers before me have mentioned, it smells a bit dated since we now live in an age of gourmand/dessert fragrances.

I hesitate to refer to this fragrance as exclusively for older or 'mature' women. This fragrance does not discriminate according to age. However it does discriminate according to personality and confidence. I think referring to this fragrance as a "power fragrance" is brilliant. I think age is getting confused with self-assuredness which is often acquired over time. That said, this scent is better suited for a confident twenty year old than a timid fifty year old.

I don't love it as much as I once did. Not that I've lost my moxie. I've grown more mellow as I've grown older and I burned myself out with this fragrance. Since I've reminded myself of my once-prized perfume, I'll have to enjoy it once again.

This is my mother's signature scent. It's a strong, yet elegant and sophisticated rose scent.

Sure, this fragrance is mature, but not in the way that everyone makes out that it is. Red Door is quite a complex fragrance and in my opinion it does not smell like an old lady. A young person, with the right skin chemistry could quite easily wear this.

I must say that this fragrance smells amazing on my mother, many people have asked her what she's wearing and have been surprised to discover that it was something as simple and inexpensive as Red Door.

A jumble of diverse elements produces lack of balance, overly sweet smell and absence of any olfactory criterion. The scent is cloying and powerful, i find it too fruity and floral and endly a bit disgusting. I'm sorry but i find it unpleasant.

Oh Lord what can I say except......eww, this is headache inducing and makes me feel like sticking my head out the window, it's waaay to strong, even a light spray is too strong and long lasting. To those that love it I'm sorry but PLEASE don't come near me.

God, what a revolting fragrance. I once had an assistant who wore this stuff to work every day - the Parfum, not the EDT - and reapplied mid-morning, after lunch, and mid-afternoon. I tolerated it for a while, but the thick miasma became too much and I asked her not to wear it into the office again, upon which she became upset, and wondered out-loud why anyone wouldn't "love" such a "gorgeous perfume". My intention was not to upset her, but to save myself and my clients from an olfactory holocaust. Thankfully she started wearing Amarige and Paris instead of Red Door, and they were applied with less of a heavy hand. Perhaps Red Door could be alluring if used conservatively, but I'm afraid that it's reputation is forever tainted in my memory, and even the smallest whiff gives me palpitations (can a perfume induce PTSD? I'm sure it can!). I just can't imagine why any woman would wear it. It's ghastly, unflattering, and very, very annoying to everyone within a radius of 30 blocks.

I regret that my very first Basenotes review is a negative one. I admit to buying my mother a bottle of this 'scent'. I thought at the time - well i definetely wouldn't wear this one but an older person might carry it off. On a mature woman it could possibly have a classic, soft, 'old lace' quality which was how I would like my mother to be remembered .... so I bought a bottle for my dear old (at the time 80 something) Mum. She really liked it, since her youngest daughter had bought it for her birthday, and wore it often. I'm sorry Mum. Red Door should be renamed Eau de Nursing Home. Far from classic elegance ... it has a claustrophobic odour of unsuccessfully masked incontinence. I didn't have the heart to tell her that I had grown to hate her lovely Red Door so I patiently waited for the bottle to finish ........ unfortunately my sister on noticing her perfume was just about empty went out and bought Mum the economy size bottle. Sadly though, Mum misplaced her replacement bottle not long after that (NO - I swear!! She really DID misplace it) but it was quickly replaced with L'Occitane Eau des 4 Reines (which I shall review sometime soon). Here's to a long list of more positive reviews in the future!!