It's the Day of The Dead, or All Saint's Day, or Samhain, or just November 1st...we are celebrating in any case by remembering our dearly departed perfumes.
Do tell us about a favorite discontinued fragrance, or a favorite that has been reformulated past recognition, or a precious perfume that you lost or broke or spilled, or that spoiled before you could use it up.
Note: top image is Marigold Garland [cropped] by kudumomo at flickr; some rights reserved.
My favorite discontinued fragrance is Leiber by Judith Leiber. I miss it so much. I would get so many compliments on it.
My SOTD is Red Roses by Jo Malone.
The whole Leiber fragrance brand seemed to vanish just after their last release…
I have seen a few like Leiber Night in Neiman Marcus’ Last Call, but none of them compare to Leiber in my opinion.
Poor Diorissimo, it would be kinder to just discontinue it.
Large samples/small decants of Vetiver pour Elle and Attrape-Coeur both evaporated before I could use them up. That’s one of the reasons why I don’t really do decants.
Oh and SOTD is No 5 EDT. I treated myself to a small bottle after receiving my first salary from the new job. I could get a seriously good deal (~ 40% off) so it seemed rude not to
Agree about Diorissimo, although I say that without having even smelled it!
So many of my decants have turned…I’m not doing them any more either.
And yay!!!
I ordered a vintage decant of Diorissimo from TPC a few months ago (still have a tiny bit) because you talk it up so much, and I love LOTV. I think it’s marvelous, if you want to try from there? It was pretty expensive for a 3 mL decant from what I remember, however…
I put parafilm around all of my decants’ connections between a bottle and a sprayer. It prevents evaporation but in some of them it creates another problem: the spray opening isn’t big enough to suck back enough air after each spray so every 3-4 wears I have to unscrew it to let more air in and then seal if again with a new parafilm. After a while I decided to do mostly 5 ml decants: it gives me enough time to decide if I want a bottle and doesn’t drive me crazy with repeating all the steps described above.
Hey, congratulations!! And I agree completely about Diorissimo, was going to say just the same thing. I totally don’t begrudge the folks who enjoy the juice in the current formulation, but it should have a different name; it really is a completely different scent.
Concur.
Decants are like Russian roulette – some are just fine, others suddenly evaporate. I was particularly annoyed that my decant of Pd’E Azemour les Orangers evaporated before I even had a chance to give it a second try. And Robin is always reminding us of how great Azemour is, so it’s extra painful, LOL.
Ugh, sorry!
Funny, I’ve had dozens of decant with no evaporation problems at all except one time when the decanter forgot to put tape around the top and I didn’t realize it mattered. They are ugly looking things, I admit. I rely on purchased samples and decants; I live too far away from niche perfume sellers.
My favorite discontinued fragrances that I own are Iris Ganache and Haie Fleurie du Hameau and I wish I owned Metallica
Seems possible that Haie Fleurie will eventually come back into rotation at L’Artisan, at least…
I am not exactly worried about Haie Fleurie since I bought 2 partial bottles off eBay within the past year……Need to win the lottery to get a FB of Metallica though
I have a decant of Metallica, and wish I had a bottle.
Wow! just checked Ebay quickly: one needs to win a lottery for that one indeed! What’s that like?
Very pretty carnation-ylang floral that doesn’t smell metallic to me at all.
Hi! La Haie Fleurie is the one I have never sampled and (partially because of that) remain VERY curious about it. I hope they bring it back.
However with all this craze about vintages who knows how’s going to “taste”.
Does anyone compared the old vs. new juices from what they’ve brought back?
It is just a really lovely floral perfume with some honeysuckle. I have both the original Haie Fleurie du Hameau and the newer Haie Fleurie and they are very similiar
Lancôme Trésor and Dior Poison have been ruined by reformulation, which is immediately evident from the fresh top notes which they didn’t have and didn’t need. They’re spoiled for me. It’s so sad.
I’ve been avoiding new bottles of Hypnotic Poison in case it’s ruined too…
My favourite discontinued fragrance is Nina by Nina Ricci. Another one would be Diorella Extrait de parfum and Goutal Eau du Fier.
SOTD is Songes, which always makes me feel beautiful.
Have great day everyone!
I will vote for Fier too…don’t know why I didn’t buy a bottle.
It seems right up your street, and it is a great fragrance.
Fier was never easy to find. It’s not as if there were cute little minis and discounted bottles of it all over ebay like the others. It was easy to forget about it. I didn’t even get around to trying it until this year. (I hope those decants are in the better sprayers.)
I’ve never smelled the extrait of Diorella. Do you like Le Parfum de Therese, which is what I’ve imagined it would smell like.
I adore Thérèse, they are actually very similar but though I hate to admit it Diorella wins out. I’ve only got a tiny bottle of it, so I wear Thérèse more often.
My appreciation for Therese continues to grow – I bless Frederic Malle for producing it every time I put it on!
Guerlain Parure, a beautiful floral animalic chypre. No doubt, with the current IFRA nonsense and the death of the entire classic chypre family, it can never be revived, but it seems that this one disappeared even before the recent waves of ingredient restrictions. I do have a good-sized bottle, one of those with the decorative outer metal shell, so I can make it last a long time. I find it rather sad, though, that chypres started to disappear just about the time I began to really appreciate them. I didn’t “get” them when I was young, and now that I do, they are all but unobtainable.
Put me down for Parure, too. It still takes me to a beautiful place. I can’t seem to get past the oldies. My Sin, Miss Dior, Sortilege, Biba, Fiamma.
Loved them all. The new formulations of some of these just confuse me.
SOTD is Cuir D’Ange.
How do you like Cuir d’Ange?
It smells like Prada d’Iris Absolue with a shot of Aqua Net, for good measure. The strange part is, none of that was meant as an insult. A powdery vanilla – bomb with a gasp of aldehydes. Now, neither of those ingredients are listed. It is supposed to be a skin scent. I think it is a hair scent. Specifically my mother’s hair circa 1967.
It is comforting to me. I am sure others would comment on the “blink and you will miss it” leather. I have an odd sniffer.
Great review, LOL! I should try this but I don’t have the Aqua Net associations, so I’m not hold high hopes for it.
Similary, to me, Andrea Maack Craft smells just like Ivory soap with a touch of metal, in other words, exactly like a hot bath when I was a child. Abundantly nostalgic and comforting! Based on reviews and comments, I think I may be smelling the soap musk a lot more strongly than most people, though.
Shot of Aqua Net… a bit of a ballistic touch!
I was just standing in my walk-in a few minutes ago and was deploring the untimely departure of Gucci pour Homme and Rush pour Homme, two of the great releases under Tom Ford.
SOTD, however, will probably be Coromandel to make me feel warm and cozy and help me ignore the snow that fell earlier.
Snow already? What part of the country are you in? I am here on the TX coast, and this morning I was elated that it was actually cool in the house without any AC running. I am hoping I can finally wear long sleeves without getting overheated.
Well, actually I’m in Canada. Toronto!
Oy – we’re supposed to get snow tonight. Sigh. We’ve made it longer than usual up here in the Poconos….. ;-(
I loved Rush pour Homme on my SO! I tried looking for it on eBay after it had been discontinued, but since that was a strange bottle (plastic instead of glass), I was afraid the perfume had even less changes to survive – so I didn’t dare to experiment.
I’m very lucky that my BFF is a Fashion Editor who just happened to have a FB in her “archives”. The juice aged very well indeed even in a plastic bottle.
I agree with Abyss about the spoiled/evaporated decants. The worst offenders in my collection seem to be the 3 ml. size. I have a gooey residue in the bottom of my decants for AG Songes, MDCI Enlevement au Serail, and Miller Harris La Pluie and Fleurs de Sel. I bought a bottle of Fleurs de Sel but am not sure what to do about the others.
Oddly enough, the dab samples from Luckyscent seem to last forever!
You can reconstitute goo with vodka
For the gooey residue, folks recommend perfumer’s alcohol or Everclear (comes in two proofs, neither of which are as high as the perfumer’s alcohol). Everclear is easier to obtain than perfumer’s alcohol. I’ve seen it at BevMo.
Spoiled is a problem, and I don’t know how to prevent it. I have not actually had much trouble with it yet, perhaps because many of my decants are vintage scents. Vintage in general seems to keep much better than modern scents, likely because so many of the now-banned or restricted ingredients were excellent fixatives.
For evaporation, the key is to prevent the problem. Some of the vials that the decant services use are simply not airtight. I particularly do not like the ones with snap-on caps. Screw-on caps are much better, and you can use Teflon tape on the threads to get an even better seal. If you buy decants from a site that uses the leaky vials, it might be worth it to transfer them yourself to better vials.
Yes, you can reconstitute perfume with Everclear, and I have done it myself, but by the time you reach the goo stage, the top notes are largely gone, so the scent will still not be quite the same as it was.
Hi 50 Roses! Sounds like an advise from an expert! I recently looked at the Best Bottles site to get decants; if you know it do you think it’s a good site? Or, can you suggest one that uses the old style screw caps + the glass bottles?
I’ve just realized it seems we have a problem with decants, thus we might need to have a good instruction written here (??) on how to properly do that VERY important task! Does anyone agrees with me?
An article with the links to the good decant sites!
And by the way Travallo and L’artizan Travallo 5 ml decants are absolute garbage ( sorry to say): last weekend I’ve discovered my 4 (!!!!!) 2 Travallo & 2 L’artisan decant s evaporated completely within a year of filling them with various juices!!! Did anyone had the same thing happen with these decants?
There’s plenty of good instruction on NST about how to decant perfume: https://nstperfume.com/2007/03/29/perfumista-tip-how-to-decant-perfume/
I live in Canada (mostly) and have liked New Directions Aromatics (not affiliated), and do most of my decanting into these 5ml glass bottles http://www.newdirectionsaromatics.ca/pola-frosted-spray-mister-p-152.html
they are threaded screw tops, glass, but have a plastic overlay that makes them pretty durable in a bag or packing situation.
Have never bought travalos, they’re so expensive comparitively!
Oh, great, fellow Canadian, so often overlooked by all these nice giveaways and samples… (sad sigh).
Will do. Txs so much for the advice.
I must have been lazy to properly do my research on the decants! I was right under my nose 9 that was supposed to be sensitive).
Keep those Travalos upright! and if you are doing any travelling with a Travalo, it would not be amiss to keep in in a ziplock bag, just in case.
Oh, great advice, thank you; still need to use them just because they’re there.
After all who would have thought that these travallo must be kept upright to be doing exactly what they are supposed to do in any position! (bought mine from luckyscent (when they had them), now they don’t).
…and I lost 4 really good 4mls of my pressssous!
I have found that the newer version (clear) Travalos are better than the older ones. Still, I don’t think they are intended for long term perfume storage.
Since I don’t like to travel with glass decants, I use the Travalos for that purpose, especially for air travel.
And yes, it helps to keep them upright. I try to do that, even using the cell phone pocket in my purse to stow several Travalos!
Those pockets are for cell phones?!?
Accessories for Fragrances is a very good supplier. They have glass decant bottles with screw caps in various sizes, and at good prices. I have frequently carried around their decant bottles in my purse, (NOT kept vertical, either) and have not had any noticeable problems with leakage.
As a side note, the absolute worst leakage problem I have ever had is with the little 2 ml vials from Lush. The caps are not secure and tend to come right off, and then there is nothing to stop the perfume from spilling right out. I don’t know how their new packaging will be or if they are even going to offer the sample sizes anymore.
Thanks, all, for the tips on reconstituting evaporated perfume!
I could cry over the first decant that I lost to the angry vapor gods: Grossmith’s Shem el Nessim. Seriously – I got it – didn’t try it right away – and blinked. It was gone in just a few months. That was the first time I’d ever spent $$$ on a decant and lost it. It was a tough lesson. I know I would have liked it. Sniff. **
The reformulation of Je Reviens by Worth is just sad beyond words. What was my favorite signature scent (back in the 70’s and 80’s) has morphed into a stinging stink bomb of cheapness.
SOTD: Si by Armani. It’s cold and windy here in Minneapolis, but sunny. I needed a soft creamy perfume sweater and Si is it.
Yeah, I bought a big bottle of nothing.
Never tried either, but always wanted to: Deneuve and Shalini (sp?), plus those Gobin (Gaubin?) hyphenated name, extremely elusive scents. For cheap & cheerful, I used to enjoy the old Evyan White Shoulders–my mother had a bottle–but I’m not interested in experiencing the reformulation.
Gobin Daude was the line launched by Victoire Gobin-Daudé in 2002 and discontinued in 2003, according to Mark Behnke. He sums it up on Colognoisseur by saying, “If I was given one wish in all of perfumery it would be for Mme Gobin Daude to return to making perfume.”
Deneuve is stunning in a ladylike, string-of-pearls sort of way. I love it. Lucked into it in talking with a friend who had picked up a partial bottle at an estate sale, thinking he’d love it, but then found it too retiring and quiet to suit him. I think I traded him one of my backup bottles of L’Arte di Gucci (which is the opposite of ladylike!) for it, and I love it. From what I remember of your taste, I think you would too.
Well, my answer is probably obvious to those who know me–the much-beloved Attrape Coeur/Guet-Apens!
And the folks at STC just mentioned that Tauer’s PHI is out of production now. Mr. Spicebomb bought me a bottle last year for my birthday. I will have to start parsing it out more carefully!
Apparantly Andy is working on a new batch of PHI according to his blog, I understand it took a while to get more of the rose from Afganistan.
Oh, that’s reassuring!
Yes, it’s supposed to be out by late Nov / early Dec.
Just in time for my next birthday or Christmas! :}
I’ve managed to get bottles of most dearly departed- Nu, Yvresse, Alchimie, Gucci edp- but I’m gutted about Gucci Envy for Men. I think people are trading their first-borns for a bottle now
Will also need back-up of Amaranthine. Sigh.
I would have liked FB of the discontinued Plus Que Jamais and Iris Ganache, wouldn’t say no to a bottle of Attrape-Couer or Enlevement au Serail (just learned it was DC, and my sample have lost the top notes, sigh) either.
SOTD Puredistance I
My favorite discontinued is a flanker, and also happens to be the perfume that tumbled me down this fragrant rabbit hole.
DK Cashmere Mist Liquid Nude. I have 3.4 oz, all from ebay.
The new Liquid Cashmere flanker is not to my liking, although I had high hopes.
As a side note, I am in Portlandthis afternoon, and looking forward to my first trip to the Perfume House. Soooo excited! Gonna be spending some birthday cash
YAY for spending birthday cash at the Perfume House! I’d love to visit.
You will make a memory. Time stands still at TPH. I have only been twice, but it is such a special place. Enjoy, and share your thoughts.
So, the Perfume House was great, really special. So glad I visited! Did not buy, mostly because I got overwhelmed and am still recovering from Halloween festivities. But will certainly be back.
Best of all, got to sniff a good 2 dozen perfumes which I have only read about.
I miss the old version of L’Air du Temps. It had a balance of spice and flower that is hard to find today. I remember how wonderful the EdP was, it was worn by several adults I knew during my childhood. I was gifted an older bottle of EdT recently, and it is still lovely. I bought a new bottle, I keep sniffing it, and all I can say is “where did it go?”
I really miss going to the drugstore and smelling wonderful fragrances there. Muguet de Bois, Cachet, Jean Nate, Enjoli, Chantilly, Charlie . . . they were all so much fun for tweens to experiment with back in the day when testers were always available. No SA’s, no intimidation, just fun. My friends and I may have smelled unimaginably “overdone” when we left the store, but we had a good time riding our bicycles to the drugstore to try out the fragrances there before buying ice cream cones. As teens and then adults we were not afraid to return to buy full bottles. And we smelled great.
I didn’t start fragrance shopping at department stores until after I finished college. Oscar de la Renta’s Oscar, Nina Ricci’s Nina, please come back! When I returned to the drugstore years later, many old fragrance friends were gone, and the few who remained were locked up behind glass, with not a single tester to be found.
Thank goodness for mail order samples and NST!
What’s considered the old version? I have some edt that I bought in Paris for my mother in 1990 I think it was.
I’ve been curious as to when the serious reformulations started for L’air du Temps.
I don’t know the years on the L’Air du Temps reformulations, but I wish I did. If your bottle smells good to you, then it is good!
There is a Bois de Jasmin review of L’Air de Temps that touches on the difference between the new and the old formulations.
http://boisdejasmin.com/2005/06/nina_ricci_lair.html
The bottle of EdT I have is from the 1970s, and it still smells wonderful. I also have tried a bottle of EdP from the early 1980s. It smells richly floral and spicy. I visit the bottle of 1980s EdP when I see my extended family. That bottle lives with someone else, but she is generous about sharing a few spritzes whenever I see her.
My impression is that some of the long-lived classic fragrances were significantly changed in the late 1990s and in the 2000s.
Ahhh! Tiffanie, you took me back! L’Air de Temps was the very FIRST bottle of perfume I ever owned. I must have been like 10 years old when my mom first bought it for me. I used to love Cachet. Wow, what great memories!
I was pondering a few that got away just yesterday. Some of the older Goutals and Kingdom are what I’m missing. Oh, the Robert Isabell perfumes and candles were really wonderful too. I have about a third of a bottle of Savanna left that I’m really afraid may turn at any second, but I want it to last forever so I still ration it out drop by drop. Sigh.
I’m scentless today. Trying to catch the feral kittens in the garden and figuring I’m probably stinky enough to them. They are so cute but big enough that this is going to be a real challenge.
Momma kitty is gorgeous and friendly (and very young) and already has my husband wrapped around her teeny kitty finger; they have been palling around the yard together chatting all morning.
Thanks for reminding me, I have a bottle of Ceylon Robert Isabell………somewhere. Spicy, white flowers scent.
I just saw Kingdom somewhere–it was either strawberry.net, or no, not that one but one that looks like it on a mobile device. Gah, I can’t remember, but it’s worth looking for, anyway.
Wow, thanks. I’ll go search. Haven seen a bottle on offer for ages.
I’m with Tiffanie…Lost perfumes are lost days before things got so complicated. Muguet de Bois and Tatiana as they smelled to my young teen self were heaven… I hope I have aged with greater depth and dignity than their reformulations… but who is to say?
SOTD is something called Etoile d’Or by Volnay–heavily pushed by an SA at Bergdorf. She said it was an old company from the 20s recently reignited and that it was a Bergdorf exclusive. Apparently Volnay is also “exclusive” to Neiman Marcus (per my web search) but other than that I cannot find much on the company. The Etoile d’Or scent is remarkably close to the old Guerlain style–Mitsouko in particular. Anyone else ever heard of Volnay?
FYI http://www.parfums-volnay.com/en/univers.html
and http://www.fragrantica.com/news/Old-Perfume-House-Volnay-Paris-5344.html
Tatiana used to be really wonderful.
Ha, I could write a book on the topic of lost perfumes! I probably have already written most of it in comments over the last several years, so I’m trying to think of a tale I haven’t told before.
While I have had mostly great experiences with ebay, nearly all of the few disappointments concerned stoppered bottles, which have occasionally leaked during shipment. I suspect its the changes in temperature and pressure during shipment tend to dislodge stoppers. Experienced sellers will tape stoppers down FIRMLY so that they can’t leak.
My most painful experience was a World War II era bottle of Shalimar that leaked out during shipment. So sad that it survived all those decades of benign neglect – in its original box – only to be lost JUSSST before before falling into my loving hands.
On a more cheerful note, I was looking for something else and found a cache of samples of CB IHP (including the timely Burning Leaves), Olfactive Studio and Schwartzlöse, so I have a weekend of fine testing ahead of me.
Nozknoz…I don’t recall which perfume but one seller emptied out the original container into a separate screw top bottle and carefully packed each piece. While there was no leakage, I felt that the integrity of the perfume was compromised. What do you think?
You have a great memory, hajusuuri! That was a Guerlain Vetiver in the old apothecary style bottle. The seller decanted it before shipment (along with the original bottle), which would have been OK had s/he not inexplicably selected a Caron Bain de Champagne bottle to decant it into! Bain de Champagne (now Bain de Caron) is indelibly distinctive and has a melon-like accord that does not mesh well with Vetiver.
Otherwise, I’d think decanting into another bottle could be OK as long as the bottle is clean, neutral, and tight-sealing. OTOH, then there’s some risk of spilling the during decanting – shudder!
Of course, most stoppered bottles don’t leak even if they aren’t taped or anything, but Murphy’s Law suggests it will be the irreplaceable ones that do.
Theorema, same as yesterday. Glad I have a backup bottle.
Believe it or not, I found two gift sets at TJMaxx shortly after it was discontinued. 100ml EDP, mini EDP, tubes of shower gel and body lotion, and scented gold powder. $ 24.99 each!
And I only bought one – if I knew then what I know now……..LOL
It sounds like you are well stocked. It is such a relief when that happens.
SOTD = Valentino Uomo
This is an easy to wear fragrance – sweet milky coffee with a dash of chocolate. I got bergamot on top but it is not that strong. It stays close to skin and I would add this to my “safe from detection by perfume haters” list (the other ones for me are Bvlgari Black and Guerlain Cuir Beluga). In fact, if someone calls you out on it, you can simply say that you sat in a crowded Starbucks and the aroma got on your hair and clothes or ooops, I must have spilled latte on myself or someone clumsily spilled some on you and thank God it was not scalding hot! It’s sold in the men’s section but it’s not THAT masculine. I went back to Kevin’s review — he didn’t care for it much and he also included Uomo on a similar smelling list for Arquiste The Architects Club (which is double the price as compared with Uomo). In any case I think this can make a good layering fragrance and my plan is to layer this with Bvlgari Man in Black once I get my hot little hands on a bottle of it (yes, I have a 20% off Sephora coupon!!!!!!) to tone down Man in Black’s spiciness.
Re: discontinued fragrances – I enjoy my Guerlain Iris Ganache and Dior Mitzah. I think L’AP Safran Troublant is also discontinued but L’AP seems to be bringing back some of their supposedly discontinued fragrances like Tea for Two…I’ll just consider it temporarily unavailable for sale.
That Valentinone sounds nice. Thanks for mentioning it, I’ll give it a try.
Coffee & chocolate? Sign me up.
I too am excited to use my Sephora 20% coupon. I think I’m finally taking the plunge on a bottle of L’Ambre des Merveilles. This from a girl who listed amber as her least liked note about a year ago. Now I can’t get enough of it!
The house of Dior. There’s to much to say about Dior’s crimes against perfumery that has not already been said over and over in forums like this. But I cherish a decant of pre-reformulated Dioressence. When I wear it, it makes half the niche fragrances in my collection seem redundant; it is that good.
Recently I took a sniff of the modern stuff from a tester, and you know? It didn’t seem half bad. Could Dior possibly have revived it? I was not game enough to try it on skin, for fear of aching disappointment.
It seems impossible, but even a broken clock is right twice a day. Unless the hands have fallen off. Maybe you can talk someone else into trying it first?
I’m sure I’ll summon the courage. The trick may be to test it late in the afternoon; I can always shower it off when I get home.
” Dior’s crimes against perfumery ….” MM. Christian has turned in his grave many times plus just one more time right now :)))
very Halloweenish remark.
Yes, poor Christian! Dior’s classic perfume releases all happened when chypres were especially popular, from the 40s to the 70s. But after releasing a string of them, it must have been dismaying for Dior to witness chypres not only declining in popularity but came under reformulation pressure because of industry regulations. The result (I think) is that Dior finds it harder than, say, Chanel or Guerlain to deal with its fragrance heritage. Dior’s heritage is built on a genre that is a very, very hard sell at the moment.
I remember reading reports (LT?) that one of them had survived the reformulation trauma less destroyed than the others- I think it may have been Dioressence.
Yes, LT is not complimentary but he’s not scathing either. And I think Victoria on Bois de Jasmin remarked a year or two ago that she has heard the Francois Demachy was not happy with the formula of Dioressence then. So maybe he has done something about it.
I was just thinking about a bottle of Aveda Amazonia and one of Chakra IV (Equipose?) that I cannot recall what happened to! I probably tossed them during a move at some point. That and a bottle of the original Fendi. Just kills me to think of it now!!! SOTM was Coromandel followed by Mohur again.
I know – if only I had the bottles I’ve tossed when I moved in years back – gaah, can’t bear to think about it.
My life-long perfume love – Climat by Lancôme in parfum concentration has been discontinued many-many years ago. Since then Lancôme did EdP re-release for their anniversary 10+ years ago and recently re-released an EdT version (in Europe only). I have both and they are better than nothing but I still mourn the parfum. From time to time you could see it on eBay but with prices $500-$2,000 for a 0.5 oz bottle I just can’t justify experimenting (though I would pay that price for the guaranteed not fake and not spoiled bottle).
So sad – I have one of the small 15 ml re-released Climat edp, and it is very lovely. I can only imagine what the original smelled like!
I too have one of those small La Collection Climat edp bottles, and it is so nice.
L’Artisan Safran Troublant is one that I didn’t want to see discontinued. If it is…I’ve been a little confused on that, actually. I’ve read that it was discontinued but also that it wasn’t discontinued, just put in a more limited collection.
SOTD is Dimanche by Strange Invisible Perfumes
A lovely fairy once sent me a 1 ml (untaped) sample of vintage diorling which did not survive its journey.
I am relatively new to this game, but I specialize in finding vintage things, and I have also received a lot of hand-me-downs, and every decant and vintage bottle gets a parafilm or florist’s tape scarf. Even modern bottles out of season get a little wrap.
One tip I have learned is that if you find an old bottle, the first or second spray might smell pretty weird, because they age much worse in the plastic tube that connects the sprayer. Wait and see if the third smells “off.”
Great tip, thank you!
I, too, mourn the vintage DVF Tatiana; I wore it for years. My sister sent me a bottle for Christmas eight or nine years ago and it had changed beyond all recognition.
SOTD is PdN Odalisque.
That was a lovely thing, Tatiana – I remember it well from the 80s. I bought a mini of the parfum on ebay within the last few years, and it must be vintage because it smells wonderful, a beautiful spicy lily/white floral.
I threw out belongings recklessly during my last move 10 years ago. I remember looking at half a bottle of Ralph Lauren, Lauren from the early 90s. I hadn’t worn it in years and threw it in the trash!
not sure where entire post went…here’s the rest:
I realize that Lauren isn’t any masterpiece, but it would have been fun to wear on occasion.
SOTD EL Sensuous Nude. I scored a small bottle at Marshall’s this week. It’s pretty and quiet, definitely a skin scent (nude!). I think this will be good at bedtime or in the dead of winter when I just want something soft. I’m thinking it might kick up in warmer weather – difficult to tell with today’s grey, gloomy chill. Bracing myself for the time change tonight. Living in the Pacific NW, I feel a huge loss with with losing an hour of daylight. My need retail therapy to deal with darkeness.
I love Lauren! I also threw away my original bottle but finally managed to find another older one on ebay. It still smells fantastic! Not so easy to find the right vintage, though.
What do you think is the right vintage? I love the memory of that scent!
Usually I try to match the bottle and packaging that I owned and loved back in the day.
Sometimes they don’t smell as good as I remembered, but Lauren really does.
Oh, I did the same!
Wearing ELO Rien today. Strange, since I usually only wear it on work days when I want to feel especially commanding (not that I actually command anyone). Just fine for a sunny autumn day in casual wear, it turned out.
PG L’eau Rare Matale first turned me into a perfumista, and then it broke my heart when it doubled in price and got watered down.
I like Rien for working outside days. It doesn’t burn off in ten seconds when I get warm, and it just doesn’t seem to conflict with the atmospheric outside smells.
SOTD is Miller Harris Rose en Noir, which is what I was also thinking of wearing yesterday and maybe I think is also discontinued? Sometimes I can’t tell from all the posts on the internet.
My biggest saddest day of the dead dearly departed are Mariella Burani (seriously – I could have stocked up like hell if I had known this sleeper would go bye-bye); the hardly ever mentioned but very gorgeous chypre Moments by Priscilla Presley (that has fond memories for me of Cologne Germany where I bought it); and then YSL Ysatis which used to be just so darned gorgeous and now it just whatever blah.
Ysatis used to be a knock-out gorgeous perfume. I have a 2 ml carded sample that is nearing 20 years old. Although it was “too big” for me and I couldn’t wear it when it was new, I have always enjoyed giving it a sniff once in a while. That’s real perfume.
Ysatis was absolutely AMAZING! Oh, how I miss that one!
Mariella Burani… sigh. I still have about half of my EdT bottle left and don’t want to hoard it since it’s so highly aldehydic.
I too miss Ysatis, it was fabulous. Wish I had bought a bottle of Enlevement au Serail before it was discontinued. I have a decant but need to use it up quickly given the comments above!
Magie Noire!
Attrape Coeur.
Why???
I still can’t get over this one.
It was such a beauty, it literally hurt it was so good, and was stabbed through the heart. I’ll always remember her. Nothing will ever replace her.
But these stories sometimes have a happy ending, as it happened in the case of Tea for Two. I’ve never been so relieved perfume-vise in my life than when I heard that it returned!:)
Yeah, the return of some gems is very reassuring. Makes me a little bit less apocalyptic about things disappearing…
I have just a few mls left of Trigère pure perfume, and wish someone would reissue it. It smells like freshly cut grass, and for years now I’ve worn it on the first really hot day(s) of the year, although it’s not such a meaningful moment here in California as it was in Chicago. I’m thinking of switching to the spring equinox.
I’ve learned never to let a sample from Sephora sit around, as they are very prone to leakage and evaporation, and I was thinking of going off on a tangent about leakage during shipping, but will save it for the Swapmeet follow-up.
No SOTD just yet- Have been feeling crappy all weekend but on the road to recovery now, thankfully. I think I will wear Un Rose by Tauer today as it always makes me feel wonderful.
I miss Opium from its early days back in the 80’s. Both my mother and I loved and it was just about the only thing we had in common! I haven’t smelled it in years and am afraid to, considering how much it is said to have changed. So sad.
Deva, glad to hear you’re beginning to feel better. I’m here to report on the arm-to-arm, Or du Serail/Tabac Aurea smackdown conducted yesterday. Turns out they are not much alike on me – where OdS is sweet pipe tobacco and warm apple pie, TA is dry, sun-warmed fallen leaves crackling between my fingers (think dry oak or maple leaves rather than tobacco), with a hint of celery-spiciness late in the development. TA and OdS are both beautiful in their own ways, and TA could be a new favorite were it not for an unfortunate skin reaction. Not entirely uncommon on me, sadly, but nertz! I love TA and am not willing to say it “lost” the competition … but OdS is going to see a lot more of my wrists.
I’m not familiar with Or du Serail, but I do love Tabac Aurea. (No celery on me, which is good because that can ruin things for me if it shows up.)
SheriG,
Thanks for the comparison! Sounds like they are different enough to rationalize owning FB’s of both
I don’t get celery with TA either but next time I wear it I will keep on high alert to see if I can detect it hidden under all the wonderfulness that is TA.
It’s a shame that you have the topical reaction with TA- do you think you could use and enjoy it by spritzing on clothing or scarves instead? Its lasting power on fabric is outstanding and there is nothing better than throwing a muffler or scarf around your neck on a chilly day and getting a big waft of TA!
Definitely worth a try at least!
SOTM is Samsara, from the Chandler Burr untitled series going on at Lucky Scent. One quick spritz on my torso (wrists are busy with cortisone cream :)), and it’s quite nice. May need a bit more later today.
Bummer about your itchies. I can vouch that TA has amazing presence and lasting power on clothing. You may still be able to wear it that way.
I miss Sonia Rykiel Septieme Sens. I bought it for a friend in 1980, then got jealous and took it back when she stopped wearing it. SOTD is TDC Osmanthus.
Balenciaga Michelle is sadly gone forever. I have this in parfum and it is beautiful! If you like tuberose this is one of the best. It has a dark skanky base that stops it from being too sweet. Super hard to find, but well worth it. A gem!
I have an opened bottle with 1/4 left of Paco Robanne Metal and two back-up full bottles and I also have 1/4 left of a bottle of Guerlain’s Mahora and one back-up full bottle. I cherish my 4 ounce gorgeous dark blue bottle of Guerlain Guet-Apens with it’s dab-on stopper. It still smells as beautiful as the day I bought it.
Guet-Apens is gorgeous! Hard to believe it was 15 years ago I purchased it from Neiman Marcus. Blind buy but I had to have that bottle. Worked out well, since I love the perfume itself, too!
Bear, I feel exactly the same way abou Guet-Apens!
I also have a bottle of the original L’Artisan La Haie Fleurie and Orchidee Blanche and they both still smell wonderful. I also have a half-full bottle of Caron’s Nocturnes and a half full bottle each of Balmain’s Ivoire in both parfum and eau de toilette which I bought in Paris many decades ago when they both were launched and they still smell almost as good as they once did–at least 10 minutes after application.
Wow! I also have Orchidee Blanche, wonderful scent.
Bear, we seem to have similar taste in wonderful fragrances…some of which the likes of will never be smelled again.
Filomena, that is true – Orchidee Blanche is like nothing else I have smelled and Guet-Apens Is high quality without being ostentatious.
Really beautiful examples of the perfumer’s artistry!
Cheers and wear in good health!
Abishag. Thankfully I still have one little bottle to enjoy it from time to time