Perfumes

Discuss travel, watches, gastronomy, wines, boats and all other aspects of the Elegant life
Gido
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Sat Oct 15, 2011 4:17 pm

uppercase wrote:Dopey long time ago advised to seek out pure parfums rather than the eau de toilette; good advice, that. An altogether different scent proposition.
yes. and there is eau de parfum (mostly available for feminines) which is generally perceived as in between the edt and the parfum. this is true concentration wise. but edp does not exist for much more than 3 decades, so if you buy a classic that is a fair bit older than that, you have a large change of getting a formula done by another perfumer. the edp made it's appearance in the 80's, when stronger meant better, and these tastes where reflected in the edp. thus, an edp is not always better than the edt, and often different.
One current favorite is L'air du desert Marocain by Andy Tauer; smells of car oil, burnt rubber and emptiness, on the opening, just like the actual Moroccan desert roads; got to love that.
another great one! i love the way andy created this huge amber accord without the usual heaviness. like you say, it smells like vast empty space. and it's of great beauty. some day or another i will get a bottle of this.
Last edited by Gido on Sat Oct 15, 2011 4:36 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Gido
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Sat Oct 15, 2011 4:35 pm

alden wrote:Welcome to the LL.
thank you.
The old TB is something else. It is getting almost impossible to find except on Ebay and one wonders if the contents are really the original. I still like the current TB enough. Daltroff knew what he was doing. "Pour Un Homme" de Caron is another superb scent.
it often is.

but be careful with bottle collectors, they do not care about content.

when the bottle is sealed (pure parfum was/is always sealed) you are pretty safe, but not always; anyone can wrap a cord around the neck of a bottle and tie it, so inspect the pictures to see if it looks exactly right. and always inspect the color of the juice. if it's either too dark (gone bad) or just wrong (not the original content) do not make the purchase.

i also thoroughly inspect all the other visual clues before i decide to buy from ebay. the label, the font, placing of the label, the bottle itself, package, and so on. any small mistake is a give-away, it's a fake. and i never buy from any sellers with disclaimers about the state of the perfume. i learned this the hard way, it's too much of a hit-and-miss situation, and there's no chance you will get your money back.

best,
gido.

ps. this sounds like ebay is a dangerous place, and it can be, but still i consider it to be the best place to purchase perfume, you just need to proceed with care. i've found great things there. what about 2 bottles of the first edition of chypre de coty parfum, both in great shape (they came in their original packaging, which is a very good protection against light). and that's just one example. most classics have suffered greatly from years and years of alterations. on ebay, you can find the original stuff. the kind of quality that they sadly don't make anymore.
NJS

Sun Oct 16, 2011 1:01 am

The formulae change in equal step with the proscriptions on use of natural ingredients by that damned organization, known as the 'EU'. If anyone is looking (and few seem to be) for The Beast, the EU is right there in your face with its damnable creed of "Don't do that, George!"

The EU is

The Beast.

NJS
Man at C&A
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Sun Oct 16, 2011 7:11 am

NJS wrote:The formulae change in equal step with the proscriptions on use of natural ingredients by that damned organization, known as the 'EU'. If anyone is looking (and few seem to be) for The Beast, the EU is right there in your face with its damnable creed of "Don't do that, George!" NJS
yeah yeah yeah, the world is full of people who want to stop you hurting other people and the planet and it's so unfair. We understand that. :roll:
alden
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Sun Oct 16, 2011 3:27 pm

Gido

I am always on the lookout for old formula Vetiver by Guerlain. If you ever run across some.

I just thought to mention to Uppercase that he should try
Chanel's Bois des Iles as well as CdR. Superb!

Michael
Gido
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Sun Oct 16, 2011 4:15 pm

alden wrote:I am always on the lookout for old formula Vetiver by Guerlain. If you ever run across some.
there is plenty left. the magic ebay keyword for find old formula's is vintage. 'vintage guerlain vetiver' gave me these,

http://www.ebay.nl/itm/VETIVER-EDT-GUER ... 1c1b4dda34

http://www.ebay.nl/itm/GUERLAIN-VETIVER ... 3a6a395360

http://www.ebay.nl/itm/VETIVER-GUERLAIN ... 518e02007d

confusingly, guerlain has just replaced the frost bottle with a new old-style bottle. it's formula has changed again, i've read reports that it's actually closer to the original, but i do not know whether this is true or not. i have not smelled it yet. luckily, they did not copy the old style exactly, this is the new one,

Image

compare this to the ones on ebay, which is the old style.

and when dealing with guerlain, the boxes give a good clue, too. you have the ancient blue (1914-1950) and then white boxes with the letter 'g' (1950-1967), then there was the black and white patterned style (1967-1983), followed by the shiny gold patterned ones. most of their stuff was pretty great up to this point, the parfum de toilettes from this period (80's-90's) where exceptional.

here are some reference images:
Image [note: the color is a bit faded]

Image

Image

Image

i'm sorry about the messy presentation, i couldn't figure how to resize the images to the same width.

best,
gido.
alden
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Sun Oct 16, 2011 4:20 pm

Gido

When did the new formula Vetiver come out?

Michael
Gido
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Sun Oct 16, 2011 4:27 pm

alden wrote:When did the new formula Vetiver come out?
just a few months ago.
Gido
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Sun Oct 16, 2011 5:07 pm

alden wrote:When did the new formula Vetiver come out?
for the record, i am really skeptical about this new one being as good as the old. the house of guerlain is not doing well, not at all. they are falling, and there's nothing in sight that could prevent this.

i still can't get my head round to the fact that they let thierry wasser take over.

the word is out that they've already did a disastrous reformulation of l'heure bleue, one that i love very much. i am afraid guerlain perfume will be another faceless lvmh product sometime far too soon, milking out the brand name that was created during their glorious history.

don't be afraid of ebay. what you get there is more real than a new bottle from the store, in most cases. and if you or anyone else here is in doubt, and want a second opinion on an auction, i will be glad to give it.

best,
gido.
cathach
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Sun Oct 16, 2011 7:35 pm

uppercase wrote:
I've tried samples of these 3: Tabac, Knize and Russie, all purchased from
www. theperfumedcourt.com
Many thanks for that link uppercase, its a great resource for mens scent
Rob O
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Sun Oct 16, 2011 10:39 pm

Uppercase, I must echo Cathach's thanks. What a valuable resource for the initiate.
Gido
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Sun Oct 16, 2011 11:40 pm

there's a lot to discover at the perfumed court, they have a very nice collection of lost classics. but their prices are often outrageous. 400 dollars for 8ml vintage bandit parfum? the last bottle i bought on ebay (same volume, sealed, in box, excellent condition) for my girlfriend was 80 dollars.

another option for sampling are miniatures. virtually all classic perfumes came in miniature size as gifts or in presentation boxes. people have been collecting these, there is a market for them. they should cost only a few bucks. the downside is that miniature collectors, like bottle collectors, do not care about the content. i've bought a few duds, but that's no big loss. and now i've found some collectors that i know i can trust, and buy stuff from them from time to time. these miniatures can be good for traveling, too. it takes a little more effort and patience than placing an order at the perfumed court, i guess it's not for everyone. :)

best,
gido.
uppercase
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Mon Oct 17, 2011 1:35 am

alden wrote: I just thought to mention to Uppercase that he should try
Chanel's Bois des Iles as well as CdR. Superb!

Michael
Don't get me started on the slippery slope again...Russie is already on the way in the mail.

The pipe tobacco thread got me smoking again and now the perfume thread has me started on
sniffing again.

I'll have to give Sultana at Chanel a call tomorrow about Bois! So sweet.
Gido
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Mon Oct 17, 2011 1:59 am

uppercase wrote:I'll have to give Sultana at Chanel a call tomorrow about Bois! So sweet.
and while you're at it, do yourself a favor and ask for a sample of sycomore. :)

sycomore was once one of the great masterpieces of ernest beaux, the first perfumer for chanel. it has been long lost. and then, it got it's re-release, and it's different from what it used to be. and it's fantastic.

best,
gido.
Gido
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Fri Oct 21, 2011 3:46 pm

for those who know,

http://cgi.ebay.nl/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie ... SS:NL:1123

they are getting harder to find these day, aren't they? i prefer them even over the vintage parfum that i have. it's the kind of stuff that seems the greatest thing in the world on any day that you decide to wear it.

good thing about spray bottles is that no-one can mess with it's content. these bottles are in perfect condition, too.

g.
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