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Saturday Question: What Three Would You Bring Back

Hello Fellow Fumies,

At ULG we have a Saturday Question. Everyone gets to chime in with an answer, chat with other responders and it’s a fun event each week. Taking sides never means taking offence and everyone keeps it respectful and light, even though we can sometimes trawl the depths.

The idea is you’ll see it on the weekend or chime in through the week. Hopefully you will come back regularly and see if anyone has responded to your comment and you can reply to them. The aim is to generate real conversation and connection even though we are scattered around the globe.

Saturday Question: What Three Would You Bring Back?

So many fragrances have been Discontinued, Changed or Reformulated over time that it’s hard to wrap your head around it. Anyone buying Opium, Magie Noire, Diva or Miss Dior in 2024 will be gobsmacked by how different they smell to the originals. Even some less vintage fragrance lines like CHANEL exclusives, Maison Christian Dior Collection, Serge Lutens or the Malle line have been hacked into and given refreshes. We await changes on other brands bought out by big fragrance. Then there are the slew of fragrances that have gone from the counters forever, impossible to find for less than a small countries annual GDP and then you better hope it’s not a fake or refilled.

So what are the three you REALLY wish you could have 200ml of in pristine condition? Imagine there was a perfume fairy that could grant these wishes. No question of expense or postage, snap and the three bottles appear.

My Answer:

Guerlain Paris-Moscou

This is an old photo of my bottle which only has maybe 3ml left in the bottom. I really don’t know why this overly sweet, sticky, glug of a perfume captured me so completely and utterly. Plum cheesecake? Is there such a thing. Screamingly sweet. Still, whenever I spritz the smile goes from ear to ear and I huff deeply for about 5 hours. Loving every minute. Sadly these travel perfumes were not popular and went the way of the dodo in what felt like minutes.

Niki de Saint Phalle

While I love many of the mossy floral chypres, Niki de saint Phalle is the one that speaks loudest to me. I’m pretty sure that at least some of the reason is Niki’s story, art and sheer brazen ability to make her way in such a mans world. Fortunately I was aware they were coming to the end of the road when the discounters were practically giving bottles away and I bought a drawer full. Even if I wore Niki de Saint Phalle exclusively my stash might last 10 years.

Versace Blonde EdT & extrait

Don’t worry. I also have a stash of this magnificent tuberose/jasmine/ylang sillage monster. What makes me sad is something so fabulous and glamorous, created the year before Versace Dreamer (another favourite), heralded the pinnacle of Versace fragrances. It was the diamond that came before they seemed to give up on making fine fragrance. Yes, they still make fragrance and they are not terrible but they also miss the interest, aspirational creativity and magic of the Versace mid 1990s releases.

 

My Saturday Question to you is:

What Three Would You Bring Back?

35 thoughts on “Saturday Question: What Three Would You Bring Back”

  3. I’m another vote for Givenchy III in its original format.
    My next is more obscure, Nicky Verfaillie Grain de Sable, my wedding fragrance. I was gifted a mini bottle by a kind perfumista over a decade ago & I treasure it. Imagine a cross between Diorella & Calyx. Superb.
    My last is Choc de Cardin. The perfume equivalent of staring into the sun. Bright citrus, green & mossy.
    I always loved astringent chypres.

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  4. The first things to come to mind are pretty much any of the original Amouage attars (not what they are calling attars now!), with Tribute and Al Mas being my top two favorites which I now have to hoard so I don’t run out. There are also a number of Guerlain scents I would love to have an original bottle of but Metallica is one I am currently hunting for and would love to have!

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  5. Another Saturday question that’s made me think-and now it’s Sunday already so I’d better speak up now :)

    I’d start with Arpege-my signature scent when I was ten. The format that’s available now is very respectful, but I’d ask for a generous quantity of the original. I remember the rich flowers, the spiciness in the middle, and the vetiver in the dry down.

    Second choice-I’m pushing my luck here, but since we’re in a fantasy world I expect some latitude-is the Miel candle from Diptyque. I loved it!

    And my third-I bought a shower gel from St Pierre (French islands off the coast of Newfoundland). I had a bad cold so the people I was with smelled it, and said pick this one. I remember it came in a small tube, was a pretty delicate shade of blue, and the scent itself was a pretty delicate floral. It smelled fantastic and was sort of an elusive scent. I remember it had the words Lys Tys written on it. It was a present for my mom and when my cold subsided I just wanted barrels of it.

    I do happen to have the Givenchy III in it’s original tall glass bottle. The local perfumerie I loved so much used to sell its testers, and so I bought a bottle. It is a beautiful scent. Chypres don’t really suit me-they’re too intelligent, or they require more with than I have, but I do appreciate its beauty and understand why it’s on some people’s lists, here.

    Thanks as always for making me think :) Hope everyone has a good first week of July. It’s the Canada Day long weekend here, and its raining. Furnace keeps kicking in-how Canadian lol.

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  6. Not a perfume but I would bring back the brand Parfums DelRae! I would love to get my hands on yet another bottle of Amoureuse and get a full bottle of their perfume that had that rich melon note! It would also be wonderful to see what other perfumes they would create!

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  7. I would bring back the 1960’s version of Shalimar. It was so beautiful and had a softness that I find missing in the current iterations of this classic. I would also bring back the original version of White Shoulders, It was so warm and gorgeous. I have found a suitable substitute, thank goodness. Regime des Fleurs’ “Turquoise” extrait dries down to a scent that is very similar to all the things I loved about vintage White Shoulders, the rich way in which it seemed to surround you with a cloud of honeyed neroli loveliness. I agree with Carole on Arpege. That would be my 3d one to bring back.

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  8. Gucci Nobile, Nez 1+1 Hongkong Oolong, and The Body Shop Amorito. I managed to score small amounts of Nobile (green fougère) and Amorito (jasmine and chocolate) from eBay, but they aren’t as good as when they were fresh decades ago.

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  9. Well I missed the boat, plane and train but I finally made it by Tuesday . Here goes, I’m not really missing any high-end niche unicorns. I want Gaultier Fragile, Gucci Envy & Envy Me, Gucci II. Versace Blonde. Magie Noire. Opium. FM Superstitious. They’re the top wants.I could go on but I don’t want to be greedy.

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  11. Another vote for Gucci Envy. Also Guerlain Plus que Jamais and DKNY Black Cashmere. But given time I could think of a dozen more with ease!

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  12. Nocturnes de Caron extrait, Nocturnes de Caron EDT, Nocturnes de Caron splash. It was my signature in the 80s and 90s and getting very hard to find. I only have a tiny bit of the edt left

    Prescriptives Calyx. Wore this every summer for about ten years. Much juicier than current formulation by Clinique

    no 22 edt that came in the white lacquer refillable canister. Refills could be bought at my local department store, 50 ml for $37.50 in the 1990s

    Paco Rabanne Metal

    the original Clinique Wrappings. Green and not the same as current formulation.

    original Aliage Sports Spray. I smelled current formulation . Not the green powerhouse I remember from the 1970s.

    I cheated, of course, listing more than three ;)

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