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Saturday Question: What Perfume Would You Get Back If You Could?

Last week’s topic clearly wasn’t a favorite of my loyal readers: some didn’t participate at all, some still refused to part with any of their bottles even theoretically. Let’s try the other way around.

Saturday Question on Undina's Looking Glass

Saturday Question #262:

What Perfume Would You Get Back If You Could?

The condition is: you previously had that perfume in your collection – not a sample, but anything else from a decant (the smallest allowed size 5 ml) via minis and travel bottles to a full bottle can play. It doesn’t matter if perfumes are still in production, discontinued or reformulated. In this fantasy poll you can wish for any version of any perfume – as long as it fits the criteria.

My Answer

Since in the last 15 years I haven’t finished any bottles that I loved without replacing them, and I’ve bought most perfumes I tried and liked, my choice is between something mainstream that I wore before falling into the niche rabbit-hole and perfumes that were discontinued before I could get them.

My choice is Deneuve by Avon. I had only a decant of it shared by a kind friend, and every time I wear it, I feed sad that once my decant is gone, I won’t be able to replace it. Vintage bottles can still be found online, but I wouldn’t trust it to be in a wearable condition. It is a wonderful green chypre. You might like it or not, but when you smell it you know that what you smell is a real perfume and not some conceptual art or abstract scented product. If I could, I would have magically conjured a bottle of Deneuve.

 

How about you?

What Perfume Would You Get Back If You Could?

33 thoughts on “Saturday Question: What Perfume Would You Get Back If You Could?”

  1. Ah, I’m sorry ….. haven’t participated much lately as I am a misery!!! But I do love reading your posts, and Vanessa’s from Bonkers, and they actually make me smile; I appreciate all you do and your effort to come up with new ideas and I should be responsive.

    My perfume would be Caron’s Infini, the version from the late 70s. It was perfect for me, containing all the elements I love like aldehydes, rose, narcissus and vetiver. Green and rosy at the same time. People used to follow me when I wore it to ask what my perfume was! It came in amazing “futuristic” style bottles too.

    Caron have recently brought out a perfume called Infini which apparently has no similarity to my favourite at all.

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    • I’m always glad to see you, but please, do not feel obligated to participate if it doesn’t feel like it.
      Caron is a brand that I tested very sporadically because it wasn’t available anywhere around. I saw that brand at a store just once – in 2012 somewhere in NY. Everything else came as a tiny sample from friendly perfumistas.

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  2. The two Envy scents from Gucci for mean women. The women’s was such a fabulous green fragrance and the men’s a smoky ginger fragrance. I had bottles of both and gave both of them away. Anyway, before I could repurchase, they were gone. One might say I’m envious of anyone with a bottle of either of these gems.

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  3. Iris Silver Mist, I gave it away, no regrets as I was very happy to give it to someone dear at a time I didn’t wear it at all. Still if I could wish it back, not from that person, but just falling in my lap I would be happy. Another one would be YSL Nu. I also gave it away, same as ISM, no regrets about giving it away, but if it would magically fall out of the sky I would be happy.

    Last week’s question, Patchouli Nobile would be voted off. I bought when I was in a patchouli phase, but I find it too masculine now.

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    • I love Iris Silver Mist! I guard my small bottle with my life. I wonder why it was discontinued. I think it’s one of Lutens’ best of all time.

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      • At the moment it is on offer on the Lutens.eu website, in the bell jar. It comes and goes, as far as I know, I suppose depending on supplies.

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    • I liked ISM and happily used up my decant, but every time I thought of whether I should buy it, I never felt strong enough pull to pay the price. I wouldn’t mind having it in my collection though :)

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  4. Givenchy’s Organza Indecence, vintage original version. I stupidly swapped my remaining half bottle about 3 years ago and now I miss the lovely cinnamon note that it had and I want it back! There are some vintage bottles of Organza Indecence on eBay, but quite expensive last time I checked.

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    • I don’t remember the scent, but it’s such a beautiful bottle! I remember planning to buy a mini on eBay several years ago. It wasn’t even that expensive. But since I wanted just a bottle, I wasn’t perusing it too intentionally / and then circumstances changed, and I never went through with the purchase.

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    • I can’t believe you sold all those backups! That must hurt even more than not buying them in a first place for something that you liked. I realize that none of us will go unscented whatever favorite we use up and can’t replenish. But still, it’s very comforting to have all of them around.

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  6. I could add so many. I was going to say Arpege, as it was, but the new form is good and respectful so I will plump for Lauren, in the red cube bottle. My aunt came to visit when I was 14 and she was wearing it. I’d take some, and I remember smelling it while I was cycling. In my head I can conjure the scent exactly but if you asked me for notes I wouldn’t have a clue.I do remember how happy I felt :)

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    • I think I have a mini of that red cube somewhere (you know, those duty-free sets of minis). I should try to find it and sniff it – I have absolutely no recollection how it smelled.

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  7. This question is an easy one for me. I recently acquired a sample from a vintage bottle of Kouros by Yves Saint Laurent. It’s been a while since I last smelled the perfume, probably since the last bottle I emptied back in the day. It’s always been a prominent scent in my mind ever since. Unfortunately, I never bought another bottle before the original formulations were discontinued.

    As soon as I dabbed the sample on my wrist, a host of memories flooded my mind. I finally understood why I’ve always been drawn to this perfume. I wish I had been more mindful of maintaining a bottle in my collection. It may not be a high-end choice, but I believe Pierre Bourdon was ahead of his time with Kouros. I’m still have my eyes peeled for a vintage bottle. Wish me luck.

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    • Vintage perfume hunting is nerve-wracking: it’s hard to tell whether the price is too good to hope for a well-preserved bottle or too high but still without a guarantee how much the scent you get have deteriorated compared to what you remember and what seems still wearable. Good luck!

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      • I approach the vintage perfume purchase game with caution. Some individuals possess perfumes they believe are valuable and demand exorbitant prices. Someone uninformed might fall for this trap. On the other hand, there are sellers who either lack knowledge about their products or simply don’t care and want to liquidate them. These purchases can be incredibly rewarding, and I’ve made a few similar ones. In my vintage perfume purchases so far, I’ve been quite fortunate. I avoid the hype surrounding prices and don’t feel comfortable buying opened boxes. This strategy has proven highly effective. To minimize disappointment, educate yourself about the perfume, brand, and batch coding. There’s nothing that can be done about the condition the perfume has endured during its life. Therefore, you must weigh the likelihood of disappointment or delight based on the price.

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  8. Gucci Nobile. I wore a bottle as a teenager and its bright opening made me feel on top of the world. When I got really into perfumery and wanted to seek out perfumes I wore throughout my life when I wasn’t paying attention, I was put off by the exorbitant prices for discontinued gems. I did manage to get a mini splash bottle in a kit with lotion and shower gel, but it was a shadow of its former self after so long.

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    • Discontinued or reformulated old favorites are such a heartache! It tortures me that it’s impossible to say if I would still like the same perfume had I tried the same exact version produced today. Is it possible that some of the new versions pale in comparison to our memories of the original perfume? Or have our noses developed with experience (or devolved with age)? We’ll never know.

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  9. I like this question. Mine are both Ralph Lauren, who used to make really good perfumes. Tuxedo came out in 1979 and I must have bought it immediately because I remember wearing it as a young working woman when I hit the bars on weekends and through my dating life. It smelled sophisticated, dark, sexy, but still had a green freshness on me. It is the ONLY perfume I’ve ever worn where multiple people would ask what I was wearing. I guess not a lot of people liked it or knew about it because it seemed like it pretty quickly disappeared from the market. Maybe I like it so much because it reminds me of a certain time in life when I was young. I’ve bought a bottle on Ebay, but either it had deteriorated or my memories are faulty, it just wasn’t the same. And honorable mention goes to Lauren in the maroon chunky bottle. I wore it in the daytime a lot. I have never come across a perfume that smelled like pure class, the image that RL likes to project, like this one did. The one out today is nowhere near the same to me.

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    • I was just musing in my response to the NoseProse’s comment above how it’s impossible to determine what exactly has changed – the perfume, our perception or both.
      Have you tried the recent reincarnation of Tuxedo? Did it have anything in common with the original?

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  10. Ooh, Guerlain Plus Que Jamais…I had a big split of this from a bee bottle owned by a perfumista in the US, but now have the merest drop left somewhere. How I wish I had bought a bottle in the short window (2005 – 2009?) when it was on sale…I vaguely remember that a key ingredient was outlawed, but I couldn’t tell you what.

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  11. I almost missed the last bus so it was a sprint 😜 My picks are more recently discontinued, Mugler Supra Floral, I have samples of this but didn’t pull the trigger on a fb. The other is in the more distant past, Ralph Lauren Style, nobody but nobody ever mentioned it on the blogs but it’s one that suited me to a T. Lots of florals going on. I’m happy to say that I’ve still got a bottle of this, I’ve used a few up over the years.

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    • I liked Supra Floral the most of the bunch Mugler released at that time, and I think i still have a wear or two in my decant, but I never was completely convinced that I would need more of it… Now I know that it was decided for me.

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