Lost Perfumes

IMO a lot of the old favourites have been pushed out by so many ‘designer’ ones now, so heavily advertised on TV.

Talking of scents, though, yesterday in M&S I was idly trying some of their range of ‘affordable’ perfumes - I wanted a little bottle of something to take away - my current favourite eau de T is a big bottle.

Came away with a mini bottle of Cool Vetiver eau de T, my sort of scent, for a fiver!

GagaJo

I love greeny, fresh smells. My favourite used to be Tendre Poison. Nothing like the heavy, original poison. Light, fresh, very clean smell. Discontinued in 1994. I've never really found one to replace it although I make do with Light Blue. The real thing is by Dolce & Gabbana (expensive) but I've got a knock off one that smells identical.

L'Occitane Vervaine is citrussy and fresh

Verveine by L'Occitane en Provence is a Floral fragrance for women and men. Verveine was launched in 2003. Top notes are Lemon and Orange; middle notes are Lemon Verbena and Petitgrain; base notes are Geranium and Rose

I remember using Californian Poppies when I was about 15 then moved on to Rive Gauche.

Shalimar was a bit heavier but the bottle was lovely!

Now I like lighter, citrussy scents.

My wedding perfume was Memoire Cherie. I think it was Elizabeth Arden. I loved it but have not seen or thought about it for years.

mumu54

Boots "Rainflowers" was my all time favourite scent (discontinued many years ago). I prefer light floral so am now using Body Shop "English Rose"

Oh, I loved that! The advert said "like a cottage garden after a shower" and it was.
Every time I find a perfume I love, they discontinue it. From Prince Matchabelli Cachet, which I wore since they brought it out in the 70's, through the original Valentino (and none of the new ones smell anything like it) and now I've just discovered that Elizabeth Arden Eau Fraiche has been discontinued too! I managed to get a couple of bottles from ebay, which should last a while, but I don't know what I'll do after that.

Also back in the 70's, I loved the Coty Sweet Earth palettes of solid perfume; which you could blend on your skin.

Thinking of perfumes I used as a young woman reminds me of the freedom and lack of responsibility I had then. I used to love Yardley's Sea spray, and Halston.

Femme by Rochas, loved that perfume and cannot find anything that smells nearly as good.

I loved Revlon's Intimate. There’s a copy online which is horrible.
Gardenia by Goya, incredibly accurate.
Finally, cheap and cheerful Californian Poppy!

Esspee , Fragrance Direct has Nina Ricci L'Air Du Temps
Eau de Toilette Spray 100ml for £39.45 & All beauty has 50 ml for £29.95.

I don't know if it's changed or I've changed but Chanel 5° is nothing like it was a few years ago. It just smells like a generic mid range scent rather than that warm sandalwood and amber I remember.

I really liked Tentations by Paloma Picasso which has been unavailable now for many years.

I’m used to love Heaven Scent by Helena Rubinstein but now I use Dolce Vita by Christian Dior.

Since my favourite Elysian by Clarins was discontinued about twenty years ago I can’t find anything that I really like so I don’t bother. I recently bought online a rather pleasant floral lavender/vetiver scent by a company called Jeanne en Provence, 100 ml for a tenner but only wear it when I remember.
I was also seduced once by a Gransnetter to buy a sample set of ten perfumes by Escentric Molecules. Sadly I only like No 5 but others might love them. They are quite powerful so that’s perhaps why I’m not keen. I should pass them on to my granddaughters before they lose their freshness.

I used to love 'Magic Mist' by Lancombe, not made any more

My first real perfume was Mary Quants Havoc...I said I'd wear it for the whole of my life... then they discontinued it...I began to panic thinking my life was going to be a lot shorter than I thought...I then found 3 bottles at perfume sale at the hospital I worked at....I eeked them out until I was down to the last half bottle when with my 17 year old words rattling in my ears about wearing it forever I happened to think about eBay...and hey presto it's still available in India....I started to get low again recently and mentioned to my DOH about my life long vow and a week later 3 more bottles arrived... Nice to know he is trying to make sure I'm around for a while to come.

As a teenager I always wore Stevie B By Max Factor, I loved it, I did see some for sale on Etsy but it was an opened bottle & I guess it was well passed it’s best.
Prior to discovering Stevie B I wore Sea Jade by Yardley & was also fond of Cachet.

Mention of Aqua Manda takes me back to my teenage years. Also remember Mary Quant products in black containers with yellow lids (not all perfume).

My all-time favourite is Jicky by Geurlain, not that easy to find, I got a bottle in a department store in Bath the last time I was in the UK. I wish I could remember the name of the site which offers mail order of hard to find perfumes. But ebay is a good place to look, and you can often find small bottles of the really expensive ones to try. A lot of perfume houses seem to have stopped making the full range in a perfume, like soap, lotion, and body powder. I love expensive luxury soap !

Carven Ma Griffe

Cant live without knowing by estee lauder my absolute fave

When I was a teen Rive Gauche and Stevie B were favourites. Later I loved Chloe by Lagerfeld - it disappeared and I found it again a few years ago but it smelled very different. Still have the almost unused bottle, I think I only wore it once.

toscalily

Esspee , Fragrance Direct has Nina Ricci L'Air Du Temps
Eau de Toilette Spray 100ml for £39.45 & All beauty has 50 ml for £29.95.

Thank you toscalily. I'll have a look at those. I used to get the cream perfume in Dubai, it lasted for ages on your skin.

To the posters that suspect their favourite scents have been changed -- they have almost certainly had to do so due to EU regs banning certain substances, not always because they are derived from animals but also due to causing allergic reactions in some people. But the perfume houses almost always deny they have reformulated anything.
You could try looking on eBay in their vintage and collectible perfume sections but beware, unless the bottle for sale is reasonably full and the seller has stored it reasonably well it may not smell the same as you remember anyway.
My favourite, Eau de Camille by Annick Goutal has been discontinued for nearly 10 years now and bottles do come up for sale on eBay occasionally (at outrageous prices) but I am quite wary of them, for the above reasons.

i loved my grans lily of the valley perfume, then at 17 i started working in a chemist type shop (without the prescriptions) i tried tweed, panache, coty l'aimant and charlie blue, these are still the only perfumes i wear each day but it is now charlie red.
if you are near a poundland try some of there perfumes, they are all copies of the expensive ones like daisy, flowerbomb and black opium.