Perfumes of yesteryear

Poison gives me migraine I think it was banned a few years ago (people wearing it were banned) on aeroplanes, this may be an urban myth but I can well believe it. It is a disgustingly sickly and overpowering smell.

I was bought a bottle of Ghost perfume by my DDS and DDiL this Christmas. It is fairly nice and I will use it but not my usual perfume.

zorran I have another small bottle of Sortilege eau de parfum now, that I tracked down on the internet. It's from the late 60s, was unopened. I took it out of its intact packaging and dabbed some on - exquisite and completely fresh. I screwed the top back on and now I can't get it open again! Every visitor has tried. It's a small top so difficult to grasp. Any hints to get it open again very welcome!

When if it's a metal cap on a glass bottle, try sticking it under a very hot water tap. The metal and glass expand differentially so should make it slacker.
I have a thing a bit like a nutcracker that's useful for grasping things like that too. Have you tried pliers?

Yes, tried those suggestions, Jane. Looks like the stopper inside the cap has become sticky with age. When I get chance later, I'll crush some ice to stand the glass in and direct the steaming kettle at the top, which DIL says worked for her, to a point - she then whipped the top off the bottle and the glass sheared off at the neck!

When is there any way you could put a fine rubber band round the top to give you a better grip? I have a fine square rubber type thingy which I think I bought in Lakeland which is great when placed over tight lids to give extra grip.

The first perfume my Mum bought me was Ma Griffe. Years later my Aunt bought me Youth Dew which she wore and I must have told her often enough how much I liked it! The next one was Opium which my teenage DD and her friend used to squirt on themselves, thinking I wouldn't notice! Finally started wearing Coco, Chanel and Lalique. DH bought me No.5 and it was awful on me. I was so disappointed as I thought it was the ultimate perfume.
The last perfume my Mum wore was Obsession and I still have the half empty bottle.

Agus I've tried the rubber band, too. The problem is that the top is only a centimetre in diameter and it needs a very strong person with tiny hands. I will get it open by hook or by crook, even if I have to break the glass and sieve the perfume out!!

"Ma Griffe" is a strange name - a griffe is a claw
Husband once bought me some Chanel no. 5 and body lotion to match. I've still got some left. I see they're promoting it again this year with a picture of a blonde who looks like Marilyn M.

There's your answer When, give it to one of you GC next time you are babysitting, it will keep them occupied for ages

I once managed to unscrew a lid by the hot water method and light tapping round the sides. I love a challenge and so want to get my hands on that bottle. Good luck.

Although Griffe translates into English as claw, in France it is understood as the mark made by the owner of the perfume.

I used to lve Ma Griffe years ago !
Don"t know whether I still would ?

Hurrayyyy!! Done it. I put three thickness of fabric plaster strip on both top and bottom of the tiny bottle to widen the area of grip and voila!!! It's fine inside the cap - I just screwed it on too tight. Won't do that again!

At the moment I'm wearing joy. I also use Chanel no5 and one or two of the Jo Malone ones

Result! Well done. Now I can get on with the rest of my day.

I'll come back to you if I have another little problem to sort out, Agus!

I'll remember that trick When

Only stipulation when, the only little problems I try to steer clear of are the ones that require producing a mountain out of a molehill but I can point you in the direction of some that I know who are extremely talented in this area

Catastrophisers - know a few of them myself, Agus!

when

I remember my mum having Evening in Paris in a dark blue bottle - it was sort of creamy and you put it on with a tiny spatula. Also California Poppy. My favourites were Masumi, Blue Grass and Chanel 19. Now I like Hugo Boss and Lovely by Sarah Jessica Parker. There's nothing like a whiff of perfume to take you back to a precise moment in time. I still use 4711 in hot weather.

At the moment my favourite fragrance is Liz Earles No.15 . Light and fragrant. Pop into john Lewis and they will give you a sample! Well they did me!!

My children often refer to memories associated with perfumes I have worn when they were young, Vanderbilt and Paloma Picasso being two of them. I think they have strong visual images of their distinctive bottles too.

What great memories, I have enjoyed reading all your posts.They say that the sense of smell is the most evocotive of memory.My first memory of perfume was my Mother's [like most people] she wore Soir De Paris and another one was Electrique [in the 1950's]my Grandma wore nothing but used the solid stick of 4711 in the Summer.So, the first perfume I bought myself was the 4711, probably more affordable. When I met my DH is 1969 he bought me Coty L'Aimant for a number of years, then I branched out and tried other things. Nothing seems to stay with me however, except for Chanel No 5 so that has been my perfume for many years.This isn't a perfume, but do you remember the Yardley lipsticks and how they used to smell?I bought them for the smell alone!

Back in the 1960s a boyfriend bought me Lily of the Valley (I think by Coty) but it doesn't seem to be around now and I cannot find a Lily of the Valley that I like and that lasts. I always have Ma Griffe on hand (I bought it by mistake in the 1970s on a cross channel ferry and have used it ever since) but also like La Perla and Blue Grass. Years ago I bought Fidgi (Guy Laroche) at an airport and last year found a bottle of it in a perfume sale at Fenwicks. I also like Guerlain's (male) Vetiver and Lancome's 'O'. Coty used to do a patchouli which I loved. Sometimes I smell a lovely perfume on someone in a shop/in the bus queue etc but never have the courage to ask them what it is. In my jewellery box is a small bottle of Californian Poppy - a present from my father to my mother, both long dead. Any suggestions for a reasonably priced patchouli-type perfume?

Grandmama 'Karma' by Lush is very patchouli orientated..and reasonably priced