Vintage colognes--what do you own and use regularly.

[hcoop112]

Vintage can be at anytime ..you can have a 2020 vintage and itd still be a vintage wine....it just marks a year is all...antique however is a different story..or era i guess you could say 90’s era..or vintage its all correct really

 

[Mouser]

I agree for the most part. I find most current releases nauseatingly bad on myself. While I don't have or buy true vintage bottles of fragrance, virtually my entire collection is "old-school" fragrances. One side benefit is that they tend to be more masculine and less unisex, too. Here is my "collection" that I actually use in order of release year (those I use most are bolded):

18xx - D.R. Harris Arlington
1890 - Floris Special 127
1902 - Penhaligon's Blenheim Bouquet
1936 - Creed Royal Mayfair (actually called Windsor originally and re-released as RM in 2015)
1951 - Floris No 89
1961 - Guerlain Vetiver
1989 - Nicolai New York
1989 - Nicolai Cologne Sologne
1998 - Penhaligon's Castile
200x - Barbearia do Bairro Ribeira Douro
2002 - Floris Santal
2003 - Carthusia Mediterraneo
2003 - Diptyque Tam Dao
2006 - Nicolai Cologne Cedrat
2006 - Lalique Encre Noir
2007 - Givenchy Les Parfums Mythiques - Monsieur de Givenchy (re-release of 1959 version)
2007 - Givenchy Les Parfums Mythiques - Xeryus (re-release of 1986 version)
2008 - Commes des Garcons Monocle Hinoki
2010 - Commes des Garcons Monocle Laurel
2010 - Fougere Royale (based on 1882 version)
2014 - Floris Leather Oud
2014 - Barbearia do Bairro Principe Real
2016 - Diptyque Eau des Sens
2017 - Barbearia do Bairro Chiado

One thing, everything I've read gives launch date for Florid Special 127 as 1910 not 1890, not that it matters except I'd like to know. Do you have info pointing to 1890?
Never mind. It finally occurred to me to go straight to the horse's mouth, the Floris site, duh! 1890

 

[steffenapelz]

One thing, everything I've read gives launch date for Florid Special 127 as 1910 not 1890, not that it matters except I'd like to know. Do you have info pointing to 1890?
Never mind. It finally occurred to me to go straight to the horse's mouth, the Floris site, duh! 1890

Yup. Super old school, but still relevant. If you wear it, you stand out because there is no current/modern scent quite like it. The only "knock" on it is the performance. It won't last longer than a few hours before it becomes a skin scent, but that is what I am shooting for anyway. To get massive performance, perfumers have to employ synthetics, and I try to avoid those a much as possible.

 

[Mouser]

Yup. Super old school, but still relevant. If you wear it, you stand out because there is no current/modern scent quite like it. The only "knock" on it is the performance. It won't last longer than a few hours before it becomes a skin scent, but that is what I am shooting for anyway. To get massive performance, perfumers have to employ synthetics, and I try to avoid those a much as possible.

There are certain occasions and/or certain phases in life when skin scent is what you want.

 

[Drseid]

Own?... Far too many to list, probably over 200 vintage bottles.

As to use regularly, these five probably get the most use (all of course in their original formulas... none of the neutered reformulated crap versions of many of these on the market today):

Giorgio for Men
Giorgio VIP Special Reserve
Polo
Monsieur de Givenchy
Polo Crest

 

[JCarr]

Cody Aspen
Aramis Havana

 

[masonjarjar]

Avon Wild Country cologne (own both vintage and modern)
Avon Oland cologne
Aramis Tuscany EDT
Davidoff Zino (acquired several vintage mini's, put them in an atomizer)
Calvin Klein Calvin (same thing, vintage mini's decanted into atomizer)
Pierre Cardin PM (1.5 oz from Aladdin Fragrances era)
Giorgio Beverly Hills pour Homme (I believe it is a pre-EA bottle)
Halston Z-14 (Jeff Gordon edition, which places it pre-2011, but still EA. I have older vintages of the aftershave)
English Leather "MEM" cologne (so good)
Bijan for Men (this one is a bit of a mystery, the guy that gave it to me said he bought it in the 90's but it's a Five Star bottle, which I believe places it somewhere in the 2000's.. what a beast)
Thierry Mugler Angel Men (again, a bit of a mystery here, it's printed "Angel Men" on the bottom of the bottle. At some point they changed the name to "A*men" - but I don't know when that change took place. It's not super-old, but it's from a more sought-after era)

Also have to mention a bottle of Matchabelli aftershave I picked up a few years ago still in the box. What a fantastic
scent, I definitely hope to track down a bottle of the cologne, hopefully without breaking the bank..

OK.. to clarify, by "vintage" I'm including bottles that I believe are at least 10 years old. I do have current versions of classics like Dior Eau Sauvage, Brut, Sung Homme, Azzaro Pour Homme, Grey Flannel, etc. So yea, I like the old stuff probably more than most modern releases, though I do have a fair number of contemporary fragrances as well.

 

[masonjarjar]

The ones that I still have left from the bottles I bought in the 1980's and early 1990's, I won't even touch. I still have a bit of Azzaro Pour Homme, Halston Catalyst and Chanel Pour Monsieur left along with almost full bottles of Cool Water and a Ralph Lauren Safari gift set (4 oz bottles of the edt and aftershave). I thought I had an almost full bottle of Gucci Envy but sadly most of it is gone (I can't remember if I used most of it or if it impossibly evaporated). I also have about 25% left of one of the strongest fragrances released in the 1980's - Giorgio for Men by Giorgio of Beverly Hills. It was even stronger than Paco Rabanne Pour Homme at the time! Even today, one spray of that vintage Giorgio for Men bottle is incredibly powerful. It's a nuclear blast of oakmoss which is limited today due to IFRA rules.

Few reformulations today are even close to their classic versions. The closest I can think of is Paul Sebastian Fine Cologne and that's probably because Paul Sebastian sold out to French Fragrances decades ago. French Fragrances eventually became EA Fragrances and they bought (and cheapened) many classics. Since they probably used the original formula for Paul Sebastian when they first purchased it, they didn't alter it that much. Paul Sebastian is one of the few classics made by EA Fragrances (maybe the only one) that's still sold in major dept. stores.

Did anyone else ever wear Pierre Cardin Musk? That was terrific as was Lagerfeld Photo and Halston Catalyst. Unilever's reformulation of Photo in the 2000's was weaker and EA Fragrance's version of Catalyst paled in comparison.



Have you smelled today's version of Polo "Green"? It's putrid and nothing like the original.



British Sterling is still pretty good. English Leather by Mem was my high school scent and that bottle in the wonderful wooden box was in my desk drawer for years. I bought the Dana version a few years ago and it's still pretty good but probably has nowhere near the smoothness or longevity of the original. I'm probably going to buy the 8 oz. aftershave soon. I just hope Dana has changed their policy of manufacturing the oils in the USA and then having it bottled in China.

Dana stopped producing the large bottles of English Leather for a few years and look what happened to the prices on Ebay until they started up production again last year. Remember that this isn't vintage Mem but the Dana version! The price on top is what I paid for the current 8 oz. bottle 4 years ago and the Ebay prices are from 2019.
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The whole drama around English Leather has been absurd. I use the most current version of EL cologne and aftershave most of the time. I have a vintage MEM bottle of the cologne that totally takes me back to high school days (pretty much everyone else was wearing Polo green.. which seems so weird that it was so mainstream in the 80s!)

 

[masonjarjar]

80's vintage Paco Rabanne is worth paying for.

Ironically, I hated it then.

AA

That's what my grandfather wore. I haven't smelled it in years, so I'm not sure how I'm going to react!

 

[Ad Astra]

That's what my grandfather wore. I haven't smelled it in years, so I'm not sure how I'm going to react!

It's a fine fougere, similar to Brut, really.

AA

 

[Mouser]

That's what my grandfather wore. I haven't smelled it in years, so I'm not sure how I'm going to react!

Your grandfather wore an 80s cologne? Again, I feel so very old. The cologne my grandfather would have worn would have been what was popular in the 1910s and 20s.
I wore 80s colognes. And 70s. Late 70s mind you.

 

[sarimento1]

here's another, it's a classic.

 

[sarimento1]

Your grandfather wore an 80s cologne? Again, I feel so very old. The cologne my grandfather would have worn would have been what was popular in the 1910s and 20s.
I wore 80s colognes. And 70s. Late 70s mind you.

about same time frame as my grandparents!
without which scents, i might not be around!

 

[masonjarjar]

Your grandfather wore an 80s cologne? Again, I feel so very old. The cologne my grandfather would have worn would have been what was popular in the 1910s and 20s.
I wore 80s colognes. And 70s. Late 70s mind you.

I remember he had a bottle of it in his bathroom, definitely in the 80's/90's. I have no idea what he wore as a younger man. He passed away around 2005. My dad wasn't ever a cologne guy, he always wore Old Spice. When I was a kid he had a bottle of Aramis that he got a gift, but he told me he didn't like it. My first two were English Leather and Jovan Musk (I just turned 51).

 

[karacha]

A lot of 70s-80's Avon.

 

[AtraSensor]

The whole drama around English Leather has been absurd. I use the most current version of EL cologne and aftershave most of the time. I have a vintage MEM bottle of the cologne that totally takes me back to high school days (pretty much everyone else was wearing Polo green.. which seems so weird that it was so mainstream in the 80s!)

How close is the current version to the Mem version? What I remember is that the Mem version was stronger and lasted longer (like all other reformulations today). It was probably smoother, too.

 

[FarmerTan]

I have been wearing old-school colognes lately. I much prefer them to todays' designer nonsense being peddled at ridiculous prices. Some of my vintage scents are designer inspired, but I have owned for years and are not the reformulated into tonic water versions. I think the industry has lost their way and can't find home runs which capture our interest anymore. I will mention some that have been getting some use the past few years. British Sterling, English Leather, English Leather Spiced, Shulton Old Spiced Original, Hugo Boss Number One, Quorum, Aramis, Polo, Royale Muske, Jovan Musk, Avon Everest, Jade East, Bill Blass, Lagerfeld, Pierre Cardin, Obsession, Zino Davidoff, Yardley Leather, Yardley Musk, The Baron, Elsha 1776, Chanel Pour Monsieur, Armani Pour Homme. There are others, but they slip my mind right now.

Avon Everest AS has a tiny bit of cat pee in it at first application. In about a minute it's gone. But I think that is why it lasts on me longer than any other Avon of yesteryear. Blend 7 is still my weakness, the one I will never turn down in the wild. I've even made my wife cry over that. I'm not proud, but we are both stubborn.

Yes, you will read in the papers someday the headline: "Michigan man Drowns in Bathtub full of Avon, Foul Play Expected!"

 

[FarmerTan]

How close is the current version to the Mem version? What I remember is that the Mem version was stronger and lasted longer (like all other reformulations today). It was probably smoother, too.

Honestly, I got some of the Mem at the tail end of an Estate Sale a few years ago for a dollar. Looked unused. Cologne, if that matters. It is a little, LITTLE bit better than today's. But seriously, it can't touch the smoothness or depth of Avon Leather I have that's almost as old as I am I think. Oland by Avon is kinda a stronger version of Avon Leather, and Avon Tribute is like a weaker version of Avon Leather to my nose. I doubt that @Ad Astra shares my opinion, but as usual when he and I disagree, I'm right and he's wrong. I'm also rubber and he's glue.

Interesting side note that everyone is tired of me saying all the time: mix in some Bergamot essential oil in with Tribute and your wife will tear the buttons off yer shirt! ONLY DO THIS IN SUMMER, AND IN A SAFE PLACE!

 

[Peterv1]

Guerlain vetiver
Drakkar noir
Tom ford grey vetiver
Aqua di parma bergamot
Mondial No.908

These are the five colones in my den

 

[TexOkie Shaver]

Many years ago, an aunt gave me a bottle of Kouros. My wife loves it, so that’s what I’ve worn ever since.