Vintage is worth the effort

[Ad Astra]

Ah, youth.

As college kids in the 80s, my best bud wore Paco Rabanne. A fat, sweaty guy, he was blasting that stuff on all the time. He'd offer the bottle, especially on hot days, which I vigorously rejected. Stuff gave me a headache, and I'd give him a hard time. He'd happily spray away.

Fast forward to today. Trying to educate my nose, bought a small bottle of today's Paco Rabanne. I like fougeres - these days - and it smells like Brut, to me, to a degree. It's good. And like most, the PR of today lacks the oakmoss punch the 80s powerhouses had.

Took a while but scored a vintage bottle today. Man! The new and the old are related, but wow! It's like saying Bacardi 151 and Arbor Mist are both alcohol.

One drop of vintage PR dazzles, has hang time, changes through stages ... It is awesome.

Ah. Shoulda known.


AA

 

[masonjarjar]

The crazy thing is you have guys that will swear up and down they haven't changed. Just goes to show you how subjective scents can be sometimes, and how many factors go into what our brains actually experience.

 

[ajkel64]

I used to love Brut back in the late 1970's early 80's. Cannot stand the stuff now. I used to use Pierre Cardin a lot during the 1990's. Never touched it again until the other day when I got some with our last chemist warehouse order. Probably be my new go to fragrance. I used to think that the scents of vintage fragrances would lessen with time but that does not seem to be the case. Maybe higher end fragrances last longer than lower end fragrances. I used to always buy on the lower end scale due to financial constraints.

 

[Ad Astra]

Many have been reformulated - make that "watered down to save money" - but not all.

I'm not sure what Grey Flannel smelled like back in the day, but I slapped a handful of that stuff on last week, and it almost bowled ME over. It's like a bottle of pure essential oils ... Few, few with horsepower today.


AA

 

[masonjarjar]

Many have been reformulated - make that "watered down to save money" - but not all.

I'm not sure what Grey Flannel smelled like back in the day, but I slapped a handful of that stuff on last week, and it almost bowled ME over. It's like a bottle of pure essential oils ... Few, few with horsepower today.


AA

I bought my bottle of GF in 2010 and I couldn't imagine it being stronger.

However, my vintage bottle of English Leather is deeper and more complex than the newest formulation.

 

[Bhugo]

Ah, youth.

As college kids in the 80s, my best bud wore Paco Rabanne. A fat, sweaty guy, he was blasting that stuff on all the time. He'd offer the bottle, especially on hot days, which I vigorously rejected. Stuff gave me a headache, and I'd give him a hard time. He'd happily spray away.

Fast forward to today. Trying to educate my nose, bought a small bottle of today's Paco Rabanne. I like fougeres - these days - and it smells like Brut, to me, to a degree. It's good. And like most, the PR of today lacks the oakmoss punch the 80s powerhouses had.

Took a while but scored a vintage bottle today. Man! The new and the old are related, but wow! It's like saying Bacardi 151 and Arbor Mist are both alcohol.

One drop of vintage PR dazzles, has hang time, changes through stages ... It is awesome.

Ah. Shoulda known.


AA

PRPH is one of my favorite scents. I have a ton of vintage. You aren’t kidding. It’s that much better. The first and second versions are both great. The latest is not in the same class.

Another of my favorites is Azzaro PH. It’s latest formulation is a little weaker, but not bad. It still smells as good as vintage or at least really close...

I also agree with @masonjarjar about EL. Love the vintage cologne! No comparison.

 

[Ad Astra]

PRPH is one of my favorite scents. I have a ton of vintage. You aren’t kidding. It’s that much better. The first and second versions are both great. The latest is not in the same class.

Another of my favorites is Azzaro PH. It’s latest formulation is a little weaker, but not bad. It still smells as good as vintage or at least really close...

I also agree with @masonjarjar about EL. Love the vintage cologne! No comparison.

I do agree today's Azzaro PH is good enough! You can get half a day out of it, anyways.

It seems easier to score vintage Avon than vintage of most classic colognes- like someone once said about real estate, "buy land - they're not making any more of it."


AA

 

[sarimento1]

well, vintage colognes are nice, but indeed have been subject to the ravages of time and such.
to my nose, the old stuff has become mellow, dark, muskier.
in some cases, they have been discontinued.
whatever. enjoy for what they are.