Hi all! Vintage lover from USA here!

Hi everyone,

Thought I'd introduce myself as I have a day off and use this site so much.

I love vintage perfumes and colognes, primarily.  There is so much rich history.  It is so sad to that modern perfumes are full of synthetics.  I find so many of them smell alike.  There are exceptions, but generally I find that you have to spend quite the pretty penny to find something interesting.

Has anyone had any luck finding authentic vintage perfumes aside from third parties?  I scour online, but it seems the things I'm looking for are quite rare.

Another disappointing thing is the shocking number of counterfeit fragrances.  Luckily, I have not encountered this myself, but I observe many others having unfortunate experiences.

Didn't mean to get off on a rant or come off negative.  I'd love to get more involved in the forum as I spend a lot of time obsessing over fragrances and am looking for like-minded convos.

Thanks for reading if you've gotten this far.  I hope everyone has a pleasant day and I look forward to being a part of the group!
 

Welcome to Parfumo! 

I love vintage smelling perfumes (exept those from the eithies), I'm more into 1920 to1970 perfumes. I hate the latest gourmand- trend.  I don't mind every reformulation and certainly won't complain about IFRA regulations as they serve a good cause like health and envrionment)  and I find many 'new' classic Guerlains (especially those out of the 'Les Legendaires' line) quite wonderful! 

Bienaimé is a lovely brand, relaunching some vintages, they really smell vintage-y

Thank you!   That is so cool.  I have some earlier gems that my grandma left to me, but I'm scared to open them.  I don't want to damage them.  There are a couple Guerlains, I know one is an early Shalimar.  I'd have to double check what the other one is.

True about the IFRA regs.  I am all for environmental preservation and such.  I will have to look into the newer Guerlains.  I have some vintage 90's era Samsara that I adore.  The new ones intrigue me.

Also agree about the gourmand heavy fad.  I adore vanilla but some of it is so, so sweet.  I do see some trends from the younger generations experimenting with more vintage/refined fragrances, so that is interesting.  I walk through stores and with the boys, primarily, it's a very strong alcohol type scent that I'm picking up often.  I am concerned it is some of the fake stuff going around, not everyone is able to tell the difference or has a good reference point to compare.  They just sort of throw it on and assume.

Hello, I'm a vintage fan from the US, too! 👋🏻 

I've had good luck on ebay and mercari and have slowly built a collection over several years.  I have yet to venture to local estate sales because it seems so hit-or-miss, but maybe when I retire I'll have more time!  

Most modern fragrance are just too strong and long-lasting for my taste.  And newer fragrances seems to be so 'dense', for lack of a better word.  No lightness or transparency. Even if I like the scent, it eventually become suffocating and annoying.  I'll stick with my vintage!

Hi! Yesss, so true - I've joined a couple of the subscription services to try the newer things they have that are well-received.  Even that can get pretty expensive.  One of them (I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be name dropping) lets you try it and trade it one time to try something else.  I really appreciate that but then I wonder how they handle returns.  It seems if they're reintroducing inventory that is "returned", there may be risk of some of the things I receive being tampered with/refilled with fake, which makes me wonder.  It would just have to be such a net negative for them to not be taking them back into the pool.

I find that I am very picky about new fragrances, but I have found a couple that I'm fond of this way.  Musk Therapy by Initio being one, and Hundred Silent Ways by Nishane.  Valaya by Parfums de Marly is also nice, but a little aggressive imo.  There are a couple others, but nothing that is pinging in my brain at the moment.

I do notice the same thing about the strength, like you mention.  So much focus on projection, as if that provides more value.  I saw some others mentioning how it's all about "beast-mode" in another thread.  I don't mind loud if it's done well, but it's just too common now.  Vintage to me just feels much more special.  I like feeling like I'm wearing something classic and unique or rare.

vintageheart

So much focus on projection, as if that provides more value.  I saw some others mentioning how it's all about "beast-mode" in another thread.  I don't mind loud if it's done well, but it's just too common now.  Vintage to me just feels much more special.  I like feeling like I'm wearing something classic and unique or rare.

Yes, it's a strange metric in my opinion. The scent has to last 12-24 hours, or else it's not enough "value for the money"?  The "value" is whether you love the fragrance and the feelings it evokes in you.  

A couple of years ago, when I first started taking a serious interest in modern fragrances and collecting them, I didn't think about buying second-hand or vintage, mainly because, to me, they are the fragrances I have owned and worn for the last 40-plus years. I reached adulthood in the early '80s and wore fragrances such as ...

Aramis Eau de Toilette

Eau Sauvage Eau de Toilette

Pour Monsieur Eau de Toilette

Nino Cerruti pour Homme Eau de Toilette

All of these were from an earlier era.

By the latter part of the '80s I was also regularly wearing ...

Antaeus Eau de Toilette

Kouros Eau de Toilette

Xeryus After Shave

Quorum Eau de Toilette

These were all '80s fragrances and fashionable for males. Don't tell Ringtail 🤫

However, having recently purchased a bottle of Antaeus, it was strikingly obvious that it didn't smell the same as I remembered it from when I last had a bottle, probably sometime in the mid-'90s. And so I started hunting online for an older bottle and eventually found a good purchase, vintage '86. From there, I have made several other vintage purchases.

I will still continue to sample a lot of modern fragrances and buy those that I enjoy, but I think in future I'll also buy more second-hand for the nostalgia aspect. Although, when it comes to the older fragrances that I am familiar with, I find it difficult to think of them as vintage. Perhaps that just means that I am vintage too!

P.S. I'm in total agreement with those who cannot understand the current preoccupation with so-called "beast-mode" fragrances and those that project so strongly that the person on the other side of the road can smell you. Whatever happened to the art of subtlety?

I heard that 😀

(but would never judge someone else's taste despite it maybe not being mine 😊) I think I remember liking Kouros by the way .

That's quite the list, you were wearing some iconic stuff! I just love the history and the drama of it all. It's art!