What is your most expensive bottle?

Since this hobby/pastime can get expensive, I wondered what the pride and joy of people’s collections are. That one that one feels is too good to wear or wears only on special occasions…. Or, if you’re lucky, every day!

So, hit me with the most extravagant you have

Imagination or Tobacco Vanille Eau de Parfum I think. Both are absolute masterpieces in their respective categories imo. Worth every penny to me!

Furyo Eau de Toilette

The Time is definitely my most extravagant LOOKING fragrance.

Price- and quality-wise, it's probably "Oud for Greatness | Initio" , Elysium Parfum Cologne Eau de Parfum , or one of my MFKs.

But I wear those whenever I feel like - if we're talking about the ones we only wear once in a while, and spent too much on, well, that's probably my post-discontinuation bottle of Armani Mania pour Homme Eau de Toilette . It was the first scent my nose ever picked apart and said "there's more than just one smell here", and it made a lasting impression - so much so that I bought it for a stupid amount of money a couple of years ago, just to have that experience again.

Which MFK(s) do you have? I only have Masculin Pluriel - which I love wearing.

I feel for you paying through the nose for something they no longer make, it happens all too often. One of the biggest offenders for this is Tom Ford…makes something great (presumably sales aren’t good) and it gets binned. That said, it can present a strange case where you can turn a profit from something (if you’re shrewd).

Also, how do you embed the name of the fragrance into a post?

Tobacco Vanille is a modern classic by all accounts, a fine choice! I can’t wear it, myself. It just doesn’t click with me. I gave my bottle to the wife…who wears it much better than me, and is hacking through it!

I’ve not tried imagination, but it looks interesting!

Fucking Fabulous Eau de Parfum, "Musc Ravageur | Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle" are top for me

I was given Musc Ravageur (the travel atomiser with 3x 10ml cartridges) as a gift - not a big bottle sadly. It is so good!

"AddictiveArts - Jump Up and Kiss Me Hedonistic | Clive Christian" and "Crown Collection - Town & Country | Clive Christian" are my most expensive bottles...1.7oz for $550. 🙄

most expensive bottle would be my 100ml III-IV Tango followed by Elysium Parfum Cologne Eau de Parfum .

Price per ml, I guess that would be "Back to Black Aphrodisiac (Perfume) | Kilian" and "Black Phantom Memento Mori | Kilian"

I use them as any of my other fragrances. The only ones I am more carefull with are my official Xerjoff miniatures and my MFK travel atomizers

Pegasus Exclusif for an actual bottle but if we are talking per 100ml Onyx (2023)

Nice!

I’ve tried to get my hands on a ATH bottles but he seems to have troubles with stock

Sauvage Elixir 😇 I haven't pulled the trigger on anything niche yet

Oh it’s comin’ - that’s a gateway frag

Oh and I like your collection - some really solid choices in there!

Yeah, he has just done a Black Friday sale and basically sold out everything they have in stock. They were also doing international sales during the sale, which many people have been waiting for because he couldn't keep delivering outside the UK as he was actually losing money rather than making it due to the delivery costs. So, when people saw he was doing international on top of a sale, he was sold out in less than 24 hours. He is an indie house that has no mass production in place. They make the fragrances in the back of their store and restock weekly (usually). He has a note on his sight saying they will be restocking in January, so my guess is they have so many orders to fulfil first that they don't have the time to create more stock.

If you are in the USA maybe you can find from Fragrance USA i think it was and Maxaroma were the 2 that he uses to sell there. Otherwise, sadly and i hate to say this i don't know if this was a temporary thing during the sale they are yet to take down from his site or what will be the standard is that for international shipping from his site you need to spend £350 with a £30 delivery charge. The reason this disappoints me is that he does 10ml bottles that are a great way for people to experience niche level fragrances at an acceptable price, but if you have to spend that much before you can get delivery then it negates the low price 10ml bottles completely. Obviously he would prefer it wasn't this way as he is losing out on a huge customer base. A lot of UK based sites have stopped shipping outside the UK after Brexit because the cost is just through the roof. It was a way to punish the UK for leaving the EU basically, and now small companies are paying for it also. He does some of the best OUD fragrances and is definitely one of the best perfumers to make OUD accessible to people who are trying it for the first time. I hope you get some of his stuff mate, i really do.

EDIT: just saw you are in the UK, you are part of us lucky crowd, get some in January mate, you will not be disappointed.

you might not have anything "niche", but that one is going for niche prices!

@Mitchcraft - I will probably have forgotten by then!

My collection will be growing over Christmas too

Put some in your watchlist mate.

What kind of stuff do you like?

If you like Layton i would try Hard Candy (2023) or the "Hard Candy Elixir | Aaron Terence Hughes"

Imagine if you took 1 Million Elixir, Lucky and Versace Eros and combined them with high quality ingredients to smell like a candy factory and you get Slut Élixir the notes profile alone should blow most people away.

Tabac is said to be like Tom Fords Tobacco Vanille Eau de Parfum but some people say better.

Onyx (2023) is your Oud Rose kind of fragrance with some plum, vanilla and chocolate. He also has Onyx Extreme and Onyx Air

Oud Noir is very much like Haltane and Carlisle

Haze Extreme is like Aventus but way better imo.

Notorious (2023) is like a darker, mature version of Erba Pura

Unfortunately the others i own are discontinued so sadly i can't recommend them, but if any of those sound like your kind of thing you should add them to your watchlist and have a look after the holidays.

@Mitchcraft - I am a fan of most Tom Ford creations (look at my collection on here). I love long lasting, rich frags… Tuscan Leather is something of a favourite of mine. I have Tuscan Leather intense. I’m loving Amouage right now, too.

Wouldn’t mind seeing what Xerjoff, MFK and Roja have to offer when I have the budget for it

I have yet to buy any TF so have yet to try Tuscan Leather but his Oud Noir has a very leathery aspect to it from the Oud and Saffron before it becomes a lovely sweet drydown like Carlisle and Haltane from Parfums De Marly. It's a very dark, rich fragrance with absolute crazy longevity. You can smell this well in to the next day.

If I’m honest, the price of ATH frags kinda puts me off. And I don’t know what I’d be getting for my money so a blind buy would a big leap of faith.

Unless I can get hold of a tester I’d probably hold off and go with something I can try.

How did you get into ATH?

I bought a few 10mls after hearing about his stuff being high quality on YouTube and from other customers talking about his stuff being on and above the level of Tom Ford and Parfums De Marly and got a bunch of free samples with my orders also, so i started buying his 50ml bottes and i have yet to be disappointed. I know they seem a lot of money, but the high quality stuff like Oud Noir and "Hard Candy Elixir | Aaron Terence Hughes" only needs a couple of sprays, so a 10ml goes a very long way as the longevity is crazy that is what he worls towards, long lasting high quality fragrances. It was because of his stuff being compared to PDM that i started buying their stuff too.

I will be honest with you about Xerjoff while they are high quality, a lot of it is about the presentation feeling special. They make nice stuff but i honestly prefer some of his work over what i have tried of theirs. I can also say that Aaron himself has said he is a huge fan of Tom Ford and has been inspired by him for some of his creations, his Tobac is definitely one of them from everything i have heard about it being compared to Tobacco Vanille. I will PM you as i don't want to derail your topic too much.

Opus XV - King Blue for me. I got no reservations about wearing it, will bust it out whenever I want to feel like a boss.

That I actually paid full retail for is definitely Fève Gourmande. Even the smallest available bottle, which is 100ml for some very strange reason, is prohibitively expensive, but I had to. For science

But some of my most precious fragrances are ones that smell amazing to /on me but are discontinued. Some I hardly paid anything for like my bottle of Sahara Noir and some I splurged for but not nearly as much as the above mentioned Guerlain like Alien Essence Absolue.