...At least 50.

...YSL has historically enjoyed creating new names for concentrations for marketing purposes. It's the EDP IMO, though some sources claim it's a slightly more concentrated version (I don't see it).

...I have the same spray and I believe it's just a lay-down version of the original - smells the same to me. Strong doesn't begin to describe Paris's assertive nature. That stuff sets the bar for sillage!

...Bellodgia didn't wow me until I put it into an atomizer. This is one that should be sprayed, in my opinion. Now I can't live without it. I have only tried the vintage EDC and EDT, of which I have a substantial amount. I would love to try the vintage parfum but haven't stumbled upon one at the right price yet.I can tell by the amount of sandalwood in this that the reformulation isn't going to be a good one.

...Seatonica:In general terms, the dictomomy of pulp for the masses and "art" for the literate is no new thing. The "democratisation" of perfume and its accompanying slide from art-form to accessory, however, is a relatively recent phenomenon.Thank you for putting this more elegantly than I could.Niche and vintage are already all I'm investing in. I can hardly justify giving my money to a company who doesn't care about me as a consumer. There really are great perfumeries out there doing excellent things - Brosius (not a schtick - try his actual perfumes), Slumberhouse, JAR (almost unaffordable masterpieces), Tauer, Roja Dove (my savior!), Amouage, Histoires de Parfums and Lutens are among the best in the industry. Still, it bothers the shit out of me that you can't go out and buy a decent bottle of Diorissimo or Gentleman or Y anymore. Decent vintage prices are creeping up to (and past) even the most immense niche prices. I have to battle it out with other crazies for months to get a sealed bottle of vintage whatever and even then there's no guarantee it's still good.

...Well, the aromachemical companies surely are a big factor. However, the limitations placed upon the industry is not the limitation that these (specific) companies are working around. I don't disagree with the scents, as I've said - I disagree with the way they are produced and marketed. There have always been scents produced that were... less than honest art, but these fragrances are utterly dominating the market now. They are getting to the point where their only competition is themselves. There is a clear and obvious dichotomy in my opinion, and these companies are killing the art. Perfumers are getting paid less, the time they can collect royalties is drastically decreased in a market where nothing lasts longer than a year or two, they have smaller palettes to work with on these cheapies, fragrances are becoming eerily similar to each other, and standards are dropping fast. The whole industry is a big bore.Honestly, though, none of this would matter to me if it wasn't directly causing the discontinuation and horrendous reformulations of fragrances that I like. What L'Oreal did to the YSL line is criminal. It's almost as though they deliberately sabotaged the brand. Opium wasn't even expensive to produce! :shock:

...It's not the fact that they make bad fragrances - some of them are nice in a way. It's the amount of perfume and the rate at which they pump them out as well as the extremely aggressive marketing strategies that changed the face of the industry. Perfumes don't last in the market anymore. Hell, Britney Spears fragrances have been through three of these companies now. The whole industry is just out of control.Then there is the issue of bad reformulations. These companies are notorious for taking a brand that was going under and releasing it in a bargain-bin formulation at a lower price. Or, in the case of L'Oreal, higher prices.These companies just have no integrity as far as I'm concerned. Badart is one thing - dishonest art is another entirely.

...I was thinking about what really makes a bad fragrance today after getting a lot of flak for a certain comment on another site about celebrity perfumes. I'm trying to figure out which company has done the most damage to the art and the industry. Which do you think?http://www.loreal.com/_en/_ww/brands-l-oreal.aspxhttp://www.coty.com/brandshttp://www.pg.com/en_US/brands/all_brands.shtmlhttp://learnmore.elizabetharden.com/elizabeth-arden-brands/index.phpThere are quite a few damaged and/or destroyed brands under those umbrellas!

...For a totally different experience, give Aimez-Moi a try. It's a modern masterpiece. There is a certain perfect balance in the scent. It could easily have been too girly and sweet or too powdery and mature, but it ends up being neither of these. The fragrance never feels overly complex - it is very focused and balanced. It is reminiscent of L'Heure Bleue in its odd apothecary style. It also plays some tricks to get around how sweet it is. It is candy-sweet, but the candy is the sort that makes most people cringe; licorice, mint, and violet pastilles. It's just brilliant.

...If you like any of the old ones you'll probably like them all. There's sort of a house signature that you either love or hate. The only exception I can think of is Fleurs de Rocaille. That one is a Quelques Fleurs analog.

...I bought some huge daffodils today and was admiring their scent. I got a major craving for Caswell-Massey's Number Six and I'm currently soaked in it just before bed. This is a beautiful cologne and it brings me a wonderfully calming spring vibe that's just lovely.EDC du Coq is still my favorite, but this one has to be up there. :)

...Apicius:LovingTheAlien:I always thought notes were simply a marketing tool and should in no way be misconstrued as a guide to ingredients or development. Rarely do I see cis-3 hexanol or Hydroxyisohexyl 3-Cyclohexene Carboxaldehyde listed as notes although they're in almost every fresh floral perfume ever made, and I don't think a real caramel isolate has ever actually been used in a perfume despite its popularity as a note.I agree. However, the notes pyramid released by the perfume houses is all we have to give some hints. Of course, one can't take them literally.Also, many users would not have any idea what cis-3 hexanol or Hydroxyisohexyl 3-Cyclohexene Carboxaldehyde stands for - including me. After all, most users are no professionals.I once had the idea that we could add the ingrediants list that one can find on the perfume packages, also as a kind of service for people with allergies. Let's see, maybe we can have such a feature in the future.As an abstraction, it is a nice service, although notes are often described by a marketing team and not a perfumer.Cis-3 Hexanol is leaf alcohol, used in the creation of muguet and more specifically lilac accords as a top note. It's also the main ingredient of many insects' allomonal (defensive) spray. The other one mentioned is sold as Lyral - a very popular muguet base. Even listing this would be futile, however. Synthetics are chameleons by nature, and despite Yatagan prominently featuring both of these chemicals in its composition, nobody would ever accuse it of having a lily-of-the-valley note.I guess I've defeated my own argument, here.:oops: Listing the allergens would be difficult considering how many changes many perfumes have gone through in the past 10 years - especially those available en masse like White Shoulders, Obsession, etc. They seem to have a different formula every year!

...Mine is Eau de Cologne du Coq by Guerlain. :)

...I always thought notes were simply a marketing tool and should in no way be misconstrued as a guide to ingredients or development. Rarely do I see cis-3 hexanol or Hydroxyisohexyl 3-Cyclohexene Carboxaldehyde listed as notes although they're in almost every fresh floral perfume ever made, and I don't think a real caramel isolate has ever actually been used in a perfume despite its popularity as a note.

...A tincture of tonka is almost 100% coumarin in fragrance, just a tad bit waxier and with a tiny arsenic aroma. It's not all that different, and I imagine the synthesized coumarin from then wouldn't be all that pure anyway.

...No matter what classic Guerlain fragrance I wear, I always get comments saying I smell like incense. I suppose that's alright!

...Hmmmm... Probably Heritage, but I think that's some sort of influence from my childhood. It smells like rich people's Christmas parties to me, so it's hard for me to wear in an informal occasion.If it could be a classy scent that I find I can wear any time, it would be Mouchoir de Monsieur hands down. I think it's the definition of class for men. It's quite a shame it isn't marketed better as such - Cbanel No.5 uses that strategy to great effect (and deservedly so).

...I'll wear anything - I've given Secretions Magnifique several full wearings despite the guttural feeling of disgust it elicits in me!

...What a wonderful and thoroughly researched post!I've noticed how many creations are labeled "fougere" and there was a considerable amount of variance. In my search to discover what is or isn't an authentic fougere accord, I decided to blend myself what I had learned from various sources to be the building blocks of a "real" vintage fougere: Oakmoss (my own tincture!), Tonka Bean (my own tincture again), a little amber(in place of labdanum, which I don't have), sandalwood(Mysore tincture - also mine), a light floral blend (jasmine and rose, a tiny bit of each), lavender(another tincture) bergamot, and a teensy touch of (regretably) synthetic musk. It came out kind of muddled - something was weird. It had a spicy sweet edge something like a fougere, but something was missing. A little investigation, and a drop(well, smallish tacky glob) of patchouli was added. And there it was: Pinaud Clubman, Avon Wild Country, Dana Ambush, and Canoe! Despite the totally unmeasured nonsense amateur blending, it was as clear as day. I even got a hint of Indiscret on my skin as it wore on. It was a bit rough, with the tonka being quite strong, but so it is in the others as well (except canoe, which I find to be quite well-balanced). The "accord" was surely there - it was quite blended together, producing what seemed to be a fresh herbal resinous aroma with only the tonka really being identifiable.This has led me to believe that these are what would be considered "standard" in the fougere category, and although I have not yet smelled the original Fougere Royal, I have smelled Penhaligon's English Fern which is supposedly the same and I get the same results.The "aromatic fougere" genre certainly spans a large range of finished products, from the still very fougere-like Azzaro Pour Homme to the baffling Dali Pour Homme(one of my favorites) which emphasizes the metallic leathery quality of tonka with castoreum and plays with all kinds of bitter green notes in the top. I can still smell the fougere accord in most of these scents - it's kind of impossible to hide if you know what you're looking for, it seems!The new Fougere Royale is quite light on amber, oakmoss, and coumarin compared to these classics. Especially noticable is the totally cleaned up "musk." The old fougeres mentioned all have that dirty skin feel from the real sandalwood and nitromusks. Real sandalwood is such a fascinating material - there is really nothing like it. That really goes for too many fragrances today - they're so much cleaner.That's not to say that the new Fougere Royal is a bad fragrance. I really like it a lot, and I'm glad it exists. I just wish the price point was a little lower. Those Houbigant reissues are absurdly expensive, aren't they?Anyway, I would love to hear what you all think of my experiences.

...It sounds like you may have an issue with the sandalwood they use. Sheldrake is pretty fond of the wood, I'm aware, and it totally smells like unwashed skin on me, too. Which would be fine, except I'm not particularly fond of most of the Lutens fragrances. They are a bit too sweet and dense overall, but never in a way that just leaves me stunned. They're at the very least composed of very high quality ingredients, and I appreciate that.Notable exceptions: Bell Jar fragrances and Jeux de Peau. I would love to love Muscs Koublai Khan but I'm anosmic to ambrette which is the entire point of the fragrance.