I think it's funny that perfumes like Phulnana, California Poppies and Evening in Paris (Soir de Paris)cost a small fortune now... They were relatively cheap when my mum used to buy it in the 30's! Always. Remember her describing the cinema as smelling of a mixture of them on a Saturday night!!! All the girls wore them!!!!
I only wear vintage as a rule and collect them. I am selling off some I don't wear. Perfume is so evocative of times past! Evening in Paris takes me back to Timothy Whites in the 50's....I pestered my mum to buy a bottle ( it was really cheap!) to no avail... But then I was about 5! Max Factor Electrique was my first purchase with a Sophisticat on holiday in Jersey in 1963 ...in a real perfumerie (I really fancied a Helena Rubenstein one but mum said no!)! Yardley April Violets and Fields French Pink take me back to my childhood too...makes me think of Xmas!!!! Avon Rapture was a fav I my early teens (I used to love the pots of cream sachet).
At grammar school it was all the popular brands...Kiku in the bright yellow bottle, Coty Masumi and L'Aimant, Charlie ...and Mary Quant AM & PM (adored them!)etc! My first real wages (£5 a week in 1969) were combined with birthday money and went on my first REAL perfume - Guerlain Chant D'Aromes (didn't last long - very disappointed!) - regulars were Youth Dew (I worked as a waitress in the evenings and fancied the chef....who regrettably was dating a ballet dancer who wore YD...so I wore it too!) - Houbigant Quelques Fleurs (mums favourite - I have a nice stash of it and I think of her) - Rochas Femme ( my friend Val and I splashed out on a page bottle each when we worked in a department store and it was on offer..I still wear it!) - Guy Laroche Fidji (still have some - originally bought duty free in Athens airport. Chanel no 5 never really did it for me - I did buy a huge bottle of fake Spanish no 5 parfumerie though...it was a perfect replica in every olefactory aspect ....and cost £1 equivalent in Benidorm in 1975...even the bottle looked kosher....wish I bought more of it ( I was a travel agent and took mum away that Xmas after my dad died... So it's not an altogether nice memory.... I do remember getting very drunk on Le Bombas.... Like the Zombie... Your head stays sober but your legs get p*ssed!!!!l).
I prefer the original vintage perfumes - contrary to popular belief they rarely go off! The top notes sometime decay but that is only the smell you get when you open the bottle (the one that 'sells' the fragrance) - the middle and basenotes are what it smells of on your skin and that usually has great staying power!!! Many of the old perfumes are still made but are reformulated... So they are often only a shadow of their former selves! Houbigant Chantilly is made by Dana and isn't the same! Alyssa Ashley was made by Houbigant (I have some.... They are lovely). Chanel No 5, Opium and many others are reformulations...Quelques Fleurs L'Original is not the same perfume as Quelques Fleurs....no comparison at all. Try the originals if you can! The ingredients cannot be used nowadays - not just musk, Civet etc but some flowers and plants are also protected species.
I often think back to some great and extraordinary times past when I smell perfume - my best friend in the early 70's adored Pagan.. We were hippies then! We only earned about £6 in 1970 but managed to save and buy perfume - it was the height of sophistication! I was just 18 and my friend Val only 16... They were great times and well remembered through fragrances!!!! I currently wear Quelques Fleurs - Femme - Quant PM, Mary Quant ( very like her AM),Quant by Quant, Electrique, Chantilly, Soir de Paris, Opium, Balenciaga Le Dix - Molyneux Fete (I even have a 1920's bottle of it!) - Diorissimo and Dioressence..plus a few other vintage including Yardley April Violets after I shower following aquafit! And modern ones like EL Cinnabar, Hermes 24 Fauberg....oh and the occasional (tiny bit) of YouthDew.... That has never changed!
Fortune may favour the Brave...but...eBay favours the Buyer!
