YSL KOUROS: 5-batches blind test (year 2013)

Don't waste so many words. KOUROS is one of the Myths: unique, hated and loved, beyond any measure.
About Kouros reformulations, volumes have been written, but this is not the place to talk about it. In this test we want to compare the last decade of Kouros editions, from 2003 to 2013, to check if the heavy perfume reformulations occurred during recent years, ruined or improved, or didn't have effect at all, on this superb scent.

Low-cost perfumes, anyone?

So many, many discussions about it, just take a trip on Google to find a lot of infos. We are speaking about the famous-infamous "supermarket perfumes beating designer scents".

In summary, a well-known supermarket brand decided to produce their own scents, with only one rule: producing a perfume with a final price "less than five Euros" (4 UK pounds, or 7 US dollars), all inclusive, and on-par (same quality) with well-known designer scents.

The maximum of the trick was a sort of "blind tests" using original designer scents, asking a group of volunteers "what's the best perfume?". Well, the results was that at least 50 % of people said that best perfumes were the supermarket ones (the designer scents used for blind tests were Coco Mademoiselle by Chanel, and Hugo Boss Bottled , both with a considerably higher price than "supermarket" ones). 

Well, let's make the same thing. 

In this test it was decided to repeat the same experiment: on the first side there are the two supermarket perfumes, namely Suddenly Madame Glamour and X -Bolt (total cost: less than ten Euros), on the other side there are samples of Chanel and Hugo Boss.

Dior Homme Intense: updates.

I'm in France, and this afternoon I entered in a Dior boutique, where I find on the shelves both Dior Homme and Dior Homme Intense testers, just arrived, unboxed, batched 3X02 (October 2013).
( about "batch-numbers", see here  for "Christian Dior")
I was a bit perplexed:  the Homme Intense juice seemed significantly lighter than the Homme.
I asked permission to shot a few pictures with a whiter background, a neutral, and a darker background.
Dior Homme Intense appears very clear, almost transparent.
Dior Homme is Green-Yellow.
I'm concerned by the DHI color.
*apparently* smell like the previous "year 2013" batches, i.e very good.
Unfotunately I coudn't have an accurate test inside the boutique, so I'll prepare a thorogh review soon. I'm only a bit perplexed with all these variations.

Thought of the Day (December 16th, 2013)

"Bear in mind, I have been off the radar screen for several years, since 2008. Part of the reason I felt like I had to, you know, get away from it for a while was the tremendously depressing impression that perfumery was a field of ruins (...) on the one hand, the great classics were being systematically destroyed—for no good reason. And on the other hand, the new creations—with notable exceptions, of course—were cut and paste compositions that imitate the competition. It all converged into a sort of blah nothingness." 

(Luca Turin)

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"Sono stato lontano dalle scene per diversi anni, dal 2008 in poi; e parte del motivo è stato che mi volevo allontanare, almeno per un pò, da quello che mi sembrava il panorama deprimente di una profumeria ridotta ormai un cumulo di rovine (...) da una parte i grandi classici venivano sistematicamente distrutti senza una vera ragione, dall'altra parte i nuovi profumi -con qualche eccezione- parevano ideati lì per lì per imitare altri profumi concorrenti. E così facendo, sembrava che tutto fosse vacuo e futile, nel mondo della profumeria" (Luca Turin)  

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OPIUM pour Homme EDP: still in production.

How many times we heard: Oh, the beautiful Opium pour Homme, Eau de Parfum version (not the EdT), what a great perfume! now sadly discontinued...
WRONG.
Opium pour Homme EdP is still in production as you can see in this picture ( I am the photographer ) shot inside a Yves Saint Laurent boutique. It's a 62Kxxx batch, so = year 2013. The EdP version is still on production but only in limited quantities. Strangely, it is availble only in the tiny 50ml (1.7 oz. ) bottle.
(how to recognize YSL perfumes: see here )
What about smell? Well, I was in a hurry and didn't test it thoroughly, but it seems not with the same strenght and potency as in the older vintage versions. Sorry to say this, guys, the 2013 EdP is not a bad perfume, but it seems much lighter than the original.

Opium pour Homme, EdP version
 = still in production, year 2013

BULGARI BLACK: it's not discontinued.

Bulgari Black, discontined or not? Available? Not available?
Here's the proof, you can see a sealed box and bottle of "Black", with the batch-number sporting the letter D. It means year 2013.
(how to recognize Bulgari perfumes: here )
So, it's still in production, although in limited quantities.
Note the long "list of restricted ingredients" is not listed anymore on the sticker, but on the side of the box.
What about smell? Luckily, for the lovers of this fragrance, it's still "Black", but it's a bit watered down in a side-by-side confrontation with the original from 1998.

Bulgari Black, batch number with letter D
=year 2013

How to recognize "VanCleef & Arpels" perfumes.

                        Van Cleef & Arpels
"Van Cleef&Arpels" is a "Great and Complicated" (at the same time) Perfume House. 
"Great" because produced great -really great- perfumes: "First" (1976), "Pour Homme" (1978), and "Gem" (1987), to name the most famous.
But it is "complicated", too, because there are some difficulties in recognizing date of production of perfumes, especially the older ones. Box and labels can be sometimes really hard to understand, batch numbers have 3,4,5 or even more digits. Sometimes there is no label on the bottle, and you can get some clues from boxes.
Here are some useful tips to date "Van Cleef&Arpels" perfumes.

High cost perfumes, and what about packaging?

CHRISTMAS 2013

Creed perfumes on exhibition in a perfumery shop (picture)
Can you imagine the opinion of the casual buyer, looking for perfumes?
If I have to pay big money for a perfume, can I at least ask for labels that don't detach?
Next step for high perfumery: good quality self-adhesive labels.
(Picture shot on Friday 6th, december 2013)

Detaching front labels on perfume box.

Chamade VS Chamade

Chamade is one of the great classics of perfumery. Period.
Today, it seems a scent partially out of time, a bit "old" and a bit "modern" at the same time, but due to this ambivalence Chamade has a great value, because it was built with a particular mindset: being "modern" without abandoning the "old" style.

Christmas 2013: Hard Discounting Perfumes.....

Christmas 2013: lowering and lowering prices.

Strolling on, along the streets, you can find so many advertisement about "discounted perfumes". 

It's the crisis, it's the overwhelming offer, it's "Sales" time.

(price in Euros)

The Beginning of Oud

A few readers asked to know when the "Oud Wave" began, and when the use of "Oud" in western perfumes started.
An answer is not so easy, because the more time passes, the more new discoveries come out. It seems everyone was involved in Oud affair, a few years ago.