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.(WARNING: for a complete...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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,...

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