Aqua manda is back

[Brissles]

My first grown up one was blue grass and to this day OH says it is the only perfume he can identify. Sometimes tempted to give it a go again but think it is best to leave it as a fond memory. (Ps I was a child bride lol)

I used Gucci II for ages but it is now discontinued so I am keeping my last bottle for special and using some cheapie ones until I decide on a new one.

It is so difficult to choose a scent which you will be smelling of all day and as they are so expensive you don't want to make a mistake cos if you hate it it is not something you can "put up with" to use it up.

GUCCI II HAS BEEN DISCONTINUED ???? BUGGER ! I thought I hadn't seen it around for a while, and I too used to wear it a lot, until I discovered Chanel's Chance, and Estee Lauder Sensuous Noir. I'd better stock up on these now. Its like Waitrose, you find a product you like and then its discontinued soon after you've discovered it !!!!

 

[donna255]

The houses discontinue once the sales drop, fact of the department store fragrances.

I adore many of the Guerlains, Mitsouko, Shalimar(but it must be vintage), L'Heure Bleu, Jicky, Chamade, Monchoir Monsieur,Liu and Apres L'Ondee(again the older version).

Cannot wear No5 it has a weird plastic bag vibe on me. Love No22,31 Rue Cambon,28 La Pausa, Egoiste, Cuir de Russe, Bois des Iles and Jersey. I do own Coco but rarely wear it.

The Carons, rarely meet one I did not love.

 

[Akimbo]

I'm a little reluctant to try the new Aqua Manda, these resurrected fragrances are so often a let down; either not quite the same formulation or just not as nice as I remembered. I wore Balmain Ivoire for my first wedding (age 24) but spotted it in HoF or similar store last year and it was nothing like it, why do they do this? So disappointing. Second wedding (age 30) I didn't wear fragrance because there were few that didn't give me a migraine and DH was also banned from fragrance so I made it through the day without a wedding night headache!

I wore HR Herbessence and Max Factor Geminesse in my late teens and 20s, I'd love to try them again but I don't want them to come back in a watered down spectre of their former selves.

Fragrance is like forbidden fruit for me; the migraine issue and the fact I can't wear many means I'm morbidly fascinated with scent. Mr Akimbo despairs when he catches me spritzing testers because he knows I could make myself ill. I'm like a kamikaze perfume user!

Back to Aqua Manda, I preferred the Aqua Citra (sp?) version it was like being buried alive in a barrel of lemons! They also did a limited edition Aqua Manda with a black (?) label, it was more spicy than the original.

 

[donna255]

I remember the Aqua Manda with the lemons on the bottle.

Tigress was another I loved. A friend who was older loved Kiku in the yellow bottle.

 

[Vienna]

I guess many perfumes will become more and more synthetic as rules change. Many original ingredients are now banned and many of the old fragrances have sadly been discontinued. Vintage perfume is hard to find, often expensive and often in poor condition. I recently bought some vintage Quelques Fleurs and when I first sprayed it I can`t say it was nice, a kind of hairspray smell but once settled it dies down to the fragrance I recall.
Even the classics such as No5, Mitsouko, Shalimar, Femme and many others are mere shadows of their former selves. I try to look outside the box for new perfumes, sometimes with success, sometimes not. I`ve dabbled with the Arabian perfumes, bought samples from Galimard ( a French perfumery), Cotswold Perfumery here in the UK, Floris and have bought essences from Yves Rocher. Anything just to get away from high street stores where nothing smells as it did and new perfumes smell of nothing special. I guess it will become harder and harder as years go by.

 

[donna255]

Niche brands tend to stay true.

With the oakmoss thing, all the houses had to do was put a tiny little sticker saying contains oakmoss. But LVHM who own Guerlain, Dior panicked and pulled it.

Strangely Bottega Veneta which is widely available does have oakmoss and it is there in the ingredients list on the bottom for all to see.

Ingredients like musk( the musk deer is an endangered species) and civet have very good synthetic copies.

 

[srhgts]

What's meant to be wrong with oakmoss, why did they have to flag if it was in the formulation?

 

[donna255]

It was found it might cause allergies in some people, so the perfume houses panicked, all that was needed as a little label on the box. Nothing like the nut allergy no one died from it, just got a mild rash or an itch. They put tree moss instead and they found it was also an ingredient which could cause an allergy. So the result is many classics smell nothing like they used to.

Even jasmine has now found to perhaps cause sensitivity so they have to reduce it in perfume. One of the main ingredients in Chanel No5 is of course jasmine, in fact Chanel own their own jasmine fields.

 

[China Girl]

It's strange how we all managed to wear our original perfumes of our youth, without the allergy police saving our skins.
I know some people suffer severe allergy to things, but these days it seems we are a bit too over protected, compared to years gone by.

 

[Weathergirl]

It's the opposite for me China Girl. I nearly always got a red rash when I was a teenager in the late 80's with almost every perfume I sprayed and every cream and bubble bath or lotion. I ended up veing stuck with the Body Shop white musk EDT (never the perfume oil), max factor foundation, nivea visage sensitive skin face cream and neutragena bubble bath that was a watery clear colour. In my 20s I could use Aveda "all sensitive"products but again hardly any perfume at all.

Now I can use much more products, Emma hardie, L'Occitane, Judith Williams and many more mainstream perfumes. I wonder whether the reformulation of many products has meant I have become less sensitive or maybe I just grew out of it.

 

[Weathergirl]

Correction I meant "Neutralia" not "neutragena" sorry. It was the one with the hard water softener built in as I live in a VERY hard water area that played havoc with my already very dry sensitive skin back then.The turning point for all my skin problems came with a clarins liquorice based serum for sensitive skin and then Liz Earle, original packaging and formula it totally transformed my skin overnight and Paula Begoun's comments don't wash with me (unless Avon have further tampered with the brilliant cleanser).

 

[catseye]

I too remember moondrops by revlon and as a teenager I loved the smell. Another favourite was Gingham by Mary Quant. Around this time my mum bought a bottle of tweed and it really made me feel sick.

 

[donna255]

I too remember moondrops by revlon and as a teenager I loved the smell. Another favourite was Gingham by Mary Quant. Around this time my mum bought a bottle of tweed and it really made me feel sick.

It was Mary Chess that did Gingham, I believe. Mary Quant did Havoc.

 

[iloveshopping]

All these memories of perfumes. I wish Eau de metal by Paco rabanne was still available.
Yes Tweed was vile

 

[China Girl]

Gingham perfume was by Innoxa, it was very strong, but I tried it at the time.

 

[donna255]

So what the hell did Mary Chess make???? I know their was makeup but thought she had perfume I used to see.