Reply With QuoteI have a bottle of Creed Aventus which is nice but I much prefer Tom Ford Portafino.
This stuff is seriously amazingOriginally Posted by Zolawinston
I think this was the priciest aftershave I’ve bought. I did get a free watch with it though!
I have a bottle of Creed Aventus which is nice but I much prefer Tom Ford Portafino.
TFP is the one I want to get a sample of next.
I hate smelling them out shopping but prefer to in my own time at home, Creed used to be awful for that, not asked the TF folks yet.
I like some of the Molton Brown gents fragrances.. seem to last well and don't break the bank as I live near one of their outlet stores!
Givenchy Gentleman for me, get lots of compliments, quite a few are from blokes.
Not that there is anything wrong with that.
In what world do men compliment other men who smell like a tarts boudoir?
You are obviously not moving in the right circles
Tee hee.
Chapeau, monsieur!
A civilised one, where one is confident in their sexuality. :)
Absolutely bobbee, and sorry if I made light of it.
I’m a fan too, pity you can’t buy it.
Some ingredients were banned over the years, one of them if i remember gave the scent their longevity to last most of a day. They changed the formula to inferior ingredients and simply kept putting prices up as usual. I stopped buying them, they are too expensive and inferior to past formulas.
Just been down the sampling route with both, and Portofino is a nice complement for e.g. lighter occasions where Aventus may be a bit complex and heavy. Reminded me a lot of Eternity (one of my old faves) but with more oomph.
Can see why Aventus is so popular though, not cheap but good value given strength, longevity and complexity. You can really go down a rabbit hole on batches and formulations though but being a Chartered Chemist who’s worked with fragrance houses before helps…:)
As in you get the good batches, or know what to add - like ISO E for an increased projection / longevity?
Both, with regulations like REACH for example, it makes use of synthetic derivatives like Ambroxide (versus actual Ambergris extracts) compulsory in certain international locations, this will impact longevity on the skin. Also with recent buy out of Creed by a large multinational luxury goods house (Gucci/Kering/Blackhorse), this’ll by definition change international supply chain with regards to manufacturing locations and what you can and can’t use for regulatory purposes depending on country of manufacture.
ISO E is another synthetic ingredient now widely used by fragrance houses, it acts more like a generic booster for overall fragrance performance versus just a skin longevity agent and again it’s use will be dependent on international location of manufacture. So for Creed, yer batches prior to 2023 are allegedly the ones to go for with certain years since 2010 regarded as vintage. Batch codes usually have the year of manufacture as first double digit although e.g. 2021 is 11Z01 which is a notable batch owing to its more pronounced pineapple top note, 19S01 also memorable as is 19U01 which is smokier allegedly. Having worked with natural ingredients extensively in my time, their only consistency is their variability so you will get inherent batch to batch variation.
As I said, a bit of a rabbit hole…:)
Fascinating to me tbh, I love a rabbit hole to research.
My 19S01 is coming to an end, and has been my favourite so far; the buy-out always fills me with dread; have sone NOS Issey and Xeryus Rouge from when they were good back in the day
Was hoping for some trade tips having gone down the route of perfumer alcohol and ISO E as an over spray.
I find it such an amazing industry and such skill levels.
Retreat!
Of course it was, and I made no attempt to hide it. Not for the first time you decide you want a bit of petty point scoring.
Now, listen fella, you have been sucking up to me over the last few weeks since I last had to put you in your place. Stop commenting on my posts and put me on ignore.
You are the first person I have decided to put on ignore after 12 year on this forum. Bye.
Sucking up, FRO.
Putting me in my place, FRO.
Will miss you.
Last edited by Mj2k; 13th November 2023 at 07:23.
Talk to the hand ‘cause the face ain’t listening.
It's always amazed me that Iso E (Super) is so prevalent. It's everywhere, from Creed to laundry detergents to cigarettes.
I have some of the Escentric Molecules, including pure Iso E Super (Molecule 01), and find it pretty awful, to be honest. But then, I've never liked Creed, Fahrenheit or TdH (although I'm a massive fan of Jean-Claude Ellena).
I love the addition ISO E adds, perhaps in the person noTAGlove loves to hate as I smell good and project.
I do know how much it can project and dial it right back. My wife when she wears mine is like 4-5 sprays, I fear for her work colleagues lol
It’s probably good for you to run away, you’ve suggested in this thread that men suggesting other men smell good is wrong.Talk to the hand ‘cause the face ain’t listening.
You’ve also suggested that many women lie, and couldn’t defend yourself when Verv came back at you.
Equally laughable was your smugness when Ryan was losing his job and commenting vs the strikers, alongside claiming to be far wealthier than he ever would be. Classy.
When you wanted the forum for your laptop, you were all over it; then deleted the posted and replies once you got what you needed.
Community.
The perfumers palette isn’t perhaps as large as you might think, around 1000-1200 unique materials, up to around 2500-3000 depending on naturals (varying sources of rose oils, orange oils etc).
For a brief, be it a laundry detergent or a fine fragrance the palette is mostly the same, price per kg being the determinant of whether more expensive materials are used. Fragrance houses also have captives, materials that are only available to their perfumers so you’ll smell themes where a house is using its captive across many formats to get traction in the market before they (eventually) release it for use by other houses’ perfumers (the industry is very incestuous, your competitors are your customers and your customers are your competitors).
As mentioned above REACh has resulted in a loss of some materials but also the industry’s own test program has thrown up some results that have resulted in the loss of ingredients through its self-governing IFRA standards (although not every perfume house signs up to IFRA, most do).
PR drives a lot of decisions to give up defending ingredients too. Whilst some have a “high” hazard, their use profile and inclusion levels mean there’s a small risk but the hazard can be emotive enough to not defend it.
IFRA standards are updated every two years resulting in a huge rework program across the whole industry and thus there’s a higher likelihood that your favourite fragrance won’t be quite the same over time.
So are there anything that can be added as a home user, to create what is no longer allowed as final purchaser?
I knew this was an 11pm post before I looked
Similar intuition, but I just looked at the username.I knew this was an 11pm post before I looked
In theory yes, but in practice the minimum order quantity most chemical suppliers have would make it impractical. You’d also need to know the formula and if you e ever worked with perfumers they’ll tell you that the 0.0001% that you’re no longer allowed is absolutely crucial to the formula. It’s part science, part art.
I guess the point I was making (badly) is that high ISO E (Super) scents aren't subtle - and it's perhaps why I'm not a fan. TdH has a huge amount in it - probably more than that Creed. Yet the nose behind it, Jean-Claude Ellena, also made two startlingly different scents for Frederic Malle (L'eau d'Hiver and Angelique sous la Pluie, both of which I really like). But then, he was also behind Bigarade Concentrée, which I find pretty unpleasant (why is there such a strong cumin / sweat note?). Given how differently we all smell (i.e. smell things) I suppose many of these scents are aimed at a lowest common denominator (or is it highest common factor) in order to sell well?
A very good point on minimum order quantities!
I’ve not had a sniff of Bigarade, but intrigued now. Tbh I’ve never heard of it before.
Want to try TdH for a while now. I used to love Egoiste, but am sure that is now a weaker version or projection of its former self.
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