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I guess it is a testament to preferences, but every perfume I’ve fallen in love for, I still love. I am, perhaps, slightly less enamored with Tom Ford Oud Wood today than I was a few years ago, but I still very much adore it.
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Mugler Alien was my absolute favorite for years after it first came out in 2005, but not anymore because the reformulation is abysmal.
My pre-reformulation stash is coming to an end and I’m terrified I’ll hate this new version.
The best way I can describe it is the current formulation smells like a cheap drugstore knock-off of the original Alien. The basic footprint is there, but it’s missing everything that made original 2005 Alien wonderful.
Ajmal Sacrifice smells close to the original Alien, if you’re okay with clones. If a perfume house was bought out and quality was subsequently destroyed, I say go for it >:)
At first quick glance I thought it said “Animal Sacrifice”! Lol
At this point, I’ve moved on from Alien, but this is good to know.
YSL Opium. They changed an ingredient (or two) and it just doesn’t work the same. Now it just turns into something like a cheap old lady perfume after a couple of hours.
I got my first bottle of Opium in the late 1970s and loved it, but only used it for a couple years. About 10 years ago, I decided to buy a bottle of it on a whim, and although it’s not a perfume I wear anymore, I like to sniff it in the bottle sometimes, kind of like aromatherapy. Same goes for Cinnabar.
Same here about the original Opium (I got a set with the perfume nestled in a little Asian looking locket thingy on a silk chord that you could wear around your neck). It has changed, and not for the better, in the intervening many decades…
Oh my! I remember that necklace version of Opium. It was so cute!
I also used Opium in my late teens, I loved it.
I’ve not tried it since I stopped using it decades ago.
What a fun question! I’m starting out on my fragrance journey so old time loves have taken a backseat. Versace Yellow Diamond comes to mind! I only ever really liked it for the dry down but now I’m too impatient to wait around for it lol
I haven’t worn perfume regularly for years mainly because I had a coworker for nearly 15 years who was allergic to perfumes, so most of the scents I can no longer deal with are scents from when I was younger: Liz Claiborne Sport, Colors de Benetton, Drakkar Noir (I didn’t wear, but I can’t stand it now), Poison, Georgio, Obsession. I don’t even know if they still make them, haha!
I remember liking many years ago Prada Candy and Lancome La Vie est Belle; I can’t simply understand why nowadays. It’s not like my scent preferences changed, I just don’t like them anymore.
Something from “long ago and far away”: the OG Karl Lagerfeld Chloe Parfum. Later iterations/formulas have NOTHING on the original!
Nancy, I remember when practically EVERYONE was going mad for Chloe, including me, even though it never, ever smelled great on me. But I bought the perfume, a body lotion and a bath powder. Believe it or not, I’ve still got the container of the bath powder more than 40 years later (it’s in a beautiful jar with a scoop shaped like a cala lily petal to scoop the powder into the bath water; I can’t remember if it bubbled up or not…)
This question is like a walk down Memory Lane!
I also used Chloe once upon a time.
So many perfumes, so many years!
And sadly so many reformulations.
I think quite a few perfumes from 20-30 years ago have had a revamp or a change in formula and they are no longer the same. I used to like YSL’s Opium as well, but now it seems like a much weakened version of its true self.
So many. I have a number of historic ‘signature scents’.. Here’s a handful off the top of my head.. never want to smell any of them ever again.
YSL Ysatis – 80’s
Giorgio Armani Red – early 90’s
Dior Miss Dior – mid to late 90;s
Chanel Coco Mademoiselle – aughts.
After that I became more scent wardrobe. At this point though, TF Lost Cherry is still a winner and a lot of people identify the scent with me.
Hypnotic Poison. It used to throw gourmand and musky, now all I can smell is cinnamon.
Donna Karan Cashmere Mist. Jasmine is my favorite fragrance note and I used Cashmere Mist for a long time but it became boring a few years ago.
Estee Lauder “Beautful” I bathed myself in that fragrance for years, then suddenly it just turned my stomach. I hate that when that happens lol!
Shalimar. I wore it for years and also Montana. Suddenly, both seemed a good time to retire and I found Dior Addict Perfume.
philsophy Amazing Grace. It’s still a beautiful scent that always makes me feel good, but the reformulation/acquisition by Coty has made it so weak it makes me angry.
I wore Dior Poison Girl edt and BBW Dark Kiss in my teens and 20s. It feels better to leave those in the past and make new memories with new scents.
On the opposite, I just walked past an open powder box of Youth Dew in one of my guest bed rooms and realize I like it a lot. I think I’ll use this powder here and there and not buy the perfume. If I remember, it was the patchouli in it I disliked…this powder is subtle.
I tend to like the same fragrances till they undergo a formula change.
I’ve read that Thierry Mugler Alien and Angel got pretty bad during the pandemic due to reformulations, but I haven’t tried the new versions myself yet. If the scents changed as I’ve read, I won’t like them.
Oh, yeah, back when it first came out back in the Stone Age, Dior Poison was an amazing, warm, spicy, Oriental. I don’t know when the hell it changed to Grape Kool-Aid, but… ewwwww!
Chanel Tendre Chance. I still like it, but I’m not gaga over it anymore. Weirdly now I really love the green Eau Fraiche version way more. (But I still don’t like the original Chance for whatever reason.)
Anything Victoria Secret! I wore something called “Basic Instinct”! Omg That’s so embarrassing I used to douse myself in that stuff!! When I was in my 20s I loved anything fruity (the Ferragamo Incanto line, Versace Time for Pleasure, Benefit Maybe Baby). I later went through a period where I only wore spicy patchouli scents, I gave that up for a while and I’m back in the fold with patchouli again. Lol.
Can I say all perfumes will be reformulated due to using cheaper ingredients or certain ingredients getting banned as they can cause allergies in some? Most will have been reformulated a number of times over the years.
Samsara, I loved it and bought it, then a woman in the office on the desk facing mined started wearing it day in and day out. I grew to just hate it.
Aromatics Elixir by Clinique I loved it then a friend started wearing it. It smelt awful on her, never said as she loved it and was happy. I stopped wearing.
Ambre Sultan by Serge Lutens loved it, even bought a back-up bottle and yes I still have it but just gone totally off it.
Dune, Opium, Ralph Lauren, Anais, to name a few when I was under 30. After that, I’m so not a loyal person to perfume brands.
Actually most of the ones I have loved over the years seems to be reformulated and smell very differently, or my nose may have gone weird. Anyway, a short list:
YSL Opium, I would actually like to use the original from time to time.
YSL Paris I don’t think it’s available anymore.
Shalimar, it’s just not the same anymore and I really, really loved it.
Chanel No 5, another one I loved but the last bottle I bought smells differently than it used to.
I’m trying to find new, for me, scents, but I don’t live close to a store that has a lot to chose from, and it’s too expensive to buy bottles on line just to try new perfumes.