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White Shoulders, Unpleasant Opening

post #1 of 9
4/17/06 at 5:59am
Thread Starter 
Hi, I tend to have somewhat odd skin interaction with things, so I'm wondering if anyone else has ever experienced this unpleasant topnote in White Shoulders, which is otherwise a pleasant, quiet, well-blended floral. Here's my best description of the off odor:

It's like there is something unpleasantly raw in there among the florals, something akin to a whiff of the juice of greening potato peels or the strange, disconcertingly sappy odor of ladybugs who have been disturbed. Anyone else ever notice this, or is it just some weird thing with me? It goes away after about half an hour to an hour, but that's way too long for me to be able to tolerate such a stench in exchange for a simply pleasant floral melange.
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post #2 of 9
4/17/06 at 8:16am
Well, and the truth is... Â*I've had similar experiences with other scents... but perhaps it's just that we don't really like them on ourselves... at least that was my conclusion and I moved on to 'bigger and better things'... You know the ones I can enjoy from the beginning to the end...

White Shoulders is not really such an enemy on me as it may be on you...But wait until you'd smell Amarige on me... so sharp, almost hairspray-like... and then just syrupy... Â*and Moschino Couture Perfume even worse... makes me smell like a hamster cage... but both of these fragrances smell really nice on other people... Oh well... I'm sure we can pull of scents others never could
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post #3 of 9
4/17/06 at 9:48am
It depends upon the strength. Which are you wearing? The cologne or EDP? I get vile nasal sensations from the cologne, but not from the EDP or the genuine parfum. The cologne does have a certain sharpness to it. The alcohol kills the florals. With White Shoulders, I find that the higher the concentration of essential oils, the better it smells (and lasts).
I have a vintage bottle of the bath oil, and it's soft floral heaven.
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post #4 of 9
4/17/06 at 10:11am
Note also that there is a huge difference between the original vintage White Shoulders and the version available now in the stores.
The vintage one is better worth your attention, whereas the new version has definitely been tampered with and the strange odor you get in the opening might be from some synthetics substituted for the original ingredients. My advice is to try and get a vial of the original perfume before abandoning the scent altogether.
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post #5 of 9
4/17/06 at 2:13pm
I used to wear the old (vintage) White Shoulders very well. It was lovely. I can't do the new version. Last time I tried it I was so disappointed. It smelled a bit like a glade plug-in. I don't go near it anymore. Rassin' and frassin' here over the loss of another great perfume.
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post #6 of 9
4/18/06 at 8:25am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by RitaMae

It depends upon the strength. Which are you wearing? The cologne or EDP?

I had to go check, but it's the cologne. Maybe that's the problem; I tend to have crazy, disappointing things happen a lot more often with colognes. This was a freebie that came with some miniatures, so I also wonder if it might have been 'turned' a little bit.
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post #7 of 9
4/18/06 at 8:26am
Thread Starter 
What I have is a miniature, but it appears to be a pretty old bottle from the label style and the bottle itself. However, I wonder if it's turned a bit.
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post #8 of 9
4/18/06 at 12:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by AlthaeaSoaps

[quote author=RitaMae link=1145278794/0#2 date=1145292517]It depends upon the strength. Which are you wearing? The cologne or EDP?

I had to go check, but it's the cologne. Â*Maybe that's the problem; I tend to have crazy, disappointing things happen a lot more often with colognes. Â*This was a freebie that came with some miniatures, so I also wonder if it might have been 'turned' a little bit. Â*
[/quote]

I have the cologne, bought it at Filene's for $2.99. It was in a sealed, cellophane wrapper, too. It was about 98% pure alcohol. I was in a state of shock because I used to wear WS in the 70's - and the bath splash as well, and this new version of WS just didn't measure up. The EDP is fine. So is the genuine perfume. But the cologne...don't go there! LOL [smiley=grin.gif] It shouldn't be that way. Generally, a cologne should be a pleasant, refreshing experience. I don't get that 100 proof butol dry down from Chanel No. 5 or Shalimar in cologne forms.

Sadly, the bath oil in White Shoulders is the only product in the modern offerings that is still true to the original scent - at least to the Evyan version.

Sorry to hear ya got a stinker there, but just be glad it's not a whole 8 oz. bottle.
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post #9 of 9
4/19/06 at 6:45pm
[Sigh.] Here I go again on my White Shoulders Crusade.

The current swill they put out now is total crap. Without mincing words, I don't know how else to put it. They've cheapened it by making it smell of synthetics and cloves. Yechhht.

The real White Shoulders is the classic made by Evyan. The parfum is magnificent, the cologne haunting. eBay should have the parfum, but be careful. Check to see if it's by Evyan. Otherwise, it's not the Real Thing
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