I bought myself a 100mL bottle of Musc Ravageur from Barney's off Fifth Ave. a few months back -- I think it was early July -- and immediately fell in love with it. I found it to be extremely potent and intoxicating, with just a single spray being enough to last me a full day and then some. I wore it almost exclusively for a solid month before switching to other lesser colognes, lest I run out and need to come up with another $200 for a second bottle.
Fast forward to about two weeks ago. Having not worn much of any cologne recently, and having not worn Musc Ravageur much for some months now, I decided to dust it off and put it back into the rotation. From the first spray, I immediately noticed it was more subdued and didn't last nearly as long. Where just a single spray used to hit me like a bat to the head and last seemingly forever, multiple sprays (2, 3, sometimes even 4) get me a few hours at most and smell so-so. The top notes and base notes alike just are there. It's almost like someone diluted it with a massive amount of water when I wasn't looking.
Stunned at the difference between what my bottle of Musc Ravageur smells like now and what it smelled like just a few months ago, I went over everything I thought it could be. I checked the bottle and everything seem sealed properly, and it looks like there's just as much there as when I last used it. I've kept it in a dark, cool place (my closet), so I have a hard time believing that any environmental extremes broke down the scents. I did put on some weight over the summer (~15 pounds), but I don't think my body chemistry has really changed since that was just me filling out again after losing weight while away at college (I refused to eat the crap they tried to pass off as food... getting food poisoning twice was more than enough).
Other than that, I don't really know what it could be. Am I missing something, or does Musc Ravageur just have crappy shelf life?
Fast forward to about two weeks ago. Having not worn much of any cologne recently, and having not worn Musc Ravageur much for some months now, I decided to dust it off and put it back into the rotation. From the first spray, I immediately noticed it was more subdued and didn't last nearly as long. Where just a single spray used to hit me like a bat to the head and last seemingly forever, multiple sprays (2, 3, sometimes even 4) get me a few hours at most and smell so-so. The top notes and base notes alike just are there. It's almost like someone diluted it with a massive amount of water when I wasn't looking.
Stunned at the difference between what my bottle of Musc Ravageur smells like now and what it smelled like just a few months ago, I went over everything I thought it could be. I checked the bottle and everything seem sealed properly, and it looks like there's just as much there as when I last used it. I've kept it in a dark, cool place (my closet), so I have a hard time believing that any environmental extremes broke down the scents. I did put on some weight over the summer (~15 pounds), but I don't think my body chemistry has really changed since that was just me filling out again after losing weight while away at college (I refused to eat the crap they tried to pass off as food... getting food poisoning twice was more than enough).
Other than that, I don't really know what it could be. Am I missing something, or does Musc Ravageur just have crappy shelf life?
