Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier, risky blind buy?

Just a note - even if they still have a 3oz/90ml version listed on their site, they may only have the newer (likely reforumalated) 100ml bottles. I've emailed them about a few they had listed as 90ml but in both cases they only had the 100ml in stock. Just a heads up.

My favorites of the line are Route du Vetiver, Iris Bleu Gris, Grain De Plaisir, Jardin du Nil, and my favorite of them all - Bois de Turquie.

Of the ones mentioned by SoS I have tried RdV and IBG and RdV is my HG but definately NOT a blind buy IMO. IBG is wonderful and safe. Ambre Precieux is quite safe if you are looking for a sweet amber. Santal Noble is an elegant peppery sandalwood with a strange opening but nothing offensive adter that. Centaure is a very safe choice if you are looking for an elegant masculine lavender-based but not lavender-dominated cologne. Secret Melange is all about clove. Eau des Iles is deffinately NOT good for a blind buy. Very animalic. The Muskissime (Sanguine, Rose and Fraicheur) although classified as feminine are very pleasant and I can verify that they tend to smell completely different on my skin compared to how they smell on a woman's skin. On me the musk is most prominent mellowed by the complementary notes, longevity is remarkable with very modest sillage which makes them very easy to wear.

This is a tough question under the circumstances. I would say that MPGs are not particularly "safe" as a general rule, but I also just bought five bottles as back-ups, so I'm quite a fan of this house. It also seems like you won't have an opportunity to buy these at all for very much longer. (I was just on the site and noticed, for example, that they no longer have Ambre Precieux. It seems that nobody does.) I agree with SoS that they probably have the reformulated 100 ml bottles and the only ones of those I've smelled are Ambre Precieux and Eau des Iles and those were still quite good IMHO. Other favorites include Route du Vetiver, Santal Noble, and Parfum d'Habit, but again, I can't speak for the reformulations of those. Beauty Encounter is the only place I've seen Santal Noble for sale in the last couple of weeks - if they actually have it. I've had some problems recently with two different places that were advertising having MPG fragrances in stock, when in fact, they didn't. Good luck!

Any ones mentioned above are fine blind buys

Well, you're probably not going to receive the old formula 90 ml. bottles, no matter what the site lists. On the other hand, many of the MPG scents are outstanding, and without trying to sound like a catastrophist, opportunities to acquire them in any form may be limited. It took me some time to appreciate even my favorites in the line, so I normally wouldn't recommend them as blind buys. However, under the circumstances I don't think you'll have a hard time unloading any you decide you dislike.

The MPG offerings I've enjoyed the most include Santal Noble, Iris Bleu Gris, Parfum d'Habit, Jardin du Nil, Ambre Précieux, Route du Vétiver, and Bahiana. I rate Santal Noble, Iris Bleu Gris, and Ambre Précieux among the finest of their respective fragrance types. I'd have said the same for Route du Vétiver, but of all I've listed this seems to me the most diminished in reformulation. (I'd now go with Etro's Vetiver or Vétiver Extraordinaire for an aggressively earthy vetiver fragrance.) Jardin du Nil and Parfum d'Habit are both enormously distctive, and I've never found anything that might replace them in my wardrobe. I'm not generally a fan of tropical fruit cocktail scents, but Bahiana is a rare exception, probably because of its dry floral accents and beautiful rosewood.

The new Route du Vetiver isn't actually all that different except its strength is greatly reduced and it is actually wearable quite casually. I wore it generously applied from a sample vial today to the store and wasn't self conscious in the slightest. Longevity is 6-8 hours with it becoming fairly light after about 3.

It starts a bit different, a bit brighter than I recall the old one starting, and the berry/damp/earthy feel is slightly reduced, but it's still a worthy offering and is decidedly more wearable, for what that's worth.

I'd say the drydowns of just about all the MPG's are totally safe blind - they're always classy, always pleasant, never offputting, always get compliments - in a way the drydowns can almost seem too safe... often they just smell like nice soap.

In contrast the openings, and also the middle - *none* of them are safe blind buys. They're all really challenging, really avant garde, really fascinating, but for some people really off putting, and too bizarre. I love them, but I can understand why they've had so much difficulty - you really have to be interested in fragrance and creativity and originality to get into something like this.

Not knowing your likes or dislikes in fragrance notes, I would say some of the safer blind buys would be Santal Noble, Racine, Ambre Precieux,Grain de Plaisir,Eau Pour le Jeune Homme.Some of their offerings are shall we say a bit more challenging to wear but none the less I view as great fragrances are Iris Bleu Gris,Jardin du Nil,Parfum d'Habit,Route du Vétiver. It's ashame to see the possible demise of a perfume house who were not afraid to color outside the lines, and create fragrances that were bold,and I'm sure that some houses would have never released. Original, and creative fragrances.IMHO

Have you checked ebay? There are quite a few MPGs up for bid at remarkably good prices, true they aren't some the of more common HGs, but some of the prices I've seen some go for, a blind isn't too risky.

Shhhh!!!

Man, I think at this point I'm going to sell things off from my collection which I like, but which are not exclusive so I can keep getting backups of the best MPG's, and trying some of the ones I don't know. I really, really hope they aren't going down. Maybe if we all committed to buy a bottle directly from MPG they'd realize that people love them and there's still a market for them.

I'm so glad I managed to get a bottle of Ambre Precieux before the curtain comes down. Blind, by the way, and absolutely no regrets!

You won't regret it - it is a fabulous amber. It can't offend if you enjoy amber. As for reformulations though - one that I found a big difference in was Route de Vetiver. I know it was previously mentioned that there wasn't a huge difference, but I found the two to be completely different. I have my impressions here.

My two favorite MPGs have always been Eau Pour le Jeune and Baime. While the former isn't anything ground breaking, I find it to be the citrus scent that I wear more than any other. It's great for situations where you'll be in close quarters to others and don't want to kill anyone around you (like airplanes or in meetings). Since Villoresi dropped my old favorite, Acqua di Colonia from their lineup, this one you can't go wrong with.
Baime is another ball game. It's not for everyone but it is fresh and a wonderful alternative for warm weather when you're tired of the same citrus notes. It's almost all Basil but I love it.
Be careful with GdP. It's got an odd celery note in it and can be incredibly sweet. It's not one I'd recommend blind but not bad. As for the Ambre Precieux it's not bad but I prefer L'Artisan's and then Serge Lutens' version. They're all very closely related and you can't go wrong with either. However I find MPG's being edged out by the other two.
I also own and wear Santal Noble but it's VERY strong and if it's been reformulated as the other's are saying that could be trouble. I'd proceed with caution on that one as it will hit you like a sledgehammer. Strong, projects and lasts forever and a day.
Route du Vetiver is a crime against humanity, I wouldn't wish that scent on anyone. So be careful there too. There is no word that will do justice to how overpowering and strong that scent is. There's an old school member here who had a great story about wearing a sample and his kids refusing to come into the same room as him until he showered.

Buy the one's in the men's bottles, and you will have no risk what so ever. MPG make men's scents, and they really know how to do it.

Buy the one's in the women's bottles - some of which are mentioned above - and, well it had better be your thing, or you won't be too happy.
Renato

Just read your blog post. Love how a bad situation turned into a lucky break for you! In the post you mentioned their differences but then mentioned you were only 20 minutes in, and I'd say the first 20 or so minutes are where most of the differences exist (disregarding the issue of juice strength, of which the former is definitely stronger!). Do you feel their extended drydowns are significantly different in character?

Actually, I did find some of their differences to extend into the drydown. It wasn't quite a huge difference as the opening, but I could definitely still detect the "modern" notes in reformulation and much more of the earth, soil notes in the original. They're both quite worthy for the whole trip though.

It is worth noting that MPG fragrances, at least with the older bottles, the cap can be unscrewed and the fragrance can be tampered with or even filled up with something else entirely. So I would be very very careful not to buy anything that is without the box or unsealed as some of the ebay bottles are.

If you consider the market for MPG fragrances is going to be severely undernourished, the demand will stay high relative to supply, meaning the market asking price will stay high and may creep even higher as time goes by. So if you buy MPG fragrances now, you likely will lose very little of the value or money if you decide to sell. The only limitation is your ability to spend 100's of dollars on fragrances all at once to stock up.

P.s. This is exactly what I'm doing right now and its getting expensive. 4 down in the past week (Eau de Iles, Parfum d'Habit, Santal Noble, Route de Vetiver) and about 5 to go and maybe more if I can scrounge up the dough.

And my one week impression of the four I've purchased already? Amazing, remarkable scents. Worth every penny. Glad I didn't miss the boat on those four at least.

I strongly disagree that any MPG:s are safe blind buys! I would never ever recommend
anyone to buy anything from this house without testing them first. Out of the few I've tried,
almost all has been definite scrubbers! Iris Blue Gris is the one most horric fragrance I've
ever tried I think. I thought I was about to choke. Grain de Plaisir, which I own a full bottle
of, is absolutely repulsive! It makes my stomac turn, to be honest (guess what, blind swap!).

The only one I can stand from this house is the classy Ambre Precieux. Santal Noble is no
scrubber either.

Ah how I chuckle ...when I first reviewed Iris Bleu Gris, Santal Noble, and Route du Vétiver, I declared them each vile, repugnant, and insufferable. Now I mourn their likely passing, even as I greedily hoard backup bottles.

That said, I'd only consider them reasonable blind buys now because the supplies are drying up, and I imagine it will be easy to unload unwanted bottles if you tire of them. Still, sample first, and give each scent a real chance - they can seem very odd upon first encounter.

Ah, so you've been through the same thing as me? That gives me a bit of confidence. So
what is the trick? I would like to experience the bliss of Iris Bleu Gris as well

I've purchased all the MPG I plan to (which is back up bottles of all five I own), but I was checking out BE and I noticed that some of the ones they list as being in stock say "usually ships in 1 day" while others say, "usually ships in 2-3 days," I found the use of the word "usually" interesting as well as the difference in the number of days. Do we know for sure they still have things like Santal Noble? (It's listed as one of the 2-3 day ones.)

Man,. I wish I hated MPG's! Save yourself some money, and be thankful that you're not compelled to run around blowing all kinds of money on backups you can't afford!

I notice that most of the tester and bottles on BeautyEncounter are listed as the more sought after 90ml sizes. Are these in fact 90ml bottles they are selling have they ben lazy and not changed it to 100ml?

I bought Parfum d'Habit on a blind buy!

I read the reviews in the archives. I am female and I thought, "Heck, why not? A thoroughly masculine scent? Bring it on!" Sometimes--just like at the dice or card table--you need to take a gamble, fully aware that sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. (Check out my avatar of a famous perfume patron--I am sure he'd agree!)

In the end, I won my wager and then some. I was very impressed with Parfum d'Habit. After the horrid top notes (of which I was fully warned), the scent settles down to a very wearable, elegant and unique scent.

Buying blind, however, is not for everyone--like gambling.

Mostly time and repeated exposure. In the case of Iris Bleu Gris it was also a matter of learning to live with iris. After trying many other well thought of iris scents, I came back to Iris Bleu Gris as my favorite of the lot. At least where the original formula is concerned, one also has to get past the relatively caustic black currant top note.

You go girl! And remind me never to mess with you!

LOL! I like buying perfume blind sometimes because of the thrill of the unexpected! Again, it's like the cast of the dice. OK, not totally blind because usu. I read reviews or field advice...

(Maybe the shadow of a tall, handsome ghost bet me on a dare to buy blind...)

Needless to say, with even the discount prices for MPG, I don't do this often in this economy...