Heady Vintage: your favorite discontinued patchouli, sandalwood, incense

aromatics elixer, tabu.

Mysore sandalwood has been overharvested and is now unavailable, so here one will have indeed to go into vintage. Having started only recently, I am not sure what the references are (there was a thread one of these days on Floris sandalwood).

Patchouli and incenses are still available and are among the few natural substances that have so far escaped IFRA's edicts, so I don't think one has to look into vintage. If any, they have become more prominent in recent years. Hard to choose. I'd say Aromatics Elixir for patch.

cacio

So 70s-80s bold, non-sweet oriental and/or chypre powerhouses seem to be what you're looking for...is that right? Most of these have all three of the notes you're looking for and more, but I'd say they're a particularly patch prominent bunch -

Aromatics Elixir, again
Halston
Must de Cartier
La Perla
Deneuve
YSL Opium
CK Obsession
Ungaro Diva
Gucci No3
L'Arte di Gucci
Paloma Picasso
Joop! Femme
Reminiscence Patchouli
and of course Samsara for prominent, gorgeous, creamy sandalwood.

Some of these are actually still available, but the original/vintage formulations are definitely worth seeking out.

Maybe I misunderstood you, but I only recommend fragrances I find wearable and relevant ...although I'm sure many would (and do) find them dated, most of them are still part of my regular rotation.

Was there an Aromatics Elixir oil and perfume? Or just the perfume? But ya, that's my answer, AE, lol.

I can't believe nobody has thus far pointed to the, ahem, *very* obvious:

GIVENCHY GENTLEMAN

This is/was the *quintessential* patchouli/mysore sandalwood comp, magnificent in all facets: Probably one of the finest men's scents in the world. In order to recognize the vintage, the box is black and white with a silver stripe, not black: If it's black & white with a black stripe, it's not *truly* vintage. To me, this, and of course BAL A VERSAILLES are the two most exquisite scents I have ever smelled making use of these notes: BAV is very tricky, though--the "right" vintage must be scored, in the *right* strength. Patchouli and sandal wood, while VERY densely dosed, the both, are less evident in BAV as it has a kind of "Caronesque" complexity about it--thankfully--it smells nothing like a Caron, but it contains almost 500 essences and so it is a very complicated accord indeed. Most people find it *very* musky, which it is, containing 5 natural musks in the appropriate vintage. I adore and use both of these scents. Thankfully, I have enough vintage on hand to last me to the end of time. Both are true Masterpieces of French Perfumery. Unfortunately, though, both are still made--yet what is in the bottles is *NOTHING* (!!!!!!!) like what is meant to be: Witness--I would *never* wear either in their current formulations, so radically different are they.

By far the best Patchouli "soliflore" I know of is Molinard's "Patchouli." I am wearing it now--it is perfectly delightful. Very high quality indeed for such an inexpensive comp: Much can be said for anything coming from Molinard, though. I am *RAGING* in love with their reformulated version of HABANITA--I repeat--head over heels, gaga, jumping up and down on the divan tom cruise style in love with this new "Eau de Parfum," which is by my estimation the only reform I have ever witnessed that quite literally left the original, which all of you will admit is "not just any original," in its dust, truly: It is dryer, and about one million times more wearable. On the Molinard Menu I also recommend: "Vanille-Patchouli" (or is it "Patchouli-Vanille"?), "Ambre," and the very weird but effective "Musc," which has the most bizarre flight I have ever smelled save for Jean Patou Moment Supreme's "Elmer's Glue Paste" one. Thankfully, it lasts but a minute, during which it smells *exactly* like dish soap, but after which boils down to *the perfect* pillow upon which to spritz anything. I'm not sure I would ever wear it alone. When Molinard says "Musc," they mean MUSK: none of this rosey-jasmine nonsense. This is eyebrow raising *very clean* male armpit in a bottle. Their "Vanille" on the other hand, I found so "patisserie" that I almost gagged. Their "Lavande," not really all that impressive. However: If you spray 1. "Musc" 2. "Patchouli-Vanille" then 3. "Lavande" one atop the other you end up with a dead ringer for.....Mouchoir de Monsieur! When you tally up the $70.00US +/- it costs to get all three, in their giant, gorgeous thick crystal bottles, each containing I think over 120ml, perhaps 160ml, and compare it to the $365.00US it takes for 120ml of pre-wasser Mouchoir, the fact that with the Molinard Mix you get all day sillage and tenacity that won't stop, needing no re-application, makes the added "work" to apply almost worth it!

The one and only L'Artisan Parfumeur original Patchouli. A simple earthy patchouli with grapefruit but just perfect.

If hippy era oils are what you may like to smell, then vintage Auric Blends do a pretty good job of evoking time gone by. I can nearly smell the afghan coats. Real hippy era Patchoulies keep beautifully. A mellow and ancient one is a highly prized item. I know because my 38 year old 5ml mini patchouli oil is one of the jewels in my collection. All the harsher edges have gone and just a smooth velvet patchouli is left. I haven't tried a truly vintage Frankincense oil. I don't remember it being a favourite type at the time. We were all into Musk, Sandalwood, Patchouli, Opium, Marijuana and Amber oils then. You don't hear much about opium as a perfume ingredient any more.... It was lovely.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing... we all dripped in Mysore at the time. It was a common oil and probably discarded when we grew out of it... I remember many sticky bottles of it lurking around. I don't have them anymore. I ought to have a good hunt in my parents loft really. There is a whisper of a remote chance one still exists... I wish!

Vintage BAV, oh yes, I remember it well - it was absolutely gorgeous. I wore it all the time for a couple of years, too long ago to admit to. The current version is one of the better reformulations, IMO, but doesn't capture the luxuriant quality of the original.
Aromatics Elixir, yes, great for patchouli, and I do have a bottle of the Velvet Sheer flanker, which I think is really pretty but has much less patch in it.
For sandalwood, though, I cherish a vintage Samsara which is truly breathtaking. The current version is also OK, IMO, but lacks the intensity and quality of the sandalwood when it was first created.

How about Opium? As far as i can see I don't think it's been mentioned yet.

Opium and Cinnebar... I used to wear both of those long ago..... better have a remember sniff.

I may wear some vintage Opium today. I have a small bottle hiding out somewhere. And some Samsara. It is thundering here across the mountains. Either scent will calm my soul and take me to foreign lands.

Goodness do I miss the orignal Halston. What it is today is nothing short of criminal.

Well, ehm, (Blush) I.....Well you see I.......What I mean to say is......ehm......I just happened to be passing by, and.....well, you know I thought I'd pop by and.....and say hello....and, well, since you already know Nirmala.....which of course I was going to add to the list for you......at any rate I....ehm....

LOVE YOU MUMSY!!!!!! Yes, Indeed, I do. I'm currently in the middle, well actually at the end of an experiment: I'm on holiday, you see, and have been for about a week's time. Rather than going to Kona or The Continent, which is what I normally tend to do, I "stepped off the train" and am experimenting in this new destination: Agoraphobia. It's lovely. So, not having left my house once in a week, I have not bathed once, either, nor have I touched a deodorant stick, "Just to see," how it feels to smell like a real hippie: Actually, it smells pretty darn good! But, you know how we males are all in love with our own armpits. At any rate, yesterday, after having "harvested" a full seven days of funk, I DRENCHED myself in Molinard Patchouli. It was fascinating: So emotionally delicious! I was overcome with.....all manner of insights.....as the day crept by awash in the most spectacular sillage that I myself could inhale non stop, which proves the following: that these lovely leaves have more than anti-insect repellent properties. I believe now firmly that they have slightly narcotic ones as well, as, to be blunt, I was noticeably "Stoned on the Vibe" all day and through to evening. However, today, I *MUST* bathe, and am preparing to do so as I write, after which I will rub my entire body with Givenchy Gentleman "Apres Rasage," of which I must have about 100 8oz bottles, circa 1977, (I recommend this aftershave to all as an hand refresher, a body rub, and an hair tonic: It's SUPERB) and then "re-enforce" with vintage EdT, after which I will merely dress the part, which for me is easy, since I already have very long ringletty hair and a full beard; even though my sandals might be Givenchy and my clothes all Dries van Noten, Ann D., etc.....I will be the perfect illustration of "How to Spend 10K on Couture in one outfit and Look Perfectly Homeless," -An art form of which I have made a specialty- I will then hike up through the park to wind my way into the doctor's office where I must collect the prescriptions for all of my.....ehm.....pills: So you see drugs are an integral part of the engagement. Peace.

- - - Updated - - -

and, yes, by all means: The new HABANITA, which I have taken to calling "Fabanita"--will work as a base to the old EdT, which will brighten it considerably: The main difference between the two is Fabanita is remarkably more subtle and powdery, so evocative of a kind of mix of soft, soft, Bal a Versailles and vintage pre-now Shalimar: On Frag, where I posted a review for it, I called it "Shalimar Saw Dust." Let me tell you, ladies: THIS is a KILLER reform. (Watch the woody-inducing video on Frag. HOT. HOT. HOT!!!!!!!!) Just the bottle is worth it to behold as an objet d'art, and the fragrance is.......supreme. A *total* magnet. I almost want to stop harping on about it as I don't want it to become common, but, seriously, this is a MODERN MASTERPIECE. In that "School," I'm afraid, it is very lonely: It is very different from the original, but it is in every way better--longevity, sillage, ease of wear, the way it clings to hair and cloth, everything about it is better, and, even though it is distinctly different, it could *only be* HABANITA.

- - - Updated - - -

and, yes, by all means: The new HABANITA, which I have taken to calling "Fabanita"--will work as a base to the old EdT, which will brighten it considerably: The main difference between the two is Fabanita is remarkably more subtle and powdery, so evocative of a kind of mix of soft, soft, Bal a Versailles and vintage pre-now Shalimar: On Frag, where I posted a review for it, I called it "Shalimar Saw Dust." Let me tell you, ladies: THIS is a KILLER reform. (Watch the woody-inducing video on Frag. HOT. HOT. HOT!!!!!!!!) Just the bottle is worth it to behold as an objet d'art, and the fragrance is.......supreme. A *total* magnet. I almost want to stop harping on about it as I don't want it to become common, but, seriously, this is a MODERN MASTERPIECE. In that "School," I'm afraid, it is very lonely: It is very different from the original, but it is in every way better--longevity, sillage, ease of wear, the way it clings to hair and cloth, everything about it is better, and, even though it is distinctly different, it could *only be* HABANITA.

Isn't it the truth? When I wear G-Gentleman, there's a kind of phenomenon that occurs. The men over there in Male Forum can not stop endlessly comparing notes about.....OK, now, don't laugh...."Panty Droppers." Yes. That is what they call them. Isn't it hilarious? I'm the first to admit the eccentricities of my sex: Arm-pit fascination, etc, but imagining that *any* perfume will make *any* Female (or She-Male) drop her panties is the most absurd thing. Bunch of cavemen over there, Isn't it? At any rate--here's what happens. It goes this way. Typically, I don't seek out attention with my sillage when out and about, thus my signature scents which you all know: Very discrete. Typically, I spray G-Gentleman on my "Treasure Trail," and that being buried under--vest, shirt, waistcoat, blazer, pants, and jeans, -all of those layers- just gives a very vague nicety that really requires fly-opening which of course happens over the course of the day, for natural reasons, you see. (I recommend "the belly button blast" for all of you who wish to experiment with these sillage bombs, like "Opium" during the day and hesitate. It's brilliant.) So, as I did today, it is rare indeed that I should spritz my neck, and wrists with G-Gentleman. Naturally, I *only* consider the vinatge: Pre-1985. When I do, it invariably comes to pass that I am repeatedly stopped on the street by lone members the fairer sex--and asked questions which require long, drawn out answers. Usually, these will have something to do with my clothes, or recommendations for somewhere they might have a coffee, or where they might be able to find the nearest place in which to buy every single hair product I currently may (or may not) be wearing. ("How do you get your hair to do that? Is it leave in?") Today, it happened three times. Each time, I could see the tell-tale sparkle in their eyes. It *always* happens when I "outwardly* wear G-Gentleman. HOWEVER: My fellow males, whom also will not fail to comment, have only this to say: "Are you wearing Patchouli?" (Intuit the tone of the word Patchouli here) In other words, I am fawned over by women, and ridiculed by men, each and every time I wear G-Gentleman, which, you know, in France, when I was a killer young late-teen early twenty-something, it was *generally known* that G-Gentleman was every woman's favourite scent to inhale on their men: This was a given: Needed strictly no discussion. Naturally, I made a signature of it in the FABULOUS 80's. (No fair calling them horrible when you weren't there, or even if you were, and you were listening to the Mouseketeers: They were SENSATIONAL. they were nothing less than the LAST decade when "Something" actually happened that wasn't redux. Just you go listen to about two straight hours of Bauhaus for saying the word horrid in regards to them, or whatever it was you said. In France and in England, they were THE BEST. Sorry. Oh--and not to mention those ridiculous 90's--when we were all ready for the "New Age"--then it never came. Linda Evangelista gets a fringe and Kristin McMenamy shaves off her eyebrows. Big Fucking deal.--and the Noughts. NO-THING. Now we're in--what? the Teens? NO-THING. Don't any of you start 80's thrashing without imagining you'll not have to answer to me: I've no idea how they were in the US but they were THRILLING in the UK. THRILLING in France. I'm feeling wounded that you should dismiss them. Mumsy will tell you: Yes, the 60's & 70's were the Goood Times....but the 80's.....these mayn't have been "the Good Times," but, oh, let me tell you, I who was there and already going out dancing every night, (It's just what you did) wearing the make-up (all men wore it then) and the clothes.....(Of course by "clothes" I don't meen....you know....just any clothes.)....drenching myself in perfume with an abandon *only the 80's + France* would allow: NOTHING can compare. Hey: Listen to this--THEN we'll discuss.)

SHE'S IN PARTIES
-or anything by Bauhaus.

DETAILS:

"The Eighties" started in 1978.
"The Nineties" started in 1989.

And yes: I was forever on the night coach to London from Paris. Taking the ferry. Eating greasy English Breakfast on it. Landing in Victoria Station at 8:00am and sitting around the King's Road all day waiting for the clubs to open--then being kicked out of them at 4:00-5:00am--sitting around Trafalgar Square in my sweaty make-up.....Wearing Vivienne Westwood.....Kick Dancing to the Cure's "8:15 on a Saturday Night" (We all knew we would go home black and blue--drawing blood was chic--you would get hurled into ancient crypt like underground lapidary walls--if you happened to get a nose bleed or a cut, you were proud) Siouxie & the Banchees' "Haeyna,"--Parties in the Catacombs--It was.....SUCH A TIME......and I *started* going out dancing in 1979 in Paris--but the real fun began when I discovered that night coach to London, after which I was on it almost every weekend: I have boxes & boxes of photos--if you could see the get ups and the hair and the pasty white face! I can tell you also it's not because these days are passed that they seem romantic and wonderful: They actually were--you see--the thing is--in the 80's, it was "in" to be twisted, miserable and ill: So, you know, the more you were depressed and angry, the more everything made sense. Unlike now--Heaven help you if you're not a smiley bobble-head smelling of watermelon. Some bloody harajuku girl or cackling bind-white-tooth Boy. When I see all the youngsters in their fake 80's clothes from H&M, I just shudder--There is *NO WAY* to be able to "Feel" what it was like unless you were there. (Strangely, the movie "Fight Club" reminded me so much of the 80's--even though it had nothing to do with them) When they were over (The Cure's 1989 "Disintegration" is considered their Death Knell--notably "Plainsong," track #1) and, when Linda Evangelista got that fringe, we all turned into Romeo Gigli Wearing New Age Hippies (The "thing" hanging around the neck....) drenched in "Femininte du Bois" and "Ambre Sultan," (Serge Lutens is SO 90's) it all sort of became a joke--nothing happened--not until Grunge hit--but we who were young adults then all just scratched our heads and thought it reminded us of our elder sisters listening to Led Zepplin in their bedrooms smoking shake in the 70's, same with those clothes: Again--our reviled elder sisters whom we hated dressed like that in the 70's--so you see we weren't -all that- impressed......it wasn't *entirely* new.....and, ever since, I'm afraid, Nothing has been new. (Nothing that matters, at least, on a large scale.) Liz Tilberis called the 90's "The Era of Elegance." I call it "The Era of the End." Don't anyone decide to be snarky and suggest I betray my age: I loudly proclaim it atop every pinnacle--all the while still passing for a thirty something--lots of (and lots) of titanium dioxide sunscreen, the way it was back then: Just made you look whiter, and, of course, you simply could never be white enough then, you know--the very *IDEA* of a tan---well, need I point out?

What a great thread!

MdM, I love the trip down memory lane. I was in NYC in the 80s and it was fun. Before it wasn't anymore.

Mumsy, I had that thick, viscous Mysore sandalwood that you had. There was a shop in NYC called Aphrodesia, which I discovered in the 70s actually. It was on Carmine Street and then moved to Bleecker Street after having been on Carmine St. for a million years. Anyway, they had rows and rows of apothecary jars of herbs, roots, powders, all manner of things from the innocuous to the creepy, and all of these lovely essential oils. It was hippy haven, though I wasn't actually a hippy myself, just a bit of a free spirit I suppose. I had a large glass bottle of Mysore sandalwood oil from Aphrodesia, it was clear but thick as tar. I wish I'd held on to it now! I don't know what happened to it. I used to make my own potpourri with ingredients from that shop. Now, I order ingredients online.

Anomie et ivoire, did anyone mention vintage Miss Dior? That is a really spectacular vintage bombshell, imo, despite the prim name. Gardenia and galbanum with sage, oak moss, a touch of patchouli. I used to wear it, and I can highly recommend it. This one MUST be vintage. Also, Dioressence had patchouli in it, but it was spicier. Also MUST be vintage. They ask high prices for those on ebay but you might be able to scout around estate sales or something locally. Anyway...if you see any GRAB it! And then there is good old Youth Dew (or Youth Don't, as MdM likes to call it ). What a fantastic patchouli resiny scent that is, especially the bath oil. I think I'd look for that in an older bottle, too, but the current one is just fine. I agree with the Aromatics Elixir recommendation, but I can't wear that one myself. It is too dry for me. I like scents that are sweeter, but I've smelled AE on people who wore it so well I didn't even recognize it. It just smelled wonderful on them.

p.s. arrgh!!! I though I lost my post ^^^ but then I remembered auto save. That feature works.

a&i, very well put. I couldn't agree more. All the talk about Halston had me pulling out my vintage tiny manufacturer's sample of the perfume last night. I confess to some careful dabbing. Bliss!