Quote:
Originally Posted by
ladymurasaki 
I have never liked Mitsouko or Shalimar and don't pretend to like what I don't. What's the point, eh?
It was a bit of a joke, but the point would supposedly be to impress others with their superior and ultra-refined taste in perfumes!

Quote:
Originally Posted by
L'enfer 
My thoughts are that older houses
Guerlain,
Chanel et al. earned their reputation off the back of
Shalimar and
N°5 then you have to consider that the scents we have today are not the same as the vintage formulation that made them famous and best sellers in decades past. The second thing you have to consider is that when these perfumes were released the perfume market was very, very different with only a few big houses making anything of note. Taking this into account the
Chanel,
Guerlain,
Dior fragrances of yesterday deserve their reputation even if today's incarnations are not worthy of that reputation.
Well, I get your point but they can still be overrated in anyone's opinion. I can only speak for myself, but I'm well aware of the history and reputation of these venerated old perfumes such as
Shalimar and
Mitsouko, and I'm also familiar with varying vintage versions of them, and although that's very interesting and enlightening, it doesn't change the fact that I don't think they're the masterpieces that many others clearly do ...hence, I think they're overrated.
Besides, there were
many great perfumes from the same era that haven't enjoyed nearly the reputation that
Shalimar has, even though they were originally considered equal or even better perfumes at the time, such as
Eméraude ...which is actually a very good example of why
Shalimar comes to mind when I think "overrated." Others that are just as old or older (ca. 1900-1930) that are
in my opinion far better than
Shalimar are
Narcisse Noir,
Quelques Fleurs,
Après L'Ondée,
L'Origan,
L'Heure Bleue, and just about every old Chanel, including
Chanel No5,
Bois des Iles,
Cuir de Russie and
No 22. A fragrance doesn't automatically get or deserve
everyone's love and admiration just for sticking around a long time.