If you could go back in time and smell the original formulation of ANY fragrance...

[RawMia]

First generations of:

Serge Lutens
Frederic Malle
Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier
L'Artisan Parfumeur
Tom Ford Private Blends
Amouage

90's versions:

Chanel
Dior

[N.CAL Fragrance Reviewer]

Guerlain Shalimar, Mitsouko, and Vol de Nuit.

[RedRaider430]

Would love to smell the first version of Creed Selection Verte.

[sjg3839]

Gucci Pour Homme

[naylor]

Chanel Sycomore

[tspencer]

Hmm,

If it's just one, then most likely I would echo many in here and say Fougere Royale. That is one magical gem as it is today with what Houbigant is selling.

Others I would be interested in are Penhaligon's, Acqua di Parma Colonia and how about Pinaud Clubman? Clubman even today is really nice on a bang-for-buck basis. Definitely Old Spice because so many liberties seem to have been taken with it over the decades (although Shulton seemed to have a standard going from the 50's to 80's that everyone remembers the most). So many people have tried to duplicate Old Spice with poor outcomes. So, it's obviously not a scent that one just dupes without common people sticking their noses up at it and saying "this isn't Old Spice".

[Brooks Otterlake]

Hmm,

If it's just one, then most likely I would echo many in here and say Fougere Royale. That is one magical gem as it is today with what Houbigant is selling.

Others I would be interested in are Penhaligon's, Acqua di Parma Colonia and how about Pinaud Clubman? Clubman even today is really nice on a bang-for-buck basis. Definitely Old Spice because so many liberties seem to have been taken with it over the decades (although Shulton seemed to have a standard going from the 50's to 80's that everyone remembers the most).

Oh, yes, I'd love to smell the original Colonia.

[alexmate]

Chanel's Cuir De Ruisse or Caron's Tabac Blond. Really curious about the early long discontinued Guerlain's from the 1800s as well.

If it's a case of owning the originals it would be a lot of 1980\90s stuff. Things I remember from when I cam of age, but where the reformulations aren't as good.

[Starblind]

Shiseido versions of Iris Silver Mist and Muscs Koublai Khan

[Hobbes]

vintage Dior Homme and Dior Homme Intense

I recently acquired a bottle of vintage Dior Homme that didn’t quite smell like I remembered from the old silver stem version

Never smelled vintage DHI

[OldSchoolScents]

The original Fougere Royale.

Ooh that's a good one. That would top my list.

Here's a few more:

Shalimar
Jicky
Chanel No 5
Kouros
Coty Chypre
Knize Ten
Derby
Bel Ami
Old Spice
Brut

[Surfacing]

Jean Patou:

Patou pour Homme

Patou pour Homme Prive



It would also be cool to smell the fragrances, whatever they were, that adorned the tables of the Italian aristocracy in the mid 1800s.

[incense+heliotrope]

Knize Ten
Bel Ami
Guerlain Vetiver
Iris Silver Mist

[Man Of The World]

Even though It's a fragrance I owned I would love to go back to 1991 and take a long sniff of my first bottle of Fahrenheit.

[Sheik Yerbouti]

All of Roudnitska's creations:

Femme de Rochas
Mouche de Rochas
Moustache
Diorama
Eau d'Hermes (especially!)
Eau Fraiche de Dior
Diorissimo
Eau Sauvage
Diorella
Dior-Dior
Ocean Rain
Parfum de Therese

I would love to smell his formulas that never made it into production. I bet many of his unfinished and discarded works were phenomenal too. Great artists always have works in progress, scribbles, doodles, demos, the stuff that rolls around in the back of their mind, that somehow makes it to some stage of physicality that they never got around to finishing or were unhappy with.

[ToughCool]

There are three based purely on memory of the bottles because they are the only two where I kept bottles after they were fine just to smell them later.

1) Polo...from my old plastic splash bottles as a teen in the 80s

2) Lauder for Men 1991-1992 range. The drydown to this was intoxicating and I’d smell the sprayer. I got this from Lauder a few years back and did not recognize it

3) Cool Water 93-96. Wore this as a signature I’m my 20s. Most compliments and most confidence

[Hugh V.]

Santos de Cartier

My dad wore Santos and I always thought it was amazing stuff, but I never wore it myself. Recently, I sampled the newest reformulation. The top notes were glorious, and the scent was pretty close to how I remember it, maybe even better. The dry down though was something else. As opposed to the opening wish has some greenness and comes across almost as a fougere, it dries down into an extremely dry oriental, with prominent nutmeg and cumin. It's okay at that point but not my style whatsoever. Most people though claim that this reformulation is pretty faithful to the original, losing only a bit of depth.

I'd like to sample the vintage stuff, just to see if the drydown is more tolerable, if not a different smell altogether. But if it's just as dry, and nutmeg and cumin heavy, just blended slightly better, then I could write off my memory of the scent as rose-tinted nostalgia.

[N.CAL Fragrance Reviewer]

vintage Dior Homme and Dior Homme Intense

I recently acquired a bottle of vintage Dior Homme that didn’t quite smell like I remembered from the old silver stem version

Never smelled vintage DHI

I remember the days when these formulations were readily available. I appreciate them more now than I did back when I first tried them 10 years ago.

[Next]

Fresh bottles of the fragrances that started me on this journey in the 80’s would be fascinating.
Brut - Dad
Old Spice - Dad
English Leather - First fragrance gifted to me
Chaps - High School
Stetson - High School
Polo Green - High School
Pierre Cardin Eau de Cologne - High School
Antaeus - High School
TSAR (green) - Start of career
Eddie Bauer Adventurer - Start of career

[ThVH]

all

[fit&frag'd]

Would be cool to smell original (non-aged) bottles of Dior Eau Sauvage and Guerlain Vetiver.

I feel fortunate to remember (fairly well) the smell of Polo and Cool Water when they first came out, but it would be neat to smell them again in true original formulation (from a fresh bottle). I still have small amounts of Aventus from some different batches through the first few years and enjoy breaking those out for a smell now and then. I wore a lot of Drakkar Noir back in it's original form and have fond memories of smelling my Grandfather's splash bottle of Old Spice when I was very young. Would be cool to smell those again exactly how they were back then.

[speckmann0706]

all

Amen

[OldSchoolScents]

Hmm,

If it's just one, then most likely I would echo many in here and say Fougere Royale. That is one magical gem as it is today with what Houbigant is selling.

Others I would be interested in are Penhaligon's, Acqua di Parma Colonia and how about Pinaud Clubman? Clubman even today is really nice on a bang-for-buck basis. Definitely Old Spice because so many liberties seem to have been taken with it over the decades (although Shulton seemed to have a standard going from the 50's to 80's that everyone remembers the most). So many people have tried to duplicate Old Spice with poor outcomes. So, it's obviously not a scent that one just dupes without common people sticking their noses up at it and saying "this isn't Old Spice".

I'm enjoying a bottle of Old Spice I ordered from India on eBay which is said to be the same as the most recent formulation before P&G changed the formula to put it in plastic. I've got a plastic bottle of the aftershave and edc as well and they really smell shrill compared to the Indian version. I'm happy with this version as long as it is available but man would I love to smell a bottle from the 30s in its glory

[Darvant]

Polo and I miss my old Habit Rouge EDT from the 90's.

[ThVH]

Amen

I feel it would be the closest to the respective creative idea

[Emanuel76]

Polo and I miss my old Habit Rouge EDT from the 90's.

Aren't you hunting them on ebay?
I always stumble across a bottle.

[speckmann0706]

Chanel Sycomore

Excellent choice, I started late in this hobby and never got a chance to smell this one even the EDT prior to discontinuation when they switched to EDP.

[Francolino]

to bring back the memories...Dior Jules and Davidoff by Davidoff

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Aside from the E.Roudnitska sketchbook / works in progress it would have to be pristine first formulation Old Spice and Cool Water.

Going the Delorean route would have to go back to when fragrances were being made in Ancient Egypt and Cyprus and experience some resins and fumes from a different age.

[mistersmellgood]

Cool water for me

It was the first I knowingly purchased at 13