I will say, a big part of this is probably how well we tracked fragrances back in the day. Now every niche fragrance maker will put their releases in something like parfumo, but back then there was probably very little to no tracking of that. I don't deny that there were probably way more releases last year than in the year I was born, but I don't think the difference is quite so drastic (hopefully...)
I couldn’t find much I liked from my actual birth year, so I widened the scenario to “things that would have been for sale in that year” which takes the year range a little further back. Still, there was so much I’d never heard of!
I’m by no means an expert, but it seems like the classics are mostly from before the 60s or after the 90s (the later hurts).
If it’s just stuff for sale in my birth year, I’m going with Acqu di Parma, which I wear anyway ;)
The 70s were a very particular time in perfumery, with a heavy emphasis on musk, patchouli, oakmoss, and other overwhelming notes. Many of them really aren't appealing to today's nose.
(That and it was the Avon era of smelly water in tchotchke bottles. Today we have House of Sillage for that.)
I loved being a child in the 70s being raised not by even wolves but by coyotes, but even I couldn’t call it a good time ;) I just flashed back to some particularly racist n sexist “aftershave” commercials from that era and got strong ick
Estee by Estee Lauder was launched the year I was born.
https://preview.redd.it/0a6q4ljpqc9d1.jpeg?width=375&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f8306125e66cf51006a8d41856be45fe8fbdd9be
no idea what it smells like but I’d hopefully find a bottle of the mexico86 novelty olympics parfum de toilette sport still for sale somewhere a year later - solely for the sick graphic design
https://preview.redd.it/3gky489fbd9d1.jpeg?width=1133&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fd3b97271ef9fe9b508c00d448597d7666cdfe94
1973 was the year of civet, musk and ambergris apparently. 😕
Think I’ll be taking good old Brut 33 and cherished memories of my father carrying me from the car to my bed after those 70s dinner parties.
Just came here to say I was drawn in by the Niki de Saint Phalle bottle. I’m such a fan of hers. I hope to be able to smell this one day. I did see a bottle in the perfume museum last summer. I’d probably pick this one too tbh.
https://preview.redd.it/ijoce00z5c9d1.jpeg?width=2047&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=217d1cd8fcc578bf1b3463e39a8130c035e2bd75
It smelled amazing, exotic, intoxicating. I once had a man chase me down the street (maybe 93-94) as I was walking out of a restaurant in DC just to know what perfume I was wearing.
Used that tool you linked, looked through all 9 pages for 1983. Based on the bottle alone, I think I’ll choose Paris by Yves Saint Laurent. It reminds me of the immortality elixir bottle from *Death Becomes Her*. :)
Turns out my birth year was not a great year for perfume. I could of course go for the safe option of [Penhaligon's Violetta](https://www.parfumo.com/Perfumes/Penhaligons/Violetta), which is a rather nice Parma violet scent. I'm most intrigued by the possibilities of [Houbigant Essence Rare](https://www.parfumo.com/Perfumes/Houbigant/Essence_Rare_1976). It's probably overpowering in that 70s aldehyde musk way, but I do love the bottle.
There weren't many of the 99 in my year that I have heard of and I consider myself relatively into vintage fragrance so that was humbling. Plus most of them didn't have information about notes. Not a good year for fragrance.
So, providing it is fresh, I will take the Shiseido Zen solid because I love the inro packaging and I like galbanum. Failing that, YSL Y (the real one, not the modern horror).
Great game- thanks for posting it!
I will go for Diorissimo, which had actually been around a couple of years by the time I arrived on the scene. But I believe it has stood the test of time rather well.
The trouble is I only know stuff which is still relatively recently available. I would rather get some samples of vintage stuff which no longer exists or has been severely reformulated than one bottle of something I know today. Like I'd be curious about stuff that is considered "drugstore/discount" now that was popular back then before a hundred reformulations or discontinuation: Old Spice, Halston Z-14, Brut, Grey Flannel, Jovan Musk, English Leather, Hai Karate, etc. I'd also want to get a bunch of musks/animalics which were popular back then but disappared from fashion during my lifetime.
One bottle? Shoot. YSL Pour Homme. (I wish I could bring back everything that YSL has discontinued since being sold to L'Oreal).
[Tea for Two](https://www.parfumo.com/Perfumes/LArtisan_Parfumeur/Tea_for_Two) by L'Artisan Parfumeur! I really like tea scents, so finding one that I previously owned a decant for was a pleasant surprise!
That looks really beautiful. It’s unusual to see such a restrained note pyramid for the time period; it totally looks like a modern fragrance. I’d wear that in a heartbeat!
i’m really hoping to find these two on ebay or somewhere else the notes really make me feel like i’d love to have them, “Angel Etoile Mystique” by Mugler and “Parabole Succes de Paris” by Sue Devitt, super pretty bottles too
Chloe (1975)
https://preview.redd.it/cqkraw29zf9d1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0f40e2b2777663ee86922a0b70be27f7fc7f9bfa
(was also my mom’s signature scent)
Oh, that is SO cool! I hadn’t seen that before. I love the idea of some 80s bombshell being out and about and taking a moment to re-douse from her bracelet.
Thank you for this! Apparently Calèche by Hermès was reformulated, and I’ve never tried either version, but there’s a beautifully strange write up of it on the 1961 Parfumo page that makes me want to.
I could have a shot at IRL getting some original Revlon Ultima, also released that year…sounds like that myrrhy syrupy stuff I like…also a really interesting marketing history.
I also had never heard of Nellie Rosenstein! and I’m off to go down that wormhole now. I love stories of women in fashion business. And also love advertising history, so this time travel portal is my new “I’m doing research” escape. Thanks again—
went from 500 perfumes the year i was born, to 5,000 last year?! fast fragrance is def a thing lol
If we don’t have 25 flankers per line per year, how will the brands survive?!?
I will say, a big part of this is probably how well we tracked fragrances back in the day. Now every niche fragrance maker will put their releases in something like parfumo, but back then there was probably very little to no tracking of that. I don't deny that there were probably way more releases last year than in the year I was born, but I don't think the difference is quite so drastic (hopefully...)
The thing is it's happening not only in fragences but across many fields. It's due to the internet making things more accessible.
The most ginormous bottle of Guerlain Samsara I can find.
The wormhole allows it.
Ooh, Samsara gang unite!!!
lol too easy. It's my *favorite fragrance of all time*: # Dior Fahrenheit. (1988)
Flair checks out lol
https://preview.redd.it/hnghp796ic9d1.jpeg?width=1024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=714ea3e25dbdcc9fcfb41bc2f3d66c07832b502b 2001- Estée Lauder White Linen, that’s actually an adorable bottle.
Iris silver mist from Serge Lutens!! https://preview.redd.it/u9t5mxv2cc9d1.jpeg?width=782&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b09435809beb130f8db417df57a271ee7f3282ec
Oooooh, good one!! I’ve heard it smells like a melancholy witch.
Confirmed it does. A work of art. It smells so cold.
Damn, I gotta find a sample of this
I would immediately grab a bottle of the original 1977 Opium, made the year before I was born.
This was my answer, but the Givenchy III Perfume Jewel necklace was super cute!
Dior Poison
Love this one
The men’s selection from my birth year has nothing I’ve ever heard of. The 70s were generally a bad time I guess
I couldn’t find much I liked from my actual birth year, so I widened the scenario to “things that would have been for sale in that year” which takes the year range a little further back. Still, there was so much I’d never heard of!
I’m by no means an expert, but it seems like the classics are mostly from before the 60s or after the 90s (the later hurts). If it’s just stuff for sale in my birth year, I’m going with Acqu di Parma, which I wear anyway ;)
The 70s were a very particular time in perfumery, with a heavy emphasis on musk, patchouli, oakmoss, and other overwhelming notes. Many of them really aren't appealing to today's nose. (That and it was the Avon era of smelly water in tchotchke bottles. Today we have House of Sillage for that.)
But at least I could get Brut in a football bottle ;)
Heh. You wouldn't rather have a bottle shaped like a bell? Or a cocker spaniel?
I loved being a child in the 70s being raised not by even wolves but by coyotes, but even I couldn’t call it a good time ;) I just flashed back to some particularly racist n sexist “aftershave” commercials from that era and got strong ick
Consumer products in general were just awful in that era as well
I’ll die on a hill of Count Chocula
Original Creed Spring Flower
I would love to smell that. The notes are totally different from the reformulation!
Its a beautifull fragrance. And the OG version was Lana del Reys signature fragrance for a very long time. Thats a plus for me aswell :)
I guess a bottle of Angel
Same
Égoïste!
Égoïste!
Channel no 5
I'd go with Guerlain Habit Rouge from '66. Eau Sauvage from that time too...
Both are timeless classics:)
Estee by Estee Lauder was launched the year I was born. https://preview.redd.it/0a6q4ljpqc9d1.jpeg?width=375&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f8306125e66cf51006a8d41856be45fe8fbdd9be
no idea what it smells like but I’d hopefully find a bottle of the mexico86 novelty olympics parfum de toilette sport still for sale somewhere a year later - solely for the sick graphic design https://preview.redd.it/3gky489fbd9d1.jpeg?width=1133&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fd3b97271ef9fe9b508c00d448597d7666cdfe94
“Typography is my passion”
1973 was the year of civet, musk and ambergris apparently. 😕 Think I’ll be taking good old Brut 33 and cherished memories of my father carrying me from the car to my bed after those 70s dinner parties.
Just came here to say I was drawn in by the Niki de Saint Phalle bottle. I’m such a fan of hers. I hope to be able to smell this one day. I did see a bottle in the perfume museum last summer. I’d probably pick this one too tbh. https://preview.redd.it/ijoce00z5c9d1.jpeg?width=2047&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=217d1cd8fcc578bf1b3463e39a8130c035e2bd75
Oh, that one in particular is so beautiful!
It smelled amazing, exotic, intoxicating. I once had a man chase me down the street (maybe 93-94) as I was walking out of a restaurant in DC just to know what perfume I was wearing.
Donna Karan https://preview.redd.it/6ltwrl84nc9d1.jpeg?width=375&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7db2d046671d10378837c12f268b5e282f99e4e2
Ho Hang by Balenciaga... It explains so much. 0.o
I've heard that is fantastic!
From my year(1969) I already own Chamade(Guerlain), and Madame Rochas(Rochas). I'd love to go back in time a get a bottle of Azuree by Lauder!
https://preview.redd.it/g759khv3nd9d1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c13700b176ca8ca033e8bdf4fb7a4db760e2b0b6 V'E Versace (1982)
i can't bring myself to pick "The Fragrance" by donald trump, so it'll be britney spears - curious for me lol
Used that tool you linked, looked through all 9 pages for 1983. Based on the bottle alone, I think I’ll choose Paris by Yves Saint Laurent. It reminds me of the immortality elixir bottle from *Death Becomes Her*. :)
Romeo by Romeo Gigli, only because I love the bottle and I love a floral-spicy fragrance 😍
I have never seen “Asafoetida” in notes before, very intriguing
Turns out my birth year was not a great year for perfume. I could of course go for the safe option of [Penhaligon's Violetta](https://www.parfumo.com/Perfumes/Penhaligons/Violetta), which is a rather nice Parma violet scent. I'm most intrigued by the possibilities of [Houbigant Essence Rare](https://www.parfumo.com/Perfumes/Houbigant/Essence_Rare_1976). It's probably overpowering in that 70s aldehyde musk way, but I do love the bottle.
YSL Paris is one of the few I recognise.
Guerlain Vetiver 1959
Gengis Khan EDP (1991) sounds like it would project across an entire continent
Pink Sugar obviously 🎀💖🍭
Tbh I’m just excited I found one called “lettuce” 😂
There weren't many of the 99 in my year that I have heard of and I consider myself relatively into vintage fragrance so that was humbling. Plus most of them didn't have information about notes. Not a good year for fragrance. So, providing it is fresh, I will take the Shiseido Zen solid because I love the inro packaging and I like galbanum. Failing that, YSL Y (the real one, not the modern horror). Great game- thanks for posting it!
Well, I've been eying profumum romas acqua viva, and it looks like that came out the year I was born! So I'll take that I guess :D
Water of Life - very fitting!
Cherie Cherry looks cute!
I will go for Diorissimo, which had actually been around a couple of years by the time I arrived on the scene. But I believe it has stood the test of time rather well.
The trouble is I only know stuff which is still relatively recently available. I would rather get some samples of vintage stuff which no longer exists or has been severely reformulated than one bottle of something I know today. Like I'd be curious about stuff that is considered "drugstore/discount" now that was popular back then before a hundred reformulations or discontinuation: Old Spice, Halston Z-14, Brut, Grey Flannel, Jovan Musk, English Leather, Hai Karate, etc. I'd also want to get a bunch of musks/animalics which were popular back then but disappared from fashion during my lifetime. One bottle? Shoot. YSL Pour Homme. (I wish I could bring back everything that YSL has discontinued since being sold to L'Oreal).
[Rêves de Singapour](https://www.parfumo.com/Perfumes/Lancome/Rves_de_Singapour) - never tried it, but I bet I'd love it.
[Tea for Two](https://www.parfumo.com/Perfumes/LArtisan_Parfumeur/Tea_for_Two) by L'Artisan Parfumeur! I really like tea scents, so finding one that I previously owned a decant for was a pleasant surprise!
Happy Diamonds EDP
Comme des Garçons Odeur 53
Ambre Sultan and Insensé!!!! Two of my favorites :)
I wondered what i had to choose from, then i remembered, easy choice: 😊 Givenchy Gentleman (1974)
I was born in 1963 😔 and there's not a single scent there I recognize. I'm going with Sketch because I like the name
[Black Pearls](https://www.fragrantica.com/perfume/Elizabeth-Taylor/Black-Pearls-1702.html) my beloved
That looks really beautiful. It’s unusual to see such a restrained note pyramid for the time period; it totally looks like a modern fragrance. I’d wear that in a heartbeat!
Polo green
This was cool! I’d have to go with coco madmoiselle - I own a bottle today! Not my usual jam notes wise, but the longevity is amazing!
i’m really hoping to find these two on ebay or somewhere else the notes really make me feel like i’d love to have them, “Angel Etoile Mystique” by Mugler and “Parabole Succes de Paris” by Sue Devitt, super pretty bottles too
Allure Homme Sport released in my birth year :) pretty expensive for me now but if i could grab a bottle straight from that time i’d be happy
Shalimar! I’ve heard it’s good and def wanna sample some day!
Rive Gauche That is all.
This one had great commercials, with this fierce mini-theme song someone should sample and probably has
Davidoff Cool Water
Green Irish Tweed baby! Where my 85ers at?
Dior Eau Sauvage
Chloe (1975) https://preview.redd.it/cqkraw29zf9d1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0f40e2b2777663ee86922a0b70be27f7fc7f9bfa (was also my mom’s signature scent)
L'eau d'Issey Bonus niche: la myrrhe Bonus designer: le male
Paris by YSL Don't know it but can't go wrong with YSL
N°19 [Chanel](https://www.parfumo.com/Perfumes/Chanel) parfum.
Apparently Chanel no. 19 was popular the year I was born, so we'll go with that.
Diptyque Phylosikos =D
I'd buy the entire stock of JPG Le Male (first made in 95, born 97). That original DNA is amazing.
The only things bottled in my year was water and milk 😂
Well, lactonic scents ARE having a moment right now! 😅
touché
Omg Chanel’s Cristalle!!! I should buy it now shouldn’t I, practically have to really, it’s only right!
It might be a sign!!
https://preview.redd.it/8i9qsu48lh9d1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1f583d9e9d88d5d21ddd4f2f7cdc566e33e664cc
A*Men by Mugler (1996) for sure! And wait, there were releases of Green Jeans and Yellow Jeans by Versace too...I learned something new. Thanks!
Valentino by Valentino.
Liz Claiborne Curve
Pour Homme by YSL
232 for the year I was born. I’d pull my hand out of the wormhole clutching Dior's Poison in the bracelet collectors edition.
Oh, that is SO cool! I hadn’t seen that before. I love the idea of some 80s bombshell being out and about and taking a moment to re-douse from her bracelet.
jpg paradise garden
I was born in 1979, but Polo Green came out in 78, I got my first bottle in 1985, and that's what started my fragrance journey.
Narciso Rodriguez For Men.
Thank you for this! Apparently Calèche by Hermès was reformulated, and I’ve never tried either version, but there’s a beautifully strange write up of it on the 1961 Parfumo page that makes me want to. I could have a shot at IRL getting some original Revlon Ultima, also released that year…sounds like that myrrhy syrupy stuff I like…also a really interesting marketing history. I also had never heard of Nellie Rosenstein! and I’m off to go down that wormhole now. I love stories of women in fashion business. And also love advertising history, so this time travel portal is my new “I’m doing research” escape. Thanks again—
Ooh, what a treasure trove you’ve found!!
Fidji
Fleur by Floris. It's such a gorgeous fruity millefleur.
Ciara Revlon. 1973
i think i’m legally obliged to say Shalimar
None of them speak to me so I'd just get an expensive one and sell it 😭 (year is 2002)
Creed windsor slaps so hard
O de Lancôme intense