1992 Bois Du Portugal

[FreshLiving]

Hey everyone.
New here. But long time perfume lover. And my favorite house is Greed. I mean.. Creed.

I found a bottle of vintage BdP 75ml. It arrived today. I obviously just sprayed it the second it came in; on my left wrist. And my current formulation on my right.
I can’t believe the difference just 15 minutes in. It’s almost like a whole new juice!

The vintage is much heavier, oilier, more dense, almost like if all the ingredients had a dampness to them. it feels like the base notes have been soaking in water but still give off their scent.
The opening doesn’t possess that biting bergamot. Slightly gives me the old school Gucci Pour Homme vibe? This one is certainly more reserved for more special ocassions and definetly cool weather, ideally night time.

The new formulation is much more light, airy, sharp. And you get that sandalwood and dryness quite quickly! Something you can wear anywhere, day time or night that always gives off the bold and impressionable sense.

Edit: after it begins to settle down from the openings.. they do end up near the same place. But again, the vintage has slightly more heaviness, which is probably due to greater % of oil used from back in the day.
One thing which saddens me about the vintage is that the explosion of bergamot isn’t there. It opens up with a sappy and heavier front. And this is why I said cool weather, special occasion time.

Anyone else tried the vintage bottle or owns from this era of time?

 

[StylinLA]

I am a Bois du Portugal fan boy for sure (see avatar).

I remember first buying it around 1996 or so.

I've worn it fairly consistently for years and have noticed it has weakened a bit. I think much of that is related to the layers of IFRA regs through the years. My bottle from about seven years ago seems stronger than my bottle from three years ago. Maybe it's the aging in the bottle...maybe it's altered ingredients. Who knows.

As a long time fan, I will say all the versions I have are fundamentally good and very BdP like.

If I had some sort of financial windfall, I'd probably seek out a crazy priced vintage bottle. Probably is a bit richer.

In some defense of perfumers, I think increased regs have altered many scents and I also think changing consumer tastes for heavy scents has played some part. I think if I went in my office 2015 or so reeking of some the 1980s beasts it would be frowned upon and discouraged.

 

[WarmJewel]

What are you defining here as vintage? Few years old, 10, 20?

There's no question in my mind that (based on my own personal experience) vintage fragrances 'generally' smell better than current ones. They all seem to have similar characteristics (that you describe) deeper, more depth, more intense etc. I believe this is down to two main reasons:

1/ The IFRA regulations that have curtailed/reduced down certain ingredients to much smaller percentages that vintage versions don't suffer from. The main one was in 1992 that recommended that oakmoss and treemoss extracts should not exceed 0.6% (or 3% in a 20% compound) in consumer products. And;

2/ The effects of aging/maceration or alcohol evaporation (same thing) that produces the effect of making the perfume extract a higher percentage of volume and thus more intense.

These two things combined I think produce that deeper, more intense effect that we all seem to detect. That also means of course that (in my terms) vintage fragrances tend to be the ones manufactured prior to 1992. That's my own personal definition, I'm not saying it's the definitive or right one. Thus in terms of vintage fragrances I tend to look for ones made in the 80's or earlier.

 

[hednic]

Anyone else tried the vintage bottle or owns from this era of time?

I own and love it.

 

[ErroneousFact]

2/ The effects of aging/maceration or alcohol evaporation (same thing) that produces the effect of making the perfume extract a higher percentage of volume and thus more intense.

Has anyone done an artificial aging test with two new bottles and one vintage (Of anything) like this?
1. Pour one of the new bottles into an open container like a beaker or measuring cup and wait until some percentage of the liquid has evaporated. 5%?
2. Heat in sealed container in water bath for an extended period. 130F? A day or more?
3. Return to spray bottle and compare that, the untouched new bottle, and the vintage bottle.

I've heard a lot on theory but not a test like that.

Nevermind here, I'll start a new thread. Here it is: https://basenotes.com/threads/artificial-aging.531538/

 

[N.CAL Fragrance Reviewer]

I've noticed BDP has changed significantly over the years, I've only tried vintage from the early 2000s though. One of my favorites from the millesime line. I think if I found BDP early on I might've considered adding it to my collection with backups.

 

[Z_LiDs]

IFRA ruined the perfumery, it's a fact...

 

[GoldWineMemories]

I'm not going to claim the formula hasn't changed, because I have no idea, but what you're saying isn't bad. You don't get the bergamont, because it's gone off, so that's indisputable a negative quality of degraded perfume. Bois du Portugal, oily? damp? wet? Those are not imo good qualities of this perfume. If that's the vintage, I'm glad we have the modern to turn to. Also, Creed when they started out did not have the prestige or the money they have now. Without evidence, there's literally zero reason to think there were more or higher quality oils in vintage Creeds. Now, if your nose tells you something then run with it, that's what we all do -- but for no reason give Creed the benefit of the doubt of being generous in their old perfume.

Fragrances also age in 30 years, what you're smelling now is not "vintage" Bois du Portugal -- you cannot smell vintage Bois du Portugal anymore, unless you get the exact ingredients with the exact old recipe. You're smelling Bois du Portugal that's aged for 30 years, and in some way has gone off.