Vintage Samsara

[Lyric82]

Other than previously purchasing a tiny vintage sample of Fracas, at the encouragement of you fine folks here on basenotes… I’m completely new to the world of vintage.

But I just bought a mini bottle of vintage Samsara Extrait. It’s a partial of the 7.5 ml bottle. It wasn’t expensive, so if it turns out to be terrible… not a huge loss.

The thing is, I think Samsara could possibly turn me into a vintage seeker on a more regular basis. I am very excited to experience real mysore Sandalwood for probably the first time in my entire life. And samsara is probably my favorite fragrance ever. And that’s the modern version I’m speaking about, so I kinda hope the vintage doesn’t ruin me for the modern and that I will still love what is readily available in today’s market. But at the same time, I want to fill my world with samsara. 🥹🤣

So… any advice on what to look for in vintage edp and edt of samsara? Do I look for the clear bottles of the edt/edp? Is the mysore sandalwood already removed from those iconic looking red bottles? Are there any tips or tricks in finding samsara that you can offer?

 

[Pippin06]

Other than previously purchasing a tiny vintage sample of Fracas, at the encouragement of you fine folks here on basenotes… I’m completely new to the world of vintage.

But I just bought a mini bottle of vintage Samsara Extrait. It’s a partial of the 7.5 ml bottle. It wasn’t expensive, so if it turns out to be terrible… not a huge loss.

The thing is, I think Samsara could possibly turn me into a vintage seeker on a more regular basis. I am very excited to experience real mysore Sandalwood for probably the first time in my entire life. And samsara is probably my favorite fragrance ever. And that’s the modern version I’m speaking about, so I kinda hope the vintage doesn’t ruin me for the modern and that I will still love what is readily available in today’s market. But at the same time, I want to fill my world with samsara. 🥹🤣

So… any advice on what to look for in vintage edp and edt of samsara? Do I look for the clear bottles of the edt/edp? Is the mysore sandalwood already removed from those iconic looking red bottles? Are there any tips or tricks in finding samsara that you can offer?

Congratulations on this, Lyric82. I'm happy for you! Enjoy.

 

[Lyric82]

Congratulations on this, Lyric82. I'm happy for you! Enjoy.

Thank you! Samsara totally blew me away. I am so completely head over heels for it!

 

[saminlondon]

From memory (Samsara's not one of my favourites, though it's doubtless an impressive piece of perfumery), you should indeed be looking for transparent bottles - and unspaced letters in the name.

Bois de Jasmin has a useful guide, but no pictures, alas.

 

[Lyric82]

From memory (Samsara's not one of my favourites, though it's doubtless an impressive piece of perfumery), you should indeed be looking for transparent bottles - and unspaced letters in the name.

Bois de Jasmin has a useful guide, but no pictures, alas.

Thank you! I read that, but couldn’t find anything about the letters. Could you show me an example of spaced letters vs non spaced letters on the clear bottles? Absolutely no rush, I’m just not sure what either version looks like.

 

[grayspoole]

Hi Lyric82--

Welcome to the Vintage Forum! So happy you are enjoying your vintage Samsara.

As is frequently the case, Raiders of the Lost Scent is a tremendous resource. Check out this post which is full of photos:

http://raidersofthelostscent.blogspot.com/2016/11/samsara-legend.html

I'm a Samsara outlier who actually prefers the vintage EDT, specifically my clear bottle from 1996. But I've been thinking about trying to land a bottle of the vintage parfum.

 

[saminlondon]

Thank you! I read that, but couldn’t find anything about the letters. Could you show me an example of spaced letters vs non spaced letters on the clear bottles? Absolutely no rush, I’m just not sure what either version looks like.

I just had a quick scout on t'internet. This is the reformulated version, with spaced letters:


This is vintage:

 

[saminlondon]

Hi Lyric82--

Welcome to the Vintage Forum! So happy you are enjoying your vintage Samsara.

As is frequently the case, Raiders of the Lost Scent is a tremendous resource. Check out this post which is full of photos:

http://raidersofthelostscent.blogspot.com/2016/11/samsara-legend.html

I'm a Samsara outlier who actually prefers the vintage EDT, specifically my clear bottle from 1996. But I've been thinking about trying to land a bottle of the vintage parfum.

This is brilliant! I'd completely forgotten he did a whole page just on Samsara. Very useful, especially since it's had an extraordinary number of different bottles in its lifetime.

 

[Lyric82]

Hi Lyric82--

Welcome to the Vintage Forum! So happy you are enjoying your vintage Samsara.

As is frequently the case, Raiders of the Lost Scent is a tremendous resource. Check out this post which is full of photos:

http://raidersofthelostscent.blogspot.com/2016/11/samsara-legend.html

I'm a Samsara outlier who actually prefers the vintage EDT, specifically my clear bottle from 1996. But I've been thinking about trying to land a bottle of the vintage parfum.

Omg this is a wealth of information! Thank you! I haven’t received my vintage Parfum bottle yet, but I should receive it next week. For a little bit here I was confused and thought i accidentally purchased one from a year that no longer had the mysore Sandalwood, but thankfully that’s not the case. I’m so excited! I wish the edp and edt bottles weren’t so expensive.

I currently do have both the edt and edp of the current formula… and I do love them both. I hope that I continue to love them after experiencing how it was initially meant to be experienced in the vintages.

 

[Lyric82]

I just had a quick scout on t'internet. This is the reformulated version, with spaced letters:
View attachment 323064

This is vintage:


View attachment 323068

Thank you so much!

 

[Bavard]

The vintage edp of Samsara that I've tried smelled synthetic to me - reportedly polysantol, and the vintage edt I've tried had less of that. I've never tried vintage parfum.

 

[Lyric82]

The vintage edp of Samsara that I've tried smelled synthetic to me - reportedly polysantol, and the vintage edt I've tried had less of that. I've never tried vintage parfum.

I think I’m likely going to be in the market for each of them, and I don’t know if synthetic is something that ever really bothers me… from what I read in what greypoole linked, all of them have a varying amount of real and synthetic sandalwood… each individual batch being different from the next. Which kind of makes sense when they were using so much natural sandalwood. I think and hope that I will adore them all. It may take me a while though because they are expensive!

 

[teardrop]

I'm with @grayspoole in preferring the vintage EDT, the second bottle pictured in @saminlondon's post.

Samsara is my all-time favourite, & it's great to see another fan, enjoy!

 

[Lyric82]

I'm with @grayspoole in preferring the vintage EDT, the second bottle pictured in @saminlondon's post.

Samsara is my all-time favourite, & it's great to see another fan, enjoy!

I’m very happy to join the samsara club lol

 

[Bonnette]

I might need to be corrected about this, but I believe they stopped (or greatly reduced) using Mysore sandalwood in 1994.

Like grayspoole, I love vintage Samsara EDT. It has just enough of an edge to lend distinction to layers of notes that are very soft/blurry in EDP and extrait. Actually,. I think this is true of most vintage Guerlain EDTs - they are superb, overall.

 

[epapsiou]

Samsara is what got me hooked on to fragrances. So my advice - stay away and save money 🤑

 

[Lyric82]

Samsara is what got me hooked on to fragrances. So my advice - stay away and save money 🤑

Oh it’s too late, I’m already hooked

 

[N.CAL Fragrance Reviewer]

My favorite is the extrait concentration by far. After that I would suggest the EDP. If you like something for aromatic then go with the EDT.

If you like sandalwood scents, Chanel Egoiste EDT and Egoiste Cologne Concentree are good picks to try.

 

[badarun]

N Cal wrote what I was planning on...

The extrait version is one of the best Mysore Sandalwoods you can ask for.

 

[Lyric82]

My favorite is the extrait concentration by far. After that I would suggest the EDP. If you like something for aromatic then go with the EDT.

If you like sandalwood scents, Chanel Egoiste EDT and Egoiste Cologne Concentree are good picks to try.

N Cal wrote what I was planning on...

The extrait version is one of the best Mysore Sandalwoods you can ask for.

Thank you! I will hopefully Be very happy next week when I receive the bottle of the extrait I ordered! Then after that, I will start seeking out the edp and edt varieties. I wish I fell in love with samsara when the vintage prices were a lot more reasonable.

Is there anything I should avoid? Like certain red flags I may find with these sellers? I’m really new to this so whatever info you all can give me would be massively appreciated.

 

[Couronne de Violette]

Thank you! I will hopefully Be very happy next week when I receive the bottle of the extrait I ordered! Then after that, I will start seeking out the edp and edt varieties. I wish I fell in love with samsara when the vintage prices were a lot more reasonable.

Is there anything I should avoid? Like certain red flags I may find with these sellers? I’m really new to this so whatever info you all can give me would be massively appreciated.

Un Air de Samsara is worth checking out, too, and isn't expensive. It is a flanker with a little bit of mint in it and I actually prefer it to the heavier original.