...Flaconneur:That was no joke, Digindirt. This is the list of batch numbers for Aventus. I'm sure a few more were added since I complied this list. No wonder people are confused.Flaconneur, are you collecting perfume batch numbers as well? :lol: Where do you find them? Are you really keeping track of diffent batches? So, could state which batch is vintage and which contains a reformulation?Please tell us more!

...Dolby:Dulcemio:Ahhh, they grow up so quickly. Next thing you know he'll be heading off to college. :)Yes ... and then it's off to work. Gotta pay for his upkeep eventually.Apicius, do you reckon prostitution would be a viable option? :wink:I don't live in the countryside - no sheeps around my place :)

...Sherapop:Dulcemio:Apicius:Sorry to have offended you, Dulcelmio, my intention was to give an explanation what might be behind the ongoing misunderstandings.So, was your original post meant to be sarcastic or tongue-in-cheek and it just went over my head? (It wouldn't be the first time that's happened to me, though I'm usually the one doling out the sarcasm.)I hope so, because otherwise you are reeeallly over-thinking the cat-hating, right? :lol: I think cat haters just have deep-seated jealousy of cats. Their beauty and athleticism, their aloof independence, their ability to make their own fun out of thin air. They are miniature lions and tigers, for god's sake. When Mother Nature created cats, big and small, she must've stood back for days admiring her work, speechless at her own talent. As Sherapop once said, the Divinity of Felinity. Amen.Dulcemio, first, thank you for that beautiful soliloquy on our furry and fantastic friends!Second, I'd like to offer a bit of exegetical help in understanding Apicius' opening post to this thread. I do agree with you that he may have gotten a little bit carried away with his animal fantasy. Obviously, cats are not vibrators. And what in the world did the sheep-sodomy story have to with the question of cats? To be honest, I'm not at all sure. Maybe he can connect the dots for us at some point. But I do think that Apicius meant well, his uninhibited stream-of-consciousness writing style notwithstanding. He was talking about a phenomenon with which I am familiar because my sister's husband used to be wildly jealous of her relationship with a male cat. It's crazy, I know, but the cat was not allowed on the bed in his presence for this reason! I agree with you Dulcemio: the jealousy goes much deeper. Such people recognize their own weakness and pathetic nature when they confront cats. But the way the cat haters process all of this is through twisting the interpretation to make the cat into something dirty and even evil. So my best guess is that Apicius was talking about people who find cats too sensual and get grossed out when they think about seeing a cat on their bed. Actually, come to think of it, I have another example. Our beloved HRH Emperor Oliver originally lived with one of my former colleagues who began spending half the year in Berlin for a program she was administering, so she asked me to care for HRH while she was abroad. Naturally, I accepted and was even honored to do so! One time this woman told me that she was grossed out because one night she found that HRH was sleeping on the bed right next to her, basically as a husband would! She felt that there was something sick about it! I was taken aback and even shocked at the time.Needless to say, such procrustean no-cat-on-the-bed rules do not apply chez moi. My view, as you can see clearly from many of my perfume photos, is that cats belong nowhere more than on the bed! But think of all the people like my brother-in-law who probably cringe whenever they see HRH all snuggly on a down comforter, which is clearly on a bed. I think that Apicius was gently (although some of his examples were admittedly pretty graphic) attempting to remind us that not everyone sees cats the way we do! Sad, but it's true! :cry:Thanks, Sherapop, for helping me out of this situation.Actually, my phantasy led me too far, this text is not appropriate for Parfumo. I wanted to write something witty, but I obviously overstepped the mark. I should have given it a second thought, but then it was too late to delete it. I hope you accept my excuse.My intention however has not changed. I simply want to make clear that cat haters may have their reasons for their agressiveness or their sneer. But since they hardly state them in a comprehensive way I can only assume that these reasons are on a deeper level which we can neither discuss nor solve here at Parfumo. Since we cannot garantee you that you will not eventually encounter some unpleasant reaction by those who do not like cats, we can only appeal to your composure.For me, the starting point for this discussion was the rating of perfume photos and the fact, that perfume photos with cats got some low votes. Since this feature has been changed now, I think we also have settled the cat haters topic for now. There do not seem to be any on the international site anyway.

...There is not much that I know yet in this list, so I can't pick a favorite. I wonder how these sort of lists are put together. I miss Divine's L'Homme Infini and at least one of the new Lubin fragrances. If Frapin counts as "indie" they should do as well.

...Pipette:http://www.parfumo.com/Users/Florblanca/PerfumePicture/14741 On the afternoon that I spent hours rating, this photo would have gotten 100% from me.A. The bottle is well photographed and all fine print is showing.B. The package is well photographed and all fine print is showing.C. The background is creatively staged.I admit that rating photos objectively is not an easy task.I see that by now, the rating of that photo has gone up again.If Don creates new features here at Parfumo, things can always be done in one way or in a different way. Personally, I share some of the criticism that has come up against the rating of perfume pictures as it is at the moment.Don will surely have a close look at the feature again, and after some time has passed and some experiences are being made, who knows, maybe there is a change or some further development.

...Pipette:After all, we are here to have fun. Points, fine. Lots of points, fine. Just a few points, fine too. Yes, this is the best attitude.Pipette:When I did my blog, I must have stepped into a nest of angry wasps for the furor it created. So I did not start what was already there.Pipette, I think I am in the position now that I have to ask for excuse for my fellow German parfumistas!I would not say that you have stepped into a nest of angry wasps - you have just been exploring the German mindset - which is considerably different from Anglosaxon social rules. It seems in my country certain values in communication like honesty, straightforwardness, always say what you think are esteemed much higher than, i.e., politeness, respect, friendliness, humour which to me seem to have a higher value in the Angolsaxon world.Due to this, it is possible that some tension can easily build up in discussions, however, only in rare cases the results are like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33Vxyb5BYrcSometimes, I intervene as a moderator and ask the participants if anybody wants to have a "Kosakenzipfel" :wink:

...Sherapop:By the way, Apicius, on an unrelated note:I've been thinking about posting a text at the salon de parfum called "Are Perfumistas Like Porn Addicts?"I was afraid that I might offend someone, but now that you've broken the ice, I might be able to muster up the confidence to do it! Of course, by posting the word 'porn' at my blog, my lascivious visitors will skyrocket. I already have scores of people visiting in search of "group orgy" and "prostitutes". Imagine what the naked word 'porn' would do for my stats! Perhaps before posting the article I should first monetize my blog with a link to a sex toys shop. :lol:Just to make things clear - we will not put the word "porn" on every page at Parfumo, just to increase the hits at Google :)

...Dulcemio:Okay ... WTF?????Cats and dogs are the embodiment of innocence and pureness of spirit. Mentioning them with any connection whatsoever to human sexuality is beyond creepy. Yuck. Maybe I'm not hip enough for this room.And anyone who complains about the joy others take in their pets is just pathetic and sad, don't you think. How sad they must be on the inside.Sorry to have offended you, Dulcelmio, my intention was to give an explanation what might be behind the ongoing misunderstandings.

...(deleted)

...DutchSniffer:Yes you ARE! The longer I stay here, the better it feels. In any case I had never thought the very first thing to discuss would be folding bicyles! :DWell, you started it! :wink:

...Cincy:OK, I am pouting as I make my way to the corner for time out. :oops: Thank you Apicius for keeping us in line. Wondering how long I have to stay in the corner...... :wink:Haha, now you caught me acting link a school principal! Please don't hold it against me, I just wanted to give some advice. :lol:

...DutchSniffer:BTW, somewhere in this thread I saw a remark concerning the repetitiveness of questions. I wondered whether mods here merge threads that are similar? When I used to be a mod, this was an option we used frequently. However.. the stupidity of SEO seems to be that Google will punish that type of behaviour. Forums score best when the same questions pops up 100 times rather than when the same question is just in 1 thread with all similar questions/answers being filed under that thread. Also, whenever you bump a very old thread, this gets punished too.. at least on forums that thrive on Google-based advertisements and deem SEO to be very important. So here you have the conflicting interests of a gazillion boring same threads (with old ones being deleted or closed) versus having everything on the same topic in 1 place. When a thread is opened a second time we usually give the information about the older thread and provide the link. We ask everybody to use the older thread for discussion, and then we close the redundant thread so no further posts are possible.Currently, Parfumo.net is still an insider's tip since Parfumo.net's ranking in the Google perfume searches is not yet satisfying. This community has to grow a little bit more before Parfumo.net gets good rankings but it will eventually happen. Until then, we enjoy being a rather small but growing community where most users know and like each other. We like to attract people who take their perfume hobby seriously, and I think, we are on a good way.

...Parfumo is not Fragrantica, we are new on the scene, so let's start new. I would suggest that any old quarrels and misunderstandings that date back to peoples' activities at other sites should be settled behind the scenes between the respective users.If this is not possible, I would ask the respective persons to ignore each other. This is a good way to ensure that everbody can have a good time here.

...LovingTheAlien:Listing the allergens would be difficult considering how many changes many perfumes have gone through in the past 10 years - especially those available en masse like White Shoulders, Obsession, etc. They seem to have a different formula every year!Probably, you are right.

...LovingTheAlien:I always thought notes were simply a marketing tool and should in no way be misconstrued as a guide to ingredients or development. Rarely do I see cis-3 hexanol or Hydroxyisohexyl 3-Cyclohexene Carboxaldehyde listed as notes although they're in almost every fresh floral perfume ever made, and I don't think a real caramel isolate has ever actually been used in a perfume despite its popularity as a note.I agree. However, the notes pyramid released by the perfume houses is all we have to give some hints. Of course, one can't take them literally.Also, many users would not have any idea what cis-3 hexanol or Hydroxyisohexyl 3-Cyclohexene Carboxaldehyde stands for - including me. After all, most users are no professionals.I once had the idea that we could add the ingrediants list that one can find on the perfume packages, also as a kind of service for people with allergies. Let's see, maybe we can have such a feature in the future.

...Greysolon, if you think about oud, I recommend to have a look at the real thing instead of the synthetics by IFF or Givaudan.For this, you don't have to buy the expensive oils from EnsarOud or the Arab brands. Ajmal has a 30 ml spray perfume for a moderate price: "Dahn Oudh Al Shams", and the even more intense "Dahn Oudh Al Shams Special Edition". I believe they can offer a reasonable price because they apparently have founded their own plantages in India several decades ago.But beware! I have given away samples in order to get reviews on the German Parfumo, and most of the people disliked it. Natural oud can have a kind of mustiness and animalic touch that could remind you of something special. In German, we use the euphemism "gesunde Landluft" for it, which means "healthy country air". Don't be afraid of the farmer's stables!The synthetic oud hype is continuing but nothing worth mentioning, except if you count in the new Divine.

...My "Frankenstein's Raspberry" refers to "Guerrilla 2" which is not a new release but an interesting perfume.The two most remarkable new releases I discovered during the last 6 months to me were Divine's "L'homme Infini" and Acqua di Stresa's "Calycanthus Brumae".I highly recommend ordering the sample packs from Divine and Acqua di Stresa.

...Thank you very much for sharing your experiences, LovingTheAlien!I wonder if you were looking for something like the 19th century conception of Fougère, or something that came later. Wouldn't a portion of coumarin have to be in it as well for the original accord? I think coumarin is different from tonka although it could be extracted from tonka beans.By the way, I opened this discussion on the German forum as well, so please take notice of the posts there. If you use the Google Chrome browser, you can get automatic translation, and it should be roughly comprehensible:http://www.parfumo.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14559

...Thank you so much, Greysolon, for this great feedback, and welcome back!

...Drseid:Apicius:Drseid:Great discussion. Come to think of it I do have samples of the two Crown scents in question and both of them were very rough around the edges as well when I sniffed them (and in truth neither appealed to me but for different reasons than English Fern). That said, while it has been a few years since I sniffed those two samples, they seemed to have a lot more of the fern than I got with "English Fern" and none of the geranium that was all over the place (in my opinion) with the Penhaligon's. Sartorial was a much smoother release that was a lot easier to wear than either of the Crowns, for example. A sample of Fougere Royale is on the way to me that should arrive this week, so it will be interesting to see how English Fern compares to that one as many consider FR a (or even *the*) reference fougere...The modern Fougère Royale can hardly be seen as a Fougère reference, rather as a reference for hiding away the rough side of Fougère. BTW one of the Crowns made me spend a day in hospital - due to an allergic reaction.Sure enough, the modern version of Fougère Royale arrived, and while my first impression on paper is I'll love it, it is definitely different from what I expected (and very much along the lines of what you describe). I have now ordered a sample of the vintage Fougère Royale for comparison, and should have it in a week or two. I am looking forward to sniff what it really smelled like years ago and will do a dual review of the two in the coming month with side-by-side comparisons.That's unbelievable! There are still some vintages around? Please tell us your impressions!