...If this is of any help, taobao (the local online emporium) yilded three more or less credible Shanghai manufacturers that don't look like knockoffs of Western stuff.One is Shanghai Vivi, a luxury cosmetics firm, it produces three varieties of a fragrance called Vive which costs about $100 per 1.7 oz flacon, but it says the fragrance itself is mixed in France.The other one is Hsiang Hai and I only found one perfume by it, simply called Flowers, this one is $2 per oz. And there's something called Voila Paris, apparently the formula was bought off L'Oreal in the 70's. A splash bottle costs about $5.I haven't tried any of them, so can't vouch for quality or anything.

...Gold, you mean Nahema will get the Wasser treatment? UGH!!! Gee, don't you ever get a feeling that you're trying to catch something that's running away much faster than you can ever catch up? So frustrating! :evil:

...Well then, the set it is! Thank you, ladies!I talked to the seller and she seems to be genuinely passionate about perfume. I still can't believe I stumbled upon this shop. It was quite serendipitous actually, I had just called off my order of Bandit and Cuir de Lancome that was already paid for but one of them turned out to be unavailable, and I was waiting for the money to make its way back to my account and browsing unsuspectingly when suddenly I saw this alibaba's cave of wonders! I guess Bandit will have to wait until later. It's the new version anyway, hopefully not going anywhere for a while.As for Mitsouko, all I ever tried so far is the new EdT from 2005 I think, and unfortunately I can't wear it at all. Maybe it was stored badly or it's just a bad batch, I heard there were a couple of extremely unfortunate batches in the recent years... Anyway, it has a huge oily note in it that gives me gag reflex big time, I can literally feel the oil in my throat. I feel so sad for that unloved bottle of mine... I'll share my impressions of the older Mitsouko as soon as this baby is mine! Shouldn't take long since the seller is in the same city.

...I can't really be of any help here, sorry. All I've met aside from the usual Sephora wares, are extremely cheap chemical nothings in tacky flacons. The Liushen floral waters mentioned above are just that - functional floral waters with little to no staying power and no scent development whatsoever. This probably has to do with economics more than anything, even perfumes that we consider drugstore are way beyond what average Chinese can afford to spend on something so unnecessary. Thus there's little hope that making quality perfumes with good ingredients will be interesting to anyone here anytime soon, if ever.

...So I'm at it again. I still haven't bought that bottle of Bandit and I've been distracted by these two beauties in the pictures.Unfortunately I can't date them since access to all the blogs with any info on that is restricted in my neck of the woods. But even if I could I'd still have no idea which is preferable (the parfum kinda tips the scale in favor of the set for me, but who knows???)I'm counting on you, my pretties, to help me decide, as usual.

...Flaconneur, I notice that Parfumo member ChapeauClack lives in China. Perhaps you could send her a message? It seems that cultures like Japan and China are less fragrance-centric than places like, say...

...I notice that Parfumo member ChapeauClack lives in China. Perhaps you could send her a message? It seems that cultures like Japan and China are less fragrance-centric than places like, say...

...I believe there are some people here who own the Collection version of Cuir de Lancome.Please, what does the batch code on the bottom of the box look like? Would be even better if you could attach a picture of the bottom of your box.

...Thanks, Epimedes!

...ChapeauClack:Wow, thanks for the warning, Gold!You're welcome, ChapeauClack!!!! (LOVERS of Bandit, UNITE...

...Wow, thanks for the warning, Gold!

...So I was thinkin' what to give myself for birthday, browsing perfume shops etc, and I stumbled upon an individual selling 2nd hand vintage fragrances. Her wares look legit as far as I can tell, and the five bottles she's apparently sold to date all garnered 5* ratings from buyers. Now to the point. She has a bottle of Bandit there, allegedly 95% full and not exactly in mint condition. The version she's selling would've looked like the one in the pic, had it not been missing half of its front label. She claims it's the vintage EdT. Three things look suspicious to me. First, she only wants about USD 75 for the 3.3 oz, whereas I saw the same bottle priced three times as much elsewhere(that other one is NIB though). Secondly, the spray nozzle looks dodgy. The seller specifies it as one of the flaws in her ad, but it still looks like it's been ripped out and then slapped back on (see pic with windowsill). And three... well, this is China after all, and sorry as I am for putting this so bluntly, fakes galore await at every corner. On the bright side - and this is where my husband laughed out loud as if it weren't a sign of a true perfumista, this seller very cutely admits to loving Jolie Madame best of the green leather genre and wanting to just find a good home for her Bandit. Me, I've only ever seen and smelled the modern EdP of Bandit. How does this EdT compare to it? Is it even vintage? Does 75 bucks for 3.3 oz look too good to be true or is 200 on the other site a rip-off? Also, please look closely at the pic with the windowsill, it's possible to make out the level of liquid inside, are Bandit bottles normally filled all the way (there's supposedly about 95 ml in this bottle)? Or does it look a bit too full? And finally, what do you think of the sprayer? Is it possible that it had been removed at some point or are these bottles prone to crooked sprays?Any and every comment will be greatly appreciated :)

...I'm enjoying the cooler days immensely. Pulled out of summer hiatus are:31 Rue CambonOpium (vintage EdT)and all my precious leather chypres! Ohhh the marvel and adoration!! I think I'm going to wear Bandit tomorrow.

...ChapeauClack:I get the feeling we'll soon hear about many discontinuations.This never worried me since all the L'Artisan fragrances I tend to become attached to...

...ChapeauClack:I get the feeling we'll soon hear about many discontinuations.This never worried me since all the L'Artisan fragrances I tend to become attached to...

...ChapeauClack:A friend just alerted me to a disturbing tendency. First L'Artisan had a huge sale on their site...I just looked at L'Artisan's site and don't see... alerted me to a disturbing tendency. First L'Artisan had a huge sale on their site...I just looked at L'Artisan's site and don't see such a sale, ChapeauClack. This "sale" might be regional to you since I am looking at the North American site...

...I suppose I could write to them and ask them directly. Chances are they'll never tell the truth though, you know how Perfume Houses are!I looked over their website and the new collection is there alright, but what's left of the old stuff isn't very convincing, half the fragrances are not there and some are marked "unavailable".Also, a friend of mine tried to order some of their older perfumes directly from the website and got a letter from them where they said they couldn't fill her order "due to the many difficulties". According to the letter one particular perfume she had wanted was "all sold out during the recent big sale".I get the feeling we'll soon hear about many discontinuations.

...A friend just alerted me to a disturbing tendency. First L'Artisan had a huge sale on their site, then it turns out many upscale department stores are running out of their fragrances and not restocking, and finally at least one of the big wholesale suppliers to online retailers "stopped carrying the brand".Does anyone know what's going on? Is there a mass reformulation in order, or maybe a corporation takeover, or are they just folding?I'm in panic, I have so many of their frags on my wish list and even more that I haven't tried!

...Cincy, walking is the best workout ever, or at least the only kind that I honestly enjoy. Deb... that´s just hilarious, sorry! I can´t stop laughing. (My dog used to roll in little dead things in the woods, so I feel for you. It's still too damn funny though.)

...Naaah, I wouldn't even get into it with my hubby, he's one of those geeks with a scientifically based gym routine :shock:I could use a good enabling workout buddy though.