Thursday, November 18, 2010

Discontinued Perfumes - A (Very) Partial Guide


It's this time again- the questions about what exactly is no longer available have been piling up, so I thought putting everything into one updated list might be a good idea. In no particular order other than the notes I've been keeping:

Serge Lutrens
There were many rumors, denials and corrections. I've seen with my own eyes things constantly change on the Lutens website. As of November 2010 out of the four perfumes that were first rumored to be discontinued and then to only be withdrawn from the export line to become Salon exclusives (meaning not available in the USA), three are back in the rectangular spray bottles- Douce Amere, Santal Blanc and Chypre Rouge. They can even be ordered directly from sergelutens.com to the USA. The one perfume that has been withdrawn from the export range is Miel de Bois. Is this final? Who knows. Uncle Serge can't give a straight answer even when you ask him what time it is. Right now, Miel du Bois is available in Europe as an exclusive bell jar and you can order it online, but browsing the site I've found a second list of the non-exports that does not include MdB, which might mean doom (and I'm saving screen shots, so when things shift again I'd know I'm not crazy).

Tom Ford Private BlendFour perfumes have been discontinued: Bois Rouge, Purple Patchouli, Moss Breches, Velvet Gardenia.

Yves Saint Laurent
While just about everything seems to be unrecognizably reformulated, the only ones that have been discontinued are Y and Nu.

Miller Harris
The parfum concentration of Fleur Oriental is no more. everything else is intact and available.

L'Artisan
Dzing!, Ananas Fizz and Vanilia were discontinued.

JAR
Shadow. Blame IFRA.

Lancome
The entire La Collection was discontinued. They should have also killed Magie Noire instead of letting it (and us) suffer the current formula.

Paco Rabanne
La Nuit and Calandre are goners. I doubt anything left there smells anything like it used to.

There are many more, of course, these are just the ones I've been asked about most recently/more often. Generally speaking, when you're trying to find the fate of a favorite perfume your best source is the company itself- either through their website or contact them directly. Don't rely on SAs at your local mall who usually only know what their own store carries and to them everything else is "discontinued". Also, please remember that rumors on various message boards are not gospel.

If you have questions or additions, please comment.

No comments:

Post a Comment