Anytime I run across a vintage bottle of perfume at a second-hand store, I snap it up. I have enough to last the rest of my days but I’m currently indulging in my vintage stock of Charles of the Ritz Jean Nate. A soak with bath salts, a splash of friction pour le bain, a dusting of silky body powder, and finally a spritz of cologne. It smells great and makes me feel happy!
“Jean Nate”, boy does that take me back. That’s a wonderful, refreshing scent, just made for layering, and it beats by a long shot any of the “sugar water” scents now en vogue. You wouldn’t believe the prices perfumes like Jean Nate, even the original Love’s Baby Soft scents (as opposed to a recent reformulation) bring! And the Houbigant “Ambergris” and “Civet”. Real civet has been on the banned list even before the EU regulations, and now even ambergris (which is only “cured” whale vomit, from their eating cuttlefish, is limited. That one makes no sense at all, as no whales are harmed in gathering it, it’s just whale vomit which washes up or gathered at sea, allowed to “cure”. That’s one reason why I think that the huge synthetic molecule firms have something to do with this, the perfumers are forced to use the synthetic molecule substitute instead of the organic material.