SAMSARA by Guerlain: a guide.

A comprehensive guide to all Samsara fragrances, from rare vintage  to modern releases, including the history of each period, boxes, bottles, labels, and expert tips to help you identify the legendary Guerlain perfume with confidence.

Hello!
This is my first solo post at "Raiders of the Lost Scent" and the first chapter of a small bunch of fragrances that changed my life. 
I'd like to start with one of my favourite scents since I was a teen: "Samsara" by Guerlain, one of the most spectacular exhibitions of Jasmine and Sandalwood ever created: in my opinion, it's a scent near perfection, and it was an instant love.

How to recognize CARON perfumes and OLD batch codes.

(In this post we will explain how to decode the batchcodes of Caron perfumes, over the years)

Dear Sirs,
we are a couple of avid scent collectors, and we stumbled upon your magnificent blog. What a surprise to be able to "decode" so many perfumes at last! 
However, we noticed a big void: Perfumes CARON.
Hence here's a short guide for dating most CARON fragrances from 1965 to 2015. Please note this has to be intended as a tribute to Caron, one of the finest perfume brands ever created, and not for commercial purpose. Caron suffered many highs and downs during its history, but succeeded in maintaining an high standard of quality. Many Carons are really masterpiece of perfumery.
Unfortunately, the huge amount of different boxes and bottles produced for the same scent make the "dating" a bit difficult. Just as an example, more than fifteen different boxes/bottles of "Infini de Caron" were produced! Put simply, you can't rely on shape of the bottle (or textures on the boxes) only.
Here you will learn how to "decode" the batchcodes: not so easy at first sight, but you will soon understand the "pattern". A lot of tutorial pics will help you.
Anyway, please keep this guide free, and without commercial purposes.
Sincerely,
Alessandro C.
Gisella B.

Yesterday and Today: "La Nuit de L'Homme" EdT, comparation test.

A guide to YSL La Nuit de l'Homme -from vintage formula to modern one- covering batch codes, boxes, bottles, labels, and all the details you need to identify La Nuit de l'Homme.

Introduction

Hi there! 
This is my first post, here at "Raiders of the Lost Scent". A few months ago I wrote a brief note about "fragrance formulas" reported on the boxes in all Dior perfumes, suggesting them as a method for detecting reformulations (see here). Surprisingly, that post gained a lot of resonance among perfume enthusiasts (you can find discussions and even Youtube videos explaining formulas written on the box, codes, "secret numbers".....).   
Following this track, I accepted to make a funny, similar work, with another acclaimed male scent: La Nuit de l'Homme EdT, by Yves Saint Laurent, performing tests, then checking "formulas" on the boxes and discussing the results. 
Yves Saint Laurent has actually been using "formulas" for a long time, and every YSL scent (EdP, EdT, AfterShave) has its own "formula" at the end of the ingredient listed on the box.

GUERLAIN Stickers.

A complete guide to Guerlain "stickers"—from early ones to modern batch codes—covering historical periods, boxes, bottles, labels, and all the details you need to identify Guerlain fragrances.

Introduction

"Dears,
Elena and I were very thrilled listening your idea about dating old Guerlain perfumes relying on stickers only, and we checked our old family archives to find out some useful infos identifying all subtle differences you mentioned. It was amusing, a sort of jigsaw puzzle game, and we found some interesting things. It is not 100% accurate, of course, but it could be useful when you have to rely on stickers only, without any further clue (box, codes...). 
We hope this can helps. 

Yours, 

Elena and Vincenzo"

(All pictures were sent from friends around the web, and were purposedly placed side-by-side to the text: if some copyright infringement occurred, please let us know)