Today I bought back-up bottles of my two favorites, Grey Flannel and Kouros. I was running low on both, and decided it was worth it to purchase follow-ups.
I went to Marshalls for Grey Flannel, as I've seen it there countless times and figured they'd have at least one bottle available. Sure enough, they just restocked a bunch of 4 ounce bottles, the ones that come in the box that says "eau de toilette spray vaporisateur." I grabbed one and went on my merry way.
When I opened it a few minutes later, I was confused. Immediately, something didn't look right. Naturally I hadn't brought my current bottle with me to compare, but I could tell that the new juice was a totally different color - in fact, it was clear. My older bottle is of the same color glass, but holds a slightly greenish fluid, which darkens the bottle when it's full. With some trepidation, I gave the new bottle a spritz on the back of my hand.
Wow, what a massive anise note, mixed with naked alcohol. Gradually the oakmoss steps in and balances the anise a bit, but where are all the dense violets and that cool violet leaf that I love so much?
Thirty minutes later, the drydown introduces the violet leaf, with a hit of metallic sweetness to it. At this stage I recognize the scent a lot better than I did initially.
So I went home and compared. I was right, the older bottle has a darker perfume in it, and the label is different, too. Instead of announcing that it has an atomizer, the older bottle simply says "eau de toilette." Aside from the coloring and label differences, the two bottles are identical.
I did a sniff test next. There was a lump in my throat because I expected the new to smell inferior to the old, and blatantly different. First I applied them to paper, and shockingly, they smelled identical. Both had a strong anise note! Why hadn't I noticed this before?
Then came the skin test. This was a little more revealing, although not as much as I had thought. I put the current stuff on my left hand, and the new stuff on my right. Both had an anisic, alcoholic opening. Again, very surprising. However, as they dried, I notice the juice on my left is slightly, almost imperceptibly deeper in its mossy tonality than the new juice. The new stuff is the same, but the violet note - not the violet leaf - has been shaved just a hair. The anise note in the new juice is definitely clearer, sharper than the old. These are the only differences I can see, and are negligible at best.
I took the new purchase to Villa Fleur, a brick and mortar shop in Hamden on Dixwell Avenue. I know the guy there because I've purchased from him several times, and figured he could help me make heads or tails out of this situation. I know, this is what I do with my Saturday off.
He took one look at the box from Marshalls and said, "Oh, that's really old. I haven't seen a box like that for Grey Flannel in many years."
I begged to differ. "I've been seeing these boxes all over the place, and this one is made by EA Fragrances, so it can't be that old."
"EA has been making Grey Flannel for a long time," he replied. "No, this is old. Usually you only see the flannel sack, or a box for smaller bottles."
"What about the color?" I showed him the clear juice in front of a light.
"Old stock," he said. "These things sit in warehouses, and they get auctioned at ten cents to the dollar to places like Marshalls and T.J. Maxx."
Again, I begged to differ. Why had I decided to ask this guy? He's the same person who tried to sell me a bottle of Green Frich Tweed, assured me that he bought his Creed stock from Creed itself, and explained that they spelled the fragrance with the "Frich" only for Christmas time.
"Well," I said, humoring him, "I guess that must be it." Damned if I've ever heard of perfume becoming paler with age. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the opposite usually happen, particularly with these older, mossier woody scents that contain oakmoss?
Fortunately, both the older bottle and the newer bottle have labels that list the exact same ingredients, in the exact same order. So according to the two packages, the formula is the same. Still, I can't help but feel that the "anise alcohol" listed for Grey Flannel is far more prominent in the new bottle. My only guess as to why this would be is that there has been a slight modification to the dying of the juice, and the boxed bottle features a dreaded "batch variation." I thought batch variations only existed in the world of Creed.
And then there's Kouros.
While at Villa Fleur, I decided to grab a 3.3 ouncer of Kouros. Villa Fleur's prices are usually exorbitant, but the pricing on Kouros was more than fair. The box looked legitimate (I'm sometimes uncomfortable buying more popular scents from this vendor after my encounter with the counterfeit Creed), and summer approaches, so no time to waste.
When I got home, I opened the box, and this time there was no doubt about it - the bottle had changed. A picture is worth a thousand words, so I've included one here showing my current Kouros on the left, and the new bottle on the right:
For cost-cutting reasons they removed the metal trim from the bottle (but inexplicably, not from the atomizer), and for aesthetic reasons changed the font from a blueish grey to an exact grey. The Kouros font is also a little thinner on the new bottle.
How does the juice smell? My current bottle has a gorgeous musky citrus opening, with a massive wallop of civet. The new bottle has a very nice but noticeably muted citrus opening, with a little less musk and a lot less civet. Both ingredients are still present, but dialed back a notch or two. The movements into the middle and far drydowns of both scents are identical.
Another reformulation that has the packaging slightly different, and the juice a tiny bit different as well. There's no one to ask about this, but with Kouros, the density of the scent makes differences totally unnoticeable to anyone other than a freak like me. Still, it's worrisome, because you never know what you're in for when you purchase what should be a familiar product.
Why, I ask? Why?