I don't think Fahrenheit is dated but from what I understand it has been reformulated over and over until it barely resembles its original version. It's still quite interesting but it has a headachey synthetic quality. They just put out "Aqua Fahrenheit," which I haven't tried and which promises to neuter the few remaining interesting parts of the scent.

When I was about twelve years old I was involved in a secret santa present-swap at the stable where I rode. I got a set of English Leather aftershave and cologne, in plastic bottles (probably bought at a gas station). I hated it. When I was in high school I wore Joop! and the few other guys who wore cologne chose bland things from Abercrombie or the Gap, or sports scents.

Joop! was an interesting scent though definitely not suitable for anyone over about 19 - extremely sweet, like cotton candy, and punishingly powerful and long-lasting. In my parents' house there's a drawer of my old sweaters that has been left untouched since about 1998 and it still emits a heady reek of Joop!.

It does seem that for a while, at least with women's fragrances, everything had either sweet, vanilla, or ester notes. These appealed more to the urge to eat dessert than the more abstract pleasures of olfaction.

Z-14 is certainly worth a shot since it's less than $20 a bottle now. I found it extremely cough-droppy, but I have the felling that the formula has been debased.

From what I've read (mostly Luca Turin) it nearly always comes down to cost reduction. In some cases its a combination of rarity and cost reduction, like with real sandalwood, which is still available but extremely expensive. Sometimes it's legislation - the EU recently outlawed oakmoss as a perfume ingredient, for instance. The change is almost never positive, but it's also not quite as bad as, say, people on Basenotes make it out to be. Antaeus was supposedly reformulated several times but it's still an amazing scent. Cool Water, on the other hand, has been reformulated into something quite sour and unappealing.

John Bodenham of Floris told me that it is a job in itself to keep up with the banning of natural ingredients.

Lorenzo Villoresi is a Florence based producer of perfumes and offers a bespoke service for all the special snowflakes in this world with money to burn. Last week I was introduced to some of his products and although they seem to be quite the opposite to my preference I rather enjoyed them.

Sandalo: The name doesn´t derive from the scent of the usual german footwear during summer but from sandalwood. Long lasting with a lot of herbal and lavender subnotes.

Alamut: OK, if you really want to keep the little sauna-sessions with your reverend satisfying or perhaps you want to meet your favourite republican congressman at an airport restroom, try this one: floral, feminine, long lasting, complex and voluptuous. After a while it will turn really powdery and fruity. The term “oriental” was invented specifically for this scent.

Uomo: Cytrus and herbal notes dominate with rosewood, sandalwood and orange pointing out, a fragrance that stays complex through a whole night with a wooden basso continuo. A scent I enjoyed and the only one I ordered.

All of these fragrances are complex, long lasting, oily and oriental, the gay scene is crazy about them. From what I have read here they will not find a lot of approval in these holy halls. Definitely something for going out in the evening, but then I will always say that about perfumes because that is the only occasion I wear them.

Gil - your thoughts on Bvgalri Blue?

Also, do you think Kouros is worth purchasing?

Also, good call on the Perfumed Court.  Great way to try fragances in small amounts/$$ before you "invest."