Two birds, one stone

When you start reading (more) about perfume you sooner or later come across things like "they don't make it like they used to" or "they stopped making it". Example of the first: Dior Homme sport from 2008 is different from Dior Homme Sport from 2012. It's not just the bottle and its packaging, it's the composition AKA formula. Result? It smells different. Too bad if you like the old one and not the new one. Example of the second: Dior Jules. Discontinued to make place for something much more docile no doubt. Now very difficult to find, much to the dismay of its lovers. I've read Dior is making it again by popular demand but so far nobody is selling the new stuff. You can find Jules on the Dior website though. Go figure.

If you don't like the new stuff and/or can't live without it there's only one thing left to do: search for a vintage bottle. Chain stores and department stores usually don't have the old stuff for long once it has been discontinued. Sources for vintage stuff are small(er) perfume shops and eBay.

I really like Eau Sauvage and have read a lot about that the current stuff isn't like the old stuff. IFRA restrictions on the use of oak moss are to blame. According to Luca Turin the term sauvage doesn't apply to the current formulation. Having only smelled the current formulation I was curious as to how the old Eau Sauvage smelled. I wanted a vintage bottle of Eau Sauvage and preferably a 200 ml one. I got my first bit of luck when I found two bottles of Eau Sauvage 100% Glaçon in a Portugese webshop. They now live with me. Eau Sauvage 100% Glaçon is supposed to smell like good old Eau Sauvage with some menthol thrown in for good measure. Eau Sauvage 100% Glaçon smells great and while there are many similarities with the current formulation of Eau Sauvage it doesn't smell quite the same. Oak moss perhaps?
The smell of Eau Sauvage reminds me of my youth, I'm sure a family member must have worn it. Not my father, as he positively detests fragrances. Well, he did back then, I'm sure he still does.
Scouring eBay and other such sites I finally found a vintage bottle of Eau Sauvage. The brown marbled box still in its foil wrap. The price for the 200 ml bottle was very reasonable and shipping from Germany wasn't too expensive either. Needless to say I bought it. It got here last week. What does it smell like? There's a striking resemblance between vintage Eau Sauvage and  Eau Sauvage 100% Glaçon. They are not at all that different IMO. Comparing the current formulation to both older Eau Sauvages what strikes me is that the current formulation is very bright and clean. The two vintages are less bright and also not as clean. Not dirty either but a bit warm and cosy, more depth. I love it. Does it smell dated? Not to my nose, but YMMV. I much prefer it to all those sweet candy scents that are so popular these days.

Targeted Ads

I just read this bit on Gizmodo: http://gizmodo.com/5989550/how-to-opt-out-of-facebooks-new-targeted-ads
Facebook is going to "enhance" the ad experience for users, and companies will be able to display advertisements to Facebook users based on data that these data brokers have on individuals.


The article then goes on detailing how to opt out of aforementioned targeted ads. Cool, kudos to Gizmodo for the how-to guide. But there are better ways of surfing the web ad-free. Years ago I ran a small freeware application called WebWasher to get rid of ads. Major pain in the ass was you had to do a constant maintenance to remain ad-free. It also worked only on the PC it was installed onto. With more PCs you had to do more maintenance. Nowadays you can install ad-block as a browser extension. However this too only works on one PC. For the household with multiple devices like smart phones, tablets & PCs you need a solution for the entire network. I ran an ad-block script on my WRT54GL for a while. Though it did its job the internal memory of the WRT54GL wasn't large enough to really do a proper job. Enter the Netgear WNDR3700v2 that I now have. It has a faster CPU and enough memory to do the job properly. I installed DD-WRT onto it and followed the guide here. What does it do when activated? The router now maintains a (self-updating) list of blacklisted servers responsible for serving up ads to you. It also runs a small webserver (pixelserv) with a single simple job, to serve up a transparent GIF image with a size of 1x1 pixel. If a webpage requests something from one the blacklisted servers, pixelserv serves up the 1x1 pixel GIF file. The webpage thinks it got the requested image from the adserver, while you are looking at a 1x1 transparent GIF image. Resulting in a near ad-free surfing experience. Once in a while an ad comes through because it isn't on the blacklist, yet. You can either wait for the offending server do be added to the blacklist or add it yourself.
Want to try it? See if your router is capable of running DD-WRT, if so install DD-WRT and the script. Good luck.

Oh and Facebook? I don't do no stinkin' Facebook.

John Varvatos - Artisan

I bought this as a birthday present for myself. It was gonna be either this or Thierry Mugler's Cologne. Mugler's Cologne is kinda nice, it got four stars in Turin & Sanchez'The Guide. But it's a bit weird IMO, not weird in bad way though. Perhaps I'll buy it at a later time. Lets just say I liked Artisan better. 

Artisan comes in what is an unorthodox but at the same time wonderful bottle. Kudos to its designer Jon Cisler who won awards for his bottle and package design and deservedly so. The bottle is covered in hand-woven rattan making each bottle unique. Youtube fragrance guru Marc (robes08) didn't like the fragrance very much (clearly we have different tastes in fragrance, he's not fond of Eau Sauvage, but I am) but wondered where these bottles were made and hoped it wasn't made by small hands. Let's hope John Varvatos run their Artisan fragrances line responsibly, which I assume is the case until proven otherwise.

Artisan is a refreshing citrus-spicy ginger-herbal-floral scent that feels right at home in the spring, summer and early autumn. To me this one has summer holiday written all over it. If you're into citrus fragrances try it, it's nice. Longevity isn't the greatest but that's something all citrus fragrances suffer from, except perhaps Monsieur Balmain.

Specs

I broke my Albert J frame. Don't ask... It snapped in half in the nose bridge. I tried gluing it but that didn't work out. Both pieces wouldn't stick together. I gave up on gluing and ordered a new frame, the exact same one. The idea being me (or my optician to be precise) transferring the lenses to the new frame. New frame, old lenses. Done. So I ordered a new frame online. A day later I googled to see how you could fix a broken acetate frame. Lo and behold, there's a video on YouTube showing you how. It just takes some acetone and a bit of patience. FYI, acetone doesn't glue but it dissolves acetate. Using the video I was able to get my frame fixed. Uh oh, I just ordered a new frame and the repair job I did turned out pretty good if I say so myself. Ah well. After the weekend it turned out my Albert J frame has been discontinued. Damn, well not quite but that's what I emailed back to the shop when they let me know it. Got my money refunded and all's well again. No money spent and my specs back in one piece.

However, a new frame stuck in mind so in the end I ordered a new frame. Not an expensive one like my Albert J but a Persol that was actually pretty cheap in comparison. Less than half the Albert J. Found it in a French webshop, currently en route to me.

Eau Sauvage 100% Glaçon - Ice Ice Baby

"In 2001 the latest version of Christian Dior Eau Sauvage 100% Glaçon was launched to the wide public flashed with the classic notes of Eau Sauvage, but with stronger and more expressive perception. The bottle design was not changed to show adherence to good traditions."

I bought this one online for a ridiculously small amount of money. Eau Sauvage 100% Glaçon was released in 2001 as a fresher and cooler Eau Sauvage flanker. 100% Glaçon is not part of Dior's Eau Sauvage line up anymore, it was a limited edition. There's surprisingly little information about this flanker to be found online. There are no half decent product pictures anywhere. It's almost as if it didn't exist. Basenotes lists it in its database (two positive reviews) and only has a fuzzy picture of bottle and its box (in what appears to be an icy setting), Fragrantica and PerfumeMaster don't list it at all. Parfumo.net lists it but has no product picture (the pictures you can see are mine).
The French glaçon translates to ice cube  in English. Dior chose to call it 100% Cooling Effect for the English speaking markets. The bottle is made from frosted glass to further enhance the ice and cooling effect idea. Looks nice and feels nice in the hand. The bottle is a quite a handful as it's a 200 ml (6.7 oz) one.

How does it smell? Well it opens with a burst of methol and Eau Sauvages usual bitter citrus. The dry down is good old Eau Sauvage as we know it. Lovely. However I detect a small difference in the drydown between this one and my 2012 regular Eau Sauvage. Could it be the oakmoss that the current Eau Sauvage no longer has in its formula?


Update
I bought the last bottle available at Anage Perfumarias too... I couldn't resist it, not for that amount. The one right now on eBay must fetch €99, add €9 to that for shipping. A regular 200 ml bottle of Eau Sauvage costs ~€105 in shops. These two discounted bottles they must have had in stock since 2001, for only €55 per 200 ml bottle including shipping from Portugal, are a bargain in my book.