50 years ago, my favourite was Ma Griffe by Carven. It turned out that most of my female relatives also loved it. I see that it is still available on Ebay, mainly in tiny sizes. Iwon't be tempted as I have moved on. Liz Earle's fragrances are lovely, but not long-lasting. Aldi's scents are very passable imitations of Jo Malone's. Their Lime, Basil and Mandarin candle is excellent.
i loved my grans lily of the valley perfume, then at 17 i started working in a chemist type shop (without the prescriptions) i tried tweed, panache, coty l'aimant and charlie blue, these are still the only perfumes i wear each day but it is now charlie red. if you are near a poundland try some of there perfumes, they are all copies of the expensive ones like daisy, flowerbomb and black opium.
To the posters that suspect their favourite scents have been changed -- they have almost certainly had to do so due to EU regs banning certain substances, not always because they are derived from animals but also due to causing allergic reactions in some people. But the perfume houses almost always deny they have reformulated anything. You could try looking on eBay in their vintage and collectible perfume sections but beware, unless the bottle for sale is reasonably full and the seller has stored it reasonably well it may not smell the same as you remember anyway. My favourite, Eau de Camille by Annick Goutal has been discontinued for nearly 10 years now and bottles do come up for sale on eBay occasionally (at outrageous prices) but I am quite wary of them, for the above reasons.
When I was a teen Rive Gauche and Stevie B were favourites. Later I loved Chloe by Lagerfeld - it disappeared and I found it again a few years ago but it smelled very different. Still have the almost unused bottle, I think I only wore it once.
My all-time favourite is Jicky by Geurlain, not that easy to find, I got a bottle in a department store in Bath the last time I was in the UK. I wish I could remember the name of the site which offers mail order of hard to find perfumes. But ebay is a good place to look, and you can often find small bottles of the really expensive ones to try. A lot of perfume houses seem to have stopped making the full range in a perfume, like soap, lotion, and body powder. I love expensive luxury soap !
As a teenager I always wore Stevie B By Max Factor, I loved it, I did see some for sale on Etsy but it was an opened bottle & I guess it was well passed it’s best. Prior to discovering Stevie B I wore Sea Jade by Yardley & was also fond of Cachet.
My first real perfume was Mary Quants Havoc...I said I'd wear it for the whole of my life... then they discontinued it...I began to panic thinking my life was going to be a lot shorter than I thought...I then found 3 bottles at perfume sale at the hospital I worked at....I eeked them out until I was down to the last half bottle when with my 17 year old words rattling in my ears about wearing it forever I happened to think about eBay...and hey presto it's still available in India....I started to get low again recently and mentioned to my DOH about my life long vow and a week later 3 more bottles arrived... Nice to know he is trying to make sure I'm around for a while to come.
Since my favourite Elysian by Clarins was discontinued about twenty years ago I can’t find anything that I really like so I don’t bother. I recently bought online a rather pleasant floral lavender/vetiver scent by a company called Jeanne en Provence, 100 ml for a tenner but only wear it when I remember. I was also seduced once by a Gransnetter to buy a sample set of ten perfumes by Escentric Molecules. Sadly I only like No 5 but others might love them. They are quite powerful so that’s perhaps why I’m not keen. I should pass them on to my granddaughters before they lose their freshness.
I don't know if it's changed or I've changed but Chanel 5° is nothing like it was a few years ago. It just smells like a generic mid range scent rather than that warm sandalwood and amber I remember.
I loved Revlon's Intimate. There’s a copy online which is horrible. Gardenia by Goya, incredibly accurate. Finally, cheap and cheerful Californian Poppy!
Thinking of perfumes I used as a young woman reminds me of the freedom and lack of responsibility I had then. I used to love Yardley's Sea spray, and Halston.