SMF

I'll drink to that.

Interesting that a quick scan for Taylor of Old Bond Street lavender water shows it out of stock on five or six sites. Still looking, but beginning to get worried. Perhaps I will stick with Caron Pour Un Homme.

Emailed Taylor of Old Bond Street directly and they have it. So guess it is not discontinued. Just must not be much U.S. demand.

John, that raises a question of availability. I presume the "water" is considered in the same blanket shipping taboo, from UK to USA. If that's correct, then I'm wondering if any of the North American retailers have it, or whether maybe it is simply not offered for sale on this side of the big pond.

Gary, I did not ask Taylor of Old Bond about shipping to the U.S.; they simply responded that they had it in stock. However, U.S. vendors have other TOBS colognes in stock, so don't think shipping is the answer to nonavailability.

bernards66 wrote:Squire,
I'm sorry but Sam's ex was hopeless when it came to gentlemen's scents. His current GF seems more discerning and appreciative ( chuckle ). As I've said here before I've had women from their 20s up to my own age compliment me on both English Fern and Spanish Leather so to hell with all this 'old man scent' bullshit.
Regards,
Gordon

Amen.

Taylor Lavender water on clearance sale at Connaught UK. Ships to US at special shipping arrangement. Cost - BPS 1.00; Shipping BPS 100. Total price US $153.00.
in stock at QED-USA for $32.50 + $10.95 shipping USA.

Thanks, Gary! Did not think of QED.

Inspired by this thread I decided to try Cella and I'm glad I did. It's really good stuff. Too bad about the malfunctioning caps, though. I ordered two bottles and both had leaked. Not much but still. I've had this happen on two occasions before. Both times it was Taylor's Victorian Lime, faulty caps there as well.

Janus,

So glad you enjoyed it. It really is a very classic lavender water.

Regarding the flimsey cap situation: all it would take to fix it is a bottle stopper like the one Musgo Real uses on it's aftershave. If used you could ship anywhere in the world with no problems. I bet the cost for such a bottle stopper would be infinitesimally small too. Cella could probably absorb it with nary a dent in it's profit or even add a few pennies to the price of the bottle to cover such cost. It's a shame they don't do it because they could probably double their sales in a short time once folks got wind of this stuff.

Chris

I'd very much like to get some of that Cella but it doesn't seem likely to be available in the US. Maybe I'll try and pick up a bottle next time I'm in Europe. In the mean time in order to augment my last 100 ML of Atkinsons, I have tried several routes:

1. A decant of Houbigant Lavande 90 since this seems to show up quite frequently in large bottles. Way too much going on - lots of notes in addition to lavender. Glad I didn't buy 250 ML of this.
2. An NIB bottle of vintage Yardley EL. Quite disappointing, very rough and pungent. Maybe it was a dud, maybe the old stuff really wasn't that good. I don't know. It went down the drain.
3. A blind buy of "Jean D'Albret Lavande" on ebay. This seems to be quite similar to the old Atkinsons so I bought a second bottle. A pretty straight lavender, you can douse it without any problem. It's fairly short lived as you would expect. I've posted a link below since the vendor has more (mods please delete if this violates terms of use). I've bought from this vendor before and they seem willing to talk about price.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/221675794594?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT

blantyre wrote: 2. An NIB bottle of vintage Yardley EL. Quite disappointing, very rough and pungent. Maybe it was a dud, maybe the old stuff really wasn't that good. I don't know. It went down the drain.

Rick, can you recall what color was the Yardley aftershave? was it clear or yellowish? If it was yellowish then, yes, it skunked. It's a clear sign that it's oxidized or gone foul in whatever way lavender goes foul.

If it was clear I would be very surprised you didn't find it crisp and clean. I've had several bottles that were clear and they were always fresh, crisp, and clean. To me it seems that clear indicates that it's not oxidized and has been kept sealed.

Chris

It was yellow - like a well aged Sauternes. Glad I ditched it!

Rick, if you want to try Cella and you're willing to take your chances with the leakage issue, there are European online vendors who will ship worldwide.

http://www.giftsandcare.com/en/

http://www.barbieredifigaro.nl/en/

Bourbon French in New Orleans has a lavendar scent

Thanks, Sam. I emailed them for details.

Thanks again, Sam! I emailed them last night and received a response today volunteering samples of a French and an English lavender! Wow! What nice folks!

Squire had suggested their scents years ago and I was able to actual go to their shop in the French Quarter this past weekend and smell them. Reasonably priced too

Did you smell the lavender fragrances? How were they? At the moment I am primarily looking for an aftershave splash. I mentioned to them that I would like some idea of the differences between French and English lavenders, seeing they only had French listed on their site, but the rep said she would send a sample of both French and English. So guess they have English hidden away somewhere. We shall see.

John Parker wrote:Did you smell the lavender fragrances? How were they? At the moment I am primarily looking for an aftershave splash. I mentioned to them that I would like some idea of the differences between French and English lavenders, seeing they only had French listed on their site, but the rep said she would send a sample of both French and English. So guess they have English hidden away somewhere. We shall see.

John, I'll be interested in your thoughts on these.

Chris