Ode to a discontinued perfume

There is nothing so heart breaking as falling in love with a fragrance, getting to the end of the bottle, going to the shops to buy a new one and discovering that it has either been discontinued or was actually a limited edition that is no longer available. Trust me, I speak from bitter experience. Here is my sorry tale.

Many years ago, 1999 in fact, I was indulging myself with one of my favourite past times....nose shopping at the Boots perfume counter. It was winter time, my favourite time of year. Having perused all the latest releases, I had created my mental list of those that had potential to join my collection and those that came under the heading of 'one that my Mum would like'. The latter being a category reserved for only the most vile of scents*.

Our eyes met across a crowded display of bottles. There she stood, tall and sleek, with a clear glass finish. At the base of the bottle a hole had been carved out and a piece of paper with a nice wise phrase on it, rolled up like a scroll nestled inside the hole. This was my first introduction to Kenzo's most sublime creation 'Time for Peace'. It was love at first sniff.

As I have mentioned before, I have had my fingers burnt by not immediately buying a perfume that I have fallen in love with. I had no intention of making that mistake again. I whipped out my purse and virtually skipped all the way home. This would make a very fine addition to my collection.

Time for Peace, for me holds joint first place in the perfume world with Chanel No.5, Michael by Michael Kors and L'instant by Guerlain. Yes, it is that special. If you have not been lucky enough to smell this heavenly perfume, it is a heady mix of woody, spicy and a very faint hint of sweetness. I associate it with winter, because that's the time of year I fell in love with it, but it's also a very nice summer perfume too. When I am wrapping up Christmas presents, I have a ritual that I follow - Xmas music, Xmas tree lights, glass of something wine and Time for Peace.

Because I fell so spectacularly in love with it, I was very careful of not using it up too quickly, whilst still getting my regular fix. The inevitable happened and the time came for me to buy a new bottle to replenish my stock. I mooched on over to the perfume section in Debenhams, made a beeline for the Kenzo shelves and was then faced with a terrifying sight. No Time for Peace. Not one bottle. I grabbed a passing sales lady and asked her if they had any that were perhaps displayed elsewhere or in their store room. She must have sensed the panic in my voice. She calmly and gently explained that it had been discontinued. She added in what I can only assume she thought was a helpful manner, that if I scoured lots of perfume shops, I might find one that had some stock left.

Now, I'm a reasonable person. I have a reasonable grasp of the business world, but I cannot fathom, even now all these years later, why Kenzo would ever discontinue such a wonderful perfume. Moreover, why hadn't the woman in Boots warned me it was a limited edition?!

Nil desperandum I thought, and I went on an expedition of every single shop in the high street that sold perfume. Every time, I was treated to the same explanation, accompanied with an understanding smile, their head tilted to one side in sympathy.

Once home I frantically switched on my computer and googled the name of my beloved. I finally found a website that still had some stock to sell. Hallelujah!! I got so carried away with the excitement of my find that I didn't even care that they were charging over £70 for it. I eagerly entered my payment details and hit the confirm button. I immediately felt a bit sick at the the thought of paying such a high price. I went upstairs to my perfume collection, took out my empty bottle** and forlornly pressed the spray to try and get the tiny drop at the bottom of the bottle out. It came out as a pathetic dribble, which I rubbed on my wrist. My sickness dissolved as I smelt all the reasons why I had been justified in dusting off my credit card. I fell in love all over again.

Because of the price, I only ordered the one bottle. I savoured every single squirt of that bottle. Halfway through the bottle, I happened to be idly surfing the internet and quite by chance happened upon a website that sold tester bottles of perfume at very reasonable prices. Curiosity got the better of me and I clicked on the Kenzo name. I have to admit my heart began to beat a little faster as I waited for the page to load. My brain was telling me to pack it in as there was no chance it would have TFP and that I was being ridiculous. My heart however, was shouting 'shut up brain, you bloody killjoy, what do you know?!'. The page loaded. I scrolled down through all Kenzo perfumes and there towards the end of the page was TFP for men. My heart sank and my brain smugly said 'told you so'. Then I noticed that there was a second page to the results. I clicked on the number 2 and held my breath.........

TFP FOR WOMEN FULL SIZE BOTTLE £25 AND FREE P&P!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

'WOO HOO AND IN YOUR FACE BRAIN' my heart shouted. By this time, my perfume obsession had made a big dent in my finances and I could no longer fall back on my old friend mastercard, so I could only order the one bottle again. But I still had half of my uber expensive one left, so I was safe for the time being.

It is now 2010, 11 years and 3 bottles since my first encounter with TFP. In preparation for this blog, I googled for TFP. Ebay have a handful of bottles being sold, but the cheapest was £85 plus £25 p&p. I've told hubby about it, as today is June 27th, prime time to start hinting about what I was for Xmas!

I still have half of the third bottle left. This is because I now limit myself to wearing it only in winter and even then, only on days when it is particularly cold & nasty outside so I can appreciate it's comfort and warmth even more.

Since this heartbreaking series of events, I have changed how I nose shop for perfume. If I see the words, limited edition on the display, I just walk on by. I will not even entertain giving it a whiff. Once bitten twice shy. On a recent trip to New York, I spent a glorious hour in Macys with the loveliest and campest man who worked in the perfume section. He loved my passion for perfume even more than my cute English accent. We went through a whole host of perfumes together, chattering away about our favourites and the stories behind them. I told him my sorry tale about TFP. He touched my arm in an act of genuine sympathy and empathy and said that he had been through the same thing and assured me that he would not show me anything limited edition. I bought 3 perfumes from him, all of which are still in production today and now widely available in the UK.

Despite all the heart break and expense, I don't regret falling for TFP. It is such a beautiful fragrance that it was worth every single penny and heartbeat.




*Maybe it's an age or generation thing, but my mother has the most revolting taste in perfume. It's handy though, because she acts as a kind of barometer for me if I am on the fence about a new perfume.

**I keep all my empty bottle and put them back in their boxes. I have a loft full of them. I started doing it because I thought they might one day be worth something on ebay, but really it's beacuse I can't face dumping them in the bin.