Hump Day, Inventors’ Day, and a spritz of lost time with Eau de Givenchy

It’s Hump Day, it’s Inventors’ Day, and while the world namechecks Thomas Edison, I’m busy flipping the switch on my own mood with vintage Eau de Givenchy. One spray and the room brightens like a bare bulb in a quiet workshop, citrus and green notes sparking to life on my wrist. No influencer filter, just a bottle that has outlived crushes, playlists, and a few regrettable bangs.

This old formula opens like sugared lemon peel and petitgrain over a cool green breeze. The neroli is tender, a little soapy in that elegant French way, and there is a soft floral hum that reads as jasmine without turning lush. It feels like clean cotton on sun-warmed skin, then a gentle musk steps in, more skin-scent than laundry. The top notes flutter fast, as they do with age, but the heart still knows the choreography. If you have a well-kept decant, you know the spell.

And yes, it’s “not discontinued.” But let’s not kid each other. The current Eau de Givenchy wears smoother, brighter, more see-through. Think crystal bowl instead of handblown glass. It is pretty, wearable, and entirely modern, yet it sidesteps that slightly bitter green twang I fell for, the one that used to make me stand up straighter on a Wednesday. Reformulation is not a villain, it is a reality of materials and regulations, but your nose remembers what your heart will not let you forget.

My decant came from a generous reader years ago, a small act of perfume kindness that still feels radical. That is the thrill of vintage, not just the juice, but the continuity of hands and histories. You spritz and suddenly you are all the versions of yourself who ever wore it, and a few you still might become.

Consider this a warm up for Long Lost Love Friday on 2/13. I will be clinging to Eau de Givenchy, the way you clutch the last page of a diary before you close it and start a new one. It is never the same river twice, but sometimes the water still remembers your name.