I'm a fragrance collector and have been doing so for the past 5 or so years.

Not quite as long as you, but long in my book. Fragrances for me, are not so much a passion, but an obsession. I ran out of my second bottle of Egoiste around the end of May after receiving it as a birthday present the previous October (It was bought from House of Fraser, Guildford Branch, Surrey). It got regular wear in preference of my other scents because I really enjoyed the sophistication and co mplexity of the drydown. One thing about Egoiste is that it's a powerhouse, as I'm sure you'll agree. It' s right up there with some of the most tenacious scents I have in my collection. 1-2 sprays of this stuff lasts a whole day. Unfortunately, the bottle you sent me was disappearing from my skin within 2-3 hours. The top notes smelt odd - th is I don't mind because it's happening to the older scents in my collection. Top notes macerate, but the heart and base, the real 'scent', are usually intact. F rom the odd opening, it didn't really pick up to resemble my old bottle. The san dalwood featured, but it was anemic, faint and fleeting and within 3 hours, it w as as if I hadn't sprayed anything at all. And where was the cinnamon? In my eyes, there were too many inconsistencies with the quality of the bottle a nd the scent for my to justify keeping it seeing as I'd spent over 50. Yes, that' s a bargain for Egoiste, but it's not an insignificant amount of money to me. I'm not saying you knowingly sold me a dodgy bottle. Yes, I know about how two b ottles are never the exactly same (and can never be), however, But, the lid does n't fit properly. Secondly, the spritzer doesn't sit flush with the black border . It's almost as if it's from another bottle. Thirdly, the diffuser is recessed into the spritzer and it didn't even spray properly at first. Then we have the e mbossing on the bottom of the bottle which is faint and indistinct.