Recent vintage Pampers scent search results

[stiletos]

I have been on a fairly active quest to seek out the old Pampers fragrance for a few years now and had very little success, until recently. Understand, I am NOT looking for a "nice" scent that someone thinls smells babyish, I am after the scent that when you catch a wiff of it instantly pings in your mind "pampers from the 1970's and 1980's".

I have attempted to get the original fragrance from perfumers, get the ingredients for the scent from Proctor and Gamble, and tried endless products that people said have that old scent. These all failed completely. Most people seem to have firgotten what they smelled like, or never knew. The scent was not baby powder, not baby lotion, it was very different.

Mommies scents are nothing like it. Secret powder fresh is not it, nothing in Proctor and Gambles product line I can find is even close.

So I started getting into looking into perfumes and colognes. Someone had said Amouage Gold Man cologne was it, i checked, it is not, but it does have slight edges in that cologne that start to touch on the area a bit. So I thought aboit getting into more vintage Amouage Gentlemens Cologne, but it is very costly.

I statred going extensive reading on perfume forums cross checking any reviews that mention diapers. A few stood out. I got a chance in a huge perfume store to test products and low and behold I came across one that is actually really close, at times i catch a wiff of this and it is almost "that is vintage Pampers."

The fragrance is Gucci Guilty Intense eau de Parfume for women. It has a gold bottle woth facing G's creating a window. Do not get the mens, it is nothing like it. I tested hundreds more bottles, nothing else touches this stuff for hitting the right notes. It is supposedly a oriental floral.

I plan on starting to ask people well in the know of perfumes if they can break down the scent and possibly create something almost the same but accent specific aspects of it to fine tune it.

I will keep you informed, but in the meantime the first legit fragrance I have ever found I can actually say hits pretty close is gucci Guilty Intence edp.

 

[Dork]

Nice job with the research. Maybe this site could help: https://www.fragrantica.com/perfume/Gucci/Gucci-Guilty-Intense-13201.html

Everyone seems to mention lilac as a dominant scent.

 

[saltheturtle69]

is the scent you're after anything like the Luvs from 2000?

 

[stiletos]

is the scent you're after anything like the Luvs from 2000?

I have no idea what Luvs in the 2000's smelled like but Luvs was effectively a premium brand diaper from Proctor and Gamble and it is likely the fragrance used in vintage Luvs was the same used in Pampers. That said most of what I have managed to learn was that the old scent did not make it into the 2000's and was discontinued in the 1990's at the latest.

As for the other reply, I have used that fragrance forum extensively to reference where to hone in my search. Today I got a chance to smell classic Guerlain Shalimar, which some people claim has some notes along the same line, not even close.

I will try to get a chance to check some lilac heavy perfumes and see if those stand out as the most familiar and along the same lines.

 

[jdm66]

I don't think you will find it. The perfume came in 45 gal drums and was diluted with water. When mixed it had the appearance of milk, and was highly concentrated. On the line you filled a small tank that would last 3-4 shifts. The stuff was so potent it was applied 1 micro drop per pad, from a pneumatic perfume gun. The perfume formula has changed since the 70's-90's as well as the supplier.

 

[ArchtopK]

you and I are on parallel paths. nice work. I want to try the first one. I can tell you that shalimar is miles away with mostly a smoky powder scent. reminds me of a bar. One I am waiting on is called musc ravegeour. Jicky is also one I want to try.
but you may have it with gucci Guilty Intence edp . I have walked through parking lots and walked into a perfume cloud that took me back, but no one in sight. Those experiences give me hope that there is something commercial that is close. Problem is body chemistry makes perfumes smell different on different people. spend enough time at basenotes or fragrantica and you will learn that very quickly.

 

[anton]

Very interesting! I look forward to hearing more and hope you find what many would consider the "holy grail" of vintage scents.

 

[ArchtopK]

definitely a bucket list quest.

 

[DippyDawg]

I don't think you will find it. The perfume came in 45 gal drums and was diluted with water. When mixed it had the appearance of milk, and was highly concentrated. On the line you filled a small tank that would last 3-4 shifts. The stuff was so potent it was applied 1 micro drop per pad, from a pneumatic perfume gun. The perfume formula has changed since the 70's-90's as well as the supplier.

Fascinating! How do you know these details?

 

[ArchtopK]

here is a comment from a Colgate patent on scent
Colgate diaper patent (1965)
The perfume may, for instance, be of the coconut extract-synthetic vanillin type used in the amount of 0.01 lb. per 3000 square feet of paper.
That's 2 tenths ounce per 3000 sq feet of paper. Sounds pretty concentrated.

 

[BobbiSueEllen]

Nice job with the research. Everyone seems to mention lilac as a dominant scent.

Agreed. I've walked past scents of lilac and the brain remarked "Almost close to Pampers". Love the tease, so good...

is the scent you're after anything like the Luvs from 2000?

Luvs and Pampers are both P&G and I believe they are one and the same. My daughter alternates between buying Luvs and Pampers for my grandson and I detect little-to-no difference. The '90s Attends from the P&G era, smelled a bit on the close side: a bit lilac-y without the babyish aura.

 

[jdm66]

Fascinating! How do you know these details?

35 year P&G employee. I started as a summer student in 1985, and was hired fulltime in Dec. The plant in Mehoopany PA produces Pampers for all of North America. The plant I worked is in Ontario Canada. Pampers started production in 1975 with Luvs being introduced in the early 80's. All diaper production ended in 1995-96 and was moved to Mehoopany. It also ended Luvs diapers being available in Canada. The Ontario plant now produces Always for all of North America. The smell of diapers was overwhelming when I first started, but over time you don't smell it anymore, which was disappointing.

 

[fakename]

35 year P&G employee. I started as a summer student in 1985, and was hired fulltime in Dec. The plant in Mehoopany PA produces Pampers for all of North America. The plant I worked is in Ontario Canada. Pampers started production in 1975 with Luvs being introduced in the early 80's. All diaper production ended in 1995-96 and was moved to Mehoopany. It also ended Luvs diapers being available in Canada. The Ontario plant now produces Always for all of North America. The smell of diapers was overwhelming when I first started, but over time you don't smell it anymore, which was disappointing.

Overwhelming smell of baby diapers is something I would like to experience once or twice... or thrice... but not five days a week lol. That's a pretty unique experience you have, and thanks for the details!

 

[ArchtopK]

"The perfume formula has changed since the 70's-90's as well as the supplier. "
Do you remember the name of the perfume supplier? was it Quest International?

 

[jdm66]

"The perfume formula has changed since the 70's-90's as well as the supplier. "
Do you remember the name of the perfume supplier? was it Quest International?

Sorry, I don't remember. That was 25+ years ago. The lab techs worked with the suppliers, and I was a line tech. I went to the perfume room and filled the container and then filled the tank at the line. Material handling techs blended the perfume. There was 3 different perfumes Pampers, Luvs and Always. I purchased some of the "authentic " diaper perfume that was selling online and it wasn't even close to the original scent.

 

[RetroGamerGuy]

Oh my....Jdm66 might be our missing link in this quest! Someone get him some of these fragrances so we can finally find the holy grail of diaper scents!

 

[ArchtopK]

It would be interesting to know the history behind the scent. There must have been some rationale in determining what it should smell like. But maybe not, maybe it was just left up to a professional company like Quest Int'l or Symrise, two companies mentioned in P&G patents. I somehow doubt that it was developed "in house". I found it interesting that P&G owns Gucci.

 

[ArchtopK]

Here is a formula from one of the patents. and I see now what you meant by blending the perfume.
Water 51.76 %
Modified Starch 26.0%
National LNP GLUK 2004
Perfume (Quest Q31535 21.0%
Surfactant (sorbitan 0.85 monolaurate) %
Rheology Modifier 0.2 (xanthan gum) %
Antimicrobial agent 0.19 (Kathon CG) (0.039 biocide active) %
Median droplet sizes Median droplet size 0.460 (.mu.m)

 

[ArchtopK]

I picked up a sample of the Gucci guilty intense and my nose memory does not find this to be anything like vintage Pampers. Now, I have said before that after 30 years, it may be hard to be confident. But this was not it for me. To floral and to much like bug spray. Still looking for it....

 

[ArchtopK]

Building on this. The amaouge gold man, has some of the Pampers scent you would notice after the main scent had died off. That's the problem with perfume, it changes over time. The larger "body" of the scent can be found in something like Ombre Rose EDT Cologne. The Ombre Rose EDP perfume is a little too strong and starts to lean in the direction of bug spray.