Tag: chanel

What I Wore This Week

June 30, 2019

Hi, everyone! I am here with an all-Chanel week! On Wednesday morning, I noticed that I had unintentionally worn a Chanel scent every day so far. I decided to make it intentional and go the entire week wearing Chanel as my scent of the day.

  • Monday: No. 5 L’Eau
  • Tuesday: No. 19 EDT
  • Wednesday: Paris — Deauville
  • Thursday: Cristalle EDT
  • Friday: Cristalle Eau Verte
  • Saturday: Gabrielle

Have you guys ever worn a specific brand or perfumer on purpose?

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The photo was taken by me. Nothing in this post was gifted by the brand. And, trust me, Chanel is not sponsoring me. (I wish!)

Les Eaux de Chanel (Deauville and more)

June 12, 2019

Chanel initially launched their Les Eaux collection a year ago in May/June of 2018. I thought I’d finally get around to writing about it now that they’ve launched a new addition to the collection: Paris — Riviera. I like the element of travel that is built-in to this collection. Perfume should be transporting. So, the idea of taking the train from Paris to Deauville or the Riviera elevates that idea even further. It’s also perfect for summer, when everyone is dreaming about vacation.

Deauville is my favorite and it was my first Les Eaux purchase. With my love of No. 19 and Cristalle Eau Verte, I know that I can pretty much count on a Chanel green to work for me. Deauville does not let me down. Each time I spray it, it’s always an addictive and gorgeous bust of citrus: lemon, lime, and a touch of bitter petitgrain. The aromatic basil note is really the star for me. It sort of arcs across the entire composition. It’s present through the opening, the heart, and even the base for me.

It has to be said that Les Eaux are eau de toilettes and, for me anyway, they really function like eau de cologne concentrations. They last on my skin about the same length of time as an average Jo Malone. I apply Deauville *very* liberally and I’m usually an under-sprayer! You simply can’t hold back with these compositions though. I say all of this to explain how the basil note functionally lasts the entirety of wear time. It’s because wear time just isn’t that long! I do get some shimmering jasmine in the heart notes of Deauville and an interesting spiced patchouli dry down, but it’s really all about that aromatic opening.

I ended up purchasing a bottle of Venise last Fall. It’s also a lovely composition and has a bit more staying power than Deauville because of its tonka base. I have not yet added Biarritz to my collection. I’ve just seen that Chanel has released the original three Les Eaux in 50 ml bottles. I think I’ll eventually purchase Biarritz in that size because I simply don’t see myself using it often enough to justify the 125 ml bottle.

Overall, I enjoy Chanel’s efforts with Les Eaux, and I think there’s a place for this sort of light and more easy-going collection within Chanel’s fragrance universe. It makes sense, especially since Chanel chose to switch all of the Exclusifs to EdP concentrations across the board. And I have to wonder if that decision was motivated in part by Les Eaux already being in development?

What do you all think of Les Eaux? I’ll have to give Riviera a try when I can. Please leave a comment if you’ve been lucky enough to sniff it already! I’ll likely have to wait until my next visit to New York.

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The photo was taken by me. I purchased my bottle of Deauville at the Chanel boutique on 57th Street in Manhattan. Nothing in this post is gifted or sponsored.

What I Wore This Week

January 6, 2019

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I’m back with another round-up of what I wore this past week. I came down with a 24-hour stomach bug from Wednesday to Thursday, so you’ll see that Wednesday was the rare day that I did not wear any fragrance. But I’ve recovered well!

  • Sunday: Twilly d’Hermès
  • Monday: Plum Japonais by Tom Ford (Plum Japonais)
  • Tuesday: Paris – Deauville by Chanel
  • Wednesday: nothing
  • Thursday: Tendre Madeleine by Laurence Dumont
  • Friday: Honeysuckle & Davana by Jo Malone
  • Saturday: Narciso For Her L’Absolu by Narciso Rodriguez

What did you all wear this first week of the new year? Do you wear anything scented when you’re feeling under the weather?

What I Wore This Week

December 23, 2018

Here is my round-up of what I wore this week!

  • Monday: Woody Mood by Olfactive Studio
  • Tuesday: Lumiere by DSH Perfumes
  • Wednesday: Bas de Soie by Serge Lutens
  • Thursday: Chanel No. 5 EDP
  • Friday & Saturday: Mon Numero 10 by L’Artisan Parfumeur

What are you all wearing in the run up to Christmas?

Chanel No. 5 EdT

February 10, 2018

When I first became interested in the world of perfume, I was a Guerlain girl all the way. I didn’t think Chanel was for me. In particular I didn’t think No. 5 worked with my skin chemistry, nor did it suit me overall. Now, here I am, over a decade later, and I’m a Chanel girl. And, when you’re a Chanel girl, you have to dive into the world of No. 5.

When I used to work in fragrance, I would constantly hear “No. 5 smells too perfumey” and, of course, the dreaded “It’s too old lady.” We associate No. 5 with old ladies because it’s what everyone’s grandmothers, great-grandmothers, and great-aunts all wore. That’s the reality of a classic, iconic fragrance. But our great-aunts weren’t always old. At one point, they were young women and perhaps they wore Chanel even then.

For those clients who would make the “it smells too much like perfume” comment (which is an endlessly frustrating comment for someone working in fragrance to hear), I would steer them towards No. 5 L’eau or the No. 5 Eau de Toilette concentration. And that is how I became hooked on the No. 5 EdT myself. There is something about the way the notes weave in and out in the EdT concentration that is pure magic.

It starts with the aldehydes, which are clear, shimmering, and pleasantly sharp here. It’s not the same champagne rush of the aldehydes in Cristalle. You can sense there’s a lot of substance swirling beneath these aldehydes, but you have to be patient. I typically don’t get much of a substantial rose note from Chanel compositions, except here in the No. 5 EdT. The rose note is the central floral heart note on me. It’s delicate, but substantial. A smokiness from the vetiver begins to weave in and out creating a really interesting contrast of the floral and smoky.

The vetiver eventually leads into the earthy base notes of patchouli and oak moss. I also get the impression of a sheer yellow ylang-ylang that reminds me of a sweet dessert wine. According to Fragrantica, there is supposedly still a civet note in the base. While I definitely get a substantial musk note here, I don’t get anything quite like civet on my skin. I’m guessing it may be more pronounced in the pure parfum concentration.

The No. 5 Eau de Toilette is the original concentration that Coco Chanel and Ernest Beaux released in 1921 (along with the pure parfum). I like to think that, even through all the reformulations over the years, there’s still a bit of the magic of the original in the current EdT formulation. Sometimes it wears very quietly on my skin. Other times it’s louder and more insistent with a lot more vetiver and earthy oakmoss. However, the EdT is never heavy or overwhelming. And it’s certainly not “too perfumey.” Although, naturally, I don’t believe there is such a thing!

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Photo taken by me. I ordered my bottle of the No. 5 EdT directly from Chanel.

Gabrielle Chanel

September 15, 2017

Notes: Mandarin orange, grapefruit, black currant, tuberose, ylang-ylang, jasmine, orange blossom, sandalwood, and musk.

I ordered my bottle of Gabrielle when it was released online August 19th. It was a blind buy. We all know the hype and the story. Chanel had not released a new pillar fragrance for women since Chance in 2002. I blind-bought this because, of course, I was eager to smell Gabrielle. I also wanted to own a bottle from an early batch production to help stave off purchasing bottles of the inevitable reformulations. And, quite honestly, I simply wanted to own a new Chanel release.

So, how does Gabrielle really smell? I will say that I was not impressed at first sniff. The grapefruit in the opening has a bite to it, which is not a bad thing. However, taken with the other citrus and fruity notes, it’s reminiscent of J’adore from Dior. Gabrielle has that similar slightly headache-inducing sharp fruit vibe. I was mentally side-eyeing Chanel at this point. Did we really wait all this time simply for Chanel to release a J’adore clone?

Fortunately, there’s quite a bit of development from the opening to the heart of the fragrance. The Chanel marketing copy states that “Olivier Polge crafted this Eau de Parfum as an imaginary flower — a radiant, and sparkling, purely feminine Chanel blossom based on a bouquet of four white flowers.” The four white flowers being: tuberose, jasmine, orange blossom, and ylang-ylang. I love a white floral, so this is the stage where Gabrielle hooks me. I find the line about “an imaginary flower” extremely accurate here because none of the floral notes stand out to me individually. I wouldn’t classify this as a fantastic example of a tuberose or jasmine fragrance. The florals are blended to the point where this could be a newly imagined floral.

If anything stands out to me, it’s a bright white jasmine and a full-bodied ylang-ylang note. The ylang-ylang is more of a yellow floral, but that’s not a bad thing. It brings a bit of texture to this otherwise smooth white floral blend. The problem with Olivier Polge’s imaginary flower is that most of the defining characteristics and little quirks of the individual florals have been blended out. Both Polge and Chanel are working overtime to ensure that Gabrielle is as pretty and appealing as possible, but this might be better achieved by simply letting the individual floral notes shine.

My real issue with Gabrielle is the dry down, or lack thereof. I love a good sandalwood dry down, and I would even be willing to put up with a white musk dry down just to get some base notes going here. I get a lot of wear time out of Gabrielle, but it’s all floral heart notes. When my skin chemistry decides that it’s time for the fragrance to fade, that’s it. It’s like the composition falls off a cliff. There’s no base whatsoever on my skin. It’s the strangest thing.

All this being said, do I actually wear Gabrielle? Yes, I’ve had my bottle for nearly a month now and I’ve worn it frequently. It’s a great scent to wear into the office. And I do think it fits in with Chanel’s style: pretty and classy. But it’s nowhere near being a classic. It’s not even in the same league as Olivier Polge’s release from 2016, No. 5 L’Eau. I will continue to wear Gabrielle, but it’s not the knockout release many of us were hoping for. Nor is it the type of fragrance we know Chanel is capable of doing.

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Photo taken by me.

The info on notes is from Fragrantica.

No. 19 on the 19th

August 19, 2017

vintage No. 19 ad

It’s that time of year again. I know Chanel has decided to commemorate Coco’s birthday with the release of Gabrielle this year. Still, I don’t think there’s a better way to mark the 19th of August than by wearing her own fragrance, No. 19 itself.

I’ve written about the EdT here before and it’s still my favorite formulation. I also own a bottle of the EdP. And I’ve recently acquired a 14 ml bottle of the parfum after finally taking the plunge into the world of fragrances on ebay. This particular little parfum came to me completely sealed and in the original Chanel double box. I was curious about the authenticity but, when I broke the seal and smelled the parfum, I was sure. The nose can tell, and I feel like No. 19 is a difficult one to fake. (Though it’s always possible someone mixed a bit of real No. 19 in with a fake concoction.)

The parfum opens with an intense galbanum note, with just a hint of tangy bergamot. The galbanum is much more rich here than the EdT. It transitions to an earthy, powdery texture but that green galbanum is still there. It’s funny, I find the parfum more powdery than No. 19 Poudre. There’s some real warmth to the parfum, too. The EdT is all shimmering, cold, and green galbanum to me. A touch of warmth starts to creep into the parfum with the earthy orris. And I believe there is some true oakmoss in my formulation (or at least closer to real oakmoss than anything we’ve gotten recently). It seeps through the composition like ink, green and slightly damp.

I find this is a true parfum, and by that I mean it’s very potent (you don’t need to apply much) but at the same time, it’s a smooth composition. It wears close to the skin, and it won’t overwhelm your senses like a powerhouse. When I wear No. 19 in any form, it envelops me in a mist that’s almost like a fairy world. It invites me to this green grassy world, delicate florals dancing in the background, and with that mossy undercurrent snaking through all the while.

There is always something wistfully sad about No. 19 in any of its formulations. Maybe it comes from knowing the history, knowing that this was Coco’s personal fragrance and that it was the last Chanel fragrance to be released during her lifetime. I think it has to do with something integral to the composition, too. A lot of people describe this scent as “arrogant.” Perhaps it is. That green galbanum is the star note, so bitter and cold. I think what people miss is that No. 19 has some real emotion to it, and that it’s seductive in its own way. Particularly with the parfum, there’s a juxtaposition of cold and warmth that’s beautifully magnetic. Maybe it’s not sexy. Maybe it’s not flirty and fun. But it’s Chanel through and through.

 

 

Birthday Perfumes

July 24, 2017


Do any of you ever pick out a special fragrance to wear on your birthday? It wasn’t a hard choice for me this year. Chanel No. 19 is one of my favorites. It was good enough to be named for Mademoiselle Chanel’s birthday, so it’s good enough for mine. Plus, it’s fine for the office, which is important since I’m at work today. I typically don’t save up my favorites to wear specifically on my birthday though, I usually just go with what I feel like!

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Photo of questionable quality taken by me of my 100 ml EdT bottle.

Chance Eau Fraîche by Chanel

July 7, 2017

Notes: lemon, cedar, pink pepper, jasmine, water hyacinth, teak wood, iris, amber, patchouli, vetiver, and white musk.

It’s hard to believe that Chance Eau Fraiche has been out for ten years now, but it was indeed originally released in 2007. I remember it well, as I was studying in Paris at the time. I got sucked in by all the advertising and fanfare that comes along with a new Chanel release, and I saved up my euros to buy a 50 ml bottle (A 100 ml bottle was too far out of my price range at the time. Even the 50 ml was pushing it on a student budget, let’s be honest). That bottle was well-loved, and Chance Eau Fraiche has been my companion every summer ever since.

The top notes start with a lively, juicy lemon, which is typical enough for a summer scent. The interesting thing about Chance Eau Fraiche is that the lemon is paired with cedar as part of the top notes. This is unusual, especially for a women’s fragrance. The cedar note comes through quite strong on my skin, and I love it. The shimmering lemon note keeps the composition balanced and gives it that “fraiche” quality.

Another interesting thing about Chance Eau Fraiche is that I find the heart notes green and aromatic, where I would normally sense aromatic notes in the opening. The main mid-note I sense is jasmine. More than a white floral, it’s a green floral here. The water hyacinth must be what I’m sensing as the fresh, cooling aromatic note. The jasmine brings more of a rounded, full-bodied aspect that balances out the cedar.

I’ll be honest about the dry down, I don’t get many of the listed notes at all, except for a subtly smoky vetiver. I sense the cedar all the way through the composition, including here in the base where it blends with the vetiver for a deliciously dry and woody phase before the scent fades away.

I decided to write about Chance Eau Fraiche now because it’s a favorite of mine. Recently I noticed that the Chanel website lists it as “limited edition” although I believe it just means that one of the sizes is limited (the 1.2 oz bottle) not the fragrance itself. Still, perfumistas are used to precious favorites being discontinued, and it gave me a scare. It would be a shame if Chanel were ever to discontinue this one. The composition is unique and dynamic, especially in a very crowded and same-y women’s fragrance market. It’s also beautifully wearable, particularly during these hot and humid July summer days. Even if it’s not limited, I’m stocking up on Chance Eau Fraiche, just in case.

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Chance Eau Fraiche is available directly from Chanel and you should be able to find it in person at any Chanel counter.

The image and info on notes are both from Fragrantica.

Cristalle Eau Verte by Chanel

May 5, 2017

Notes: bergamot, Sicilian lemon, neroli, magnolia, musk, iris, and jasmine.

I’m continuing off of my previous post about spring-themed scents, and Cristalle Eau Verte is absolutely one of my favorites for spring. The original Cristalle was composed by Henri Robert and released in 1974 (and I will do a separate write-up of that fragrance because it deserves its own post.) Cristalle Eau Verte was released much more recently in 2009 and was of course composed by Jacques Polge. Eau Verte is definitely updated and modern. It’s an accessible kind of scent profile and it’s effortless to wear.

Cristalle is famous for its sparkling champagne-like citrus top notes. Eau Verte also opens with a sparkling sensation, but you can tell right off the bat that this has definitely been composed for a modern audience. The bergamot has that clean green aspect to it, and the lemon note is very pronounced. It’s a fresh and lively opening. It’s the kind of scent I like spritzing on just after a shower. It’s just that refreshing.

Luckily Cristalle Eau Verte is more complex than a typical body mist that you might apply post-shower. The florals come in and really carry this fragrance in a sophisticated way. I’m a sucker for magnolia, so I love getting to the mid-stage of Eau Verte. Magnolia is often creamy on my skin, and even peachy-fruity. The magnolia here is slightly different in that it’s creamy but, combined with the neroli note, it takes on a shimmering light sensation. It radiates off the skin, almost singing in a way. On a sunny day, I feel like you can almost see the shimmering effect of the magnolia and neroli on the skin. That’s one reason it’s perfect for spring.

The base continues the white floral theme with jasmine bringing a more full-bodied presence. There is also plenty of white musk, which is not my personal favorite base note, but it works for this composition. A tonka or sandalwood note would have been too heavy. I get 5 hours of wear time here, so it’s a pretty typical EdT.

Overall, is Cristalle Eau Verte the most essential or pivotal Chanel fragrance? Of course not. But it’s an excellent flanker. It works as its own fragrance and doesn’t diminish the original Cristalle. It’s sophisticated and more complex than many “fresh” spring/summer scents these days. It makes me smile when I wear it and, sometimes, that’s all you need.

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I own a full bottle of Cristalle Eau Verte, which I purchased from Nordstrom.

The info on notes is from Fragrantica.

Photo taken by me.