Posted by Angela
on
28 January 2013
Chanel is one of handful of perfume houses with a distinct perfume voice. Say “classic Chanel” to perfume lovers, and likely they envision a greyhound of a fragrance — aldehydic, elegant and restrained. If you’re a Chanel aficionado, you’ll likely love Chanel 1932, the latest fragrance in Chanel’s Les Exclusifs line. Really. Start saving up now. If you like your perfume big and dirty, 1932 is unlikely to convert you.
Jacques Polge, Chanel’s house perfumer, is credited with 1932. The Chanel website says “1932 evokes a dazzling array of diamond stars and comets. Created petal by petal, the soft, woody fragrance expresses an enveloping heart of White Jasmine.” The name commemorates the year Chanel first offered fine jewelry. Notes listed for the fragrance are jasmine, vetiver and iris.
Unlike gem-studded jewelry, which I think of as hard and cold, 1932 is tender as chiffon…
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Posted by Angela
on
20 August 2012
The word “noir” transforms nearly anything it modifies. For instance, think of “teddy bear.” Maybe you envision a beloved stuffed animal kissed by babies. Now imagine “teddy bear noir.” Suddenly that same toy lies abandoned in a sinister old farmhouse — maybe the house in Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood. Try it with different words: Disneyland. Disneyland Noir. Kitty. Kitty Noir. You see what I mean?
So, I had high expectations for Chanel Coco Noir. Chanel Coco is already sultry enough for Mata Hari. A noir version? Well, look at Caron Narcisse Noir. It’s loaded with menace and seduction. No way Chanel would let me down. Coco Noir would surely twist Coco’s spicy, woody heart into a real femme fatale.
Not. They should have called it Coco Pourpre…
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Posted by Robin
on
26 July 2012
Chanel will launch Coco Noir, a new oriental fragrance for women, in August. Coco Noir is meant to be sophisticated and elegant; and is a flanker to 1984′s Coco…
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Posted by Robin
on
24 February 2012
Chanel will launch Allure Homme Sport Eau Extreme in March. The new fragrance for men is a flanker to 2004′s Allure Homme Sport, which of course was a flanker to 1998′s Allure Homme. Allure Homme Sport Eau Extreme is meant to be an edgier scent; it will be fronted by surfer Danny Fuller…
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Posted by Robin
on
11 October 2011
I was not excited when I heard Chanel’s latest addition to the Les Exclusifs collection, Jersey, featured lavender. It is not a favorite note of mine, although I love Guerlain Jicky, and oddly enough, also the first fragrance I thought of when I smelled Jersey, Brin de Réglisse. Like Jersey, Brin de Réglisse is a niche-from-a-mainstream-house sort of thing, in this case from Hermès, and the reason I thought of Brin de Réglisse right away is not because they smell alike, although I suppose perhaps they are the distant-est of distant cousins. No, I thought of it because of the lavender note in Brin de Réglisse, which as you may remember, was a molecular fraction (is that the term? I don’t know the term, and admit I am not very concerned about it either way). I’ll repeat a quote I used then:
[Perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena] asked them to slice natural lavender into 50 distinct groups of molecules, sniffed them all, discarded five and reassembled it. “My lavender had a much purer, cleaner smell,” he says, comparing it with the natural scent. “Then I had to find something to dress it up that would be a little unusual. I chose a touch of licorice.” (via Los Angeles Times, 10/28/2007)
As near as I can tell, they do something similar (presumably using cheaper methods) with many fragrances notes, which is why notes you used to hate — patchouli! — don’t bother you anymore, and why smelling materials in their natural state is no longer necessarily helpful to the budding perfumista…
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