Chanel : No 19

19 is one of those rare beauties that come out once in a blue moon. Some perfumes borrow ideas from other people and build on them, and once in a while, someone comes out with an entirely original creation of such abstract beauty that once you experience it, you will simply sigh.

I must qualify, of the three concentrations, Parfum, EDP and EDT, all reflect different part of the personality.

The parfum version is the only version I feel reflects truely the main intention of the creator. The green galbanum top note is carefully controlled to reflect the grassy note of a very expensive extract of irises or tuberoses. It does not overpower the fragrance, in many ways, I feel the green note is not the defining moment in the fragrance but the beautiful interplay between the roses and the irises.

There were many perfumes full of irises before and after I guess, but the real iris root butter has a smell which is a bit creamy (you would say buttery), sweet, powdery, woody (or rooty, earthy, some would put it) and has this sweet violet note which distinguishes it. When introduced into fragrances, many believe it will smoothen out any rough edges and give it a suede like effect, a bit fuzzy yet soft.

And 19 is really about irises, boosted with a very beautiful rose note, the same rich blood red roses present in the No. 5 parfum version, rich and beautiful. Two very expensive and noble materials combined to give something wonderful, rich and elegant.

In the base, a leathery mossy note, probably built around Isobuty quinolenes (like in Bandit), which has both a leathery and mossy smell, and also a strong sweet spicy anise like effect, gives the whole base of 19 a chypre animal effect. It introduces something interesting, because not, it is not some fuddy old grandmother's floral, but a sensual animal dressed up in a soft floral tops. This duality is again something I have explored in Shalimar and Anais Anais, and would be exploring further in L'Heure Bleu.

To top off the rather heavy and sweet floral construction and dark and heavy leather mossy base, a light jasmine note has been added that is both the idea behind a chypre as it strives to lighten the whole fragrance and gives it diffusion and lightness. The jasmine then link to the citrus in the top note and the iris link to a raw, elemental galbanum green note. These additions of jasmin, citrus and galbanum brings a spring like youthfulness about the fragrance. This deceptive youthfulness lends 19 to be generally perceived as a fragrance for the younger market, the daugthers of the Chanel mothers, and generally serve to initiate these younger ones into the club.

In some ways, I am once again reminded of the the earlier theory that Coco wanted No. 5 to be uncopieable given the richness of its homegrown jasmines and roses coupled with the raw energy of aldehydes ie. only such soft richness of the jasmines and roses can tame the powerful rough aldehydes. In 19, the raw energy of galbanum (you only need to smell Vent Vert to feel its raw energy) and the quinolenes can only be tamed by the iris and roses to make a fragrance of such polish and yet such uncopieable originality.

The parfum smells really young and youthful in the first 15 minutes, thereafter the iris notes begin their effect, which makes you feel as if a lady has stepped out of her initial girly outfit. Then after a full 2 hours, the leather moss note is apparent and the whole picture starts to get a bit dangerous and mature. So I think the parfum will be as suitable for a mature lady as it would a younger lady.It is really an interesting fragrance to watch as it evolves.

The EDP and EDT are another story altogether. The EDT is so strong on the citrus and green notes, the initial spray, and I feel I am walking through an overgrown grassyard, stomping and falling every step of the way. The EDP is no better, the green galbanum overtakes the whole fragrance for a good hour, before the heart is to be heard. However, perhaps these two will appeal to an even younger crowd that likes the green outdoors and the citrus vibrancy of the fragrance.

These 3 versions are somehow like different manifestations on a same theme. One is like an evening gown, and the other two like short dresses but on the same theme.

Photo from Biblioparfum.net

Chanel : Cristalle

Sometime ago, a perfumer friend taught me a lesson about accords. An accord, in simple terms, is a harmony of perfumery notes, that forms an idea or gives a distinctive perfumery note.

I used to think that accords are huge things, like the most obvious smelling things that makes up the idea of the perfume. Like woods, amber and vanilla can give oriental accord. I used to think they have to shout out loud, be made of materials that smell hideously strong, that paints everything the same shade of colour.

But when he presented me with one of the little secrets behind Cristalle, a well known secret in the industry, one that Henri Robert spent many months trying to get just right, I was just blown away.

Four little materials formed this accord, one smelling like raspberries, one of pineapples and violet, one of roses, and the last, of just some light chemical. Even when you combined them together, they did not really smelt like anything, it was just a chemical smelling mixture. An accord that is indestructable, even though it is present in the final formula in less than 1%. Its like a sequin flower pattern sparkling on a perfectly made yellow dress.

When we put this accord, which he liked to call “Sparkle” in one of the trial formulas, wow, the sleepy little composition took on a little life of its own. It was as if, on top of the faceted faces of the diamond little bits of light began to dance. The twinkle, sparkling effect floated above the structured cut stone, lending an air of magic and charm.

Cristalle opens with a lemon citrus with a smart green and herb note. Then the peach/raspberry/melon(helional?)/jasmin accord starts to show itself, carrying on from the citrus opening. It is very sweet, but only for a while, when suddenly the whole thing is over, and all you smell is the lingering woody note, light, woody and powdery ghost of a dusting on your skin. A very befitting end, clean and dry.

And so it is with Cristalle, such a beautiful composition that was somehow a little overshadowed by its bigger sisters No. 5, No. 19 and Coco for a while. While No. 5 was into classic heritage, No. 19 into haute parfumerie elegance, and Coco into heavy duty seduction, Cristalle had a much simpler calling, a summer sprizz to refresh its wearer on a hot sweltering day, it was launched in a time where light summery chypres like Ma Griffe (1946) were the rage of the day.

Had a Chanel perfume been launched as a man’s perfume, like the immortal and much higher profile Eau Sauvage, which I much believed it has evolved from, lemon, herbs, jasmine heart (hedione!), moss and musks, I think it would have seen the profile that it deserves.

Some 20 years later, a EDP version was launched by Jacques Polge, which tried to revive this. Unfortunately, I did not think it was a very good job. The top notes were not green and tart and refreshing, as I would have liked it to be. The heart notes, simply brutal, too much tangerine and peaches, and it smelt like someone rubbed overripe fruit on the skin. The delicate, shimmering citrus chypre accord was destroyed!

In my view, Cristalle EdT stays true to its calling, the original calling that Eau Sauvage set out to solve, prolonged freshness.

H&R states that Cristalle has top notes of bergamot, lemon, basil, cumin, hyacinth, peach, middle notes of jasmine, melon, narcissus, cyclamen, muguet, tangerine, and bottom notes of oakmoss, musk, civet, patchouli and sandal.

The citrus notes is given a spring fresh with a taut note of hyacinth. This leads, after a while, seamlessly lead into the herbal / jasmine heart notes, with a lively jasmine / hedione dance, with the sparkle accord topping it off. Try it, you will smell it, try to look for a sweet crystalline raspberry note floating on top of the citrus/jasmin base.

As the heart note carry on, honey and other phenolic notes (narcissus) provides it the essential hint of girlish sexiness in the heat of summer, oakmoss gives it depth and longlastingness, and musks for the diffusion.

Voila, like a sip of a perfect lemonade in an hot summer afternoon in Chanel haute pre-a-porter, of course.

Chanel Exclusifs: Cuir de Russie

Cuir de Russie is really a fragrance of its time. Again a creation of Ernest Beaux and created in an age and time when women were gradually taking charge of their lives. In this era are milestones like the “smoking jacket” by YSL, and the many smoking women, and of course the large variety of tabac type (Tabac Blond (Caron), Emeraude (Coty) and leather type fragrances (Cabochard(Gres), English Leather, Jolie Madame (Balmain), Cuir de Russie (Guerlain, Chanel)) or even orientals with a a captive leather note, like in Shalimar.

Top notes, Orangeblossom, Bergamot, Lemon, Clary sage, middle notes Carnation, Orris, Yasmin, Ylang, Cedarwood, Vetiver, Base Note, Leather, Opopanax, Heliotrope, Vanilla (from H&R)

Having a leather note in a fragrance is nothing new, because in Europe, one of the first areas where fragrances found extended use was in perfuming leather gloves. After the tanning process, the leather usually had a very pungent leather smell. Glove owners often sent these gloves to be impregnated by perfumes to mask or harmonize this pungent leather note.

Over time, when the smell of leather has become highly coveted, perhaps due the fact that a leather smell is indicative about the quality of the leather, and a sign that it is real, amidst the large variety of synthetic leather materials that does not possess that rich authentic smell. Anything with the feel and smell of leather had a decidedly luxurious feel about it.

In Cuir de Russie, these same ideas come through; a sense of luxury, a sense of empowerment, a sense of daring and independence.

The parfum explodes off my skin and it was as if I put on a pair of really expensive leather gloves. The first notes I sense are a cologne-like top note, with neroli, herbs and bergamot, and immediately I noticed the dry animalic chypre structure. This quickly gives way to a floral and leather accord, which is dry and woody. Irones (dry woody iris material) and isoeugenol (carnation) forms the floral component, and that surrounds the core of the fragrance a leather note and a sweet liquorice/moss note typical of Isobutyl Quinolene (together with the resinous tar like sweetness of opopanax) and vanilla, similar to the combination found in Shalimar. The dryness and smoky notes supported by careful use of cedarwood, coupled with styrax. The drydown is vanillic sweet.

In many ways, this fragrance feels like wearing animal skins lined with fur, smoking a cigarette. This fragrance works well for a man too, as the fragrance is rather androgynous, smoldering sensuality that is neither too feminine, nor overtly masculine.

The leather note is not a new leather smell, which would have made you feel as if you had put on some artificial leather conditioning fluid. Neither is the leather note totally taking the center stage, as in some other fragrances. The spices, carnation and resins help to lend a warm and “age” this leather, making it something convincing. The iris note lends a certain elegance to an otherwise brutal leather and IBQ combination. Finally, the tabac and woody notes create a story of a woman who dears to dress with assertiveness, of a certain bohemian chic.

I would say overall, this is really a fragrance that is very classy, luxurious and rich.

Photo from Chanel.com

Article by Chandler Burr

Discovered this really good article by Chandler Burr on the background of the Chanel Exclusifs for The New York Times.

Do give it a read.

Photo from Chandler Burr.

http://www.chandlerburr.com/articles/22skin.html

Chanel Exclusifs : Chanel No. 22

Today I reached out to my three samples of Chanel 22.

One is a vintage version parfum, the other a modern parfum from a 5 sample parfum set by Chanel and the last is an Eau De Toilette bottle which is about 10 yrs old. I am frankly amazed at how different these 3 fragrances smell, even though they are all supposed to be the same thing, same theme, and same raw materials.

The vintage parfum is like a ghost, a whisper on my skin. As I put it on my skin, it drapes like a transparent veil on it, and I almost cannot smell it initially, because it was so smooth, there was no rough edges to catch hold in my nose, no distinct notes that you will notice, nothing like a serrated blade cutting painfully through the skin like many modern fragrances, but it was something so smooth that, in fact, you did not notice how much of it you inhaled, until you are quite so drunk on it, like a fine brandy, you get drunk even before ou know it.

Top Notes Aldehydes,Middle Notes Jasmine, Tuberose, Ylang-Ylang, Rose, Base Notes Vetiver, Vanilla, Incense. (Basenotes.com)

And so, it is the same thing for many of the vintage Chanel fragrances. They are so smooth, that the notes are well blended and subtle, you take sometime before you make them out. I read from BaseNotes that some people do not like the modern No. 22. I could not agree more, because compared with the vintage versions, the modern version is just plain roughness. Immediately I smell an overdose of PEA, sharp and piercingly green, and the harsh terpineol notes! I know a perfumer who told me once that the rose and jasmine bouquet of Chanel 5 and other Chanel perfumes are uncopyable (unmatchable) by GC, because their richness and bouquet is simply so complex, so subtle and so beautiful.

Apparently, in modern remakes, they may have cut back on these beautiful naturals specially grown in the Grasse fields for Chanel. They also would have switched from naturally derived rhodinols to switch to synthetics. I believe these naturals, and especially the rose note in No. 22 is most critical to its success, even more so than in No. 5, which tends to depend more on the fineness of the jasmine and ylang extra, to moderate the aldehydes.

In No. 22, the rose soars above the iris/vanilla accord to form the pillar around which the other white flower notes surround. The rose melds everything together, and gives the powdery flowery accord a theme. Within this, a spicy carnation note, similar to Bellogia (Caron) fixes the rose to the musky woody base. The aldehydes play a rather subdued role than in No. 5, so it is more elegant, less shocking. Many have speculated that the original intended volume of the aldehydes was just perfect in No. 22 (no overdoses here!). One could have mistaken that it was the original choice of Coco, the abstract yet uber feminine floral. But alas, perhaps it did not have as much character until someone mistakenly (allegedly) overdosed the aldehydes in No. 5.

An infinitely refined fragrance, only the finest raw materials will do justice to this fragrance. Anything less and it will begin to smell a bit vulgar. Yes, perhaps it is only a perfume for those who are in a bygone era, where it is not polite to scream. No. 5 was a scream, an advan garde peice of artwork, edgy like a cubist painting, chosen for its shock value, while No. 22 was like a classical painting, smoothed until no edges showed, like a Monalisa or a madonna on the rocks.

Chanel Exclusifs : Bois des Îles

The first time I smelt Bois des Iles was in a samples fridge in the fragrance library in Firmenich.

The thought of exotic wood, in a faraway land, hardly related to the cold open refrigerator door and the cold bottle dripping with condensation. Yet the mildly golden liquid within transported me to another place.

As I put my nose to the touche, I sense immediately the spicy woody accord, led by a short burst of aldehydes and bergamot (so typical of Beaux), it quickly led to the main interlude of the fragrance.

The exoticism of the fragrance can hardly be denied. Slowly rising from the skin of my hand, it is like a warm stream of vapour, from a cup of hot chocolate with cinnamon and cloves. The accord is formed between the familiar milky creamy sandalwood and spices. The dominant sandalwood note is flanked and accentuated by soft aldehydes and rose/jasmine to give it lift and volume and a certain lightness, and supported by other notes like vetiver or perhaps vetiveryl acetate to give it the dryness and fine woody feel.

Before the sandalwood note becomes too sickly stifling and boringly “nourishing“, a spicy note immediately contrasts with and balances the rich creaminess. The slightly clove and cinnamon spice note is enriched with ylang.

The whole perfume is carefully balanced, not too overtly woody, just a hint of spices, florals and citrus/musk to lift it up. This fragrance could be a feminine or a masculine fragrance, either way. Many think of it as a feminine perfume because it comes in parfum, but I think it works really well on a man’s skin too.

Eventually this fragrance would evolve into another masterpiece, Egoiste, who many say is a fragrance way too ahead of its time. It was through the lens of Egoiste, with its ultra masculine note of sandalwood and black spices that made me understand this very sublime and subtle fragrance. If Bois des Iles is a exercise in polished elegance of the feminine, then Egoiste is a conscious exercise to push these elements to an almost rough hewn chiselled torso of a man. In many ways, Bois des Iles is one of, what I consider, the trilogy of Ernest Beaux. One of the last perfumes that is still on offer that is created by this great Russian perfumer. He started with the same group of materials with which he created No. 5 with the aldehyde overdose, and then polished up the florals which eventually gave birth to No. 22 and 4 years later, Bois des Iles.

Watch out for it, other woody perfumes I will review are Sandalwood by Elizabeth Arden, Samsara by Guerlain, Rush Homme by Gucci, Egoiste by Chanel, Feminite du Bois by Shiseido, Poeme by Lancome, amongst others.

Image from www.toutenparfum.com

Chanel Timeline of Fragrances

Chanel Exclusifs : Gardenia

Gardenia is one of the original creations of Ernest Beaux, and it belongs to the original collection of the Chanel Exclusifs.

I have always had a love affair with gardenias, and I was always very excited when the gardenias are in bloom during spring time. The creamy fruity scent of the flowers often bring to me a feeling of new hope. Its headiness pregnant with expectancy, yet is verdant greenness and its fruity playfulness bring it into another realm altogether, one that is lively and light, like a little dance.

Gardenia by Chanel is a meld of all of this and more. It is meant to reflect Chanel’s personal favorite flower. I had always wondered why, because it is such an emotional fragrance, not elegant and abstract.

In any case, the perfume starts off with a profusion of light floral notes, not so much of the fruity or green notes, which although present, were very well blended into the background in a supporting role. The impression I got, was one of orange flowers (in the Yardley sense), something like the top green note of muguet, brighten slightly with orange citrus notes, elaborated with neroli and dew.

The tonality is very modern, in a way, and gave me a glimpse into how a perfume like that can evolve into the modern and brilliant Beyond Paradise in about 70 years.

And like Beyond Paradise, the swirling light watery atmospheric notes quickly gave way to a very full and sensual jasmine heart. Woven into the jasmine note is a sweet, almost chocolaty sugary sweet note, something like honey and syrup, yet not as sweet. The creamy notes of a typical gardenia are not so evident, no strong lactone notes in sight here, but rather it leads into a kind of sweet fruity jasmine note with lots of benzyl acetate, blended into an ambery, musky, woody and vanillic note that is as smooth as velvet.

I think this is the most beautiful of the lot, the most sultry, passionate and emotional. Compared to this, the rest of the perfumes are quiet elegant pieces, a bit emotionless by comparison, a little like pictures on a wall. But this, this is the flesh blossoming beneath the cool structured Chanel pieces, this fragrance comes alife, like life heralding of the coming spring. In the range, the parfum version is the best of the lot.