Hey Crew. CHANEL is one of the worlds most iconic brands. The marketing team is second to none. It’s hard to stay current and afloat in the world of fashion. Let alone doing it in the 21st century. With the historic stories of Gabrielle Chanel and her personal and political choices, any other brand would have been cancelled or censured. For more information read Hal Vaughan’s book Sleeping With The Enemy: Coco Chanel’s Secret War. She wasn’t alone according to this article. There has been some extra hype with No 5 turning 100 years old in 2021 and the release of the homewares inspired collectable Factory 5 Collection. They also manage to pump out some impressive fragrance in their Les Exclusif line. If you’re new to the perfume craving they are a good place to smell some beautifully crafted fragrance, accessible in most large department stores.
Sycomore by CHANEL EdP (2016)
Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Aldehydes, Spices, Pink pepper, Sandalwood, Tobacco, Violet, Vetiver, Juniper, Cypress
Grassy greenness, the sweet shiver of pink pepper, the warm enveloping and silky smooth pairing of tobacco and sandalwood are all front and centre at the opening of Sycomore EdP. Less brilliant and sparkling than its EdT predecessor but warmer and more wearable by far. This feels more luxurious without the razza mattaz, showbiz style entrance. Don’t get me wrong, I love the EdT but there is a place in my heart for the EdP. Also, as more proof I own this small bottle of EdP and it wasn’t even on my list as an EdT.
The heart becomes a lightly spiced fresh hewn wood. Not a chest thumping, crackly, modern niche experience of woods. Here there is air between the notes. You aren’t in the sawmill, or even the lumberyard. It’s more like you’ve had a wood delivery at home and you can smell it as you enter and leave the house. I don’t know what it is but I also smell wood polish, like those lovely waxes that feed and nourish your wood table.
Dry down gets woodsier and woodsier as it fades over hours. Interestingly people around me can smell this long after I become nose blind. A perfect scent for those times you need to be softly fragrant for long periods of time.
Sycomore is a modern, unisex fragrance. No matter that it was originally created in 1930. I never smelled the Ernest Beaux version but Jacques Polge and Christopher Sheldrake have done a beautiful job of revamping the EdT.
Have you spent time with any of the CHANEL Sycomores?
Portia x
(EDIT: I spelled Sycomore as SycAmore through the whole post and then was pulled up. It is in fact SycOmore. Fixed now)
Undina's Looking Glass 
I have not spent time with this, and I’m woefully ignorant of Chanel’s exclusive lines, but it sounds like I need to put this on my try list.
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Hi there Cynthia3403,
The good news is that most large department stores in cities have an exclusives counter. Or there is a CHANEL Beauty stand alone nearby. Make sure you go in scent free and with an hour or so to spare. Smell them ALL on card, then pick two you are really attracted to and put one on each arm.
Portia xx
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That sounds like very good advice!
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What?! You haven’t tried Chanel Exclusifs? (faints) Where is your perfumista card?
OK, of course, I’m joking. But, in my opinion, it is a good line to test. And I think you’ll like at least a couple of them.
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Undina, I laughed when I read that. You are so funny!
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I have this weird thing where I hate trying perfumes while the sales person stands by watching. You would think I would have gotten over it by now! I now remember I did go in the Chanel boutique when I lived in Singapore, but boy, did they hover!
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I feel like all the super cool and chic women wear Sycamore. I aspire to have it work for me one day.
Your writing is as wonderful as ever Portia.
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Hey Tara,
Funny. I would have put you in that category already. How people see us is rarely our own view. We apply too many filters and have had too much conditioning to ever feel we measure up.
OH! That’s a lovely thing to say.
Thank you.
Portia xx
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I adooore the EdT version and am so glad to have a full bottle of it. A masterpiece if you ask me, I save it for special occasions and for days that I want to feel special :)
The EdP sounds good too, but I find it difficult to not compare it to the EdT (as with all the Chanel Exclusives).
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Hey Marie,
Yes, the EdT was very special.
I did my time mourning the changes. It must have been important, CHANEL rarely needs to be so honest about their tweaking. Some of the brilliance left the collection in the change but the heart remains.
For some of us it also changed one or two of them enough to put them squarely in our wheelhouse when before they were not.
Portia xx
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Sycamore is very beautiful and I love the EDT version. I used up a whole bottle of it, LOL. I need to get another one of the current offering.
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Hey RR (I’ve shortened, cool?)
WOW! A perfumista finishing a bottle is a feat. You must have LOVED it.
Did you try the EdP yet?
Portia xx
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I’m sure I smelled Sycomore at a store at some point, but I’ve never had a sample of it, so I don’t remember what I thought about it. Of course, now I’m curious to try it.
Had Chanel been alive, I would have probably boycotted the brand for her history with Nazi. But I do not believe in the inherited guilt or any other forms of penance for “wrongs” conducted not by the penalized party. That’s why I have no issues with Chanel (as a brand). We’ll, if not to count the idea of filming Brett Pitt for the No 5 commercial or the fact that they produced their No 5 Factory edition products in the volume that ensured double- and triple-earnings by eBay resellers within days from the launch.
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Oh yes, that factory stuff went like hotcakes. Excellent buzz though.
HA! I loved the idea of Brad Pitt being the CHANEL No 5 face but I thought the ads themselves were stupid. It makes sense to advertise to the guys who buy perfume for themselves or their partners while still ensuring the hetero girls get a thrill.
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I love Sycamore-I only have a sample, but you’re nailed the experience, Portia. It’s really beautiful and so ….clean. Is that wrong? I wasn’t going to buy anything this year, but I bought Le Lion, and it’s great even in the summer heat. Sycamore would be, too :)
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OOOH! I love Le Lion Carole! Isn’t it stellar? You’ve chosen my SOTD, thanks.
Portia xx
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I haven’t spent much time with Sycomore, though I think I have owned a very small sample at some point. It is an excellent unisex scent that is a grower, I sense.
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Vanessa,
I can easily imagine you wearing it. Crisp, comfortable, elegant, ever so slightly eccentric fragrance that flies under the radar. It’s kind of made for you.
Portia x
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