Chanel No 19 Poudre

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My Blog’s First Anniversary

Most of you are probably familiar with, I’m positive a well-studied and explained, phenomenon of the time going faster as you get older. I wasn’t curious enough to look for those explanations so at some point I came up with the one that seemed logical and left it at that.

In our earlier years time is very discrete and structured: we always know which grade we are in, what semester (or quarter as it was in the country where I went to school) it is and when we’ll have the next break. Our years are distinctive in terms of classes, class-mates and teachers. And each year constitutes a significant part of our self-aware life.

As we get older, finish our education and start working full-time, our lives become more unified,  “continuous” and provide much less range poles for memory to measure against. Also a year becomes smaller and smaller relative to life lived. Small kids might improve that situation for their parents for a while but it’s still not the same and it goes away as they grow up.

First BlogoversaryI didn’t know that at the time, but starting my blog a year ago served as an antidote to that acceleration tendency (probably just a temporary one but still). My life became much more structured. I’m constantly aware of not only a month (“Is it time for a monthly stats post?”) but also dates and days of the week (“I haven’t posted since the last Tuesday” or “I’m reading a six-days-old post – Is it still Ok to comment?”).

This first year was veeery looong and really good for me. I published many more posts than I planned I would. I found many more blogo-friends than I hoped I would. And I discovered many more great perfumes than I thought I would.

I’m thankful to all my friends, supporters and enablers influencers.

Suzanne, lyu, Vanessa, Michael, Ines, Victoria, Ari, Diana, Joanne, Tara, Olga, Elisa, Thomas, Lavanya, Carol, Laurie, Meg, Krista, Asali and Christos – thank you. For reading, commenting, writing inspiring reviews and sharing perfumes. I appreciate every token of your support and value your friendship.

And now a special spotlight on my perfume godmothers:

Five Bottles

Natalie of Another Perfume Blog: as far as I know she was the first one to report on upcoming Chanel No 19 Poudre release. She kept publishing updates and impressions the topic and it resulted in My First Unsniffed Purchase. (UPD: APB is closed now)

Dee of beauty on the outside: after I won a drawing for a decant of Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess perfume on her blog, I liked it so much that I bought the last bottle at the store and then brought it with me on the trip to Hawaii – how often do you haul a FB to a vacation? (if you haven’t seen it yet, take a look at the Bronze Goddess’ picture from that trip, I think she looked great).

Birgit of Olfactoria’s Travels: she described Annick Goutal Ambre Fetiche in such a way that I just had to try it! (well, Birgit does it a lot). I got a sample (thanks to Carrie), tried it and fell in love. So now finally I have a colored Annick Goutal’s bottle in my collection.

Tarleisio of The Alembicated Genie: her beautiful writing resulted in not one but two new bottles in my collection: Serge Lutens Ambre Sultan and DSH Vert pour Madame. If you haven’t read The Incomparable Khadine and Vertesimilituda yet I dare you to do so and see if you can resist the urge to try these perfumes if you haven’t tried them yet or re-try if you have.

Mals86 of The Muse in Wooden Shoes: here I told the story about my bottle of Puredistance Antonia and what role Mals played in it.

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What else did this year of blogging give me? A complete realization of how great the climate where I live is.

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Images: my own

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My First Unsniffed Purchase: Chanel №19 Poudré

It started completely innocently: less than two months ago another perfume blog (APB) published a brief article about the upcoming launch of Chanel №19 Poudré. It was a big surprise for me. Not because of the launch itself but because this was the first time I heard about it, and the information was coming not from my “regular sources,” big and well-known sites and journals (I read a lot of perfume-related noise) but from a fellow-blogger. First, I thought I’d somehow missed it so I went and searched all my usual suspects. Nothing. Then I searched Google, Facebook, Twitter. With similar results: all I found was a couple of vague tweets from random users and trademark registration information. Of course, within a week the picture changed, there were articles appearing here and there, but I still think that APB pioneered with that information in our perfume-related part of the blogosphere; and I felt strangely intertwined with it.

When I read that Chanel №19 Poudré was going to be available for preview at Selfridges in London starting June 1st and no specific date for the U.S. launch, I felt I couldn’t wait. I wanted it. NOW. Luckily (?) for me a friend of mine was on a long business trip to the U.K. and he agreed to buy this new Chanel’s flanker and hand deliver it to me. And he did.

Rusty and No 19 Poudre by Chanel

Chanel №19 Poudré – created in 2011 by Jacques Polge, notes include neroli, galbanum, jasmine, iris, white musk, vetiver and tonka bean. It comes in the eau de parfum (EdP) concentration.

I’ve been testing it for the last two weeks in different environments and combinations – in the office, during the weekend and on a vacation; in sunny weather and under the rain; alone and alongside with Chanel №19 in all possible concentrations – EdT, EdP and Parfum. Here are my thoughts.

Chanel №19 Poudré opens very nicely with a strong iris note which I like more and more with every next wear. While anxiously waiting for my bottle to arrive, I read so many discussions and speculations about the perfume that now I’m not sure if it actually was just a speculation, but I want to state that I do not think it’s a powdery scent at all. The iris in №19 Poudré doesn’t smell powdery, or cold, or earthy, or dirty as in many other perfumes that I like. Iris in this perfume is very well-behaved and appropriate, it’s soft and creamy. And just a little daring – like a single hair lock carefully places to look like it spontaneously broke out from the elegant updo hairstyle. This is the most interesting stage of this perfume’s life cycle, and it will probably sell it well to those shoppers who make their decision at the perfume counter. In ten-fifteen minutes iris subsides almost completely, and №19 Poudré becomes a softer, “rounder” and, in my mind, less interesting version of the original №19 EdP. I only have a manufacturer’s vial of Chanel №19 EdP of an unknown vintage, so I do not know how the current version smells but assuming it’s not too far from the one I tested, №19 Poudré EdP has much less character than the original №19 EdP, though it strongly reminds of it.

Unless you’re one of those people whose body constantly produces heat, I should warn you that an air-conditioned environment (and maybe cold weather but I haven’t tested under that condition) kills this perfume for me: I could hardly smell it on my skin after a generous application in two hours in the cool office. On the other hand, on a warm and humid day six hours into wearing I can still smell it without pressing my nose to the skin.

If your favorite Chanel №19 concentration is eau de toilette (EdT) №19 Poudré might be not a bad idea since it’s even farther from №19 EdT then any “native” variations. But if you love №19 EdP or parfum I do not think №19 Poudré will work for you: it’s not different enough to justify the changes.

My cat Rusty who favors Chanel Beige when offered two wrists – one with Chanel №19 Poudré EdP and the other one with vintage №19 EdP, sniffed the latter for much longer and much more attentively. I think he prefers the classic one.

Do I regret my unsniffed purchase? I’m not sure. Yes and no. I will be using it from time to time, I do not dislike it. But I think should I have tested it in the store I would have bought Chanel №19 EdT instead. But it’s definitely not the worst outcome.

Do you remember your first unsniffed purchase? Was it a hit or miss for you?

As always, feel free to post a link to your blog’s post(s) related to the topic.

Image: my own