Coco Chanel

by

Saturday Question: Which of Your Current Favorites Was Released In Your Back-to-School Years?

In the US, some schools are “back in session” already, which still feels slightly surprising to me, whose school years always started on September 1st (unless it fell on Sunday). But hearing all the back-to-school ads and conversations inspired this SQ.

 

Saturday Question on Undina's Looking Glass

 

Saturday Question #177:

Which of Your Current Favorites Was Released In Your Back-to-School Years?

Hopefully, a decade (plus-minus a year) is enough disguise for those who don’t feel comfortable disclosing their exact age.

Do you currently have a favorite perfume in your collection that was released between when you started the second grade and when you went back to school for the last time? It doesn’t have to be a perfume that back then you liked (or even knew about its existence). But the bonus question is: when did you get it first?

Hint: You can use Fragrantica search to set the From/To year criterion if you can’t easily think of any specific perfume.

My Answer

Surprisingly, my collection has more than one favorite perfume from that era But let’s go with one – Chanel Coco. I didn’t know it when I was going to school. I think I knew of Chanel No 5 (though I haven’t tried it before much later – and I still don’t like it on my skin), but no other names of perfumes from that brand were even mentioned when I was growing up.

After I moved to the US, I tried many of Chanel’s mainstream perfumes (one of my relatives had them all), but I didn’t like any of them… until about 14 years ago when, thanks to a generous SA at Nordstrom, I got samples of several Chanel perfumes and fell in love with Coco and No 19. In 2010, Coco was my first full bottle purchase from Chanel ever. And this is one of those perfumes that still wows me every time I wear it.

Rusty and Chanel Coco

How about you?

 

Which of Your Current Favorites Was Released In Your Back-to-School Years?

Sycomore by CHANEL
by

Sycomore by CHANEL

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)

Sycamore by CHANEL

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.

Sycamore by CHANEL EdP

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)

by

New Year Resolutions: January

 

One of my perfume-related New Year Resolutions this year was to slow down the testing gallop and start wearing more often those perfumes that I like already. The goal was to spend at least two days a week with my favorites – perfumes from my collection, not test vials and sample sprays. After all, why to look for a perfect scent if I will not give it enough face body time once the courting is over?

The first month of the year went by almost unnoticed. Looking in the perfume diary for January I see that somehow I managed not to get too far from the goal: I wore one of my favorite perfumes on nine different occasions. Of course, nine times does translate to “twice a week”, but I cheated a little by sometimes putting on something new in the morning – “just to see how it feels”, – and later the same day or in the evening I would wear a perfume I own and love.

Quick January statistics:

* Different perfumes worn: 46
* Favorite perfumes worn: 9
* Perfumes tried for the first time: 25

* Perfume house I wore most often: 
   Chanel (Coco and Beige, two times each)
   Ormonde Jayne (Orris Noir and Tiare, two times each).

* Most popular notes: top – bergamot and mandarin; middle – jasmine and rose; base – musk and sandalwood.

Image: my own