Monday, August 8, 2011

Chanel No.19 Poudre: fragrance review

~by guest writer AlbertCAN

Of all the people in the world I would have never guessed that I would be one of the first to write a full review about Chanel No. 19 Poudré, one of the two latest introductions from the fabled house. In fact even if the spirit of Coco Chanel told me this morning I would not have believed it, for all signs pointed to an uneventful day.

Yet life has a way of stringing the impossible, isn’t it? I had to take a photo with my personal belongings otherwise nobody, including myself, would have thought of it.


August 4th was my day off, the unorthodox result of my manager’s scheduling so I could work Monday to Saturday. This Thursday was meant to be routine—errands in the morning, fitness workout in the afternoon, early retirement by night in preparation of the early shift tomorrow.

Except I found out in the evening that I had to cast my ballot an important provincial tax referendum by tonight else I would have missed the opportunity altogether, with the nearest voting station at a local mall about 15 minute drive from my house. Nothing chic has been discovered in that toy plaza since the arrival of Givenchy Amarige d’Amour, as I uttered to myself when I pulled out of my driveway.

The voting station was everything I loath, being a stone throw away from Walmart and the Hello Kitty concession stand, right next to the mall’s washroom. By the time I drop off my vote, after being asked to triple seal my ballot with three distinct envelopes I was just ready to leave. But then I remembered that one of my fragrances was about to run out, and not wanting to waste too much of my time I marshalled myself to The Hudson’s Bay Company, our historic—albeit slightly paunchy and tired by now—national department store monument. Move along, I said to myself, just get on with it.

The fragrance section of the HBC on a Thursday evening was nothing to behold: Sales staff three people strong, all manning multiple stations and sounding a bit inexperienced when interacting with other clients. With my look of death they left me alone after 10 seconds.

That’s when I bumped into a big display stand of Chanel No. 19 Poudré.

I did a double take and quickly scanned the store’s Chanel inventory. Not a bottle of No. 19 in sight, and only the display of the new edition available: 2 bottles of 100mL Chanel No. 19 Poudré eau de parfum. The most seasoned Chanel reps, even account managers, couldn’t tell me weeks ago when their supplies of Chanel No. 19 Poudré would come to the Vancouver flagship store. Now I was face to face with two bottles in the local mall, with associates not even knowing a thing about it. (“I think it’s a limited edition*,” the poor lady said as she carefully surveyed the shelves, “Two is all we have.” *editor's note: Chanel No. 19 Poudré is inteded as a regular diffusion to the original line and not as a limited edition)

I quickly grabbed the tester and gave it a test run. Now, having read all the information from Perfume Shrine (here and here) I knew what to expect: Beautiful orris absolute, soft and buttery sheer. Much more delicate than the original, and with the icy zing of galbanum now in tender check. I’ll take one, as I quickly pulled out my credit card. I walked out of the store a happy man. The story, however, had just begun.

While my initial impression of the scent stays true on the blotter--for up to three days I find-- on the skin is a slightly different story. About 10 minutes after the initial testing the orris absolute, so prominently featured in Chanel’s Les Exclusifs line (most notably 28 La Pausa and No. 18) started to soft focus: the delicate floral initially pinning in the background started came to fore, and on my way home one thing was becoming very clear—the orris absolute gave way to a suede musk, bolstered by a synthetic iris, which was what I got for the rest of the three hours. It’s still going softly but surely, actually.

Now I would be inclined to say that the musk element feels like a natural progression from Chance Eau Tendre, but to be honest the woody-musk drydown is very much a thoughtful rendition of the original No. 19 elements, most notably the pronounced woods within the eau de toilette version without the oakmoss presence. In fact that’s the ironic arch about the structure of the new fragrance: I had the eau de toilette of the original and the new one side by side on each arm and they are essentially the same breed. The biggest difference among the two would be the green and the floral facets—in No. 19 Poudré the rose and jasmine absolutes are decidedly not present, and neither was galbanum taking a cut in the new version. What makes the original so interesting (and so difficult to sink into at first try) is that hit-your-face-like-ice-blade freshness only the finest galbanum from Iran could do (anything less would conjure a hint of garlic from the inferior grade). The new version, in short, feels almost like a summery of the old in a more updated language, albeit a bit hollowed out in the centre to usher in an iris-musk sillage.


Thus am I disappointed? Far from it: I know this is going to surely reach a new generation and an entirely novel set of audience, most notably the American and the Asian audiances. In fact the entire artistic creation is right on the money, from the bottle to the juice. Even the image, albeit a bit on the forgettable side, is well integrated into the target image.

The original No. 19, to begin, is truly one of the priciest formula in the original Chanel archive, with the finished compound costing around 1800 Euros (the exactly figure from Chandler Burr’s A Perfect Scent eludes me at the moment). Yet it continues to be a tough sell in the States with its cashmere opening and independent development. When looking at the formula, most notably the original eau de toilette, one notices the genius of Henri Robert by pairing the warmth with the cold, the sunny cis-3-hexanol salicylate and hedione with the severity of iris, the crisp neroli with the sensual woody chypre. Carefully beaded verdant crystals on top of premium silver penne velvet, breath-taking but not for everyone. So if the new edition could help breaking people into the masterpiece, well, why not? Yes and no.

I don’t question the Chanel perfumers’ desire to stay true to the spirit of Coco Chanel, and I don’t question the quality of iris at the beginning of the fragrance (I have several commercial orris blends in stock, and after smelling them along side the latest Chanel it was pretty obvious that some synthetics, most notably the tea-like alpha-isomethyl ionone, is paired with the orris absolute). Yet I wish the sillage could be a bit more varied and nuanced, a bit more imagination on top of modernizing the tradition: Wouldn't it breath-taking to dazzle us, Monsieur Jacques Polge, by pairing galbanum with a beautiful green element not available at Coco Chanel's time, such as the Michelia alba leaves extract? (Come to think of it: Why not? Wouldn't the high priestess of innovation appove when it's brilliantly done? ) And the white floral facet: well, pretty—I can feel the lily of the valley hovering in the background with the use of hydroxycitronnellal—but all this makes me yearn for the original so much more. So we have anther version of No. 19 that’s not for everyone, this time in a different context.

On the other hand the new No. 19 is quite versatile, not only accommodating for different events but also as a layering base for the original parfum in order to amplify the iris in an interesting way. And as I have alluded to earlier in this article, the verdant fragrance can potentially be used as a masculine for some dandies. In fact I look forward to pairing this with a few drops of my 15mL parfum (which works surprisingly well as a masculine, by the way). By the same token, on the other hand, best to test the fragrance before purchasing a full bottle, as unlike the traditional No. 19 line what's on the blotter may or may not be what you get on your skin, as the case to me.

Chanel No. 19 Poudré is a green floral and was developed by Chanel house perfumer Jacques Polge: The notes of Chanel No. 19 Poudré include neroli, galbanum, jasmine, iris, white musk, vetiver and tonka bean. I sampled the 100mL Eau de Parfum tester, both on paper and on skin. I purchased a bottle, although I haven’t opened it yet. It’s out in the market, although at the moment availability varies depending on geographical regions.

photo of bottle in box, copyright by AlbertCAN

15 comments:

  1. I am waiting for this to be released because I would love to get a small decant to test drive.

    ReplyDelete
  2. kathleen23:51

    I'm wondering what the effect would be, if one was to spritz this, and then dab No 19 parfum on top.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Eld,

    that's the only way to really know if something suits really: test driving with a decant. Spraying at the store is nice, but often misleading. I hope they offer samples for home use where you're at, soon.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Kathleen,

    hmmm, that's my way of thinking and I admit you have me intrigued!! I need to do that asap. BTW, I do like the edt layered with a drop or two of parfum, in this scent. (Same as with Opium)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I live Ohio (U.S.) and I hope I don't have to wait. I find it impossible to try any perfume in any store, due to my nose getting confused. It always seems like I have the sales people trying to push me to make a split second to make a decision to get a perfume.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I just received a decant of this and I'm doing a little test run. I might have to wear it a few times to give it a fair try, but as I sniff it, I find myself craving the galbanum in the original. In all fairness, I should also mention that I love 19 in vintage, especially the parfum, and I have a bottle that is particularly leathery and oakmossy. I'll have to dig through my decants to find some edt for a more fair comparison.

    The other issue that I have with the new Poudre is the white musk, which substantially alters some of my favorite qualities of No 19's drydown. Is it me, or is white musk taking the perfume world by storm right now?

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  7. The more I wear No.19 Poudre the more I love the original No.19. But in the last two months that I've been wearing the new version it grew on me. It will never become my true favorite but I do not regret buying it.

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  8. Eldarwen,

    I can sympathise...nothing like having pressure to buy when you haven't made up your mind yet.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Melissa,

    thank you darling for pointing out what you find different/irksome with the newest version. I love No.19 very much (always had) and so I'm struggling to see how the new would compare to the old on my own skin. As of this moment, counters don't have the new on display. They do have plenty of the old one, though! (It's a steady seller here)

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  10. U,

    seems like a reverse way to draw consumers to the old version after all?
    Jokes aside, it's probably not going to make die-hard fans of the original No.19 change into the new edition (like it hasn't you yourself), but as long as it keeps the original afloat and in existence, I'm not complaining too much.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous15:37

    Lovely bottle and pretty to look at juice, but really. . . . I drowned myself in it at the fragrance counter and still had to mash my nose to my arm to smell it. When I could detect anything it was quite a pretty but simplistic blend of iris, rose and musk but not Chanel in my mind. The far drydown on my clothes however was noisome with a cheap berry chapstick smell. I'll be sticking with my 19 in EdT and EdP and may go looking for the extrait. To my mind this was a waste of time and money by Chanel that they could have targeted to bringing more of their Exclusifs to us in extrait. Cuir de Russie is pure genius with no compromises to modern tastes in my mind but I haven't tried the vintage either. I don't dare set one toe on that road . . . .

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  12. Capucine20:42

    Undina, you have readed my mind!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous21:50

    Anon above has it right. It's pretty to look at and that's all. Couldn't hardly smell a thing after a few minutes and it was floor waxy at that. I'm going to miss my EDT greatly as it has all been removed from all the stores here in N. Calif. Can't find a sniff of it anywhere. Only the new stuff and it's not selling. Oh, Coco, we're so sorry. . .

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous22:51

    The store TRAVEL SCENTS on Ebay has hundreds of designer fragrance samples in their store.

    They offer $1.95 flat rate shipping on all orders, so it's a pretty good deal.

    You can check them out at
    http://stores.ebay.com/Travel-Scents

    ReplyDelete
  15. I sincerely hope the ebay rec is unaffiliated. I let it pass for now, lest it helps someone reading here searching for something.

    ReplyDelete

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