Chanel Coco EDP review

There are a few things that pop into my head when I think of Chanel perfumes. Those things are aldehydes, jasmine and ylang-ylang. Oriental doesn't really come into the picture when I think of Chanel perfumes. Then came Chanel Coco and I am not talking about Coco Mademoiselle. I'm talking about the Coco that came out in 1984. Chanel no. 5, no. 19 and a few other Chanel perfumes do have a certain way of smelling. They don't smell like they were made in the '80's nor do they smell like they were made in the late '90's but Coco smells like she was created in the 1980's. The '80's was a decade were bigger was better. Calvin Klein's Obsession came out in the '80's as did Poison. Sure, Coco is plush and not the type that will melt every hair in your nose. But dated is dated. Coco has the staying power and sillage that I'm used to with Chanel but Coco needs some tweeking. What I mean by that is, get Coco out of the '80's and really make her timeless. I don't hate or really dislike Coco, I cannot get over how Coco can smell like something in the '80's.

Do I really?

In the past week, I've ordered 3 large decants of perfumes that I already have. My mother was talking to me and watching do it. Her question was, "Don't you already have those?", My response was, "Yes.". Then she proceeded to ask me why I was ordering them again. My response was two of them were vintage and one of them wasn't available in the U.S. I have blogged before about E-bay scares the living daylights out of me so it's The Perfumed Court for me. The Perfumed COurt has introduced me to perfumes that I have not heard of or even thought of trying. Some were winners, some were not, some grew on me. Worth Courtesan is one perfume that I had dismissed as something nice but nothing special. I have mostly had a disdain for fruity perfumes but Courtesan isn't that fruity when I smelled a little closer. I now know why vintage perfumes of classics are more often than not better than the most current version.

Bal a Versailles Vintage EDP Review

It's very rare that I am enthralled enough by a perfume. Enthralled enough to buy another vintage decant and go to Amazon to get a full bottle. On some perfume blogs, BaV has been called skanky or animalistic but I beg to differ. I would call BaV a sensual oriental. Maybe my definition of skanky is a little bit different. L'Air de Rein is one of those skanky perfumes, it's like a pair of unwashed panties that someone wore for 3 days. L'Air de Rein is unwearable to me. Muscs Koublai Khan smells like freshly washed female stuff but forgot to do a load of laundry. BaV is by no means demure, it's smells like someone has been around the block a time or two. When wearing BaV, I can imagine myself at Versailles in the mid 1700's and probably mistress to a very powerful noble or the king himself. BaV is not for the faint of heart or for the folks who like those quiet, clean inoffensive perfumes or for those who like the fruity floral crap.

In the beginning, I get a huge blast of orange blossom that transforms into orange blossom and amber. I find this to be breathtaking because I am very fond of oriental perfumes and BaV is not a crude oriental. And there are a lot of crudely made orientals entering the market now.

Guerlain Spiriteueuse Double Vanille Review

I have got to stop reading perfume blogs and reviews. It's led to buying and trying way too many perfumes. This is coming after I had counted 25 full bottles of perfumes and 47 decants of perfume of various sizes. But there are some perfumes that I had initially written off as nothing special, I have fallen in love with (Worth Courtesan, Amouage Reflection) and there are some that I had initially loved and now I don't really care for (Amouage Ubar). Tastes do evolve.

Guerlain's Spiriteueuse Double Vanille is one perfume that has gotten many rave reviews on perfume blogs and seems to have a cult following. I was kind of intrigued with this one. After this had arrived in the mail, something did hit me. I have had some difficulty with vanilla dominant perfumes in the past. Most that I have tried turn into those sickly sweet things that make me smell like a cupcake. Or they get this bubblegum type thing (Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille) going on in the dry down.

I have tried this over the past couple days and I am not really that wild over it. SDV is too busy trying to be too many things. But I mainly get the vanilla extract that I use for baking vibe. After about 2 hours SDV peters into a bubblegum vanilla that sticks around for the remainder of the wearing. I was a little dissapointed with the longetivity of this EDP. It only lasts on my skin for about 7 hours at best. Shalimar and Mitsouko, both in EDP form last for a good 12 hours on my skin. It's nice enough but I won't be buying a full bottle.

Deneuve Parfum Review

I have not explored the chypre family like some. Of course, Coty's Chypre and Guerlain's Mitsouko are considered the golden standard of what chypres are. But I can see how Deneuve fits into the classic chypre form. For the past six months or more, I was flirting with the idea of getting a decant of Deneuve. What did hold me up was the price of even the EDT version. When I found the that the Perfumed Court had an 8ml decant of this in parfum form for a reasonable price, I was in.

It's rare for me to be blown away by any perfume, but I am blown away by Deneuve. It has that classic chypre feel and smell, but doesn't have the dreaded dated smell to it. In the beginning, I notice a nice blast of aldehydes that drifts off into the rose and hyacinth note. I'm talking probably the most realistic hyacinth flower note that I've smelled. The rose and hyacinth stick around for quite a long time and I think that is part of the reason why I am blown away. Lasting power is about 12 hours and sticks somewhat close to the skin. If Deneuve were not discontinued, I would buy a bottle in a heartbeat. But I am contemplating getting another large decant of this.

Montale Greyland Review

Thus far, there do not seem to be many reviews on Montale's Greyland EDP. I've been having a difficult time trying to decipher this perfume then attempting to write a somewhat decent review of this perfume. Then it hit me, Greyland is similar to Chanel's Sycomore. Greyland is a woody scent with a little bit of skank to it. But Greyland falls into the masculine camp of perfume, where Sycomore is a little more feminine. Instead of smelling of vetiver and cypress, Greyland smells like a cedar chest that someone tossed a sweaty T-shirt in there and left it in there for a couple weeks. Greyland is a very dry perfume because there is no sweetness to it. I've noticed that I'm not fond of dry perfumes so I didn't enjoy Greyland. My pocket book is sighing with relief because I will not be getting a bottle.

Looking around E-bay

The past couple days, I have been poking around E-bay looking at vintage or new perfumes. I nearly spit out my drink when I saw some of the prices. I expected prices on a lot of vintage perfumes to be up there, especially if it was a vintage is dated in the 1960's. But the prices on some of the current reformulations were outragous. I stumbled across a brand spanking new unopened box of Chanel's Cuir de Russie parfum (not vintage) for $290. For a 6.8 oz EDT bottle of Cuir de Russie, it was almost $300. I understand Chanel perfumes are not exactly cheap but compared to some niche perfumes that I've spent money on, prices on Chanel perfumes are actually quite reasonable in stores and through the Chanel website. I am really thinking that sellers on E-bay are going to the mall, buying 4 or 5 bottles of perfume. Then sell them on E-bay for $20 more and making the buyee pay for shipping on top of it. Most commercial sites offer free shipping when you spend a certian amount.This is one of the reasons that I have never bought anything through E-bay.

When I do see something from E-bay, that is vintage, it is usually out of my price range to begin with or the payment options are not my preferred method of payment. I don't have a PayPal account and I am not willing to set one up.