My Chanel no 5 Journey

 It's a well known fact that I do love Chanel no 5. The first bottle that I had purchased was the extrait version around 10 or 12 years ago and promptly drained or my mother nicked it. Then I got a 50ml bottle of the EDP that is about two thirds empty.

Before I got serious about perfume, there was a time that I tried the no 5 hand lotion at a department store and I promptly hated it. I don't recall exactly why I hated it but I honestly think that the lotion might have been improperly stored and had gone rancid or I was trying the wrong no 5. But when I had bought my first extrait bottle, it was $95 for a quarter ounce bottle. But the first version on no 5 that I really understood was Eau Premiere when I tried it at a department store and bought a bottle. But when I arrived home, I realized that I had bought the Sensual Elixer, which has been discontinued for years. But I ordered a bottle of Eau Premiere a couple days later.

So fast forward at least a decade and how many bottles of perfume later, I have tons of Chanel no 5. The only no 5 that isn't in my stable is the L'Eau version because it has no resemblance to any other version of no 5. But when I finished that bottle of no 5 edt, I kind of took a little bit of a break but opened a brand new bottle of the edt and almost physically recoiled. Chanel has messed with the edt version. I knew that the edp version was messed with and kind of liked it. But after wearing my first bottle of no 5 edp, I am pretty annoyed with Chanel at this point. Because no 5 isn't something that I exactly recognize anymore. No 5 has been reformulated. Reformulations do happen but not to this extreme. I can't comment about the extrait being reformulated because I don't have any older bottles to compare it to. But the luminous nature of the edt isn't there and the sharpness of the edp isn't there. So it looks like I am going to be sticking to Eau Premiere for a very long time. 

I will admit that I would love to have another bottle of the extrait version of no 5 but the prices of Chanel have gotten to the point of being ridiculous. To the point of I can't exactly justify buying any of Chanel perfumes. Out of all of the no 5 offerings, Ulta doesn't carry the extrait version of no 5 and I have almost enough points that I would get a quarter ounce bottle. But things haven't worked out that way at Ulta.

BDK Tubereuse Imperiale Review

Since I went wild with Gris Charnel, I decided to test out another BDK perfume. Luckyscent was having a 10% off and free shipping on everything in their store, I made a jump for the Tubereuse Imperiale travel spray, even though I probably shouldn't have done it. It's not all that often that Luckyscent has a sale. I try not to regret things and I am trying to not spend money all wily nilly here, I have things that I need to pay for and I just have to spend less in general. But I figure for a grand total of $43 (tax included) for a 10ml travel spray, what did I have to lose?

It was my parents' 43rd wedding anniversary today and they decided that I was to tag along for dinner. I was thinking about wearing Tigress Musk but that wasn't exactly suited to the occasion but I wanted something a little different from my normal stuff. And after that 18 hour power outage from Friday night to Saturday afternoon, I was a little sick of CdG Kyoto.

This tuberose is a strange one. It doesn't smell like a fully mature tuberose bloom, more of a young bloom. It's like when a rose bud is just starting to open and give off it's scent. I did notice that it has a marginal green type of smell but also has a little bit of a metholated type of smell, like I smelled in Tuberose Criminalle. But there was something in the whole set up that reminded me of something else that I owned and I couldn't quite put my finger on exactly which one. All through dinner it was bothering me. Then it came to me, the supporting notes gave a distinct the form of the original Chanel Coco. As much as I do like Coco, it does have that 80's vibe to this. But if Coco were to be updated, I would like it to go more of Tubereuse Imperiale without altering it to the point of not recognizing it.

The tuberose does fade into the background but not fully into the background. The spices do come out to play a little bit more and since I am in the dry down, I am smelling a little bit of vanilla, it's not a whopping dose but it's in there. I applied this at 3 this afternoon and it's a little after 11 and it's slowly starting to fade. Personally, I would and will stick to the 10ml travel spray because I can't really justify a full bottle of this, even if I do like it a fair bit.
 

Andy Tauer L'Air des Alpes Suisses EDP Review

It looks like Andy Tauer might have discontinued another one. This time in the form of Une Rose Chypree. I'm not really convinced that he discontinued both Une Rose Chypree or Une Rose Vermeille. Partly because of Covid-19 and it's making shipping a real bear to deal with. I hope that he really hasn't and maybe someone out there has the straight answer. But finally I get motivated enough to actually review a perfume. Part of the reason is that the decant I had had only one or two measly wearings before it was all gone. I think that either STC or TPC changed their decants and evaporation is a bigger problem now.

L'Air des Alpes Suisses is definitely a Tauer perfume because of the Tauer base. Hints of pine, lavander and a whisper of ambergris but it's not a heavy perfume. Nor is it in the likes of the generic colognes that I have smelled a million times before. For a while, I couldn't put my finger on why it smelled so familiar. It's similar to Les Annees 25 (not the BIS version). Pine isn't a not that's used too often in perfumery. If it ever is, pine takes on that pine car freshener or Pine-Sol. I really do enjoy L'Air des Alpes Suisses and not because it is from Andy Tauer and I am a fangirl of his work; I just enjoy this one. The lasting power on my skin is about 6 hours. For me, this would be great on hot and humid days or just plain, old humid days. Suisses is definitely full bottle worthy to me.

Chanel Coromandel EDP Review

I actually decided to get a decant of Coromandel off of E-bay. The seller shipped it out pretty quick and I got it pretty quick. I have been pretty wary of the Les Exclusifs line since they went from the EDT to the EDP formulation. Anyone familiar with Chanel knows that no matter which formulation of any of their scents are going to smell different.

Take no 5 for example. The parfum will smell different than the EDT and the EDT will smell different from the EDP. But they all smell like no 5 but certain things might be emphasized in one formulation but the next formulation, something else is emphasized.

After trying the EDP version of Cuir de Russie and not being to amused, I was a little reluctant to get a full bottle of Coromandel EDP without trying it out. I was pretty late to the party with Coromandel. When I tried Coromandel, my 5ml decant was half evaporated and STC and TPC were not and still not allowed to sell any decants of Chanel. So I had reservations about decants off of E-Bay for a long time due to the fact that I had a pretty good chance of getting something fake.

When I ordered my decant of Coromandel, the only available size that the seller had was 10ml. I was looking for more of a 3ml size. The EDP does smell like the EDT but with a few differences. I found the EDP to be more sheer but in a way, smoother than the EDT. I noticed that the patchouli was a little smoother and a little quieter. I noticed that there wasn't as much projection. I expected this kind of projection along the lines of a parfum. The lasting power is much shorter though. The EDT gave me 6 hours of wear but the EDP only gave me 4 hours.

I wouldn't mind a full bottle of this but I am still kicking myself for not getting a bottle of the EDT while the prices were still fairly reasonable. I do want to try the parfum version on this one and I am sure that it's glorious.

i Profumi di Firenze Vaniglia del Madagascar Review

After shuffling through my unworn bag of perfume, I had realized that some of my decants are evaporating, I realized that I really needed to get the show on the road with wearing and reviewing. Yesterday, I had a huge craving for a vanilla dominant perfume and that landed me in Vaniglia del Madagascar.

I've always had a hard time with vanilla perfumes because I work in a bakery and I have ended up with not exactly liking vanilla dominant perfumes. Most of them came across as smelling like a cupcake or straight up vanilla extract. Then came Havana Vanille and Guerlain's SDV and then I realized that I like my vanilla inedible.

Ever since my perfume journey started, I came to realize that most, if not all perfume houses, mainstream or niche, has a vanilla or tow in their line up. But it was time for me to try Vaniglia del Madagascar. And I can't make up my mind about it. Upon first blast, I smell a cross between SDV and Tom Ford's Vanille Tobacco (or is it Tobacco Vanille, I'm not digging around for my decant to find out). Smoky like SDV and what smells like pipe tobacco and maybe a kind of teeters on the boozy side. But then I figure out what that smokey, boozy smell is and it's chocolate. I haven't had a whole lot of experience with chocolate in perfume that I am aware of, so the chocolate did come as a surprise when I identified it. What I noticed that Vaniglia del Madagascar it that the vanilla is noticeable but kind of stays in the background. If you are going to say that it's a vanilla, the vanilla should have a staring roll not regulated to a supporting roll. What I did like is that it teeters on the edge of either being edible or inedible. The wear time on my skin is about 7 hours and has moderate projection. Would I pay $110 for a 50ml bottle? No, it's more of a $60 dollar kind of perfume. If Andy Tauer can pull of a vanilla and sell it for under $70, i Profumi di Firenze can as well.