*Currently Listening: Too Young by Phoenix
Hmmm...now Vampire Weekend is singing that, "Blake's Gotta a New Face" at me. That song is just SILLY! Anyway....back to contributing No Disassemble Charlie No. 5's "scents" to the Scents of Self Top 20 Project. (Did I REALLY just make that pun? I simply must have too much Chanel on my skin and the fumes are getting to me!)
Today we'll be talking about Chanel's Chance, Chance Eau Fraiche and Chance Eau Tendre. I had gone back and forth about if I should review them separately or together, and finally decided to go with together, as I have a hunch that it will perhaps help unfold some of the reasons that the three are so popular. They're the only "original" to have both itself and any "flankers" on the list. This post also gives me a legitimate excuse to post this video:
Gonna do my very best and it ain't no lie /
If you put me to the test, if you let me try /
Take a chance on me.
1) Prior Experience: Chance - DF owns it and wears it quite regularly, ChanceEF (oh yeah, we're gonna abbreviate now!) - nothing, ChanceET - DF received a bottle for Christmas as a gift from her Mom, so I've smelled it on someone other than in passing.
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| Chance |
2) Thoughts Now: This brings up my "Chanel Issue"... I told the story about my Granny telling me, "Kathleen, ladies don't wear Chanel until they're at least 50, remember that." before. So, admittedly...I'm a little scared she may muck with me from the beyond for being a bad listener. I promise to never wear the samples that I got from Sephora out of the house, and I won't buy a bottle of any of the Chanel's before I turn 50, no matter how much I really, REALLY want that bottle of Coco. Yes, I do realize that I'm denying myself some perfume pleasure here, but my Granny said, and I must listen. Besides, it gives me TOTAL incentive to live to 50, and then bankrupt us by buying a shit-ton of Chanel perfume! :-) After all, I want to be able to call myself a lady!
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| See. You'd listen to her too! |
Given that I'm not as well versed in the Chanel's as other perfumes, I need to lean on Frangrantica for some note help.
Chance: Top - pink pepper, lemon, pineapple. Middle - hyacinth (oh, hello Klose), jasmine, iris. Base - amber, patchouli, vetiver, white musk.
ChanceEF: Top - citruses and cedar. Middle - pink pepper, water hyacinth, jasmine. Base - teak wood, amber, patchouli, vetiver, white musk.
ChanceET: Top - grapefruit and quince. Middle - jasmine and hyacinth. Base - white musk, iris, cedar, amber.
I quite like Chance a lot when I put it on. I'd like to say "spritz", but I had to dab since the Sephora sample I had made won't spray. (I actually get that problem a lot with samples from there, sigh.) It smells what I would call...pretty and classy. Not pretty like a frilly pink chiffon Easter dress for a 5 year old...pretty like a well structured khaki colored sheath dress. I'm going to continue with the dress analogy here for the rest of them.....
If Chance is a khaki sheath dress, ChanceEF is a jersey heather grey maxi dress worn with sandals. ChanceEF isn't very "me", it's nice, but not me. Too green. My skin tends to gobble green scents up rather quickly. Also, on the molecular level - I get it. Leaving the pink pepper as a middle note (something that's traditionally more of a top note), the skins is going to gobble it up much quicker anyway. Is there anyone who loves greens and wears greens well? What is it like? I'd LOVE to hear from you!
So far we've got a khaki sheath dress and a jersey heather grey maxi dress worn with sandals. I'd say ChanceET would have to be..well, this dress (BTW-I want this dress, but I'll get the hem fixed, that would just look weird on me)...but some smaller more defined flowers, same colors though. Why is a fruity-floral called eau Tendre anyway? Given the same - I thought I'd want to hug big fuzzy teddy bears...but it doesn't.
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| Chance eau Fraiche |
3) Could I see myself wearing this perfume? If so, for what occasion? (Let's suspend my "Granny issue" for these questions) Chance - Yes. I could see myself wearing it every day. Application amount depending upon what my activities were that day. ChanceEF - No. Just not a green person. ChanceET - Yes...Maybe? There's too many things out there that are in the vein of ChanceET that come without the Chanel price tag. That being said, I TOTALLY understand why ChanceET is doing to well, and can't wait to smell it in comparison to Coco Mademoiselle. I'd wear it for lunch with the girls? Somewhere not stuff but not beer and nachos...
4) So Kathleen...would you actually buy a bottle? Well, I CAN'T until I'm 50 - and by them I'm sure it will have gotten reformulated a time or two. ;-) Oh, I kinda already answered that in question three, but to be clear...in order I've been speaking of them: yes, no, maybe.
5) What did Al think? *whispers semi-shamefully* I'm not letting anyone smell any of the Chanel's on me...it makes me feel less like I'm doing something "wrong". If no one smells me wearing it, did I REALLY wear it?
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| Chance eau Tendre |
6) What about the smelling strip? Chance: When I open the bag with the smelling strip in it - it smells like Chance! The strip itself...not so much, a good hint of the base it still there, but it's been hanging out in there for almost two weeks. So that's pretty good!
ChanceEF: Not a bit of anything. I sprayed the strip 4 days ago and it's been in a baggie since spritzing.
ChanceET: Same exact thing with the strip, but the bag smells of something...it smells like hanging out at the fragrance section of Sephora. That in of itself says something...to be saved for my conclusions and deductions entry at the end of the Top 20 quest.
*Currently Listening: The Ocean Breathes Salty by Modest Mouse
**Photo Credits: 1) thescentsofself.com, 2, 4 & 5) chanel.com, 3) my sister
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