– A review of the reformulated ‘Coco de Chanel’
‘Tis a perilous business to venture into your local perfume store these days, perilous not because I might be tempted beyond endurance, but because I’m too afraid I’ll have hysterics over all the murder victims lurking on the shelves. Too many of my all time top-ten perfumes have been changed beyond recognition, indeed beyond repair in some cases, and sometimes, the thought makes me want to cry.
The other day I passed by one local store, and decided to bypass each and every one of the umpteen new releases and flanker editions that were even more boring than the originals. I did spray a few on paper I had somehow missed, to see if I had missed out. Among them Mugler’s ‘Womanity’ and ‘Alien’, which were neither so bad I wanted to run screaming out of the store, nor so good I was tempted. Of the two, I liked ‘Alien’ better, but man – the sillage! The sillage explains the name – surely this is intergalactic jasmine sambac sillage? This stuff could be used as an Ultimate Weapon of Mass Destruction. My eyes water just thinking about it.
Yves Saint Laurent Paris – the change apparent from the color scheme on the box – was once one of the most glorious rose-violet olfactory creations ever to grace yours truly – and loyal fans by the millions. No more. Now, ‘Paris’ is an anemic, wan shadow of her rosy-purple self, suitable only for tweenies with no discrimination, not even worthy of the name. No rose, less violet. Don’t even get me started on the abomination called ‘Parisienne’. Surely, Monsieur Saint Laurent is rolling in his grave? He would never have put his venerable name on that.
There was a rare bottle of Miss Dior of so many memories, not another version of ‘Miss Dior Chérie’, but plain and simple ‘Miss Dior’. My very first grown-up bottle of perfume. I tried to stop myself, really, I did. Resistance was futile. It would end in tears. I sprayed some on paper. Ah, the pain of it! They killed ‘Miss Dior’ and never bothered with a burial, but left her for the wolves of reformulation to rot in ignominy. Oh, the shame of it!
Somehow, I managed to compose myself, if barely. There were tears hiding just beneath the surface, but One. Must. Stay Calm.
On I sidled along the shelves, nope, not interested inn anything Boss Orange, or anything Cacharel. I had reached Chanel, and geez, how many ‘Chance’s can a customer stand? Chanel, one of the last independent major-league perfume houses on Planet Earth, should know better. I know I do – ‘you’re-SO-not-our-demographic, dahling’.
No. I know too much, I’m too old and too jaded. Past no. 19, known and loved to this day, and I don’t need another right now, the one I have at home is still going strong.
Which was when I saw it, when I had that Epiphany Moment. Making no fuss of itself, and looking nearly exactly the same as of yore, back in the day when neither fashions nor perfumes could have shoulders that were wide enough, sillage that was potent – enough. In those days, I wore it and some close cousins to give me that courage life had yet to teach me. So I told myself at the time, at least, but the simple fact was, I had a boyfriend at the time who liked Loud and Proud on me, and I did my best to oblige – with Paloma Picasso, YSL Paris, Cabochard, Magie Noire – and Coco de Chanel. All of them representing Liquid Courage, and none of them suited for blushing violets of any stripe.
Coco de Chanel was a constant companion and eternal favorite, a gloriously opulent Oriental that was the epitome of Classy-Sexy-Dame, a perfume even my notoriously fickle mother liked on me. That the sillage also slayed several boyfriends throughout the Eighties and early Nineties was only a bonus side effect.
Feeling like the last of the living Ostrogoths that day last week in the perfume shop, I decided to give it a go on my skin, to see if it could make me cry. I reached for the Eau de Parfum.
From that first and only blast it was apparent that it had been changed, certainly in the top notes. The peach is less obvious, the orange and mandarin not quite so noticeable and rich.
I told myself I wouldn’t cry. So I walked away and out the door and on to the other errands of my day.
Ten minutes later, that classic rosy Chanel note, this one accentuated with clove, cinnamon and orange blossom, bloomed forth and…took me away, to the woman I once was, before I lost most of my illusions. Cloves! Clover! It was all…still there, and not merely figments of my imagination.
Oh, yes! This was Coco all right, this wasn’t damaged beyond hope or repair, this was…seriously, why didn’t I own a bottle any more?
But Coco truly came into her own in the dry-down, when the labdanum, the opoponax, the sandalwood, amber and vanilla came to call. This was the eau de parfum, with more focus on those base notes, and they seemed to my uneducated nose to be as thick and as opulent as always.
Certainly, she was tenacious as always. Coco stayed – and stayed – and stayed. Forty-eight hours later, it was still definitely discernible on my jacket, even to my roommate, who has the olfactory abilities of a wooly mammoth with a bad head cold.
If Coco were a Tarot Card, she would be…the Major Arcana card called ‘Strength’. For courage, for determination, for tenacity, for daring to wrestle the lions of life unscathed and unafraid, bold and beautiful and strong.
Just like another kind of woman I want to be. Coco goes on my to-die-for list. Maybe as a belated Xmas present – from the young woman I once was to the woman I am now.
Notes according to Fragrantica:
Top notes: Coriander, pomegranate blossom, mandarin orange, peach, jasmine and bulgarian rose
Middle notes: mimosa, cloves, orange blossom, clover and rose
Base notes are labdanum, amber, sandalwood, tonka bean, opoponax, civet and vanilla.
Photo: Vanessa Paradis as the face of Coco de Chanel 1992, from chanelwiki.com
The Alembicated Genie 
I love the title 🙂
I was, I blush to say, rather proud of it, too! 🙂
You gave me quite a start..I thought this post was going to leave me broken-hearted!
You have inspired me to finish a post on Coco I started weeks ago. So many things you have said here got the sparks flying!
Thank you for writing this. I couldn't articulate my thoughts before, but now I've got a few paragraphs written. Ah, sweet relief.
Also, I agree with Elisa, I love the title too.
Well, I'm so glad I could inspire you, if only a little! Standing in that store, I was rather afraid, too, and although not everyone will agree and that's perfectly OK – I loved it!
Ah, yes, the title. I thought I was being rather facetious, but I guess not! 🙂
I look forward to reading your review . who knows? You might point out something I missed!
It's actually not going to be a review, but more of a story about getting “past the past”.
Coco is a scent from my teen years, when I didn't know a thing about perfume. I just knew what I liked. As an adult, I have smelled Coco and to me, it smelled just like it did in the eighties. If I knew then what I know now….
If you knew then what you know now – would you have chosen it anyway?
Strange, isn't it, how our memories, good and bad, can be associated so strongly with scents and with perfumes.
You tempt me to spring for a bottle. I think that I have about a year of further Oriental Note Education before I really appreciate Coco, but who's to know what might happen to her in a year? Maybe I should plan ahead.
Well, give it a test run on your skin and take it for a walk before you decide! I was pleasantly surprised. I can handle that the top notes have been changed but the middle and the drydown are pretty much as I remembered them on my skin. Just be warned – at least the EdP will stay with you for a long, long time!
wait wait! Coco was reformulated!? When!?!
Well, Frida, now I had to go dig. I went on the blithe assumption that since everything has been reformulated, more or less, then so has Coco and likely more than once.
So I began to dig and came across this: (from Basenotes)
http://www.basenotes.net/threads/191932-Coco-reformulated
And this, from Perfume of LIfe:
http://www.perfumeoflife.com/talk/index.php?/topic/39372-coco/page__p__598325__hl__%2Bcoco+%2Breformulated__fromsearch__1#entry598325
So then, if the circumstantial evidence and my own not always reliable nose holds true, then yes – it has. Mind you, I have the distinct impression that most everything – and certainly everything Chanel – has been fiddled with to one degree or another, but some have suffered, and some have suffered rather less.
It could well be that the change is more apparent in the different formulas – parfum – EdP – EdT. I tried the EdP – known and loved for over 25 years – and as I said, I noticed the top notes had definitely changed – the heart and base notes, not so much.
But don't take my word for it! I'm an ignoramus amateur and I know it!
Try for yourself when you get a chance – and let me know what YOU think!
thanks so much for the information!!! I was concerned that it RECENTLY changed like my darling Opium. I just bought a bottle of Coco over the summer and love it(though I do think I have a sample of an older version – must sniff that soon)
and PS: you're NOT an ignoramus! Also, I'm dying to find vintage Lauren. I loved it back in the early 80s and the newer/est version is AWFUL.
Well, Frida, let me know if you find any – I'd LOVE to split a bottle of vintage Lauren. It was glorious, glorious stuff! And now it's ruined, too! But to the best of my nose, Coco mostly remains – Coco. Which is, alas, more than I can say about the new Opium these days. I never wore it (I associate it with my mother, so…not for me!), but ah! What a bombshell of a perfume – and with those gorgeous Jerry Hall ads – remember those?
lookie!! I just asked the seller what year – we'll see what s/he says!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220675750121
Frida, you are a WonderWoman! Keep me posted – either here or through email!
hehee, not so much a wonderwoman but a woman at lunch! She doesn't know what year – why does she list it as 'vintage' then!?! arghh!
It's enough to make you wish for Smellavision on the Web, just so you could try it and make sure…;-)
Is it that my tastes have changed to that degree, my memory of the scent I used to swoon over as a young female on the cusp of womanhood….or have they changed it beyond what my memories of a long ago scent once was????
Either way I agree in so many ways……it is not what it once was and that is so sad in todays cookie cutter society, the last thing I want is the cookie cutter scents to be all we have to pick from….sigh.
I still LOVE having that once scent that makes me stand out among the rest of the herd.
I am Scorpion Woman be careful, we don't roar so much as we wrap ourselves up in your little dreams or is that nightmares…..LMAO
Actually – putting my perfumoholic head on the proverbial chopping block here – I'd say that Coco is not changed too much to matter, and so far as I could tell, mostly in the top notes – at least the one I tried, which was the eau de parfum.
The drydown – the part that stays and stays and stays like a determined Crab (!) – is very much as I remember it. Drop dead gloriously gorgeous – and for those of us who can't or won't wear Opium (I won't, but I can certainly appreciate it), Coco is a close relation, even today. Which is more than I can say for Opium as it is now. Don't even touch the flankers. But do try it for yourself when you get a chance, and don't forget to let me know what you think!
As for me, today is a day for SL 'Fleurs d'Oranger'. It puts the va-va in MY voom…on a cold, snowy day!
You know, I think I have a mini of this from the 80's somewhere and I've never tried it. Sounds like something I should go find again.
Lucky you! Go ahead and try it – and let me know what you think!