Chanel N°19

Hate it or love it, here is my Chanel no 19 rant, talking about vintages and new versions Vintage no 19 edt: Spring Joy Soft greenery, the galbanum and spring florals are gentle and playful compared to the extrait. radiant fresh flower petals, iris, abstract jasmine, lily of the valley, feel refreshing, not soapy, not very powdery but a comforting mustiness, like an old starched shirt. maybe even some hot-iron steam. Then, a warmth manufactured in greens and woods like vetiver and oakmoss invite you in, close and intimate. Perfectly unisex. At once both formal and relaxed. It’s like no 19 was made solely for the wearer’s pleasure. It has this austere side, but only on the surface, it never bores the wearer even when it can be mistaken for being just clean and cool (but still extremely classy nevertheless) for people around and those not willing to spend time with it. I imagine fairies and elves dressed up in formal attire as if trying to hide their playful nature, but only for so long. This perfume lets you dream and get lost in spring fantasies. It invites you into an early spring garden party amongst magical beings hiding in between the flowers and the grasses! 9/10 Vintage no.19 extrait: Dancing greens, gemstone hues and the lightest powders Dazzling verdant light shot through a prism, splitting in all kinds of green tones: Emerald. Peridot. Tsavorite. Chartreuse. It opens with an intense saturated green: Galbanum and tulip stems. Very vegetal, fresh, cool, a bit oily and challenging, freshly cut. Earthy but without any notes of soil. Then the scent softens and lights up with a glowing spring green tone. The most delicate powder, a floral, woody, dry, starchy Iris + Orris note starts diffusing it’s magic powder and is «dusting» you in the finest texture imaginable, ultra-fine grain, light and pure white powder, so refreshing! By refreshing I mean in the same way as dextrose can feel invigorating and cooling almost in those energy tablets you buy at the kiosk. :) No oily or make-up like iris here. It’s just dreamy. The freshness of the powder radiates with hedione and light Lily of the valley notes. Transitioning from this powder to the base, a soft oakmoss dims the green lights down to a darker and more mysterious glow, with hints of leather and woods, super well blended, clean, with nothing ever out of place. I was really lucky to buy an unopened 28 ml bottle pure parfum from the early days of this fragrance, most likely containing that infamous Iranian Galbanum quality. So scared of evaporation, which I have actually noticed. I do my best to preserve it and still enjoy the scent by wearing it. It’s too magical not to wear it. Especially magical on those spring days where the weather is nice, the breeze is mild and gentle, spring flowers have started blooming and the last melting snow in the forest or in the streets and parks of the city, create that significant freshness in the air. For best results, be newly showered and wear completely clean clothes so nothing disturbs your perfumed moment of sheer beauty. 10/10 Modern no 19 edt and edp: Clean, green-ish, soapy (pre 2023 edition) The modern no 19 EDT can’t live up to it’s vintage version. The modern has a greenish opening with a thin galbanum replacer followed by a very vague and perfume-y profile. The older versions were anything but vague, they were assertive, complex, classy and singular. You feel the lack of presence of the treasures those raw materials used in the past were. It just is not the same product any longer. The edp has a few nice moments of a pretty and luminous rose and lily of the valley. I can see the familiarity to my beloved vintages, but they are so far apart. I can imagine the modern formulation being suitable for a really nice shower gel or a linen spray. This is not about complaining, I understand the market, the need to modernize and re-formulate, for me there is nothing left of interest in the modern versions to talk about, they died a while ago. If you enjoy the current versions, try to get hold of a vintage sample! Wether if you like it or not, you will notice a huge difference, and it is just interesting to study. Of course I mourn the old ones, but I still have quite a bit left in my collection. 3/10 for the EDP and 6/10 EDP

This is another one I’ve been wearing for over a decade — mostly the EdT, then the Parfum Extrait. The EdP... not as much. This EdT concentration feels so special... How do I even put words to it...? It doesn’t declare “I’m clean” the way lavender or sage might. Instead, bluebell softens the sharpness of galbanum, creating a kind of freshness that feels unspoken, self-evident. The iris here doesn’t sparkle like silver or dazzle like diamonds. It carries the quiet beauty of pearls — austere, modest, yet deeply cultivated and nuanced. There is bitterness, yes — but not the sharp, confrontational kind that patchouli often brings to green compositions. Instead, jasmine and ylang-ylang keep their distance, while the dry cedarwood holds the line — not rudely, but with the most refined, elegant, and sophisticated grace. The sandalwood offers only a whisper of sweetness — but never at the heart of the message. You might earn that sweetness if you agree to meet it on its terms. Even then, it lingers beneath a sheer layer of mossy grey, courtesy of the oakmoss. ⸻ My first encounter with this No.19 EdT feels like forever ago... “I don’t think the green juice smells good... I like the pink one on you,” David, my then-fiancé, said. That was 21-year-old me, standing at the counter with him. In the end, we went home with Coco Mademoiselle. That’s how he liked me to be — smelling pretty. And that’s why, at 21, I couldn’t possibly understand No.19. I was fine letting a man decide how I should smell. The next time I encountered that “green juice” was years later — and I didn’t expect to meet it like that. I was about to end my immature marriage — married young, recklessly, without much understanding of what it really meant for either of us. Who gets divorced in their mid-twenties? Well... me. I had been sent to speak with David’s attorney. My very good friend Yvette handed me the green juice: “Wear this. Freshen up.” I wasn’t in my right mind — but whatever. A few spritzes on, and I was on my way to the conversation. At first, it didn’t even smell like perfume. Just... something strange, distant. But as I walked, it began to shift on my skin — the bitterness and the clean freshness weaving in and out, rising to meet me in the air between my wrist and my nose. Puzzling. And yet, irresistibly attractive. That day, I was reintroduced to No.19. On that day, it didn’t help me smell pretty for anyone. It gave me space. Composure. Distance between myself and the chaos. ⸻ At some point after that day, I added No.19 to my tray of staples — and went through bottles. I had married my career, pouring myself into it completely. I was no longer the girl who wanted to smell pretty for her husband. I had become independent and tough. Between 2016 and 2020, a special stage in my career, No.19 became my go-to scent. I was leading complex transformation programs as a program director, where a lot of moderating conversations needed to happen. Stakeholders misaligned. People in chaos. Fingers pointing. Office politics simmering. And there I was — appointed to make sure things got delivered. I’d step in, wearing this green juice. And it delivered the nuance for me. It said: Let me be here. Let me listen to your frustrations, your conflicting interests. I will make sure you are heard — but I will not promise to obey. We have results to deliver and tasks that need to be completed. I will appreciate your perspectives, even if they go against mine. But I will not absorb your opinions of me as a person into my own emotional weight. I know what I am doing.

EDT Review No. 19 is a strange one... A lot of people label this as a cold, heartless, "ice queen/boardroom bitch", kind of fragrance. I don't get that at all. To me it smells like a bunch of freshly cut morning spring flowers being newly placed in a vase. I find this to be very soft, slightly powdery, and sensual. I don't find it "unemotional" or whatever. To me I think Chanel Cristalle fulfills all of those previous labels, that is one that I see as more masculine (and one which as a man I happily wear). No. 19 EDT opens a little like the Cristalle EDT does (hyacinch and bergamot) but the galbanum really gives it an amazing quality (warm and sensual). The powdery iris is really beautiful here. It's clean and fresh and sexy at the same time. I do get Oakmoss and Vetiver and I think the earthiness of the Iris (orris root) and the dryness of the Vetiver compliment each other beautifully. It's true that this fragrance is the opposite of "girly", as it definitely gives off a grown up vibe, but I wouldn't say it's a "cold-hearted bitch" kind of perfume. To me it's quite alive and soft. The kind of person I would see wearing this would be an intellectual, kind hearted young woman, the kind of girl who is really attractive with a sweater and glasses who always has her head in a book, but doesn't know just how beautiful she is kind of thing. Alternatively any woman who wears a suit to work or academic but deep down is still really kind and loving to those around her. With reference to the unisex quality often attributed to this, I find Chanel Cristalle (also by Henri Robert) more masculine than this, but something like "Dior Homme" (also an iris leathery fragrance) more feminine than this, it being sweeter and more gourmand than No. 19. Coincidentally... I know that my grandfather sometimes wears on occasion so I think it certainly wouldn't be out of place being worn on a man. As mentioned before, this was Gabrielle Chanel's signature scent. It was originally private and exclusive to her, before being released publicly just before she died. However, that being said... I'm now starting to get a pattern in late Chanel perfumer, Henri Robert's creations: Chanel Pour Monsieur (1955) is a green Chypre, No. 19 (1971) is a green floral, and Cristalle (1974) is floral Chypre. All have Citrus notes, all have Oakmoss, and all have Vetiver. But what sets No. 19 apart is the beautiful, sublime Iris note. Powdery, soft, warm and somehow elegantly clean... it undoubtedly makes No. 19 the plushest, most sensual, and most feminine of the trio. It really is a masterfully blended perfume. I don't see Chanel No. 19 as a cold, "unemotional" fragrance, to me (a man's opinion) it's like meeting a very attractive yet quiet, shy, intellectual type of girl with a kind, warm, loving heart who you just want to cuddle up with on the sofa by the fire. This is just one gorgeously grown-up, well- balanced fragrance!

This week, I acquired a 100 ml tester bottle of Chanel 19 for the reasonable amount of 0.50 € per ml. At first spray, I immediately had a this-is-familiar moment. When I get these flashback moments, I usually think that I must have smelled this decades ago on some lady, who I have met in my years at school or some other educational establishment. Back in those days, which were the 90s, people actually still wore fragrances where I live and I remember many distinctive scents on various people. These days, this habit has fallen into desuetude, either because the significant impoverishment of large groups of people, due to a more pragmatic, no-frills approach to life, where wearing fragrances may be seen as redundant luxury or maybe because the type of people who wear fragrances don’t mingle with the hoi polloi, keeping to their chauffeured vehicles and invitation-only clubs, only occasionally venturing onto the sidewalks. But to go back to the issue at hand, which is the fragrance itself. Chanel 19 is a green, sparkling, very fresh fragrance with moderate performance. All the green notes are prominent, whether it’s the king of greens galbanum, the iris, hyacinth, narcissus, obligatory vetiver or lily of the valley. The impression of the composition is very cool and sparkling, like a glass of champagne. This isn’t a powerhouse, it’s rather similar to the Pour Monsieur fragrance launched just two decades prior, except it is supposed to be “devastatingly feminine”, as some vintage ads would have you believe. I for one, see this as being with one step in masculine territory, which isn’t surprising, given that most women’s fragrances from the period can easily pass for a masculine fragrance today, whereas most feminine fragrances being launched in our times would be regarded as good for children or girls, being as silly and immature as they are. (And we are supposed to have advanced on women’s rights, treating women not as women, but as children.) This fragrance is meant to be worn on a daily basis, as it’s very versatile and casual. More special occasions may call for a more daring and special fragrance. Then again, it all depends on the mood of wearer and the impression they want to make. Back in the days of carefully thought, modestly numbered releases, fashion houses had a specific set of customers or a clientele, if you want, who paid a premium for their own capacity for discernment. Nowadays, there is the market and consumers, who will buy any junk you care to shove down their throat and will give you their money for it.

It took me almost a year to be able to grasp the beauty of N°19. While my vintage, early 70’s bottle was a wonderful discovery, and a wonderful experience every time it hit my skin, the golden liquid never unveiled its secrets to me. Yes, I could see the beauty of it, I could smell the marvel inside, but it didn’t resonate. I decided to give it some time. After all, galbanum galore! And all of a sudden, a month ago, I could finally understand. This is N°19 in all of its glorious beauty. In the beginning, I could smell the green splendor inside, the leather wrapping the iris..but now there’s a revelation. The star of the show, shines fiercely. There’s an intense verdancy that grabs me by the head and spins me around. The galbanum is simply stunning; piquant, spicy, herbal. Mesmerizing on its own, and stellar when surrounded by the hyacinth, the lilly of the valley and the warm narcissus. It’s a green bouquet with the flowers doing second act. The vetiver and the oakmoss serve as the forest canopy, the leather provides, along with the musk (nitromusks?), the animalic growl that warms this fantasy dreamland. There’s also a freshness all along; the neroli/bergamot duo feel as if a gentle mist, hovering above the skin until the late drydown, when a beautifully rich sandalwood engulfs my skin in creamy softness. It’s an edt, rich like an extrait, and made at a time when quality meant something. Unveiling its beauty, I’m transported back to the early 70’s with all of its dreams, big ideas and hazy beauty, ready to grab the world by the balls. N°19 has always been considered a ‘cold’ fragrance. I find it to be quite the opposite. Warm, radiant, pulsating from the skin, all while keeping a distance. It’s strong willed, stubborn, and yet serene. Perhaps the association with Coco influences our perception, and while I could never picture her wearing something like N°5, the image I have of her persona is absolutely N°19. And while I can’t comment on her as a person, this and the latter Coco give me an idea of what her personality might have been. N°19 belongs in the pantheon of lost beauties. My vintage bottle with all of its glorious Iranian galbanum, animal musks and rich absolutes, comes alive on skin like very few. The current, even in extrait, is a diluted watercolor painting that can only dream of such vivid green tapestry. Sillage is moderate, but longevity is from morning to evening. Absolutely and resolutely for every man and woman that loves green and chypre fragrances.