Coco Parfum

My amazing perfume pal Sarah, the most generous person in the state of Ohio, possibly the entire region, sent me a vial of '80s Coco pure parfum. This is so insanely glorious that I feel like weeping: I can't believe it exists. The way it develops on the skin reminds me of the way a Bach fugue develops, turning the motto around and backward, strangifying it, sublimating it, making it alive and magical. I wore Coco EDP in the 80s, and I'm happy with the current formulation of the EDP--I have a newish bottle and treasure it--but this vintage parfum is an entirely different beast. And I don't mean beast as in beast-mode performance, because I just put it on; I mean beast more in the animalic sense. This reminds me much, much more of my '80s version of the EDP, which is a polite way of saying "I smell that civet all right!" but trust me, there is nothing skanky about this sexy lady of a certain age. All I know is she's clean as a whistle, baby. Now excuse me while I hyperventilate on this juice I do not deserve but absolutely delight in. Update: I wore Coco EDT all day--the most amazing throw and longevity on the current formulation, what a performer!--and now that it has worn down to a faint glow, some nine hours after a few squirts total (both inner arms, half-spray on chest), I felt the need to re-up, and I thought, "why not pretend like this is the last night of my life, my last meal, as it were, and why not put on a few drops of the vintage pure parfum from Sarah." So I did. And dear lord is it ever beautiful. If I had the slightest hope that the current formulation would smell this good, I would beg, borrow, and steal the funds to buy it, but part of the beauty of this is the formulation, which simply isn't legal under current IFRA laws. The eugenol alone would probably smash right through all their ration-card quotas (I obviously have no idea how this works in real life--I'm just pulling an Abe Simpson and wailing to the clouds how aggrieved I am that I can't just smell like this forever, and isn't it tragic that sandalwood is nowhere near as good now as it used to be, etc.) I wore the EDP version of Coco in the late 80s, but I was young and poor and had no idea that the parfum version even existed. And when my one bottle of the EDP ran out, I never bought another and satisfied myself with perfumes I loved much less. So now I feel irrationally entitled to smell like the baddest bossest bitch who ever was. When I deplete this vial of the vintage stuff, I will try my best to forget how superior it is to my current formulations of the EDP and EDT. I would never have known how great this was if not for Sarah's generosity, because it's not like you can just waltz up to a sales counter and say, "Yeah, yeah, Coco Mademoiselle whatever, but I want to smell Coco extrait, early 90s edition, please." And more's the pity! I will say that as sublime as the pure parfum is, I think the other formulations might last a bit longer. Then again, I never apply more than a few drops at a time. It's pretty potent. Oh, god, if only they could bring it back in this form somehow! What is technology even good for otherwise?

Dear reader's♥ This classic and beautiful perfume was introduced to me in my childhood by the one special lady who raised me , influenced my taste for perfumes and other finer things of life. And every holiday and birthday I buy this gorgeous perfume to my special lady, my mother.♥ This perfume is my mothers signature perfume, from my first memories of childhood before I ever knew my mother's real name, I could recognize this scent of Coco Chanel whenever I got lost in the department stores by wandering off. The scent of my mother's chemistry with Coco Chanel was a rich fragrant light house to my senses and I always found her by following the invisible trail. I will always have many found and comfortable memories with this perfume relating to my mother, when she picked me up from school or when were going out to town in her BMW , listening to new wave and rock music and my mother's Coco Chanel dancing in the air together with the leather interior of her BMW as my mother cracking jokes with her red Dior smile as we drove on the coast's of California in all 1980's style and glory.♥ Now the perfume : Both vintage and reformulated version are still a well orchestrated symphony of oriental flowers and spices , with a light touch of musk to create an very irresistible body in this fragrance . Its a true Lioness in a bottle with its bold and beautiful personality, that will definitely get you noticed and become memorable in everyone's book of life. This powerhouse perfume is definitely not for the shy "barely there flower scent lovers" nor for the "forever girly cookie and cream girl", Coco Chanel perfume belongs for females who are proud being an adult woman with lioness strength , a queens assurance and dignity that make her a dazzling jewel that enchants other's to stop to marvel her. The perfume on my chemistry whenever I took a spritz from my mother's collection. My chemistry brings colder but rich flowers at first and than it drydown becomes a soft but spiced refine musk that creates a sensual creature of fine linages. The silage is bold and longevity last for many hours. Its very beautiful scent of me but I have way to much respect and I cant make this my signature perfume since it totally my mothers signature perfume. Although the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, I have Anteaus and Chanel No5 that are fabulous companions with my chemistry , lol. Many praises to chief of the house of Chanel Karl Lagerfeld and his crew for creating an exquisite modern classic perfume for strong and beautiful ladies of the world. It makes a sublime signature perfume and gift, for its sheer class !.♥

This is the only version I have or have tried, so I can't compare them, but I adore my Coco parfum. Not sure the date of mine. "Checkcosmetics" website shows my code (4608) as Oct 2011 but I think it is older than that. What Checkcosmetics posts is that Chanel started putting bar codes on in 1990 and that between 1998 and 2004, the box should have short list of ingredients. Starting from 2005, the box should have long list of ingredients. "Checkfresh" website says Chanel repeats codes every 8 years. Mine has a bar code and a short list of ingredients, so I'd say it's from 2003 or 1995. Tonight, as I dabbed this on, for an instant, I smelled Arso by Profumum Roma. That's the first time that has happened to me. Tonight, what I detected, was smoke. Crazy! But almost as soon as I smelled it, it was gone. A fluke? Maybe, but it was enough to prod me to do this review. Nicole mentioned that there's no spice and I would agree. Coco parfum is very rich and deep. I get lots of fat wet roses over syrupy sweet peach. Peach is a note that scares me, in the sense that it's often too much and overwhelming on my skin. It can easily turn suffocating, to me. But here, it is blended so well and so smoothly. I find this fragrance absolutely dreamy. For me, it's difficult to pick out specific notes other than the rose and peach, and I think it is due to the incredible recipe. It all works together like magic. The longer I sit with it and work to find specific notes, I get jasmine. I think it is she, who is able to keep the peach from becoming overbearing. I like it. But this is not a jasmine scent in any sense. Coco is sweet but in an elegant way. I almost find her more plum-like than peachy, in the way that Coco seems more purple than golden, if that makes sense to you. But now that I am thinking more on color lines, Coco is royal purple with golden trim. She is very regal, indeed. Because she is so regal, I'm not sure I would wear Coco out to dinner but wow, she would be dynamite for late night drinks or an art gallery opening. She really is sophisticated and most of the time I wear Coco is in the evening, before bed, as my life is not filled with late night cocktails on the town or countless gallery openings...lol! I'm no Carrie Bradshaw. But every once in awhile, I do wear Coco out in the real world, MY real world, which includes denim and trips to Home Depot. I love those Coco days! One more thing, Coco parfum lasts and lasts and lasts.

This was my first Chanel parfum. My first Chanel purchase! After years of smelling No. 5 on a coworker and being mesmerized by her Russian outlook on life, I will forever be reminded of her when someone says the word CHANEL. She escaped Russia after the Cold War and the Iron Curtain was getting ready to lift. Her signature was No. 5 and she wore it well. She worked as a med aide in the little rehab unit in Kansas that I myself found my way to. She was the first person that greeted me there and in her thick Russian accent she said to me 'Welcome! We will be friends now.' She was perhaps 20 years older than I and a woman. I was just a little gay boy with bleached blonde hair and a meager outlook on life. She would wear her fur coat to work in the winter and did not drive (she never learned how to!) I remember her calling her husband on the black phone in the office after work to come get her and her Russian sounded like music from a grand piano. She commanded the room and did not care about the opinions of others. She would spray her Chanel on my wrist and give me little sample vials. I would use the vials sparingly and one day she taught me a lesson. She said, "Wear the Chanel. You never know when your time is gone so wear the Chanel. Don't waste your moments and don't waste Chanel." Years later after moving home I decided to buy my own Chanel. I went for the parfum. It reminded me of her. I put No. 5 back and bought Coco parfum without even smelling it. When I got home and dabbed it on my wrists I was transported back to the first day I met her. I was scared and in a place far from home and I can remember her grabbing my hands and saying "We are friends now!" Coco is spicy, rosy peaches, warm hugs, Russian fur coats, wafts of confidence down a hallway, and the dear words of a friend. Спасибо тебе, дорогой друг! Coco will always be my first Chanel. And in a world where things are ever so uncertain: wear the Chanel.

I've been pretty confused by the reported notes of the three current formulations of Coco - the EDT, EDP and this, the Parfum. Fragrantica says the notes of all three are identical, however the official Chanel website says that the Parfum (which only comes in two sizes - 7.5 and 15ml) has the following notes only:- Sicilian Mandarin, Jasmine and May Rose Absolutes, Indonesian Patchouli, Tonka Bean and Benzoin. Of course it's possible that their copy writers left out notes, but to leave out ten??? Chanel also advises that the EDT and EDP have ylang-ylang, but it's not in Fragrantica. Oh, what a Dalai Lama. So I hope what my sniffer has detected helps you if you are in the market for a Coco, any Coco. I own the EDT - love love love - and am familiar with the EDP. I finally tested the Parfum a few days ago. Yes, it's quality stuff, but I honestly can't smell any difference between it and my EDT, which I was not wearing at the time, because I wanted a true test of the Parfum. The EDT provides me with over twelve hours of wear, and while long lived, the Parfum faded after about six. Not bad, but not good, given the price difference between the two. The Eau de Parfum is long lived too, and gorgeous. I smell the rose more in it. The Parfum and EDT seem spicier. Overall, if this helps anyone at all, while the Parfum is beautiful, I can't honestly say that it smells significantly different to the EDT, but IS significantly pricier. Please trial the three yourself if you really do want Coco. You may have a more sophisticated sniffer than mine.