Les Exclusifs de Chanel No 18

OK I've had this perfume for so long now I feel that I've finally "got it". This is my experience of it when I douse myself in it. My advice is Not to wear any sweet perfume with it, no. 18 can smell screechy sour and herbal like Valerian root in comparison to the other The opening is a tart blast of a peppery, Carrot-like vegetal iris with a bit of Musty, dusky rose. There is a smooth boozy, alcoholic vibe, presumably the ambrette. It actually smells like a gin cocktail with citrus sweetened with a dollop of lychee syrup. The lychee with its aqueous, fresh, delicate, rosy, sweet taste is mouth watering. Delicious and refreshing concoction ! Alongside the hint of powder it has a dark, vintage smell. Truly one a kind smell at this stage. Wish that could last. If only... As the top notes fade, the fragrance lightens considerably and gets progressively dryer and dryer. Ambiguous dry/drying fruits appear. Raisins, stone fruit (Apricot? Plum?) . It also warms up with a spiced brandy like smell. Dry fruits soaked in brandy. I swear I also get a physical sweaty sensation. Maybe cumin to accentuate the musky, animalic nature of the ambrette. The perfume is anchored by soapy aldehydes. Out of all the notes, it is the heaviest, like luxury triple milled French bar soap. There is a cyclical effect like breaking out beads of sweat (kind of unnerving) to cool clean, freshly bathed skin. And so your skin is left with a gorgeous sheen In the dry down, it gets so dry, it's completely dessicated. Imagine the traditional Asian"sweet" of super dried plums, leathery skin, pit and all. Here it's ground into a condiment. It's a dry, peppery, dusky, musky, grey admixture of old spices alongside the dry bar soap. A very peculiar, distinctly aged smell. Lived in, dishevelled. A musky, wrinkled white shirt with traces of tobacco. Cardboard? Old books? Evocative of things like that. Going with the oriental theme, I wonder if there is osmanthus in it. A floral that has a natural peachy, smell to it. I've only smelled it in dry form as tea. It might be there. It's said that there is a leathery facet to the natural blooms as well. Sometimes there is a clash between warm and Cool... The cold iris soap against the intense dryness l smell mothballs. I also think there is a lot of ISO E super ("white amber" in the given schematic) which makes the perfume very light and the like a perfume yet not a perfume quality. It's known to have a vague, flat, cedar smell. When I spray a lot on l think of peppery cardboard. It's used heavily in male perfumery. For that reason I skew the scent as a little more masculine as a dry, tart, aromatic,fruity fougere perfume. The reformulation of this basically includes two ingredients: coumarin and benzyl salicylate. They serve to artificially sweeten the perfume and lend more "body" or presence. Vanilla + iso e super forms a woody white amber accord. The official website classifies this as a fruity oriental perfume. In this version l find that the gin concoction now resembles the "Aviator" with a dose of sweet Japanese ume plum cordial: umeshu. Sigh. If the are going to make an oriental perfume, I'd rather they go all the way. I'm thinking a hybrid with la pausa, cuir de Russie and Coromandel. Leather, lychee, iris, rose, plum, osmanthus, mandarin, patchouli, ambrette, soap, sandalwood, spices, incense. It would be heavy, dark, rich and very, very expensive. One can dream. In sum I just think of this as a unique, thoroughly modern perfume that straddles both old world and modern perfumery in a very intriguing manner. I think the notes are citrus, iris, rose geranium, lychee, iris, fruity notes, dry woods, ambrette, aldehydes

Chanel, au naturel This fragrance if you stop to think about it, is probably the most natural smelling in the line, which is antithetical to what they usually offer, ie no.5 and no.22 with aldehydes and other synthetics. I admit I can't stand by that statement completely as I can't recall the smell of real rose bushes as we haven't grown any in the garden for years... The floral opening is bewitching in an old world way. Rose and iris simultaneously reminds me of old powder and lipstick as they would be scented just like this where the silver screen sirens yore residein my imagination. The soft powdery iris is cold, a metallic sheen. How fitting! fine jewelry on a woman adds only more glamour and allure. The roses aren't particularly fresh... I can only describe as dusky/dusty. it's old, almost to the point of decay. I picture a shaded rose bush, petals drying and shrivel ling at the edges replete with somewhat browned woody stems. Or simply a sachet of potpourri.a very expensive one. And musty. musty is how I smell the entire time I wear this.I attribute this to the ambrette. always in the foreground, it's green in a vegetal, musky slightly sour-sweet manner. Fruit eventually appears to play up the sweet facet of the ambrette. I can't make out what it is, but it's delectable! At this point on after the sweet fruit and rose die off it's a soft lingering skin musk that simply endures.when you think it's not there, it's there. even the next day, or imperceptibly so. The woody note is barely detectable, as not to steal the show and to prolong longevity of the frag. A quiet, quintessential, delicate, almost precious scent... Despite the must y quality itremains a bright warm sheer scent like a flickering lit candle. the cold iris doesn't last very long, it's mostly rose that makes a statement. Wear it and be prepared for an aura of lit within glow at dusk. I agree with a previous poster thar the best jewel this scent represents is pearl. I am a proud owner of a string of iridescent peachy pink pearls. The weight if it sitting on my neck may be cold at first but my body heat warms it up.and I can never stop admiring the beautiful glowing burnished hue I've never smelled anything like it that's why I got the giant full bottle. True, it isn't a strong smelling perfume y thing you'd expect from a chanel and price point. but if you appreciate at what the fragrance tries to achieve, as a showcase of real, not to mention rare ambrette seed, it's worth% it. Ps. I have a deluxe 4 ml screw top mini of this housed in a white chanel pamphlet box featuring a preface in a dozen languages! I'm looking for a trade it in for a niche or luxury scent.sycamore would be nice.any takers?

I’m late to the party. I finally got my hands on a 200mL bottle of the Les Exclusifs No. 18 EdT some time ago, a blind buy but being absolutely certain I wanted it because, one, of how much I love the EdP rerelease, and, two, because my experience thus far with the Les Exclusifs EdT originals is that they are always better than the rereleases. This is a different story. Aside from the name, and having orris in the starring role, the EdT and the EdP have nothing to do with each other. These are two very different perfumes. The EdP opens with a massive dose of oily and musky ambrette seed that casts a warming glow into your eyes, and a watery fruit salad accord of all colors of the rainbow. The EdT does not. Yes, there is ambrette but it’s not oily and it doesn’t glow, but it is quite musky; the fruits are there too, but it’s not a fruit salad, it’s a fine mist of fruit infused water. The result is something that smells of a botanical vodka - a dirty and dangerous vodka known and favored only by old Russian alcoholics. It moves quite quickly to the heart layer where a bit of pink rose sits over the top of a parched but oily orris. The oiliness is a trick of some musks at the base reaching up a bit high into the perfume, but the rooty, starchy, and vegetal qualities of the orris keep the musks from being too oily and the rose from being too pink and powdery. The balance and weightlessness is superb. The final dry down to the skin scent is a musky sandalwood and the orris has gone a touch leathery-suede-like thanks to the musks having more volume by contrast. It keeps to the theme of the heart layer with the same excellent balance and weightlessness. This was definitely not what I expected given that my experience with No. 18 has worked in reverse of its timeline. The Les Exclusifs EdT has more in common with Misia than it does No. 18 EdP - and, in fact, now that I’ve got that thought in my head, I wonder if that was intentional...? Was No. 18 too “in the middle” of what Chanel thought the market wanted from an orris perfume? Was the EdP sent down its path of kaleidoscopic fruits, ambrette, and florals, and Misia its path of lipstick and strident and parched leatheriness, because its at the extremes of orris where the money starts flowing? I don’t know, nor do I actually care but only insomuch as it means that we no longer have this gem with us in any shape or form.

I am so glad there are so many new converts to this eau! This perfume is truly unique and mysterious so difficult to define and vague. that's the one reason I bought this over the gorgeous Sycamore. I own the original completely non sweet mammoth of a bottle (2007 vintage) I can attest to the musky body odor association. A very lived in, undone, musty masculine odor bordering on skank made more civilized with a soapy aldehyde. This is why I don't wear it liberally in public on summer days .high temperatures, body heat, generous application, natural sweat all exaggerate the effect. My mother even told me I needed to shower after I doused myself in it recently! So yep, it can be "offensive". mine doubly so because it offended quite a few internet writers and was quickly reformulated. I suspect it was very first one, actually. So many complaints. The reviewers couldn't make it past the opening which I find strange and regretful because it is the very best stage of it alluring and compelling. But fuck that. I'm not necessarily girly girly all the time. Privately at night I can be a smoking, drinking, disheveled, unpretty reveler too kate moss style! :D but still very glamorous don't ya think? This naturally unsweetened gem is so versatile as a layering perfume over anything I find too sweet and/or loud. It imparts a musky, plush, ripe, boozy overlay though the effect doesn't last long. All Thanks to this magical ambrette essence. No wonder mr polge was so taken with this complex and compelling perfumery material! the prettier, devastatingly fleeting floral aspects only seem to "bloom" at their best in cool temps. that's when I go all out and get trigger happy in winter. I have to admit it though, the current reformulated version is a lot easier to wear. And I still regret not getting the early edition of sycamore. still this stuff is marvelous if you can appreciate the beauty in all all its strangeness. the jean claude ellena of the entire line. Cheers to revelry and libations!

The most underrated (and possibly misunderstood) Chanel. So say I, a Chanel 'liker', but not always a Chanel lover. THIS (not very Chanel-like) Chanel...I love. I found it impossible not to love her. I tried to pretend it was just like. Save myself a few coins. I've failed in my efforts to keep this relationship casual. No.18 is tender, and completely disarming. I've been charmed. I've been enchanted. I've been unwillingly, but inevitably it seems, lured into her palm. No.18 is so free in feel, that I didn't recognize the risk. Now that it is too late, I know I should have recognized the signs. Like wearing a small spritz on my wrist even as I wore another fragrance, checking the Chanel website, searching through Fragrantica for mention of it. *sigh* Too late. I don't actually find No.18 overly floral or fruity, despite the category label and the slightly flirty quality, not uncommon in floral/fruities. Don't get me wrong, you will experience both floral and fruit notes in this composition, but ambrette (musk mallow) is the star. It has never been more lovely than in this creation. It has never been more rounded and soft, which is saying something because it'a always both. I find neither the floral nor fruit notes easy to separate and distinguish. They inhabit supportive roles, a choir all dressed in the same sweet, flowery robes. Indistinguishable. They are tempered... filtered by the thread of emotion I feel when wearing 18. Despite the free and natural spirit here, there is a thread of melancholy. Just enough to make you pensive. Think solitude on a beautiful rainy day and you may have No.18 OR you may just have my personal relationship with it. Noteworthy Notes --Ambrette, normally a bridesmaid, the beautiful bride here. --Soft, distant wood notes --Soft, even more distant water notes --Floral/fruit choir Projection personal Longevity Long enough to inspire my senses Chanel sometimes gets it exactly right, for ME.