Pour Monsieur

Chanel Pour Monsieur WAS (edit 2014, before it was watered down) my signature scent and it will stay with me till the day I die. This is no matter how old I get and how many other wonderful fragrances I shall have the fortune to meet. Pour Monsieur is the scent that blew the veil from my eye. It showed me that fragrance was a universe that went way beyond "smelling nice". It showed me that perfume could be fine art, to be enjoyed side by side with music, painting and other established art forms. I caught my first sniff of PM when visiting an old friend of mine, who had been an enthusiast for several decades. I was not very impressed then, just thought that it smelled a little dated and stuffy. The next year I went with my family on big city vacation. We visited a perfume store and I decided to try PM on my wrist for the afternoon. Just for the fun of it. Half an hour later we sat in a café, and that's when the miracles started. I sensed a wonderful smell coming up from my wrist. But it was not the lemon blast that I remembered from the shop. It was a deep, warm, mossy sensation that could be an enchanted forest. Ten minutes later it had transformed into something else and even more wonderful. This went on and on, better and better. I literally felt that the fragrance was alive and insisted that I should take it seriously and embrace it. And I sure did. Before returning to the hotel I had been back in the shop to buy a bottle and I have never looked back since. This should only be at my bank account, which since that day has suffered deeply from my new-found passion for fragrances. Like some other reviewer I sincerely believe that this fragrance can actually make you a better human being, or at least a nicer person. It makes you calm and self-confident, and it has a miraculous ability to relieve stress. Spray all car interiors with PM, and road rage will be wiped off the face of the Earth. A timeless masterpiece. EDIT Nov 2014: Pour Monsieur seems to have been watered down. Just opened a new bottle and the movie 'Gone in 60 Minutes' (or was it seconds) instantly comes to mind. The oakmoss, the depth, the power, the longevity, the magic...oh where have you gone? After the citrus opening - which is also hugely weakened - PM extremely quickly fades into a skin scent, and even when generously applied, it's almost completely gone after an hour. I used to enjoy three spritzes all day (from a 2009 bottle, not talking vintage here). A shadow of its former self - another great classic has been emasculated and left its manhood on eBay. Thanks for the memories. RIP.

(Review of the EdT c. 1980s) Some years ago the first experience I had of Pour Monsieur was the EdP reworking by Jacques Polge. It wasn't love at first sniff. It took a fair amount of time for me to "figure it out" and understand what it was doing. Its "all things to all men" character initially read to my nose as a bit vacillating, but after quite a bit more time and patience its many puzzle pieces fell into place and I started to see the big picture. It sent me on a determined path to find an old formulation of the EdT. There are quite a few differences, though nothing terribly stark (the vanilla "mistake" makes a contrary argument, however), between this old EdT and the new EdP, but I won't expound upon them here (read my review of the EdP if you're curious). Though it is the briefest part of Pour Monsieur, the lemon opening is the best part. It's not bergamot; no zesty, oily bitterness here - that would be too loud, a bit too forward, for a 1950s man's-man fragrance that must be about simplicity and cleanliness. Just a big squirt of lemon juice made a bit smoother and a bit less acidic by a gentle addition of powdery aldehydes. If this doesn't put a smile on your face and a kick in your step, see a doctor. The cool brown spice heart is beautifully done. Cardamom mostly, with very tiny and muted touches of stuff like coriander, cinnamon, and anise. A quick sniff could fool someone into thinking there is a floral aspect in here, but closer study reveals that to not be the case. The spices are so soft, quiet, and multi-dimensional you can pull slight floral aspects from them since there isn't much of a piquant/spicy din getting in the way. Then, of course, the cloud of oakmoss - the real deal, the good ol' stuff, in one big pile. Damp, woody, green leaves, fresh-out-of-the-morning-shower earthiness supported by a bed of very quiet, gentle, aromatic cedar and woody vetiver. This heart and base transition is refreshingly bitter compared to the lemon opening's refreshing and bright sourness. At all points Pour Monsieur is bath powder smooth, clean, and seamlessly woven together like the lightest and plushest of cashmere sweaters. Elegance, class, understatement, and simplicity perfectly bottled. It's a legend for a reason, boys. One of the best "for men" perfumes ever created. A benchmark. There is not a single thing I would change in it, and I dearly love it.

i found a genuine bottle in a tabac shop for a great price. i think it is from the mid or late 90's, because it has the barcode, the words "eau de toilette" are below "chanel" but the list of ingredients is very short, only three listed. regarding the scent, chanel pour monsieur is very well known, a super-nice blend, one of the best chypre ever. so i dont want to talk about notes. regarding the difference between this semi-vintage version and the current formula, i think the vintage is deeper, the oakmoss is more prominent and i can feel the link with the concentree version. the performance is not very good. the current version seems to be brighter, on my skin the performance is slightely better. however, both are perfectly made but have a bad performance. due to the bad longevity-sillage, i think this fragrance is not worthy at full price. i prefer the concentree version, which is deeper, more complex with a better performance. in the battle of the classic chypre for gentlemen, chanel pour monsieur can fight with every rival but can lose with someone. the vintage givenchy pour monsieur is on the same quality level but the performance is a bit better. same for eau sauvage and armani eau pour homme. versace l'homme is more rough but the performance is better. i have to be honest, in this group there are no beast mode fragrances. so the smell is the real deal, and chanel pour monsieur is a great choice. ho trovato un'autentica bottiglia di chanel pour monsieur in una tabaccheria ad un ottimo prezzo. credo risalga alla metà degli anni 90. è un pò più denso rispetto alla versione attuale, senti un vero muschio di quercia che lo collega in modo diretto alla versione concentree che adoro. la performance è pessima come la versione attuale, che comunque ha un odore magnifico. secondo me a prezzo pieno non so se ne vale la pena, ci sono molte alternative con qualità identiche o quasi ma con una performance leggermente migliore(la vecchia versione di givenchy pour monsieur ad esempio). comunque chanel è chanel, quindi non avrete mai in mano qualcosa di scadente. ottimo prodotto sicuramente! scent-8,5 longevity-6 sillage-5,5 versatility-8 uniqueness-8 bottle design-6,5 compliment factor-6,5 back up bottle?no my vote-8 in one word- classic alternative- givenchy pour monsieur vintage version.

Pour Monsieur (1955) by Henri Robert for Chanel (CPM) is a timeless masterpiece and probably the closest in form and execution to Coty’s quintessential Chypre (1917) that originated the chypre genre. I have worn CPM for nearly 40 years and regardless of the other great fragrances I have tried it remains my go-to scent. The fresh-chypre accord, enhanced by the wonderful array of supporting notes, spans the olfactory spectrum like no other masculine fragrance. If the oakmoss quotient has been modified by regulatory changes then it hasn’t detracted from the quality of the fragrance. A subtle scent designed to be discovered rather than announced, this charming fragrance conveys the kind of quiet confidence valued in any close encounter. A common complaint about CPM is that it lacks projection and longevity, however this is to miss the point. Chanel was inspired by elegant and aristocratic men like Boy Capel, the Grand Duke Dimitri Pavlovich and the Duke of Westminster, as detailed in biographies such as Justine Picardie’s excellent Coco Chanel: The Legend and the Life (2010, rev. 2017). Chanel wanted her first masculine fragrance to evoke those qualities she appreciated in the men she most admired: rich, but not gaudy; impressive, but not showy; smart, yet subtle; refined, but understated. It should be no surprise then that CPM’s first incarnation was as an EDT with the emphasis placed on discretion rather than flamboyance. Regarding longevity, it does seem unreasonable to expect this fragrance (and for that matter any fragrance) to last ‘12+’ hours when perfumes are designed to evaporate over time in order to release their various notes and accords. Any fragrance that does last so long must of necessity be pungent in its composition and therefore not subtle or discrete. In an intimate context you don’t need a nuclear-tipped fragrance that could be detected across the street and would stifle the person with whom you may wish to engage. Chanel understood these details and the meaning of elegance which is to make good choices, not least in terms of a scent that gently invites rather than brashly demands attention.

Hello fragrance fam. For today's reformulation guide were covering the benchmark Eau De Cologne style fragrance by Chanel known as Pour Monsieur EDT! This fragrance is known for its lemon and citric top notes with an oak moss filled, chypre dry down. This fragrance was first released in 1955, and surprisingly through time Chanel has been able to keep it fairly true to it's original scent profile. Before I list PM's main three reformulations here's an approximate listing of PM's previous iterations. Each version may have slight batch variations. * USA, visit our web store VintageDecants If you would like to sample this fragrance in it's vintage formulation, along with hundreds of other discontinued and rare fragrances to choose from. Pre-1960: Released as "Eau De Cologne Pour Monsieur". 1961-1969: Name changes to "A Gentleman's cologne". 1969-1975: Name changes to "Chanel for Men" 1975-1979: Name changes to "Eau Pour Monsieur". 1979-89: Name changes to "Pour Monsieur" as an EDC 1989-2016: Name stays the same but changes to an EDT. Slightly different scent profile. Post-2016: Changes to an EDP. Very altered scent profile. *It's important to note Chanel markets regionally and this timeline may not match exactly world wide. Some bottle styles may have overlapping timelines with one another. I would consider Pour Monsieur to have three main reformulations. Pre-2008 - Bottles with yellow or amber colored liquid will generally be closer to the fragrances original scent profile. The older the bottle (The EDC's) the higher a concentration of musks and oakmoss you will receive. 2008-2016 - After a reformulation removed the allergins from the ingredients, Chanel opted to turn Pour Monsieurs liquid to a green color. The longevity greatly diminished, and its natural aroma became more synthetic around this time. Post 2016: The EDT was turned into an EDP with a new scent profile. The lemon notes were reduced, and a higher note of vanilla was added. This version smells closer to the discontinued 1989 flanker of Pour Monsieur that was titled "Pour Monsieur EDP Concentree". Hope this helps and enjoy the journey!