Gardenia

The rumors are true. $18 for a beautiful and affordable Chanel No. 5 smell-alike. Intensive aldehydes. More aggressive, indolic, sweeter ylang-ylang/jasmine, with a heavier, more oily feeling... I agree with the others. This is closer to the No. 5 EDP than the EDT. Not very "gardenia", but it has a buttery, waxy aspect that I associate with gardenias. Nemat doesn't have Chanel's delicate iris-y sandalwood in its drydown. The oil becomes a cloud of soap... a lot of musk. Clean and dirty, with its soft flowers peaking through. The base resembles the base for Nemat's sandalwood oil, but it's not nearly as intensive here. Lovely. I much prefer Nemat's Gardenia to ...some of the other Chanel No. 5 smell-alikes I've tested. It's fantastic for the price. Liquid gold. If you happen to live in an isolated and thoroughly unpleasant perfume wasteland, and the local stores don't stock anything from Nemat; Smallflower carries the whole line. I do not find all of them appealing, but they're well-made at a great price point. There is truly something for everyone in the line.

Thankfully, I read the reviews here before my purchase, and had an idea of what to expect! Nemat's 'Gardenia' starts off (as mentioned) with a blast of aldehydic rose, and reminds me at first of Cabotine... but, as it develops past the first hour, it does indeed become more-and-more very Chanel #5-like... which is all about the heart. I thought it might stay this way for awhile, but then it settles further into a lovely, civet-tinged musk with the indolic florals just hovering above. I'm at the 5-hour mark now as I write about this dynamic perfume. Certainly, this is not a fragrance for you if you don't care for vintage aldehydes and animalic notes gracing your perfumes; for the vintage-lovers out there: highly-recommended. I've only used ONE drop of this potent CPO so far for this review, and I can still easily catch whiffs of it rising up to my nose as I type!

AIN'T NO WAY! This is a timeless creation of pure class and sheer elegance, but make it dirt cheap and somehow with great projection and longevity. Chanel No 5, Arpege, Caleche, and Kiehl's Original Musk alike. Blast of aldehyde, unapologetically musky, and distinctively soapy. I am in disbelief how entirely beautiful this little bottle of oil is. To all the classic chypre and vintage perfumes enjoyers, you will definitely want to get one of these magical oils.

Where's the gardenia? None in here. Everyone is correct; this does smell like Chanel No. 5. Not exact, but the aldehydes and ylang (which is not listed but it's in there) and lots of powdery musk on the far dry down bring it to mind. Right now, this new just opened bottle wears very close to the skin but picks up better silage in the heat. From what I've read about this brand it needs time to age a bit to get stronger. I hope so otherwise I'll relegate this to when I'm working out, like I did today in my garden, or some other strenuous activity where it can release its fragrance with my body heat. Though not a love, I do like this a lot and best yet it's hard to beat that price.

muted musky smell, i found it more soapy/powdery/fresh rather than floral... bit underwhelming, but i preferred it when layering with vanilla musk