Daneh

If you only want to read my scent perception: see "To the scent" in the middle of the comment.

At 13, I attended a perfume fair for the first time (Stadthalle Erkelenz) and saw Chanel No. 22, instantly falling in love with the bottle.
So many years and fairs and purchases… but no one wanted to let me sniff No. 22 or sell it to me. I received Chanel No. 5 as a gift for my 15th birthday, and No. 19 for my 19th.
Curiosity killed the cat - for almost 10 years! At 21, I finally visited the Schnitzler perfumery in Düsseldorf and wanted to take a good look around. I barely took 3 steps when the saleswoman looked down at me (I was a little beauty back then and perfectly made up) and scrutinized the mix of H & M and Promod, raising an eyebrow. What was the question she asked me? “How can I help you?”. Yes, and now I wanted to impress her, show off all my expertise, and start with: “I would like Chanel No. 22”. I knew exactly what they didn’t have, and when she said “we don’t have that…” I wanted to move on to the next rarities right away. Yeah, think again, it continued with “…but we can get it from America”. Gulp…. she immediately pulled out the order pad and took my details. I left Schnitzler quietly.

The call came about 9 months later, “..can be picked up, costs 220.00 DM”. So I got No. 22 for my 22nd birthday - sponsored by all my savings and goodbye Ibiza vacation. And then came the biggest perfume disappointment and the most expensive of my life.

To the scent - MY perception: Opjepass! De Pastor kütt…
Just church incense, rose incense. And completely overdosed. No matter how much effort you put into washing it off, the stuff burrows into all skin layers and just won’t come off. This perfume simply smells like a Catholic church. Just like it did at my first communion.
I have to give Chanel one compliment: The white-gold sprayer has been sitting decoratively in my bedroom for ages - and as one of the very few - and every few years I try it again. Not a bit of UM is in the sprayer. Absolutely no change in the scent (does it preserve incense?). It doesn’t get any worse, but unfortunately, it doesn’t get any better either.

How I wish I could trade the contents for something from my memory and wish list.

And before a Parfumo comes after me: scents are a matter of taste, and I actually know people who hate Shalimar. I wouldn’t approach them either. I’ll leave it at this one review - but this had to come out.

Addendum: I now also have a sample of the new No 22. It has been tested and found to be good. The differences between the old and new version are indeed enormous.

Blind buy, just like Emeraude and L 'Aimant before. This time via Ebay USA at Rare Perfume.
After 3 weeks of waiting - with much anticipation - the expensive fun finally arrived. First impression of the scent: Is this very vintage? or very um? or both? No, definitely more um - annoyance. Since I had no time to wash it off, I walked around for about 30 minutes with dead grandma. Then it got worse, because the scent was not completely dead yet. Suddenly I smelled bananas, later cedar, and now annoyance gave way to endless sorrow. What an incredible scent this must have been! And you will probably never find out. Well, and now for the really clueless (yes, ME): You need to spray 3-4 times from such old bottles.

So, now to my scent perception: The description lovely fits 100%. I can't detect a single flower. If I had to describe them, they would all be blue, light blue, and turquoise; not sharp, but soft and creamy. Then comes the crazy banana. Not a fully ripe, fruity-sour, slightly honey-like one (like in Valentino), but just a light yellow, flawless banana. Then the blue cedar joins in. This gives the perfume a very strong masculine touch but without any harshness.

The woman who wears this scent is very feminine, yet also strong and self-confident. Not a bimbo, Barbie, or a fashion doll. She is very “individual” and does not care about being liked by everyone. Les Muses is a scent that stands out without wanting to stand out, because it is contradictory (feminine and masculine). Opposites inspire - and the muse inspires the artist.

I don't know a comparable perfume even remotely (and I know a lot).

Regarding longevity: It lasts about 4-5 hours on the skin, which is quite decent (but I am a very poor scent wearer and therefore not a benchmark).

It is midsummer and the midday sun is blazing. You are at the fair. There isn't much going on. You can smell the booth with all the sweets from a distance in the warm, humid air. That certain mixed scent of roasted almonds, licorice, pink cotton candy, candies, candied fruits, etc.
You are now at the height of the booth and notice the stand directly across from it.
The Indian!!!
There, Nag Champa incense sticks are burning. He sells the usual: all kinds of incense cones and sticks, perfume oils, resins (Opoponax, Styrax, Benzoin, Elemi, frankincense), which of course are also burning on the incense burner that stands further back.
From the candy booth, you slowly turn your head in that direction, but you don't go over there. You now stand for a while in the middle between the two stands... slowly you move on. The strong scent from both stands accompanies you for a little while and then quickly fades. It hasn't stuck to you and doesn't dominate the entire large fair - and you are happy to pass by there again on your way back.