Stanze

She says (let's call her Q): "I still have something from the old days. It's a Chanel with a number. I used to use this all the time before... was born." Punktpunktpunkt was born in 1990. I (Parfumo spoiled me): "How did you store it?" Q: "I stored it in the dark." So we go to a wooden cupboard. She looks for something and then pulls out an ancient cardboard box. From before the time of the barcode. (Barcode was introduced in Europe in 1976. Chanel introduced barcodes in 1990.) I get all excited. I didn't even know there was N°19 before. I open the slightly yellowed package, which says "Refillable atomizer" on the back. A noble matt silver plastic cover with a golden ribbon in the middle. The matt silver cover with the logo can be pulled upwards. You can press on both sides of the golden part under the spray head. Then you can pull up the golden part. In the lower plastic case there is a clear bottle with green liquid. "Recharge Refill Eau de Toilette N°19 Chanel Paris 50ml-80% vol" it says.

I reverently put everything back together again, grab Q's right forearm and spray him with the hint that she would now travel backwards in time. She didn't expect it, she thought I'd spray myself. Q: "But maybe I don't want that at all" (traveling in time). She's got to go through this. There's no going back. You also have to make sacrifices for science.
The top note is a galbanum bomb. I don't like this at all. It smells medical. Then there'll be lots of little sweet flowers. A few minutes later, countless old-fashioned bikers in leather outfits spread out on the meadow with the small flowers. So much leather and little flowers. "I have to smell it again in an hour," I said. Q: "I'll wash it off". I'm like, "You can't wash that off." And Q pulls away from thenen.

After a few minutes of contemplation I succumbed to temptation and sprayed my own right forearm. In the top note, N°19 has the same medical smell as Q, but it's not as unpleasant as her. With much benevolence, I can call it green resinous. The top note lasts much longer than Q. It could have gone faster for me. Where are the little flowers? My friend thinks it smells like older drugstore salesgirls. I think he means positively. He always makes nice remarks about my test series and should actually be registered here instead of me.
A century later the fragrance becomes at least sweeter. But I can't make out individual flowers. It's a very undefined sweetness. Then the leather comes back. And my friend says the smell's getting stronger. With Q it became weaker, with me it becomes allegedly more intensive as soon as the leather fetishists arrive. But galbanum stays there.
Half an hour later the individual scents melt together again. The cute drugstore saleswomen hug the bikers in a forest full of moss, cedars and sandalwood trees and suddenly it smells totally great. Everybody smiles at each other. A fragrance of well-being.
This is not suitable for everyday use. Who can wait an hour and a half for the perfume to take on a nice smell?
Afterwards the sweetness passes slowly and only moss and woods remain behind. An empty forest. My friend says it still smells exactly the same. Either I have become insensitive due to sensory overload or he suffers from Stockholm syndrome. (Because I was sitting right next to him the whole time.)

Of course, it is possible that the perfume has suffered a bit in the wood cabinet during all this time. It was dark in the closet but not cool. This is a terribly warm area in summer.

Of course I will photograph the bottle. Morning. Morning.