Chance Eau de Parfum Chanel perfume – a fragrance for women 2005

Very nice! I bought a used bottle and am on my second day of testing it and really like it. It’s definitely mass appealing, and not super complex. But, it still has some degree of complexity because it also has some depth. No odd stages that lead into something beautiful. I would say it begins solid and lovely, and keeps that vibe with every stage. Somewhat linear. But not completely.

It absolutely reminded me of Coco Mademoiselle when I first sprayed it. I was somewhat disappointed as I already have a bottle of Coco Mad edt and used to have a bottle of the EDP. I don’t dislike Coco Mad but in general fruitchouli’s are not my thing. They are in the same ballpark as “blue” fragrances marketed towards men.

This, however, goes somewhere that I prefer way more than Coco Mad (too much orange, fruit, and patchouli for me). I was comparing the notes listed between the EDT and EDP for Chance and think there might be some notes missing on the EDP. Possibly citrus, pineapple, rose. But anyways. The beginning is spicy and floral, nothing too crazy. But it dries down pretty quickly on my skin and the Iris and jasmine start coming forward to appear and stay. They meld on my skin with the base notes very well. The patchouli starts off strong when it first appears but then tames itself to work well with everybody else. The vanilla doesn’t add too much sweetness, but just enough warmth. The Iris stays, and that with the vanilla give it some powder. The musk is also lovely but nothing too much. IMO it’s pretty well balanced to not be anything offensive, and a somewhat versatile fragrance.

I have and love Chance Eau Fraiche, and owned/blind bought Eau Tendre but was not a fan. I stayed away from this cause I smelled the EDT and to my new nose it wasn’t my thing (this was back in about 2016 or so). So I eventually decided to look up the notes for both and decided to take a chance, oh jeez lol, on the EDP. I’m happy I did!

I also find this to have some “masculine qualities.” In fact, I got a slight memory of some mass appealing men’s fragrance at some point in its dry down. I can’t figure out what it is, I don’t know if it’s Eros or what but I got a whiff of something that made my mind think of a men’s fragrance. I also got a whiff of when you walk by the perfume counters of a department store. Which I sometimes do find some nostalgia for the days I spent shopping with my grandmother as a child, so that’s a nice plus with this.

I wore it to bed last night and I smelled it when I woke up, on my wrists. Which is incredible, absolutely nothing lasts on my wrists except something like vintage Opium or Poison or Dior Homme Parfum. And I wore to work today (no compliments but also no complaints), and could still smell it on me after getting home about 7 hours later.

I am confused about this being called a chypre (fragrance family I still don’t understand) as every vintage chypre I’ve smelled have nothing to do with this scent profile. You can tell this was made post the year 2000. Must be the absence of oakmoss.

Definitely like it. There really is nothing to dislike unless you don’t like the notes used, or are so hotheadedly against mass appealing and somewhat basic scents. I think this has enough depth and complexity to stop it from being banal.

🥀

Update 02/23/23 – A year later and I finally finished my used 50 ml bottle today. That made me uncomfortable as this one has really grown on me, so I just purchased a lightly used 100 ml and am awaiting it in the mail! It’s effortless, and it’s not too much of anything IMO. The spice can be a bit much at first, but I’m a fire sign so I can handle it 😉. Someone mentioned that it gets better with age. I don’t know if that’s true but that has been true with some of my other bottles of Chanel that I bought new, they got stronger with some aging. My used bottle was pretty strong for Chanel, as the Coco line is IMO the only line that projects the way people expect to smell a fragrance on others. Most Chanel fragrances are not screamers, that just isn’t that houses vibe. Also I like to layer Allure Sensuelle EDP over this once it dries down. It helps AS project more, and doesn’t change it due the fact that AS has the same notes, and more.