Coco Mademoiselle Chanel perfume – a fragrance for women 2001

This is going to be more of a love letter to Coco Mademoiselle than a review. You’ve been warned.

Where to begin. Obsession for women by Calvin Klein was my first love in perfume when I was 13 years old in 1991. Actually, that’s a lie. My first love in perfume was a roller ball of plain vanilla by (Avon maybe?) that I found in my mother’s makeup bag around age 4. I rolled that sucker over my entire body; I was positively in love with this warm, creamy soft vanilla extract in perfume form! I have always loved vanilla with my whole heart. When I was young, there weren’t many vanilla based perfumes available. So Obsession was perfect for me, as it smelled slightly of snickerdoodle cookies and warm amber. For years upon years I wore it layered with some kind of vanilla body lotion or oil or mist. But it couldn’t last. My signature scent for nearly 20 years eventually began to feel stale. I thought we would be together forever, but new releases began to catch my attention, and I tried many of them. Some were great! Some were just not me. Escada Magnetism, Armani Code, Pink Sugar. All these years of fair weather fragrances has left me longing for a signature scent again. I know it’s less common nowadays, and I get the appeal of having a well rounded perfume collection. A scent for every event! How fabulous! But I’m a regular gal. I live with my partner, I go to work, I have a few close friends, and I visit my parents and sister as often as I can. I love being in nature, doing yoga, and hanging out with my cat, who we consider our daughter lol. I don’t go to “events”, clubs, or even brunches except maybe on the rare occasion. A date with my partner rarely if ever requires me to wear heels – and I like it that way! So while I love and appreciate perfumery for the art form that it is, and have certainly amassed a rather impressive collection (around 25 bottles I’d say), I’ll repeat myself…I need a signature scent. Simplistic, comforting, predictable, recognizable, reliable, and most important something that over time feels like “me”, because it accompanies me everywhere. I have tried countless fragrances in the search for this new mid-life signature of mine. I thought about just going back to Obsession and vanilla but that time has simply passed (yes, I certainly keep a bottle around in case you’re wondering 😉 she’s retired, not dead).

Enter Coco Mademoiselle. I resisted for a bit, because she’s not a vanilla! I know many claim to smell a great deal of vanilla in this, but I don’t really. I can tell it’s there, but really only to provide this warm creamy cloak to the citrus and florals. And Chanel’s vanilla is never “foodie”. Without a hint of shame I’ll say this is the most beautiful scent I’ve ever had my nose on. It’s blended to oblivion like most Chanel’s and so the individual notes don’t stand out alone, but rather create a scent all their own. The strongest players I can detect are orange, rose, mimosa, orange blossom, and patchouli of course. Mademoiselle’s patchouli is cool, and fresh. Not a hint of funk, more like sparkling patchouli water you’d want to drink to refresh yourself. There’s almost a spa-like clearness to this fragrance, and I think that appeals to me at this time in my life. There’s so much to fret about, I like the fact that this smells calming to me, not indulgent. That’s why I haven’t been able to get with any of the big vanilla offerings of today – La Belle, Good Girl, they just overwhelm me. Maybe it’s just age. I don’t need to be excited, instead I wish to be calmed. Mademoiselle’s orangey rose is so delicate, whimsical, and nearly watery. At the same time it has a literal glowing quality to it. It’s fresh but also warm. I am amazed at how it can smell almost lit from within, like bottled sunshine that some good witch living in the mountain’s forest uses to cast spells of protection and good cheer on the people in the village below, even after they’ve cast her out. Sometimes, it even feels like exhaling the mistakes of my youth, and wrapping my own capable arms around me in loving appreciation of how far I’ve come. It’s a deep mimosa breath, a sigh of rose-laden romance, spiked with a patchouli edge, cause this phase of life is about embracing every part of me, even the edge. I may have retired old bad habits, but the most dangerous of mistakes have left me memories that can still make me blush the very shade that colors this juice. Maybe that was intended by the perfumer, and maybe it was all worth the price of admission all along.

So, I’ve found the one. And we’re getting along famously – she brings in compliments regularly, which I don’t require, but it’s good to know she suits my skin chemistry well. She is long lasting, and projects well. I currently own the EDP, and the intense, and I look forward to collecting the various body products, as well as the EDT, but I’m in no rush. We’re going to be together for quite some time to come I’m sure. And what will become of my beloved vanilla? Well, I suppose there’s room for a roller ball now and then for old time’s sake and to remember where I came from. Not to mention the man in my life simply adores Kuumba Made’s Vanilla Bean so I’ll keep that around, and close by. The other two dozen or so bottles? Well they’re not going anywhere either. They’re all little masterpieces.

Oh, and do I need to address Mademoiselle’s popularity? Doesn’t bother me in the least. No one I know wears it, and I’m just not concerned with being unique when it comes to perfume. In fact I would love nothing more than to smell this everywhere lol. Have a wonderul day, perfume lovers! Thanks for reading 🙂