Coromandel Eau de Toilette
Chanel (2007)

Coromandel is a beautiful, earthy patchouli with a boozy vibe. Perhaps because it is rounded off by benzoin, olibanum and white chocolate. It smells rich and luxurious. I love it! It is definitely unisex in my opinion.

Just got it and I'm trying it on for the first time, reaction: I'm loving this right now!

On my skin Im getting an earthy rose covered in incense and there's definitely something slightly gourmand coming from the chocolate but it's not overly done.

As I'm writing this review I'm getting more of a citrusy powder and my roommate from the other side of the room just said it smells "really good"...yeah I'm liking this..

Will have to wait for the drydown...

Warm, spicy, smoky, tangy incense, and a bit musty. The jasmine smells sort of rosy to me. The patchouli, amber, incense, benzoin -- all remind me of other such oriental fragrances I already own and wear. It IS quite lovely. For the high price, I'll stick to my less expensive offerings in this genre.

I'm intrigued. The more I wear this, the more I like it. It draws me in, like a siren. A decant will be in order, before I commit to a full bottle. I think it is safe to say, I'm addicted...

An old school aldehydic, amber and vanilla. Coromandel opens like many Chanel women's fragrances with a strong blast of aldehydes that are likely driven by the benozin. Fortunately, it's short lasted, and the drydown is all amber, vanilla and an undertone of woods. I like that the fragrance is relatively tame as amber and vanilla can turn sour, but it's nothing that strikes my nose as anything special. It could easily be unisex as I don't find much about the scent to be decidedly feminine. Light sillage but decent longevity. An unenthusiastic neutral from me.

Stardate 20170808:

Amber Vanilla with woods.
I don't get much Jasmine.
In the middle phase dry woods dominate supported by soft amber.
It starts with a promise but ends as generic benzoin vanilla.

WoW...that's all I can say when I wear this perfume...and that seems to be what others around me say, as well. On one of the first days I wore this perfume, I had about 12 strangers or acquaintances come up to me and say "what are you wearing...you smell incredible!"

I was turned on to Coromandel when someone told me it might be a more affordable alternative to "Portrait of a Lady" or "Musc Ravageur" both by Frederic Malle. Does it smell similar to either...yes! Is it an affordable alternative to either...sadly, no!

It's the jasmine that captures my nose (I adore Creed's Jasmin Imperatrice Eugenie) but this is "thick" or heavy jasmine, which at times smells almost like rose. I'm sure the introduction of patchouli is what makes this stuff smell so "heady" to me...not hippy dirty like heady...heady in a good way! The overall blend and balance between all the glorious notes is what makes this fragrance work so well, IMHO. And (fortunately) on my skin, I do not detect many gourmand notes (chocolate?) at all...don't even wish to think about it...the chocolate that is...a bit of vanilla in the dry-down is there for sure!

To me, at no time does one singular note seem to over-take or overwhelm the fragrance (okay...perhaps the patchouli does try from time-to-time). However overall, this fragrance is a wonderful balance of all the main notes, beginning to end.

And YES...this stuff is costly but longevity is great, silage is (obviously) superior and the overall experience is lovely.

I love this fragrance and I've taken to wearing it 3-4 days a week.

The vintage feel. A "dirty jasmine" along with musk in the opening. I get citrus notes as well, and much powder of course. Great work, obviously.

I do like this but I dont get any patchouli in the EDP. Not a trace. And the famed "white chocolate" is surely a reference to a powdery accord of musk, orris root, heliotrope and other powdery nuances. There is some orange/tangerine in the opening. Elegant, feminine, classic, long-lasting. Would be incredible on my wife.

So strange, so different from what I've smelled up till now, and so wonderful!

I tried a spray at the department store, and while my family did not like it because it is strong, I love it.

To my nose, a lot of camphor, some incense, vanilla, woods and some anise, curiously, which is not on the note list. Very volatile, simultaneously sweet spicy and bitter woody.

Subjectively, a very comforting smell. There's something nicely old and embracing in it, for me.

Though it does not smell of tea in any way, it makes me think of an old house with wallpapered walls and old furniture (it does smell of old richer furniture, in a way) and an old, moderately rich and very polite lady which serves you tea with milk and pays attention to you in a cold winter day.

It is not cheap, but I would really like to have it, though it would be just for my pleasure.

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New review on a very hot Summer day:

I did the unthinkable and tested a warm, deep fragrance on a very hot summer day... At noon.

It still smells amazing, but different. Now much more amber and wood, almost honey, and powdery.

I do love this one... If it were cheaper I would already have it.

Starts off more feminine but during drydown, the amber notes remind me of my Perry Ellis M, which is a men's fragrance that also resembles Chanel Allure. Projection and longevity are excellent.

I am a great champion of delicate perfumes because I think they're misunderstood. Nonetheless, sometimes you want a beast, and when you do, there's no point in messing around. I don't know why people say Coromandel smells like Chanel. If this has "Chanel DNA," I'm Naomi Cambpell (well, I wish . . .). This is an ultra-neo-semi-gourmand-powerhouse. It's a beast. But who cares? Coromandel rocks the house like a Led Zepplin track--"Kashmir" to be precise, with its "trippy" drum effects and eastern affectations--and, like Kashmir, is basically the same thing over and over, but the hook is so great, it doesn't matter.

Actually, that's not entirely true. Coromandel unfolds in stages, modulations on the same theme of jasmine, patchouli, a highly modified amber, benzoin and frankincense. The opening gathers the notes under a burst of jasmine, and then an extremely full-throated patchouli unrolls underneath all the other elements like a carpet. This patchouli holds the stage for about an hour, then slowly recedes to leave an amber that is almost entirely shorn of its animalic qualities, intensely sweetened and then pulverized to bits. Lashed with vanilla and benzoin, kissed with the citrus of frankincense, clinging to what I suspect is a bit of white musk, what would have been a dusty amber is now a slow unfolding of stages of white chocolate powder with gradually fading bits of patchouli still clinging to it. Jasmine weaves in and out through these in a lazy striptease.

This tension between pale chocolate and almost (but not quite) nasty patchouli is fabulous, an analogue Angel. It works on my skin even at very low volume; I can do a tiny 1/2 spray in warm weather and let it bloom. But, honestly, that's no fun. Cool weather suits it best. To paraphrase the French writer Colette, if I can't wear a lot of Coromandel, I don't wear Coromandel; I recommend the same (Colette was talking about eating truffles, but you get the idea). Spray with abandon, but look out. This one goes to 11.

Honestly, Coromandel and I just don't get along. On its best days, it's an old fashioned amber with a hint of that weird Knize Ten gasoline note, along with some mossy greens that fuse with the gasoline to smell kind of sour and sickly in the background of the pretty amber. On its worst days, it's just an explosion of dirty tonka mixed with gasoline, with a hint of bile in the background.

Frankly, after years of trying, I've given up trying to love Coromandel. I understand in theory that this is a great perfume, but I just don't like the way it smells on me. Don't get me wrong, it's always pleasant, but with gross undertones, like a room that's been cleaned and scented, but in which someone has been sick. And with so many fantastic ambers and mossy "oriental" scents out there that I like better, I guess this just means there's more Coromandel for everyone else...