No. 19 Poudré
Chanel (2011)

I’m not at all surprised that I love this so much. To me, this comes off as a very feminine, green floral. And the green I’m getting from this one is more of the dry variety. The powder aspect is soft and even slightly flirty. If not flirty, definitely flirty adjacent. A woman aware of her ability to captivate. I was sort of hoping for a bitchy vibe, but I think that’s attributed more to the original 19. Perfumes like this one are the reason I fell in love with perfume in the first place. This is very much a LOVE in my book. I seem to get about 4-5hrs of wear time from it before it starts to become harder to detect… and on my dry skin, that’s pretty much average and what I get from most perfumes so it doesn’t disappoint there. I feel like this one could be worn in any season, and since it doesn’t have a huge projection, I feel like it’s a great choice for the office too. It is more of a daytime scent for me.

Chanel No. 19 Poudré is retro but not in an 90s way more like a french lady when she goes out and socializes with philosophers, artists, and musicians in parisian locals at dusk, like Misia Sert or a charming 1950s bride on her wedding day. Very romantic so feminine, boudoir chic scent. A cool green woody iris which turns a little musky. Green and dry, warm and fresh at the same time. Feminine air with a metal edge.

First spray is a strongly powdered iris, and within minutes the colder herbal note from the combination of bitter galbanum and sweet tonka bean. Iris is actually more noticeable on me way into the dry down after an entire day of wearing and is anchored by dry vetiver. It is the smell of a clean body when you get out of the shower after you've washed yourself with expensive soap, shampoos and condition and then apply luxurious body creams. If you prefer the emphasis on galbanum and green than absolutely powdery scent, try this one. Sillage is pretty soft, almost to the close to the skin and it does not overwhelm a room, but it does make to feel clean and confident. Pure class in a retro bottle.

A competent floral-y dry green, this isn't without interest. Mostly, there's the sheer and awesome amount of powderiness to it, almost dense, and like something you can almost experience as a layer sitting on the skin, that keeps this scent from being merely another effectively pretty one at the mall. This slight (I almost wanna say subversive, but deep down know it's a stretch and some to call it that) streak speaks volumes in adding subtlety and dimension to the composition. Poudré is often compared to Infusion d'Iris by Prada, which makes a world of sense. The two are siblings, if not twins, but Poudré to me has more balls and more wit (though maybe not more brain) and seems to have learned how to let her brawny-er side loose while also getting it to fly under the radar of her ever watchful and proper mom. Poudré also performs better than Infusion: it projects quite a bit more (while still being civil) and lasts marginally longer. To my nose, it also smells higher quality. I'd rather shell out for this over that anytime, though I'm not sure it's fully my style.

I've been obsessed with all things Chanel since I was a teenager, when my best friend and I would save our pennies from our weekend mall-jobs to skip over to the Broadway department store to buy a bottle of perfume. We eventually accumulated No. 5, 19, 22, and Cristalle, each of which came housed in distinctive cylindrical plastic bottles: black for No. 5, silver for 19, white for No. 22, clear for Cristalle.

To us teens of the '80s, Chanel wasn't old-fashioned. It was luxury and quality incarnate. Nothing smelled as beautiful, nothing lasted as long on our skin, nothing wafted its sillage as seductively.

I've smelled just about every Chanel in existence, and even the ones I haven't liked I've at least admired. If nothing else, you get major bang for your buck. The Chanel that I spritz in the morning is still making its presence known before bedtime.

Which is why No. 19 Poudre is such a disappointment—and puzzle. It's a quality formulation for sure, a study in contrasts, green yet powdery, thanks to citrus and galbanum bolstering the famous Chanel jasmine and iris, not so much an updating or reinterpretation of the original No. 19, but a modern homage to its spirit. It's truly lovely, but I can't give it more than a neutral rating because it lasts maybe 2 minutes on my skin.

I even soaked myself with it on a 90-degree day and . . . nothing. All I can hope for is that maybe I'm temporarily anosmic to it.

EDITED October 2020: I was wrong about the longevity. I'm beginning to think that I suffer from occasional short bouts of anosmia, because I gave this another chance yesterday and it stayed loud and proud on my skin for most of the day. I've never smelled anything quite like this, both harsh and green, powdery and tender. What a magnificent trick.

Smells like a slightly greener version of Prada Infusion d'Iris. Sillage is a lot more powerful which many may want or expect as this is twice the price. One spritz on the wrist while my spouse was outside, and he could smell it as soon as he came into the house. Be careful wearing this one to work!

Poudré, to me, is a paradox. It's at once very like and unlike the original Chanel No. 19. I wanted to despise this trust-fund baby, but I can't. It's beautiful.

Like the original No. 19, the iris is strong but refined. No cloying candy-cookie-fruity-vanilla "please don't give me a speeding ticket, officer" nonsense here. Poudré smells smart.

When I wear Poudré instead of Chanel No 19, I don't get any of the "old lady perfume" complaints from my family. So maybe from a certain point of view, Poudré is Chanel No 19 with the "old lady perfume" factor taken out.