Chanel No. 5 Eau Première ~ perfume review
If you want to know what Chanel No. 5 Eau Première feels new, try this: take a bottle of Chanel No. 5 Eau de Parfum and position it near a window, preferably overlooking a hedge of roses, where the sun cast a rosy light through the bottle. Now cross the room and squint to your vision of the bottle of No. 5 blurs. Water is first.
It did not work? Try this: picture in your mind a picture of Andy Warhol # 5 a bottle. Now imagine that painted by Renoir. That is also the First Water.
Perhaps visual comparisons are not for you. Then I will quote the "Fashion Rocks" supplement to Vogue this September is:
A fragrance Chanel No. 5 is a bit like the Beach Boys Pet Sounds, an album that did not initially go into gold, but is considered one of the greatest albums ever made, and sold a ton over the long term. Similarly, the reformulation Chanel No. 5 Eau Première, launched this fall for a younger market, is akin to a dance club remix of something written permission of American Idol.
By now you've probably got the idea. First water is the essence of 5 – its neroli, rose, jasmine, ylang-ylang, amber, vetiver, sandalwood and – and it softens the edges removing aldehyde and bits of straw that smell of Italian wine to leave an easy-to-sing-along-with version of the original. When you smell Eau Première, you know you smell the direct relationship of 5. But instead of the elegant aunt who is 5, you get his niece, Queen Homecoming aspiring to a career in public relations.
It's hard for me to form an opinion of the First Water, without comparing it to No. 5. First water is a little rosier than 5, with more vanillic DRYING. It lacks all the charm of fustiness 5, and it does not change dramatically over time. I can not find the First Water "fresh" or "modern" than the Chanel PR engine, it is said – after all, is a floral fragrance friendly, and we've seen those before. But sometimes a person wants basic yellow cake – a good, made with real butter and fresh eggs – and not some concoction extravagant Viennese bakery.
Do I like well enough water first to pay for a bottle? No, but I certainly understand if you do. It feels to me like a solid, well-balanced, fragrance carefully done, and I would be happy to feel anyone around me. Plus, the water is like a hearty First Eau de Toilette, which lasts almost as long as the No. 5 Eau de Parfum I wore at his side.
Returning to the Beach Boys Pet Sounds analogy again. If "God Only Knows (What I would do without you)" is your answer to No. 5, then by all means try the water first, but do not expect to dethrone the original. If on the other hand, you had trouble with the aldehydes 5 and it is too dated, but something in his classic construction of jasmine roses on a soft, calls the basic warm for you, then water could be perfect first.
