Chanel
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The mandarin arrives like a knife through citrus flesh—sharp, uncompromisingly tart, almost astringent in its brightness. Lovage's celery-green snap and elemi's turpentine bite circle that central orange note, adding herbal tension that keeps this from sliding into generic cologne territory.
The citrus softens but never sweetens, whilst the lovage grows more prominent, bringing an earthy, almost medicinal herbaceousness that flirts with savoury. Elemi's resinous pepper provides a subtle warmth that hints at spice without ever fully committing, maintaining that athletic, scrubbed-clean character throughout.
Transparent white musk and pale cedarwood create barely-there warmth against skin, with ghost traces of mandarin still flickering at the edges. The amber is so restrained it's almost theoretical—a suggestion of warmth rather than actual sweetness, leaving you with clean skin and the memory of citrus rather than any substantial base.
This is Chanel's summer sport fragrance stripped down to its athletic essentials—a citrus cologne that prioritises freshness over complexity, clarity over depth. The Sicilian mandarin dominates from first spray to final fade, a tart, sun-bright orange that's more pith and zest than sweet fruit flesh. Olivier Polge has crafted something deliberately transparent here, layering lovage's green, celery-like bite and elemi's peppery pine-resin snap beneath that mandarin canopy to create a fragrance that reads as clean rather than compositionally intricate.
What makes this more interesting than typical sport flankers is that herbal-resinous interplay in the heart—lovage brings an almost savoury vegetable crispness that stops the citrus from tipping into simple shower gel territory, whilst the elemi adds a subtle turpentine edge, like sun-warmed Mediterranean scrubland. The base is pure modern Chanel minimalism: whisper-quiet white musks and blonde woods that hover close to skin, providing just enough structure to stop the whole thing evaporating within the hour, though it comes perilously close.
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3.9/5 (377)