Chanel N°5 EDP & Rouge Coco Shine in #54 Boy

Valentine's day recommendation #1! I'm inexplicably excited about this first post in a string of Valentine's themed posts. Couldn't tell you why. On with the awesomeness!

I mentioned in the last sort of "teaser" post that I have six product reviews/recommendations that I'd like to post about before the 14th - three perfumes and three lip colours - and I'd actually like to do these in pairs. My first Valentine's day pair for review will be.........

Well, if my post title didn't already give it away, it's Chanel's N°5 Eau de Parfum and Chanel's Rouge Coco Shine in shade #54, Boy.


First off,

Rouge Coco Shine in Boy.

This is a beautiful, soft alternative for anyone who is not comfortable wearing a strong, opaque lip colour. Not everyone enjoys sporting a dark lip, and lets face it, it doesn't go with everything. If you want to go heavier and more dramatic on the eyes, for instance, sometimes a deep lipstick or even a medium shade is just too much. Enter Rouge Coco Shine.

The Rouge Coco Shine lip colour line is a lip-balm / lipstick hybrid, giving sheer but evident colour with a glossy finish. They are rose-scented, and the lipstick case is a slimmer version of the Rouge Coco lipsticks.

Swatches...

Shade #54 Boy is a neutral light pink. It isn't pale and frosty, but it isn't dark either. What I love about this shade is that it it isn't peachy, but it isn't too much of a girlish pink. It's very wearable.

Here is the swatch I did for this review. The lip blot shows that it stays on quite well, especially when compared with the swatch to the right of it, which was painted on the paper with a lip brush to show the true shade.

Rouge Coco Shine glides on easily so that you don't really need a mirror in order to apply it, you don't have to be terribly meticulous about it if you're out somewhere. It may not last as long as a normal lipstick, but the great thing about this is that it won't dry out your lips. You also don't need a very thick coat, so it all evens out, really.

If you'd like to hear more about the Rouge Coco Shine lipsticks, and about the shade Boy, have a peak at Ruth Crilly's review on her wonderful youtube channel A Model Recommends (you can also check out her website - click here).

And as for perfume... Allow me to re-introduce you to the iconic

Chanel N°5. 

This is a classic, yes, but it's a classic where time and reputation are concerned. The scent itself is not as dated as one might imagine.

In truth, N°5 is widely misunderstood. If you will recall the post I did on how to test perfumes, some people will try N°5, judge it by its top notes, and scrub it off, thinking they've just experienced all the fragrance has to offer and they didn't like it. Well, as I had mentioned in that post, the opening of a fragrance will not illuminate you to its overall style - it's exactly like judging a book by its cover.  

           Top notes: 

N°5 starts out soapy, floral and zesty-clean. Unfortunately, a lot of people associate this phase with scented hand soaps and perfumes their grandmothers wore, and before it has a chance to unfold, you hear people say: "smells like old lady perfume." But don't be fooled.

           Heart notes: 

That soapy opening is something akin to a trick of the light, fading quickly to unveil a modest yet sensuous  heart. There is a floral base, sure, but at this point it's nothing more than a canvas for the other notes, having absolutely nothing to do with your grandmother or hand soap now. The most sumptuous vanilla plays a major role in the heart, and lingers on in the dry-down as well (base notes). It is a very good quality vanilla, a vanilla that is even lovelier than Shalimar's. But the heart is not quite that simple. The vanilla, smoothed out with the refined florals, takes on a faint metallic quality, conjuring an unexpectedly poignant and personal air.

           Base notes:

This is just so smooth and subtle in the dry-down. By this time, it has lasted over six hours on me, and it's only getting into its base notes. The vanilla gets very soft, there's just the smallest hint of a very very light sandalwood, the whole thing has just become so cosy that you can't tell you're wearing perfume. It's as though you simply smell wonderful. This phase goes on for a while, and I still get light wisps of it every now and then. It's just gorgeous.

N°5 is a very romantic fragrance. It melts into the skin and plays with your own skin scent - it wears as comfortably and as elegantly as silk. There are many concentrations of N°5. The one I'm reviewing is the Eau De Parfum. It is also available in the very expensive Parfum format where you can expect to pay over one-hundred dollars for a few millilitres (maybe 7.5 ml or so), or you can get it in the Eau De Toilette, or the Eau Premiere (this is an Eau De Parfum as well, which means a higher concentration of perfume oil than the Eau De Toilette, but this is a different take on the ballance of notes than the original Eau De Parfum which I've reviewed here).

The packaging is fabulous too, the cap being glass where most are plastic. It adds a little something. And the details on the bottom of the bottle are not on a sticker, but etched onto the glass. Nice touch.

One more thing I should mention is that you have to try the different concentrations to find the one that's right for you. While most perfume houses just play with the concentration of perfume oil, Chanel changes the concentration of various notes in each format, sometimes even adding extra notes to one. I highly recommend the Eau De Parfum, because it has such a beautiful vanilla. It's warm, it's sexy but not in your face, I really love it and wear it regularly. 

I urge anyone looking for a warm, subtle yet sexy scent to give this a try. Just make sure you don't scrub it off too soon ;)

Have a great day, and thanks for reading!

A.