One of my aunts is the unofficial historian for our family. She keeps meticulous records of our genealogy and has boxes of artifacts that go way back, back to when my great-great-grandparents first landed in rural Vermont. One of the many heirlooms in her collection is a thick stack of letters that my long-deceased grandfather wrote for his wife while he was stationed in France during World War Two.
After months on the western front he made his way to Paris, and the shock of the big city was palpable in his writing. He frequently sent care packages home, and noted that “I have sent you several fragrances in hopes that you find one that you like. The most famous brand I have sent is Chanel. Chanel #5 is the most sought-after perfume in France today – it just isn’t available except for fantastic prices. However, I was able to obtain two other bottles – if they come through ok, I hope that you enjoy them, as you are just the type of girl that would go for the glamour of Parisian perfumes.” What those bottles contained is long lost to time, but eighty years later I decided to try my own luck at finding a Chanel scent that would make me feel like a glamorous Parisian as well.
Paris-Édimbourg from Chanel caught my eye when it was mentioned in Rachel Tashjian’s “Opulent Tips” newsletter a few months ago. An endorsement from her holds significant weight, so I decided to do something that happens very rarely in my life – buy something on a whim.
The Les Eaux Collection
This fragrance is one of six in the “Les Eaux de Chanel” collection from Chanel. The collection was launched in 2018, and each of the fragrances is inspired by destinations that Coco herself was particularly fond of. Paris-Édimbourg is one of the latest releases within the Les Eaux line, and it’s the only one that I have direct experience with.
Paris-Édimbourg is inspired by Coco Chanel’s trips to the Scottish highlands. She was introduced to this rugged country via the Duke of Westminster in 1924, with whom she was romantically linked for several years (much to the chagrin of the Duchess of Westminster). Despite the scandalous nature of her Scottish travels, the natural beauty of the verdant country had an impact on the designer and that experience became the genesis for this fragrance.
All the fragrances in this collection are broadly unisex, though individual scents may lean one way or another (in my opinion, though, any scent is unisex if you like the way it smells). This scent is generally considered to be the most masculine-leaning fragrance in the collection.
How It Smells
Paris-Édimbourg is described as “a powerful burst of freshness with aromatic and woody notes, inspired by the Scottish moors.” It is indeed a woody scent, and a definitively fresh and mossy one. This isn’t a dry sandalwood or cedar-y fragrance; this is lush and clean, fresh and green. You could say that Edimbourg is a modern day fougère scent – one of the traditional fragrance families that tend to be green and herbaceous (fougère is French for fern-like).
They say the primary note is Juniper, though to me it’s a less distinct coniferous scent (I think of Juniper as a tree in the dry arid mountains of central Oregon – to me, this is more akin to a cool, damp Doug Fir forest in the valley). Richer woody and herbal scents appear in the middle, but to me this scent is really driven by the damp juniper freshness that carries through. To me, the fragrance is fairly linear; it doesn’t develop or change significantly over time.
There is also something about this fragrance that feels very Northern California/Pacific Northwest to me. Something about it feels like a foggy, damp day walking in through the fir and bay laurel (an experience that I have had many times).
Despite the wild nature of these foresty smells, the Chanel DNA still cuts through and the fragrance has a definite feel of formality to it. Perhaps it’s due to the lavender note, which brings a fresh, soapy feel to it. I tend to wear this fragrance more when I’m wearing tailored clothing rather than with jeans and a flannel shirt. That may sound contradictory to the outdoorsy notes of this fragrance but it’s what makes the most sense to me.
Performance
This is a topic that seems to be very important to many in the fragrance community but is less so to me. I have always been nervous about over-perfuming myself (it’s what kept me from this hobby for many years) and as such I really only wear scents lightly and for my own enjoyment. For this reason, topics like longevity and projection are less concerning to me.
The fragrances in the Les Eaux collection tend to be on the lighter side, so it’s no surprise that one of the most common critiques of this fragrance is that the longevity is not good enough. It’s certainly good enough for me and I can smell it on myself at the end of the day, but I agree that it’s not a powerful projector. I prefer more subtle scents so this works just fine in that regard.
Two quick notes about the design of the bottle (which is unimportant but also very important at the same time). First, I do love the shape and design; the smaller 50ml bottle fits perfectly in my palm and gives the sensation of holding a beautifully flat and round river stone that you could skip across the creek. Second, the atomizer is excellent – more than any other fragrance that I have, this one creates an even, consistent mist. These are relatively small details but make the act of using the fragrance that much more pleasant.
Price & Availability
The Les Eaux line is priced at $90 for the 50ml and $140 for the 125ml. That puts them roughly in the middle of the range for fragrances – well under something like Tom Ford or Creed or many of the popular independent brands like Le Labo and Byredo, but still above many of the widely distributed brands at your local mall. I think the price is fair but that will depend on the individual. I purchased mine at full price, as I didn’t see much opportunity to get it below MSRP.
While it might not be quite as proliferous as the iconic Chanel fragrances that you can find in even the smallest airport, Chanel has an international reach and you can pick this up at any major retailer. I purchased mine directly through Chanel’s e-commerce site and the fragrance was beautifully presented (and included some samples of other fragrances). I’m generally not a shopper of high-street fashion brands, but I will give them credit here – they really do know how to nail the presentation.
Conclusion
If you were to say that reviewing fragrances was outside of the scope of this blog, you’d have a fair point. Fashion and fragrances are two very different worlds that often have distinctly separate hobbyists, but the overlap is hard to ignore. And while I can’t claim significant expertise in this area, it is something that I have enjoyed learning about over the past couple of years.
In reality, it’s impossible to recommend something as personal and difficult to convey as a fragrance. With that said, I have enjoyed using this one and will probably grab another when it runs out in a year or so. I can’t say if any fragrance is worth a blind buy (especially one as readily available as this), but I am happy with the purchase. I’ve enjoyed finding a fragrance that is reminiscent of some of my own memories – or maybe I’m just tapping into my roots of Parisian glamour.
