1909ventilo's Blog

So I am wondering if I should just go ahead and do it.  What do you think?

Chanel no 46 in original box perfume never opened! This is a fabulous description from 1000fragrances.blogspot.com Chanel 46 (1946) That’s a perfume surrounded by many mysteries but at least it had an ad in a magazine! The after war years were strange and decisive for Chanel life&business. Because she started to produce her own Mademoiselle Chanel perfumes (in the red cylindrical bottles), the Wertheimers brothers brought her to Court for counterfeiting. But finally they signed an important financial deal. Because of her love affair with a Nazi official during the war Coco Chanel had a lot of troubles in the post war Paris. She appeared very little in public and went to live mostly in Switzerland. Meanwhile the Wertheimers brothers (which fled Europe because of their origin) had signed in USA a big deal with the American army that opened their market to Chanel perfumes. That’s why American soldiers in Paris after the war went to buy Chanel perfumes and not Houbigant or Lancôme. It was in a way the start of a new era for Chanel. By this period the Chanel perfume portfolio changed. You will not hear or see anything about pre-war perfumes, except for those that are re edited today. Chanel 46 is a floral aldehydic perfume, very close to No5. It’s hard without a No5 from the same year to tell the exact difference between them. In this floral aldehydic the accent seems to be put on the rose (with geranium) – lily of the valley note (a successful idea that can be smelled later in Calèche) everything then wrapped in a soft musky base. The perfume has also a very important orris-methyl ionone and is very musky-skin effect (peachy). The soft woody drydown is mainly vetiver (and its acetate) + sandalwood. The orris is here light, peachy and fruity as in Iris Gris and the perfume has some common aspects with Rallet No1 but seems more “modern” and lighter. It is very useful to compare the floral aldehydic notes from the same period (Ricci, Fath, Balmain, Balenciaga) because they share a lot of common notes, mostly in the drydown. Chanel 46 is also less sweet (coumarine-vanilla) than Chanel No5. Imagine the famous 1921 perfume reborn after the war to celebrate freedom, youth, springtime. That’s my image of Chanel No 46. Top – citrusy aldehydic: bergamot, orange, neroli Heart – delicate floral: rose-lily of the valey-ylang-jasmin Drydown – powdery musky: vetiver, orris/methyl ionones, sandalwood, coumarine, vanilla infusion, musk (ketone+ambrette).