Les Exclusifs de Chanel 31 Rue Cambon Chanel for women

Of all citrus scents, I like bergamot the most, then orange.
This opens with an elegant bergamot scent but not long before the creamy patchouli joins in and pushes the citrus to the background. I prefer it this way because too much citrus could bother my nose.
It's a light, smooth, and well blended perfume; just perfect for a non-floral Spring scent.

When I'm older I think I would wear that fragrance. It's one of the kind like most of Chanel scents.

beutifull mix but no longevity at all...what a pitty

I LOVE this scent.

It is so gorgeous, and would be a LOVE if it were 3 TIMES AS STRONG!!!

It disappears almost completely from my skin in 30 minutes.

Sob!!

Very soft, classy, mysterious & secretive.

I can't truly say this feels like a chypre to me. But it's lovely to have an earthy-bergamot accord which is so warm, inviting and approachable. There is no quality of austerity or coldness here.

I understand why many people find my favorite classic chypres to be challenging, and in some situations I feel self-conscious wearing them. But this, never. I imagine most people readily percieve the appeal of this scent. It's just plain beautiful.

Antes de saber su historia, al olerlo me transporto a Paris...

Notes:

pepper, bergamot, orris, narcissus, jasmine,
patchouli, ambrette, vetiver, labdanum.

31 Rue Cambon does actually conjure the shape of a chypre. I appreciate the way it redefines the olfactory geometry that makes a chypre so compelling; I love the way it smells. There is a notable lack of bitterness without the oakmoss, but there is a dirtiness/skinness/nuttiness that melds with the buttery amber and just slides along from top through drydown.

Fruit? I actually don’t see it. More of an ambery woodiness infused with a classic Chanel approach to singing florals, all iris and aldehydes. 31 is effectively a floral oriental folded into the shape of a chypre. Light? Delicate? With its oriental DNA I find 31 both emphatic and durable.

A fantastically successful stab at the contemporary chypre dilemma. I’m surprised it’s not more emulated.

This smells of wealth, but also of age. If you were sitting in the lobby of the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach and a wealthy dowager entered and sat down next to you while her driver checked her in and made sure her bags were handled by the bellman, her Hermes scarf would smell of 31 Rue Cambon. And so would the Pomeranian on her lap.

I usually get the floor cleaner note with citruses as well but not with 31 rue Cambon! This is just pure class. Not overwhelming, nothing vulgar. Beautiful soft chypre. Would be a perfect work scent for a lady who enjoys wearing pencils skirts and heels.

Bergamot (and citrus in general) and I tend to not be friends, and 31 Rue Cambon confirmed it. All I get is ashy-burned-medicinal citrus--in other words, floor cleaner. No. 5 Eau Premiere and No.19 did the same exact thing to me, so I'm not surprised, just disappointed.

One of the most beautiful things I've ever smelled. A true work of art. Starts sparkly fresh & green and has the most addictive drydown ever. A chypre without the bitterness. Just gorgeous! My jaw is dropping on the floor every time I smell this.
10/10

31 Rue Cambon for me is like an exercise of which creative direction would Coco Chanel follow if she was still alive and if she was trying to shape the heritage of Chanel to modern tastes but without falling into fads. Like her apartment on Paris, Rue Cambon seems to have everything that a classical Chanel has: aldehydes, jasmine, iris, a soft powderiness. But it doesn`t go straight into vintage lands. Instead, it takes those aspects and marry them with a sweet resinous base that is very well doused. The aldehydes on the opening are the most interesting part to me. They seem to give a different aroma to the opening according the day your nose smell it. Sometimes you`ll detect a bright citric aura paired with the beginning of a flowery bouquet, and other days they lend you to an abstract fruity aroma. The iris and jasmine on the heart of this one gave the discreet powdery and flowery aura, with a warm, barely there, indolic touch. When it reaches to the base, you`re left with a delicious sweet creamy woody aroma, with the sweet part played in a serious way, avoiding gourmand intensities and matching perfectly the soft resinous aura that you seem to get sometimes when the scent warms on skin again. For me, Rue Cambon is not purely a Chypre fragrance, having parts that would be perfectly intepreted as floral or floral aldehidic too, and where everything seems to have a kinship so natural and common to find nowadays. Rue Cambon has a elegance that is totally out of tendencies, focusing on what really matters on a fragrance: quality.

“Be Chic” is Coco Chanel’s style we can see on her back and this fragrance is very iconic, a symbolic creation.
She continues to make small evolutions happen inside her body with keeping tradition made by herself.
She does it very lightly in a sophisticated way, this is the reason I am a fan of the house/maison Chanel.
People gaze at her with reverence and adore her sophistication, a front runner.

I can breathe more deeply and feel oxygen when I wear this fragrance, I am in the new world, it might be said “intoxicating”.
The best in the collection.

I am looking forward to trying the next, “Jersey”.
How many people can feel relaxed without jersey?
How many people prefer to spend hours in bed wearing silk satin or cotton linen now?
Most of us cannot feel relaxed without jersey anymore, it is very interesting concept.

I love this scent, but it doesn't last on me. So sad. I have a 75ml, 90% full to trade....and it's gone!

If this scent lasted like Coromandel did, it would be in my Top 5 fragrances.....nothing else smells like it to me! Stunning.

I don't die for this fragrance, but it's one of my favourite from the Les Exclusifs.

It's a very opulent interpretation of a modern chypre. The drydown is a little powdery and spicy. This fragrance can be the great grand daughter of Mitsouko.

The lasting power is very good for an Eau de Toilette

Absolutely fantastic! This is the classic-classy floral chypre theme superbly revised with a tremendous modern twist. A sober masterpiece and possibly one of the best perfumes of all times. A big dose of iris, some bergamot and fruity notes are the most detectable in this fragrance made of a delicate sweetness and and a luminous radiance. The drydown is warm, embracing, intimate and somehow ambery. 31RC stays at the top of my favourite female fragrances list together with its precursor Mitsouko. Unquestionably elegant, sober and beautiful. Do great also on a man.

Rating: 9.5/10

Similar to Mitsouko, although a little bit lighter. I tried it on, and a 60 year old woman told me that it smelled like something her mother would have worn.

For the first time ever I don't want to read anyone else's opinions of the perfume. I will eventually. Just not now, not when it's here with me. Just today, walking into Chanel boutique I was saying to my husband that I haven't yet encountered a Chanel that would agree with me. No 5 rejected me without mercy: the EDT, the EDP, finally the parfum (both contemporary and several vintages), and I didn't really hope for anything more. How wrong I was!

Coming from a quaint provincial town in Russia, that miraculously managed to sustain its oldwordly charm through the whole epoque of terror which 20th century was for my country, I have in my mind the perfectly precise picture of what 31 Rue Cambon is to me. I picture myself a six year old, just having seen The Nutcracker ballet and charmed by Chaikovsky's music. It's New Year's eve and my mother, fascinated by all things Paris and stunningly beautiful in her long purple gown, her coat trimmed with luxurious silver fox, and a wide brimmed hat, to my eyes looks just like one of the Ladies of the royal court in the ballet. We're going out to spend the New Year's night with my parents' friends, and as she steps out of our building into the snowy starlit evening, there's a whurry of crisp winter wind, and it showers my mother with snowflakes, and she laughs, and the wind carries her laughter and the delicious fragrance of her perfume all around us, snowflakes shimmering in the black and silver fur of her hat and coat like diamonds. That's the perfect moment I've been longing to relive, and that's exactly where Rue Cambon takes me.

I like what Sissi wrote in her comment,that poem is lovely,giving a real description of this perfume

Before I fell head-over-heels in love with 31 Rue Cambon, the Chanel sales assistant likened this fragrance to the scent of old bookshops and museums. At first my response was, "who would want to smell like that?" Well, let me tell you, smelling like ancient manuscripts has never been so appealing.

The old, musty smell comes from the complex blend of dry, dusty woods, earthy patchouli and subtle, soapy iris. I cannot find a better way of describing this fragrance's beauty.

Perhaps a year ago, when I was mostly into florals and gourmands, I may have passed this fragrance by, however making a discovery of the whole Les Exclusifs range has opened up a whole new world of fragrances for me.

Thankfully, this fragrance works well with my chemistry, hence the reason why it made it to my wishlist. Every few seconds I manage to discover something new about this fragrance. One second it smells nutty the next it's smokey and woodsy. There's a touch of pepper in there too, maybe even incense, amber and spices.

I am hopelessly devoted to this fragrance, just like when I discovered Coromandel, it was instantaneous love. I don't admire 31 Rue Cambon because it's sexy (although it is in a nerdy librarian way), bold or feminine, I love it because it's like nothing I've ever experienced before.

Unlike most reviewers of this particular fragrance, I didn't have an issue with its longevity. It lasted perfectly well on my skin, it almost pained me to wash it off in the shower the next morning.

Mellow, soothing and dry, there is no doubt in my mind that this fragrance will be gracing my collection come next Winter.

I took a shower after I tried this one at Selridges. I did not washed with soap the place on my arm where I put the perfume on. I did not wanted to leave me, the smell. And it didn't, for that night. To me it is very masculine but amazingly good quallity perfume.

Chanel 31 RUE CAMBON is a fine, well-crafted and compelling chypre with great staying power and sillage in the edt.

In thinking about other favorite chypres, this Chanel creation may come closest to YVRESSE, but it is less wet and a bit smoother to my nose. The citrus is just right: not acrid, not too sharp, just a perfect dose to complement the grassiness (which I assume is vetiver...) and patchouli, which is woven symphonically into the composition, rather than serving as a dominant note (a la Thierry Mugler).

The only other chypre which I find quite so compelling is MITSOUKO, but 31 RUE CAMBON is a bit less intense, perhaps more modern, and possibly easier to wear without being constantly distracted by its opulent beauty. Yet it is beautiful, and a real wristsniffer, as odd as that may sound for a nongourmand. On my wish list!

A black leather glove a lit cigarette
between the fingers a bony spinx-like
face ala garbo with thin red lips a scarf around her blonde hair huge black
sunglasses covering the eyes to make it more androgynous in a 1930's black V-12
cadilliac when she get out.
her outfit is a black botero a gold blouse the most form fitting skintight
black leather pants with 5 inch heels
stelletos all the photograthers paparatzzi and fans scream for her when she walks in a exclusive premire of an event and her mistique that she never
gives autographs ever does interviews
but i'll tell you for one thing she can
turn a hetrosexual girl to fall in love with her.

this is a very sexy perfume i can pick up Leather in this then dries down to
an orris root scent the early chanel perfumes before the girlish coco mademoiselle or the allures had more
of a masculine feel chanel was ahead of her time with fashion on perfumery.
at a time when stiff rigid corset gowns
where in vogue chanel broke that rule
she taliored more simple less restrictive clothing for women and it was a hit.

and perfumery before chanel it was cloyish girlish and naive when chanel no 5 was introduced aldehydes where the rage finaly they had a fragrance that
was going on in women sociality at the time women where voting smoking in public wearing shorter more revealing
attire chanel was cought up in that.

this is a perfume that if you what to think outside the box don't follow
convertional life and be androgymous
this is the perfume.

I've got a decant on perfumista's meeting. It starts very mild amber,a little hint of rose, mix with something green. It opens after couple hours with something interesting, like old school lipstick smell, just hint of powder, but overall this is very spring blossom like perfume.I haven't put it in the evening yet,however it is
perfect for light sunny day.

Be aware! Chanel 31 Rue Cambon is a scent that differs a lot from person to person, and even smells really differently on the same person under different temperature. So I guess it’s wise to try more than twice or even three times before you reach a definite conclusion.

Chanel 31 is like the merits combo of No.5 Eau Premiere + Allure + Chance. My apology here for my chronologically wrongly referring Chanel 31 to later and more commercially wider distributed Chanel scents, to describe how Chanel 31 smells.

Ok, about the scent:

Chanel 31 Rue Cambon starts sharp and clean in an intoxicating bergamot dominant citrusy/aldehyde kind of chypre, reminds me a little bit of the elegant Chanel No.5 eau Premiere.

Then it goes sweeter, smoother, rounder and woodier. There’s sweetness in a patchouli powdery way, with some floral hint. Really warm, in a elegant and confident way, plus a little touch of sensual feeling. This reminds me a much refined Chanel Chance + Allure. It's self-assured luxury without boasting.

The dry down comes smoothly, like a sheer version of what I’ve experienced before. It’s comforting with the elegant and clean iconic Chanel-style edge.

Worth trying!

I've worn this scent three times now, and have to say this is my favorite Chanel fragrance. Granted, I'm a huge chypre fan, and if you are too don't pass this one up. I know it is an EDT, but it lasts all day long, which is impressive. It wears 'expensive', and changes throughout the day so give it time before making up your mind. I doubt this is a three note wonder, but someone with more skill will have to identify the other influences. Is this as good as Mitsouko? No. But I would put it in the top five chypres I've come across. The bergamot note really sets this apart for me - makes it very smooth and comfortable. Mmmm!