Les Exclusifs de Chanel No 18 Chanel for women

Before trying it on, it had promise. However I sprayed it on and at first sniff, it was much too sweet/fruity for my tastes (apple/pear?). Within a few minutes I started smelling the ambrette and started feeling more comfortable with where the fragrance was going. However, it instead became much cleaner/fresher (a no-no for me), concentrating on the fruity (add citrus) and introducing floral notes (rose?).
On my skin, it slowly smelled stronger and stronger (argh!) while evolving into a slightly muskier version of something that reminds me of the fragrance of Johnson & Johnson baby shampoo.
As much as I wanted to like it, this perfume clearly does not suit me.

My first reaction to No 18 was very similar to that of Mugler's Angel original. blech! But I cannot top smelling it and spritzing on the last several days... I absolutely love Angel now and have Angel La Rose and I have no doubt I am turning on to No 18 very quickly. I think there is an intensity about it and it could be the ambrette seed I'm unacquainted with.

I am using one spritz at a time on the forearm and not much staying power on me. What I smell is: a single sterile rose under glass with tar and cumin wafting outside this bell jar protecting this rose.

What attracted me to Angel was the distinctly gourmand hit of chocolate and notwithstanding a heady dose of pheremone-y armpits. I think it must be the ambrette seed that smells like a Moroccan cigarette in the air to me. Just an amazing study in dichotomy that could exist anywhere in real life.

Don`t expect 18 to be an intense rose fragrance with a strong sillage. 18 seems to go more on the skinscent side of Les Exclusifs collection. Even if this one stays quite on skin, it`s not silly; the soft aroma is not a musky commonplace. Instead, it has a subtle rosy and fresh aroma. Never saw a quiet rose like this, with a green edge which is not sour and with a fruity aspect that doesn`t go to a sweet territory. There something slightly boozy at the background. The ambrette seed creates a lovely salty ambered area. 18 seems to stays always bright, fresh and subtle on skin, and it`s Chanel showing how to a minimalistic which is not boring or silly.

I'm usually not into rose fragrances but No.18 makes a pleasant exception as it happens very once in a while to smell such a simple yet incredibly fascinating composition. Quality and mastery are immediately (and clearly) noticeable when smelling No.18. An iris / rose structure supported by ambrette seeds and slight fruity patterns. The combination between rose and fruits gives the whole fragrance a fermented vibe that immediately recalls of wine or sweet liquors while iris circles in the air watching from the above.. No.18, being released in 2007, is the living proof that perfumery is not dead and it surely deserves to become an endless classic. Bravo Chanel.

This is real perfumery in my opinion and real perfumery trascends personal taste, real perfumery doesn't leave you indifferent.

Rating: 9 out of 10

I have big difficulty to write something about this fragrance. For sure this is very unusual and different perfume. Because I love strangers this is for me the wonderful experience. First of all No. 18 is elegant and very well done. Perfect for suits or dresses (whatever you like to wear). In my opinion there is nothing casual in this fragrance and I can’t imagine wearing it during vacations. However it is working very well during hot and even humid days when other fragrances are able to make nausea ;-) No. 18 is dry and I mean dry as characteristic we use for wine description because it is very juicy in the same time. No. 18 has also animalistic nuances that you can find in rose poivre by The Different Company. I’m sure there is a little rose present too but not too much. You can feel a bit of unripe fruits that create a little sour but very pleasant aura. At the base I found dry vetiver not harsh at all. No. 18 lasts on my skin at least 10 hours but it doesn’t have huge projection. After 4-5 hrs it is rather skin scent and I like it a lot. This is my new discovery for upcoming season.

This is one of the most confusing scents that i have ever tried. At first spray i thought it was fresh and really interesting, something i have never smelled before-yet familiar.confusion had just started. The middle notes and the drydown smelled dirty yet inviting on my skin, like a weird type of butter and leather.i call this unique. :)

I have a similar experience with this perfume to being at a modern art exhibit: there *might* be something very interesting and revolutionary going on, but I just can't figure that out simply by looking at the paintings, or get myself to truly enjoy it. It's an aesthetic confusion to my classically-oriented senses.

Maybe there is something revolutionary or high fashion about smelling like salty spicy fruit, and I bet Coco could pull it off, but I just ain't enough of a connoisseuse to appreciate it. If the loss is mine, I sure don't know it.

Wonderful fargrance! I feel,understand it better in the wintertime, when it's freezy enough outside - #18 smells like a clear,mountain lake or the bunch of the best diamonds in my palm. It's fresh and tenderly sweet, no fruits, no annoying musk notes.
But when the air is getting warmer, the fargrance is growing sweeter, with distinct fruit trail (maybe it's apple or/and peach and pear). Pretty, but not so overwhelming as in winter.

This is a difficult one. I would neither describe it as sexy or alluring, nor as unsexy or disgusting. Perhaps "unobtrusive elegance" describes it best, and it probably works well enough in connection with a dress or suit by Chanel.

I do get the fruits in this composition, however they tend to be layered with spices and pepper. Chanel No.18 veers away from the typical fruity florals on the market, choosing to portray something a little less shampoo-like or juicy.

I rather like this fragrance, and that's a huge thing for me to say seeming that I quite often dislike fruity florals, and dread Summer for that same reason. No.18 is different, perhaps even a little bit metallic.

I swear that there is an apple note in there somewhere, however it's very subtle. There may even be cinnamon too, which reminds me of the scent of a freshly baked apple pie. However, this fragrance is nowhere near being a gourmand.

Like the sales assistant noted, it's difficult to classify this fragrance and to pick out the individual notes. When I really stick my nose to my wrist, I get lemon, apple, bergamot, pepper, rose, ambrette seed, cinnamon, olives, musk and herbs.

Thankfully this fragrance is rather subtle in a fresh, dry and green kind of a way. The lasting power is pretty good, however it tends to vanish every now and then, brought back to life by breathing hot air onto the spot where you sprayed it.

In conclusion, Chanel No.18 is not my cup of tea, however it's a lovely, sophisticated and refined interpretation of a fruity floral that does tend to be drier than most.

Chanel 18 is an interesting fragrance but definitely not my cup of tea. I'd describe it like this: Early morning + enchanted forest + a clear lake + waterlilies + reeds = Chanel 18! No fruits or bunches of flowers here.

At first sniff of this I was intrigued. It's very distinctive. It wasn't sweet. It felt unisex at first. But when I smelled it again and again, and was transported to a different era, illustrated on the silver screen, the starlet languishing at her boudoir. Rouge [lipstick rose], powder [iris], sensuous musk, a cigarette smoldering in the ash tray. Deceptively glamourous and sensual. And not at all fruity. I guess it could be there to lighten the composition but I can't make it out. Apple? Quite a stunner.

I would like a bottle in EdP or extrait. Apparently the SA's favourite, and he's a man. I am drawn to this musk because it is completely natural, and cruelty free. I hate the manufactured white musk that is used everywhere--ever present in laundry detergent. I don't need a perfume that smells like my laundry, if you know what I mean.

Chanel No 18 took me surprise, first, because I ordered it along with a variety of other Chanel samples under the assumption that this was an old classic!

Not so: No. 18 (at least the one in my possession!) is a brand new composition, launched in 2007, which is quasilinear and possesses none of the qualities of "classic" perfumes.

That said, for a twenty-first century creation, No. 18 is likeable enough. The fragrance can perhaps best be compared to an oyster, as its primary appealing component is something akin to pulverized pearls or perhaps mother of pearl. This opalescent powdery or shimmering dusty texture--which is not, however at all sweet, as in ALLURE--I often find in leather fragrances (I'm thinking of KELLY CALECHE and JOLIE MADAME, both of which are quite flat to my nose). No. 18 apparently contains no leather, but it does contain some other note that flattens the scent. The other reason why No 18 reminds me of oyster is that there is a slightly sour aura to this fragrance, which grows stronger as time progresses. I do not find No. 18 fruity at all, or even very floral.

No. 18 is definitely not my favorite Chanel. It is also rather short-lived--my 1.5 ml sample was quickly exhausted. Worth trying, but not FB-worthy, IMNSHO.