Dana Beauty Chantilly Eau de Cologne (1941/2000) {Perfume Short (Review)}
Dana Chantilly Eau de Cologne Review
The light version of Chantilly EDC by Dana Beauty opens on aldehydes made to smell like bath bubbles and a shampoo-like accord. Some might think, but no, this is more of a Champagne accord. The top impression is ambiguous enough to contain both interpretations...
While the fragrance smelled promisingly spicy and lush from the flacon conjuring up a kinship tie to Jean Desprez Bal à Versailles, it is much thinner-feeling on the skin. Not only that, it also comes across as « flattened-out »; there seems to be little architecture to the scent. It smells of a thin rivulet of aldehydes, vanilla, orange blossom and vague spices. The perfume does not even whisper. It is pretty much mute.
Of course then, you need to go for a heavier testing session by increasing the number of sprays. Please note that all this while, a faint suggestion of a headache starts becoming more obvious to you.
It is perhaps odd to mention the fact that a good quality perfume ought not give you a migraine even when you smell it up close, but for a reviewer it is a tell-tale sign that the scent is cutting costs where it shouldn't - inside the bottle.
Heavier applying helps round off the composition. Now, the floriental nuances of the fragrance are more present and an Oriental, almondy facet can be better perceived.
Perhaps we are trying too hard to find something positive to say about a classic perfume (1941) which has been debased; its abstract form is appealing; the long drydown makes you think of pleasantly-scented talcum powder. But you wished there more quality: more spices, more authentic lushness.
Unlike for the « cologne » versions of vintage feminine perfumes, like for Norell, complexity and depth have been sacrificed on the altar of affordability. But it is not a rule-of-thumb for mass-market perfumes. On the contrary, some mass-market perfumes are like Powerpoint slideshows of the history of perfume.
Please note also that the brand currently only sell the eau de toilette version on their site although cologne versions of Chantilly are available elsewhere.
As the lightest version of a beloved scent, Chantilly cologne is wearable, but barely so. You can, if your personal memories of it are so dear it feels to you worthwhile to hold on to it as if you were to an old, frayed, and pale photograph. Sometimes, it is all that you have left of the past - and it becomes all the dearer to you.
In a nutshell, Chantilly eau de cologne is inexpensive, offers an uncommon vintage charm and comes in a nice bottle. You will however need to supplement its lack of quality, in this concentration, with practical ingenuity. We recommend layering with an unscented lotion, finding a fabric which retains the scent well, and determining the right number of sprays.
Notes: aldehydes, lemon, orange, carnation, rose, jasmine, spices, sandalwood, tonka, vanilla, patchouli
