Chanel Chance

Having done a review of Chanel’s Chance Eau Tendre earlier and being largely unimpressed with it, I had given it a few months before pursuing Chanel Chance again. I smelled it a year ago and barely remember a thing about this fragrance other than the fact that it smells a bit posh but otherwise inconsequential. 

In Bottle: Cleaned up spice that I want to say smells like pink pepper. The spice is laid over a sweet bed of sheer florals.

Applied: Spicy from the pink pepper then a bit floral as Chance is a sweet, young, modern floral oriental without any of the musk or animalic qualities that make floral orientals a classic hit. There’s nothing dirty to it though it is a bit warm as it wades into its midstage with a conundrum of sweet fragrances, one of the most prominent I can pick out is the hyacinth that floats about in the perfume like a ever present flowery ghost. When Chance dies down it is a sheer sweet floral affair still with a mingling of cleaned up white musk. White musk having a sharp, soapy smell that practically leaps out of its chair and shouts, “I’m clean!” There is nothing dirty, or scary about Chance. It is a well-behaved member of the mainstream, modern Chanel fragrance family.

Extra: Seems that Chance has hit a good mark with the modern perfume wearing woman as aside from Coco Mademoiselle, this is one of the fragrances I smell most often on other women. It’s benign enough to be worn extensively and the Chanel label certainly helps its desirability. Though I have to say, Coco or No. 5 Eau Premiere are preferred by me.

Design: Chance is bottled in a cute circle container with a square for a cap. I do rather like the way that Chance and its line of flankers is packaged as I always loved how Chanel always maintained wonderfully minimalist bottle designs. I believe (though correct me if I’m wrong) Chanel Chance has two slightly different designs for their EDT and EDP concentrations. The EDT concentration has a clear cap, whereas the EDP concentration has a solid metallic cap (pictured in this post).

Fragrance Family: Floral Oriental

Notes: White musk, hyacinth, citron, pink pepper, jasmine, vetiver, orris absolute, amber, patchouli.

Chance is so hugely popular now that it even has a splash version of the fragrance that’s sold in the hole in the wall I go to for my perfumes. Due to its increasing popularity, it is also one of the most counterfeited perfumes.

Reviewed in This Post: Chance, 2009, Eau de Parfum.