Perfume Love: Chanel Coromandel

So, perfume. What makes us favour a certain scent over another? Top notes, base notes, and all the bits in between? Screw that, I’m bucking the tedious trend for analysing smells until they bleed and self indulgent descriptions that mean nothing to anyone reading them. For me, a fragrance has to mean something, or be tied to a certain feeling or memory; otherwise it’s just expensive body spray.

I’m madly, irretrievably, in love with Coromandel, one of Chanel's Les Exclusifs range created by master perfumer, Jacques Polge. The name comes from the lacquered screens in Gabrielle’s apartment and when she first saw them she said she could “faint of happiness.” Bit extreme, although I do like a nice screen myself.

Coromandel is dark, alluring, rich and mystical, like the count that comes to dinner and never leaves. It’s eerily reminiscent of the rain-covered jungle, surrounded with lush forests ripe and fecund with mangoes, woody spices and Peruvian flowers dispersed with delicate little nuggets of honeyed tree sap. Ok, so here’s why I really like it.

Coromandel smells overwhelmingly of camphor, which I’m really drawn to in any product as it bring back memories of Indian summer holidays when I was younger. My grandfather was a lovely, authoritative man, who was devoutly religious and prayed every morning. He used to teach me what to do (very long Hindu ceremonies!) and we’d start by picking blooms of pink hibiscus in the garden, washing them and placing them in the prayer (pooja) room around the pictures of Hindu Gods and ancestors. We’d light oil lamps, make a sandalwood paste and then set a piece of camphor alight as we prayed. Camphor burns with a bright light and thick black smoke, the aroma is said to ward off the evil spirits and negativity. Probably small animals and insects, too, as it’s pretty strong.

I was very close to my grandfather and we were very alike (stubborn, unforgiving but loyal), and unfortunately he died a few years later, when I was about 7. So now almost twenty years later, those memories and almost enough to make me buy anything with camphor in. It could be total coincidence, but Coromandel is also a coastal area in South India where we used to visit for day trips by fishing boat.

I hate disposable culture with a passion (so does Joe Corre, so I’m in good company,) but that doesn’t mean you have to spend hundreds on perfume, but isn’t it nice when anything in this world really means something to you? Course, you may just like the smell which is cool too. ;)