N°19 Chanel (1971) Eau de Parfum

8.8 / 10 178 Ratings

N°19 (Eau de Parfum) is a popular perfume by Chanel for women and was released in 1971. The scent is green-floral. The longevity is above-average. It is still in production.

Perfumer

Henri Robert

Fragrance Notes

Top Notes	Bergamot, Galbanum, Hyacinth, Neroli
Heart Notes	Iris, Jasmine, Lily-of-the-valley, Narcissus, Rose, Ylang-ylang
Base Notes	Oakmoss, Leather, Musk, Sandalwood, Cedarwood

Ratings

Scent

8.8 (178 Ratings)

Longevity

8.1 (137 Ratings)

Sillage

7.2 (140 Ratings)

Bottle

8.2 (153 Ratings)

Submitted by Apicius, last update on 24.09.2019

Variant of the fragrance concentration

N°19 (Eau de Parfum)

This is a variant of the perfume N°19 (Parfum) by Chanel, which differs in concentration.

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Reviews

07/19/2019

10.0 7.0 5.0 10.0/10

Aldest
3 Reviews

Aldest

Alea iacta est ...

Can one tell that a fragrance belongs to her/him ??
I kind of have that feeling with Chanel N°19.

You can read a lot of details about it ...
In short, "19" is for Coco Chanel's birthday (she was born on August 19th) and has been released in 1970. It is the last parfume she chosed herself and I read it was first created for her and her friends / personal clients, before being relaeased to the public in 1971 upon her death. The fragrance has atypical green and woody notes for a feminine parfume, but this is quite in harmony with Chanel's sexual ambiguity ...
It was made with a rare high quality of Galbanum oil from Iran ... and I can imagine that the first reformulation started with the islamic revolution in 1979 ... At that time, Iran was a big open modern, but still exotic country.
You can read a lot (very very lot) about "ice", "heartless", "cold", "sharp" things about N°19 - because of the green notes.

As long as I can remember, N°19 is the first souvenir I have of a Parfume per se - and I knew (god knows how ...) that it was called Chanel N°19.

I was maybe 5 or 6 years old ...

I am the younger of a dozen of cousins, in the middle of which stands a magnificent boy: my cousin. From the moment I opened my eyes, I have always thought that he was the most sexy and desirable boy I have ever seen.
I see his emerald green eyes, enhanced by his thick eyebrows, under his full chestnut hair. His gold skin is magnetic, as much as his person: he is strong, reckless, generous and proud. He is always attracted by girls' and women's sex and seems ready to commit a crime in every moment. He is an incarnation of masculanity, before even blooming with testosterone. He is a perfect combination of Evil and Good ...
My parents are rich and my childhood is a fairy tail.
We have a big pool and my cousin often comes to us to play. I feel very strange in his presence: I love his protective attitude towards me and feel like a desirable and beautiful Princess.
I also go to his place somtimes. One evening, all the parents, sisters, ... are there. I am with my idol-cousin in his parents room, playing kind of Doctors in their bed. His mother is a very sexy woman, but also a hell bitch who burns everything around her.
And comes miraculously, but very naturally, the moment that I see - and touch and caress - his splendid bottom, drowned in the opulent and exquisite whiffs of her mother's parfume: Chanel N°19. I can see the bottle on the dressing table behind us. And I tell him that his bottom smells like his mother's perfume - that was my way to tell him that I was in the presence of an amazing beauty.

I was born in 1971 in Iran.
I am a man and this was the first love of my life.
Chanel N°19 is the first serious thing that came in my consciousness.

Parfume-associated sensations are obviously subjective.
To me, Chanel N°19 is of course a very sexy fragrance. It is highly sophisticated but provocative.
The green notes vanish a little after one hour and then emerges a magical floral accord, with white flowers but also Ylang-Ylang (never mentionned).
The effect is really dependant of the skin .... it can be very sexy (as I told) or smell like your grandmother's home textiles if the Lily-of -the-Valey or the Rose predomine, or nothing happened I guess ...
I have quantity of N°19 - vintage Eau de Cologne, Eau de Toilette, Eau de Parfum, Parfum .... and current versions ... body products and every size ...
Current version are definitely other fragrances (even Parfum), but the DNA is still there.
Overall, vintage versions are more leathery. Current Parfum is very sophisticated but very wise compraed to the vintage. I mostly wear current Eau de Parfum.
When I wear N°19, I always get lot of compliments (even with vintage Parfum !) - I asked several times if the fragrance sounds feminine - the answer is always no. Nobody guesses it is N°19. Maybe it is my skin ...

For me, it remains one of the most beautiful feminine fragrances ... but I love to wear it as a man.

07/15/2019

8.0 6.0 9.0 9.0/10

Marilyn25
0 Reviews

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Marilyn25

Helpful Review 6

A lukewarm spring wind

This fragrance starts slightly bitter, but quickly evaporates and turns into a leathery moosy fragrance. Flowery things are also easy to catch. An incredibly elegant women's fragrance. The picture of a green spring landscape opens up to me. An elegant rider with saddlery made of fresh leather rides on a beautiful Arabian stallion through spring meadow and moss. She wears an elegant black leather handbag from Chanel. The wind carries the scent of moss and flowers. Even in summer this fragrance is easy to wear, but in my opinion it is best in spring.

3 Replies

09/10/2018

8.0 7.0 9.0 10.0/10

SchatzSucher
0 Reviews

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SchatzSucher

Greatly helpful Review 23

Robin and Marian

The legend about the legendary hero Robin Hood and his great love Maid Marian is surely known to everyone.
But that he also loved to wear her favorite scent is probably unknown.

Her rarities were rare, since Robin Hood was constantly on the run and had to hide from Prince John's and Nottingham's sheriff's credentials. But time and time again Robin managed to get through to Marian and pay her a visit, in spite of all the imminent dangers. He could be incredibly imaginative not to be recognized. And every time he managed to escape undetected back into the forest.

Of course Maid Marian always wanted to make herself especially beautiful when she expected her Robin. She decorated her bower with particularly beautiful flowers, aroused in a beautiful incense burner the most wonderful smoke and wore a beautiful soft green robe.
Her only confidante, her valet, gave her a beautiful scent on these special, rare occasions. A fragrance that knew how to combine all her longings and her preferences for green, woody, mossy and spicy in one.
Maid Marian was very nature-conscious, but since she was under strict surveillance, she could never escape into the oh so wonderful nature to her adored Robin Hood, but could at least temporarily satisfy her longing with this even delicious fragrance.

Immediately after application, she felt deeply immersed in the cool shady forest in which Robin was hiding. The tall moss-covered majestic trees, the wonderfully spicy forest air, the beautiful flower meadow nearby, the small clear stream that she would love to sit on, all this passed her by in her mind when she enjoyed this delicious fragrance. Oh, how long has it been since she last saw each other....

Finally the moment had come, finally the beloved stood before her. Her heart was beating faster. Her beloved Robin was there, wrapped in chic green, the cheeky hat with the feather on her head, the mischievous smile that Marian loved so much.
But something was different this time. He used to greet her so gallantly... This time he pulled her to his arms and sniffed her.
"Oh, dear Marian, there's something so special about you today. You are surrounded by such a wonderful smell of nature, forest, precious resin. Say, what is this?"
"Dear Robin, since our reunions are unfortunately so rare and yet I often yearn so much for you and for the beloved forest, my dear and faithful valet has prepared a precious fragrance that can temporarily quench this longing"
With these words Marian handed her Robin the bottle. Robin immediately took a deep breath and a blissful smile conjured up in his face.
He applied a few drops of this wonderful fragrance and said: "Oh how wonderful, oh how blessed I am! This fragrance not only dresses my dear Marian, but me too! This knowledge unites us, and our love for our forest only closer!"
"Beloved Robin, I can only agree with you. It smells wonderfully delicious with you, even if harsher, spicier and less floral than with me. I'll ask my valet to make a bottle of this wonderful essence for you, too."
"Thank you very much, my love! I couldn't be happier."
"sigh...." (censored.....)

And so Marian and Robin became even closer to each other. No.19 contributed with its special kind quite certainly to it ;-)
(The plot was freely invented and lacks any historical basis. Nevertheless I would like to add that No.19 from Chanel is quite suitable for the Robins. It is green, spicy, with floral aspects, but not overly feminine, slightly tart and creamy and has an unbelievably good hold and exudes a certain erotic attraction, which is not superficial and cheap, but subtle and mysterious.
Dear Angelliese, I hope you won't be angry when I have taken your wonderful statement as inspiration and knitted a little bit further...)

6 Replies

07/29/2016

Omni
69 Reviews

Omni

Very helpful Review 3

Enigma

I ordered a back up bottle today, the equivalent of building a bunker at the edge of the millennium, I fear world war and pestilence. I'm told there is a movie where Adolf HItler wakes up, bemused, and finds that the bullet that blitzed his brain simply sent him to sleep for 70 years.
He's back, and I imagine the fields of Iris pallida and Rose de Mai as scorched earth. Coco, no angel where the Nazi's were concerned, inspired the perfume that is No 19 and I adore it. As many others vocalise this is my one and only, if I wasn't totally unfaithful to any one perfume.

For a more detailed breakdown of what No 19 is driven by (no aldehydes, no labdanum, little oak moss) see Elena from Perfume Shrine's article. It's a perfume that is driven as much by what it doesn't contain as what it does contain, It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key. It's beautiful, just beautiful, forever and a day, until the 12th of never.

07/29/2015

10.0 7.5 10.0/10

Mark030
5 Reviews

Mark030

N°19 eau de parfum

I like so much this perfume. I like the kind of bitterness and coldness it has. Its beyond time and gender.

04/01/2015

5.0 7.5 7.5 9.0/10

MasterLi
367 Reviews

MasterLi

Helpful Review 3

Powder & Class...

Part 1: No. 19 Eau de Parfum

Chanel No. 19 Eau de Parfum is to me a very "posh" perfume. It's powdery and elegant, and I can imagine the kind of woman who would wear it. Very controlled, very posh, but still young and beautiful. I think some kind of successful woman or rich woman. Personally I really like the Eau de Toilette and I wear it myself (I find the EdT works better on a man's skin). But first let me describe what it smells like.

This perfume has a gorgeous iris/orris root note. It is well known that the type of iris used by Chanel, iris pallida, comes exclusively from a specific field in Grasse (exclusive to Chanel, it previously used to be from Florence, Italy)... and iris butter (made from roots which are dried for at least 3 years) itself is one of the most expensive perfume ingredients on earth, with the best quality (80% purity) costing around £70,000 (or $105,000) per kg. So what you get here is a wonderful iris note. This is an iris note surrounded by rose (also exclusively from Chanels field in Grasse), lilly-of-the-valley, and some green oakmoss and soft sandalwood. I would describe the Eau de Parfum as a "soft" fragrance. Soft but powerful. It smells expensive. The EdT is brighter, greener and more "alive" somehow. This one is very calm and controlled, but very beautiful. If you thought the EdT was too "green" or "sharp", this EdP is more controlled and powdery. In a word, it smells like expensive "perfume". So I would expect a woman who was rich or wealthy to smell like this. But it's a wonderful smell, and iris is definitely one of my favourite notes in perfumery.

Part 2: A tale of two sisters... Chanel No.19 & Jacomo Silences

Now, I want to compare between Chanel No. 19 and Jacomo Silences, as these perfumes are often compared together. Let's first start by saying that No. 19 was first, and so most other "similar" perfumes are descended or "inspired" by that one. But there is something about Silences that I like, which No. 19 doesn't have... and that is an entirely different character and personality. From the start these two are very different. Put it this way, if they were "sisters", then No. 19 (the older sister) would be the wealthy, successful rich woman of society. She has married someone rich, she lives in a nice, expensive house, she hosts dinner parties wearing her perfect black dress and pearl necklace and earrings. She hangs out with rich, wealthy people in society. She has perfect white skin, like a Greek statue, perfect hair, perfect nails. Perfect life. But, she is cold, she is quietly unhappy. She has everything but she feels like she has no control. Like her rich, successful life has been "planned" for her by others. She smiles for guests, and laughs politely, but when she takes off her makeup at night in her mirror, she sometimes wants to cry.

Her younger sister is Silences. This one you could call a "free spirit". She is an artist and was once a beautiful model. She is a painter. She lives in a small, cute house by the river. She goes for a run every morning with her dog. She does not take everything in life too seriously, but she enjoys every minute of her life. She spends most of her time outdoors, in nature. She loves being in nature, running, painting, enjoying the different seasons. She loves who she wants, and she lives each day to the full. Cooking, being artistic, with the dog, out in the woods. She has no regrets in life. She does not have the money that her older sister "acquired" by marrying a rich man. She does not smell so expensive like her older sister, but she has character, and a big heart. She does not want anything more in her life, and she is happy.

To me these are the differences. They are both green, both have an iris note, but this note is unbeatable in the Chanel, and is powdery, floral and smells clean, polished and expensive. The Jacomo smells "greener", like you are in the forest outside, with the smell of herbs and green leaves which the Chanel doesn't have. Basically, if you are an "active" person, or if you have memories of childhood in the countryside, then you will like and enjoy Silences. But if you want to smell the smell of "perfume", or want something "posh" or "expensive", then go for No. 19. Both are great choices. I think the Jacomo is a little more relaxed and carefree, but if you want to impress or are in a very formal situation, then go for the Chanel. Both are masterpieces!

04/01/2015

7.5 5.0 7.5 9.0/10

Avoirdupois
83 Reviews

Avoirdupois

Oh Yes! Seriously powerful, sleek & seductive !

Beautifully crafted perfume, a classy, grassy, sassy Chypre.

The Lily, Rose, Jasmine and Hyacinth come through very quickly for me... and later the heavy-duty woody, musky tones that last and last.

All kinds of wondrous adjectives may be applied, suffice it to say that this has to be a Top-Ten choice.

To me, it is a travesty to use this fragrance in spray form, thereby losing some of the scent. Spraying very close to the target area, using light sprays is a reasonable answer, as opposed to breaking off the spray top!

No.19 is an experience. This is the stuff that real perfumes are made of and I have no doubt that the most expensive oils were used, nothing less, yet the price, I feel, is reasonable for a front-line fragrance. My find is that the sillage is not quite what I'd hope it to be. Other than than: 90% from me.