Hello Happy Huffers,

Imagine. Your Dad has been in charge of CHANEL perfumes and his first two creations for the house were Anteaus (1981) and Coco (1984), and that was just the beginning of the amazing saga of Jaques Polge reign. We all know that fragrance is a nepotistic arena so no one was surprised that Mr J Polge’s successor would be his prolific son Olivier Polge (89 fragrances and counting) who has produced some of my personal favourites including Midnight In Paris, Spicebomb, DIOR Homme, Cuir Beluga, Liberte and The Beat Man: These are just the ones I have FB of in my collection.

Then you get offered the BIG job, in house perfumer for CHANEL! What will your first fragrance be? How can you carry on the CHANEL ideal and your father’s legacy while still putting your own stamp on the product? While I don’t envy Olivier Polge the shoes he has to fill I am agog to wear the produce of his labours……….

Misia by Olivier Polge for CHANEL 2015

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Powdery notes, violet, iris, orris root, Turkish rose, Grasse rose, Laos benzoin, tonka bean

Misia, I wonder who decided that Misia Sert would be the muse for this CHANEL creation? A modern woman of wealth. taste and an arts-centric philanthropist, ahead of her time yet fully a part of that time. A mover and a shaker, a catalyst, incredibly modern and yet a long time ago. It’s a perfect choice because almost anything fragrant you do can point to a facet of Misia, as long as it is brought to life impeccably.

Photo Stolen WikiCommons

So many things Misia opens like. It’s a magical roll-a-dex of plush fragrant memories from that very first spritz, all of them expensive and lavish. Coco Chanel once said, “The best things in life are free but the second best are very, very expensive.” Many other bloggers have dwelt on its similarities so I’ll leave it there. I will say that a part of the mix that I’d always pegged as saffron is here, and I think it may be the violet/iris combo: balmy and cool yet slightly plastic. It smells like the feel of one of those old black bakelite CHANEL No 5 refillable canisters or the black case of a lipstick with the interlocking Cs at the tip and also some of the lipstick inside. More than any other CHANEL fragrance Misia smells like the essence of CHANEL, the dream and ideal we are being sold.

Photo Stolen CHANEL

As we move into the heart of Misia the roses bloom, again vaguely reminiscent of other famous and beautiful fragrances but smoother, prettier, more tasteful and woven through with the violet/iris and very softly hinting of elegant leather handbags and folios. There is too a reminder of makeup and fragrances within, tidy but well loved. Sheer, a cloud of good fortune to surround you, the smell that money only wishes it could have but also a stark unclutteredness* like contemporary minimalism. Everything so perfectly placed and balanced, a harmonious whole.

Photo Stolen CHANEL News

The end, a now whisper of what an old fashioned fragrance could have been in a dream. Bravo Olivier Polge, it feels to me as if you’ve hit the nail on the head.

Further reading: Now Smell This and Perfume Posse
CHANEL Les exclusives are available at large Department Stores and CHANEL stand alone beauty
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/ml

Which is your favourite CHANEL Exclusive? Are you excited for the new era in CHANEL fragrance?
What do YOU think of Misia?
Portia xx

*Unclutteredness – clunky word, made it up, you know what I mean. Ironically the using of this word is an antonym of what I think it stand for.