Spicier than the original Coco, it’s really trying for that “noir”. But if Chanel is really serious with this flanker, really putting some money behind this spinoff, why is the scent so much less than the original Coco?
The original Coco has some serious punch behind it, a languid, heavy, rich oriental fragrance. Coco smells of heavyweight satin, a stiff leather handbag, old-fashioned cosmetics, and a tiny bit of the pushing-middle-age woman wearing it. It’s the back room of a classy venue somewhere in the late ’70s, when a little muskiness with your luxury was
Coco Noir is going for that, but with added mysterieux. It’s trying for a more sophisticated aura, less frank sex. It ends up taking the original Coco, lightening and streamlining it to a suggestion, then adding a gentle spiciness while amping up the fruitiness slightly. It complies with modern Light ‘N Sheer requirements, and the impossible to omit tutti-frutti, but somehow retains the original Coco in there somewhere, if only as a transparent haunt. Even Coco Mademoiselle, with the full-bore melon/fruit/aqua trendy treatment has more guts and chuzpah in its French-manicured pinky finger than Coco Noir has in its whole bottle.
p.s. And Coco Mademoiselle? It’s the privileged prep-school achiever who’s just this side of being the Mean Girl.
Coco Noir spritzed on myself in passing in the mall. Coco was a carded sample rediscovered in the detritus of my old teenage room at my dad’s, I don’t know when/where I got it. Coco Mademoiselle carded
