Train de Nuit, Chanel No. 5

Okay guys, I've already posted a review today, but I can't resist to show you these brautiful, beautiful videos and images as well. Yesterday during a commercial break, the brand new Chanel No. 5 commercial/short film aired for the first time and it took my breath away!!! Before I let you enjoy the material, let me also say that May the 5th, the day the film first aired, has been designated by the city of New York as Chanel No. 5 Day and for this occasion a portion of Fifth Avenue will be renamed AVENUE N˚5 for the week. How cool is that?

The short film itself:



The making of Train de Nuit, starring actress Audrey Tautou and directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet:



Interview with Audrey Tatou:



Story Board Illustrations:

Fragrance Bouquet Loves… Lèvres Scintillantes Glossimer by Chanel

Okay, so I got a problem. I knew about my shoe problem. I knew about my perfume problem. But I never really thought I had a huge ‘thing’ for make-up, even as I ordered a custom-made, self-designed Plexiglas make-up cabinet a couple of years ago. I didn’t quite know where exactly to store my burgeoning make-up collection. Still I never viewed this as a problem. As I was getting ready to write this review of Chanel’s most fabulous lipgloss today however, I decided to take out the lipgloss drawer and count ‘em up. …54. Fifty four?? Fifty four. O-Kaaaaaay. Okay fine. So I have a problem. Now I understand why none of them actually gets finished before it goes bad. But listen, there is an upside to my problem. Extensive concurrent testing (HAH!, yes, I’ll call it testing) has enabled me to pick the best of the freakin’ crop with extreme accuracy! If I had to give up every single one but one brand (not that I ever would, mind), I now know which one I would keep: Chanel.

Chanel has performed a miracle in the lipgloss department. It makes the shiniest, most amazing, long-lasting, and did I mention SHINIEST lipgloss in the world. It’s name? Lèvres Scintillantes Glossimer. Seriously, this stuff is so good, opening the packet should by all rights be accompanied by the sound of cherubs singing. So let’s take a look at what makes this stuff better than everything else on the market right now. First of all, it’s incredibly long lasting. Now, I have to admit I personally am one of these people that manage to keep most lipsticks on my lips for hours and hours and can even eat without disturbing my painted canvas, so I am sure results will differ for those that unconsciously lick/bite their lips. However, we all know that most lipglosses tend to lose their gloss, shine and radiance as time goes by, even if we’re careful with them. Not so with this one. It refuses to ‘gather’ in places, cake or coagulate, its color stays vibrant and it retains its shine. Too, the gel formula is perfectly juicy, lending a wet look to the lips, without ever running, or migrating upwards, downwards or sideways (yuck!). In short, it stays PUT and allows for perfect application even on the edges of the lips. I cannot in good conscience tell you that it is not-tacky, because I’ve never actually met a lipgloss that wasn’t sticky. Let’s face it: Once that wind blows, no matter what lipgloss you are wearing, you’re gonna have to manually remove your hair from your lips, period. But Lèvres Scintillantes Glossimer does feel very comfortable and emollient and unlike other high-gloss formulas will not have your lips sticking together, forming that icky little “thread” every time you open your mouth to speak. The texture is fluid enough to glide on, but the gel is also stable enough to allow for building “layers” on the lips until the desired plumpness and shine is achieved. In fact, I would choose this lipgloss for plumpness any day over actual plumping-effect glosses (such as the one by LipFusion). But what is the absolutely best feature of Chanel’s Glossimer, is its ability to shine like no other. Chanel uses the most finely-milled and most densely-packed glittering mica I’ve ever encountered in a lipgloss. The result is never grainy and the shine is unbelievable.

Chanel currently makes 38 shades (3 of them are limited edition) but regrettably, not every stand sells all of the shades. Too, there are some in the collection that are shinier than the others. I personally tend to go for the shiniest ones, meaning the ones that have the most glitter. Again, I have to assert that the mica is so finely milled, that the result is as beautiful and elegant as anything you would expect from Chanel. At no point should you worry that you’ll be going around with lips studded with large chunks of carnival glitter! The result is completely even. My favorite colors are Paillettes (No. 93) and Galatic (No. 98). Paillettes is an ultra-glittery soft pink which is very similar to Volage (No. 25) with the difference that Volage does not have much glitter, so I always tend to go for Paillettes. Paillettes contains both blue-toned and gold-toned mica, making it perfectly flattering to both blue-undertone and yellow-undertone skins. It is the perfect soft-pink gloss to use with a more dramatic eye-look (I tend to avoid real nudes with dramatic eyes, preferring instead subtle pinks, as they are fresher, more youthful and sexier). Galactic looks white in the tube, but reads as an ultra-glittery colorless lipgloss on bare lips. This colorless wonder is the perfect solution for injecting shine over every other lip-product in your arsenal. I prefer to use it over a lipstain (like the one from Body Shop) but it also looks great over any lipstick or lip-liner which has been used to fill in the lips.

Smelly Facts : A Bit of Old News

Since speculation about which of our favorite, classic perfumes have been reformulated has been a rather hot topic in the last couple of years among perfume lovers, I decided to include an excerpt from a 2006 issue of New Scientist I found this week for today’s Smelly Facts post. We might not yet be 100% sure about most of the fragrances we are suspecting to be reformulated, but slowly, we are weeding them out. There’s yet another suspect we no longer need to deliberate over: Chanel’s iconic No.5...

“Chanel No 5 is considered to be the epitome of a timeless fragrance, but its subtleties may have changed over the years. “Regulations introduced since it was created in 1921 have forced many of the original ingredients out of the perfumer’s palette,” says John Ayres, Chairman of Fragrance Foundation UK, in London. If new European legislation is passed in December, other cosmetics may have to be reformulated or removed from the shelves entirely. Last week, members of the European parliament’s environment committee voted in favor of a draft version of Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals. REACH calls for manufacturers importing more than 1 tonne of a chemical substance per year to test it for safety and then register it in a central database. Many chemical manufacturers worry that this will force them to retest chemicals they have been using safely for years. Smaller companies may have to stop producing some cosmetics ingredients completely because they are unable to afford the tests, warns Chris Flowers of the Cosmetic Toiletry and Perfumery Association in London. “Inevitably, there will be a range of everyday products that suddenly won’t be available on the shelves because we won’t be able to make them,” he says.”

I apologize for including something that is indeed rather old news, but since I had not -before encountering this article- seen a definitive answer on Chanel No.5’s reformulation, I figured it would be useful to lay the rumors to rest with the truth of the matter.

Excerpt in italics is a direct quote from source: New Scientist [0262-4079] yr:2006 vol:192 iss:2574 pg:14 -14

Forget me Not: Antaeus by Chanel

When TMH of For the Love of Perfume and I came up with the idea for this feature a couple of months ago, we decided we had to find a name for it that would be neutral enough to allow us to write about both oldies we liked and disliked as well. Considering my feelings about Antaeus, I now find myself wondering whether Forget me Not is indeed neutral enough. Having said that, Antaeus should not be forgotten. Bare with him. He’s got tricks up his sleeve.

Created by Jacques Polge in 1981, Antaeus perfectly captures the spirit of a male powerhouse fragrance of the ‘80s. This potent brew, like so many of the decade’s creations, shamelessly advertises the wearer’s virility like an open declaration of blatant machismo. In fact, this juice is so strong, it easily evokes vivid mental imagery of a crazed male rubbing cologne on freshly showered chest hair in anticipation of ...what? Going out for a night of ‘pulling’? Does this ring any bells? Why yes, I think I’ve caught this scene before: Tom Selleck, in an advertizement for Revlon’s Chaz. I could not find it on YouTube, unfortunately, but the commercial is available on this site, third video on the right hand column.

Antaeus’ opening is briefly sharp and citrusy, but even during this initially fresh moment the animalic base is clearly perceptible. The slightly astringent, green coriander wilts under the pressure and then withers away into nothingness. I cannot possibly sniff too close to the skin soon after the fragrance is applied: doing so means nothing less than receiving a bold smack, or perhaps even a punch in the nose, which ends up delivering a mighty, stinging sensation behind my eyes. Had Antaeus been able to wear a drop of his namesake fragrance, surely he’d have had an advantage against Hercules. The heart of the fragrance is a slightly herbal, spicy rose, which keeps getting infused with the rising base notes. It is a rose wrapped in leather and oakmoss, and if it wasn’t for the distinct and very obvious...”maleness” of this fragrance I know this would be something I’d enjoy. If I close my eyes, I can, if only briefly, smell the inspiration behind it. I perceive this inspiration to be the hugely successful at the time, prickly, thorny, heavy as a paperweight dropped on the head, “here I come!”, female fragrances of the era. A surprising realization, considering Chanel never released such an obvious choice for women. The box does not mention oakmoss. Having said that, it is oakmoss that I smell so clearly at this perfume’s base. Oakmoss, labdanum and patchouli. How can this be? It is entirely possible of course that I am fooled, but I swear, after some point, this is all I can smell. Yes, the drydown of Antaeus is a definite leather chypre, to my nose at least, and this is its saving grace. A nasty, putrid opening, a far too strong, oppressing heart...But then, a beautiful reward in the end. I still wouldn’t be able to call this chic, or sophisticated. Its obviousness forbids me to venture that far. Yet, the thoughtful drydown does make up for the horror I suffer every time I test this on my skin. I cannot claim to like something so strong, so abrasive. But let me put it this way: Antaeus might seem like nothing more than one of many, many others initially. A little patience though, proves that he is actually, rather unique. A giant –much like the mythological being he owes his name to- that trod a road others still refuse to follow. And yes, if only for that, he deserves to be featured as part of Forget me Not.

Please also visit For the Love of Perfume to read TMH's pick for this month's Forget me Not.

Images: www.kimcm.dk and commons.wikimedia.org