Powder Puff: Chanel No 19 Poudre

By Tom Apparently Chanel decided that the best way to mark the 128th anniversary of the birth of Coco Chanel was to come out with a flanker of Chanel No 19, which arrived in 1971, the year of her death. Interesting, but I think what they did to the original would have Madame Chanel clutching her faux pearls. Poudre takes out the main green and leather from No 19 and substitutes powder and an inoffensive skin musk. Comparing the two side-by-side, No 19 is green and rather cold in a way that is very French. Poudre loses all that and is face powder and skin musk. In fact, Poudre sort of comes across as No 19's rather dowdy older cousin from up country who's visiting Paris for the first time. She's met No 19 for lunch in a print dress which she realizes is wholly wrong here and is feeling very out of place, unstylish and elderly. Her cousin No 19 is polite and kindly asks her about her trip and her life on the farm while inwardly thinking that it was a good decision to meet at this place near her cousins hotel, in an arrondissement where she's guaranteed not to meet anyone she could possibly know. Guess which one I want to wear. $85 for 1.7 oz, exclusively at Saks and Chanel Boutiques. I tried from both.