Chanel No. 1 L’Eau Rouge (2022)

I’m not convinced a review of this particular release has any right being featured on Persolaise.com, but here it is, nonetheless. Brand new from Chanel: a scented body spray called L’Eau Rouge, which comes to us as part of a line-up of skincare products under the umbrella name, No. 1. I discussed it over on my YouTube channel the other day, so if you’d like to watch the video, here’s a link: Chanel No. 1 L’Eau Rouge review.

Fragrances that hover at the intersection of ‘fine’ perfumery and more functional products aren’t a new idea. Clarins Eau Dynamisante has been with us since the 80s, Dior Eau Svelte stuck around for a few years after its appearance in 1995, and I dare say there are a few other examples. But they’re certainly not common, so it’s interesting to try to work out why Chanel feel the time is right for another stab at this sort of thing. They’re putting all their marketing clout behind it, not only trumpeting the fact that in-house perfumer Olivier Polge has created the scent (a sheer, innocuous floral on a base of pillowy, this-is-the-smell-of-expensive-face-cream musks), but also emphasising the entire line’s ‘clean’ credentials and devising a high-profile advertising campaign (which, tellingly, features models selected to satisfy current demands for diversity).

We’re often being told that women in their 20s aren’t spending anywhere near as much money on perfume as their mothers and grandmothers used to: they reportedly view fragrance as a remnant of an age that has no relevance to them. However, they’re by no means opposed to purchasing other items that we may loosely term ‘beauty products’. High-profile brands will aim to find any chink in buyers’ defences, and L’Eau Rouge may well be an attempt to use a ‘non-perfume perfume’ to snag previously uninterested clients and, hopefully, persuade them to explore the rest of the brand’s range. As such, it’ll be fascinating to see how it fares.

Persolaise

[Chanel No. 1 L’Eau Rouge review based on a sample provided by the brand in 2022.]

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