[unpaid/sample/affiliate/ad] This is not a new product but I’ve been using CHANEL No.5 Deodorant for a couple of weeks and have really fallen for it. I’m like a squirrel with Chanel products – they’re always being ‘saved’ for best and then I find I haven’t used any of them so I’ve made a conscious effort to start enjoying the use rather than just the having. I’ve almost seen the back of my Chanel No.5 bath oil and now I’m working my way through the deodorant.
If you like the scent of No.5 (which I do – I love it), then all the powdery familiarity comes flooding back in the same way as if you’d sprayed yourself with with EDT. It smells feminine, expensive and floral and I’m rather liking the trace that it leaves on my sweaters for the next time.
You’d think that a deodorant would be a weak dilute of whatever it’s an accessory to but in this case, it’s not really. I find that about Chanel ancillary products in general – they’re expensive of course, but they’re always far more generous than you think they’re going to be. Ditto the Hair Fragrance which to be honest, is as generous as the EDT. But, I guess my point about saving things ‘for best’ is that perhaps it needs a rethink. My grandma used to keep what she thought of as special tea towels in a drawer ‘for best’ so everyone has their level – when she died we found them all with their labels still on, untouched. There’s a kind of comfort in just knowing that they’re there I suppose – symbols that people had thought of her (she always asked for tea towels!) that made them special enough that she sort of guarded them. I like to think it was her happy drawer but I’ll never really know.
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We’ve had bottles of wine and champagne that we saved long enough for them to be completely undrinkable when I think about it, so that was pointless. I happened to Google ‘beauty hoarding’ and honestly, it’s a thing. There’s even a Reddit group for make up hoarders. Wayne Goss did a video about four years ago about his hoarding habit and there are plenty of features to read on the subject. So, before I fall fully into the hoarding category, I’m making an effort to use up the things I have. I understand it’s a little different for me because I’m mostly not paying for the products but I still, I think, form attachments around some of them – notably Chanel. It turns out that using up some of the products is okay – I mean, I smell extra nice every morning (of jasmine, rose and powder) and will do so for at least a month and that has to be a good thing! So, I guess what I’m saying is don’t hold onto things for best – use them now because now IS the best and will be even better if you smell/look/feel great. If you just fancy an upgrade to a utilitarian product (which is a very 2021 thing to do), Chanel No.5 is £41 but I found it on Boots for £35 HERE, non-affiliate HERE.
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11 comments
Yes yes yes to not saving for best. I am digging out my smarter shoes, clothes etc and a stash / hoard of beauty and scents to wear now. I have decided to try and do a type of Stoptober for no more beauty and fragrance acquisitions as I have more than plenty to use up including a lot of sample sizes, it will be essential purchases only.
The Chanel body ranges are deliciously intense in scent (I wish they’d let us have some new Cristalle body and bath products), as you say the hair mist is a good way in to getting to know the scent (I am trying the Coco Noir in a few weeks). Keep up the No 5 (Chanel The Habit) Jane, a regular bit of favourite luxury is what we all crave and need right now. Plus our hair and clothing hold scent soo well! Cuddles to Honey xxx
Thanks Chrissie!! Holding on to luxuries or treats doesn’t make any sense and yet…. here I am with a saved pile!
Actually using these beautiful things up rather than hoarding is one thing, but then you are faced with what to do with the empty (beautiful) packaging… I feel bad enough having drawers of items I can’t bring myself to use, but the stash of empty, lovely pots and bottles seems even worse. I do take my packaging to John Lewis now, for recycling, but even then I have to work hard to stop myself liberating empty vessels from the bag and returning them to the stash before I get them out of the house
I hear you – I’m almost at the end of my Chanel bath oil but throwing the bottle away is another matter entirely!
Some of my smarter empties are adorning the bathroom shelves and walls just for show 🙂 ssshhh
I use my Chanel no5 soap every day in the shower. It’s down to a slither, but I’ve hinted at hubby that I’d like another bar for my birthday in a couple of weeks. It’s made me feel fabulously decadent using it rather than the normal sanax! Lol! I think the pandemic has changed many peoples perceptions on keeping things just for best. Xx
You’re quite right – and what a way to start the day! perfect :-))
Such a good point and so kindly put. There are lots meaner and harsher takes out there (and lots to say on the subject in general) but this was a kind reminder on one aspect of it.
Always feel free to say more Jane! It’s such an interesting subject. x
My mum was exactly like your grandmother Jane! She kept so many things for best that ended up stashed away and never used – even food! When she died (just over a year after my father died) we cleared the house and found so many things – the cashmere and silk pashmina my sister and I bought her for her 70th birthday still wrapped in its tissue paper, a bottle of Chanel Coco EDT still in its cellophane wrapper (it’s my favourite winter perfume so I nabbed that!), a jar of Tiptree strawberry and champagne jam, unopened but totally out of date and inedible.
My parents both kept things for best, but I don’t – everything I own is used and enjoyed, regardless of price or value, that’s what things are made for. It makes me sad that my mum never got to enjoy her Coco EDT, but every time I use it I think of her and enjoy it for her.
I like to think that the having of them was the biggest pleasure – I mean, there is a lot of satisfaction in just knowing those lovely things are there and belong to you with the actual use of them definitely being the secondary importance. A hug in another form perhaps. I did actually throw out some tea towels recently to make way for the ones rarely (or never used) just in case :-))