Allure Homme Deodorant Stick 75ml

Chanel Allure Homme Deodorant Stick 75ml carries one of the better known men's fragrances of the late nineties in the most practical format the house sells it in, and it should be bought as a grooming product rather than as a way to wear the scent.

Applied to skin, what registers first is a dry, warm spice rather than the citrus burst a spray gives you. Ginger and black pepper come through clearly, lemon, bergamot and mandarin orange brighten the first few minutes, lavender adds a clean herbal edge and peach a soft sweetness.

Underneath that, the fragrance's body does its work quietly. Cedarwood, patchouli and vetiver give it a dry backbone, anise a faint liquorice coolness, and rose, jasmine, gardenia, freesia and Brazilian rosewood a warm floral middle. The base is the part that lingers on skin: vanilla, tonka bean and benzoin for a soft sweetness, coconut for a creamy edge, sandalwood and oakmoss for dryness, leather for firmness, and musk and amber to smooth it out.

It keeps you fresh through a working day and leaves a modest trail rather than a cloud, which is what a stick should do. The scent was the work of Jacques Polge and dates from 1999, and 75ml lasts for months of normal use.

Gabrielle Chanel was selling hats from 21 rue Cambon in Paris in 1910, eleven years before the first perfume. N°5 was made with Ernest Beaux in 1921, and the perfume and cosmetics business was formally founded in 1924 with Beaux employed as its perfumer. Early releases included N°22, Gardenia, Cuir de Russie and Bois des Iles, and the Chanel suit and little black dress belong to the same story.