...also an eponymous perfume from the House of Chanel:
Coco Chanel: the fragrance
A good perfume is a subtle adornment for the aura, and this one is luxe, calme, et volupté...
Quality perfumes are described in temporal and musical terms because their numerous ethereal ingredients manifest themselves at different times, often in a compositionally lyrical fashion.
Top notes are very diffuse - they come up very quickly. The top notes are what you smell when you first apply the fragrance.
Coco's top notes are fresh peach, comoros, and coriander. The peach note is not fruity per se... It is more like the smell of a fresh peach that has been neither cut nor peeled, but rather held in the hand until the warmth causes the soft skin to willingly release its scent... The green heartwood and fresh spice from the comoros and coriander support the velvety scent of the peach like carved walnut legs supporting a chaise longue.
Middle notes, or Heart notes have an intermediate volatility (rate of evaporation), and therefore appear approximately ten minutes later to mingle with the top notes.
Coco's heart notes are defined by the rich, earthy sweetness of clove buds, elevated by the citrusy scent of a Caribbean breeze (cascarida and Mimosa) on holiday in the green gardens of Versailles (French angelica). The archetypally feminine scents of Bulgarian rose and red jasmine from India (frangipani) play the role of Greek chorus.
Base notes are the most stable components of the perfume. They become apparent much later (about 30 minutes) in the fragrance development, and are extremely tenacious and long-lasting. The base notes bind the more evanescent notes to the skin in an intimate synergy with the wearer's own natural scent. This synergy is the reason why few perfumes (at least, few perfumes crafted with subtlety) smell exactly the same when worn by different women.
Coco's base notes are naked, honest, and sensual: Myrose sandalwood, amber, and leather. By this cthonic bridge, the evanescent, stellar scents of the top and heart notes linger on the wearer's skin.