Reviews of Chance (2002)
by Chanel

The concept sounds delightful, as do the notes. The bottle design is quirky and the opening, although a little too synthetic, almost promises something. Those are the best aspects of this perfume. If another house produced a scent as average as this, it'd get a neutral. But for Chanel to do it? It's a thumbs down. They missed their chance with this one.

A strange dissonant peppery/woody fragrance that is jarring, uninspiring and thoroughly uninteresting. This is in the same vein as Angel, but shares none of its originality or beauty. This fragrance has no purpose whatsoever. Buy Angel and forget this confused jumbled mess.

What is happening to Chanel. I have loved so many of their fragrances, but this one smells cheap and sour to me. I just expected a whole lot more. But then I've got that weird chemistry thing going on, but I'd surely suggest you try this one first. Wear it all day.

I truly love several Chanel scents. No. 22, Coco, and my most favorite, No. 19. So I've given this several tries, but I realized today after I put it on what it reminded me of--Vicks Vap-o-rub. I am not kidding. After it calms down a bit on my skin its a little better, but on me with my chemistry this is pretty horrible. This will definately be on my swap list.

I think this scent is whorish.

We all bring our biases to these reviews, and I own up to a heap of them, having always eschewed mainstream tastes, wanting more from my architecture, landcape, purchased products than "pretty and predictable," preferring personality, originality, even some angst. Such qualities just ain't present in a fragrance like Chance, so obviously conceived of mainstream marketing.

We used to live next door to a large, modern Catholic church in the suburbs. By "next door," I mean down wind. Every Sunday morning, along with the banging of hundreds of car doors, came a wind scented with consumerism, the olfactory representation of a storeful of deodorants, hair products and colognes. Chance reminds me of that homogenized scent of the masses. I just can't relate to its appeal.

In addition to the above listed notes, Chanel's Chance also includes: White musk, Citrus, Iris, Hyacinth, Pink pepper, and Amber. In my opinion, there are too many leading ladies in this mix!!! The best part of Chance for me is the pink pepper which adds a subtle spiciness. Otherwise I find the notes competing against eachother for centerstage. Annoying. (Maybe it has to do with the fact my sister-in-law wore this fragrance - in excess - for a few months.) Sorry, no appreciation for this one.

Chance is yet another Chanel fragrance that makes me smell like an ashtray. I wanted to like this one because of the cute advertising.

I have a sour feeling that Chanel sold out on this one. It's certainly below the other female scents from the house. It has a perky and musky feeling to it.The concept is nice, the bottle is ugly to me.I feel it has a bit too much patchouli for a girl's (not a woman's) fragrance but still there are people that will go for that. Sweet on the drydown.Totally uninteresting, sadly.

I go back and forth on what I think of Chanel as a fragrance house - some of its fragrances I adore, others leave me cold, and Chance is one of compositions that really does not work for me. Makes me sad because I love the name, the bottle and the whole concept of this fragrance, but to no avail. I do wonder whether it's one of those that is body-chemistry specific; the compilation of notes sounds lovely (love iris, love white musk, love citrus, love amber - even love hyacinth, which can be a hard one to love!) but all I get when I apply this is fruit-soaked patchouli, and that's just not a good fragrance profile for me. If you are a fan of Chance's sister Coco Mademoiselle, of Angel or any of its spinoffs, or of anything else in which patchouli is blended with a very sweet base, Chance is probably something that would work well with your chemistry. For me, looks like I'll have to stick with Cristalle, Number 22 and Coco when it comes to Chanel.