Reviews of Antaeus (1981)
by Chanel

Fire up the Quattro!!!

Another 80's powerhouse that smells nice enough, but is totally unwearable in the vein of Van Cleef and Arpels. Elegant? Sophisticated? -- I don't think they equate to 'in your face' and 'heavy' do they? Try Versace L'Homme (1984) instead for refinement and ditch the hipsters with the white belt.

Heavy, cloying, spicier version of Victorian era rosewater and completely unusable as a male scent.

I was previously hesistent on giving me take on this(quite afraid of getting burnt). I'll start by saying that I have developed a strong and thick fragrances like my fave in the ranks - CD's Sauvage(one spray at home and one splash that i carry around), and the slightly more recent Paco Rabanne PH and Givenchy Gentleman,Aramis Tuscany and CD's Fahrenheit. I would put my review down to personal preference. Those i mentionned earlier, were worn previously by my late grandfather. I was extremely close to him from birth till the end of my teenage years and i reckon it was my sentimental side that grew on those scents. The antaeus tho strong and lasting, did not appeal to me. I still wear Eau Sauvage, and Gentleman quite alot these days, but found it quite difficult to draw any likable similarities. I would liken this to my inability to finish my bottle of Armani EPH which i found the stronger notes to have over stayed. If one is for the classic, then this would be quite fit the bill. But i agree to what was earlier said, one doesnt have to make this occassion-specific, but it would be more suitable for the grander nights. I guess there is some truth in me saying that the more inflexible a scent, the more it can be a classic and later on, a legend. I loved the Eau Sauvage despite having friends tell me i smelled like what their older relatives used, I love Gentleman and Tuscany despite some saying to me it smelt like tyre(ouch). With Antaeus, it needs acquiring of taste like with most classics, which i personally have not. Scent wise i would have to steal the word "herbal" from the review before mind as i found it to be most accurate. The herbal scent is quite nice in Eau Sauvage actually imo , if one is able to sense it at the end, but just too much in Antaues for my liking.

I know, I know this is a classic, but I just can't stand it. I scored a mini of this and was extremely excited because I'm a huge Chanel fan and because I've read such great reviews - plus, I'm a fan of the classics. Very strong, pungent herbal opening that doesn't dry down into anything more pleasant. I'm glad to have the bottle for my Chanel collection but that's where the enjoyment ends.

I just bought a new bottle of Antaeus at the Chanel boutique. Has this fragrance been watered down? It doesn't seem to have the pungency of my last bottle. After comparing the two bottles, I note that my older bottle had a nice silver top with the Chanel logo embossed. The new bottle has no silver top and just has the logo in white on a black cap. I also noticed there was not so much lettering on the bottle (e.g. the letters look smaller, not as bright white, and several words missing, i.e., "spray and New York." Is Chanel trying to save money. I know that by cutting back on the quality of ink and amount of ink they use to print their bottles with would save a lot of money, especially when mass producing this fragrance, not to mention the amount of money they saved by eliminating the silver top. This leads me to believe that Chanel has also cut back on the amount of perfume oils in this fragrance. It seems rather weak to me now, and not the robust and rich Antaeus I used to know. I remember a time when the name Chanel would be synonymous with quality and class, but NOW I think the name Chanel is synonymous with cutting corners, saving money and selling cheap perfume under the Chanel name to their consumers. I may be wrong, but from all indications this is the case. In this day and age, companies will do anything to save a buck, not to mention those things listed above. If anyone else has noticed this fragrance being weaker, please advise. It's a shame. :(

Uh - aren't men's fragrances supposed to smell masculine? This has to be one of the softest, gentlest, most feminine smelling "male" scents I've ever tried. Noooooooo thanks.

No, thank you !!!