Antaeus Etc...

Yesterday I woke up with money burning a hole in my pocket and I went to a mall. There's a discount store that has Creeds and a bunch of really obscure stuff that most stores don't have.

I bought a bottle of Eau de Cartier (it smells very much like a gin and tonic/gin martini) and I wanted to get one other thing.

The store guy sprayed some Creed Original Santal on my arm and it was incredible! Granted it did smell very similar to Joop!, but whereas Joop! is kind of loud and cloying, the OS was really perfect. I would have bought a bottle of OS but he only had the 2.5 oz bottle, and I wanted to get the big bottle since I have the big bottle of Original Vetiver, and they'd look good together on the shelf.

As i was sniffing the OS, a few thug-types walked in and asked about Aqua di Gio. I looked up at the shelf behind the counter and saw a single bottle of Chanel Antaeus!!!

I had been trying to get a bottle of Antaeus for years. The first time I sampled it was when Allure came out and the store had all the Chanels and the SA made me smell all of them-- I though Antaeus was disgustingly bad--but I couldn't get it out of my head. Then over time I decided I liked it and wanted to get a bottle. By that time it was impossible to find in stores.

So I was really excited. I asked the price and he told me $80... damn, pretty high but WTF. I had to get it. Even though it's not something I can see myself wearing very often, it is a work of art.

But has the formula changed? Also the bottle looks different from some pics. On my bottle, the cap is squared and continues the lines from the bottle--weird because I think this makes it look like a giant lipstick tube!?! Whereas I've seen other pictures where the cap is small and round and basic. I prefer the look of the other bottle, I think.

And the smell is not as strong as I recall-- though in the old days anything that wasn't aquatic and fresh struck my nose as being too strong. It just seems that this scent is watered down a bit, which is both a good thing and a bad thing for me. Good, because this formulation is very wearable on me without being overpowering-- I don't think I could pull off the Antaeus I remember, but it's bad because I don't quite get that intense "hit" from sniffing it for "huffing" purposes.

And I'm wondering this, since we're on the subject of Antaeus-- Does anyone else find a similarity between Antaeus and Bandit? And do any of you DIY perfumers think Antaeus might also contain Iso Butyl Quinoline? I'm thinking it may.

I wish I would have been fortunate enough to have gotten Antaeus in winter instead of Spring, so I may have to wait for a good time to wear it.

Welcome to the 'drobe, Antaeus. We've been expecting you...

I think I was right about Antaeus containing Iso Butyl Quinoline, which is a HUGE component of Bandit. (BTW, last week I had guests who wanted to sniff my aromachemicals-- a girl sniffed the Iso Butyl Quinoline and said, "Hey this smells like marijuana" -- so that's even more evidence of the whole Bandit/pot phenom. But actually Iso Butyl Quinoline is used often times to give the smell of leather to a composition, and since Antaeus is a leathery fragrance, it seems to make sense.



Aside from the technical side though, Antaeus is truly one of the finer things in life. I love that when you smell it you picture deep red, matte gray, and gloss black. Glad to see there are others who love it too!

Ahh... so the aftershave has the smaller cap.

As far as Antaeus being watered down-- Right after I bought it, I stopped by my parents' house and showed my Antaeus to my mom and dad. My mom sprayed some on her arm and said, "Oh, that's really nice. And it smells really light."

"Light" is not how I'd typically describe Antaeus. Although last night before bed I sprayed some on my chest for the hell of it and I can still smell it loud and clear. Maybe Antaeus doesn't project all that much, but still has great longevity. That would be fine with me because I don't like fragrances that project more than two feet or so.

Another thing about scents like Antaeus being super masculine is this-- sometimes people find the scents that are super masculine to be super feminine. For instance, yesterday after thinking about Antaeus, I went to my perfumers' organ and made my first Chypre. It turned out really good, and it was really masculine. I took a sample to work and let some of the girls smell it. They really liked it and commented on how manly it was. Some of the older ladies really swooned over it. Well, I took the sample and ambushed this guy, Glenn, who is a waiter--and I dabbed some on his hand. "Oh No. What's this? I smell like a b*tch now." He was going on and on about how feminine his hand smelled. It was a weird reaction, because this guy is one of the most hairy chested, masculine types I know.

It's the same with Antaeus. I think it's about as masculine as they come, but some people probably find it girly because they associate fragrances that are complex with being feminine.