I like to think of Chanel’s Pour Monsieur as analogous to Eau Premiere, not because of any olfactory similarities, but because both embody a clean, preppy variant of their gender with no extraneous variables. Both are warm, poised, and minimalist, and can be worn every single day. You will never tire of them.
Pour Monsieur is a smooth as water blend of frequently-used notes that combine in a way that doesn’t try to be distinctive. The result is so natural that it could pass as a dapper man’s skin scent. To an insecure, trend-driven person, this lack of intent could be a flaw, but from a more confident perspective, there is no greater virtue than smelling like oneself, only better.
It has the base dryness of a chypre, but fills that out with the ubiquitous pairing of labdanum and bergamot (the bergamot is especially prominent). A touch of orange blossom is present too, not enough to be daring, but enough to pick out on its own. There’s lavender, thyme, and some other herbs to liven things up. To top it all off, Pour Monsieur also has a bourbon note to make it unmistakably male. And to make it interesting, there’s a hyacinth note, the feather in this chap’s cap.
But the notes aren’t really the point here. You know that cheerful, bright, unpretentious, unanimously-liked guy whose absence is noted more than his presence? That’s Pour Monsieur, in a nutshell.
Perfumer: Henri Robert
Price Range: Moderate
Recommended Occasion: Any, more casual
Release Year: 1955