* Chanel Egoiste starts with an explosion of citrus and spicy wood. The citrus is hard to discern, as I think it’s a mix of neroli, bergamot, orange, and tangerine.
* Egoiste is a bit mischievious, as it has different characters. Sometime it goes a little soapy on me, with the spicy wood fighting to keep it manly. Other times the top goes very sweet on me – where the citrus turns more gourmand, like candied/sugared fruits rather than crisp citrus.
* Initial projection is quite strong. People around you will definitely smell it for the first hour or so.
* The spicy wood is joined by a rose in mid-development. This is not a feminine rose with a capital R, yet a sweet, fruity one with a lot of depth – a three-dimensional rose.
* The rose begins to fade and a creamy sandalwood comes in. A lovely vanilla joins the sandalwood for a base that lasts for hours.
Summary: Egoiste is an absolute masterpiece that was based on a rare, hard-to-find Bas Noir. I have a small decant of Bois Noir and it’s absolutely decadent, with Egoiste being slightly more spicy. When it was originally released there was also a Cologne Concentree which I have recently tracked down. The CC is stronger, more intense, and has a more robust development. Imagine the EDT on steroids. The fragrance called Egoiste Platinum is completely unrelated, in my opinion, to Egoiste. They share one word of the name and the story I’ve read is that the Platinum version was created for the American market, who didn’t latch on to the spicy sweet Egoiste like the rest of the world. I wore Egoiste throughout college and mistakenly bought Platinum thinking it would be as good. Mistake- as it is a citrus/aquatic that is nearly the polar opposite to the spicy goodness that is the original Egoiste. The longevity of Egoiste is insane – sometimes longer than 24 hours. It really reacts to skin chemistry and works on me like a mood ring. I find that if I am stressed it gets a little more soapy while if I am more calm it goes more sweet. To me, Egoiste is a classic that every man needs to test and wear at least once in his life.