N.19 Poudre (Chanel, 2011)

This year, Chanel decided to give a companion to the legendary N°19. A less shady individual, more modern in the feeling and more complying with our contemporary tastes, named N°19 Poudre. This is what Christopher Sheldrake said in this interview (well, yes, with different words... :-)) .
The other day I could try it on touche and then on skin.
The top notes of mandarin and orange blossoms offer a delicate feeling of light and sweetness, but not as loud as they can be sometimes: they almost whisper not to cover the iris note perfectly detectable from the opening, creamy, velvety, with attractive woody accents.
I approached N°19 Poudre with low expectations because I'm aware that among raw materials iris root is on of the most costly, so I didn't expect Poudre would keep the "iris focus" of the original. You know, sometimes it happens that a sounding name is used to recall past glories but then, in the flanker, you find nothing of the character of the original bouquet. But here... iris is still the absolute star: a rich, round, buttery, note with just a slightly woody hint. The galbanum, with its husky, dry voice was kept lower than the original, and what Poudre lacks in galbanum was added in vetiver which, being a root, binds iris very well and takes it into a green, woody direction. But in a gentle way, with only a touch of dryness, and moreover without the sharp edges characterizing N°19.
To push the poudre (or powdery) side, tonka bean, a (light) touch of vanilla and a bunch of white musk were added, wrapping the scent around a cloud of soft light. Smelling it on skin, the word "MEASURE" immediately came to mind. The formula is chiseled to the millimeter with great skill, focusing mainly on wearability and the feeling of confortable refinement.
I found it beautiful, well worth the test; I wore the edt, showing a good persistence, but if the EDP will have a bit more projection, I'll surely buy it (it'll be available from October onwards).