Coromandel from the Chanel Exclusives range is arguably the greatest Chanel fragrance since No 5 was launched in the 1921. This is the yard stick by which all patchouli-overdose fragrances should be measured. A masterpiece.
This formula re-creates Coromandel with links to alternative cheaper ingredients and an amber base formula included.
Read more and purchase the full formula for this incredible fragrance here:
I am ecstatic knowing that you are making this formula available, fantastic!
This is the best of the exclusives – better than Bois des Iles even – though I may publish that formula too at some point.
Bought your formula just now, I have all the ingredients so that’s great, I’ll start mixing tomorrow! I am glad that I have all of your bases mixed recently, so I can incorporate them if I want to.
True! I plan to sell the original bases in made up form too – so people can opt to use those instead of the Appell alternatives.
Excellent new formula to play with!
Can you say a few words about the difference between patchouli oil, patchouli alcohol, and patchouli acetate ( and perhaps clearwood) in terms of profile? I have the regular patchouli, clearwood and acetate but not the alcohol which is a big part of the formula here. I will experiment without the alcohol first but am curious what your thoughts on those are.
Patchouli alcohol is the pure and clean material. it is the heart of the patchouli plant. I have a tattoo of patchouli alcohol :). Patchoulyl acetate has a sticky sweetness to it which is extremely beautiful and works very well with other sweet notes. Both of these materials lack the extreme earthiness of patchouli. Patchouli alcohol is a little camphoraceous too – so it is quite a bright and open patchouli. And patchouli oil is skanky and rich and sweet and dirty – making it the perfect core for Tabu and the perfect irony in Angel. Combine with benzyl salicylate… Read more »
Super – thanks for the input! I’ve ordered now some patchoulol which I didn’t have but did a simplified mix now quickly with mostly patchouli oil (not replacing all the patchoulol) and a bit of clearwood just to see how it goes.
You’ll still get a great perfume – the patchouli products are all beautiful.
The Patchouli alcohol in combination with Patchouli oil Indian all from PSH with the rest of the ingredients are magic! no hippy smell what so ever! Love at first sniff…Outstanding.
And this is only a first test of the fresh mixture, now I’ll have to be patient and wait for the macerating process.
Again: How long do you leave it before diluting, this isn’t mentioned I think in the pdf file?
It’s a revelation right? Polge is a master.
He sure is!
I forgot to mention I’ve used Frankincense green sacra e.o from Hermitage instead of Olibanum oil.
That’s perfect – I use John Steele’s Frankincense Sacra EO – that is basically what I am referring to in the formula.
I have almost all the ingredients, can’t wait to mix them! Unfortunately I don’t have Delta Damascone. Would Alpha or Beta or Total damascone be enough? and for Ambrox super can I use Ambroxan/Cetalox? Lastly, what do you recommend for % dilution?
Damascone beta could work as a substitute – it has more of the profile of delta. Don’t confuse beta damascone with beta Damascenone – that is not a substitute (“total” is a cheaper beta-damascENone not a cheap damascone).
Hi, Jamie. Does this refer to the unisex Parfum version (2019)? What are the differences between the edt / edp / parfum version (as well as concentration, of course).
This applies to the unisex original from 2007 – the 2016 and 2019 editions are just reformulations of the same I believe – probably to make it cheaper (removing the high dose of natural sandalwood perhaps, for one example).
I had a few grams of patchulol crystals sitting around wondering what I was going to do with them. I was excited to finally use them when I mixed up this formula. It came out amazing!!! Thanks so much for making this available. Worth every penny!
Thanks parm_blender! Isn’t patchoulol the best thing ever? I have a tattoo of it on my arm actually 🙂
Hello, just got the formula! Is the patchoulol in the formula ,powder crystals or patchouli ultra light 65% patchoulol ?
Also is civet absolute similar to civettone or is there an alternative, or do I have to order some?
The patchoulol is pure patchouli alcohol – crystal. You could definitely use real civet in here – it would be beautiful! Civettone makes up around 16% of civet absolute – I would start with 0.05% and work up to around a max of 0.3% pure civet absolute (or 0.5% – 3% tincture at 10%). The fragrance can probably carry a big dose but I think you might find that around 1.5% of a 10% tincture will end up being about right – to give a touch of the smell and magic without civet being an obvious note. For the record,… Read more »
Perfect, but since there is one source for patchoulol, they also sell civettone so might as well get all. Ill use sandalwood mysore, and some deer musk too. Thanks for all Jamie
Let us know how you go!
Hi Jamie, I still have couple questions:
For musk xylene (ambreine base), should I use a mix of muscone, velvione, deer musk, or you have better idea for a replacement?
For Patchouli, should I use Light or Dark?
All the rest is on its way from Christine!
I’d use a bit extra musk ketone and some muscenone if you have it (or muscone if not – but not too much). If you use muscone or muscenone you won’t need to use much to get a long lasting impact. Edited: use the nicest smelling patchouli you have – it is key so make sure it’s one you love to smell 🙂 The original was probably light but dark wouldn’t be a problem if that’s what you have – just a little more present.
I have been making variations of this formulae having started before having all ingredients (i.e. using cocoa hexenol instead of isobutavan) and this one is just such a joy to tinker with. I have 4 vials here of various version plus the original from Chanel – and it is honestly so difficult to decide what is the best of them – I think it is in these circumstances that *art direction and vision* become important – we can recreate great masterpieces but for us to improve upon them, it is not enough to have the foundation. Great lessons, Jamie! Each… Read more »
Pipeline: something by Roja Dove, and a couple of other exciting things 🙂
You like a mystery 🙂
Haha I do – the website I used to own (listverse.com) was all about mysteries and weird stuff 🙂
I’ve used a teststrip today to study the development of this fragrance. Can’t stop sniffing it …!! It’s that good! I love patchouli, but in this fragrance it’s so well balanced, this smells of money! Very happy with this one, but I’ll let it macerate a while longer before diluting it.
I agree! I have a bottle sitting behind me on the shelf macerating and when I walk in to the room I can smell it and it’s a little bit of heaven. The patchouli here is perfection – the combo of multiple patchoulis is what does it. Same trick that is used in Aventus actually.
Hi Jamie, just wondering here – isn’t the isobutovan under leveraged in your formula? I am tempted to try almost x10 given the high dosage of vanilla ingreidents and patchouli. What do you think?
You could certainly try the increased dose – let us know the results of your experiments! Btw, as the comments are public I have edited out your mention of the amount in the formula.
Hi Jamie,
could i use jasmine absolute and rose damascena absolute instead of reconstructions? Do you think it could work anyway?
One hundred percent yes – it would be magnificent.
As a patchouli fanatic, I used some of my favorite dark aged patchouli here and it still came out super smooth, classy, and delicious! Love this, superb work as always Jamie (:
Hello Jamie, i made several versions of this to understand how different ingredients work. I want to ask you about the orange. I thought it would be bitter orange but it wasnt. Sweet works fine, but online it says bitter orange as a note. Is it really the bitter one, or do the other top notes blend with the sweet orange for an overall bitter orange note? Thanks
Notes as listed in perfumery are seldom real and rarely have anything to do with what is inside a perfume. Sweet orange is right.
I made two batches that have been macerating for a few months, in the second I added a touch of Oud Assafi, Rose de Mai abs. and Civette abs.: incredibly beautiful. Perhaps the oud has shifted it towards the more masculine side (although I think masculine/feminine in perfumes does not count anything – I often wear a dilution of pure Bulgarian Rose Otto). Great work, James. 🙂
Edit: I will dilute it at 40% extrait in food grade alcohol that I prefixed with a very small touch of benzoin. It will be a “bomb” 🙂
Oh I can imagine this with the oud – it would be amazing. What a brilliant addition. And civet – always magical everywhere 🙂