Chanel Looks to the Cosmos With Its New Perfume, Comète

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If Gabrielle Chanel had been alive for this spring’s total solar eclipse, my guess is she’d have had her horoscope read, jotted down her intentions, and designed a glamorous pair of pearl-studded eclipse glasses for the occasion. Coco Chanel was fascinated by the cosmos and astrology, so much so that it influenced her personally and professionally. A proud Leo, she left lion emblems scattered throughout her private apartment on Rue Cambon in Paris, as well as embossed on buttons of her brand’s iconic tweed jackets. In 1932, Chanel’s first High Jewelry collection was an homage to the celestial, featuring a spectacular star- and comet-shaped necklace—an exquisite piece of jewelry that, 92 years later, has inspired the house’s newest fragrance: the latest addition to the Les Exclusifs de Chanel collection, aptly named Comète.

For Chanel house perfumer Olivier Polge, the 1932 jewelry collection was just the launching pad for his creative process, which began in his office with an idea and a piece of paper—the “recipe,” as he calls it. “The comet started as an inspirational element, a motif, but then it went beyond the jewelry,” Polge tells Bazaar. Ultimately, the comet became a symbol for many aspects of Gabrielle Chanel’s life and spirit. “When I think about a comet, it expresses something magical. It expresses beliefs in astrology. [Chanel] was someone who believed in faith and in luck—you know, number five was her lucky number.”

But what exactly does a comet smell like? Humans will never know (getting a pure, unadulterated whiff would be impossible), but astronauts who have been to space haven’t exactly raved about the aroma left behind on their suits, describing it as “seared steak” and “welding fumes.” Not exactly the stuff of luxury fragrance.

Polge, therefore, had to rely on his imagination. “Once you find an idea that you feel is meaningful—and this is the part I like—you have to create a fantasy, and in the case of Comète it was quite visual,” he says. The perfumer began thinking about stardust, equating the light traced by cosmic particles across the night sky to the olfactory trail left hanging in the air by a fragrance. That gave him the idea to create a perfume that was simultaneously powdery and luminous—two types of scent often considered mutually exclusive in the world of fragrance. Polge thought it was a welcome challenge.

“The easy way would’ve maybe been to create a scent around vanilla, which is really the obvious powder [note]. But my idea was to use ingredients that are not only powdery, but also floral and slightly woody,” he explains. He relied on heliotrope, a flower often described as sweet and smelling of almonds or cherries, in addition to iris, from Chanel’s exclusive Iris pallida fields in Grasse, on the French Riviera—among the highest-quality in the world.

Polge also incorporated, in the top notes, an unexpected cherry blossom accord, an ingredient that divides many fragrance fans. In his deft hands, however, the synthetic note added the delicate, sparkling quality he sought. “I began by using fresh raw materials, like a touch of bergamot and a touch of neroli, but they changed the feeling of the scent. So I decided to create a cherry blossom accord, combining many of those other notes’ elements and creating the right luminous impression,” he says. When developing the accord, Polge considered a very specific type of French cherry, griotte, which smells earthy, versus sugary and sweet.

I could break down each note for you, but nothing can prepare you for how Comète smells when it hits your skin. Perhaps Polge’s overall description of the perfume is most apt: “It’s luminous, comforting, and optimistic; there is no darkness to it—as if you layered different shades of white and beige together into one construction.”

With musk at the base, it’s an elevated and elegant skin scent with the depth and intensity the Les Exclusifs range has become known for. “Comète shares the same spirit as the rest of the collection, as well as a certain density and a certain texture,” says Polge. “At the same time, I’m always careful to create a scent we don’t have within the range. We have very leathery and spicy fragrances, like Bois des Iles, and more floral fragrances, but we didn’t have this powdery scent. Comète brings a new facet that fits well in that collection.”

The dry down is exceptional, lingering on your skin for hours and hours. The first day I tried Comète, I could still smell it on my wrists as I tucked into bed. I love the scent the most about an hour after the first spritz, as it becomes warm and creamy and the powder and musk begin to blend with your own skin chemistry. Comète may have been inspired by the cosmos and the otherworldly radiance of the comets and the stars. But as it envelops your skin in its sparkly, sunny radiance, it also evokes all the magic natural beauty around us, back down here on earth.

Comète Les Exclusifs de Chanel ($325 for 2.5 fl oz, $500 for 6.8 fl oz) is available now at chanel.com.

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