Bois des Iles

To me this smell like Dior New Look 1947 with a splash of number 5. Lovely and sophisticated. Creamy, lots of benzoin and vanilla on the dry down.

Anyone who has Chanel Les Exclusifs Bois des Iles EDT(NOT the EDP) and is willing to sell it to me please DM me.

I wish I had sampled this before Raghba Wood Intense, because, though this is beautiful, Wood Intense Lite is all I can smell.

Aldehydes begamot peach cinnamon ylang powdery sandalwood I recently landed a very special decant of the discontinued EDT from a friend, what a treat and unfortunately for those on the look out far superior to the current EDP. People love comparing it to Egoiste, often seeing them as gendered counterpart. The further back you go, the less similar the two feel, my 90s bottle of Egoiste smells only tangentially similar to Bois des Iles EDT, primarily in the opening where there is a linalool based sparkle that blends with the fruity peach molecules, producing a particular signature. The development is however quite different, Egoiste leaning deeply into a rich spicy rose into tobacco territory, while BdI is much more powdery and sweet "yellow" ylang-ylang into buttery silky sandalwood amber. Bois des Iles EDT is decisively retro for nowadays market, the EDP is a more contemporary formulation, however its clear to me that some of the magic is lost in process, the opening sparkle, the complexity of the fruity floral core, the silky subtlety of the base. Definitely recommended!

This review is based on a bottle of Bois des Iles EDT from 2007. To me, it’s not a full on sandalwood fragrance, it's more of a blend of woods and spices. The woods are slightly smoky and powdery, while the spices are soft with a bit of saltiness. Sweet and warm floral notes comes through, and aldehydes brighten it up. There's also a subtle suede like scent that emerges in the dry down. It's a refined, feminine woody fragrance but not my favorite among Chanel’s offerings.

It's very hard to review this, the OG Ernest Beaux, discontinued EDT of Bois des Iles without comparing it to the current EDP. Remember when they restored Michaelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling in the 90s and accidentally removed all the details in the shadows? That's the EDP. The stunning peach note in the EDT which hits you only when you really inhale? Gone, MIA in the EDP. The vanilla/vetiver/tonka drydown in the EDT which is maybe the most heavenly sensory experience I've ever savoured? Now a synthetic soup of ISO super and tonka. The sandalwood in the EDT which smelled like a glowing bouquet of pure gold? Still there, but like a soundwave by Maria Callas which has had all the high notes modulated, clipped to the same pitch level. I say this as a massive fan of the EDP. So much that I kinda wish that I'd never finally tracked down my vintage bottle of the EDT. Now when I wear the EDP, all I can think of is what was lost in translation. When I wear the EDT, all I can think is that I need to savour every last drop.

Stunning fragrance. This is my 4th Les Exclusives, and likely my fave, or at least a close 2nd to Coromandel. I don’t think I can say it any better than #woodlandwalk did, as I feel this is a near identical experience to my own. I would ever so slightly disagree with this being warmer than Coromandel, but I see what they are saying, and it is of course a personal opinion. The day I got it, I was wearing it when I went into a store, and had a sales person interrupt me (nicely), as I was asking her a question, to ask what fragrance I was wearing. Her comment was that it was ‘stunning, and unlike anything I’ve smelled before’. I’m in love, and look forward to enjoying this for years to come.

(This review based upon the EdT. Bottle date is c. 1990 or a bit earlier) To my nose Bois des Iles smells like Chanel (at least at the time this bottle/fomulation was produced) tried to rework No. 5 for the male market. Keeping in mind my bottle is quite old and the top notes have definitely died off to some degree, the top notes of this early or pre 1990s EdT of Bois des Iles are muted by comparison to the exploding star characteristics of No. 5's top notes. In fact, on skin, I can barely smell the aldehydes and the fruit, but on the blotter they are much more apparent: again, not much in the way of aldehydes compared to No. 5, but definitely some lemon, peach, and a hefty dose of ylang-ylang. In the background on the blotter, heart notes of neroli, muguet, rose, and jasmine hold their places below the fruits and muted aldehydes like they are ready to catapult to the forefront at any moment. On skin they are already at the forefront, getting there pretty much immediately, though on skin the rose and jasmine are the stars, while the neroli and muguet are generally very quiet. Pause. I need to stop and think for a minute; it's very easy to get lost in this perfume - trying to work out what I'm smelling at any given moment; it is time I remind myself to relax and breathe, to soak it in and enjoy it. So, that's what I will do, and tell you, dear reader, how it's making me feel. To my defense, it is easy to get carried away with Bois des Iles and lose sight of what is most important when wearing a perfume: the time and space needed to just enjoy it. This thing is an incredible shape shifter; it moves so fast and so deftly that you force your brain to keep up with it, and with that force you forget that you need to shut up and stop thinking and just enjoy it for a moment. And, thoroughly enjoyable it is. If it was Chanel's goal to rework No. 5 so that men could be more comfortable wearing it, one, I find that goal to be trivial but that's a luxury of living in today's world, but two, yes, they succeeded. Bois des Iles manages to maintain the floral radiance and luminosity that makes No.5, but not letting it run so far like it does in No. 5. Bois des Iles is much more understated and subtle; it is full of a quiet yet massive energy rather than No. 5's loud and massive energy. It is gloriously smooth, decadent, sophisticated, rich, and complex while maintaining a luminous and breathable character that never bogs you down and always strives to lift you up. You only need to wait for the final dry down to fully understand what I mean: if, like me, you spent an inordinate amount of time and energy trying to keep up with Bois des Iles at the start, the dry down is the calm that we've been waiting for as Bois des Iles brings us the creamiest, smoothest sandalwood and musk combination that will make your knees melt and your heart nearly stop. It's the type of accord you wish you could smell throughout your entire home because it feels like home. There is something so comforting and warm about the end of Bois des Iles that you almost kind of forget how frenetic you felt at the start. What a masterpiece of a perfume.

Swooningly gorgeous, like no other perfume (except the flankers in eau de parfum etc) I can't remember if I've reviewed this before in the entire nineteen years I've been visiting Fragrantica (wow, time flies when you're sniffing perfume!) but Bois des Iles is worth reviewing twice. Probably my all-time favourite is Chanel No. 19, but this is a close second. It's maybe the warmest Chanel, more even than Coromandel. This to me is like sandalwood-scented velvet in the afternoon sun. You just want to stretch out and enjoy it. First it's aldehydes and a certain posh old school Chanel - floral, creamy, but haughty with chalky/powdery iris. Then as it dries down it feels almost cinnamon-like - as though someone lightly sprinkled cinnamon powder on a banana milk-shake, the banana is probably ylang as I tend to read that as banana-like. There's nothing overly gourmand though, or heavy, it just sits there shimmering like gold-dust in the sun with the slight metalic haze of aldehydes to prevent it becoming sweet or pudding-like.. It's complex, yet the message is clear - it's all about pleasure and relaxation. It's very French, classy, comforting and utterly unique, all at the same time. All-time Love!

Where is the sandalwood? All I can smell is an old-fashioned scent, like a bar of vintage soap that isn’t even pure… The dry-down isn’t pleasant either—sour, amber, and old-fashioned…

Sounds so good from the notes but the scent is bland and far from enticing, and too old fashioned smelling for my taste. The price point is too high for the unoriginal scent profile not to mention the weak performance. I am perpetually underwhelmed by Les Exclusifs.

This perfume has been well described many times, so I won't repeat all that. But I'd like to offer a tip. Bois des Isles is very expensive. Égoïste is not - it's regularly about £60 on offer in duty free. The two don't smell identical, but boy, are they similar. So... If you love Bois des Isles, give the Égoïste a try. Your wallet will thank you, and the scent is every bit as robust, well-performing and interesting. NB make sure you try the stuff just called Égoïste, and NOT Platinum Égoïste, which is a boring 90s citrus aquatic, unrelated to the original. PE tends to be in more places than the Égoïste, so it's easy to get confused.

Seems like Ernest Beaux's "thing" was aldehydes.

In the Chanel way, the aldehydes and citrus jump off the skin; a first punch of beauty. Then the warmth of the sandalwood and vanilla settles in. Like many other Chanel creations this is blended to perfection. It becomes a skin scent in less than an hour, though, so more of an office safe, sophisticated vibe.

I have tried this many times in the Chanel boutique and loved it every time. Very smooth and creamy sandle wood and it lasts a very long time on my skin. I decided to buy a full bottle after and i was so disappointed when i sprayed myself once home as its so weak and barley lasts on me. Literally about 20 minutes later its undetectable on me, But i do not know if it will get better over time and i do not know if the stores tester bottle has been out a very long time. Either way i am out of pocket for a weak scent thats nothing like the tester. Batch code was from February 2023

I have been wanting to have this in my collection for over 10 years, however I could never bring myself to spend so much $$$ on it, it is such a historical Chanel creation (even if the current version is different to original 1920's version) and the scent itself is sophisticated and comfy, but it just does not last and silage becomes unnoticeable after about an hour, if it had better performance then I would justify finally purchasing it. I will stick to the better performers from this range namely Le Lion, 31 Rue Cambon, No.22, Coromandel. If Bois Des Iles was amped up to be a touch more potent, closer to it's vintage pre-exclusifs iterations, then it would be one of the best, if not the best scents in the entire Les Exclusifs line in my personal opinion! The scent itself, without prejudice to it's performance, is really truly something magical.

Aldehyde bomb with just barely enough sandalwood peaking through to differentiate it from the rest of Chanel's aldehyde heavy scents. The warmer vanilla notes become more apparent on the dry down but they stay close to the skin. Its well blended and pleasant to wear but not a standout for me unfortunately

It’s a solid fragrance. Old timey cologne is the brief open. Then a simultaneous creamy and clean, which I really like - I don’t typically smell that combination in fragrances. I smell the woods but not overtly. I smell a bit of amber, no vanilla. Just a whisper of Iris. On my skin this scent is over in an hour, which is why I will never purchase it. I tried to apply it to my shirt to make it last, but it has very similar dna to No 5 on the fabric, which is not bad, but not a favorite of mine.

My review is based on my 2015 EDT bottle. It smells very unisex and definitely draws some similarities with Egoist. If you are a gentleman then this can be a year around office safe fragrance. For what it is, it's overpriced in my opinion. Longevity and silage are just about average. The new EDP version might be better but given this is a CHANEL, I highly doubt it. Still got to admire CHANEL for keeping this in production after nearly a century. For ladies, if you like CHANEL No. 5 style of perfumes then you would probably like this. It is woody but softer, creamier, and more interesting.

Beautiful, genius, vanillic floral-woody that would be a constant go to if it wasn't, in some ways, such a curious shapeshifter. This has so many facets to it--the oxymoronically clean-indolic aldehydic floral combo of ylang, rose, and jasmine--similar to No 5 but "tuned" differently...a lemony, citronella-esque and linalool-rich rosewood aspect...and of course the sumptuous, woody-vanilla-almondy-tonka base. Sometimes, when I put it on, especially the extrait, some of the more difficult parts of the journey dominate the sillage for a while--a sort of sour-citronella affair. However, if you put it on at the right place/right time (I prefer outdoors, autumn chill, maybe a hint of woodsmoke and dried grass in the air), the final drydown predominates--a sweet, slightly spiced, somewhat almondy-tonka, elegantly floral sandalwood. The older, Ernest Beaux scent, which is absolutely a totally different fragrance--much like the original CdR and Gardenia--is more soapy-powdery-floral-dry on top with a beautiful real, oily sandalwood in its drydown in vintage Eau de Cologne. The amped up vintage extrait does truly have a sumptuous feel of a woody gingerbread, but is definitely not as "easy and delicious" as the modern reorchestration. The newer Polge version reinvented in the 80s (along with Egoiste/Bois Noir) smells more "apple pie" than gingerbread. It feels like it has just a hint of fruity/berry/apple damascones that create that sensation. I love this scent so much. It's not always an easy wear, but its strange facets are still beautiful ones, and when it "clicks," it is truly magic.

Truly masterful perfumery in the case of Bois des Iles, a stunning classic feminine fragrance, essentially a luscious fluffy floral sandalwood fragrance that I immediately found stunning when I smelled it as part of the whole line. Surprisingly heavy in the top and heart for a sandalwood fragrance, which tend to be base heavy, I believe it is the massive powdery iris accord in the center that keeps it surprisingly vibrant and ethereal for how woody it is. Definitely more feminine that Coromandel with its hearty patchouli core, while this one is silkier and intensely powdery, but I would love to smell it on a woman.

I just realized I got this EDT version hiding in my closet for about five years. Don't ask. Definitely recognizable Chanel fragrance. Eau premiere vibe ( especially at the opening), but more unisex on this one. Nice woody-iris-ylang ylang fragrance, more spring/fall scent in my humble opinion.

After reading quite a few perfume blogs extol the virtues of Bois des Iles, I purchased the 6.8 fl oz directly from Chanel. It's such an elegant but not stuffy fragrance. It's a deeply amber fragrance, woody and warm. It feels like Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and Cape Cod blue bloods with cream cable knit sweaters over starched collared button-downs, straight-legged chinos, and riding boots. It's exquisite and relaxed. Self-assured and welcoming. The aldehyde, coriander, neroli, peach opening melts sublimely into the ylang ylang heavy, lily of the valley mids. I think I detect a hint of lilac but the base notes of sandalwood, benzoin, amber, and musk mellows any cloying sweetness from the floral heart. It smells of New England old money in autumn, shorter days, changing leaves from green to red to gold, bonfires, hayrides, apple cider, and large colonial-style houses.

Very confused about this scent. First it opens quite sharp on my skin, a bit masculine, then it calms down and gets more rounded and balanced. Woody and powdery. I enjoyed it but it did loose the battle with Coromandel. The weird part is that I tested a few scents but this one gave me redness, skin irritation and a little rash on the wrist! I don't know what kind of chemicals are used in it but this is not usual for me at all to react like this to perfume. Won't buy it for this reason.

Chanel – Bois des Iles (EdT & EdP) A contrast and comparison, one a regal nonchalance and the other a beatific smile. I can imagine why someone would compare the EdT of Bois des Iles to Chanel’s own Egoiste, the idea behind it (Egoiste) feels reminiscent of something, and once you’ve got your nose on BdI, you know what that something is. It is almost as if BdI in its original formulation was the progenitor of Egoiste. This is one Les Exclusifs where I notice such stark differences in the composition and development between the two formulations. I have both Cuir de Russies, both Coromandels, and while there is a noticeable difference between the EdT and EdP, they’ve never really had me go, ‘C’est énorme!’, pun intended, you may all laugh, but discreetly, we are in the midst of a Chanel. Starry Nights - The EdT opens with very prominent (peach-like?) aldehydes, and then what you get is the promised Sandalwood, sweet-powdery, but spicy too, sufficiently back by heavyweight champions such as Amber, Benzoin, Tonka, Opoponax, Vetiver, while the florals, that is the Ylang-Ylang, the Iris, the Orris do exist as well, but they seem to have been fused to the gorgeous Sandalwood, the earlier referenced base notes, on the other hand, are prominent enough to take this in a direction no other Sandalwood fragrance seems to have gone. A Sandalwood that feels hefty, that has a certain oomph to it (bar Samsara, which feels more like Sandalwood backed by floral goddesses), a Sandalwood perfume that would look down at you if you wore it without the right attire. This is a perfume you wear and everyone takes notice, they look at you in awe, but you remain cool, calm and collected, rather indifferent in your regal nonchalance. Golden Sunshine - The EdP opens up differently, sweeter, simpler, with a beatific smile, it’s warm, it’s welcoming, it doesn’t have the airs of the EdT, it cannot put on those airs having been rendered so approachable now. An uncomplicated but beautiful Sandalwood married to Ylang-Ylang, thoroughly woody and floral, if there are resins in this, they do a pretty good job hiding in the background blended into the composition. Sweet, pretty, powdery, she has no restraint, she judges you not, she only knows to love, for she is kind and light-hearted. The evolution here is minimal, it will dry down to a sort of sweetness thanks to the Tonka and Vanilla. If you haven’t smelt the EdT as a reference you could go ahead with the EdP, but if you know the EdT well then it’s going to take some adjusting to the newer EdP. Mind you there are similarities, but they are in no way the same. Your very own, The Perfume Vigilante

So beautiful it makes my heart ache and my eyes fill with tears. Current edp is a sad ghost. Breaks my heart.

Ah, Chanel Bois des Iles, so beautiful and special. I have the extrait version. The opening is a little zesty with citrus and aldehydes. Then it develops in depth and complexity as sandalwood, spices and a blend of soft florals emerge. The effect is like being wrapped in warm gingerbread - cozy and comforting. It sits close on my skin and has great staying power. Not much more I can add to the many reviews. Bois de Iles is a gorgeous, timeless masterpiece.

گلی زنبقی تمامن کلاسیک زنانه ----------- Scent & Quality: 8/10 Longevity: 7/10 Sillage: 6/10 Creativity & Uniqueness: 6/10 Affordability: 3/10 ----------- Overall: 6/10

Big sun of feathery musk melting into a sea of sandal custard. For that experience, overspray. In the summer, what could be its former tropical raunch comes to the fore and it’s sexy. In the cold, it’s super clean like a Prada, but creamier. I prefer Egoïste, it smells like the completion of this idea to me. I would say it’s unisex, but sort of Dior-Homme-level metrosexual on a guy.

Bois des Îles hugs you. It envelops the wearer (and the ones who are close) in a very sophisticated - though not intimidating - aura of creamy sandalwood in contrast with effervescent aldehydes on top of a lush yellow floral aroma. It has a slightly spicy accord that almost reminds me of gingerbread. Refined yet comfortable. Formal yet familiar. Very recognizably Chanel - somehow even better than most of them. A perfume for life!