Chantecaille, such a beautiful name for a perfume and cosmetics company! Founder Sylvie Chantecaille only used her own surname, but she could not have it gotten more right. It sounds like a thoroughbred noble French company and exactly that kind of perception one wants to have in high-end cosmetics/perfumes.
I had indeed always thought Chantecaille is a French niche perfume brand, but her founder emigrated in the 1970ies to the USA and the roots of the company are at least as American as they are French. Sylvie Chantecaille founded her own company in the US in 1997, after having co-founded famous cosmetics and perfume brands like Prescriptives. Since a few months Chantecaille has German owners, the Beiersdorf group. They invented the Nivea cream, but also grew into owning and developing the brand La Prairie successfully. With Chantecaille they came to own a very high-class perfume company as well.
In 1997 Sylvie started with 4 scents, based on naturals oils, one of them was “Frangipane”. It is still available today.
The scent captures the subtle sweetness of the tropics, the lazy leisure pleasure lifestyle. Its unobtrusive and very friendly, warm and embracing, sweet and straightforward. Not spicey, not oriental, nothing one wants to eat directly, which I need to mention as usually I love “edible” scents.
The colour combination of the scent is the exact rose/yellow/white of the picture of the Frangipane flowers I took once in Malaysia. Supersweet, peaceful, without a single bad streak to it: a princess’ dream, maybe a little bit boring.
It’s a monothematic scent, nothing that develops too far, no change in the notes. I smell the hyacinth, orange tree blossoms (not the orange itself!) and frangipane. Strongest are first the hyacinth and the orange tree blossoms. Afterwards the creamy frangipane scent mingles under and takes centre place.
“Frangipane” stays very much the same from the first second onwards.
Maybe that is mainly how I smell it, the Chantecaille website explains that there is a change to more lily of the valley, ylang-ylang, jasmine, vanilla, musk, cedarwood and amber. Whilst I cannot disagree to very soft notes of ylang-ylang and jasmine, I smell nothing of vanilla, musk, cedarwood or amber. As I do own those latter four in plenty of combinations and variations, I trust my nose here and say those ingredients are negligible in “Frangipane”. It is a flower scent and slightly flat.
The perfume is best worn on a sunny day. It’s one of the few sweet ones that are not overpowering in hot climates. It’s a scent for hanging around the pool, relaxing under a fan in a hot hotel room and going to a outside dinner in the tropics. Or, of course, when you feel like doing all of this, but you are physically at home. The scent does not pull the rug from under your feet, neither will it hit anybody in the face, even if you overdose. It is not electrifying. It is a friendly tropical embrace.
Chantecaille has a very strong brand presentation. Packaging and colours of the products are exquisite. They do emphasise the brands strong ties to nature and natural ingredients. I only own “Frangipane” and two (really pricey!) lipsticks, reliably falling for the nice colours, but have not really ever given a thought for their cosmetics. Reading about the brand now, I noted Sylvie Chantecaille was a pioneer when it came to natural cosmetics. She invented products that have been widely covered by other brands. It might be worth to take a closer look and try a few things.
Sylvie Chantecaille, now in her 70ies, chose Beiersdorf as next owner of her brand because they seem to be on the same track when it comes to ingredients and nature. This might well be true, although Beiersdorf is mainly known for trademarks like Nivea, Labello and tesa in Germany. High end natural luxurious cosmetics was not what I thought of when the name was mentioned, but as “La Prairie” developed nicely in their ownership, maybe it was really a very wise step.
Chantecaille as a brand stayed only about 25 years independent. Founded by a woman at the height of her creative power, “wild for nature”. The brand started with 4 scents, one of them “Frangipane”. Maybe we can expect a new venture in that direction from the new owners? I am curious to see what comes next.