Every house like ours gets asked the same question sooner or later: is yours as good as the real thing?
Here's my answer, in writing, on my own website. No. The originals are better than our impressions, and I'd be embarrassed to tell you otherwise.
Why I won't pretend otherwise
Bleu de Chanel came from Jacques Polge, who became Chanel's perfumer in 1978, and his son Olivier, who followed him into the job. Roja Dove made Elysium for his own house. These are people who have spent their careers doing this at the highest level, with the actual formula in front of them.
We don't have the formula. Every impression, ours included, is built from the outside, working backward from the finished fragrance.
So if I told you Mount Rogers was better than Bleu de Chanel, what I'd really be claiming is that I beat Jacques Polge using his own work as my answer key. That isn't confidence. It's an insult to him, and it's an insult to you, because plenty of you have smelled the original and would know better.
What I will stand behind
Our impressions give you a clear, honest picture of the original. Put one on and you'll recognize it immediately.
Wear one to the office or out to dinner, and I'd bet most of the people around you couldn't tell you which bottle you reached for that morning. They'd just tell you that you smell good.
Where would the difference show up? Side by side. Original on one wrist, ours on the other, judged by someone who has worn the original for years. That person may well pick it out, and I'd expect them to. The house band playing Rocky Top on a Friday night isn't the original recording. Nobody in the room thinks it is. They're all still singing along.
If you can afford the original, buy the original
I'll go one step further, and it's not something you'll hear many people in my business say out loud.
If the retail bottle is within your reach, buy it. Skip mine. The original is better, it's the real thing, and the people who made it earned the sale. You will not hear me talk you out of a bottle of Bleu de Chanel you can comfortably afford.
Ours is a little short of that bar, and I'm honest about it. What we're here for is the person who loves the scent and isn't going to drop well over a hundred dollars on a full bottle to get it. That's who an impression is for. If that's not you, go buy the original with my blessing.
So why buy ours?
Because the picture is what most people are after. You get the scent you've been admiring without committing to a full bottle of the original. You get it hand-blended at extrait strength, in a 15 or 30 mL bottle you'll actually finish. And if you fall hard for one and buy the original someday, good. That means we pointed you in the right direction.
Check my work
Most of our fragrances come in a $10 sample. Take one to a counter, spray the original on one wrist and ours on the other, and judge for yourself. If you can tell them apart, you have a good nose, and I'd expect nothing less. Either way, you'll know exactly what you're buying.
Maison Appalachia is an independent fragrance house. Our fragrances are inspired by the originals we name and are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced by those houses.