Confession: I’m not immune to hype! After seeing so much perfumista press about the Chanel Factory 5 pop-ups to celebrate the centenary of Chanel N°5, I looked up whether any were in a location I could get to and was happy to find that the Saks in Boston had one. In my mind it would be a dynamic spectacle like the photos I’d seen of other locations such as Paris and London.

This one is much smaller.

It does have a conveyor belt showcasing the factory-like objects, though. Not surprisingly, most of the highly desirable containers such as the paint can, tea tin, and oil tin were all sold out on the first day, so all that was still available was what’s shown on the counter. The videos were not loading from the tablet when I tried, either.

The pop-up display was conveniently close to the usual Chanel counter, to which I meandered, intending to smell and buy a bottle of Chanel N°19 EdT. It didn’t turn out to be different enough from the EdP (that I have) to warrant owning both at the moment. After a gander through Les Exclusifs, I bought a bottle of Cuir de Russie EdP—an elegant, gentle, floral leather that seems to share a signature rose/iris/ylang-ylang bouquet with N°19.

Others I really liked were Sycomore, with cool-smoky vetiver and tobacco, and Misia, with a suede-enhanced floralcy I couldn’t really place. It must be somewhere within the listed violet, iris, rose, and mimosa notes and delicate fruitiness attributed to lychee, raspberry, and peach. All are beautifully done.