There are fragrances you wear, and others that seem to arrive before you do. They enter a room, take up space for a moment, and somehow linger there even after you’ve left. Like a song that keeps playing in your head. Like a dance you wish would never end. Like the memory of a night that, the morning after, still has something to say.

That’s a little of what happened in Milan for the launch of COCO MADEMOISELLE CRUSH ABSOLU at Café Mademoiselle. A night of music, bodies in motion, lights, encounters, and that particular kind of energy that emerges when, at some point, you stop simply watching and start allowing yourself to be free. We danced, let ourselves be carried away by the rhythm, and experienced the party almost as an extension of the fragrance itself: spontaneous, magnetic, free.

And as we watched Valeria Ochoa Nunez dance, laugh, and pick up a choreography almost instinctively, it felt as though she was experiencing that same sensation: the kind of freedom that comes when, for a moment, you stop thinking about how you look and simply are.

Perhaps that is exactly where the meaning of a crush lies.

Created by Olivier Polge – CHANEL Perfumer Creator, COCO MADEMOISELLE CRUSH ABSOLU is an intense ambery composition built around encounters and contrasts. The luminous freshness of grapefruit and lychee meets a heart of rose and jasmine, while patchouli, vanilla, and vetiver shape its deeper, more enveloping and sensual side. It is a fragrance that constantly plays with opposites: light and depth, immediacy and persistence, confidence and vulnerability.

A sensory “crush.” But above all, an invitation not to conform, but to reveal yourself. To surprise — and perhaps to surprise yourself, too.

And that is exactly where our conversation with Valeria began the following day.

We talked about what it means to feel free and about the kind of confidence that makes someone irresistible. About the walls we build and the vulnerability we sometimes discover to be an unexpected form of strength. About the courage it takes to leave everything behind, cross an ocean, and start again on another continent, with a new version of yourself still waiting to be discovered.

And then, at least in our minds, we went back to dancing. Because perhaps a crush is exactly that: something that arrives when you least expect it, disrupts your balance for a moment, and makes you want to move closer, discover more, feel more.

A person, a night, a fragrance.

And, sometimes, a version of yourself you haven’t met yet.

They say a fragrance can enter a room before we do and linger behind, leaving a trail even after we’ve gone. What would you like CHANEL’s COCO MADEMOISELLE CRUSH ABSOLU to say about you?

I found the fragrance to be quite powerful at first, in the sense that it immediately conveys a strong sense of confidence and leaves a very clear impression of the person wearing it. But then, little by little, it feels as though it melts into you, into your skin, revealing a softer, gentler side — perhaps something more romantic and feminine.

I feel like it also reflects the personality I’m discovering in myself at this point in my life. I’m usually quite a guarded person; I tend to keep my walls pretty high. But underneath, there’s also a very light, gentle, romantic side of me. And I think that, at this moment in my life, this fragrance represents me very well.

COCO MADEMOISELLE CRUSH ABSOLU is described as something unexpected, almost a shock to the senses: something that surprises you while drawing you in at the same time. What was your very first reaction when you smelled it?

The first word that comes to mind is “discovery.”

It was a very captivating sensation. It reminded me a little of the feeling you get on a first date: you don’t really know what you’re walking into, you find yourself sitting in front of someone and you’re not quite sure yet whether you like them… but you can already feel that there’s something drawing you in.

And then, by the end, you might find yourself thinking, “Wow, I really loved that feeling.” There’s something fresh about it, something exciting, but also very romantic.

“Wow, I really loved that feeling”

There’s something interesting about the very idea of a “crush”: we all have one. What makes something or someone irresistible to you? What makes them a crush?

For me, what makes someone irresistible is above all the confidence they have in themselves and the way they know how to enjoy life. When I look at someone and think, “What incredible energy — you make me want to live,” or, “I wish I had some of your freedom,” that’s when attraction begins for me. I like people who have something adventurous about them, people who intrigue me and make me want to know more. And I think it’s beautiful when you can admire someone without jealousy, simply thinking, “I wish I could love life as much as you do.” I find that incredibly attractive.

This fragrance is built around contrasts: there’s something fresh and luminous about it, but at the same time something deeper and more sensual. Are there any contrasts within your own personality that might seem impossible to reconcile, but together perfectly describe who you are?

I actually started thinking about my zodiac sign, because I relate to it so much: I’m an Aquarius. I think there’s a very sociable, sunny side of me that loves being around people and having lots of different experiences. But at the same time, I really love my moments alone, when I can stop and work on myself a little.

Even in the simplest things, I’m like that. I can love getting dressed up and going to an elegant dinner or a Fashion Week event, and then the next day want to jump out of a plane or go on a hike. I really love having these two very different sides to myself. I think I’m quite chameleonic and a little unpredictable, and that’s something I love about myself.

“For me, what makes someone irresistible is above all the confidence they have in themselves and the way they know how to enjoy life.”

COCO MADEMOISELLE CRUSH ABSOLU is also described as an affirmation of the self: rather than conforming, it’s about revealing who you really are. When do you feel most completely yourself?

This question made me smile because I actually have a tattoo that says, “Don’t settle.” Over the past few years, that phrase has almost become a philosophy of life for me. I think what makes me feel most like myself is that rush of adrenaline I get whenever I step outside my comfort zone. I love putting myself in new, creative situations that are far removed from what I’m used to. It’s a feeling that takes me somewhere else, almost as if it makes me fly. For me, feeling like myself means being able to look at the old Valeria every time and tell her, “Okay, it’s time for us to change again.”

Do you think a fragrance can give you confidence? Almost like something you put on before stepping into a certain version of yourself?

Yes, absolutely. I really believe a fragrance can change my mood. If I’m feeling a little down, if I don’t really feel like facing the day with the energy and lightness I usually have, wearing a fragrance can help me find those feelings again. When I was little, my mother would always tell me, “Never leave the house without earrings and perfume. You can take care of everything else later.” That’s something that has always stayed with me.

“Don’t settle”

Smell is the sense most closely connected to memory. Is there something about this fragrance that takes you back to a particular moment in your life or evokes a specific memory?

Two things came to mind. The first is my mother, because she’s the person I admire and love most in the world. She’s a free spirit, and she has always been the person who encouraged me to become one too. The second is the moment I decided to leave home and move to the other side of the world, starting an entirely new life: a new language, a new continent, everything to rebuild from scratch, on my own. This fragrance takes me back to the strength I felt at that moment, when I told myself, “Okay, I’m going now. I’m free. I can fly away.” What I remember most is that feeling of happiness and possibility.

That actually connects very closely to the fragrance itself, because it speaks so much about freedom and a free, confident femininity. What does feeling free mean to you?

For me, feeling free means knowing that I can change and that I can create the life I want. Over the past few years, especially since I moved here, I’ve realized that freedom means exactly that to me: knowing that I already have everything within myself that I need to build the life I want. Today I might want one kind of life, and tomorrow, if I realize it no longer represents me, I know I have the strength to change it completely.

To me, freedom means knowing that I can rely on myself.

 “I’m free. I can fly away.”

Do you usually choose your fragrance according to your mood and how you’re feeling, or do you think the fragrance itself can change your mood?

I think it works both ways. Fragrances have such a powerful connection to our senses and to our emotions. Sometimes I choose a fragrance based on how I’m feeling, while other times the fragrance itself helps me shift my mood. Like I said before, if I’m feeling a little down, it can lift me up and help me approach the day differently. For me, it’s important to wear something that makes me feel good about myself and that represents me. Because a fragrance, as we said at the beginning, can enter a room before you do and leave something of you behind even after you’re gone. It’s almost like an essence of who you are.

If COCO MADEMOISELLE CRUSH ABSOLU were a moment of the day, what would it be?

The first thing that came to mind was an important date or appointment. It could be a date with myself, a romantic date, or even an important work meeting. It’s one of those moments when putting on a fragrance can shift my energy and make me think, “Okay, I’m here. I’m ready now.”

And if it were a place? Where do you imagine yourself wearing it?

I imagine myself somewhere elegant in the evening, with jazz playing.

I love that atmosphere too. For me, it’s probably one of the most beautiful ones.

Yes! And it’s something I really love doing on my own, too. I think the fact that I’m alone is actually an important part of why I love that experience so much: sitting there, listening to the music, letting myself be drawn into it, and having that feeling that the night could go in any possible direction. There’s something very freeing about that moment: being there with yourself, sitting alone at a table, ordering something, simply enjoying whatever is happening around you. To me, that feeling is also very connected to self-confidence.

What is something about yourself that you’ve recently learned to accept — or perhaps even love — rather than reject or try to change?

I think I’ve learned to accept my vulnerability. For a long time, I always tried to be the strong one, not allowing things to hurt me. But lately — perhaps also because I’m in love — I’ve realized that being vulnerable doesn’t mean being weaker. Actually, for me, it’s almost the opposite. Being aware of the things that can hurt you makes you stronger. I’ve learned that allowing myself to be vulnerable, as strange as it might sound, somehow sets me free.

And sometimes it also allows you to discover parts of yourself that perhaps you didn’t want to see before. Facing them makes you realize how capable you are of overcoming your problems and moving beyond your own limits, because so often we’re the ones who impose those limits on ourselves. My mother always says something similar to me: “If you could see yourself through my eyes, you would understand how much I love you and how capable you are.” I think that’s such a beautiful thing.

 “Allowing myself to be vulnerable, as strange as it might sound, somehow sets me free.”

If you could take just one thing home with you from this special evening celebrating the launch of COCO MADEMOISELLE CRUSH ABSOLU — a scent, a sound, an image, a feeling — what would you want it to be?

I would definitely take home the fragrance and the way it accompanied the entire atmosphere of the evening. But more than anything, I would take with me the feeling of being able to dance and let go. I had so much fun, and I felt completely at ease, even with so many people around. There was such a genuine sense of happiness in that moment. And it made me think of Grey’s Anatomy, when they say, “dance it out.” I’ve always thought that dancing is such a beautiful way of dealing with any emotion. If you’re happy, you dance. But even when you’re sad, you can put on your favorite song and dance.

And somehow, it always makes you feel a little better.

Photos & video by Johnny Carrano.

Thanks to Chanel Beauty.