Happy Birthday Coco Chanel! 10 Fantastic Quotes From The Icon Herself

Happy birthday to one of the most important fashion designers of all time. 
Happy birthday to one of the most influential women ever. 
Happy birthday to an icon who's essence remains timeless, who's name and legacy will endure long after I'm gone.

Happy Birthday Coco Chanel! Born August 19th 1883, I wonder if she knew she would make such an impact on the world of fashion?
Did she know we would still be talking about her today?

To celebrate Coco here are 10 of her most famous quotes:

In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.



The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.



Success is most often achieved by those who don't know that failure is inevitable.



Some people think luxury is the opposite of poverty. It is not. It is the opposite of vulgarity.



Simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance.



Dress shabbily and they remember the dress; dress impeccably and they remember the woman.



How many cares one loses when one decides not to be something but to be someone.



Don't spend time beating on a wall hoping to transform it into a door.



I invented my life by taking for granted that everything I did not like would have an opposite which I would like.



A woman who doesn't wear perfume has no future.

Several years ago in Los Angeles I was on a shoot with a billionaire client who told me he could always tell if I had been in the room because I would leave behind just a hint of Chanel No. 5, in his mind the most feminine, elegant and timeless fragrance.

I think about that every time I smell No. 5
Maybe it's time to start wearing Chanel No. 5 again, because honestly I could use a little elegance in my life...

How To Apply Your Perfume

You know it was the PR coup of a lifetime when a reporter for Life Magazine asked Marilyn Monroe what she wore to bed, and she replies "Why - Chanel Number 5 of course!"

Do you have a signature scent? A fragrance that defines you, that makes those that love you think of you when they smell it anywhere in the world? 
Dior believes that a woman's perfume is as important as her handwriting. I believe it's more important.

1953 Marilyn Monroe in bed

But just as important as the fragrance itself is the way you apply it.
A gorgeous perfume can be hideous if you overdo it, so here are the guidelines for How To Apply Your Perfume

Marilyn Monroe applies Chanel Number 5

* Spritz fragrance onto a couple of your pulse points ~ wrists, throat, behind the knees, inner elbows and behind your ears. There's magic when the beating of your heart meets with some body heat and your fragrance. Just don't put it on all your pulse points in one session.

* If you are wearing perfume you just need a couple of well placed drops.

* If your are wearing eau de parfum limit it to three cleverly placed spritzes

* If you have eau de toilette limit yourself to four spritzes, but make them count.

* Over time you become a little desensitized to your perfume, but everyone else can still smell it, so don't double up because you can't smell it!

And finally, with Valentine's Day just around the corner, a quote from Coco Chanel:

A woman should wear perfume wherever she wants to be kissed...