Bleu de Chanel

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Bleu de Chanel is the latest mainstream release of men’s fragrances by the house. If you’ve been following Chanel’s fragrance releases, you might notice they’ve taken a few steps back from their classic style of fragrances and have gotten a bit more mainstream and mass market. Bleu de Chanel is just another indication of that. Bleu de Chanel

In Bottle: Smells like Cool Water by Davidoff. Also smells like Bath and Body Works’ Dancing Waters scent. Heck, while we’re still here let’s throw in a dash of Lacoste Essential. Yeah, I just compared a Chanel to Cool Water, Essential, and Bath and Body Works.

Applied: The truth is, Bleu de Chanel does one thing very, very well. It combines every aquatics based sporty men’s fragrance together to form this  amalgamation of sport men’s fragrances. If you own a bottle of Bleu de Chanel, you could conceivably replace every other bottle of aquatic sporty men’s fragrance you own. It’s just that generic. Bleu de Chanel opens with a sweet, sharp, clean aquatic note that reminds me immediately of aforementioned Dancing Waters, Cool Water and Essential combined together. Let it dry down a bit and it will evolve into a mixture of Dolce and Gabanna Light Blue pour Homme and Acqua di Gio. In truth, it’s got a fresh, spicy, woodsy mid-stage with an aromatic backing. Fairly on par for the course. The last act  is a woodsy base with citrus dashed in there for good measure. Also not particularly fascinating but highly wearable.

Extra: Hard to believe that Bleu de Chanel came from the same house that made No. 5, No. 22, No. 19, Coco, Coromandel, Sycamore. But times change and while a lot of perfumistas are going to be disappointed with Bleu de Chanel, this fragrance is a sign of the times. I hope that Chanel sells Bleu de Chanel very well. I hope it draws in a new following of perfume lovers but keeps the classics around and releases some some fragrances reminiscent of Chanel’s long heritage of sophistication.

Design: Bleu de Chanel is bottled in a gorgeous dark tinted glass rectangular bottle with a metallic cap that’s reminiscent of their Les Exclusifs line of fragrances. My favorite part of this fragrance is honestly the cap. I’m a sucker for magnets, what can I say? The quality of the packaging is excellent, as should be expected with Chanel, and the design is simple but very nice.

Fragrance Family: Fresh Aromatic

Notes: Bergamot, lemon, grapefruit, aqua, peppermint, pink pepper, nutmeg, ginger, jasmine, cedar, vetiver, patchouli, labdanum, frankincense.

I know a lot of perfume lovers are hating on Bleu de Chanel right now. I don’t blame them. I’m just as disappointed with this release as they are. But beneath the disappointment Bleu de Chanel is a pleasant, well-blended, easy to wear fragrance. It really does combine a good proportion of the aquatic sport men’s fragrance genre together to make a coherent and ultimately well-composed scent. I do highly recommend people who are looking for a really good aquatic sport fragrance to give Bleu de Chanel a sniff. It’s a good scent. It just doesn’t smell like a Chanel should.

Reviewed in This Post: Bleu de Chanel, 2010, Eau de Toilette.

Chanel Platinum Egoiste

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Platinum Égoïste is the well known Chanel men’s fragrance that many people claim exudes confidence. I can’t say it exudes confidence so much as it’s a pleasant, professional, quality fragrance. It’s loud but not shrieking, it’s pleasant but not boring, and it’ll last ’til the end of time. Platinum Égoïste is a clean, soap-like, aromatic that’s so versatile you’d be hard pressed to find a time when you can’t wear it.  Platinum Egoiste

In Bottle: Aromatics up my nose. Help. My very first reaction to this was that it smells very familiar. It took a few moments before I realized it. Holy hell, it smells like my fiance’s soap or shampoo.

Applied: Aromatics that mix together to make that masculine soap and shampoo scent. This is like Prada’s d’Homme but done much louder and a bit better. It’s clean, fresh, very familiar to the Acqua di Gio crowd but much more expensive and sophisticated while at the same time being pleasant and approachable. As Égoïste ages, it turns into a sharp lemon and aromatic which eventually fades back into a nicer, less abrasive floral heart with a pleasant touch of aqua. The dry down is a light, crisp cedar and musk. To get anywhere near the dry down you have to wait hours. Like with most Chanel fragrances, the scent stays on you for a long time. Which makes this a great office fragrance that you don’t have to worry about touching up. So long as you go light on it because while this stuff smells pleasant, sophisticated and approachable it is also extremely strong.

Extra: Platinum Égoïste sometimes gets accused of being boring or overpriced for what it is due to its similarity to Acqua di Gio fresh and other fairly typical aqua fragrances. I don’t smell Acqua di Gio in this, it has a very subtle sophistication to it that a pure AdG clone tends to lack. As for overpriced? I’d have to point to Creed’s Virgin Island Water or Green Irish Tweed if we’re banking on that argument. There’s an overarching feel  to Platinum Égoïste that sets it in the same mood as Acqua di Gio, but to me, there’s a bit of spin in this stuff that also sets it aside. It smells better, more expensive, and better made. In the end, if it smells the same to you as another fragrance then don’t buy it. As for me, I love it.

Design: Comes in a nicely made rectangular glass bottle with a metal cap. Has that nice weighty feel that most Chanel bottles have. Simple, elegant, not at all gaudy or over the top. Just minimalist and lovely.

Fragrance Family: Aromatic Fresh

Notes: Lavender, rosemary, petitgrain, clary sage, geranium, galbanum, vetiver, cedarwood, labdanum, treemoss.

Reviewed in This Post: Platinum Egoiste , 2009, Eau de Toilette.

Annick Goutal Mandragore

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The best thing about Annick Goutal fragrances for me is the fact that they all tend to have this lovely light, garden flowers type of smell. The kind of fragrances that take something mainstream and improve on it. Like Guerlain often did. Mandragore

In Bottle: Fresh bright citrus, cooling mint and a lovely sweet anise note. Very fresh, nice amount of citrus and thankfully, no presence of lemon as fresh scents do tend to use that note as a crutch. Mandragore gets its freshness from mints and other citrus instead which I am very grateful for.

Applied: Citrus, mint, herb and a lot of anise. I’m really impressed with the mint and other herbal notes in this. They’re crisp and green and extremely refreshing. The anise sweetens and spices up Mandragore quite a bit. The fragrance remains fresh and bright with gentle wafts of spiciness coming in and out as the fragrance ages on my skin. The citrus leaves the fragrance some time during the mid-stage but the freshness doesn’t suffer from it. Mandragore uses those herbal aromatic notes to freshen things up instead of citrus. I’m really impressed. The dry down is a great fresh herb and woodsy ending. Unfortunately, Mandragore doesn’t last a very long time and needs to be reapplied more often than other eau de parfums. But the scent is absolutely lovely.

Extra: Mandragore is one of Annick Goutal’s more popular fragrances and with good reason. It’s got enough freshness to be a fantastic office scent, is excellent for places where you might need your scent to go on light and it’s quite a good unisex scent too. That is, if you don’t mind or like the feminine bottle design.

Design: Bottled in the same way as other Annick Goutal fragrances, in a ribbed glass bottle with a gold ribbon tying the fragrances name to the bottle. Mandragore also comes in a butterfly bottle. These things are round glass bottle with a butterfly topper. Finally, Mandragore can be purchased in a square bottle. Which is just that, a square-shaped bottle with a metal cap. Standard look if you would prefer something a little simpler in design.

Fragrance Family: Fresh Aromatic

Notes: : Bergamot, star anise, peppermint, sage, ginger, black pepper, boxwood, mandrake powder, ciste roots, labdanum.

I really love the bottles Annick Goutal presents their fragrances in. Not simple but very elegant and classic in style. Lining these things up is a great past time if you’re insane like I am.

Reviewed in This Post: Mandragore, 2008, Eau de Parfum.

Eau de Guerlain

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While known for its deep and rich fragrances back in the day, Guerlain also carries a series of light scents featuring sheer and airy notes mean to go on light and wear like pleasant rain. Eau de Guerlain is one of these such scents. Eau de Guerlain

In Bottle: Beautiful bright lemon, bergamot and herbal scent. So light you would swear this is a modern Guerlain and not one from the 1970s. 1974, to be exact.

Applied: Beautiful lemon opener. Eau de Guerlain does not suffer from the chemical lemon that I experienced in Covet or Versense. This is a nice, background lemon that comes in, does its thing and leaves without fanfare or a fight. Only, it imbues its freshness in the rest of the scent and hangs about as the basil throws in a dash of greenness and herbal. The mid-stage of Eau de Guerlain is a lovely jasmine and rose deal headed by the fresh green basil. Dry down starts with a lovely spicy sandalwood and musk. Eau de Guerlain is a bit of a stretch considering this house was Jicky central. It’s a bit removed from what I’m used to when it comes to pre-1990s Guerlains but it is lovely, fresh, very wearable. One of the nicest, complex, fresh fragrances ever.

Extra: If you’re looking for a spicy fresh scent and have some money to drop, Eau de Guerlain is a very worthwhile fragrance. It’s deceptively simple at first but has a very beautiful mid and dry down stage that you just can’t find with today’s spicy, woodsy sports scents.

Design: The tester I used was presented in a Guerlain bee bottle. I just don’t get tired of looking at these and want to own one very badly. The Aqua Allegorias do a throwback to this style of bottle and I absolutely love the distinctive look of them. The glass has raised details in it making it fun to both look at and hold.

Fragrance Family: Fresh Aromatic

Notes: : Lemon, verbena, bergamot, neroli, carnation, sandalwood, tonka bean.

The more I sniff this on the tester strip, the more interesting it seems to get. Certainly more interesting than Light Blue Pour Homme. There’s just something that makes Eau de Guerlain unique that I can’t quite put my finger on.

Reviewed in This Post: Eau de Guerlain, 2008, Eau de Toilette.

Comme des Garcons Nomad Tea

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Continuing on my quest to find the perfect tea scent, Nomad Tea by Comme des Garcons popped up as a potential candidate. As far as I understand it, Nomad Tea is a part of Comme des Garcon’s Series 7: Sweet. It, and the fragrances in the collection, are a less complex homage to varying notes. Nomad Tea

In Bottle: Bitter, dark, herbal tea that has a very distinct bright mint note to it. This reminds me a lot of another mint based fragrance that I did particularly care for. Mint has this repellent quality to me that tends to hover between nicely spicy and rather plastic. I love real mint, but smelling it in fragrances is a real downer for some reason.

Applied: Artemesia gives the very powerful mint note a nice mellowing but you can tell the mint is very strong as it fights off the evaporation for a good while before finally giving in. The rest of Nomad Tea is headed by a very nice green tea scent with a smoked quality to it. There’s a very mild sweetness to this followed by the herbal, floral treatment that gives Nomad Tea a very aromatic feel to it. The dry down is a nice smoky and woodsy scent.

Extra: Comme des Garcons is a fashion house focusing on avant guard concepts. They branched into fragrances in the early to mid 90s.

Design: I’m not wild about the design of the bottle as it seems less polished than a fragrance like this deserves. Held in a textured glass bottle, Nomad Tea has the series name, fragrance name, and house name written in black ink on the glass. Very simple, really boring. Kind of messy which reflects the house’s aim a bit but doesn’t quite make it there. I expected better from Comme des Garcons, to be honest.

Fragrance Family: Aromatic

Notes: Artemisia, wild mint, Burmese green tea, geranium leaf, white sugar loaf, smoked woods.

That mint note that opens this is pretty distracting for me. So while the rest of the fragrance’s treatment of green tea is rather interesting with the sweet smokiness creating this nice atmosphere, I still have to get past the dreaded mint. I love mint–when I eat it. I don’t like it in my perfumes for some reason. It just has this watery, spicy, plasticness to it that turns me away.

Reviewed in This Post: Nomad Tea, 2009, Sample Vial.

Creative Universe Te

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I have a weakness for tea scents. I love tea. I can’t drink it very much so I would at least like to smell like it. Unfortunately for tea, the notes that tend to make up its chemistry are fragile little things that are fleeting at best. Te

In Bottle: Spicy, bergamot and green tea. Te is a very nice pleasant and easily deciphered fragrance. It’s nicely blended but isn’t one-dimensional. There’s something herbal in this too.

Applied: Bergamot and grapefruit followed by a watery green tea fragrance. The clove gives this a bit of spiciness that takes it away from just plain green tea and ushers it into a slightly more interesting scent. Celery helps lend this fragrance a more watery feel too while also making it smell just a slight bit vegetal. Fortunately the vegetal note is quick to fade along with the rest of the scent. Te is very light and very fleeting. The green tea and clove are the longest lasting notes as the rest of the fragrance seems to fade to very small proportions. After the opener, Te takes on a light, distant green tea scent that’s very faithful to how a cup of green tea would smell if you were to hover your nose above it.

Extra: Creative Universe is headed by Beth Terry. Te was released in 1997.

Design: Much like other niche or independent houses, Creative Universe keeps their packaging simple. Bottled in a big rectangular glass bottle, Te has a label on the glass identifying the fragrance name and the fragrance house’s name.

Fragrance Family: Fresh Aromatic

Notes: Bergamot , grapefruit, green tea, celery, ylang-ylang, clove.

Te is one of the very few tea fragrances that actually has good staying power. But, green tea notes do seem to be more robust than their black tea cousins. My quest for the perfect, long-lasting tea fragrance continues.

Reviewed in This Post: Te, 2009, Eau de Toilette.

Armani Acqua di Gio pour Homme

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Acqua di Gio pour Homme, like Dolce & Gabanna’s Light Blue, was one of those extremely popular fragrances that everybody seemed to wear a few years back. And to my understanding, it is still popular though not to the extent that it once was. And people can easily understand why this one and Light Blue are popular. They’re highly easy to wear and are appropriate for most places the average person would tend to go. Acqua di Gio

In Bottle: While one would have to wonder what exactly a marine note is and how you’re supposed to be able to smell water. Aqua notes, to me, have this sharp blue quality to them. And Acqua di Gio pour Homme does, indeed, have that sharp blue quality from out of the bottle. It also contains something sweet and pleasantly nice to tame that sharpness a bit as pure aqua, to my nose, is very sharp.

Applied: Blue aqua notes, sharp and fresh with a sweetness to add a less abrasive dimension to smelling pure water. Smelling aqua is akin to going swimming and accidentally getting some pool water in your nose. That stinging, horrible pain is akin to a too strong, too pure aqua note to me. But Acqua di Gio pour Homme (am I using the word “aqua” enough?_ does a nice job mixing in other notes so it’s not pool water up your nose strong. There is a clear cedarness to this as well as sweetness coming from a rose and persimmon angle. The scent also does a fantastic job incorporating rosemary into the opening and in the mid-stage. The dry down is a nicely sweet, clear patchouli and clean musk.

Extra: Acqua di Gio is sometimes referred to as the trailblazer fragrance that ushered in a fad of fruity fresh fragrances that where Acqua di Gio pour Homme is a part of.

Design: In a rather plain shaped bottle with a slight curve in the body. The bottle is a pleasant and easy enough thing to hold though grasping the thing in my girly hands is a bit difficult due to its width. It has a metallic cap that slides very nicely into place. Something about the font face or the design of Acqua di Gio pour Homme really slots it very nicely into the Giorgio Armani line of fragrances as the designs do tend to look similar.

Fragrance Family: Fresh

Notes: Jasmine, rosemary, citrus, persimmon, marine notes, cedar, patchouli, white musk, rock rose.

I like Acqua di Gio. I like how normal and completely unexciting it smells. These typical rather normal and inoffensive fragrances are popular for a reason. It’s because they always tend to smell pleasant and easygoing. It also has the benefit of being fairly unisex.

Reviewed in This Post: Acqua di Gio pour Homme, 2009, Eau de Toilette.

Victoria’s Secret Love Spell

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If popularity made a fragrance iconic then Love Spell should be the staple of teenage girls. This is a familiar fragrance to me, partly because of its fruity floral composition but also because so many women and girls wear Love Spell, its perfume form, body mist, lotion and what have you. It is a simple fragrance, a little low on the complexity meter but what it lacks in complexity, it makes up for in wearability. Love Spell

In Bottle: Sweet, sweet, sweet. The first smell I get from Love Spell is a sparkling peach and jasmine fragrance. It’s like high school exploded in my nose and all I can smell is the trademark sugary peppiness that I was so familiar with. I remember when every other girl smelled like fruit or candy. I was the odd one out with nothing but a stick of deodorant between me and nothing. Now that I can experience all the fragrances I couldn’t wear when I was younger, I have to admit, I do see why this was popular. But its very essence, to me, screams of high school.

Applied: Simple and inoffensive, that first whiff of bright fruits and florals is quick to start dissolving on the skin. It morphs away from brightness and into a near sparkly plastic-like fragrance for a few moments. I’m sitting there wondering if these flowers and this strange slippery plastic smell is going to stick around for a while. It kind of reminds me of a banana peel, slippery, fruity. I can almost taste that strange note which is funny. The banana fades the more I smell this as something aromatic that resembles culantro comes up and dominates the scene. Culantro, not to be confused with cilantro, is an herb. Unfortunately for the culantro and the florals, they evaporate very quickly and re-application is necessary. And with reapplication comes that sparkly banana again. I like the opener. I like the drydown. The culantro scent is an interesting touch that I don’t mind. I could probably do without that strange moment in the middle with the banana.

Extra: Love Spell has that aura about it that screams of high school. There are fragrances out there that just seem to speak volumes about the culture that might surround them. Sweet, fruity, floral perfumes for example are usually in the category of young. Whereas deeper, denser more powder fragrances tend to be lumped in with the old. Me, personally, I don’t much care if I smell young or old. If you like a fragrance, just wear it.

Design: Simple but not ugly. I’ve got no qualms with fragrances that stick to simple packaging. Especially ones that are more affordable like Love Spell is. The EDT will run you around $8-10 depending upon the sale going on at the moment. This fragrance comes in a purple box. Inside is a glass atomizer bottle with a cap over it. On the bottle is the name of the fragrance and a purple flower design.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Floral

Notes: Apple, peach, cherry blossom, lilac, jasmine.

I still remember the big fragrance going around the school locker room when I was younger. It was Hawaiian Ginger by Calgon. It seemed literally every girl was wearing this as everywhere I stepped in the school, in wafted Hawaiian Ginger. Turns out it was only a couple of people who wore this fragrance and evidently they were battling it out for Hawaiian Ginger supremacy because the fragrance permeated the entire school.

Reviewed in This Post: Love Spell, 2010, Eau de Toilette.