Bleu De Chanel Eau de Parfum

It was quite by chance that I my love affair with Bleu De Chanel started. A poorly planned (read I thought the missus was packing my aftershave) visit to Manchester resulted in me rooting around the wardrobe of a friend in search of smellies before heading out to dinner. 

The bottle after a little filtering....

The bottle unfiltered....

Apart from the shock of realising that most (read normal) people have two or three bottles I didn’t have much to choose from and none that I had used myself personally. Bleu de Chanel was chosen after a cursory sniff of each bottle and then boom, a new favourite was found, and then received for Christmas. 

Bleu de Chanel was not an aftershave I had seen that much of prior to using it the first time, but after that it was being advertised everywhere - billboards outside my local pub, in the magazines I read and then finally every time I looked around for something new to try.

A 50ml bottle of this baby can set you back upwards of £50. You can buy it here for the cheapest I can find it at £47.50. 

So, apart from the flashy adverts, what do Chanel say about their aftershave in the marketing blurb (I warn you now, massive flowery blurb alert)?

‘A spectacular scenario. An unexpected masculine spirit. BLEU DE CHANEL embodies a tribute to masculine freedom. Composed by Jacques Polge, the Creator of CHANEL Fragrances, BLEU DE CHANEL reveals itself in three acts.

ACT 1 - Freshness: A spirited burst of freshness ripples across the skin. A sense of liberating well-being is released. 

Citrus accord, Vetiver, Pink pepper.

ACT 2 - Energy: A rush of explosive energy galvanises the senses. The taste for action is electrifying. A positive current of vitality takes over. 

Grapefruit, Dry Cedar notes, Labdanum.

ACT 3 - The senses: The body gains an untouchable confidence, embracing a masculinity that is enigmatic, irresistible, impenetrable.

Frankincense, Ginger, Sandalwood.

Its enigmatic blue defies definition. Too blue to be black, too black to be blue. A bottle of dense, solid glass which blends authority with elegance. One of a kind, unlike anything else.’

See what they did there?!? They broke down the head, heart and dry down notes into acts…..genius (sarcasm alert).

So, in a nutshell, freshness, energy and masculinity. Did it deliver? Well yes, and it delivered in bucket loads, so much so it gave my all time favourite aftershave, Bvlgari Pour Homme a real run for its money.

Immediately after spraying on to my neck it was clear that this had a deep body to it. Rather being light like a citrus this feels almost heavy on the skin and it certainly is invigorating, its like being punched in the nose by someone holding a bunch of flowers. The Vetiver gives it a floral aroma and the pepper ensures that there is no danger of this being mistaken for a floral perfume. That deep body straight away screams that Bleu de Chanel is a man’s aftershave.

As the dry down starts the grapefruit heart takes the edge off the floral scent, it does become lighter while retaining the sharpness of pepper. It’s lovely, each stage of the process is, and personally I like smelling it evolve.

The ginger and sandalwood dry down notes blend superbly with the grapefruit making the final scent as a rich citrus and spice aftershave which will have heads turning. A few sprays of this and it motors on, and on. It lasts for hours and is prominent on the skin and to those around you.

I have been sat in bars when women stop and come in for a sniff. It’s universally loved - I can’t get enough of Bleu de Chanel. It has everything that I love in an aftershave, but considering the price, unlike me I would recommend this for special or romantic occasions. Personally I wear this most of the time and hence why after three months my bottle is about half full. 

If you want to get noticed for smelling lovely gents then I highly recommend Bleu de Chanel. 

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
  
In the words of Alan Partridge, “kiss my face”.

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Comme des Garcons 2 - Unisex Fragrance

It’s rare that a lemon falls into my aftershave collection and it has been a long time since I made a schoolboy error and bought an aftershave that could stun a wild boar at 20 paces - Gucci Rush and Diesel Zero Plus spring instantly to mind. All this changed recently with the deliver of a Selfridges&Co male grooming box.

The box contained a 9ml bottle of Comme des Garcons 2, a unisex fragrance I confess I’d never heard of until I opened the box of other grooming goodies to see what was inside.

Comme des Garcons 2 came in the silver packaging

If this was actually a lemon it would have the saving grace of having a nice citrus aroma, the blunt truth is that it’s overpriced, way too feminine and has the staying power of a car on the slope of a mountain with the handbrake (parking brake for my American readers) left off.

It started with such promise, a whiff from the bottle and it doesn’t seem that bad but that doesn’t last, oh no, it dries down, and down and down in the same way my expectations plummeted through the floor.

Comme des Garcons 2 Eau de Parfum is a unisex fragrance marketed as an aftershave/purfume that has a powerful presence (hmmm, yes, for about 45 minutes and not in a good way).

This is the first time I’ve tried a fragrance with ink in it - the ingredients list like they have thrown what was left at the end of a shift into the mix in an effort to get to the pub while the sun still shines. With baldheads, orange, mandarin and magnolia it also combines the ink, patchouli, labdanum, amber, vetiver along with cedar and juniper.

The full notes are:

• Head: Aldehydes, Orange Mandarin, Tea, Angelica, Mate
• Heart: Nutmeg, Ink, Magnolia, Coriander, West Indian Bay, Cinnamon
• Dry down: Patchouli, Cedar, Vetiver, Labdanum, Amber, Incense

Considering that a 100ml bottle of this will set you back between £55 to £75 it isn’t cheap so I was expecting class, style and quality like you get from established fashion houses such as Bvlgari, Ralph Lauren and Prada. What I got was an assault on my senses.

I used about 2ml of it the first time I tried it and my hand to god I gagged as I splashed it on. It’s like a combination of old gran smell. In fact I had a flashback to being younger trying to escape the clutches of a ‘huggy’ gran welcoming her not so favourite grandson into her house.

Vile - you can pick up strong hints of the magnolia straight away and the labdanum comes through far too much. After 5 minutes my eyes were streaming and I considered washing it off.

As it started to settle my ability to smell it diminished but the cedar was still evident. However, after 45 minutes of wearing I asked a friend to tell me what she thought of it. Her response - “are you wearing any aftershave” which made me think “what they hell”.

Undeterred by this (and stupidly) I tried to apply even more thinking I hadn’t put enough on. Again the gagging and streaming eyes until it clamed down a little. I asked again, what do you think after an hour to get the same response. Not good, not good at all!

I asked for thoughts about 30 minutes after applying in the hope that I’d get some decent feedback on how it smelt on my skin - the pick and most positive of the comments received was:

“You could spray that to keep flies away from the door.”

In summary, this takes the mantle for worst aftershave ever to enter my sizeable collection. It’s overpriced, smells like my gran used to, dries down to give an Old Spice vibe and lasts as long as a candy bar in Death Valley. 

It’s a massive no from me and it’s going in the bin.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS

What’ has been your worst aftershave/perfume experience? Why not tell me in the comments below. I always try to respond.

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