Charlie Blue

August 27th, 2014. I bought my Charlie Blue (eau de toilette) yesterday, after having looked for the original without having found it. To me, Charlie Blue smells similar to its original version. It lacks the aldehydes, but still, very similar. Another interesting thing: there is no oakmoss in the formula, but Charlie Blue delivers a strong chord of that. I believe the chemists managed to assemble the ingredients in a way to simulate it, or else, they used synthetic oakmoss (if that exists, of course), and believe me: it is very strong and convincing. Sillage and longevity are huge. Mossy-woody, musky-floral; Charlie Blue is an uplifting spirit with a fresh character. It might be a nice option for those who even like the original Charlie, but happen to have aldehydes not working that well on the skin. If you like the original, like I do, but do not find it available, give that Charlie Blue a try and enjoy it. Edit1: Charlie Blue and the classic Charlie are distinct fragrances. Edit 2 (on Oct. 8th, 2014): The more I wear Charlie Blue, the more I love it. It has been revealing wonderful facets on my skin along its dry-down and lifespan. Sometimes, day or night, I find myself asking where that beautiful fragrance is coming from. I smell my shirt, the sheets..., and find it is Charlie Blue on me. I am so glad I have it! Edit 3 (on Dec. 20th, 2014): Charlie Blue is a perfectly acceptable unisex fragrance: it is woody, but still, fresh enough to work very well on a man's skin. I recommend: men, try this Charlie Blue. For those women who look for a fragrance with a masculine touch, Charlie Blue is vivacious with some woody depth. Very good option for an after-shower moment. It makes you feel clean. Now, very important: I have tried the eau de toilette and the eau fraiche. If you like a fragrance that lasts, huge sillage and longevity, yours is the eau de toilette (the eau fraiche will be a total waste of time for you). But if you prefer a lighter and safer one, than yours is the eau fraiche. The eau fraiche, by the way, is the one shown on the photograph here. It comes in a metalic-fading-light-blue box and brings the words eau fraiche very clearly. The eau de toilette, visibly writen, comes in a solid dark blue box, one which reminds us of the original Charlie box. Just type Charlie Blue on Google images and see the difference.

A soft, fibrous, earthy green scent. like walking deep into the woods alone and finding comfort and serenity there. The Charlie names and bottles are so nondescript that I had no idea what to expect and this was a really nice surprise. Charlie red is lovely warm sweetness with a nice retro depth that i recently tried and liked. This however is its deep, mossy sister that is a little more subdued and serious but still quite alluring. woodsy and grounded but not dirty. much more sophisticated and expensive smelling than its price tag would have you believe. It opens like smelling a handful of dried fluffy moss in a field of tall browning grass and it gradually settles into rich shady depths like the forest floor in the woods from a storybook. I love the affordability and longevity of the Charlie scents, and I’m especially taken with how this one is so different from the others i've tried. this is the kind of interesting, confident scent that could easily be found in a much more expensive bottle from a niche brand today. out of the charlie line I feel like blue is the real treasure for me. projection is good and layered, this fragrance has dimension to it. i pick up on different elements depending on how close i am to my wrist. charlie red lasted all night on me and lingered subtly on my skin the next morning. so far blue is slightly less loud but i can tell it's going to hang around on my skin for a good while. one of the things i love most about vintage scents is their committed staying power. even after reformulation they can still last longer than a lot of modern perfumes. i would love to get my hands on some vintage charlie bottles because i bet they were total longevity beasts back in the day. I can tell i will be reaching for this often. i find it calming and grounding and can see it becoming a staple for me. a fantastic blind buy surprise.

A slightly less sweet version of the original Charlie she's still a slightly rank old fashioned soapy chypre... And it's great! "But Cassi, you just said it was rank..." Yes I did, and here's why that's wonderful. The pungent oakmoss and slightly bitter geranium are completely amazing when used as a layer. I am absolutely serious. It layers with everything. (although on some people the scent does turn into a wee wee or poo scent. In those cases, skip this one. That's true of any scent though.) Picked up that new Celebrity Sugar FragranceTM and suddenly you realize you feel like this makes you feel like you're 12? Add Charlie Blue first. That new Bath And Body Works body mist is nice, but some jerk said you smelled like kiddo shampoo while you were out shopping? Put on an inert (low scent or no scent) body oil, then the body mist, then two shots of Charlie Blue, then more mist on your clothes. Found a vintage bottle of an aldehyde fragrance and paid handsomely for it but now you're sad that all you smell is baby powder? Yup, that's right, oil up and try two shots of Charlie Blue on first. Someone tell you that new version of Joop! makes you smell like their mom? Yup, Charlie Blue's for you too! And the absolute best part is that even if you don't think it works for this it's so inexpensive you can feel ok just giving the whole bottle away. I'd gladly accept it. 👌😉

I didn't really expect anything, but I'm just blown away. This isn't just vintage but I would say this is like a historical chypre in the best way possible. It could have been made in the late 19th or early 20th century. And that is a good thing here. It's definitely unisex, but somehow I think it smells more interesting on men. It smells very seductive ja mysterious. If Sherlock Holmes had really existed, he would have smelled like this. There is that slightly indolic nuance from jasmine, and I love it, and compared with musk it's really sexy and animalic. Warm and quite sweet but still earthy and mossy. Still jasmine is the most prominent note on me. And really, If you don't like jasmine, you won't like this. Simple as that. This is so underrated perfume. Powerful and long lasting and it costs almost nothing. Still there is that feel of quality in it. It's so different and I want to be different. This isn't like those clean smelling mainstream perfumes and that's why we are so lucky. But this could have been made today by some niche perfume house and it could be sold at a ridiculously expensive price.

Clean and sparkling. Long lasting. Inexpensive. If you love Joy, you will like Charlie original and Charlie Blue. There is something woodsy about this, a chypre smell to me. I think this is a wonderful value. And I do use this one for layering at times as it makes a wonderful base. I will spray this on my skin right out of the shower and give it a bit to dry down. Then something that meshes with it on my clothes. A coworker mentioned to me that I really never needed to try another scent because she thought mixed so well with my chemistry. Always nice to hear. Update: I am wearing this today for the first time in a long time. I am hit with how powerful this is and how well it seems to go with my chemistry. It seems to me that this scent has a lot of the things that we look for in a perfume that we love but because it has been around forever and it's inexpensive, it gets overlooked. I'm wondering if today I had met Charlie Blue for the very first time and not 50 plus years ago, would I be be feeling like I had discovered something really special? Would I stop looking for that signature perfume? Maybe ...