Bleu de Chanel EDT by Chanel

Bleu de Chanel is a fragrance lineup that has been super popular for well over a decade now. The original EDT version kicked things off back in 2010, launching another mega successful product for Chanel. Fast forward to today and I’ve gotten a few samples of the latest Bleu batches and realized that I’d never done a proper review of this original formula. A scent that I’ve long been familiar with. Time to correct that oversight. How does it smell? When should it be worn? Is it still worth a buy?

What does Bleu de Chanel Smell Like?

Notes include: mint, pink pepper, lemon, grapefruit, nutmeg, jasmine, ginger, incense, vetiver, musk, sandalwood, patchouli, and more

Click here to try: Bleu de Chanel EDT from Chanel

My Full Review

Here’s how Chanel describes it: A fragrance for the man who defies convention. A provocative blend of citrus and woody notes that liberates the senses. Fresh, clean and profoundly sensual.

Bleu de Chanel opens up with its extremely nice citrus blend. Grapefruit is the leader, but the opening gives you an added dose of the lemon. It’s pretty balanced overall, but that grapefruit will take a greater share of the attention as you move along.

With that, is the spice blend of mint, pink pepper, and ginger. It’s funny, many times that ginger note will stick out on my skin, but others the mint will really pop early on.

Colder and fresh spice. Though, the pink pepper and the labdanum from the base do have a slight warmth and resinous quality. Just not a huge amber influence in this EDT version.

The initial spice will begin to subside and the smokiness of incense will come to take over some of that space. No worries, the smoke isn’t overbearing at all.

That, along with vetiver plus some cedar and sandalwood, will give it a fresh woodsy influence instead of just the spices.

Yet, this isn’t a hugely woody cologne. The cedar and sandalwood are very light. I get a lot of vetiver, sitting underneath the citrus/incense with the mint and ginger.

Bleu EDT isn’t super complicated. The grapefruit will stick around, along with the vetiver, incense and generic woodiness. Towards the second hour or so, this even has a slight muskiness to it. But, the other notes are much more prominent.

Sillage, Longevity, and Versatility

The sillage here has always been moderate. Actually, I don’t even notice a difference in projection off of the skin, between this and the Parfum version.

Bleu de Chanel is certainly noticeable and will venture pretty far, upon first spraying. Yet, on the whole, it is mostly going to create a scent bubble that sticks in that 3-5 foot range from the wearer.

In terms of how long it lasts, I’ve always gotten between 5-7 hours with Bleu EDT. It’s not a super long lasting fragrance, but that 7 hour mark is certainly doable with a good amount of spraying.

If I go lighter, it will fall more towards that five hour mark. You might have to do some testing, to see how much you’d personally need to apply. I’ve read other people say that they get this one to last over 9 hours, but it’s never been my own experience.

Seasonally, Bleu EDT can really be worn whenever. I prefer the spring and early summer with it. But, it’d work in winter as well. Though, there are a ton of more winter specific fragrances that I’d personally wear before this. On the other hand, if this is your only cologne, it’d be just fine.

Bleu is refined and classic, but isn’t a stuffy or serious scent. As such, younger men and older guys could wear this without any issue.

It’s safe for work, can go casual, or even be something worn on a date. Again, it’s not specifically built for nightlife or romantic wear, it’s just capable of filling that role if need be. It’s less of a sexy cologne though and more of an elegant scent.

Overall Impressions of Bleu de Chanel

Overall, do I like Bleu EDT? Yes, I really do still like the way that this one smells. But, it’s also my third favorite of the line, as the flanker fragrances surpassed the original.

Although, you may still decide to go with this version, if you want a fresh citrus without as much amber or woods.

But, this one is still a cologne that you can wear pretty much any time and is well-liked by the mass of people. It’s versatility is certainly one of its absolute strengths. Even if, the performance on the whole is just okay.

I have always enjoyed the bright citrus of lemon and grapefruit, being paired with the cool fresh notes like mint and vetiver. Plus, giving it a smoky incense to help liven things up, really was a masterstroke in perfumery.

The whole thing is balanced and delivers a great experience. Some find that to be boring, which I guess it can be, but not every fragrance needs to be some exotic aroma.

Is this my favorite scent ever? No, but it’s one that I always enjoy wearing. It’s a fragrance that can and does serve as the foundation for many men’s own collection. Whether it’s their only bottle or they have hundreds of others.

This is a completely safe blind buy. It might not completely wow everyone, but it is pretty hard not to like Bleu de Chanel on some level.

Best Men's Colognes

Best Men’s Colognes started back in 2013, as a way to share my learning experiences with different fragrances, as I dove head first into the hobby. Since then, I have written hundreds of reviews and other pages about perfumes and colognes.