Chic for Men Carolina Herrera 2004 Eau de Toilette

I bought this blind in a duty free some weeks ago and it's probably the best blind buy I have ever made! I was very lucky to spend this weekend past in a castle, the private residence of a friend. I took Chic with me and while it's one of those fragrances that I don't really notice on myself after 2 hours, it must have superior sillage because people were tracking me down (the place is huge and easy to lose yourself in) by following my fragrance trail :).

I don't get much watermelon and thankfully the musk is sensibly done and does not overpower. The Pepper and Sandalwood dominate on me with creamy amber nuances in the drydown which lasts forever. My shirts the next day are a fragrant wonder to behold ... all in all the best CH I have ever worn!! So happy to have found this ... It'll be a staple in my rotation. I'd better get a stockpile going before the reformulation police have a go at it!!

Chic for men is a really simple scent from carolina herrera. It lasts about 2-3 hours on my skin which isnt really good but its perfect if you just dont want to smell bad for some hours. Its really fresh and most people do actually enojy it. For the price of around 20€ its a absolute steal (50ml). Cant recommend this scent really but if you want something light for daily use its quite good.

Nice, nice, nice. For me this fragrance is fresh, a little fruity and sweet but no too much. I like very much this scent because the smell it's not overwhelming and have good sillage and last long.

For me it's a good fragrance and nice adquisition for casual wear. If you can't stand the fruity fragrances because are too sweet, try this.

Regards.

A blind-buy based on reviews, It's a great scent by Carolina Herrera. CHIC smells so good,You can't go wrong with it. It opens up with like fresh citrusy and watermelon , after about 15 minutes it changes like slightly spicy pepper and cinnamon in the background , then dry down is sweet musky.
This perfume is moderate with warm background, It is perfect for the spring and fall. I really enjoy the smell of this fragrance.
Thumbs Up.

Rating : 8/10

The Context

This is the second fragrance that Kevin Samuels featured in his video about cheap fragrances that are well made, even underpriced for their value. Towards the end of my college semester I said that when I’m going to finish this semester I will purchase this one, since the price was affordable. The day comes, I order it, two days later it arrives in an afternoon that I swear was around 40 degrees celsius, that sun was melting my skin off. I open the package, I look at the presentation then I do two strays on my left arm and I got shocked. I expected to be a lush watermelon scent that just exploded on the first spray but it was something completely different.

The Scent

This is a spicy, fresh and woody fragrance with some fruity notes in the opening. In this state I can get the watermelon, which evaporates quickly, the cardamom and black pepper. I do not pick the citruses at. I also get that the black pepper with the cardamom and the cinnamon comes a bit synthetic from the opening to the late drydown. The thing that I dislike the most from this creation will have to be the black pepper, which it’s too powerful, offering to the whole scent profile a constant bitter tone from start to finish. But without a doubt this is an intense scent that is easily detectable.

The Projection

This is in the mid to high range. I sprayed this in the front seat of my class and the only colleagues that I had in that room were the ones from the last row because they were playing something on their laptops and in the back they had the electric outputs in the back. But, anyway, at one time someone asked if I sprayed something and the rest were quick to comment on that. Not as they like the scent but as they slightly annoy them. And I love when someone reports something like that because most of the time I’m just noseblind. Check out the video from The Niche Fragrance collector about scent and noseblind, it is with good production and an interesting discussion about this topic.

The Longevity

For this one I get around 5 hours. The first hour and a half is with that fully extended level and after that it is a medium, although I think it becomes just a skin scent in the forth hour. Although, the best occasion when I wore this was during my exercises at the gym. I got

The Bottle

This is a cubic glass with a half decent plastic cap and plastic spray that has good control, good spray and a really wide projection. I’m a bit surprised how these kinds of atomizers can be so well made for such low costs.

The Perumers

This is the first time in a while where I comment on the nose, in that case multiple ones, that contribute and are credited for a single creation. There are few times where I see more than two perfumers credited for one, the other one being La Damme by Cacharel and that one has its long backstory, go figure. So, for this one we have Carlos Benaim, whos is a senior perfumer who worked for YSL, Tom Ford, Prada and other designer brands, then is Jean-Marc Chaillan, who worked for lesser known fragrances for Calvin Klein and Dolce & Gabbana, and at last there is Ann Gottlieb, which is the product developer and she is known for a lot of the AXE products and CK.

Conclusions

I don’t think this is one of my best fragrances that I bought and I was slightly disappointed. I imagine that this is what designer brands work with in case they need a spicy fragrance as a reference. It comes too artificial and disconnected from the true nature of the original raw materials that it repulses me. The only occasion I find this one working really well is when I’m in a gym and I’m sweating my buns off on a cardio or other high intensity exercise.

Thank you so much for reading my review. This is the second draft from this writing, the first one I lost somewhere in my other writings, but either way I’m pretty satisfied with what I wrote so far. Next I will write about Oriflame’s Incognito, a cheap but interesting formulation that just keeps me curious every time I apply it.