Boy Chanel 2016

7.9 / 10 548 Ratings

A popular perfume by Chanel for women and men, released in 2016. The scent is fresh-powdery. It is still in production.
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Main accords

Fresh

Powdery

Floral

Fougère

Citrus

Fragrance Notes

Lavender

Lemon

Musk

Heliotropin

Coumarin

French geranium

Grapefruit zest Moss

Moss

Sandalwood Vanilla

Vanilla

Orange blossom Rose

Rose

Perfumer

Olivier Polge

Ratings

Scent

7.9548 Ratings

Longevity

7.3473 Ratings

Sillage

6.8471 Ratings

Bottle

8.2437 Ratings

Value for money

6.3190 Ratings

Submitted by OPomone, last update on 10/22/2025.

Interesting Facts

The fragrance is part of the Les Exclusifs de Chanel collection.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Helmut Lang (2014) Eau de Cologne

Brut Eau de Toilette

Lavanda Ambrata

Dans Tes Bras

Helmut Lang (2000) Eau de Cologne

Absolue Pour le Matin (2010)

Reviews

26 in-depth fragrance descriptions

01/10/2022

10Scent 7Longevity 8Sillage

Adimus009
5 Reviews

Adimus009

Helpful Review 6

Pour Monsieur's metrosexual adventurer offspring

My love affair with Boy began when I, ironically, purchased a bottle of Sycamore and was given a generous amount of samples including 'Boy'. Sycamore no longer resides in my cabinet but is proudly being consumed by a vetiver lover friend of mine.

'Boy' on the other hand, where do I start? This has been an 18 month sampling bonanza. I promised to limit full bottle purchases to 'LOVE LOVE LOVE' having religiously stuck to venturing only on sampling journey of various houses. I have so far gone through 8 samples of 'Boy' having savoured every last bit of it through spring, summer and autumn. Winter is not for 'Boy', certainly not here in the UK.

Boy starts off with a very Chanel-esque aldehydes, aromatic lavender, grapefruit concoction that is oh so Chanel and a class above their regular line. On my skin this phase lasts about an hour whilst the florals, particular the heliotrope, vanilla and musk make their presence known. Afterwards this is a sexy, musky, slightly vanillic, powdery goodness tempered by a gentle dose of Sandalwood to stop it leaning feminine and kept unisex. Given the notes mentioned, ones thoughts might venture towards Musc ravegeur? No no no, that is a darling for the evenings (and wintery days), this is slightly similar in notes only but the symphony is played out with completely different instruments.

The overall scent and sillage are just 10/10 sexy to my nose. I regularly double back on myself to catch wafts of the trail which is mesmerising. Spring and summer is the height of this fragrances sexuality which is slightly subdued in autumn and practically libido-less in winter.

So whats the catch? Price tag and longevity. The Les Exclusifs are certainly priced more dearer than CD ,and previously, Guerlain. I still think for the right 'Les Exclusifs' fragrance, it is worth it purely for the scent. Longevity is a slight let down as this fragrance lasts 6-7 hours max if one is generous with the sprays, projects for the first 2-3, weather dependent.

This fragrance is a sexy aromatic fougere for those who want to venture a little further than the traditional concoctions. Where Pour Monsieur is your elegant oxford shirt, full windsor knot tie wearing gentleman chypre (EDT not the EDP), 'Boy' is a carefree, open buttoned short sleeve shirt wearing adventurer currently enjoying his/her scent trail through their travels through Venice/Paris/Florence/Vienna/Edinburgh/Amsterdam/Lisbon/Athens and other great European cities yet to be visited. Boy only travels and trails in warmer weather. Boy hibernates in winter. I can't wait for spring and summer...

06/12/2022

BrianBuchanan
363 Reviews

BrianBuchanan

4

Poor show from the boy Polge

Innocuous sweet musky citrus in the manner of Polge senior's Allure Homme series.
The departure is fine: citrus, aromatic, metallic, musky, sweet; but after an hour or so, Boy is weaker than the odour coming from a paper strip on my desk - which holds just one dab of Thé Matcha 26 ... from yesterday.
If I'd bought this there and then in the boutique, I'd think I'd been sold a pup.

10/11/2020

8Scent 9Longevity 6Sillage

Pepdal
238 Reviews

Pepdal

Helpful Review 1

Chanel Boy

I really dipped my toes in the Les Exclusifs de Chanel this year with some specific expectations of what i would like. This one was a surprise for me. Thank you for watching and I hope you found the review useful.

07/29/2025

ClaireV
969 Reviews

ClaireV

2

A pastel meringue of a fougere

Texture-wise, Boy Chanel is like watercolor on silk - a series of muted aromatics and flowers laid delicately one on top of another, their transparency rigorously maintained. The lavender is a single, lilac-tinted theme running through the composition but there are also hints of fluffy heliotrope and palidly rosy geranium. Immediately, the connections to other fougeres strike me. Boy Chanel is Pour Un Homme (Caron) embellished with florals and done on a better budget; it is also Jicky (Guerlain) filtered through a sieve to remove the civet, and that rough, vomitous clash of bergamot and cream. Later on, in its tonka or coumarin phase, Boy Chanel is even a faded outline of Fourreau Noir, like a photocopy done when the ink was running low. If the Lutens is a dense lavender doughnut, then Boy Chanel is a high-end gelato delicately aromatized with dried lavender.

I don't think that Boy Chanel is really a fougere, though. After all, a fougere should technically have moss, coumarin, and lavender for it to qualify, and there is no moss to be found here. Then again, there is no moss in Jicky either. Maybe it's the dark, dirty feel to Jicky that qualifies it as a fougere? I don't have the answer. Anyway, Boy Chanel is bright and sunny, not dark, bitter, or mossy; there are no forest ferns here.

What Boy Chanel does have in spades is the creamy, sweet, and somewhat boozy almond undertone I associate with tonka bean. Coumarin is listed, not tonka bean, but I get all of the spicy-sweet, vanillic tones of the tonka bean and none of the dry, aromatic, grassy aroma of coumarin. As it hits the base (which it does in a very short period of time, by the way), Boy Chanel gets even sweeter and creamier with the addition of a powdery sandalwood, vanilla, and more delectable almond-like chewiness in the form of heliotrope. I am surprised at how sweet it is, actually. For a fougere, it approaches Coromandel levels of sweetness.

But texture-wise, Boy Chanel is not at all baroque or opaque - it retains a luminous translucency from head to toe. The sandalwood in particular is more of the single cream type you find in ETRO Sandalo (although far, far better quality) than the fatty, over-egged feel to something like Samsara. Overall, Boy Chanel is fresh, aromatic, and creamy-sweet, making it something that women can wear as easily as men. It doesn't make a grab for originality or boldness, but is extremely pleasant to wear.

05/20/2016

7.5Scent 8Longevity 5Sillage

Turandot
839 Reviews

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Turandot

Top Review 82

No easy task for Olivier Polge.

Before Olivier Polge created this fragrance, the following thoughts might have crossed his mind:

It is the first fragrance in the series intended for men, so it cannot be too specific; rather, it should appeal to a wide spectrum. This naturally carries the risk that it may come across as too tame for those users seeking something spectacular. But are those the customers who typically walk into a Chanel boutique? Not at all. Unlike, for example, the Privé lines from Dior or Armani, the range of exclusive Chanel fragrances is hardly available outside the boutiques.

Chanel fragrances have not chased after any trends so far, nor have they set any trends. Therefore, there is no need to jump on the gourmand or oud bandwagon, nor does the wheel need to be reinvented. Rather, every customer, or every woman choosing the fragrance for a man, should find the perfume pleasant. The scent must not polarize in any way.

Evidently, the fragrance should ideally appeal to a clientele that has already engaged with the biography of Coco Chanel, because those who have not done so might assume from the name of the fragrance that it targets particularly young buyers. But "Boy" was the nickname of Arthur Capel, Coco Chanel's lover, who enabled her to start her own career and who died in a car accident. Arthur Capel was a successful businessman from an industrial dynasty. He was not a nouveau riche playboy, and thus the fragrance should also exude a certain seriousness.

Now, if I consider all these thoughts, then Olivier has done everything right. But the result is a relatively unspectacular noble men’s fragrance. The almost inevitable lavender note runs throughout the entire progression of the perfume, which presents itself as a pleasantly soft fougère scent, and I would have liked to grant it a few cheeky effects despite all its seriousness. After all, Arthur Capel was not only an industrialist but also a man who loved fast cars, the racetrack, and a rather illustrious circle of friends. As it stands, this is a fragrance that makes it hard for me to truly store it in my scent memory. I find no recognizability, no special note, certainly no temptations, but rather beauty, reliability, and elegance. I would almost blasphemously claim that Allure Homme, Antaeus, and especially Pour Monsieur have more character than Les Exclusif de Chanel-Boy. But perhaps this is just the beginning of a series of further men’s perfumes. Coco did encounter a few flamboyant men back then who might inspire more extraordinary fragrance creations. We shall see if Russian grand dukes or English politicians will also be honored with a fragrance in the Exclusif line.

I believe Coco Chanel would have said to Olivier Polge: Young man, don’t be so timid, you can do better!

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