Belle Icône Câline 2023

A little BR540 critique at the beginning:
Baccarat Rouge 540 Eau de Parfum is one of those scents that my body inevitably reacts to with a wrinkled nose. Musty vibes from a splash of barbecue sauce in synthetic cough syrup, somewhere in a hospital operating room, where a cotton candy seller from the fair has gotten lost. Interesting, but by no means great. Most dupes are just poorly made and only intensify my aversion to the scent. In my opinion, there are people for whom the scent truly fits, and with whom it harmonizes perfectly with their overall image, becoming a delight. But those are very, very few, and yet half the world sprays it on, and not exactly hesitantly, which further leads to the loss of any "magic." (Regardless of my opinion, of course, everyone should spray what they like - tastes differ, and that's a good thing).

Now to the scent:
So there I was a few months ago in my favorite drugstore. A new scent from Câline? I could already guess what it was from the label, but I was still curious and sprayed it on my wrist.

Contrary to my expectations - no flight instinct.

Fascinating... it is extremely close to the original, yet the small nuances are somehow better balanced... it smells almost more high-quality to me. A scent deviation?

I keep sniffing my wrist. I still wouldn’t really wear "Belle Icône | Câline," it’s too close to the original. And yet it makes the small details feel better to me. The cotton candy seller is no longer lost in the operating room. This time he is selling his cotton candy at the fair outdoors, in front of an operating room, along with candied strawberries, whose sugar crust looks so beautifully shiny. The medical notes are a bit less intense and constricting, the woody and spicy notes are no longer so synthetic and don’t remind me of barbecue sauce, but ensure that it’s not just a pure fairground scent. It is softer and rounder, a bit sweeter, but with a nicer sweetness than the original. And yet it is unmistakably BR540, strikingly similar.

Again and again, a cloud of the scent wafts into my nose, even hours later. And somehow I like it. Even the next day, it is still perceptible on my skin. A €6 scent. Simply amazing. I went to the drugstore a few more times in the following weeks, and each time I couldn’t help but apply another spray and marvel. I decided to buy it after all; somehow it had charmed me... just to wear a spray at home every now and then, a scent for €6, why not.

Too late, it was already sold out everywhere, the hype had begun.

In the meantime, it has also found a place with me. For the money, it’s simply a blast. The bottle is pretty to look at, but correspondingly cheaply made, the spray heads can unfortunately, as is often the case in this price segment, be faulty at times with Câline. Nevertheless - I give my good rating DESPITE my aversion to the original, and although I still believe that the scent does not suit everyone, nor does this dupe, and that it can quickly reach a "too much of a good thing" point. Simply because it is an incredibly well-done clone, especially for the price. I absolutely cannot confirm the reviews that mention poor longevity and sillage - perhaps there was a faulty batch in between? I have sprayed it easily 10 times from different testers, and each time the longevity was 6-8 hours with good sillage, even close to the skin until the next day, with only 1-2 sprays. It definitely doesn’t suit me, and will at most be sprayed on my wrist at home - but then enjoyed.