I received an incredible amount of requests, asking to sampling different batches of Bleu de Chanel in order to find differences and "reformulations" in these five years. Honestly, I'm not a big fan of Bleu. Let me explain the reason: I'm used to Pour Monsieur, Pour Monsieur Concentrèe, Antaeus, Egoiste...and when I sampled Bleu for the first time I remained a bit concerned: I had the impression to have already smelled a few of similar perfumes with fruity/woody notes.
Bleu de Chanel is the perfect "clean", "inoffensive", "crowd-pleaser" scent. But it lacks very important factors: personality and originality.
Antaeus was the Animalic Beast, Egoiste was the Sandalwood King, Pour Monsieur was the Old Gentleman, and Bleu is ...the Harmless One.
I remember an anecdote: when Bleu hit the shelves in 2010, a lot of people sampled it against its direct competitor ( i.e."Dior Homme/ Intense") and had a very few doubts about the winner: Dior Homme/Intense had bigger complexity and personality than Bleu, which smelled too much as a "generic" scent. Surprisingly (or not surprisingly?), Bleu obtained an huge success everywhere, defeating Dior Homme/Intense in sellings. In a comeback attempt, Dior launched Sauvage in 2015, the perfect competitor for Bleu....but this is another story.
Bleu is the mirror of our times: a "fits-for-all" scent, in order to please everyone and everywhere in a now-global market.
I must admit being a bit embarrassed when I was asked to check "reformulations" in Bleu, or to detect "Vintage & Modern" versions, since it could appear somewhat exaggerated. But, having all samples (big thanks to Gianni Ambrosio who keep several old unused testers), I was able to perform a quick test.
EdT samples:
-year 2010 (the first one)
-year 2013
-year 2014
-year 2015 (two samples)
-EdP, year 2014
( to "decode" Chanel batches, read HERE)
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| Batch 3402 = October, 2010 |
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| Batch 6202 = February, 2013 |
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| Batch 8005 = August, 2014 |
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| Batch 8501 = January, 2015 |
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| Batch 9001 = June, 2015 |
....and the EdP sample:
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| EdP, batch 8301 = November, 2014 |
TESTS and RESULTS
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| Comparison on skin: sample year 2010 (left) VS. year 2015 (right) |
Simply said, there is no real difference between EdT samples. All samples -at least until June, 2015- appear identical, in formulas, sillage and longevity. No apparent reformulation occurred in the EdT range, obviously considering all tests performed in the same moment, place and temperature.
The only real difference is in the EdP sample. Sillage and longevity appear to be very similar between EdT and EdP; differences are in formulas.
Unusually, EdT is sharper and heavier than EdP.
Although similar, EdP is gentle, more levigate, less harsh, with a delicate incense drydown.
A final consideration. Bleu is the perfect safe scent, because it can't harm anyone. If you want simply to smell fine, you will not go wrong. But if this is the winning point, the losing one is its lack of originality. After such masterpieces as Antaeus, Egoiste, Pour Monsieur, we hoped for another Great One.
Maybe next time.
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