Boy Chanel
Chanel (2016)

Soft and a little bit spicy lavender with a wee flowers (especially geranium).

I don't know the detailed historical background about this. All I know is that the name is the homage, tribute to Boy Capel, who actually used to be Gabrielle Chanel's lover.

On one hand this is not in Chanel style at all. Seems to be very modern and fougere, but not "chanel-ish". Rather something YSL would release. On the other hand, it is a perfect complement to the Lex Exclusifs line. Why? It has everything an Chanel's les Exclusifs should have. Citrusy opening and the floral-woody drydown. Especially flowers are done in a familiar (at least to my nose) in a Chanel les Exclusifs way.

Last but not least it seems to be old-school and modern in the same time. Both longevity and sillage are very good.

I like it. Not planning to buy full bottle though, it just doesn't fit my taste and I would rarely wear it.

Light and innocuous woody-citrus fougère with a bit of a spiky overtone.
This is one of the scents that brought about the fougère revival (remember that?) but it hardly merits the name.
It lacks any kind of character that you could point to in an historical fougère; it's not green, it's not anisic, it's not animal like Jicky, just plain vanilla - somewhere between Allure and Bleu.

It's an old school masculine, barbershop-esque, fresh with citrusy powder. Comforting from top to bottom, but, I've smelled better. Neutral rating here. No complaints on longevity or projection (average.)

Grapefruit wallpaper fougère. My dryer sheets smell better. Actually, a lot better.

Oh boy!
One sample spray, and I am in love with this fragrance. Especially the first 30 minutes, which is heavenly. Can't figure out what exactly has me so turned on? It may take several wearings to figure out. Honestly I think this falls squarely on the feminine side, but no matter.
Dries down into a sweeter version of Le Male (Jean Paul Gaultier), not as nice as the opening, but very pleasant.
Again, the opening structure is just lovely.
Know what I'm getting next Christmas, now.
After an hour, it's very sweet. A bit much, actually. But again, that first 30 minutes seals the deal for me.

I really had to wear Boy to fall in love with it - sniffing it at the store just didn't do it justice. It's a full-on Chanel, with their signature aldehydes on top and their legendary cold-cream base below. In a way, this is what No 5 would smell like with its flowers replaced by upfront lavender.

Wearing Boy reminded me of Jersey, Chanel's other lavender Exclusif, but side by side, they're quite different, with Jersey being much fruitier and funkier, including dirty elements of Gardenia and straight-up musk from Cuir de Russie, while Boy is definitely "pretty" all the way through.

Thumbs up!