Eau De Charlotte Annick Goutal for women

Many gourmand scents targeted at young women are launched to capitalize on the name of the celebrity of the moment. On the other hand, Eau de Charlotte was created by Annick Goutal for her daughter, and as a result of the love and pride she invested in this fragrance, it stands head and shoulders above most other perfumes of its type. I love the fact that the gourmand notes in EdC are subtle enough to evoke lovely childhood memories without making me smell like I work behind the counter of Dunkin' Donuts. Hard to find, but well worth the effort.

Whenever I wear this, I feel like a little girl at the breakfast table and eating black currant jam with a cup of hot cocoa. It is so innocent, yet there's also something very sophisticated about Eau de Charlotte. Is it the glass bottle? Or that it manages to be a gourmand scent without being the typical foody? Whatever it is, I find it very comforting and cozy on a brisk fall/winter day. There is nothing quite like Eau de Charlotte!

I Like Goutal's scents, because each one is a discovery for me and they are not typical. This one isn't my favorite Goutal scent, but it's also a very interesting one. It behaves on my skin not as a luxury soap or expensive face creme with a gourmand accent. The lily of the valley dominates, a mix of vanilla, cacao and lily. I hardly notice mimosa and I don't feel any blackcurrant to my disappointment. This one belongs to soft creme/soapy scents, but I prefer Goutal's more expressive fragrances.

Eau de Charlotte is a mature interpretation of a gourmand scent, and really is quite lovely.

It's very dry, there is not much sweetness, as the scent is dominated by rich powdery cacao, especially when it dries down.

Initially there is a juiciness which comes through in the opening thanks to the blackcurrant. I didn't really detect any lily myself in the top notes though, but I think that's my skin chemistry.

Gradually the juiciness that was present in the opening fades down to a powdery vanilla cacao with floral undertones (the lily of the valley is still fairly detectable in the dry down).

In its latter stages the cacao really comes into it own and earns its gourmand classification...this is the scent of a rich pure dark chocolate with a hint of bitterness to it.

I find EdC timeless, classy and unique. It's a scent for a woman who wants to smell edible but at the same time doesn't want to smell too much like candy.

I love Annick Goutal's scents, and I find this is another beautiful fragrance... one for all seasons.

I wanted this fragrance for so long it's rediculous lol but I could never track down a bottle at any of my discount spots. I was wandering around Bloomingdales a few days ago and saw a whole display of AG testers I saw this one and immediately grabbed it. I was highly dissapointed; the opening smells exactly like mens aftershave the only time you get the chocolate and black current scent is in the dry down or when it's almost gone on your skin so glad I never found it.

(review for EDT)
It is impossible to imagine what this perfume smells like just from the notes. I tried, and what I had imagine is nowhere near the real thing!
I thought it would be juicy, fresh, sweet. I was wrong-fortunately, it's much, much more interesting than that.

It's a soft, dry, round scent; if it was a texture it would be loukoum - powdery yet suave.

It's not exactly gourmand, because it's not really sweet; and it's much more than just a floral.

Do test it if you have the chance, it's really unique!

Anyway, I did test about six other scents in the Annick Goutal boutique, but this was the first one I tested, and the one I left with :) It was Love at first sight!

hm this is very pleasant! It is a subtle gourmand I must agree. Don't try this if you wish to smell like a vanilla cake or a sugar-chocolate-candy...

this is a very sophisticated,classy gourmand.

Starts off with an unexpected burst of fruits on my skin (strange that blossom and lily can cause that), first comes lily of the valley from the heart and right after some lovely mimosas. Both detectable here.

on my skin then all melt together into peaches with vanilla cream and approx. one hour after the cacao reveals itself.

After the disappointment of high-praised Songes this is a really good surprise.

This is actually the first Goutal I've tried that I HAVE liked the opening to. That said, lillies are my favourite flower so I am not surprised. I put a vase of them in my room every week or so when they are in season I love them that much. (how do you write the sound of drooling? Just think Homer Simpson and pork chops)

This was nothign at all like I expected for a gourmand tho. Although the black currant is apparent, the lily and LOV dominate giving the distinct impression of a floral. Not a wanna make ya eat it scent at all.

Again, I am impressed by the construction of a Goutal, it is like layers of the perfume are not giving way to each other in varying symphony, but like they cleanly peel off one by one revealing an entirely new scent. Intrigues me,.. I'm thinking of being in Willie Wonka's Chocolate factory and the lollies, gums, etc, that just completely change flavour mid munching ..lol

So there I was, enjoying it but 'meh' at it being called a gourmand,...and then like out of no where, with no hint of it detectable before, up wafted the most yummy chocolate-vanilla fragrance. Then I wanted to eat it!

This is a very soft and subtle scent, not at all like more brash gourmands such as Fantasy or Pleasures Delight, ..and once again, thescents are 'true' - like real foods, mmmm, like a chocolate barvarian cake - not artificial lolly type scents.

Yummo! Even tho I'd like better performance in both sillage and longevity (not sure if I tested an EDT or EDP tho), I'll be keeping an eye out for this one to add to the collection. It can wait till I'm coming back in to Autumn / Winter tho, as it is one of those cold weather cuddly comfort scents.

Thank you Guujse for this little find ;-)

I realize that there are lots of Annick Goutal aficionadas out there, but I have say that, now three for three, I'm really not feeling the love.

EAU DE CHARLOTTE's opening salvo of solvent-saturated LOV facsimile is probably the worst that I've encountered since gambling on a blind buy of a single-digit-dollar bottle of reformulated Coty MUGUET DES BOIS. Sometimes you really do get what you pay for.

As for CHARLOTTE, I can only attest that in order to persuade myself to spray on a second dose of this, for lack of a better word, concoction, I had to first go run a bath...

The drydown of CHARLOTTE is quite a bit easier to bear. The toxic "LOV"-not has cleared out, leaving behind a not entirely repulsive dark chocolate plum brandy-type scent, for which I might even be able to acquire a taste, were it not for the inexcusably awful opening. Désolée!

Finally I am able to write a review on this perfume. It has been sitting around my closet for months, but now I'm finally able to put my thoughts together. At the beggining I hate it - lily of the valley strikes with all the power she has and it disturbs me. Together with lily (?) it makes a sour and bitter mix which I do not enjoy on my skin. I do not get fruity as well. It's more than a floral gourmand. Or just floral. After a while the lily of the valley calms down and blends together with mimosa and wonderful vanilla, which is so natural, that it does not get sickly sweet. I do get a tiny bit of the cacao bitterness.

I do like this, it is not something I would scream for and dance around in pleasure, but this is very, very well blend and nice fume (after the first 10 minutes of sharpness).

As from voting I can see that many have voted that this is fume for hot weather, but I will wear it only in cold, rainy fall, because I find it warm and comforting.

Annick Goutal perfumes, while superbly crafted, are a bit hit-or-miss for me. So is the case with Charlotte.

My inital reaction was very favourable, it was so sweet and yet outside what I have experienced of gourmands to date, not exactly foody but unusually tasty nonetheless courtesy of the black currant blossom.

After a little while however, the LOV came through. Let me just say, as lovely as LOV is, it is simply NOT edible and to combine it with a gourmand chocolatey aroma is mischief of the highest order.

To my nose, this unsavoury combination leads to a sweet plastic note whose diametrically opposite agendas then lead to nausea.

After a spell the LOV gains the upper hand, however it never really pleases my unforgiving nose thereafter, even with a demure conciliatory vanilla kiss. Just ships passing in the night for me & Charlottle I am afraid.

After searching every where for this perfume. I finally came across it in NK's perfumery section. You can't believe how happy I was to finally find it. I sprayed it onto my wrist and a smell of blooming flowers emerged.
But all by the sudden the flowers became dryer and they started to smell like... wait for it... flowers dipped in chocolate and vanilla.
I have no idea where that association came from but it did end up in this review after all.
It didn't last that long. But appart from that it is indeed a very beautiful scent.

I just love the comfort quality of this scent. it never struck me as being too over the top, as one would think while reading the notes, but rather a warm hug of a scent. It gives me the impression of a sweet floral worn, while baking something delicious; you do not smell of what is being baked, but you are combining aromas with what is being baked. A very finely crafted composition and a true classic.

I don't think I could ever refer to Eau de Charlotte as being a gourmand. To my nose, this fragrance is more of a rich fruity floral rather than being particularly 'foody'.

Nevertheless, Eau de Charlotte is a lovely fragrance. It's a surprising scent to say the least. In the opening it's very juicy and intense, however in the drydown it becomes soft and powdery.

Eau de Charlotte opens with sweet berries, which almost resemble the scent of home-made berry jam. Very delicious indeed. I began to predict that this fragrance would mellow slightly and end with a musky drydown, however, as I said before, Eau de Charlotte is surprising, you can't preempt how this fragrance will develop.

In the heart, Eau de Charlotte became quite flowery and feminine. The combination of both mimose and lily-of-the-valley is crisp and refreshing, bringing me to conclude that this would make an excellent Spring/Summer scent.

The vanilla is pretty much all I can smell in the base notes, which certainly isn't a bad thing because vanilla settles on my skin beautifully and just happens to be one of my favourite notes.

Overall, Eau de Charlotte is unusual, classy, relatively long-lasting, wearable and very enjoyable.

Well, Eau de Charlotte is a nice gourmand scent, you really smell its made in 1982, it has this old-fashioned touch, especially at the beginning. I get a mix of Lily and Lily of the valley at first, which seems to be pretty strong, but it fades away after few minutes. Then it turns to a light and a little bit powdery scent, where a buttery kind of cacao and a whiff of berries dominates. There is not really something 'sweet' although there is vanilla in the base note, i would describe the drydown as a fresh floral-cacao scent. The lasting power is one thing which makes me sad, because this scent is pretty weak, maybe the EDP version lasts better.
At the end, i guess, the really nice drydown wins and thats a reason for me to buy this perfume.

This is a fanciful and delightful scent.
The opening notes are quite rich,full, and wonderful just as they are; as fresh blooms in nature- but they dissapate so quickly -they do not stay to provide the excellent contrasts wich makes this perfume so good. The lily of the valley mixes well with the mimose and provides nice contrast with the base-accentuating the gourmand notes-the black currant lingering very faintly too-but the composition quickly becomes powdery and the vanilla and cacao take over and mostly what you have to wear after a very short period of time is the dry down.The dry down is lovely, but, I would prefer the perfume to have better fixation. With a few applications-in the exact same spot-the whole perfume can be better appreciated for just a few minutes longer.

The berry and cocao notes in this combine to remind me of a peanutbutter and jelly sandwich! There isn't any peanut note, but the coconut and cocao stand in for that, and the berries and mimosa combined with the vanilla are sort of jelly-like! Its sweet in both meanings of the word.

I like Charlotte,it is a gourmand scent. I do love she dedicated this to her daughter Charlotte. I love the vanilla in it as I love fragrances containing vanilla in them.YUMMY

This is one of the goutal's i never falled for. it seems a bit anaemic to my nose and , i hate to say that, simplistic for such a talented lady as the late Annick.It starts with a light and sweet lilly note, then goes to a mild powdery phase, and it ends with a nice soft vanillic wisper.I kind of like it on the drydown. Still i know this one have a devoted fanclub, and please don't get me wrong.