Bleu Paul & Joe for women

I love Blanc so much almost to the point of obsession so I thought Bleu should be magical too. Gosh I was almost suffocated at the first sniff. It was so strong and too much of coriander, more than in my kitchen. Not my cuppa at all :(

Extremely powdery and extremely musky, but in a clean sort of way, the initial blast of sillage from applying a tiny dab of this EdT is like huffing straight from a jar of baby powder infiltrated with musk. It’s so strong that I can almost feel the gritty powder in my nose. There’s a powerful vanilla base along with the powder. After 20-30 minutes, it settles down for the duration, becoming a beautiful powdery, ambery, musky, slightly spicy vanilla that reminds me of Musc Ravageur. Sillage remains strong to moderate, and the scent sticks around all day, at least 8-10 hours. After the powdery cloud of sillage dies down a little, I like it a lot.

I have just blind purchased this. I tried and attempted to like Shalimar but couldn't, there was something in it which broke my nose a bit and it stayed throughout the experience. Due to the comparisons to Shalimar on this fragrance I decided to take a punt and buy it. (Also it was on sale so I wasnt significantly investing)
Well it smells as I had hoped it would. It is beautiful. Warm and spicy and a bit vanillery (but not overly.
Opens with the spices like a high end incense. Maybe some of that heliotrope..
then come some florals. My somewhat unsophisticated nose doesn't differentiate the individual flowers rather their soothing and graceful bouquet. (the middle deffinately reminds me of Donna Karan Chaos and Black Cashmere and they are significantly more expensive)
late in the middle at the beginning of the drydown visits vanilla just a touch of sweetness and it is here I draw similarity of Shalimar Initial.
Deep into the drydown I am left with the resinous warm woods and throughout every step of this fragrance we have the Patchouli and the Labdanum
This scent makes me think of warm silky skin a man could wear it also.
I am extremely impressed by this gorgeous gem of a scent. The Donna Karans and Shalimar Initial are 3 of my favourites in this category and Bleu encompasses all of their beautiful qualities.
I am going to invest in Blanc by the same makers perhaps lightning can strike twice? I hope so.
Pierina
ps re longevity.. I sampled with a tiny 1/4 squirt on my inner arm, I was still easily able to detect the base notes for 3-4 hours. It was at this stage I reprayed to revisit and write this review. So pretty good I would say..

Everyone says that "Bleu" looks like the Shalimar and I confirm!
It still looks like "Le Temps des Reines" (Isabel Derroisne).
Retro.

It's Shalimar without the cigarette smoke. It also remonds me a little of Agent Provocateur Strip. A heavy musky, vanillary, smoky fragance best for winter evening wear. Holds on to your skin quite well.

Bought it the moment i first sniffed it and did not regret it at all. The staying power of it on my skin is great, almost a whole day, the best time of it is the drydown, musky sweet vanilla,, lovely, could be my signature scent as i find it nice for all seasons (maybe too much for summer hot days though!)



...some months later i ordered my second bottle...super!!!!!

To my nose it is like a combination of Shalimar parfum in the topnotes, L'Instant edt in the midnotes and MPG's Or Des Indes in the drydown.
Odd but lovely!

I finally got my hands on a bottle of Bleu. I love it. It does remind me a bit of Shalimar, but slightly more vanilla.

Good staying power. A warm cozy scent that is great for the fall and winter.

Thumbs up!

If you like perfumes that smell similar to Shalimar this will work for you. It's very powdery w/ an oriental feel, and the dry down is sweetly spicey. It doesn't last a long time w/ my chemistry maybe an hour or two, that may be why I'm slightly ho-hum about this one. I really crave these kinds of scents in the winter so it's definietly a keeper.