Bleu Marine Pour Lui by Pierre Cardin

desmondorama

I tried this fragrance years ago, but can't remember much about it except that it was by Pierre Cardin.

I bought a 30ml bottle as a treat to see if I liked it again, but was totally disappointed by it lack of sillage and longevity and can only agree with instantjim that it's not worth paying for scented water that does a disfavour to the wearer by leaving nothing after 15 mins.

I like the fragrance, it's a fougere very much like Live Jazz by YSL, but I just daren't wear it without carrying the bottle in my bag for hourly re-sprays!

In my opinion, this inexpensive purchase was a waste of my money and can't believe the noses at Coty, Spain, could not have improved on the strength and body to this concoction. It's such a let-down to what could have been a good fragrance.

instantjim

Ok I gave this one another try. After spraying it on it rapidly settles into olfactory obscurity on my skin. After 5 minutes I have to put my nose right up to my forearm (where I put two generous sprays) to detect it. Could it be that it has been reformulated and is now an inferior offering? I initially detect citrus/herbs but it quickly settles into a sort of cheap-smelling generic non-descriptness.

instantjim

I bought this one at the same time as Pierre Cardin Emotion for men and I really wanted to like it, but it is so short-lived that after an hour I can hardly detect any traces of it. The Emotion however, is still quite detectable after 2 - 3 hours. The jury is still out on this one for me.

krmarich

No scent for men shout 1980s like Bleu Marine. This is not a bad thing, really. PC is a very respected designer in France, and his fragrance is world famous. I detest modern aquatics. They end up smelling like Scope on me. This is anything but that modern concept. Its warm, clean, durable, rugged and sexy. It work in any climate, yet in warmer temps, go easy, its strong! This was originally distributed in drugstores, and now nearly impossible to find. PC launched another scent in the late 80s-Maxims pour liu. It was better and now completly hidden.

OdeKlotyo

For clarity's sake, I must start by saying that this is certainly not an aquatic scent of today's concepts, even though the name might lead one to believe that. No, it is (just to reinforce what's written in the description above) a deep and rich, ambery fougere nuanced with a lot of herbal and spicy notes. This is rather the typical '80-s style fougere fragrance, in that it creates a "marine" sensation with a heavy animalic ambergris and oakmoss aura balanced out with cool greens, bergamot, and an abundance of spices, the style that eventually lost to the high-pitched citric-ozonic-Calone scents that have been dominating the scene since the early '90-s and still thriving in popularity.
I've read some words of disdain concerning this scent on other sites, claiming this being a bore with a cheap musty after-shave smell etc. Well, most fougeres tend to give the impression of dated and cheap because they are living in our memories as being overused and abused and a masculine cliché, don't they? Yet in today's context I think that a classic and well-balanced fougere can bring back some olfactory excitement.
Bleu Marine can be best compared to Drakkar Noir, although I find the former more wearable and less musty and sharp. Davidoff's Cool Water is also similar in style, which it predated only by a year or two, but it is less of a traditional fougere than Bleu Marine.
I think it can be best characterized as a deep and rich amber with a lot more things also going on. It starts out with nice green and herby top notes, then a really dense spicy core comes to the fore. The fougere base is rather rich and mossy, with a touch of dry woods. Overall, the scent might be appreciated by some who are sick of the usual Aqua's.
I have received the "eau de toilette deodorant" spray as a gift a few years ago, and, well, let's be honest, I haven't used it very often since. And not because I find it dated, but I find it a tad too rich and forceful to wear as a day fragrance. I love taking a random sniff from the bottle though.