Bleu de Chanel

Few launches have reshaped a decade of men's perfumery the way Bleu de Chanel did in 2010. It gave the market a template - bright citrus over incense-smoked woods, with Iso E Super smoothing everything into a single glowing texture - that a hundred houses have since chased. Chanel's own line about it has not softened: a fragrance for the man who defies convention, fresh, clean and profoundly sensual. The 2010 original is widely credited to Jacques Polge, Chanel's in-house perfumer from 1978 to 2015; Chanel's own Bleu de Chanel pages credit Olivier Polge, his son, who took over the role in 2015 and has shaped the line since.

The opening is grapefruit and lemon with mint and pink pepper, sharp for about ten minutes. Ginger and nutmeg warm the middle without turning spicy-sweet, and a thin jasmine thread stops it going flat. What people actually remember is the base: cedar and vetiver, dry incense, patchouli and labdanum, sandalwood, and a clean musk. Chanel highlights New Caledonian sandalwood and oakmoss in the current formula. The effect is polished rather than rugged - smoke without a campfire, wood without a workshop.

It is the most useful bottle in most men's cupboards precisely because it refuses to commit to an occasion. Interviews, weddings, Friday nights, a Johannesburg office where the aircon never quite wins. It is worn everywhere, which is either its great strength or, if you want to smell like nobody else, its one real flaw.

Concentration matters more here than with most fragrances, so choose deliberately. The eau de toilette is the crispest and the shortest, typically five to six hours with modest projection. The eau de parfum is warmer, smokier and lasts noticeably longer. The Parfum is the smoothest and densest of the three, and Chanel also offers a separate L'Exclusif. None of them are quiet, but the eau de toilette is the one people most often describe as underperforming, and that is a fair criticism rather than a bad batch.