Charlie by Revlon

Incredible, powerful, and full of life… it smells exactly as it should, without those sickly pistachio or dessert notes. Ideal for people with character who don’t follow trends or social media. The best part is it’s incredibly cheap; if it cost €100, they’d say it’s gold. Today it competes with 60% of the perfumery, lasting longer than €300 fragrances and needing far less marketing. Life changes, but the vulgar fades away.

From another era. Intrusive yet short-lived, it smells like a funeral and gives me nausea. Perhaps I smelled the reformulation, which is said to be very different from the original.

A scent I wore as a child, always very intense and synthetic. It gave me headaches. Impossible in summer. I never understood it and definitely didn’t like it.

It brings me beautiful memories of my childhood because my mother used to bathe in this delicious perfume. I remember it as slightly sweet, spiced, and powdery. It lasted for hours. Before, it was sold in pharmacies and supermarkets, cheap yet smelling like a fine, expensive fragrance. It was very common to see it alongside Le Jardin de Max Factor, Tabú, and Ciara, also by Revlon, and then they disappeared forever. What a pity; they were beautiful fragrances.

I wore it at 14 and it was all the rage. So retro yet pleasant. It’s a pity I think it’s been reformulated and has become unpleasant: lots of alcohol, common, and smells like cheap cologne. It wasn’t like this before. Now it gives me a headache just from smelling it.

A retro splash! An old-fashioned woman, wild, old soul… I don’t know, I think that’s how I’d describe it. Strong, with personality. Smells like nostalgia. Very lovely!

It overwhelms me with its woody and spicy notes. The fragrance is far too intense for my taste. It was a gift, but I would never buy it myself.

Lorenave, you can pick it up easily on Amazon or eBay, incredibly cheap, rarely more than ten dollars. Charlie is a classic from the seventies that made history: strong, pleasant, with excellent longevity, plus it’s amazingly affordable and still is.

A total classic! Although they smell nostalgic (old-fashioned, childhood), they work well today. I got it as a gift; it’s a nice scent. The only thing I didn’t remember was that straight from the bottle it’s spicy or acidic due to the hyacinth, jasmine, and gardenia, but then it opens up into an exquisite bouquet of flowers.

It was my sister’s signature perfume all her life; she passed away a few years ago and when I smell Charlie, I smell her, with an immense flood of beautiful memories. It smells like the nineties, like summer nights on a bicycle, like home and warmth. It’s a very intense floral with prominent sandalwood, nothing sweet, elegant and mysterious. It will always hold a special place in my heart.

I first encountered this scent when a high school friend wore it; it drove me mad. It wasn’t until five years later that I could finally own it. Charlie had a brutal intensity, soapy with florals highlighting hyacinth and geranium, a very present sandalwood, and a soft vanilla base. It was and remains affordable, exuberant, and sophisticated—nothing generic or cheap. I like it very much. Today’s version is lighter; I miss those days of intense, overpowering perfumes.

As a child, in the late seventies, I was obsessed with this. But my mother would never buy it, jokingly saying it wasn’t for a seven-year-old, let alone a four-year-old (my most show-off little sister). And yes, time proved her right: it’s rich but far too intense for a ‘little girl’; in fact, I wouldn’t buy it today.

It’s an eighties perfume, striking and sexy, impossible to miss, yet lacking that mysterious touch so many people love.

I had it when I was very young and used it for years; I don’t remember the exact notes but I do remember how happy I was while using it. A whole memory of happiness, youth and total carefree-ness.

Memories of my mother… her scent and her hair. It was one of her favourite fragrances. A definite aroma of the eighties… it would still suit a classic woman perfectly.