Eau de Charlotte (1982)
by Annick Goutal

I am road testing this one today, after picking up a sample from Les Senteurs.
First off, whilst I could smell it on the testing strip, I had to put a hefty amount on before I could smell it on my own skin. With notes like lily of the valley, vanilla and almond, I was expecting Diorissimo meets Hypnotic Poison, and what I got was (as other people have commented) very faint Johnson's baby lotion.
I don't think I have the right chemistry for this - it dies on me. Since I can wear really strident perfumes like Poison or Angel without knocking over everyone in the vicinity,I guess this is too delicate for me. Calchic is right - this is for someone who wears cream lace and Laura Ashley, not someone who stomps around in black leather or combats.

I wear this scent when I want to feel especially femme. It's one that I wear in the cool to warm climate of spring. It reminds of flowers all around! I feel all grown up when I wear this one. However, it's not one to wear every day! I can take it for more than a couple of days, then it gets to be a bit much.

Still a fav nonetheless!

Weird baby lotion. Pleasant but not fabulous. I have hairspray that smells better.

I never used to wear or even try perfume because most-synthetic essences (aldehydes in particula it would seem), heady or powdery scents give me a nasty migraine. I started hunting for something I could wear when I became involved with a man whose response to perfume was rather different ;)
Thats when I discovered the Annick Goutal line. She keeps the formulae fairly simple , not too many ingredients to confuse my sensitive nose and excitable vascular system.
This was the one we both settled on. I was surprised that there was such a feminine fragrance that I could like this much. I formerly tended towards citrusy mens scents and and occasional bit of spice or freesia since it never gave me headaches.

I'm not sure what other reviewers are picking up on but, on me at least. it definitely doesn't remind me in any way of baby powder or any other baby product. Baby oil ranks as the most loathesome scent known to humankind in my book so I feel like I'd notice if it did.
What comes up prominently on me is blackcurrant (which I lurrrrve) and lily-of-the-valley. Very warm, definitely feminine and sweet with some headyness, which would ordinarily bother me, but somehow the balance is right, the tart fruit and slight woodsy sombreness of the flowers balances it.
Unabashedly romantic but not in a soppy hearts and cherubs way, all sophistication and timeless allure.

Eau de Charlotte is the perfect fragrance when you want to feel feminine and beautiful and old-fashioned. Perfect for a brunch date.

Eau de Charlotte is just love in a bottle. In fact, it's a bit like a very sophisticated take on my adolescent fave, Love's Baby Soft, as it's got a somewhat similar powdery, baby-blanket embrace to it. Much more interesting, though, and much more feminine to me. Wearing it always makes me wish I had a few Victorian-pretty, lace-embellished off-white things to pair with it, as it just calls for that mode. At the very least, it requires a cream-colored sweater in some plushy, fuzzy yarn; it's just not appropriate to me to wear Eau de Charlotte with an all-black ensemble or anything too severe. Don't get me wrong; I can't (afford to) and don't "dress to suit" the vast majority of my fragrances! But Eau de Charlotte is so very dusky-sweet and delicate that I do honestly save it for those days when I'm doing the fluffy sweater thing. Fortunately, I do a lot of knitting and can make my own "Eau de Charlotte wear." (Yes, I am a weirdo!)