Bel Respiro Eau de Toilette
Chanel (2007)

Bel Respiro (EdT) is a cool green fragrance, hinting at grass with a bit of melon and a touch of pepper. There are subdued floral notes in the green accord that transitions very slightly, from a brief sharpness to a soft subtly spicy (pepper) character, with the brief illusion of a leathery note, evoking a handbag. It's a skin scent with moderate duration that works best in spring, and is discreet enough to be worn to a job interview. A lovely note of sandalwood in the late dry down.

3.5/5

Kind of starts out like window cleaner mixed with a car, air freshener accord. Then, it begins to smell pleasant, with herbs galore. Nice, green stuff.

It turns into a fresh, spring garden thing, very aromatic and more natural-smelling. Slight medicinal smell occurs. Floral roots, as well. Herbal tea.

Florals and herbs mellow out later. A hint of leather moves in... Grassy, green, unisex. Not bad. Not quite my style but, it is quite good overall.

I agree with the reviewers below who mentioned a likeness to Chanel No. 19, and I agree with the suede texture Darvant describes. I also agree that this smells like Chanel's take on a perfume style released by a host of other houses, yet it does smell like a Chanel to me. Beige comes to mind as a relative of Bel Respiro.

I get a touch of powder, as someone mentioned below.

Do I agree that it smells like a green, aquatic floral? There's something to that description in the opening, but in less than half an hour, it's more like something like Beige. It's a beautiful, alluring fragrance. I think it leans feminine, but that could make it all the more interesting on the right man.

Chanel's take on the "acquatic floral" genre of modern scent, in other words, nothing at all. As meaningless as the Emperor's new wardrobe. There are literally dozens and dozens of scents identical to this that have flooded the market over the past decade, one more undistinguished than the last.

The acquatic green melon floral effect is rather plastic and has all the sophistication of a hand sanitizer scent.

A waste of time and vastly unworthy of the great house.

The opening with its green notes gives way to a more floral drydown and a fresh leathery accord. Quite restrained, it never develops into anything more than average on my skin. Adequate sillage and projection with four hours of longevity. 2.5/5

Along with Coromandel this is the worst of the Exclusifs: Coromandel is an extremely sickly and sweet gourmand scent; Bel Respiro is an equally sickly green one. Aggressive, brash and far too green, it certainly doesn't smell like an expensive fragrance. There are very few Polge perfumes that I like; but whereas I would say fragrances like Allure simply aren't my type, Bel Respiro and Coromandel are really nasty. For a far more pleasant green Chanel, try No18 (in my opinion, Polge at his best), or trusty old (but far from dated) No19.