Charlie is a line of women's and men's fragrances produced by the American cosmetic and perfume house Revlon

Revlon

Revlon is an American cosmetics, skin care, fragrance, and personal care company founded in 1932.-History:Revlon was founded in the midst of the Great Depression, 1932, by Charles Revson and his brother Joseph, along with a chemist, Charles Lachman, who contributed the "L" in the Revlon name...

.

Original fragrance

Charlie, named after Charles Revson

Charles Revson

Charles Haskell Revson was a pioneering cosmetics industry executive who created and managed Revlon through five decades.-Early age:...

, was released in 1973. It was originally launched to compete with Estée, a fragrance released by Estée Lauder

Estée Lauder Companies

Estée Lauder Companies, Inc. is a manufacturer and marketer of prestige skincare, makeup, fragrance and hair care products. The company has its headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, New York City.-History:...

. Ad campaigns for the scent featured models Shelley Hack

Shelley Hack

Shelley Marie Hack is an American supermodel, actress, producer, and political & media advisor. Hack is best remembered for her role as Tiffany Welles in the fourth season of the ABC Television Drama Charlie's Angels ; replacing the departing Kate Jackson...

, Charly Stember, and, notably, Naomi Sims

Naomi Sims

Naomi Ruth Sims was an African American model, businesswoman and author., who is widely credited as being the first African American supermodel.-Early life:...

, making Sims the first African American woman in history to be featured in a cosmetic company's advertising. Television ads featured jingles sung by Bobby Short

Bobby Short

Robert Waltrip "Bobby" Short was an American cabaret singer and pianist, best known for his interpretations of songs by popular composers of the first half of the 20th century such as Rodgers and Hart, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Harold Arlen, Vernon Duke, Noel Coward and George and Ira Gershwin.He...

. Young, working women were set as the target audience, and the ads were said to represent the "new woman" of the era. Hack and Stember wore pantsuits by Ralph Lauren

Ralph Lauren

Ralph Lauren is an American fashion designer and business executive; best known for his Polo Ralph Lauren clothing brand.-Early life:...

 and were the first women to wear pants in fragrance ads. The response proved to be profitable for Revlon, as Charlie became the world's top selling perfume within three years. However, a later ad, showing a female model patting a male model on the backside, was controversial. While some praised the ad as being "playful" and representing "female self-sufficiency," others called it "sexist" and "in poor taste." Subsequent advertising in later decades featured Lauren Hutton

Lauren Hutton

Lauren Hutton is an American model and actress. She is best-known for her starring roles in the movies American Gigolo and Lassiter, and also for her fashion modeling career.-Personal life:...

 and Cindy Crawford

Cindy Crawford

Cynthia Ann "Cindy" Crawford is an American model. Known for her trademark mole just above her lip, Crawford has adorned hundreds of magazine covers throughout her career. She was named #3 on VH1's 40 Hottest Hotties of the 90s...

, with jingles sung by Little Richard

Little Richard

Richard Wayne Penniman , known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the 1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat and...

. Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...

 dedicated a segment of her talk show in 2007 to discuss the impact of Charlie advertising. She stated that the ads inspired her. She wanted to be "confident and fabulous" like the "Charlie girls."

Fragrance composition

Charlie is classified as a floral-aldehyde

Aldehyde

An aldehyde is an organic compound containing a formyl group. This functional group, with the structure R-CHO, consists of a carbonyl center bonded to hydrogen and an R group....

 fragrance. It is composed of citrus, bergamot

Bergamot orange

Citrus bergamia, the Bergamot orange, is a fragrant fruit the size of an orange, with a yellow colour similar to a lemon. Genetic research into the ancestral origins of extant citrus cultivars recently matched the bergamot as a likely hybrid of Citrus limetta and Citrus aurantium...

, hyacinth, green leaf, tarragon

Tarragon

Tarragon or dragon's-wort is a perennial herb in the family Asteraceae related to wormwood. Corresponding to its species name, a common term for the plant is "dragon herb". It is native to a wide area of the Northern Hemisphere from easternmost Europe across central and eastern Asia to India,...

, peach

Peach

The peach tree is a deciduous tree growing to tall and 6 in. in diameter, belonging to the subfamily Prunoideae of the family Rosaceae. It bears an edible juicy fruit called a peach...

, and aldehyde top notes, cyclamen

Cyclamen

Cyclamen is a genus of 23 species of perennials growing from tubers, valued for their flowers with upswept petals and variably patterned leaves...

, carnation

Carnation

Dianthus caryophyllus is a species of Dianthus. It is probably native to the Mediterranean region but its exact range is unknown due to extensive cultivation for the last 2,000 years. It is the wild ancestor of the garden carnation.It is a herbaceous perennial plant growing to 80 cm tall...

, orris root

Orris root

Orris root is a term used for the roots Iris germanica, Iris florentina, and Iris pallida. Once important in western herbal medicine, it is now used mainly as a fixative and base note in perfumery, as well as an ingredient in many brands of gin....

, lily of the valley

Lily of the Valley

Convallaria majalis , commonly known as the lily-of-the-valley, is a poisonous woodland flowering plant native throughout the cool temperate Northern Hemisphere in Asia and Europe....

, jasmine

Jasmine

Jasminum , commonly known as jasmines, is a genus of shrubs and vines in the olive family . It contains around 200 species native to tropical and warm temperate regions of the Old World...

 and rose

Rose

A rose is a woody perennial of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae. There are over 100 species. They form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers are large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows...

 middle notes, and sandalwood

Sandalwood

Sandalwood is the name of a class of fragrant woods from trees in the genus Santalum. The woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and unlike many other aromatic woods they retain their fragrance for decades. As well as using the harvested and cut wood in-situ, essential oils are also extracted...

, musk

Musk

Musk is a class of aromatic substances commonly used as base notes in perfumery. They include glandular secretions from animals such as the musk deer, numerous plants emitting similar fragrances, and artificial substances with similar odors. Musk was a name originally given to a substance with a...

, vanilla

Vanilla

Vanilla is a flavoring derived from orchids of the genus Vanilla, primarily from the Mexican species, Flat-leaved Vanilla . The word vanilla derives from the Spanish word "", little pod...

, oakmoss

Oakmoss

Evernia prunastri, also known as Oakmoss, is a species of lichen. It can be found in many mountainous temperate forests throughout the Northern Hemisphere, including parts of France, Portugal, Spain, North America, and much of Central Europe...

, and cedar

Cedar wood

Cedar wood comes from several different trees that grow in different parts of the world, and may have different uses.* California incense-cedar, from Calocedrus decurrens, is the primary type of wood used for making pencils...

 base notes.

Additional fragrances for women

Spin-off women's fragrances with the Charlie name included:

• Charlie Blue (1973)
• Charlie Red (1993)
• Charlie White (1994)
• Charlie Gold (1995)
• Charlie Express (1995)
• Charlie Sunshine (1997)
• Charlie White Musk (1997)
• Charlie Silver (1998)
• Charlie Crystal Chic (2008)
• Charlie Pink Sparkle (2008)
• Charlie Little Secrets (2008)
• Charlie Secret (2009)
• Charlie Real (2009)
• Charlie Pink (2009)
• Charlie Black (2009)
• Charlie Passion (2009)

Some lines also included complementary bath and body products. Currently, Charlie Red is only in production in Australia and Italy. Charlie Blue, White, Gold, Silver, Secret, Real, Pink, Black, and Passion are only available in Italy and Charlie Crystal Chic, Pink Sparkle, and Little Secrets are only sold in South Africa. Production of Charlie Red and Charlie White was discontinued in North America in 2011, leaving the original Charlie as the only fragrance still available in this market.