Van Cleef & Arpels
Van Cleef & Arpels
712 votes
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The bergamot and lemon arrive with zesty clarity, almost cologne-like in their brightness, but within moments the rosemary emerges with herbaceous weight, immediately grounding the citrus and hinting at something more contemplative beneath. It's the olfactory equivalent of dusk—golden light colliding with approaching darkness.
The leather and mat tea settle into a sophisticated softness, the lily of the valley adding a creamy, almost powdered feminine whisper without sentimentality. Here the fragrance achieves its most compelling balance—spiced, slightly astringent, wholly refined—where the florality serves the leather rather than competing with it.
The tonka bean and amber collapse into a skin scent, gossamer-thin and increasingly difficult to detect without pressing your wrist to your nose. The frankincense lingers as a barely-there whisper of smoke, whilst the powdery accords fade to an abstract memory of comfort rather than presence. Within hours, it becomes more idea than perfume.
Midnight in Paris is a fragrance that courts contradiction—a whispered confession rather than a declaration. Olivier Polge has constructed something deliberately ephemeral, almost defiant in its refusal to announce itself. The bergamot and lemon opening suggests vitality, yet the composition's true character emerges in the tension between the leather's dusty richness and the delicate lily of the valley, which never fully blooms but instead hovers like a half-remembered melody. The mat tea (likely matcha) introduces a subtle astringency that prevents the tonka bean and amber from becoming overtly gourmand; instead, these base notes create a powdery, slightly spiced softness—think of old leather armchairs in a library at dusk, barely perfumed by incense smoke.
This is a scent for those who've cultivated their tastes in shadow rather than sunlight. It wears like a dark velvet jacket: substantial in fabric, restrained in presentation. The 76% spiciness accord runs through it like a fine thread, never aggressive, warming rather than igniting. There's an almost melancholic sensuality here—the fragrance of someone returning to an empty apartment after midnight, lighting a cigarette, watching the city lights blur through rain-streaked windows.
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4.2/5 (378)