Van Cleef & Arpels
Van Cleef & Arpels
313 votes
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Artemisia and coriander strike first with almost pharmaceutical brightness, immediately joined by rosemary's camphoraceous snap and a tart bergamot that feels sharp rather than cheerful. Within moments, the composition settles into a distinctly herbal freshness—you're standing in a sunlit herb garden, not a perfume bottle.
The green heart expands as juniper and pine emerge, creating an evergreen dryness that's gently spiced by pepper and tarragon. Geranium adds rose-like structure without sweetness, whilst carnation contributes clove-tinged warmth, and a restrained lily of the valley suggests delicacy rather than announcing it. The composition becomes increasingly aromatic and complex, almost cologne-like in its sophisticated refinement.
Oakmoss and cedarwood establish a woody, slightly mossy base whilst leather adds subtle roughness. The fragrance becomes increasingly skeletal and austere as top notes evaporate—a faint coconut sweetness and musk linger as ghostly traces, but Tsar ultimately dissolves into a dry, woody whisper that barely lingers on skin.
Tsar is a fragrance caught between ambition and restraint, a fougère that bristles with herbal insurrection rather than offering comfortable familiarity. Philippe Bousseton has constructed something genuinely austere here—the opening salvo of artemisia and coriander creates an almost medicinal sharpness, as if you've crushed dried herbs between your palms, before rosemary and lavender add a linty, slightly dusty quality that prevents any softness from taking root.
What makes Tsar genuinely compelling is its refusal to bloom into conventional florality. The heart notes—a surprising constellation of geranium, juniper, pine, and tarragon—create a green, slightly spicy tension that reads less like a traditional bouquet and more like an aromatic garden after rain. The pepper adds bite; the carnation contributes a clove-tinged spiciness rather than sweetness; even the jasmine feels somewhat restrained, herbaceous rather than indolic. Lily of the valley provides the only genuinely delicate moment, a whisper of green freshness amongst all this botanical austere.
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3.9/5 (503)