Description
This famous perfume was made by Andre Fraysse for Lavine home in 1927. The name was chosen by the daughter of the perfumer. Since she had been involved into music she chose name “Arpege”, i.e. music term arpeggio. The original 1927 formula incredibly corresponded to its musical term – the notes of perfume play their theme alternately. In 1993, the perfume was reconstructed and that was a successful work. The composition was mostly well preserved, but still that was second great perfume. Top notes are: bergamot, aldehide, peach, orange bloom, honeysuckle, orris. In the heart there are: rose, jasmine, ylang-ylang, coriander, sensitive plant, tuberose, violet, and geranium. The base consists of: sandal, vetiver, patchoulis, vanilla and musk.
The bottle is lovely, too. The beautiful figures on the black misted background representing mother and daughter (wife and daughter of the perfumer), who are getting ready for the ball.
In October 2009 the house of Lanvin presents Arpege 120, their popular fragrance created back in 1927, reformed in 1993. The fragrance is composed of such notes as aldehydes, peach, bergamot, orange blossom, honeysuckle, iris, rose, jasmine, ylang-ylang, coriander, mimosa, tuberose, geranium, sandalwood, vetiver, patchouli, vanilla and musk.
New package is work of art director of the house of Lanvin – Alber Elbaz, whose main theme was mother-daughter relation, i.e. sketches of Jean Lanvin and her daughter Margaret, dressed in gorgeous violet dresses created in Parisian style. Lanvin celebrates 120 years of the house with sketched black flacon with golden details and pink hearts around mother and daughter.
The new flacon of Arpege 120 has been available in two amounts, 50 and 100 ml, since October 2009.
Arpege was created by Paul Vacher and Andre Fraysse.
khzserega – :
Vintage scent…so very classy and stylish. Feminine and lady like in every way. Longevity and silage above average. It has really beautiful aldehydes, vertiver, flower and woody notes. All The notes are perfectly blended and turn into a very clean and pleasant dry down. Soapy and rich scent. I just got it but I can feel how this potentially can turn into a loveaffair. Chanel no5 is not far from this scent… but Arpege is much cheaper. I would recommend this to anyone. Love love love
Karry-Cherry – :
I’ve just had a 100ml black bottle/black box delivered from Notino.co.uk for £17 – bargain! This is definitely a classic/vintage scent and I can smell the likeness to Chanel no.5, but the likeness disappears once the top notes settle to let the middle and base notes come through. I did catch a whiff of something- leather? But thankfully it dosnt hang around too long. The drydown is so well blended that I cannot pick out any I individual notes. It smells rich, on the heavy side and its gorgeous!
zubr061093 – :
I’ve just had a 100ml black bottle/black box delivered from Notino.co.uk for £17 – bargain! This is definitely a classic/vintage scent and I can smell the likeness to Chanel no.5, but the likeness disappears once the top notes settle to let the middle and base notes come through. I did catch a whiff of something- leather? But thankfully it dosnt hang around too long. The drydown is so well blended that I cannot pick out any I individual notes. It smells rich, on the heavy side and its gorgeous!
NolanDeinvort – :
I recently purchased a small sample of the vintage Extrait, which is 50 years old or slightly older, and the current ED, to fully understand its complexity.
Oh my, at every moment there is something new to discover. Very strong in aldehydes at first dab/spray; at one point, with the EDT, I got a whiff of a urinal, then something sweetly dead. With both, there was peaches and lime, jasmine, tea, powder, soap; there’s lavender ( even though there is none present in the original formula), rose, vanilla (benzion?), and smoke (amber?musk?), somewhere in there hiding. The extrait is warmer, sweeter and much more interesting and wearable than the EDT. I prefer the extrait above the EDT and hope I can find a larger vintage lot without breaking the bank. The dry down after an hour or so is still so complicated I can’t give more of an honest review except in descriptions as visuals because it changes so frequently;
A dark corner at dusk in Paris at the Rue de la Butte aux Cailles….
A seductive Parisian woman in her 80’s.
A seductive middle aged American woman in 1929.
A smoky Parisian tavern.
A confused young woman in a Jasmin patch contemplating her unrequited and forbidden love.
A Sunday evening bath.
A cold winter evening with a cup of Jasmin Tea.
An evening in India alone in a patchouli field.
An evening alone. Period. It’s quite strong.
bclantrader – :
My little bottle of Arpege reminds me that I’ve smelled this perfume before, but I can’t recall where and on whom.
This one’s a classic vintage aldehyde with a big opening and softer dry down. Intense florals dry to something almost masculine with a hint of leather. Arpege is not a typical feminine fragrance, hidden under the lush opening is something tough and mysterious.
I applied Arpege on the same hand as Sublime, and A. gave S. a run for its money. Both are big fragrances with strong notes, but the settled scent of Arpege was better than Sublime.
Arpege has been reformulated, and I don’t know how the new version is. I’ll stick with the vintage so I can enjoy this blast from the elegant past.
KotV – :
This transforms beautifully on me. I absolutely love it.
Braidsdak – :
Keira Knightley is to Chanel No 5 as is what Monica Bellucci is to Lanvin Arpege.
Strong, sexy…mature and goes the distance. X
videoxchat – :
A truly fantastic fragrance of the times past: intense, feminine, intoxicatingly beautiful.
Soapy, floral and of the same style as Chanel N° 5.
10/10
A masterpiece!!
punisher8887 – :
Lately, I’ve been buying fragrances that I wore in the 70’s and 80’s. Some of the ones I used to dislike I like now and some like Arpege I remember liking. Well, I just received a bottle in the mail that I won on an ebay auction for under $20 for the 3.4 edp. It’s in the round clear bottle. I’m up in the air about it. I’ve had it on for about a half hour now and it’s toned down some but holy smokes I don’t remember it being this overpowering. I’m getting a bit of the powder now but it is an intense blast of aldehydes and I’m not really smelling any florals. Hopefully it will lighten up soon but I think it will be best suited for cooler weather. I’m in Florida so it might be awhile before I wear it again.
roma2010 – :
Terrible. I don’t know how to describe it. All my worst nightmares of ‘vintage’ scent rolled into one. Like something dredged from the bottom of a hoarder’s garage sale box mixed with animal waste. Sorry.
Kordevoj – :
Received a bottle of vintage MY SIN and ARPÈGE, both in the “Eau de Lanvin” strengths, essentially a strong eau-de-toilette. I can’t help comparing them, as they are “siblings” from the same era, and share some DNA.
As another Fragrantica reviewer has correctly observed, they are Yin and Yang to each other, the way Piguet’s FRACAS is to BANDIT, Guerlain’s L’HEURE BLEUE is to SHALIMAR, Dana TABU to AMBUSH. ARPÈGE is “solar”, or “Appolonian” while MY SIN is “lunar” and “Dionysian”. Both are products of the grand era of French perfumery, of the first half of the 20thc.
MY SIN has heavy-lidded, nocturnal flowers as her starring characters, rooted, as we know, in a pronounced musk base of civet, ambergris and costus root. ARPÈGE is brighter, more “golden” to MY SIN’s “deep violet-blue”. ARPÈGE is definitely more balsamic, and I detect not only benzoin, but tolu balsam and quite possibly myrrh and opoponax; perhaps it is the tolu that kisses ARPÈGE with a certain fleeting spicy nigh-cinnamon quality, certainly given edge by a pleasingly bitter coriander. ARPÈGE is more “cheering” and “society chic” where MY SIN is more seductive, somewhat “glowering”, and she has her eyes firmly set on the boudoir, not the ballroom. In fact, ARPÈGE even seems to have a slight “smoking cigarette” hint. Sometimes, with a more lavish application, the confluence of floral indole, civet, styrax and phantom vanilla conspire to offer an almost “cocoa” vibe, ringed with a nigh-sardine-tinted ambergris edge, soon dispelled, though, by the medicinal aldehydes and petrolated woods.
ARPÈGE is woodier, and her powderiness is somewhat drier, more stimulating than MY SIN’s moonlit floral brew. ARPÈGE definitely possesses more citrus rinds… not only bergamot, but possibly lime and grapefruit, giving her a more tart, “thirst-quenching” cocktail quality. Her stone fruit hint is subtle and fresh, while MY SIN’s is ripe to nearly rotting.
Both are undeniably great aldehydics of yore, and it’s that sensuous éclat, no doubt softened by the old nitro-musks, that gives them a decided “oldschool” French quality, which, to an untrained nose, may smell “old-ladyish” or even possibly “Hollywood melodramatic”, but connoisseurs know this old quality is to be treasured and admired, not dismissed. Remember, ARPÈGE was initially designed for a 14-year-old girl!
Typical of early 20thc perfumery, both perfumes are seamlessly blended… no notes stand out at all, but the whole thing merges into a distinctive whole, greater than the sum of its parts. Where modern perfumes, with their surfeit of synthetic and trendy aromachemicals, are like a sharp (and somewhat unchanging) 1080p digital photograph,
these oldschool perfumes are more like an Impressionistic watercolor, with soft, indistinct edges. That is their beauty, not their liability.
Because these earlier numbers contained a hefty proportion of natural essences, they naturally degrade in different styles and rates than modern perfumes will tend to do, even when kept in the best cool environs. You may buy 3 vintage MY SINs or ARPÈGEs off eBay, and they all will smell quite noticeably different. I have 2 ARPÈGEs here, and two MY SINs, all with unknown provenance but purchased from independent sellers on eBay: They are all different: one will have a striking freesia and ylang-ylang takeoff, where, in its homologue, those notes are only hinted at. One MY SIN will contain dramatic– and undeniably authentic– animalics starring, with their not-unpleasant purring fetor undergirding the floralcy; another MY SIN will read as a more linear aldehydic, a brilliant holiday postcard, say, from the darker-smelling juice. But this is all par-for-the-course when buying vintage from eBay… You can never be sure what you’re going to get.
In ARPÈGE, the dry sandalwood seems to be a prominent, character-defining middle-note; in MY SIN, the sandalwood smells more incensey, and is proffered as a supporting basenote, married to styrax for a leathery rub.
Some have compared MY SIN and ARPÈGE to Chanel NO. 5, but they are similar only in that they are all oldschool aldehydics… there the similarity ends; of the three, NO.5 is the most unapologetically synthetic and brilliant… shiny and cellophane-like, just as Coco Chanel prescribed. The Lanvins have deeper complexities afoot.
What is so skillful about these old classic numbers is: No one note is ever allowed to fully “sing” unchecked: every note has an “opposing” or “squaring” note that checks its path, coyly sending your attention elsewhere. That’s what makes these so fascinating and hard to describe: As soon as you detect any note, a dissimilar note steps in to parry it. That’s just perfumery genius, and all aspiring perfumers need to learn this sly blending technique.
All my Lanvins are glorious, though, and hearken to an era of elegance now long-gone. The time is soon approaching, I suspect, in which there will be no senior citizens around who will be able to identify these grand old numbers on your neck.
тэра – :
Blind buy I try every few weeks, still hoping to find the beauty.
Headache? No.
Choking nausea? Yes.
Dry cleaners do chemicals better.
I blame the reformulation…or perhaps I’m allergic to one of its components.
masya-lab – :
@ stronggirl
You don’t have a bad bottle that’s for sure.
I blind bought this & man did I regret it.
I sprayed 3 sprays & the moment I got into my car, my mum said “what is that terrible smell?? It smells like (I hate to say this) cat pee”.
It’s a strange perfume. Never got around to loving it, gave me a massive headache & had me feeling nauseous.
I still have it but I’ll be tossing it out.
Usol-88 – :
The first perfume i could not smell What is this? Then after 3 minutes some strange wet old rag smell well i should have tried more I only tried it 3 times and got the same strange effect Probably got a bad bottle
lsd25 – :
Another blind buy. I don’t know why, but the base of patchouli and sandlewood is absolutely overwhelming on my skin. I can barely smell any of the other elements of this perfume, and I truely dislike patchouli. After scrubbing, it still lingers on my skin and clothes – a very powerful scent.
buinennySuisp – :
I tend to love jasmine and peach in a fragrance, and this perfume has a particularly heavenly smoky peach accord.
I love this fragrance.
It is Louise Brooks’ iconic Art Deco glamour and black bob hair cut embodied through scent.
marminegree – :
Just no. OR, to be more period-appropriate, “no thank you, dearest”. The very essence of aggressively aldehyde-heavy, nuclear, fake, harshly artificial aromachemical femininity of the 1950s. It doesn’t smell like anything natural – just “like perfume” – and perfume of the worst, most stereotypical sort. Choking cloy cloud of noxious gases at first, then dying back to a merely anonymous and metallic sort-of-jasmine later.
It’s partly just because floral aldehydes are so precisely not my thing (hence I’ve never found a Chanel I could love), but this one’s a notable stinker even in that class. The jasmine seems to be made out of aluminium filings somehow.
It’s absolutely fortunate that this ‘shrinks’ so fast (the aldehyde assault lets up about an hour in and the fake-flower-fug recedes after a couple more … and as a skin scent it’s kind of OK) – but when the best thing I can say about a scent is ‘don’t worry it’ll be over soon enough’, then that’s not good.
Urgh. Simply horrid. For me, anyway. If you specifically like this mid-20th-century femme style, and love aldehydes in particular, it may make you happy. For me it smells like Joan Crawford, wielding her heaviest wire clothes-hanger. Shudders….
myxovinka – :
Just bought a black EDP bottle of Arpege. The first spray was very strong aldehydes, it was like a slap on your face, the dry down smelled like some kind of tea, it wasn’t a love yet. I tried and tried again, I finally grew from a “little like” to a “strong like”, Arpege is a beautiful perfume. When it’s dry, Arpege smells heavenly, relaxing jasmine with some powdery note, remind me of the aroma from delicious jasmine tea (I had a jasmine tree in my parent house in SE Asia, it smells just like that-garden with jasmine tree). Just like other classics, such as Shalimar and Mitsuoko (which both have become my top favorites), it takes a while to get to really enjoy this perfume.
DBRytkoplins – :
I can’t believe the quality for how cheap this can be acquired…such a classy, mature scent. I love it! Multifaceted like a diamond, this fragrance shimmers with many layers. Powdery, sweet, soapy, a little bitter, a bit musty but in an intriguing way, like a dirty version of Chanel No 5. I wasn’t expecting much when I blind bought this and didn’t expect to love it so much either but I’m so happy to have this gorgeous scent. I reach for it more than my Chanels lately and that’s saying a lot.
There is a similarity to My Sin but it has a bitter tart note that My Sin lacks and I find that note to be very addictive. Hard to explain. Arpege is a masterpiece!
Oldr – :
Powdery, powdery, and more powdery (vintage)
It’s aldehyde powder, with carnaionts, ylang, musk, coriander, soft peaches, iris, roses, and lily of the valley.
From the first sniff i got that face powder note and it remains there till the end. Honestly, it’w quite interesting and captivating as i love the smell of the face powder allot. This is a winner.
gmit09 – :
Ah, so bitter and beautiful, too special to let me just not buy one. My sister did the other day and I told her a little about Arpege…although that perfume was formulated before even my grandmother was born.
Funny how scents like Arpege lead me to think of what perfume really should be, not some of those floral cocktail messes I smell. Reminds me a bit of Tom Ford “Black Orchid” I think…and that’s on my wish list.
I will buy it…the customer service clerk lamented that it stays on the shelves so long because people don’t know about perfumes like Arpege in my Caribbean country…and that when this supply is done they wont be bringing in any more. I will get one soon! I KNOW about Arpege and its so long in the tooth it could be my great great grand mother. Love this one, a worthy buy!
icyjkee – :
I just got a vintage Arpege extrait and splash- Eau de Lanvin on the bottle. And honestly, it’s nothing like the current black bottle.
Vintage Arpege smells very very similar to vintage No. 5 Cologne. I love it, but No. 5 is stronger IMO- and therefore preferred.
The current Arpege, while totally different– is it’s own unique sparkling, fresh, floral, feminine awesomeness. I think I actually prefer newer Arpege because it’s more unique. This vintage stuff has been done before. However, anything that smells like vintage No. 5, Arpege, My Sin, etc…. is AWESOME and should be collected by myself and hoarded. 😉
I bought myself a bottle of the clear glass Arpege today. I hope that’s what I get. If not, I do love the black version so no biggie.
I find the current EDP of Arpege to have HUGE sillage and potency, so that’s great. Current Arpege is also a bit “poopy” but I kinda dig that. 😉
zolot9876 – :
This is my second try on this bottle of arpege, unlike arpege ec’lat (which I enjoyed and finished the bottle too quickly) , this arpege left me confused after the first spray. I did not get any of those floral notes everyone was talking about. I left the bottle alone for 5 months and today I took the courage to give it another try.
Ooh la la, I’m glad I did not give up on it, it started with bursts of the sweetest mixture of adelhydic bergamot and orange blossom, the potency quickly escalates into a beautiful bouquet of ylang and gazillion of jasmine on me. The Sillage at this point was enormous, every time I move my arms, it’s like the scent formed tiny halos that spew its arpege babies all around me. (My imagination runs wild). It finally settled with some sweet and warm jasmine/ mimosa. This is my new love and I will stock up.
Angel_angelik – :
This is pure elegance in a bottle. I smelled this a customer and mainly got the peach, and I had to ask her what this smell was. She told me “Why, it’s just Arpege.” I immediately bought a bottle, and I cannot say any more enthusiastically how I adore this scent. On myself, I smell the aldehydes, but the florals — my god, the floral notes — are simply decadent. I get the “Old Lady” vibe that people tell me I have when I wear it, but it simply means it was the vogue of a more aesthetic era. You cannot, even Chanel No. 5 cannot do it, smell more purely of grace and elegance than what comes in this glorious “Boule noir.”
insilaCrura – :
This is an interesting one. Being fairly new to perfumes still, I hadn’t realized this was a cult perfume a la Chanel No5 when I bought it. I just found it online on a sale for cheap, saw that it had good reviews here and knew I like the key notes listed here (besides aldehydes, which no one has yet been able to explain to me what exactly that smell is supposed to be).
I took the plunge and I’m happy I did. It’s an intriguing fragrance, and I have trouble placing or describing it. It’s strong and long-lasting, though, definitely top-echelon in its resilience. One single spritz can still be smelled hours later. It’s vaguely floral, yet also animalistic to me (is that the aldehydes ?). I think Ylang Ylang is what I smell the most, along with honeysuckle – the perfume definitely has this thick, almost buttery/oily and animalistic quality to it. It also smells a bit like pot purri, or rotting fruits or flowers – not ROTTEN, mind you. But rotting, that sweet, slightly musky, almost off-putting but still kind of interesting smell.
I’m a man and I probably wouldn’t wear it regularly, but every once in a while I do get a morbid curiosity and use it, just out of fascination.
BMP88 – :
I wore Arpege in the late 70’s and loved it. In those days there wasn’t a lot of disposable income available to me for perfume, so I had to pick one and I remember easily preferring this to the also very popular Chanel No. 5. Over the years I invested more in perfume and branched out to try many other scents but still enjoyed an occasional Arpege evening till my bottle ran out.
A few years ago I re-bought what must have been the new formulation and I confess the magic is gone. It doesn’t smell the same and, maybe my taste has changed too. I wear it very occasionally, hoping to find again some ghost of my old love but it just doesn’t have much appeal for me anymore.
klya13051992 – :
I’m going to be unpopular. This smells nothing like my beautiful 1980s Arpege which incodentally was a far more ‘expensive’ fragrance. It was a wood leather Violet that was too complex to describe. This has become primarily an aldehyde like Worth’s ‘Je Reviens’ which is one of the few scents I actively HATE. To me ‘Je Reviens’ smells like moth balls or those old fashioned Jeyes fresheners with dark green liquid in a bottle. Mind you I do wear my ‘Arpege’. But rarely. It’s very powerful and old fashioned. I guess I wear it in homage to the old ‘Arpege’ and the French ‘glamour’ of Paris many years ago.
Irriseate – :
Powerful, it’s impossible to keep a low profile while wearing it. VERY long lasting.
To me, it opens in a blast of jasmine (and maybe a citrus note ?), but after 30 minutes turns to a more masculine scent on my skin, almost bitter, kind of fecal. Other fragrantica user told me it would be the civet note. It just doesn’t work for me.
Fribble – :
This perfume served to educate me on the limitations of my nose, so for that I will be thankful (especially now that she is out of my collection and safely shipped away to someone who will give this grand old dame the love she deserves).
After sniffing this perfume and recoiling, then spraying it on my arm and suffering through an hour of not scrubbing it off, hoping for a miraculous transformation in the dry down (and not getting it), a light bulb went off in my head. What did this and the other “NOPES” I had sniffed before have in common? Well, I finally figured it out: I dislike fragrances that are high-aldehyde, civet-heavy, indolic, and/or have a cassis (black currant leaf) note. Another red flag for me is a notes list with every possible flower imaginable. Now I know to avoid perfumes–and *never* blind buy ones–that have one or more of these elements in combination because it seems I will *always* catch soapy-to-a-fault, sour, thick, dusty, musty, mothball, fecal, and/or urine notes in these perfumes, and I find them suffocating to boot.
Alas, lots of beloved vintage classics are scrubbers for me because of this aversion. Arpege, for instance, hits my nose as an overwhelming mixture of B.O., Chanel No. 5, and pee.
I leave this review only because perhaps it will help other newbies-to-the-fragrance-world understand why a perfume loved by so many might not do it for them. My apologies, Dame Arpege: it is most definitely me, not you. Perhaps my nose will evolve some day to include you, but for now there are too many other perfumes to sniff and too little time!
Саня 007 – :
Got a vintage bottle of this off of ebay and had to return it. I see the similarities with No. 5 but it has a disgusting note that I can’t place. Once it settles on the skin it isn’t as bad but still there. It’s a vague musky, sweaty type smell. No. 5 is much better in my opinion.
I have a feeling the new one might smell better.
kafel 69 – :
After nearly 10 years and 7 bottles. I have come to the end of my Arpege exploration. I have mist bottles from the 1960s, extraits from the 1970s. Eau d’Arpege from the 1980s and a current formula from around 2006. Finally, I have the 1993 relaunch in the clear ‘boule’, this the strongest golden liquid. It is as iconic as Chanel no.5, Shalimar and Joy, yet it keeps morphing into it current incarnation each decade, unlike its contemporaries.
Wow! They are all different and yet somehow the same. Its strange how the older formulas are fragile and potent at the same time. Memories of pearls, furs, gloves and heavy powdered makeup that are mostly forgotten today. They are dry, nocturnal and wintery, holding many secrets. It is a “ghost perfume” as I have never encountered it in public, yet it haunt my dreams, like the many lives I have never lived. It is heartbreakingly beautiful and somewhat elusive. The fascination with Arpege is that it carries these mysteries that we will never solve.
The 1993 formula from Cosmair is really a flanker(Arpege du Jour?) that turns down the aldehydes and focuses on warmer notes. Its heart is still true to the original miraculously and simply reinterprets the original notes. Its not as dry and just as alluring as its predecessors. Its the loudest Arpege ever gets almost to the point of shouting “hey don’t forget me!!!” Its later 2006 reformulation seems to loose something, yet echoes the classic. Eclat d’Arpege from 2002 is whole other story and continues to sell well.
This is perhaps the most vivid evolution of a perfume I have witnessed in modern history. This is evidence that “this floral aldehyde” is still relevant when you have outgrown caramel coated fruitchoulis and need something more grown up for your wedding. Its spirit continues on as it is a true classic into the 21st century. It keeps the promise of romance and refined elegance in our rushed and busy lives. Each new generation dares to explore is mysteries and love it or hate it, it still carries its own.
Евгений79 – :
I had a bottle growing up in the 80s and used it all up, I loved it.
I bought a newish bottle a while ago and I really really couldn’t stand it. It was overpowering and I felt ill wearing it. I was very disappointed.
I found another vintage bottle on ebay that no one seemed to want to give a home to and I thought “WHY NOT!” – and bought it – and now I love it again. The subtle delicate well crafted scent was back.
I’m not against modern fragrances but I seem to be super picky about them.
Arpege, thank you for still being good, even if your time with me will be limited to older bottles.
Skylik – :
Wow this is stunning ! I blind bought it based on the reviews ! And it truly lived up to my expectations
Update: I’m wearing this today and this is gorgeous. It’s a little sweet but in the most magical non -synthetic way. !
ProduceR – :
Ladies, oh ladies, let me tell you 🙂
I work mainly from home and I wear fragrances to suit myself. I recently rotated my perfumes and although I don’t really think of Arpege as belonging to any particular season, I reach for it more in the colder weather.
I ventured out for lunch today and EVERY man I talked to commented on my scent. My favorite local bartender, Rick, leaned in to clasp my hand and grinned. “Kathy, whatever you are wearing is delicious.”
Arpege, yes, the glamorous, timeless, and very affordable Arpege.
I wear Shalimar, Flowerbomb, La Vie Est Belle, Obsession (my signature scent), Cinnabar, Opium, too many high end beauties to list here. Arpege is the only one I have ever been complimented on in my lunchtime restaurant. I spritzed it on to suit myself, but I got a whole lot more out of it today.
Try it, and if you want a decant hit me up.
Merry Christmas,
K.
dbjoni99 – :
What say more about this classic masterpiece?
Well, just I noticed it is very similar with Rive Gauche, Arpege it is more spicy and talc, but actually they share an high presence of aldehydes and have a lot notes in common. It has something of habanita also.
svitluk – :
I love Arpege it’s what let me know I liked aldehydes in a fragrance. I also loved it because my mom wore it in the 70’s and I used to smell the bottle as a kid. I just thought it smelled so good. She doesn’t wear it anymore but I loved it on her, so I decided to try it myself. I love it on me and I get a lot of compliments which I wasn’t expecting from this. It has a magnetic charm that draws people to it or me when I wear it. I was surprised and Thought wow so this is the magic of this scent. I still wear this on special occasions or when I want to remember things from long ago. It’s a truly lovely fragrance that I will always own or keep. Timeless.
Grajek-D34 – :
This is one of the wonderful aromas of my mother as she and my dad had their weekly night out. She would kiss us good-bye/good night, and this mixed with her Revlon foundation in the glass bottle (1960s) just smelled SOOO good. From what I understand, what is sold today is a good representation or the original.
fish240377 – :
Arpege is the gateway to aldehydic fragrances.
If you’re someone who’s put off by big aldehydes (No.5, Caleche, First) then Arpege is a great starter into the Aldehydic olfactory group. The waxy aldehydes are there, but they are well blended and a bit softer.
Arpege is complicated. There’s a ton of notes which evolve and fade over a few hours. That flowery start is going to evolve into a musky powder. How does it do that without smelling weird at some point? That’s part of Arpege’s charm.
I especially like some of the early vintages, and it’s worth trying a few versions to find one that’s perfect for you.
Кристиновка – :
My bottle is a mini from the late 1940s? The aldyhedes and florals in this version are still remarkably fresh with undertones of powdery musk. Arpege is old-fashioned, but still very wearable. If Arpege were hiding between new Estee Lauder fragrances, you’d never know it was launched in the 1920s. Arpege is something I would wear to a “shareholder’s meeting”. The musky florals of this era are both masculine and feminine at the same time. For me, they convey the message, “you don’t know what my game is, so don’t mess with me”.
kimidensza – :
Review about black oval bottle with gold cap (version 2007):
– reminds First by Van Cliff (I have both, not dupes but in the same family)
– classic
– it is old and inexpensive but I am not shy to wear it (It was not my granny signature scent)
– good staying power, do not overspray
– more wearable then Chanel 5, more smooth
LOVE IT.
Quality perfume for a song (less then $20 for 1.7 EDP on Ebay/ October 2017)
EmersonBlankenship – :
I have this one in body oil version . It is very concentrated and I have to call it Dark Spice . Its sold by Zelda’s. I’ve tried others and this one is a warm spice note.
Belcastro – :
I bought bottle of perfume before 2016, and it was absolutely wonderful. Better than No. 5. It was my signature scent. Curent version of perfume is saddly weaker then before, like five time used tea bag. I miss some deep flower acords in the perfume too. For me it´s one of worst perfume reformulation and it´s heartbreaking. I will storage my last drops of old perfume for my wedding.
Kris23 – :
Interesting. I have never tested Chanel No.5 edp until recently, and found it far from what I imagined it to be. As the iconic floral aldehydic perfume, the current version of No. 5, in my humble opinion, lacks the aldehydic edge, and reduce itself to a mess of boneless foral notes.
Arpege, instead, fits all my (imaginary) impression of No.5.
medegomedge – :
I just got a vintage Eau Arpege today, 50ml…. but doesn’t say what concentration this version is… EDT?
It really doesn’t smell like my current black bottle EDP formula but Eau is really good! Vintage-y like an old No. 5– no poopy jasmine like the EDP, but also very light/linear compared to the EDP. Very light and pleasing, doesn’t last long on skin. I intend to put the splash into a spray atomizer and go nuts.
I love my current EDP, and I love this. Eau is more of a vintage-generic-floral-musk-aldehydes but it’s just what I like!
saschka23 – :
Andre Fraysse and Paul Vacher created it for Jeanne Lanvin (1867-1946) in 1927. The name Arpege (arpeggio) was chosen by the musician daughter of Lanvin.
With Chanel N ° 5 and JOY by Jean Patou, Arpege is the TRIADE of the world’s best known scents.
Lanvin asked a formidable, rich, quality and quantity perfume.
In 1993 the fragrance was rebuilt with such documental and scientific precision to be deserved by the applause of Lanvin’s classmates. Mother and daughter on the bottle prepare for the dance.
Luca Turin has carefully analyzed her peculiarities of great charm, suggesting her use to men. As fashion has brought perfumers, for years now, to propose to the male public fragrances of precious wood and vanilla that have met the general enthusiasm of the public.
Benzoin and vanilla are not too sweet: patchouli and vetiver reduce their effects, modulating them on sandalwood notes. And it’s a blossoming of flowers on amber and moss notes. The iris here is a dream!
It’s a little sweeter and more sweet than Chanel N ° 5, it has a fantastic sillage.
Tarik – :
This is so beautiful absolutely gorgeous scent. One of the best fragrances ever made in my opinion. I love it to death. If I feel I want something beautiful and romantic and sexy I choose this. But not too much; it’s a very strong fragrance so use it carefully and don’t overdose. I like it much more than Chanel No5. It’s more sweet and feminine. No5 is more woody and leathe