For the uninitiated, Van Cleef & Arpels is a French jewellery company of the highest level, created in the late 1800s. Its master jewellers have designed pieces for royalty. Just think of the wedding set of the beautiful Princess Grace of Monaco, and still today, we find their precious jewels in luxury boutiques around the world. And Tsar is a masterpiece, an emerald in the world of perfumery. But what does Tzar mean? According to Wikipedia, Tzar also spelt czar, or csar, is a title used to designate the Eastern and Southern Slavic monarchs. In the latter capacity, he lends his name to a system of government, the tsarist autocracy or tsarism. The term derives from the Latin word Caesar, which must have meant "emperor" in the medieval European sense of the term. A sovereign with the same rank as the Roman emperor, who held it for the approval of another emperor or a supreme official clergyman (the pope or the ecumenical patriarch), was usually considered by Western Europeans to be equivalent to "king". Tsar cologne is turning 30 something, and precisely it was launched in 1989. I was 25, and the scent sounded a bit too mature for my age, too much to bear. I knew it was good, so damn good, heralded as a solid and unmistakable identity, but I did not dare and passed it. So, this fragrance slipped under my radar until five years ago. Now I am ready for it.
Is it a
Pour Homme Eau de Toilette flanker? No, it is not. It is more elegant, metrosexual, less rude and manly. Let's immerse ourselves in the perfume. First, the cologne loses some of the classic fougère and focuses more on the aromatic and green aspects. As soon as the juice touches my skin, I get an explosion of aromatic and green accords. Be careful because the sprayer is generous and releases a massive amount of fluid with a single splash. The top features many greens, moist, and herbaceous notes. It reminds me of a digestive liqueur made from hundreds of herbs. Bitter mugwort and herbaceous lavender are noticeable and masterfully blended with savoury rosemary and lemon coriander. Dried lavender, almost hay-like, becomes prominent after a few minutes, calming and relaxing. Citrus and flowers don't stand out too much, but they are there to tame the otherwise overly aromatic edges. In the initial stage, I can get a fresh and delicate atmosphere. The first squirt will knock you down, but wait and let it grow.
Let the boisterous opening settle down and soon exude a spicy floral accord. Again, it's not a dominant floral heart, and the flowers are very subtle. Instead, the bouquet of creamy white and red flowers amalgamates with some spices and resins. Cinnamon is most noticeable here, with balsamic juniper berries and resinous pine needles. I feel a hint of powdery iris root, and I imagine perfumed talcum powder clouds. Not as dominant or with a lipstick vibe as in modern colognes like
Dior Homme Original (2011) Eau de Toilette and
Valentino Uomo (2014) Eau de Toilette. The intermediate phase is strongly balsamic, scented with woody scents. It isn't easy to pick the rose or lily as a stand-alone note in this resinous realm.
And then comes the drydown, with a mossy, leathery base. The scent becomes a little soapy and clean but excellently in the final stage. Soapy, but far from the traditional barbershop. There is amber wood stained with musky oak. The excellent birch note smells the most in this context for what it is rather than as a leather substitute. In this recent version, sandalwood and patchouli are subdued.
Tsar doesn't smell as complex or sophisticated as the myriad notes listed above suggest. I'm not afraid to use the words retro and old school here because this cologne belongs to that genre. A good daytime fragrance that also wears well in the evening. It is more appropriate for late autumn and early spring cold months. While I think it smells like the eighties, it's still a compliment attractor. A couple of people I work with, a man and a woman, said to me, "What good perfume are you wearing? What is it?"
I base my review on a 100ml bottle I have owned since December 2017 (BC 01h12h047, 2017-02-16).
-Elysium