Tsar Van Cleef & Arpels (1989) Eau de Toilette

Tsar (Eau de Toilette) by Van Cleef & Arpels

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Tsar (Eau de Toilette) (Van Cleef & Arpels)

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7.8 / 10 246 Ratings

Tsar (Eau de Toilette) is a popular perfume by Van Cleef & Arpels for men and was released in 1989. The scent is spicy-green. It was last marketed by Inter Parfums.

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Perfumer

Philippe Bousseton

Fragrance Notes

Top Notes	Artemisia, Bergamot, Coriander, Lavender, Neroli, Rosemary
Heart Notes	Tarragon, Geranium, Jasmine, Lily-of-the-valley, Carnation, Pepper, Pine, Rose, Juniper
Base Notes	Amber, Oakmoss, Coconut, Leather, Musk, Patchouli, Sandalwood, Tonka bean, Vetiver, Cedar

Ratings

Scent

7.8 (246 Ratings)

Longevity

7.3 (176 Ratings)

Sillage

6.8 (170 Ratings)

Bottle

6.9 (167 Ratings)

Submitted by Kankuro, last update on 03.11.2019

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Reviews

10/24/2019

8.0 8.0 8.0 9.5/10

Plasmic
10 Reviews

Plasmic

Sample to Bottle

Tested years ago, purchased this year a full bottle. The 1ml sample I had, lived with me in my memories all this years. It's different, in a very elegant manner. There is nothing that feels more green, wet, mossy and alive than this fragrance, to my unexperienced nose of course. It is such an elegant, herbal creamy miracle that still enchants nostrills decades after it's been created. I would give it a 10, but due to the fact I havent smelled thousands of fragrances, I'll stick to a 9,5. :)

05/03/2018

8.0 7.0 7.0 9.0/10

Attlas
7 Reviews

Attlas

Rainy nature in a bottle!

This was not a love at first sniff for me, so I suggest you to take some time to familiarize. This is not that sunny clean fresh grass. This is a rainy forest!! The more i try "Green scents" the more I like this one. And in general, I find this to have a distinctive character.
You will feel rich, refined and assertive with this one. Very masculine, elegant.
And... (belive me!!) this is medicinal! One time I had my nose clogged and I felt a sleep sniffing Tsar and it really did clear my nose.
So... give it a chance and you will understand it's uniqueness

09/22/2015

WildGardener
100 Reviews

WildGardener

The Car Phone, 3.8 litre Jag and Tsar

Fruity aromatic with pepper, carnation and a cold breeze running through it.
Develops a sweet undertone with age.

A well made conservative fougère that evokes the ambience of Board Meetings, in 1979.

08/05/2015

2.5 5.0 7.5 8.0/10

Drseid
671 Reviews

Drseid

Helpful Review 4

A Slow Successful Courtship...

*This is a review of vintage Tsar.

Tsar (vintage) opens with a mixture of sweet candied tonka bean, aromatic lavender and nose tingling bergamot citrus with green oakmoss support. Moving to the early heart, the tonka bean derived candied sweetness remains but is significantly diminished as the bergamot vacates, leaving the aromatic lavender joining with the now significant green oakmoss as it rises to co-star status with a hint of cinnamon spice, transparent vetiver, green pine and lily-of-the-valley add support. During the late dry-down the green Oakmoss takes control adding a slight powdery sheen to an emerging underlying moderately sharp cedarwood and hard leather co-starring duo through the finish with earthy patchouli support. Projection is average and longevity very good at 11-12 hours on skin.

Tsar (vintage) on paper looked like the kind of composition that would wow me from the get-go, but in actuality that wasn't the case. It turns out this is a composition that it takes many outings to appreciate to the fullest. The initial thing that made it difficult to love was the candied tonka bean derived sweetness that permeates the open and the early heart. As one who dislikes relatively sweet compositions this was more than a bit off-putting. That said, the sweetness only hangs around for the first hour or so before becoming nearly unnoticeable. What *is* noticeable, is the considerable oakmoss used throughout Tsar's development, driving the composition from start to finish in many ways. Early-on, it meshes quite well with the aromatic lavender and later-on it becomes a key linchpin to countering the rugged leathery finish. While there are a gob of ingredients in Tsar, one additional ingredient that bears mentioning is the very deft use of earthy patchouli in the base that works perfectly with the rugged leathery greens late. Coming back to the opening statement, Tsar takes a while to completely win the wearer over, but with each successive wearing, nuances like its florals, subtle cinnamon spice or even the barely detectable but quite key vetiver make for a very interesting journey, one that ended up impressing this writer. The bottom line is the approximately $50 per 50ml bottle on the aftermarket Tsar (vintage) may not grab one like many other winners from the 80s, but its slow wooing of the wearer ultimately succeeds, earning it a "very good" to "excellent" 3.5 to 4 star rating and a solid recommendation to vintage perfume lovers.

06/19/2014

jtd
484 Reviews

jtd

Very helpful Review 6

smiling aromatic fougère

I tend to talk about the fougère as a stern, towering perfume and it often is. But Tsar reminds me of how soft the genre can be. Despite its ridiculous name, and blocky pseudo-Deco bottle, it's one of the cozier fougères. Lavender and coumarin don’t crash against each other quite so much as in many fougères. Lavender is always prominent, and the overall tone is much more floral and herbal than most fougères. It has precise harmonic range. Imagine taking a slice out of the enormous range of Azzaro pour Homme, which goes from subterranean to stratospheric. Take that of that range and then zoom in close. Fill-in the colors, more matte and rosy, less metallic than Azzaro, and you find Tsar’s specificity.

If the fougère fragrances of the 70s and 80s implied masculinity, Tsar suggested an easygoing, smiling guy who was comfortable with his manliness, feeling nether the need to amp it up nor to justify it. It’s hard not to associate this bunch with pick up lines and and amateurish performance of straight guy-hood. It has an odd theatricality like the stilted men's western casual wear of the time. Tsar fits the guy of the time who looked great in a suit, but look even better with his shirt sleeves rolled up.

In terms of tone and dynamics, Tsar lands somewhere between Azzaro pour Homme and Paco Rabanne pour Homme, which preceded it, and Jacomo Anthracite and Yves St. Laurent Jazz which followed. It is part of the cohort of fougères that were swept aside by the Cool Water tsunami.

01/30/2014

MasterLi
367 Reviews

MasterLi

Helpful Review 4

Classic, elegant masculine.

I first tried this as I heard it was similar to Pasha by Cartier. In fact I am told they are identical. This is an example of a typically deep masculine fougere. It is quite recognisable and gives the impression of being mature, refined and sophisticated. To me it is the kind of smell always associated with an elegant and mature gentleman. The deep herbal opening dries down to a dark spicy aromatic skin scent which still makes an impression well after application. A scent which still manages to be both fresh and maturely refined at the same time. An unmistakable elegant masculine fragrance. Well worth a try and very different from any of the forgettable new modern examples of trash out there.

2 Replies

01/05/2014

5.0 7.5 5.0 7.0/10

Miaw2
339 Reviews

Miaw2

Another classic

Tsar is a very complex herbal/green scent that unluckly is not what it used to be.

Looks like it has been diluted in the reformulations, but it's still a great fragrance.

I can smell mostly moss mixed with leather and herbs.

Tsar would not please young boys that are used to these latest sweet fragrances.

Definately a strong scent for grown men.

Sillage, projection and lasting power are medium-high.

01/25/2012

7.5 7.5 7.0/10

Missk
1165 Reviews

Missk

Very helpful Review 7

Green royalty

If you want masculine and sexy, look no further, Tsar is exactly what you need.

I'll admit that when I first sprayed this, I was almost blown over backwards by its boldness and strength. The opening was extremely overwhelming, a little too strong some would say.

However, giving it a few minutes to settle I found myself falling in love. Tsar is rich, masculine, spicy and complex. I couldn't help noticing a chocolatey like note which doesn't seem to be listed here. I'm not talking light and sweet milk chocolate, I'm talking strong, bitter and rich dark chocolate, liquefied and oozing.

Don't be afraid of the floral notes listed here, because I can assure you that they are very subtle. The coriander, green notes, lavender, juniper berries, caraway, leather, patchouli and amber dominate this fragrance.

Yes, the scent is a little soapy, especially in the drydown, but I don't find that a turn off at all. In fact I would definitely consider buying this for a man of great confidence and strength. Everything about Tsar screams masculinity and there's really nothing like it. It's a one of kind type scent.