Éclat d'Arpège
Few mainstream florals have held their following as stubbornly as Lanvin Éclat d'Arpège Eau de Parfum, and the reason is a single unlikely pairing at the centre of it.
That pairing is green lilac and green tea. Lilac is the dominant flower, and the green version of it is cool and watery rather than powdery, closer to the smell of the bush in the rain than of the flower in a vase. Green tea beside it is dry and faintly astringent, and between them they give the fragrance a transparency that keeps it from ever feeling heavy. Lemon leaf sharpens that further with a crisp, slightly bitter zest, and peach and osmanthus add the sweetness: the peach soft and fleshy, the osmanthus apricot like and leathery in a way that is unusual in a scent this popular.
The last part is quiet. Cedarwood gives a dry structure underneath the flowers, musk pins it to the skin, and amber adds a light resinous warmth, and all three are there to carry the top rather than to replace it.
Karine Dubreuil-Sereni composed it and it appeared in 2002. In this concentration it has decent staying power without much projection after the first hour, six hours or so of a scent that stays within conversational distance, which is exactly why it has become an office and university standard. It reads feminine and it works in any season, though spring and summer flatter it most. If you want a floral that nobody will object to, this is the obvious one.
Jeanne Lanvin was a milliner before she was a couturier, and the hat shop she opened in Paris in 1889 is where the house begins, with dressmaking following within a few years. Perfume went its own way in 1964 and has been a separate company ever since, which is why the scents are not a product of the couture house, and the couture house itself passed to the Chinese backed Lanvin Group in 2018.
Please note: images are a guide only. Packaging and bottle design may occasionally differ from those shown due to manufacturer updates or promotions.
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