Reviews of Arpège (1927)
by Lanvin

Oh my goodness, I love this.
To me it seems inspired by L'Heure Bleue, another fragrance I adore, but it really stands alone.

I was lucky enough to find an old set of Arpège. In it there is; a large bottle of the "Arpège Eau De Lanvin" I assume is the EDT, a purse sized 1.8oz little bottle of what I assume is EDP or parfum, a big flask of the talc, & a bar of the soap. I'm not going to try the soap at the moment as I would like to photograph it.

The Talc starts off fishy, yet still smelling of Arpège. In minutes it sofens & then wilts. I can't see using it for much. I hate the feel of talc on my hands & skin. It’s in lovely packaging though, the black bottle in plastic by Armand-Albert Rateau without the godron top. Though still very pretty for display on a lady’s vanity.

The Arpège Eau De Lanvin is just about perfect. It's aldehydes lift the scent up off the skin & makes the air around you so lovely that men can't help but lean into you. On the skin It's powdery without being old maid-ish & sexy yet still restrained. It's soft & classic through the hearts. It's many floral scents mixing create an abstract idea of what a garden smells like. The drydown is summer nights here. Night blooming flowers, wet soil, spicy grass crushed under young bodies, flowers littering the ground & your lovers hair. It's just about as good as it gets.

Then we have the mystery EDP or parfume. Oh my. It's richer, sexier, spicier, dryer, & has a touch of fruit that makes your mouth water. & that’s just the beginning. You enter the garden again but it's overgrown. The flowers are closing in around you & not one stands out. It's a dry day & the scent could almost make you light headed with its beauty. It's as if you are in a dream where the air is as rich as a ripe plum, as dry as prosecco, & the dirt on your gown doesn’t matter. The dry down is so spicy & dry it makes L'Heure Bleue smell sweet. It's sexual, adult, and even bloody. Where the Arpège Eau De Lanvin is a walk at night, the mystery parfume or EDP, is what you smell like after the best moments with your lover.

This is a sophisticated one. I can understand why its name is legend: it is an impressive fragrance, even in its current incarnation. Arpège opens with a smooth and refined aldehydic / floral / peach. I don’t find the aldehydes very strong and they don’t appear to last very long, which is probably good, because their passing leaves a rich and full floral accord with a well proportioned peach. The accord is elegant and even in its elegance boasts a sensual animalic undertone. It does come across as the older fragrance that it is, and that’s a good thing as far as I’m concerned. The middle florals are refined, balanced, and classic and continue the sophistication. The base is strong in sandalwood with touches of tuberose and vanilla – again, a monument to classic elegance. Of all the classic women’s fragrances including those of Chanel, Arpège is my most admired. It’s quiet gracefulness, class, and sensuality touches most deeply.

To me it is sophisticated and timeless. It could be worn by a young, old fashioned girl or a mature woman. There is none of that old grandmother scent here. A scent to be worn when making an understated but flawless impression is needed. It would be a great scent for a long trip where you had to pack light because it will grow on you and is suitable for all kinds of activities.

Arpège is all about the base and it's hard to even think of it as having any floral elements whatsoever. That's what happens on my skin anyway. It smells expensive, stylish, but also a little overpowering, so go sparingly on this one.

By the way, when Arpège was launched, it WAS expensive. I can't believe it is thought of as anything even close to a "drugstore" scent! Consider yourself lucky if you can get this as a bargain.

Warm, smokey but with an underlying crispness that lasts all day. This suits my chemistry. I can possibly get away with it during the day but it's best left for evening as it is a real man magnet on me.

I have to agree with treazurekitten on the leathery quality. Arpege starts strong on me and dries down to a very soft and subtle leather-with-flowers scent. I'm honestly not sure I like it or not. It's a tar-like leather, very resinous and dark, with that clinging sweet waft of floral. It's definitely what I'd call a historic scent and it lasts FOREVER. A dot of EDP put on in the morning lasted all day, through my evening shower and into the next morning.

A very well heeled boyfriend bought this for me when I was a student, and now 25 years later it is affordable for everybody. Thankfully everybody does not wear it, so this is still one of my all time faves. Truly sophistocated and 'rich' smelling. Spicy and flowery all at once. I feel now that I may have been too young to pull this off when I first started wearing it, but ideal for me now. Ideal for theatre, art exhibitions etc, and subtle enough to wear for a special dinner date, however I have been known to wear this to an Aerosmith concert so I suppose aytime anyplace anywhere is appropriate.

hi there--this is my first review, so bear with me. I own the Arpege EDP an parfum, and I feel very lukewarm about them now. I don't find it exceptional--I would call it my little girl notion of a "French" perfume, almost a stereotype of one. At the same time, if you were looking for a very nice fragrance to give4 someone whose relation to perfume has been restricted to the drugstore, this would be a respectable choice. I certainly don't mean to disagree with anything anyone has said--funny thing is, I have been a devotee of the early Guerlains now for two years, and until I came to Basenotes I thought I must be crazy. I thought maybe I was just being stubborn in not branching out more. They have so much more character than even my first experience of a real fragrance house with the Chanels, which I am sad to find I tire of, except Coco...I'm coming to understand the reasons for these reactions now, thanks to this site. Thank you all for the erudition and extraordinary level of scholarship. I'm overwhelmed!

I've only recently tried Arpege. It is soft, with elegant rather than animalic musk. There is a leathery quality, I think the bergamot, coriander create this impression. The florals are quite restrained with violet, rose, maybe a hint of carnation. And it is mildly salty, like My Sin, also by Lanvin. Overall too restrained for me to feel passionate about it.

What a great scent for very little money. For many, many women over the years, Arpège was the only French perfume they found in their price range. But that didn't make it any less great. Still, I posit that the scent got almost a bad name over the years thanks to its less expensive price tag. To quote Eartha Kitt in the song "Champagne Taste": "You said you'd give me everything to make my life a feast. You didn't give me anything -- not even Arpège, you beast!"

I still see a tad of that snobbishness on Basenotes from time to time, with some folks dismaying scents (e.g., Prince Matchabelli, Vanderbilt, That Man, Canoe, Yardley's Lavender, etc.) simply because they're cheap. It's true that many mass market scents in the "drugstore" category really are awful, but price tag alone doesn't mean diddly-squat. Arpège proves that without fail.

One of my all time favourites. Warm and sophisticated. It's just like being wrapped in cashmere. Perfect on a cold evening, in front of the fire. Floral, spicy, powdery. Lasts very well. An all time classic. Wonderful.

I've worn Arpege for more years than I care to count. It's my "winter scent." I've only just now started to branch out into other perfumes, but my adventures definitely begin and end with Arpege - the bergamot, neroli, coriander, musc, vanilla, jasmin combinations are what get me going.

Thos scent brings back so many memories for me. This is what my grandmother wore to church, the opera, any place where she dressed up. Everytime I think of her I still can smell it. Glad to see it is still around and being used.

Even if most people say that Chanel N.5 is the best of the best, i prefer the grandiose of this perfume. It has class, presence and character. The layering of the notes is fantastic and just a bit sexy but not in an offensive way. It smells expensive and very elegant. The EDP sprays wonderfully on the skin, with a delicate mist that provides a very alluring start. The flowers blend smoothly into the base as well, and being with the best sandalwood and musk, what else can you ask for? It has a romantic vein as well with a hint od mistery.I love this when it's nightime and have to feel a bit of an embrace by a fragrance. This one is stronger. If too strong, please go and try the EDT version. I was very happy that it was relaunched. This review is for the EDP new version of Arpege. A classic that speaks volumes without being loud!

Sophisicated, elegant, ladylike and very sexy at the same time. Arpege is a timeless classic. Arpege is similar to Nina Ricci's L'Air du Temps, except with my chemistry Arpege has too much musk for my tastes.

Arpege is one of the Holy Grails of the perfume world. This fragrance immediately diffuses from the skin because of its aldehydic nature. These aldehydes provide Arpege with its famous “ping.” Andre Fraysse designed Arpege to have a classical structure: the perfume is a harmonious symphony with distinct movements evident throughout. Arpege opens with a lovely overture of bergamot, neroli, and peach. The heart notes of jasmine, lily of the valley, rose, ylang-ylang, coriander, clove, orris and tuberose come to the fore and perform there for some time until the warm closing movement of patchouli, musk, sandalwood, vetiver, vanilla, benzoin and styrax provide the final spicy notes which accent the fragrance’s rich elegance. Arpege is available in pure parfum, EDP, and EDT. The EDT is quite nice and a bit softer than the EDP. A word of warning---avoid Arpege in the mini size. The sour juice in the mini version is not indicative of the classy juice in the full sized bottle. A correspondent from Europe recently reports that the minis she received in an Arpege gift set have the same sourness that mine here in the States have. That having been said, Arpege is a grand perfume, designed with the elegant woman of any age in mind. All class, all elegance, all Woman. What the Muses on Olympus wore.