Par Amour (2005)
by Clarins

Par Amour is a pleasant, conventional, and ultimately rather faceless fruity floral oriental scent. Its sweet, mild cassis and citrus top notes introduce a powdery vanillic amber, a melon-like fruit note, and a soft, pale rose. The resulting light rose and oriental outline reminds me of Tocade, but Clarins executes the idea with less panache. The rose in Par Amour is not so nuanced and natural, but more importantly, the proportions are ever so slightly off. In Tocade the rose and vanillic oriental components achieve perfect equipoise. Not only does neither dominate, but so seamless is their blending, so precise their balance, that they merge into a single, inseparable olfactory sensation, greater by far than the sum of their parts. Not so in Par Amour, where the floral and the oriental remain stubbornly aloof, the seams in the structure show, and the alchemy that elevates Tocade never occurs.

The note pyramid’s once-novel flourishes, like pepper and black currant, have long since become commonplace, and are at any rate so timidly employed that they deliver none of the expected kick. Par Amour smells nice enough, but I find it too bland and unmemorable to stand out in a field crowded with outstanding scents, including Cinéma (the sunny rose), Flower by Kenzo (the melon/rose), and Parfum Sacré (pepper and rose done with conviction) – not to mention Tocade.

30th May, 2011.

Transparent rose, blackcurrant and cedar would make this sound like the recipe for a Lutens “bois de [insert note]” fragrance. But this doesn’t seem like any of the bois fragrances except for a shared sheer-but-sweet quality. This is more sugar-sweet than fruity-sweet, which would usually scare me off, but something in the undercurrent of this fragrance keeps it from getting too ditzy. I think it’s the pepper-like benzoin. As the scent evolves the sweetness and the blackcurrant fade and the cedar/rose combination wins out. The pepper lasts as well, enhancing both the rose and the cedar, and Par Amour ends up seeming like Barbie’s version of Parfum Sacré.

29th November, 2010. (Last Edited: 31st December, 2010.)

Very bland sweet floral on me no spices ,it just was soft boring sweet inoffensive and not me.I passed this to my sis-in-law who liked it and can always wear a softer scent for work.(therapy with the elderly)

Luca Turin said it was good -I didn't like it Peony Fantasy smelled better to me for a light floral.I won't give it thumbs down as it could be just my taste and/or chemistry and it wasn't nasty but look for it in a discounter/test first .I bought mine for $10-15 at Marshalls.

30th August, 2010.

The more I wear this rose the more I love it! Par Amour is a spicy woody full bodied bottom weighted rose. It starts with a bursting black currant top note, vanilla, pepper, and spice without a cloying sweetness. The heart is a bucket full of blooming roses coming to rest on lots of wood, benzoin and spice. I consider it a comfort scent and often wear it to bed, an affordable luxury. Sometimes I layer Par Amour with other scents to add a rose accent or to boost a thin bottom for another scent. Par Amour isn’t my top rose but she is my dependable hardest working rose and earns her place, thumbs up!!!

26th March, 2010.

This one gave me a screaming migraine that lasted for two days. I don't know what it was, but I know that I didn't particularly like the scent anyway, so I didn't try it again. Thank goodness I only have a sample of it.

27th December, 2009.

I don't know, I'm not good at identifying notes, but I can say that it smells delicious. It smells clean, like the scents of a garden you smell at night. A little tangy a tiny bit spicy, I absolutely love it!

19th April, 2009.