Tsar Van Cleef & Arpels 1989 Eau de Toilette

Tsar is a green-herbaceous, robust-soapy, if not downright core-soapy, maximally masculine fresh fragrance that has been complexly (and skillfully) enhanced by lush floral embellishments from the eighties and a rich, almost sweetly turning base note. Thus, it does not present itself as a trivial Irish Moss variation on a rainy sheep pasture, but rather as a distinctly time-bound, independent total work of art.

At first, Tsar slams a crystalline, brutal fresh note in your face, gathering the coldest, hardest tones from citrus, green, spicy (and a bit aquatic) notes. It's like a blast of clinking ice in midsummer. For this, I would attribute the notes of Artemisia, Neroli, Bergamot, Neroli, and, already from the heart note, Pine, Pepper, and definitely, definitely the very massive, creaky shot of Juniper.

But after just five minutes, the thing reorganizes itself and becomes softer, gentler, smoother, and a bit typically furry for the time, without ever losing the herbal freshness of the beginning (which does not happen even until the end). You can now more clearly sense the fougère notes of Oakmoss (or whatever it has been substituted with). And, but I only manage to realize this now after five years of testing and smelling experience, a wonderfully subtle, finely spun dance of powdery Lavender and herbaceous Tarragon. I first got to know and love this combination in the much more ascetic, minimalist Scottish scent "1445." Here, I find it again, wrapped in a lush variety of other notes.

Floral notes also join in now, but by no means as prominently as their multitude in the pyramid would suggest. I hardly perceive Rose and Geranium at all, at most as generic providers of weight and depth. The fact that the fragrance seems human and friendly to me, that I like to wear it quite often, may (besides the discreetly dosed Jasmine) be due to the Lily of the Valley, the signature flower of Frau von Spee, which I enjoy smelling not only on her but also in my own fragrances.

The not endlessly, but still long-lasting base note is not highly original (except perhaps for the coconut), but offers in clean composition everything that a full-bearded men's cuddle base requires, from various woods to leather and musk, to tonka and patchouli for the sweet nuances.

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I consider the naming to be a misstep. The fragrance is called Tsar, one of the two common English transcriptions of the term for the former monarch of Russia, alongside Czar. However, the fragrance evokes neither aristocratic courtly nor Eastern Russian vibes for me; perhaps aside from a very slight proximity to imagined Siberian pine forests. The Tsars rarely resided there (more likely the exiles), and besides, Lily of the Valley probably did not grow ubiquitously there, and Tonka beans not at all. I therefore assess the title as a lack of creativity, in which a label was attached to the fragrance that somehow always works for scents: emperors, kings, princesses, and countesses sell. The phenomenon that fragrances are comparatively rarely named after masons, bakers, hairdressers, architects, mechatronics engineers, or hotel staff* but are inflatedly named after empresses and counts has already been described by others.

For reasons that should be clear after reading the first part of the review, I might have named the fragrance after Mick Brisgau, the "Last Cop" from the eponymous TV crime series that I enjoy.

* thick electricians do appear though

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I bought the fragrance about 4 years ago as a clearance item at TKMax, 50 ml for perhaps 19 or 29.99 euros. It is still half full. I will not minimalize it away. While it is not one of my favorite fragrances, I like it and can wear it (although more in summer than in winter) for almost any mood, in any weather, and for any occasion. And it has proven to be a good investment. After the production was discontinued, some absurd prices are being called for it online, which suggests that there are some true enthusiasts who were caught off guard by the production stop.