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First Love by Van Cleef & Arpels is a Oriental Floral fragrance for women. First Love was launched in 2006. The nose behind this fragrance is Christophe Raynaud. Top notes are mandarin orange and osmanthus; middle notes are peony, orchid and ylang-ylang; base notes are amber and vanilla.
Top Notes
Middle Notes
Base Notes
I love this perfume! It's spicy, warm and has hints of flower in it, very romantic! An absolute MUST-HAVE! :)
Sadly I smell some pepper in this scent (blindbuy online). I hate pepper in fumes. Yuk. It does have a caramel-like sweetness underneath, but the peppery note quite destroys it. Yes, it is mature, but that is not a bad thing in this one. The bottle looks like something from the late late seventies (I think, I was not even born then). I don’t know if I should keep it or swap it. Yes, Melia - it smells like old make-up! :)
ok, the starting notes are nothing grand, let s pass the middles notes and talk about the last notes...if you like powdery, creamy, slightly sweet then this is a must you try, it is nice, not powerfull as the original first, more softer, more romantic, more girlie let's say...
Very powdery orangey vanilla, the mandarin is a lovely sweeter citrus alternative to bergamot and this flower mix is pretty. Brings to my mind hints of Shalimar, Organza and baby powder!
This is one of the fragrances that is more than the sum of its notes. They look tremendously poor comparing to the overall effect. To be more precise - correct me if I'm wrong but it's a younger sister of Shalimar. It's vanilla-powdery base must contain some extra ingredient not listed.
But indeed the lasting power does not compare to Big S so much! But it's not really bad, either
I liked it very much.It is must have
A very intersting oriental floral, but the longevity is not even 2 hours....not buying another bottle for sure.
I like the smell very much but I have to admit at first my feelings weren't that enthusiastic, because the smell has something mature in it. It's complicated, because of the happy, pink, young feeling when you smell them together with kinda vintage smell. It's unique. Sometimes it brings My Insolence to my mind, maybe because of powder, but all in all, these 2 are different.
You see, when I wear First Love, I have an older woman in my mind, a woman who still feels young at heart (maybe she's in love?) and is optimistic, she has some mature experiences behind her.
When I wear First Love, I feel mature and happy, I mean, being mature, older doesn't mean being sad. It's a sweet pink smell, with a hint of green in it and a touch of vintage style. An interesting one, you feel classy in it and you don't pay much.
I wanted to try first love for a while now, since I wasn't much into the original. But was surprised how premier bouquet differed from the original like night and day and I supposed this one would too. With that I'm quite attracked towards purple bottles, so I gave it a try on a piece of paper... The first thing I thought of: GLÜHWEIN! Yes, sweet warm wine with a piece of citrus drifting in it and some spices added. I thought: 'lovely for winter', and had put the piece of paper in my pocket. A few hours later I was reaching for my keys in my pocket and found that same piece of paper and smelled it again. Though this time, first love had turned into: first make-up! Do you girls remember your first make-up box in the shape of a heart which had rouge and eyeshadow in it, so you could turn into a princess? Well, this is exactely it! I don't know how it turns out on the skin, but when I had let my mom smell the piece of paper even she recognized little-girls-make-up in it! The smell is not at all bad... But as you may have noticed, my associations are just too strong for wanting to wear it.
This perfume is just gorgeous!! One of my favorites from the Van Cleef & Arpels line for sure! It is the combination of Osmanthus, Peony and Orchid which I truly adore. Beautiful flowers, ladylike, sensual even with a warm base, vanilla, Ylang Ylang, Amber. It has everything a warm elegant sensual classy perfume should contain. GREAT choice!! A keeper for sure!
If I had a signature scent it would be this, because it suits me incredibly well.
Also, it is the only perfume I saw, smelled, and instantly bought.
I was neither particularly attracted by the bottle nor the name, which I don't really find very suitable, as judging from the name I'd expect a girly fragrance, inviting and sweet, cute..
This however is very un-girly,
neither bubbly nor flirty, sparkly or particularly feminine -
but complex, powdery and grown-up, and it has a certain melancholy to me, which I find truly amazing and beautiful.
Being sweet and vanillary but not at all yummy, powdery and somewhat heavy it's very vintage without being old-fashioned in the slightest, and I'd say I'm quick to call a fragrance 'old'.
I associate this scent instantly with standing behind the window of an old gothic castle, wearing a glaucous blue victorian dress, looking at the gusty landscape with a few rays of sunshine.
After two years of using it pretty much through all seasons I'm not one single bit less in love.
Van Cleef & Arpels FIRST LOVE, while not a masterpiece like FIRST, is nonetheless a very enjoyable perfume. The oriental notes are not all listed, I think, since there's definitely more going on here than just vanilla--perhaps a dash of pepper or an iota of incense? In any case, the orchid is the dominant floral to my nose, with the peony and ylang serving as complements.
Off topic: It's becoming clearer and clearer that I do not really have a peony problem after all! Neither FIRST LOVE nor Bond no 9 CHINATOWN or LEXINGTON AVE causes me any dismay whatsoever, so it must be that my problem with certain peony-heavy frags has to do with a specific type of synthetic peony.
FIRST LOVE is neither overly oriental nor flamboyantly floral, which may lead some to find this composition too ambiguous. But while FIRST LOVE is not a show-stopper, neither is it banal. With good longevity and medium sillage, FIRST LOVE is a pleasant, high-quality edt suitable for many contexts that call for a subtle, warm inviting fragrance rather than an aggressive frontal olfactory assault.
powdery with a grown up atittude. it was ok. Nothing special.
For me;This one falls short of what is to be considered an oriental floral.The spunk and confidence and personality is nowhere to be found here.Everything about it feels watered down and subdued and CHEAP.Not my type of scent.Though I thought I would enjoy it and the bottle is pretty enough.This is going to the can as soon as I wash it off.
Sniffed & sample-sprayed this yesterday at TJMAXX $34.99 for 2 oz and thought it a dead ringer for Houbigant's Chantilly. Despite some differing notes, the overall effect is that of a powdery floral. Very feminine, a hefty sweetness, but lasts just a couple of hours (unlike Chantilly, which can last 24 hours or more).
Glad I passed it up.
When I purchase this perfume, the seller told me it's a"grape" perfume, and I bought it unsniffed...I think the seller knows nothing about this perfume and he created such a joke...I don't care for the top and middle notes of this perfume, I just love the vanllia tone that left on my skin. It doesn't smell cheap at all. The thickness and volume of the base note makes you feel you are a virgin princess. So innocent!
I can see why I didn't like it at store.I always run from ylang-ylang and peony and both of them are here.but I should confess I like the bottle very much,specially the color.
it's not classic like other van cleef perfumes,but it follows the same line.
the smelling is very warm,not very feminine and somehow dark.
I don't think girls who fall in love for the first time,wear this one!but maybe it's suitable for the souvenir of first love(which wasn't that successful),just as a reminder of that time.
I should confess that I like orchid and the dry down of vanilla in it.
Got this at Marshalls for 24 dollars for the 3.0 on discount! No one is buying this.
Very surprisingly comfortable adult and feminine. I expected a spritely girlish floral, but First Love is more about its orchids and amber than about the fruits and I do believe I smell some patchouli.
First love has a pleasantly sophisticated air and deserved a better name
Very feminine, a bit soapy sweet fragrance.
It's the soap kind of smell that I like :p
At the beginning it smells great- very subtle and elegant. Not too sweet despite vanilla. I love the way the orchid and vanilla combine here. However, after some time it starts smelling like soap... :/
Subtle, elegant, luxurious - just like a jewel... It needs a cool evening to develop its treasures and soft feminine warmth.
Classy, a bit retro.
I bought this for my mother, I haven't tried it myself but on her it smells really pleasant, like baby showergel but more feminine. I like it.
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