Clair de Jour

BaylnTN: I just blind bought this based on your review alone ( "Here is your sister, wearing your sweater, your earrings, and your perfume, standing in front of your house, holding your cat." Your mum is priceless and your writing so evocative ) and....I'm SO glad I did. I hope you pass this way again and will accept my thanks. It's green chypre the like of which were the epitome of the late 70's. Think of the likes of Eau de Givenchy or Bernard Chant greats such as Private Collection and Alliage but with added florals which soften the bitter notes and sparkle on application. Then as it wears still enough oakmoss and civet to be earthy and magnificent ! Is very easy for vintage fans like me to only consider classic Lanvin 's like Arpege and My Sin and this does set in a very strange position between the old company as it was and the very recent offerings which really aren't my cup of tea. So it's very easy to overlook it but it's definitely a perfume from a better days, before it's time. It shouldn't be ignored and should still considered part of the classic offerings before they became, well, whatever they are today.

My aunt had left 1/3 of the perfume in the bottle because she was bored of it. She gave it to me. My first perfume. It was Clair de Jour. I was 15. It was love at first smell! I can't remember the smell anymore but I'm almost sure that this juice had a serious impact on my personal style on perfumes. I wish I could smell it again.

It's a beautiful green white floral. Distinctive, elegant, feminine... there's not prominent hyacinth in case you are looking for it. Florals are nicely interwoven, no discernible civet either. Soft sillage make it perfect for day use.

One of my first perfume. I loved it. Got it from the love of my life back then. I wish to sample so I can remember what I loved.

My sister went to college in England in 1983, and spent a few weeks in Paris as a result. When she came home, she brought a beautiful light blue Scottish wool sweater, a pair of pearl earrings the likes of which I've never seen anywhere else, and a metal bottle of Lanvin Clair De Jour with a light metallic blue thick eyeliner pencil as a bonus purchase. She promptly went to Japan for a year there as a student, leaving behind a treasure trove of goodies for me to appropriate. At one point, my mother took a picture of me and sent it to my sister with the caption, "Here is your sister, wearing your sweater, your earrings, and your perfume, standing in front of your house, holding your cat." When she came home from Japan, she admitted that she bought the Clair de Jour for me. And I was glad. I am not a savvy, sophisticated afficianado of fragrances. I just like what I like. And I liked Clair de Jour. About 6 years later, after I was married, my husband asked a dear friend who was going to go to France a huge favor: Could she please bring a bottle of Clair de Jour? She could. And she did. By that time, the fragrance was no longer being sold in metal bottles, and it didn't come with a premium like a sparkly light blue super-thick eyeliner pencil. It cost way more than my sister paid for it. And I still have about a quarter of a bottle of it. I read reviews of people who talk about loving it, and how they wish they could smell it again. I feel guilty and wonder if I should sell my fraction of an ounce of it on eBay. I can't do it, though. Back before the internet, before the world was so small and easy, back when Clair de Jour was being made and bottled so nicely, we had to go to a ton of trouble to get a little of it. How do I just sell that? Lanvin's Clair de Jour is a nice, light fragrance. I find that it lasts more than a few hours. It goes very well with light blue Scottish wool sweaters, pearl earrings, generous sisters, and loving husbands. Cats still pounce on your newspaper crossword puzzles if you wear it, and your best friend still moves to Florida if that's where her husband works. But Clair de Jour still is lovely.