Pavlova

I wore this in the late 70s/early 80s, and didn't notice a difference when I happily bought a bottle during the 90s. It was, however, extremely strong - just one spritz well above my head & walked into was too strong, even hours later. I ignored it for years (picked it up again in 2012!), and it was perfect! It's much lighter and mellower - I can now actually spray it directly onto myself - but it's still long-lasting. It's very heady and sophisticated - I wear it when I'm in the mood for something "rich and strange." The fruity bits are merely a few vague light notes in this mysterious symphony of tantalizing, exotic florals with a heavy woody, spicy base. The oakmoss reaches right up from the bottom and wraps itself round the whole of the fragrance, a warm and woodsy-smelling blanket. This fragrance is a dark Winter's ride through deep woods in a chiming Russian troika, with a gorgeous Borzoi by one's side. I'm quite surprised by reviews describing it as smelling cheap and grandmotheresque. My BF adores it, which is always good. ;)

I have the bottle with the dying swan on top and I wrote a review about it some while ago. I still do like it a lot. Now today my little plastic bottle arrived of 30 ml edt.(in a white bottle, you'll find them everywhere on Ebay now) I must say that it smells (for me!) very different than the swan bottle! More wood notes from the beginning, less sour notes...I think it's somehow more sophisticated than the swan, softer and more rose. Staying power is less but for the price of 1,97 euro for me it is a wonderful scent! It's like the little sister of Pavlova. I don't know the vintage but to me it seems that they have changed the formula again. Maybe other fragrantica's can tell me if this one smells a little bit like the vintage one...

I buy up every affordable bottle of this that I can get (MUST be from Payot though - not any other brand like Four Star Fragrances, etc). I also have a music box, a ceramic powder box and a cardboard powder box for this line. I just adore it! I also have some swan soaps. A wonderful perfume. One of the first perfumes as an adult (way back in 1980) that I discovered walking into our local TA Chapmans store - the air was heavy with its scent and I fell in love with it. Very hard to buy on-line though - you never know if it's going to be turned or good. I try to get the parfum and not the eau de toilette as the eau de toilette turns more quickly. A lovely romantic scent.

Wow, another trip down memory road... It must have been 1983, and I bought one of my first perfumes, alone. The bottle attracted me, so did the name of the great Pavlova. And the fragrance was just what I needed. It was a cold and long winter, and Pavlova graced my cashmere sweaters and coat. It was gentle, lovely, graceful and very feminine scent, somehow polite like a woman who can't help being noticed, but is much too modest to push herself forward. On me, it was a bit powdery, a soft floral scent with depth and long lasting power. If they really changed the formula, it's a pity, because it was perfect the way it was.

Ah, this one is gorgeous. I can imagine a woman with straight stance (no slouching), long hair and delicate features wearing this. It does not matter if she wears rags, she'll carry herself (and this perfume) with dignity and even rags look designer wear on her.. This dry earthy floral. I can clearly smell tuberose, oakmoss, jasmine and sandalwood in it. I can wear it in winter and summer, day and night. When I am sure or unsure of what I have in store for day. Oh I miss this perfume after I swapped it... On hunt for vintage one again!!!

It was the box that got me: shiny black with that broken wreath of pink flowers, the art nouveau lettering. The bottle cap with the ballerina in the the dying swan position is a heart melter. But the perfume just misses greatness. It is a nice enough blend of fruits, flowers, spices, and woodsy notes. But that's all it is -- nice enough. It is missing that special something that elevates a scent from very good to classic. Perhaps a bit too romantic for the office but lovely for any other occasion.

This review is for 1922 edt bottle with black rectangular cap... This perfume is tuberose and oak moss heaven... I can smell other florals too, maybe jasmine but can't pick individual notes... I wish I could pick more geranium and hyacinth but this is such a well blended perfume for my untrained nose to pick any notes besides the most dominant ones!!! Oh this is going to be my go to perfume. Never thought I will like tuberose oakmoss combination this much!!!

Pavlova, aaaah Pavlova.... I think Pavlova is a very special perfume.It's a very mysterical perfume and every day it smells different. Like the moods of a human. One day it can make you happy and the other day you just don't wanna wear it because it makes you sick. In the beginning I didn't like it, way too strong and só different than the perfumes I knew. Now I begin to know it and learn to love it. Give this special lady a try, she's worth it.

I have the vintage edp (simple frosted glass stopper, found as a set with two crumbling soaps in a package labeled Christmas'79) and, I must say, it captures the ballet quite well. There's both an airy quality to it, stemming from the white flowers, but also a strength and physicality about it (oakmoss and a slightly animalistic Jasmine). It's pretty well balanced and restrained. That being said, a dab will do ya.

I bought a pack of two of these bottles for $20 at a Burlington coat factory in Wilmington, Delaware in probably 2011 because I thought they looked cool and I was very into Zeppelin at the time. I periodically have to rack my brain to remember the name only for it to knee-jerk occur to me just as Pavlov would have wanted. One of my all-time favorites for having always stuck with me.

Will love it until i die. it's faithful to be sweet and charming never offensive. it's always in inexpensive but classy. Sophisticated and classic like a cashmere navy blue blazer single breasted. enough said.

The old version was my tuberose dream, to me it was innocence. I found it again years later and the new version broke my heart. Dreck.

I haven't smelled this in many years, but I did wear it in the early 80s in my teens, and I found it to be much more complex and sophisticated than similarly-priced fragrances. I've seen someone here describe it as old-ladyish, but it seems vintage in spirit to me, and not frumpy. In the same way I love the shoes and clothes of the art nouveau-to-deco period, I can see this fragrance as a nod to the stylings of that era. I would like to smell it again, but I'm afraid of what I'll find! It is a pity to reformulate any fragrance, I think, unless it's causing vertigo or cancer or something! Mind you, every frag is NOT a masterpiece, but would someone go back and re-paint the Mona Lisa or undo and re-sculpt a Michaelangelo? Silly to try to remake something of a moment that is an artistic expression. Change it even slightly and it is not the same thing at all.

I owned a bottle of this for a hot minute. It was the summer after high school graduation. We were all trying to preserve our high school friendships by having a lot of parties at each other's houses that summer. I got this and was taken by the reference to what I assumed to be the ballerina Anna Pavlova but what in retrospect might have been the dessert (which is still, come to think of it, a reference to the ballerina), as well as by the floral decorations on the box and bottle. I spritzed with a tester at the store and liked the musky, spicy floral. I have always been a sucker for florientals. I was thinking of having it be my signature scent, but it was not to be because someone stole it out of my house at one of those parties and then I never saw it in any stores afterwards. Someday I'll buy another bottle just 'cause. Love the internet.

well, it's time to make a pas or two... meet m-lle pavlova, closest friend of miss Dior! :) as for me, i would like better to think it is floral CHYPRE, than simply-floral-scent. it's nice, austere, elegant, swell. what is this little ballerina? nor sprite, neither sylph. It's fully made of bone, brawn and blood, so light but big, so strong, but delicate, so white but with some darkness inside... Wait! It's the swan!!! just the swan. only the swan. Queen swan. The Dying Swan. :D nothing imponderable,nothing amusing, but the back is straight, the manners are excellent, the eyeshadows are made of brilliant powder and you are always on tip of your toes. you're not so fragile, as you seem. it's time to wear an old school, ladies! :) ps. I'm russian, so I've been watching "The Dying Swan" perfomed by plenty of ballerinas :D of course, I LOVE IT

A sharp jasmine opening with noticeable cassia and a note that initially smells like rubber, which is actually delightful. The drydown opens into several flowers anchored by vetiver and musk. As it warms on your skin the oakmoss and orange become more noticeable. Is this a great perfume? No but it's got a lot of depth for what it is and the price can't be beat. If you've never tried it give it a whirl. You'll mark it "like" rather than "love" but it's a grown-up feminine scent that puts several $100+ perfumes to shame. (Although it's a floral chypre I think that this is a perfume that loves cold weather--it's not nearly as interesting when it's hot or humid.)

An Art Deco scent in baroque packaging, Pavlova reminds me of powdered rosin on pointe shoes, and dusty velvet curtains. I'm remembering the 1980s formulation, and I think of it as a classic chypre-type fragrance. Pavlova is a very rich scent, heavy on sage, benzoin, oakmoss, and labdanum. Don't expect this to be "pretty", like a Cinderella-ballerina. Pavlova evokes Saint-Saëns's Le Cygne in St. Petersburg during the winter of 1905. Its notes seem to radiate life's bitter struggles against an endless search for beauty.

This was a nice fragrance, but not for years seen in a perfumery. I don't know if I could find this lovely bottle again, got it long ago. The fragrance by Payot was so charming , is not altogether so easy as it seems at the very beginning. Top notes are light, later base notes are really elegant. Feminine and sophisticated, had a strange note that bothered me a bit, but I must admit...it's very special, wearable in all seasons and not at all heavy.

Pavlova is a an out and out floral chypre. So if you enjoy wearing chypres, you will enjoy this. I love wearing this, especially in cold weather but my family hold their noses when I do. My little daughter especially prefers the classics in my collection and the powdery soft florals I end up wearing for her sake! That said, on a day spent in my own company, I really do enjoy Pavlova's distinctive presence.

This is a really beautiful fragrance. Classic oakmoss and floral parfum! My bottle says Paris 1922, I'm not sure of the actual date, but it has a glass ballerina on top of the bottle. The beginning is bright and fruity, major floral topnotes with grapefruit and berries! The fade is delightfully woody and oakmossy with sweet citrus bursts hidden behind.

I like this, and love the bottle. It has more character than a lot of florals. My dentist is one of those namby pamby sorts who doesn't like strong perfume, and he enthusiastically complimented me when I wore it to an appointment. He was planning to buy some for his daughter on the way home, as, in his opinion, she wore too much strong scent.

My grandmother bought me a bottle of Pavlova when I was in late elementary/early middle school. I wore it everyday and loved the scent so much. Years later, when the first bottle ran out, I bought a new bottle the but the scent had changed and not for the better. Anyways, it was an amazing scent and looking at the bottle makes me nostalgic.

This is very floral but earthy to me. A very little bit goes a long way. I used two little dabs and it's very noticeable. I wouldn't exactly say it's strong, so much as long lasting. The scent is very feminine and flowery. It's a vintage perfume and it has that vintage quality of smelling a bit mature, but not in an unpleasant way.

I'm basing this review on smelling it on my mom back in the late 70s and the 80s. It was a fantastic floral she wore in cold weather. Wow, it was strong, and it filled the room and lingered on her clothes. It was very much a strong 80s fragrance. I haven't smelled it in a long time, but if I ever do, it will remind me of her.

Everything about Pavlova is mysterious. The packaging, the bottle and the fragrance itself. This fragrance isn't trying to fit in with the crowd. Very different smell, at first I wasn't sure I liked it and then it grew on me. Smells to me like a mild Giorgio Red. Very inexpensive.

the description says it is a floral perfume, but it is more than a floral, it is a floral chypre very sharp start, nice drydown not much vanilla, ideal for 30+ during day cold or hot (I have the edt!)

Two words: Powdery and floral. Quite vintage, chic, yet un-extraordinary. Cozy and non-offensive. Wonderful fragrance. 8/10

The cap is not a swan, it's a ballerina in swan pose. Jeeze, lol

I found this in a bargain bin 20 years ago. In the bottle, it was slightly citrus but soft flowers, good for office wear. For 5 bucks, it was worth a try. I liked it, using it up before I moved on. I found a bottle of it a few months ago and purchased it unsniffed as an alternative work frag. Wow, they must have changed the formula. The citrus/grapefruit top note is bitter and never seems to fade. Where are the nice soft flowers? I couldn't wear it so used as bathroom spray. So sorry little ballarina...

Reading the reviews convinces me the recently flacon of P. contains the reformulation. Sadly, it's not very good: a harsh opening followed by soapy floral notes. Sillage and lasting power are poor, which is a saving grace. P. is a big nope, an unsuccessful blind buy.

Pavlova starts as fingernails on a chalkboard, gives a stern lesson in botany, then hands out sugar pastilles while dismissing class.

I bout it for my mom, because she was charmed with a vintage bottle - the final of the Dying Swan on the top,not less! We carefully sniffed it straight from the bottle.My first though was - ugh,gran`s closet. My brave mom, who once shaved her head bald because she liked Sinead O`Connor, with a doubtful look on her face, said - I like it AND I will wear it! Heaven save us all, I thought. Let`s put it this way. My mom can`t tell petit grain from a Downy laundry conditioner.She does not care and she never will.So, boldly she put on this mysterious scent and I prepared to face the consequences. Next morning I woke up , got out in the hallway and immediately I was enchanted. The hallway was fragrant and vibrating with something lush, golden,almost touchable scent. I knew it has to be my mom`s new perfume pet. So I stood in the hallway barefoot and listened. The trail left was elegant and bewitching. I could immediately feel ylang ylang and the slight presence of geranium. The flowers were rich, the raspberry was ripe and thick with juice. Tuberose gave a sensual tone to the performance, and there was a fresh accord that didn`t let it become stale and heavy. As I traveled through the quiet sleeping house into the kitchen, I felt warm patchouli and dry amber, like a touch of powder puff.Art Nuveau, Tiffany glass, beaded purse and peacock feathers in a vase. I would advice to go easy on this unusual and retro perfume. It is not for everyone and won`t reveal itself on everybody.My mother still wears it and get compliments on it, and I am not surprised - it suits her perfectly. A bit eccentric!

This was my "first" perfume, in the sense that it was my very first experience with a fragrance. Back then, when my parents had first immigrated here to the states with absolutely nothing, this was a bit of "luxury" that had been gifted to them, and it was treated as such. It was the 80s, and when my family would prepare to attend a wedding, I'd get a small spritz of this as a bit of favor in the practice of dressing up. I remember feeling very glamorous wearing this, although I never remembered the scent itself. When I learned how to read and finally found out about Anna Pavlova from the back, it would also become my first memory of coming across the subject of ballet. When I grew older, I fished this bottle out of my mother's closet one day and smelled it again. I was probably 10-12ish and remembered thinking that it was very cheap smelling, or fusty, and the plastic black cap didn't do anything to make this impression better. I was fond of aquatics and light florals throughout those pre-teen to teen years during the late 90s to early 2000s. As a woman in my mid-late twenties now, I've been exploring more of the classics. Recently, I spritzed what little bit I have left of this on my wrist. It's retro in a good way, and perhaps either due to evaporation and simply the fact that the quality of the material was better, it doesn't smell cheap to me; there's a depth to it that I like. I've heard recently that they reformulated this, and while I have no ambition to buy another bottle, I like keeping what little bit I have left for the sake of memory.

I blind bought a cheap 2 oz vintage EDT splash, and I'm quite happy with this! However, a drop applied to my hand/wrist was fruity and floral and then disappeared. It's a vintage fruit smell, sort of dusty/musty/floral-- which I adore, and that "old antiques" vibe/smell in vintage scents is what keeps me going back for more. On tissue, a good dab/soak... love! Mossy antique floral-fruit. A little sharp, a little funky/pissy/animalic, a little "doughy/chalky". Now it's woody and mossy, but still with light airy dusty old world smell. Almost like the aldehydes that all vintage scents seem to share/have in common. I can't wait to wear this from a spray atomizer. On tissue drydown... the heavy vintage wood/aldehydes have died down and now it's a lovely LIGHT smooth fruity spring mossy floral. LOVE! (It's kinda generic when I think about it, but that's about the only bad thing I can say about my bottle/EDT. It's also rather weak/light.) WTF.... lol... my next day tissue test legit smells like melted butter. Which must be the tuberose. Vintage Chloe by Lagerfeld also has extreme melted butter from the tuberose.

Some people think this perfume was created in de 20's because actually there was a perfume with a similar name: "Anna Pavlova Bouquet Chypre" created by A.A. Vantine&Co. It was released in 1930. Anna Pavlova was a Russian prima ballerina of the late 19th and the early 20th centuries. Why the reformulated Pavlova by Payot has the cap in the form of a swan? Because Anna Pavlova owned a pet swan named Jack. These are the ingredients of the vintage, released in 1977: -Top notes: hyacinth, galbanum, mandarin orange, blackcurrant, bergamot, raspberry and grapefruit - Middle notes: orris, narcissus, orchid, Bulgarian rose, tuberose, jasmine, neroli, ylang-ylang and geranium - Base notes: cedar, benzoin, sandalwood, musk, vanilla, oakmoss, amber and vetiver And these are about the new formula, (the one with the cap in the form of a swan) relaunched in 1999: -Top notes: mandarin orange, cassia, raspberry and grapefruit - Middle notes: galbanum, blackcurrant, tuberose, jasmine, hyacinth, neroli, ylang-ylang and geranium -Base notes: sandalwood, musk, cedar, amber, vanilla, oakmoss and vetiver

Review of the one in the pink plastic bottle without the spray cap This is the first time I have smelt the fragrance, I don't remember the bottle with the swan but would like to get my hands on it. It sounds fab! Anyway, first impressions: Flowery, slightly old-fashioned in a bad way, and chalky. It goes on very strong. I've had it on for about 10 mins and it's still very strong. I will let it settle and see what happens. I bought it because I thought it might smell like the idea of ballerinas. Edit: It's starting to grow on me but it doesn't smell like how I'd imagine a ballerina to smell. Instead, I see a demure but stylish woman who doesn't have a lot of money wearing this. All the way through it has sort of an oakmoss and vetiver smell that overpowers the gentle flowers. The fragrance doesn't morph. This would seem to be the poor woman's Houbigant Quelque Fleur sadly. I think what's happened is that the good version has been discontinued and that I'm smelling the shadow of a fragrance. I will probably wear it on bad days just to get rid of it and not waste it.

Bad memories I tell u! Oh boy why did I do this to myself? Several years ago while I was in high school. I was about 17 or 18 yrs old my mother decided to buy this perfume for me. I believe she had no idea what it smelled like because it was sealed. She was probably looking at the pretty, little interesting looking bottle. So right after christmas I was a little excited to wear my new fragrance to school. I din't particular like it but I thought it may grow on me. I believe that I sprayed too much of this perfume on me and what a mistake that was. This perfume smells like someone's grandmother! That is not necessarily a bad thing, but at my tender age that's the last thing I wanted to smell like. During my first class all the kids came drizzling in one by one, I was so nervous because there are a lot of big mouths in my class, and of course some girl, (let's call her A.J."had to blurt out, "Someone's wearing some cheap a** perfume." Oh how I wanted to disappear!

As a teenager I received it as a gift long time ago. I remember I hated it at first sniff and gave it away to my aunt. I'm sure the person who gifted it to me meant well and they probably had no idea how strong, daring, overwhelming this scent would be for a completely uneducated in olfactory type of sense teenage nose. They probably liked the beautiful romantic-looking artsy bottle. I liked the bottle, too, but not the scent. Now almost 20 years later, I think I could have liked this vintage perfume, judging by the notes in it. Cassis? Raspberry? Really? I don't remember smelling it in there. I remember oakmoss and tuberose so pungent and sharp, almost like a punch in the sense of smell.

Just had to have this vintage fragrance. It was the last one. Sprays on sour, astringent, which must be the oakmoss, and ends to a balanced sweetness. 30 seconds is all it takes to morph into a "soured" floral, then a distinct floral which I am sure is tuberose. Then all come to play, getting sweeter with more jasmine and then it becomes deep, woody and a balanced sweetness, and not too powdery. I smell absolutely no vanilla,..which is good for me.....lol All this while remaining very feminine. It's a keeper. I'd also like to add, it's a very cooling fragrance. Yes, I know it's a chypre,.....but I wouldn't mind bathing in this on a hot summer afternoon!!

My grandmother was chosen by the great Anna Pavlova to be her protege in 1916 (she was 8). Unfortunately, her Ma-Ma, my great-grandmother, immediately stopped the ballet lessons after this wonderful invitation, and did not disclose the truth to my grandmother until she was an adult. This lovely fragrance came onto the market when I was in high school, and I always bought it for my chére grand-mère. After her L'heure Bleu days, and then her Calèche days, she wore Pavlova til the end of her days. Just like my grandmother, it was a classic. Perfectly feminine and refined in every way. I still adore it and wish I could find it.

Have to write another post, because this fragrance morphs once the weather cools off. Got two "Mmmm, what are you wearing"'s today!! Very nice.... I didn't get that in the summertime when I wore it. The weather is cooling off , becoming drier. With that comes a change in the way this perfume (and most perfumes) exudes its fragrance. The astringent top note isn't quite as astringent, and it instantly "blooms" into sweet, yet complex, flowers. Very unique, and not innocent. Not a bouquet, not cotton candy, and certainly not apple fruit fritters. Used with an easy hand, this is a wonderful cool weather fragrance.

I've been missing this perfume for a while. I started wearing it when I was a teen, shortly after it came out. It changed drastically in the 90's and I stopped wearing it. I've smelled It now and then over the years and I've even wondered to myself "why did I ever like that"... I've recently discovered Ebay vintage perfume listings and I now have both the perfume and the perfume spray. OMG they are DIVINE! I loved it because it smelled amazing! Why do these companies ruin wonderful perfumes?!? A cheaper formulation surely loses customers. I'm so happy with this. It's pure romance.

Beware--reformulated. I loved Pavlova in the 80s, for all the reasons mentioned above. Unfortunately, it was reformulated and now it is thin, sour, and very grandmother's closet, as a PP described. The tuberose notes used to be more predominant, and I believe that the previous version was described as having an amber element in the base. The dying swan finial is a tip-off that the bottle contains the reformulated version. If you are looking for the original, the cap is a plain glass stopper (for the perfume) or an ovalish cylinder of black plastic for the cologne spray.

"If you are looking for the original, the cap is a plain glass stopper (for the perfume) or an ovalish cylinder of black plastic for the cologne spray." Thank you hexicon!!!! :) I bought a sample of Pavlova only to have it arrive leaking. But the fragrance was lovely! Since I have looked for a larger bottle and found and almost bought the swan relief bottle. Nice big bottle! However,on second thought I looked here at what others had to say about this perfume. I do want the original. (few are left?)and ordered a Pavlova by your description. Here's hoping!

My vintage mini was getting low with a few drops left and i was curious about the new formulation. I ordered the 1 oz plastic bottle with out the spray pulverizer. Not the same. This formula is not as thick and lacks that pretty rasberry top note. I was glad to only have dispensed less than $ 5 to find out. How can any edt turn out to be a winner when it comes in a plastic bottle? It's a sad reformulation that lacks the vintage edition's delicate and feminine charactor. This new one smells like a good English soap and that is it.

This is a very interesting perfume. I can consider it a bouquet with a bee in it. Yes it is floral, but there is an amazing sharp note that makes it something else. This is a fragrance for the woman who likes to be "difficult." Update: When I was first wearing it it was in the Summertime. I've tried it again for Winter. I originally couldn't figure out the sharp notes but now I recognize them as citruses. Every day I wore it it got better and better. Gorgeous bottle and box. Beautiful scent and the price can't be beat!

I have the rectangular bottle with the black plastic cap, so the review is for that. It definitely opens very very loud - I would say it's almost too sweet to bear, but after a while that arrogant in your face smell fades and just a nice sweetness lingers. You absolutely need to be careful with application. The tiniest spritz is more than enough, otherwise whenever you come near people in a 1 mile radius:), they will be choking. This one reminds me the old versions of Dior or Chanel.

It's a very, but very, old lady's perfume. And this thing is said by someone who likes mostly old-fashioned perfumes (me). It's not unpleasant at all, it's quite nice and very long lasting, but if you are not at least 50 and don't dress up concervatively, say for a church appearance, you'd better not invest money and hopes on this perfume. To me, geranium and then tuberose are the most striking notes. I am happy I got the 30ml version. My bottle says that it's from 1922.

I remember smelling this on my grandmother's dressing table. It was rich and luscious. So when I bought a bottle I was horrified at what its become. Surely they reformulated.... in a sick and twisted manner. Its complexity has been altered somehow. The fragrance seems 'shallow'. It quite simple lacks the depth and 'emotion' that it once had. So I wear it sometimes like the shadow of a memory. The dying swan......

Bought it right after my dad gave my mi Red Door. My mother insisted I shouldn't use an "adult" perfume at 12, so she bought me a Pavlova, which was a cheaper pharmacy fragrance. I used to alternate it with my Red Door so I wouldn't waste it. Of course, being so young lead me to keep both perfumes for years, I was 15 when I became to try new fragrances and obviously, I never finished the Pavlova...