The Secret Heroines of the Tsar

Hell, fire and brimstone!! Where were you hiding all my life? This baby sent my head reeling, but it wasn't immediate love, it grew slowly. The initial spritz opened with a vague fruity, effervescent, blast of innocuous citruses and a very dry melon and I admit that I forgot about this perfume for a while as it seemed to disappear into oblivion. Throughout the day I swear this fragrance develops into the most heavenly mixture of wonderful florals which are eventually enveloped by the sweetness of the vanilla and caramel and sealed with the woody notes of sandalwood. Patchouli features strongly in this composition and is eventually freshened with shades of musk. This perfumes is not a sprint, it's a marathon and you have to be in for the long haul. The end result is a gentle, sweet, beautiful and classy fragrance. I put this in the same category as a Frederic Maille perfume in terms of class, quality of ingredients and sheer beauty. I am in true love and it's going to last. This is not a phase I'm going through, it's the real thing! Longevity 8+ hours Silage: this is a loyal subject, it sits very close to the skin and doesn't more. Rate: 20/10

A very pleasant fruity floral with woody undertones. It's understated, but in French its name is "Les espionnes du tsar" - czar's women-spies, and as the name implies, this is a discreet scent. The mix of fruity-aquatic and woody notes somehow smells like black tea to me. A strong, sweet black tea in a glass with a metallic holder, like the ones you get on Russian trains. It's a delicate scent but complex and beautiful, perfect for a date as it tends to draw you in closer and closer...mmm. (Tested on skin from a 2ml sample vial from about 6 years ago) Edited to add : the drydown reminds me of Shiseido Féminité du bois (before the reformulation) and no wonder - both are by Pierre Bourdon after all! Both have this very "yin" quality and almost an a sense of melancholy. If Princesses de Venise is a loud, happy, bright sunny day, Les espionnes du tsar is a quiet twilit evening "entre chien et loup" right after the sun sets and before the stars come out. Edit2: the story accompanying the perfume is wonderful - Anna, Tsar Peter the Great's favourite spy was sent to Versailles, to the court of Louis XV, to get a famous Royal painter to paint a masterpiece for the Russian court. She succeeded - thanks to her mysterious and enticing perfume! Upd: unfortunately discontinued, as are all the perfumes from this collection

This is a very well done floral perfume, I do not agree with the notes listed as most noticeable here on fragrantica, but maybe that's just me. I do not any vanilla and caramel out of "The Secret Heroines of the Tsar". Speaking of the name - I also do not get the Russia resemblance. Nor the secret one. This is a very safe floral perfume, dominated by melon and rose at the opening with a beautiful patchouli background. The heart part brings fresh and aquatic vibes from magnolia . This is also the part where this creation gets slightly musky , but in very moderate doses. It also seems a bit sour and heavy at this part, but it never gets disturbing. As it develops, I start to get jasmine and L-O-V making this sparkle, still all trough the perfume is the patchouli vibe, which is the cold kind of patchouli as in JHAG - Lady Vengeance, not the dirty/earthy one. Even though one might say that patchouli is very noticeable here, I do not think that patchouli dislike-rs will have a hard time wearing this. Silage is very good, it radiates rather heavy, but does not overpower everything, lasting power is also decent. So I think this is a full bottle worthy. It retails for around 100$ on discount stores and is worth every penny for someone looking for an elegant floral with cold vibes underneath.

Surprisingly interesting decant, - thanks to veda Reading oriental-floral..mmm..on me its oriental FRUITY-floral. But aquatic vibe doesnt let it to slip into edible category. Nicely "done" melon with magnolia -first what appears on my skin, patchoili and apple next and caramelly iris and sandalwood at the bottom. I wrote it for strict purpose of how it is on me but I guess it will be different for each person anyway as its hard to describe one. In few words - breezy fruity-floral oriental, exotic and tropical possibly coz of unusual note of "meringue" I love the name of this fragrance)

I just tested a sample of this and I must say I am glad it's only a sample. It's not awful, don't get me wrong, but in my opinion it's not special either. It's very warm and apple-ish, I agree with Mellybee here - but also very sweet, to me nearly sickly and somehow cheap smelling (under no circumstance would I expect this price!). I must admit that I was almost close to enjoying it for a brief moment, but I have only applied tiny bit with that plastic spatula in the sample and I am pretty sure: just a drop more and I would find it really annoying. Somehow it reminds me of stewing very fragrant apples for so long that the liquid has evaporated and the caramelized sugar has started to burn... then you get this strong smell that tends to linger forever and that's what I am getting from this fragrance. It also reminds me of various "cheerful" cheaper fruity/sweet/flowery scents that are aimed at young girls. The description at Luckyscent.com says that this fragrance is dripping with intensity, sweetness and intrique and I think that's precisely it! Perfectly said! Not for me.