22 Vendôme

The Place Vendome name is what really sells this. Anyone who has ever been in Paris knows Place Vendome has been the center of "old world elegance," or what is sold as old world elegance, for at least 100 years. (You don't want to know what it was the center of in 1789.) The 22 Vendome scent itself comes in a little less than extraordinaire, despite its label. It's a good floral scent, despite Fragrantica's distorted pyramid. It is absolutely not woody or earthy. Whoever is adding these accords to nearly every high end fragrance on Fragrantica needs to stop doing it and put away his/her rubber stamp. It isn't a patchouli bomb either. It's a gentle iris and vetiver scent, with I believe some light rose and other floral notes thrown in. I suspect it started its life as more of a rose scent, hence the bottle's design, and some committee at Van Cleef & Arpels said, "oh no, we can't make another rose fragrance and call it exclusive and a limited edition and sell it as a big markup to our 'select few' arrivistee customers who walk into the store." So they thrust out most of the rose. Above all, it's a good floral scent, but one made to please the common herd, women from 18-85 from all countries and their well heeled male significant others who may get out their charge cards to buy this. I can't remember what it retailed out as, but I waited until some thoughtful eBay seller put it online at a price comparable to full retail on Van Cleef & Arpels' regular fragrances. (A tier or two below Tom Ford's offerings.) It was worth buying, slightly unusual, and I can't compare it to other scents. It's totally different from Penhaligon's Iris Prima, and I also have a small bottle of Fiorilu Pupa (shown above), bought around 2004 and 22 Vendome is totally different from that. Since everyone will be blind buying this, my general assessment is that 22 Vendome is a good floral scent, but not an extraordinary one, and not as interesting as some of Van Cleef & Arpels other offerings in this "collection extraordinaire." It lasts 4+ hours on my skin and becomes more illusive for a couple of hours after that. Would I have bought it if I'd smelled a sample first? No, but I already have a lot of florals and from many eras. And no especially if I'd seen Fragrantica's pyramid first and was expecting a woody iris patchouli bomb. And thought I might get one after wearing Van Cleef & Arpels' Ambre Imperial bomb. (Now that fragrance qualifies as extraordinaire.)

It really does smell like the boutique 😅 or maybe they spray the boutique with this fragrance or maybe it’s the fragrance that is the most sprayed for testing as it’s the only place we can buy it ... They didn’t have any samples left for this one so I sprayed it on my arm and the sillage is quite good and the fragrance long lasting, I’m impressed... It’s definitely a very chic modern chypre fragrance, the bergamot and pear disappear very quickly and the combo of Iris and vetyver is really addictive, it’s not powdery at all, nor woody and I don’t even get any patchouli, it’s more an earthy chypre, very slightly spicy. Definitely signature worthy ! I can picture an executive woman or man working in the City wearing this.

I have sniffed literally thousands of fragrances in my life (and reviewed 800+ of them here on Fragrantica), and I can honestly say that this is one of the weirdest scents that my trusty old sniffer has ever encountered. Unlike a few other reviewers here, I can vouch that the list of main accords is correct. Namely, this is mainly iris paired with strong earthy and woody notes. The iris is fresh, dewy and just a little cosmetic (Nivea creme comes to mind), but it is suffocated by this peculiar smell of freshly watered soil and an evergreen forest covered in snow; and I can also detect something that smells like freshly vacuumed old carpet (maybe that's the 'boutique' scent). 22 Vendôme is certainly unique, but I can't say that it is very pleasant, let alone a crowd pleaser. Absolutely not the type of scent to be bought blindly! Save your pennies and test this one thoroughly before committing to a full bottle. I'd say that this is strictly for fans of Quentin Bisch and his unusual creations.

It was released, but it's sold exclusively at 22 Place Vendôme in Paris

Was it even released? I can't find it anywhere