First Love

First Love was a blind buy for me, and a bit unexpected. I thought osmanthus was sweet and powdery, but after spraying First Love the first time, I had to look up all of the notes to figure out what the heck i was smelling! Apparently osmanthus can be sweet, in an apricotty vein, but here the osmanthus in cooler weather takes on a plummy, suedey, leathery note. In warm weather it is almost chocolatey, just wonderful. This jus opens dark and tart, with a salty tone, like the taste of wine poured over skin. The color of the bottle is quite appropriate- I've drunk wines that tasted like this. The osmanthus and orchid are present from the first blush, but the sweetness of ylang ylang doesn't show up until the scent evolves. While the name of this perfume is clearly a play on VC&A First, the scent itself unfolds like a new love, from the initial tart exchange, to the engaging heart that feels safe and familiar, and eventually introduces a breath of sweetness via the vanilla notes that show up deep and soft as the scent evolves on your skin. A first kiss is here, the first time you taste another's sweat, but ultimately this is about romantic love, and although it is deep and soft, with the exploratory sensuality of making out in dark corners, it lacks a carnal note. Almost touchably soft, First Love isn't a soft-focus-rose-petal romance. It also is not a this-girl-is-gonna-sweep-you-off-your-feet kind of scent. It holds that edge of adventure and exploration...but ultimately retains a certain innocence. Light to moderate sillage, and long lasting enough for a date, but not a day at work, this one is worth a sniff. There are plenty of scents to wear when you want to be ravished. This is one to wear when you want to be romanced, to embark on a new adventure.

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.

Mmmmm, how marvellous and feminine, how soft and tender, yet very distinctive and different. I love other Van Cleefs, yet this one has own place in my heart, its romantic and sensual, there is something from baby powder, old-fashioned lipstick ,yet with after-shower creams and body warmth. Its not extremely sweet or powdery though, its just right from all angles. When you are cuddled in warm bed on the morning, stretching yourself and see little flower bundle at your side of the bed. Nice feeling, lovely fragrance.

I had this, until it was discontinued... Loved it, and received compliments on it. Extremely good sillage and longevity. Rosey and musky, and personally i could detect a hint of star anise. Gorgeous! Note - For fans of deeper and sweeter frags only. Very 'rich' fragrance, so if you enjoy scents like Cool Water by Davidoff or Clinique happy, maybe give this a skip.

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!

This is lovely but not the notes listed. It definitely has tons of iris. This is a soft powdery amber skin scent. Very pretty and close. Warm and cozy. I love it. You have to love powder. Not lipstick or violet but more of a powdery dusty amber.

Beautiful elegant, soft, gentle perfume. Lovely. Feminine and flowery, sweet and demure. Sophisticated and womanly. I feel very loved in it.

A very intersting oriental floral, but the longevity is not even 2 hours....not buying another bottle for sure.

I liked it very much.It is must have

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.

This was a blind buy for me and when I first tried it lets just say it was NOT Love at first sight. I think it was because it wasn't what I was expecting and it surprised me. After about a week I tried it again before I sold it on Ebay and decided to keep it. After wearing it a few times it just grew on me and now I crave wearing it at times, especially if I want to feel comforted. To me this smells like sweet amber sandalwood mixed with baby powder with a touch of vanilla. The pepper emerges at the heart and drydown. Longevity on me is great but to ladies who are used to dousing themselves in silage monsters it might not seem to hang around since it tends to stay close to the skin. I get absolutely NO soapiness, I'm not sure how others are smelling soap unless compared to something that isn't actually considered soapy in the fragrance world. If a fuzzy sweater had its own smell First Love would be it. I love spraying it on my sheets when the weather cools.

To the below poster asking if First Love is similar to J'aime la Nuit, they are not. First Love is very powdery and does not have the same "chocolate" scent as J'aime la Nuit. I was concerned that this fragrance might be too sweet. I often have difficulties with amber & vanilla, and when they are combined.. well, the results can be quite horrible. So I was pleasantly surprised when I spritzed this on and found it to be soft, powdery and not particularly sweet. Or at least not sweet in a sugary way. Everything in this fragrance rests on an ambrox (similar to ambergris) base, but aside from that I find the osmanthus to be quite prominent and the ylang-ylang adds a spicy floral tone. Final drydown has a slightly milky quality. First Love is subtle, warm and feminine.

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.

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...

i bought it blindly. it's not that i dislike it, but it's never my first choice of use. Some people complained that it smelled too powdery... maybe it has to do with my body chemistry. I feel like an old lady using it. Maybe in the future this fragrance will fit me better.

I do smell quite a bit of patchouli here -though it's not listed. Why does Fragrantica leave out notes? Pretty powdery and a mature fragrance to my nose,winter fragrance to me. Not bad.

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 don't have much to say about this fragrance other than that it is powdery-sweet. I bought it for the bottle and because it was a flanker to First, but there are so many fragrances I like better, so I sold it.

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.

Now that I have safely got rid of my bottle, I can give vent to my feelings regarding this fragrance. I hated it, my mum hated it, everyone hated it. She said it smelled old fashioned, I thought it smelled like a cheap dollar store concoction except with monster sillage and longevity. My poor mother scrubbed it off so I know it's not just me, and I know it can't have sold well, hence its discontinued status. Disclaimer though, I can't tell you you'll hate it, this is my experience, but everyone has different perception so by all means, try it yourselves, it may be the one for you. Pink syrupy plums and cherry blossoms drenched in baby powder. All I get is peonies, osmanthus, ylang ylang- all these syrupy fruity sticky flowers. The unappealing powder of the first fragrance is echoed here as a more insipid baby powder. I can see why it is discontinued. This doesn't scream romance to me but tack in a big pink bottle. No orchid, no amber, no any of that. All pink flowers, vanilla and powder, I must be explicitly clear. Yikes.