Van Cleef & Arpels · 2018 · Quentin Bisch

Néroli Amara

Top luxury$$$$$, 5 of 5

VersionEau de Parfum

Bright lemon, mandarin and bergamot over peppery warmth and green cypress, ending on bitter orange blossom.

Van Cleef & Arpels says

You’ll smell Italian lemon, mandarin, bergamot, pink peppercorn, cypress and orange blossom absolute.

More from Van Cleef & Arpels’s description

It also mentions Neroli (bitter orange blossom), Citrus fruit, Neroli, Lemon, Black pepper and Orange blossom.

The house’s page

Top noteswhen you spray it

Heartas it settles

Dry-downwhat stays

Néroli Amara’s scent picture, a draft: lemon, mandarin, bergamot, pink pepper, cypress, bitter orange drawn so far; dashed outlines where nothing is drawn yet

Top noteswhen you spray it

Néroli Amara, top notes: Lemon, Mandarin, Bergamot, Black pepper

Heartas it settles

Néroli Amara, heart: Pink pepper, Cypress

Dry-downwhat stays

Néroli Amara, dry-down: Bitter orange

What’s inside it

What the label names

5 scent ingredients on the label, familiar names first.

A label must name certain ingredients, most of them ones that can cause allergies; some houses print more. It is never the whole recipe.

2 citrus1 herbs & lavender2 florals

7 more lines on the label, not there for the smell

Not for the smell7

AlcoholWaterOctinoxate (a UV filter)Octisalate (a UV filter)Avobenzone (a UV filter)Yellow 6Diethylamino hydroxybenzoyl hexyl benzoate, not in Ingredients yet

The label, as printed on the house’s page

Our match of the notes

Shares its notes

Colonia C.L.U.B.Acqua di Parma · shares lemon, bergamot, pink pepper and black pepperabout $207 for 100 ml · about half of Néroli Amara’s $355
Eros FlameVersace · shares lemon, mandarin, bitter orange (neroli, orange blossom, petitgrain) and black pepper$149 for 100 ml · about a third of Néroli Amara’s $355
Detour NoirAl Haramain · shares mandarin, bergamot, pink pepper and black pepper$66.67 for 100 ml · about a tenth of Néroli Amara’s $355

Matched by the notes each house names. A shared note is not a promise they smell alike.