Trésor by Lancome: Treasure or Tragedy? (a perfume review)



Trésor has been around a long time. I've been around longer, so how come I've never tried it?

I have no good answer for that, but at least now I've rectified the situation.

Despite never having spritzed this well-known scent, it turns out I was quite familiar with it! I must be the only woman I know who didn't partake at the Lancôme counter. At first sample I was struck by that "oh, that's what I was smelling" feeling. There's no specific woman on whom I can pin this scent. More likely it's the scent of the masses - those faceless women you pass in crowds, stand next to in the elevator, and hold the door for at the mall.

That's not a rant, by the way. Familiarity doesn't equal "bad" -  at least not all the time. I mean, many of us recognize Chanel No. 5 and Shalimar when they walk by, and those perfumes aren't exactly shlubs.

Back to Trésor... On me, it's mostly two phases. The first is an apricot-peach layered over rose. This lasts an hour or so. The next phase is a powdered peachy amber, which is a lot better than it sounds.

How does it wear, you ask? Long and hard! If you spray heavily, you will find yourself surrounded by people suffering 90's flashbacks. Injuries may be incurred. Sillage is formidable at these higher doses, and not too shabby when Trésor is administered judiciously. Tenacity ranks in the "eons" range.

I am a fan of powdery ambers, and the peachy nuance is a nice twist compared to others in my collection. My sample was of the modern Trésor, which is apparently not nearly as nice as the vintage. What is?

If I had to pinpoint a mood for Trésor , I'd probably use the trite label "romantic". Personally, I look forward to wearing it on my next antique-hunting date with hubby. It feels lighthearted and flirty to me, though I'm sure the powdery aspect (with rose, no less) gets this one the dreaded (and stupid) Old Lady label from some. Meh - their loss!
 

Do you treasure Trésor? What are your feelings about peach notes and ambery drydowns? Do you like peach cobbler?






House: Lancôme
Perfume: Trésor
Perfumer: Sophia Grojsman
Notes: apricot blossom, rose, lilac, iris, peach, amber, sandalwood, musk, vanilla
Released: 1990
Sample: sample provided by friend

Final Word: A real peach.




images: a; b

7 comments:

  1. Jen, my mom---who wore vetiver oil and Ysatis previously---switched to Tresor when it came out in 1990. I remember that she got a small sample with the purchase of her holy-grail cleanser, and she was hooked. I remember that there was always a bottle of Tresor on her dresser through my middle-school, and later teen years.

    For me, Tresor smells how I remember her during that period: Spandex dresses and high-heels, her long black and curly hair styled a mile-high with different colored hair-mascara framing her face, and cigarettes--- Newport 100's. I remember it as very sweet, and very sexy...

    Now I have a small bottle of the parfum extrait for those rare moments when I want to reminisce, but is it wearable out of the house? Not for me! :)

    Thank you for the review!

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  2. This was one of the first perfumes I ever owned. A boss brought it to me as a thank you for getting his porsche detailed while he was on a business trip. Tough job, right? I remember liking the peachy notes, but proving your point, I thought the powdery notes were too "grown up" for me at the time. For some reason I made a distinction between "grown up" and "old lady". I think my definition was that powdery fragrances were grown up and chypres were old lady. :)

    Thanks for the review!

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  3. DeeHowe, from vetiver oil and Ysatis it's a pretty big jump to Tresor - at least in my book! I can totally picture your mom. She sounds badass!

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  4. I have a mini bottle of this perfume but I've never tried wearing it. I might some day... Or maybe not. Don't know wht, but it just didn't appeal to me.

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  5. I love peach, rose and amber (and Sophia G), but there's some other note in here that just turns my stomach. The lilac maybe? A letdown, I wanted to love it; I remember having a mini when I was 13 or so.

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  6. Love the images, especially the first one!

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  7. I bought this soon after it came out, and it's one of the very few bottles I've finished. I still like it, along with most of its overblown 80's-and-early-90's brethren. Guess I'm a happy heathen. :-)

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