Balmain de Balmain by Pierre Balmain

Flora55

I love this stuff, it's the best new Balmain among their chypres, since they have ruined Miss Balmain and dumbed down Jolie Madame with reformulation; it is also a wonderful green scent to replace what they have done to Vent Vert. The question is why not just keep Vent Vert, once one of the world's great Green Florals, instead of changing it so drastically and then coming out with something really nice like Balmain de Balmain? I would love to be a fly on the wall at the PB Marketing and Product Development department meetings.

sherapop

In an effort to determine why a 100ml bottle of BALMAIN costs less than a button on a Pierre Balmain blouse (their tshirts start at $3K...), I went to the venerable house's website and found BALMAIN featured there with the following info:

"La séduction, l’élégance d’une silhouette… L’éclat, la lumière, la sensualité d’un regard… Le raffinement, la sophistication d’un geste… Un certain mélange de classicisme et de modernité dans le style…Il existe un jeu permanent entre élégance et féminité, qui entretient tout le mystère, et qui fait qu’une femme soit si complice des notes de « son » parfum.

Parfum Chypré

Notes de Tête: Bergamote de Calabre, Galbanum du Moyen Orient, Poivre Noir, Cassis de Bourgogne

Notes de Cœur: Clair de Jasmin, Violette de Tourette sur Loup, Rose de Mai, Iris de Florence

Notes de Fond: Patchouli d’Indonésie, Mousse de Chêne, Santal de Mysore, Vétiver d’Indonésie"
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Pretty impressive for less than $20! I still can't figure this out. Pierre Balmain is strictly haute couture--they have not jumped on the bandwagon of designers who run low-brow lines at Target, Wallmart, H&M, or whatever. There must be some sort of major décalage [disconnect] between the various departments at PB, because this just doesn't make any sense. Now for my review:

BALMAIN opens fairly sharply, with a serious bergamot note that holds on and maintains a citrus demeanor for several minutes. The galbanum is also pronounced. All the way throughout, the florals are very low key (nb: PB calls this a chypre, not a chypre floral...) and the chypre elements come in fairly quickly, moving straight to a vetiver-heavy drydown. As others have observed, this is a very masculine feminine fragrance. I love this. But I love Guerlain CORIOLAN, ostensibly for men. In fact, I think that BALMAIN is more masculine than CORIOLAN. Seriously. But that's not a demerit in my book, because I love savory scents such as this. To put this chypre in a bit of perspective, BALMAIN is much less foggy than many of the more famous feminine chypres. The oakmoss receives a very light hand in this composition, which will be good news for those who suffocate in oakmoss-suffused frags.

It's pretty clear that the only prêt-a-porter that I'll ever be owning from the house of Pierre Balmain is their perfume. But it's great, and their entire collection is on my wish list.

TURQUOISE

To me Balmain De Balmain is a beautiful and refined perfume that makes you feel like a noticeable elegant lady! AT LEAST!
I would describe it- on my skin- as a green chypre floral!

What can I say about it??
The truth.. I loved the top and middle notes but the dry down after a couple of hours it trouble me, all the flower notes are almost gone and the smell becomes too harsh and "manly"
Hmmm..you know what?? I don't care!..
I want this stuff!

Balmain de Balmain has an aura of aristocracy that nowadays can't be easily found!

NebraskaLovesScent

I'm testing a group of Balmain scents at the moment, and Chypre Floral is one of my favorite scent categories, so any fragrance from this group deserves a good try.

Sadly, this was the only Balmain I've tried so far that didn't work for me. Balmain de Balmain smelled lovely in the bottle, but ended up being very sharp and sour on my skin, with a touch of something that irritated my nose.

I noticed the scent evolving over time and revealing its layers, but even the heart and base notes continued to smell unpleasant on me. I'm sure it's just not compatible with my chemistry and would be lovely on the right man or woman. (I agree with the previous reviews that suggest it is unisex.)

This is a good one to sample before purchasing a bottle.

Kittycat63

This is decidedly masculine smelling to me. I ordered it over the internet without having smelled it first because I read good reviews about it and it was a bargain price. Although I find the scent quite pleasant it starts out quite masculine smelling and doesn't evolve (on me anyway) into anything more feminine, yet based on reviews I had read I thought the more feminine notes would start to come through after awhile. I don't smell any iris, jasmine or rose in it at all, just the heavier, smokier notes, although they're not harsh but quite soft notes. In my view this scent would work much better on a man than a woman, so I can recommend it for a man or for a woman who doesn't mind wearing masculine smelling scents!!

straige

I'd like to say: it's elegant, green chypre. First time I bought it in 2001 and it became my favorit so far.