Miss Balmain Pierre Balmain for women

This scent is not "sweety pink girly" at all, which is what the ribbon and packaging might suggest. Miss Balmain was my first real perfume. I was 15, 16 years old. Before Miss Balmain I bought my perfumes with my own money, that I made as a baby-sitter. I had turned to tiny, angular bottles with perfume oil from India (really cheap, abt 2 Euro's). My favourite was patchouli. (Yes, I was a teenager in the 1970s hippie-era) My father was often abroad for business, always came back with a small present typical of that country, usually candy. One day he came home from France with a bottle of Miss Balmain perfume, telling me that I was becoming a woman now, and in Paris girls my age had their first perfume. I was absolutely smitten by this gift and the idea behind it. I loved the scent too. To me it was like a chique, stylish version of my patchouli-oil. I never stopped using Miss Balmain, and I'm literally still a miss. Lovers yes, husbands no. I'm not sure if the contemporary Miss Balmain has the same formula it used to have. Whatever the case, I still love it. It's not your typical feminine scent, it's even a bit masculine, it's smoky, rich, full, intense. A perfume for women who own themselves.

I'm not shure about Miss Balmain: is it a bit vintage or modern and very unique perfume? It opens sharp, leathery with aldehydes and vetiver and flowers (narciss,rose and carnation), among wich I can smell some lemon. Later it becomes more soft with some powdery scent and with all those flowers but still the leather and vetiver are there, less aldehydes maybe It's fresh on top and creamy inside. Very nice and really long lasting!
Colder weather perfume. I found it suitable for daily formal occasions.But I must point out again, that classification of some perfume on "day or night" always depends on my personal mood and the feelings. So Miss Balmain can easily be night perfume as well.

This is not what I expected. This was,also, a blind buy...EDT, modern formula.

For some reason, I expected something stronger and more aggressive. Instead, what emerges is ,herbal greenery and freshness softened with white floral, perhaps lilly of the valley. This is a chic, refined woman: there is nothing little girlish about this one despite the name.

After only twenty minutes or so the fragrance shifts:
the freshness and the floral seems to evaporate, leaving behind an herbal leather with surprising staying power. This sudden shift from beginning to drydown seems abrupt to me,like where's the second act in the play?

However, I won't complain because this is a lovely fragrance at a reasonable price, that has that delicious leather note like Azuree, and plays it with subtlety and charm. I think this was a good discovery. I'm looking forward to comparing this to the vintage in the future.

I like this very much.

( Much later in the day...) Miss Balmain just gets better and better. I've taken a shower and applied this fragrance liberally. It is subtle and sophisticated, an herbal-leather smokiness that settles about the body like a comforting warmth, a second skin. It sometimes reminds me of Azuree, and at other times it has a greenness that reminds me of Aromatics Elixer...it is very subtle, balanced,
and refined...and I am very comfortable in this. The longer I wear this the more respect I have for the creator of this lovely perfume. Excellent!

Definitely my cup of tea.

The Balmain trilogy would have been: JOLIE MADAME for ladies, BALMAIN DE BALMAIN chic sporty and MISS BALMAIN for young misses. As a matter of fact I find Miss Balmain more "mature" than Jolie Madame. Both are incredibly chic, absolute elegance and charme but I find the charm in Miss Balmain is more refined than the one in Jolie Madame. I use both with the same enthusiasm (I also use and love Balmain de Balmain) but to me Miss Balmain is for more formal occasions than Jolie Madame. This is a case when you face a perfume made with much art, an excellent example of what perfumery used to be and is no longer, alas.

I have a small spray decant of a vintage version of Miss Balmain. Before spraying, I thought I picked up some lovely leather and woody notes on the vial. However, upon spraying, it starts off extremely strong, sharply aldehydic, and intensely floral.

After a half hour or so the citrus and sharpness goes away, leaving a smooth, abstract floral chypre-type scent. I can smell oakmoss and powder in the base. Oddly, on my skin there is never much of the leather and woody scent that I detected on the sample vial. It’s too bad, because I really would have enjoyed it. However, all in all, this is an excellent old-fashioned floral chypre that’s well made.

It’s a shape-shifter that goes from sharp, citrusy and aldehydic to soft, floral and mossy. I like it, but can’t help wondering what happened to the leather.

I have been searching for this for ages and finally have found it, absolutely love it to bits, bought a bottle years ago through Perfume Connections in Qld and was never able to find it. Thanks to Fragrantica and their never ending list of fragrances I have been able to purchase it. Every time I wear this either day or night I get lots of comments on the aroma. My next mission is to purchase the original Fendi as this is another all time classic, which is becoming extremely difficult to purchase. Another fragrance that I would include in this category is Donna Trussardi for Women (in a frosted bottle) not in the white leather look bottle, and is getting difficult to purchase also, but I managed to get a bottle online and am in heaven once again.

cleaning out my perfume wardrobe around midnight,
and decided to get better acquainted with this juice....
something about this reminds me of paloma--
the leather and oakmoss aldehydes...
"miss" ? really?
this is a powerhouse stacked woman all the way
classy, chic, mink stoles, and stilleto heels.
i say this not put myself down, but there is no way i can ever pull this off.
granted i'm 30, but i have the mind of a teenager.
this perfume is not me but i am in tremendous awe of it.

I bought Miss Balmain to try as Fendi Fendi was my all time favourite scent.

It is a wee bit like Fendi Fendi, but Miss Balmain is sharper & thinner. I still have a small bottle of Fendi to compare it with & the Fendi is more golden, fuller and a more 'round' scent, slighly honeyed, in comparison. Miss Balmain is not so long-lasting on my skin, either.

I can also appreciate the comparison to Azuree, but Miss Balmain appears to be lacking the citrus top notes of Azuree. When Azuree dries down the leather is drier and a stronger note, but the dry down of Miss B is less leathery and more floral.

Having said that, Miss Balmain is a delightful foral leather scent that smells far more expensive than it is. The bottle is charmingly retro & I'm glad I bought it.

I love leather scents and there's a spot on my shelf for all three!

Opens with a complex, mature, and mysterious rose.
This is a perfume with “balls”.
The name “miss” is a bit misleading as girls aren’t allowed on this territory.
This is for women only, self-assured women, women in business suits who play the boys at their own games.
A perfume for an aloof femme fatale.
Hard exterior with the sexiest of lingerie underneath.
The rose gently and progressively morphs into a chic powdery cloud, and bit by bit, reveals a heart of leather, oakmoss, and patchouli.
The projection and longevity are beautiful and just right, although I feel, it should be applied with a light hand as a little goes a long way.
This is in the same family as classics such as Madame Rochas, both serious perfumes with a devilish and naughty edge.

Surprisingly good! I didn´t expect that such an old fragrance can be soo good! Very nice composition of what i call a lady-like fragrance (not in a matter of age, but behaving). Rose, carnation, coconut, leather- they are all present here and the opening is one of the most beautiful i have sniffed ever!
I could never appreciate it until lately since the whole Balmain range has never been sold in the country i live, so it is only possible to order it online or buy it abroad, so i am a "virgin" if it comes to "balmain" fragrances :)) . And i am glad i did, because it is a real gem and very well balanced indeed. A good alternative to the Chanel "Chance" and "Coco mademoiselle" addictions in my country. It smells so refined, full-bodied and rich i just can´t believe that i have missed it for soooo long time.
I guess i have the older version of "Miss balmain" since it doesn´t look like the ones on the pictures, but with a black label and black lid. But i definitly want to try the new one also.
Absolutly worth trying and buying!!!

UPDATE:

OK, it's official. I thought I was imagining it..
I had to share my new love, Miss Balmain, with two old, dear friends.. .think most of my lifetime friends. So I sprayed it generously on them...and they both said, 'but this smells so like what you used to always wear.'

SO. I'm not mad. This supremo out-Fendi's Fendi. It is stronger, lasts longer, and has that amazing, inviting and tempting combo of oriental sweet with spice and smoke and warmth....
When I wear it, I feel good enough to eat.

I am definitely in heaven, as my quest for a Fendi substitute has been met with a master fume. Thank you, God.

I've just ordered two more bottles, because I AM NOT EVER RUNNING OUT OF THIS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Money. Lots of it, and it's old money. And life is carefree, life is filled with fun. I walk into any room and my elan captures the eyes, ears and adulation of everyone.

That, definitely, was what hit me the minute I sprayed on this perfume designed by an artist from heaven. Don't ask me to work out the notes, or the middle phase, or the dry down. The energy is sweet/sour, aldehyde and leather, and the mix is pure divinity. I think of Catherine Deneuve....elegant stunning,alluring, but in the most ladylike way.

Funny, it also takes me back to a perfume made by an iconic Australian designer from the 60's, Prue Acton. I have tried and tried to find a bottle of her perfume, but this is so reminiscent of it. And that takes me to another time, place and picture for Miss Balmain.

Sydney. Hot nights. The late 60'/early 70's. Glamorous, false eyelashed and micro skirted, liberated girls. And nightclubs where everyone smoked, and drank black russians, and everything was new and reborn, because this was the new age and we were it's people. And this was our smell....

Vibrant, earthy, gentle sweet. It reeks of luscious, but refined femaleness.

I want to drink it!! Heaven!!

I'm ordering in more bottles, because I can't get enough....

I have waited a long time to find & buy the vintage version of this juice & i finally found it on ebay at a bargain price. I was desperate to have a juice from my year of birth.

This has not failed my expectations at all. The opening is massive & gives a big fat wallop to your senses. Just as Ivoire de Balmain does & both Estee Lauder Youth Dews. Its definately the citrus notes that pack the initial punch along with the jasmine sweetness.

After 10 minutes the blast of citrus disperses allowing the vetiver to the forefront, vetiver never leaves but stays hugging your skin through to the end.

I only have to wait 30 minutes for the real depth of this beauty to reach my nose. Amber, musk, rose & carnation are the top players on my skin alongside vetiver.

This juice dries down warm & soft with enough flowers to make it feminine but its true depth is musky & woody.

Im delighted i love this fragrance & hopefully will have it as my signature some day. It has been worth the wait & was a major succesful blind buy.

Im eager to try the updated version to see how they compare.

One of the most magnificent perfumes, next to "Jolie Madame."

I've never met a bottle of Balmain that I didn't love but this one took me longer than the rest. I have a vintage EdT in the round-shouldered bottle and for months I'd sample it and back off. Its opening is sharp, pointed, almost confrontational.

Finally I decided to try to meet Miss Balmain halfway and discovered that when the intense top notes begin to settle into the middle notes the whole composition relaxes considerably. It becomes the sort of chypre I'm always lusting after.

There's a note all the way though that kept puzzling me. My sense of smell is sort of blunt, I'm afraid; I can't separate notes like many of you can. But there's something in Miss B so familiar if only I could put my finger on it. I searched for ingredients in the old formulations and found thujone. Aha, of corse, now it made sense.

Thujone is the sharp-smelling compound in mugwort, yarrow, tansy, chamomile and it's probably what repels moths in cedar. But our human noses have a positive reaction to these plants once they're accustomed to thujone's stridency---ergo, Miss Balmain takes a few minutes of getting used to. Once on familiar terms, MB becomes a good old-fashioned chypre that smells like it costs more money than it does. You know, the common denominator in all Balmain perfumes.

MISS BALMAIN is the recipe for wonderous fume! It goes on and gets ur attention with the floral nuances.THere is a kiss of spice.BUt the holy grail of this fume is the wonderful woody dry down.One feels as if they r walking down a country lane in the fall.The leaves r turning colors and somewhere,someone has a fire.THe smokiness only adds to the florals which have broken into their last bloom and the deep woodiness of the trees.A gentle cool wind blows reminding u of the promise of winter.U hug ur sweater closer and smile.

I found this scent to be incredibly similar to Azuree by Estee Launder. Miss Balmain is woody, dry, resinous, sharp...comparing to Azuree-wich my brain cannot stop doing-Miss Balmain flies out of the nozzle and presents in the beginning - to be much woodier- it´s also a softer woody feeling than Azuree-it´s also dryer-so much dryer-I desperately wanted a humidifier after the first spray! Miss Balmain´s leather is much softer, not so in-your-face. Sometimes Miss Balmain exhibits a gentle powdery scent, as Azuree would never do. Miss Balmain is never sweet. At moments, Azuree does shout out some kind of deep sugary notes. Miss Balmain doesn´t last the 5 days as Azuree does.
So, that´s my review. While sniffing Miss Balmain, I could not stop thinking of Azuree. All in All, I prefer my Azuree. If you hate Azuree, because it´s so pungent-maybe try Miss Balmain?

If you like contrast or to compare Leather Scents
Gres Cabochard and Miss Balmain are perfect examples Miss Balmain is Prim
fruity sweet bright naive lively a Good
Girl scent Feminine and Represents
Daytime. Cabochard is dark rebelious
masculine mysterious woody sexual
vampish bad girl smokey tabacco
and represent the Night.

this is a nice scent but does not grab me like Cabochard. i think there is too much Coconut mixed with Leather is a
bad idea but whould'nt buy it again.

"Miss Balmain 1967 - the new perfume for one who is young, beautiful & blasée". Thanks to Doctormod I sat down to sample Miss Balmain with my 99yr old granny.

For me it brought back memories of being very small & staying round at my (other) grandmother's house. The house was old: wood-panelled, leather seated chairs with brass studs, the grandfather clock ticking loudly cutting through the heavy still air tinged with furniture polish, & dried flowers.

It was bathtime & the steam rose from the big enamalled tub & mingled with her perfumes, powder puffs & potions. A jug of daffodils stood in the corner, enveloped by the ozonic cloud. The bath salts were girly, rose-pink cubes - a confusing body for something that was so herbal, mossy, stripping & dry! The overall fragrance was never sweet but clean, herbal, mature, & as fierce as nature herself....like the calm before a storm in a tall, silent forest.

My granny felt that it was similar to Bandit - a gentle, young Bandit without the balls, bite & stubborn nature (I'm paraphrasing a bit there!).

The aldehydes did not irritate & the feisty chypre nature was as refreshing to sample as my mum's beloved vintage O de Lancome on a hot day - what a break from all the sweet-nothings out there! For someone who loves orientals I am equally delighted by a fierce, dry retro-chypre. Moss-magic!

This is a wonderful scent, very mature and strong, yet not overwhelming. The lasting power is excellent, extremely good value for money. I detect leather, something smoky, wild and intoxicating. I feel very feminine in it, but strong and self-confident at the same time, this is an ego-booster... It is a warm and sensual perfume, with a twist.Perfect for all occasions except for summer.

I put this on and after 30 minutes had three things come to mind: Aquanet, ouch, and No.

Now why don't aldehydes like me? It's like walking into a hair salon as a wedding party of 10 is getting their hair set.

Underneath it all I can detect my favorite notes, like narcissus, rose, Orris root and oakmoss, which is very delicate and smooth here. But because of the strong aldehydes it's like listening to opera in a crowded bowling alley.

I really shouldn't say this, becuase this scent is a little older than I am, but I also find it ...hush....a bit dated. Balmain, the original, sits better wiht me.

A good scent to try, however, If you don't have the same reaction to the top notes.

What an expensive-smelling scent! If old money had a smell, Miss Balmain is it. It reminds me of gold heirlooms, the silver buckles on a buttery leather harness, expanses of sweet manicured woods surrounding the estate. Enter a young woman with a pertly upturned nose and pouty lips, riding cloths smartly tailored, leading a thorough-bred about its paces.

Miss Balmain isn't a sheltered lady - she's just accustomed to the finer things in life and extremely demanding, bordering on severe. The green coriander in the opening does not relent as it progresses to dry mossy patchouli-vetiver. The blow of the hard crack of leather is softened by powdery orris root. I smell a smidgeon of rose, but the florals are barely detectable under the handsome woodsy-leather.

Despite the "miss" in the name, I would not recommend for teenagers. Like reviewers below mentioned, it is a masculine and assertive fragrance. Miss Balmain demands that her wearer be upkept, arrogant, elegant, and ballsy.

I bought it for my mother and we were both disappointed. I remember her wearing it when I was about 11 or 12( I am now 53) but I don't care for it now, nor does she. willing to sell it for 10 plus shipping if anyone is interested. Maybe Jolie Madame is the one we liked.

Miss Balmain strikes me as an oxymoron. Or does Miss Balmain spend her days on a saddle riding through the woods? For that is the true identity of this unexpected perfume, whose presentation was quite deceiving. Rather than pretty, sweet, or flowery, Miss Balmain is dry wood and fresh leather mingled together in a standoffish way, as if to proclaim: "I don't give a damn what you think." Reminds me of CABOCHARD, perhaps because so few perfumes contain significant leather notes that they leap out at me, like a lasso!

Leathery, dry woody fragrances have their place, of course. I like them on certain days, reminiscing about riding on noble steeds over majestic Rocky Mountain peaks... Alone.

Miss Balmain is one of my great favorites, perfect for an evening of theater, a lunch in a fun cafe or an elegant party. Versatile with its big bouquet and leather chypre underpinnings, I can see this one going just about anyplace with elan.

I can imagine a conversation between Pierre Balmain and Germaine Cellier going something like this: "Madame, take this marvelous Bandit of yours, apprehend her and dress her in silks!"
I'm not sure if Bandit came before Miss Balmain but they are sisters at heart, Miss Balmain is the more floral, less untamed version.

Gorgeous!

Unique perfume with a strong character, Miss Balmain in the title has nothing in common with this unique composition. Bottle is cute, but color is unusual, do not expect tender tones! Leather, moss and vetiver in the starring role make this fragrance so original, and it's definitely not a tender feminine fragrance.This is a sharp fragrance that wears women with style.

I bought this one mainly for educational purposes and because it was really affordable. I only tested it once and I really don't understand this scent, nor can I smell the leather. All I can smell is dry flowery dust, maybe tobacco as well. It isn't disgusting, but not very pleasant either.
I can't recommend buying this without sampling :) I'm still not giving up on Miss Balmain, I will try to test it again, maybe in colder weather.

EDIT:
Actually colder weather was not necessary. It seems I just needed some time and perspective. I have to admit I had a little help with this - from Miss Dior. I really had to smell Miss Dior first to be able to appreciate Miss Balmain. Miss Dior is much lighter, MB is really rich and dense. Anyway I love them both.

woman coming through get out of the way perfume. it feels so sexy and lush in a dominating skanky way. i know that aldehydes turn a lot of people off or bring on the dreaded "grandma perfume" remark, but there is nothing like that note. not to mention that any grandma wearing this had to have been a rock star in her day. this is a beautiful, strong smell.

Soft, dry, powdery, flowery leather. Nice odour!

I had the same experience as Scent Lover. I've seen this in my local TK Maxx store (which is called TJ Maxx in America!) and they had this in the perfume section at a very reasonable price and I was tempted to buy it but didn't know anything about it or what it smelled like so I resisted the temptation because I thought it might smell disgusting! The reviews on here though are very good though so I wish I had bought it! Hopefully next time I'm in TK Maxx I might get a bottle.

Gosh.. I saw some in TK Max down here in Europe and thought couple of times to get it but I couldnt find any proper reviews online and I didnt want to buy it out of the blue. Now I am reading your comments and thinking that I should have got it cause it sounds nice :(

Just wonderful, but, unfortunately, I can not find it anymore!