Vent Vert Pierre Balmain for women

I just ordered a small sample of the re-issue of Vent Vert. A little of this goes a long way. I can't decide if I like it or not. I'm getting something icky sweet off the top and icky sweet isn't my thing. I'll see what it does in an hour or two. Moving right along to find a new great perfume....

Update after 3 hours - no can do.

for grass and hiacynth SKIP THIS, get Cristalle !!! This is not bad, but it's not as good as Cristalle. They are similar though.

I just recieved a boxed mini of this from Ebay.
According to the esteemed Luca Turin, 'Vent Vert is dead' as it's been reformulated or something.
I don't know if this is a vintage - maybe 80s?, or if I'm just a pleb haha, but this is LOVELY, it's like green sherbet if there could be such a thing!
At first it's 'ahh, mossy!' and then it just becomes this lovely green fizz.
My new green of choice I think, now to go look for some decent big bottles..

Hidden away from the mainstream market, Balmain introduced the first real green gem to the perfume world. Basil and green notes beconed us to the forest meadow to find a lavish bouquet of florals. It would set the stage for many to follow.

Its interesting to note that this was the first female nose within the industry. I always found this peculiar, as ladies sense of smell is more developed than men. One may say that Vent Vert is the first feminist fragrance. Its like "getting back to the garden".

The current edition on the market foils the original intent of green and turns it more "Vent Plastique". So sad...

It's something like Ma Griffe, but with a twist.

So I am doing my obligatory one-mile walk in the morning, heading straight for our large municipal park. Crushed leaves, freshly mowed grass beginning to dry in the sun, all these natural aromas waving at this walker on this early morning in May.

I had dabbed Vent Vert on my upper arms and kept sniffing and comparing (people must have thought she's crazy) and if anything like this morning's nature can be kept in a bottle, this is it.

Vent Vert does not have much projection, but it sure smells good, close to the skin.

i understand that vent vert was reformulated some years ago - it was my first scent when i was a teen, far too long ago for me even to think about, so i had the original which came in a prim little bottle that did not have the whoops-it's-windy top. my mother had accepted the contraband while guest of the captain of an ocean-going freighter. (all the crew used to bring over all sorts of forbidden pleasures, largely perfume but also cigars and such). i was the only one in school, in my city, in my province - in the entire country, for all i know - who had this we-just-had-a-shower-and-now-the-sun's-coming-out scent - which also carried a little thrill of a warning that one might step into something unpleasant if one kept one's nose too far up in the air.

went from there to ivoire by way of (two weeks of) charlie and coriander, but only when i was not wearing bal a versailles.

I fell for VENT VERT from the first moment I inhaled this incredible and gorgeous green spring scent. This is one of the best green scents I’ve ever tried. It smells just like a spring day after the rain. The scent captures the abundance of greenery, raindrops on a grass and fresh spring air. I am wearing it today on such a spring day and it is in complete harmony with the nature around me. It smells so natural but it is also complex and interesting. Unbelievable experience!

The opening is green but not sharp or harsh. It is so harmonious that it is hard to discern the notes. I think I smell a bit of lime, a bit of herbs and orange blossom. I also thought that I smell galbanum but it is not listed, so perhaps it is asafoetida that adds this earthy touch. The symphony of spring continues with the gentle floral heart notes. They are still green but not sharp at all. I catch whiffs of lily of the valley, freesia and later on violets. The scent continues to be in a perfect harmony. The notes are so flawlessly weaved together that I cannot really say which one takes a lead but together they create this beautiful light and refreshing floral scent. The dry down is also a bit green. I mostly smell vetiver and sandalwood.

This scent is beautiful from the beginning till the end. In my humble opinion it is a masterpiece among green scents and an absolute delight to wear. I am sure it could be worn anytime of the year but I think its true magic comes alive when it is worn in spring. Definitely recommend.

(Vintage review)
The opening of Vent Vert made me want to convert to catholicism, for no other reason than to use the phrase, "Oh blessed Virgin Mary!" Wow, what a perfectly pure opening!!!

But I'm glad I held onto my Protestant hymnal, because the middle act needs to go straight to confessional. Really now, what happened?

This is just dusty on me. Not attic dusty, but 'bachelor pad' dusty. Blech. The citrus carries through from the opening, but becomes raspy, dry and dirty. I don't get earthy florals at all. And for heaven's sake, there is hyacinth, ylang-ylang and violet here; these are my favorite florals!!!

In short, I'm scratching my head over this one. There is not a single note above that I don't like. I really don't know how this fell out of grace.

A member of the Vent Vert Family is Romeo by Romeo Gigli. And then I mean the original as well as the Eau Fraiche version!

The bottle, that I have, looks totally different... more like the old "Jolie Madame" and round...like a "tube"...?

VV Platinum Roberto Verino for women should be tested by the Balmain Vent Vert lovers!

To my nose it is a Vent Vert (even verter than Vent Vert) without the flowery powdery herbacious bits of the "before" reformulation (real) Balmain Vent Vert.

Some scents call themselves green , but this one is really green . It smells like freshly cut flowers and grass , very fresh , so 80's and quite sporty.

Vent Vert reminds me of a puppy rolling on a fresh grass, bound to burst with excitement because of spring and lots of new great smells in the air. Floral greens are not my cup of tea, but I can adore them platonically and that's what happened between me and Vent Vert.

I used to like it. Until it became too strong for my nose.

Well, it's official, I am regrettably not a Balmain-ista. EXCEPT for the exquisite Pierre Balmain de Balmain, none of the other Balmain scents I've tried have made me jump up and down (Ambre Gris, Balmya, Eau d'Ete, Eau d'Ivoire, and now Vent Vert).

As for how it smells and wears, I couldn't agree more with Thalia's review below.

While I can appreciate Vent Vert, I just don't want to wear it.

I'm only familiar with the Calice Becker version with the grass on the top, so that's what I'm reviewing. It's so lusciously, fiercely green! Vent Vert opens with a big green slap in the face -- crisp, chilly, and fresh. It's like you've just walked across a green meadow after a chilly rain and the crushed stems of the mixed plants have stained your clothes and hands.

As it develops it quickly settles down, stops slapping you, and sweetens somewhat, but remains cool green and sparkling. At this stage, it smells like some kind of tart green hard candy. The drydown is woody, inviting and yes, still green.

It's not a hard, harsh green like the current Chanel No. 19. It's not terribly grassy to me, either, with that prickly hay smell, nor is it herbal. It's the Platonic ideal of fresh sappy greenness -- utterly refreshing and full of effervescence. I don't ALWAYS want to smell green -- but if I did, this would be my signature scent!

I smell something about Kobako- Bourjois (1936) in Vent Vert... maybe some reminiscent of.

O Pierre Balmain, how do I love thy fragrances? Let me count the ways: BALMAIN, BALMAN, JOLIE MADAME, MISS BALMAIN, IVOIRE, EAU D'IVOIRE, BALMYA, LA MOME, EAU D'AMAZONIE, the list keeps lengthening and today I am happy to add:

VENT VERT is a burst of green freshness with a family resemblance to Carven MA GRIFFE. Equally funky, but in its own distinctive way, VENT VERT offers a cleaner grass smell in the drydown, which I find utterly wonderful. In fact, as much as I appreciate MA GRIFFE, I have to say that, based on a side-by-side comparison conducted only today, I like VENT VERT even more! Very fresh and squeaky clean but not at all aquatic--instead, it's totally green, literally a kelly green gale! VENT VERT is similar to the Body Shop's now-discontinued BE LEAF, but with more depth and complexity, especially in the opening.

A great summertime scent!

We do not mentoin this one quite often, when we are talking GREEN and Sexy, but actually it is just that!!
:-)

Vent Vert has some weird start, but as soon as you can wait pass it, the dry down is to die for.

Ok, about the scent, it starts really sharp, green, and I can't detect anything sweet at all. It reminds me a lot of Chanel No 19.

Soon the sweetness comes to shine. It's the kind of really natural meadow sweetness. It feels like a veil, and reminiscents Anais Anais in the white-chiffon-dress way. At this point, I've got the Marc Jacobs Daisy ad pictures stuck in my head, and I think the Daisy photos will be a great representation of what the middle notes of VV can bring to your mind. However, there's certain weird green note in it that makes me feel the perfume is so untamed.

Then the dry down is really nice and it's much floral and sweeter, clean in the white-veil way, and with some airy undertone(as in the elegant semi-transparent fabric brings out the airy feeling, not the nowadays mass produced aqua-y airy).

It's really french,elegant and sophiscated but still can be easily wore by one with the certain attitude, mood and outfit.

I am desperately trying to find the vintage
Vent Vert by Balmain. Still have a couple of
bottles. The "new" version is not anything like
the old one from the seventies. It has a totally
different smell.

Tamar.

After reading interesting reviews I bought a 4ml mini sample on ebay. When I first sniffed it I hated it.It was an assault to my nose! I thought it smelled like a toilet cleaner. I put it away for a few months. Last week for no particular reason I applied it to my work uniform blouse before I left the house. It seemed a bit astringent but then it dried down a little, and all day long I kept experiencing little drifts of fresh green fragrance which I loved. Now I have purchased a 100ml bottle on ebay and am looking forward to it's arrival.

yes, this is a bitter and sharp green scent and has no freshness unlike expected from a floral green one:(
But maybe good when you find a fragrance suits with this and mix...

Sharp and Spicy ! I thought there would be carnation listed here but no...The freesia, jasmine, lily of the valley, and violet ... basil and sage are shine through. The peach is extremely light and thin. A moment after application I started to notice a strange dirty, foul smell, like old stems left in the the vase with water for too long, really rotten, itś so faint, but so obvious to me. I can only point my finger to blame the asafoetida. I have tested perfumes with asafoetida and I do own one with it, but I have never sensed it so strongly as in Vent Vert. And the rest of the compostion is so powerful, all this green, citrus, floral, and herbs, I cannot believe just this one note would be so strong. This part fades then passes and the scent dries down to a more delicate, feminine, "powdery" fragrance. Not too long lasting.

Vent Vert's name and bottle perfectly capture the essence of the beautiful perfume.

This scent is almost like an olfactory experience in a bottle, rather than a perfume. Upon the first whiff, I'm instantly transported to a warm Spring day in a park or a meadow somewhere, when the grass is finally green again and the season's first flowers are in full bloom. I usually try to describe a perfume in concrete terms, but I can't single out any notes here. The whole thing comes across as a single effect, dredging up memories of a beautiful Spring day when the breeze carried this exact, lovely scent. I'm mystified.

Green, green, sweet and bitter green! But too much for me.

NOT A REVIEW - JUST A NOTE ABOUT THE DESIGNER:

I believe the designer (the "nose") was Germaine Cellier; and I think she also designed "Ivoire"(keeping in mind PB's "vision" of the scent).

BTW, I remember reading that the official launch of this perfume was at (or somehow connected to) the Cannes film festival of 1947.

All of the above applies to the original, of course.
Unfortunately, VV has been reformulated in recent years.

first of all it's just like a blow of the spring wind and then it becomes to jasmine and peach scents.I think the most clear combination is jasmine.the hiacynth is very pure too.The name of the perfume in french means "the green wind" and the shape of the bottle inclines the meaning too.it reminds me so many classic perfumes.but the green notes is the point of distinction to say that it's more than a classic fragrance,but I think it would become cooler if the green notes were sharper,like what the name and the shape of bottle mean to.

A signature scent for me...it reminds me of the first palr green leaves budding out and of jonquils blooming..First purchase in 1965; this was released in ca. 1946-49 and was mentioned in Ian Flemming's James Bond novel "To Russia With Love" as a seductive addition to a liasion on the Orient Express! It HAS been reformulated over the years as Balmain was absorbed by a giant conglomerate. Beautiful, very galbanum-y fresh, and I love it at 56!

All I get is vetiver and galbanum. No florals or fruit. Just greeeeeeen!!

Fine, blusterous, careless, a bit frantic smell. It's like a spring wind, like a young grass and flowers in may. Youthful and timeless. It have full energy. Beautiful.

It is a beautiful green perfume, but unfortunately it does not last long on me.

I don't think that everything need to be for young. But in my opinion it's a hard fragrance over 40-50's.

Why does everything need to be for the young?

I love Vent Vert - a sophisticated fragrance in a gauche world!

A green fragrance not for young. I don't like it.