Byzance Rochas for women

Seriously, this perfume. If Rochas brings this back it will fly of the shelves. It takes a scent for me to fall for it. If there is any scent close to this i will glady try it out for consolation and not a replacement....but oh how i miss thee my Byzance.All i have now is you at the bottom of the bottle, for me to snif every now and then when i feel nostalgic.

Got my hands on a vintage 15ml purse spray - and I'm assuming this is the vintage formula since the box only lists alcohol, water, fragrance, capric triglyceride and some colors - not your typical long list of today's versions of older frags.

Upon the first spritz on the back of my hand, I knew it was a winner. A gorgeous swirl of languid florals spread out before me on a bed of strong musk, incense and amber. It somehow manages to accomplish a feat of smelling like a chypre and oriental simultaneously - the incense really takes a large role too. Within the first hour, I noticed something almost like nag champa in the mix too - but the musk. OMG - it's strong - really strong. And I like it :)

Byzance is also quite similar to Salvador Dali parfum and parfum de toilette. Smelled side by side, they seem to be very related and follow a very similar development on the skin - but Byzance has a much more friendly and less formal feel with a lovely sillage. Good gosh, the musk stays on fabric for DAYS - and it's very diffusive. For an experiment in diffusiveness, I left my office for an hour and came back smelling Byzance as if another person was wearing it my absence. This was from ONE spray to the chest about five hours prior!

I now understand why Byzance is being sought out in its original formulation - it belongs in any serious perfume enthusiasts wardrobe most definitely.

I received a 4ml today. Put it on and MEMORIES!!
This was the household girls perfume for a while as we were growing up. the house was awash with this glorious scent. YUMMY

If this, like others ..were ever ''brought back'' it would most certainly have to be reformulated. Notes , individually change over time... so you might actually get a truer scent to the original by reformulating than by keeping it exactly the same. As sad as it is, nothing stays the same everything constantly changes.. weather that be the way a flower smells or an extract or even the vintage perfume itself... it's never quite the same as the new/unopened original. Even the vitnage bottles themselves change over time from light, heat, cold, air that gets into the bottle each time it's sprayed. Even how full / empty a bottle is can change the original scent. So I say have an openmind, and appreciate reformulations for what they are, and usually what they are is the closest most can hope to get to the original scent. That or nothing? I prefer the latter!

I feel I'm not quite old enough to wear it.
It's an "old lady's perfume" in a good way, if that makes sense. I love to smell it on other people, but since the only 3 women who wore this regularly around me were my grandmother, doctor and a friend of my grandmother's (all well past their 60s, or sadly deceased)... I can't imagine the sweet powder drydown on myself before I turn 60. Which will be exactly 30 years from now. I don't even know whether this kind of old-fashioned fragrance will be socially acceptable by then. :-P

Byzance smelled like nothing else. I cannot even point out similarities. A deep intense sultry mix of so many notes, floral for sure but also very oriental and very longlasting. Not a daytime scent IMO.
Then it disappeared from perfume stores, at least where I live. No Rochas anymore.
I still noticed it in a few international duty-free some years ago, then nothing at all.
Many people liked it. I have a feeling (or fear?) that one day or another they will come out again with a "Byzance" clearly re-formulated and no Byzance anymore.

Veramente una fragranza particolare,unica e speciale.
Avevo la miniatura tanti anni fa...se lo trovassi ora lo comprerei subito! Ma perché non si trovano piu'da nessuna parte i profumi di Rochas! Eppure li fanno ancora tutti! Ho indossato anche Tocade, caldo e talcato e il freschissimo e intimo Fleurs D'Eau.
Ma Byzance era sublime. Gesu'Bambino me lo porti per Natale?

SURPRISE, SURPRISE!!!
I just found two NEW bottles for sale at a price I couldn't pass up. I've sprayed liberally twice today-once for church, the other just for me. I might just spray again before dinner and Mystery Theater on PBS tonight. Then again tomorrow, and tomorrow...

I'm olfactory challenged-I can't distinguish many individual notes-all I know is the Coty's Le Chypre and Rocha's Byzance have in their time turned my world upside down with their bouquets and offerings.

HEAVEN ON EARTH :)

BRING BYZANCE BACK. AND PLS NOT REFORMULATED.

An elegant, opulent, complex fragrance. I agree, masterpieces should be enjoyed by everyone, not discontinued as with some fragrance houses.

Another chypre that I adored...now gone forever.

Our customers would kill for a bottle & yes due to stupidity on P&G's part it's now gone...

The stupidty is that fact that established scents like Byzance or Madame Rochas (EDP) sell themselves & need NO advertising due to a large & loyal customer base.

New is not better, on that note by introducing new fragrances more often all they do is damage the RRP real value on the marketplace.

Guerlain & Chanel are able to charge & hold top dollar values to their almost never changing fragrances, it's a lesson to be learnt by lesser brands...

I simply adore this fragrance. It's as full of mystique as it is of rich sensuality. It's creamy, romantic, decadent, incensey, deep, and fascinatingly mysterious. Like the glorious Byzantium from antiquity, Byzance has the characteristics of a melting pot, it embodies the fusion of different cultures, the fusion of Europe and Asia, of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, too, and in the same ambiguous way it features and blends notes that are distinctive of different olfactory groups (is Byzance really a Chypre floral, or rather a spicy oriental, or even an aromatic scent, as some reviewers have stated below?).
Byzance and its sister fragrance Byzantine share the same solemnly beautiful bottle. If Byzance's intensely cobalt-blue bottle reminds us of the mysteries of night, Byzantine's golden bottle could evoke the luminosity of the sunny Bosphorus and the golden mosaics on the walls of Byzantine churches. Indeed, both border on mystic bliss for me, and above all Byzance. All the enigmas from the Orient and its ancient civilizations seem to emanate from its blue bottle. The inscrutable secrets of time let themselves be glimpsed for a second the moment we apply this superb fragrance to our pulse points. Ancient, yes. Enjoying Byzance is now a matter of archaeology and many of us will mourn its absence forever. Being a lover of archaeology myself, I'm treasuring my only remaining bottle as if it was a Byzantine balsamarium! Why did Rochas have to discontinue this enthralling creation, and keep launching offensively shallow fruity scents like the new Muse? It's a shame that Procter & Gamble show such little sensitivity to the art of perfumery!

With all the fuss around this perfume I just had to have it no matter what. I really lucked out by having won an almost full 3.4 oz bottle for $ 34.00
Very elegant floral aldehyde, but my first thought was I already have something like that. Although not exactly the same, but it reminds me a lot of red D&G, which I really love. So if you can't find it at reasonable price, no need to go broke ....try D&G instead.

Fruity floral lovers will not be interested in this one. This fragrance is one of my absolute favorites. A contradiction...warm and cool at the same time, creamy, almost waxy feeling to it, with intermittent bites of something sharp (in a good way), spicy, smooth, subtle but not a wall flower by any means. It says Ta Da! I am here! but not in an overwhemlming 80's way. Excellent year round, but probably best in summer. Lovely, unique, sophisticated, and very sexy. Different than any perfume I have ever tried. Smells different each time I wear it. I love it. Hard to find, but I just found out fragrance x is selling it for 39.99, so you don't have to pay outrageous prices on the online auction sites. I am stocking up!

So beautiful! Warm, graceful, elegant, smooth, unique, a bit of an incense feel but not even a hint of the nag champa or smokey scratchy kind of incense. Nothing screeches or offends- not even at the opening. Enough spice and herbal notes to waiver into more than one fragrance "category"- a touch more oriental than typical chypre floral, not herbal enough to be an aromatic, but enough to temper the florals and spices for a while. The spices are of exquisite quality and develop as the opening fades. Byzance is a treasure- an example of great perfumery. I am grateful to be able to still have some.

an if you like a scent of incense store, it is the right thing!

This is an amazing perfume! It's my right kind of scent, very pleasant, an intense floral, a set of notes happy and harmonious.It is indispensable, necessary, fabulous!

This is my second review for Byzance.
Today i tried it after the shower on a sunny spring day and was positivly surprised by how good actually it smells. Still i am scared off by the beginning, but then after it´s gone a lot of spices and carnation in the middle are very beautiful. Guess it is more spring-autumn fragrance, since last time i have tried it during winter. And now i smell the roses on the drydown also. N
Now it´s like from zero to hero for me. Back then i didn´t like it but now i like it a lot. A very beautiful evening fragrance. I wouldn´t wear it at a daytime, but definitly at evening time. So glad i didn´t part with my bottle of vintage EDP. :)

This did not smell good at all upon first spritzing, I thought my bottle had turned-a vintage EDT. Scrubbing was not an option, I was on my way out the door & didn't have time.

Byzance settled down and smells lovely, a creamy and rich combination of subtle spices, white florals and roses, which dry down into a resinous delight of amber, vanilla and sandalwood. It's kind of light and dark, with the spice, citrus & floral at the beginning, and the deep and richness of the dry down.


Could have been the basil that was turning me off in the top notes, I usually do not like that smell, unless it's in the kitchen. I don't know, something smelled unpleasant in the beginning. I'm so glad I gave this a chance and didn't scrub. A keeper.

I have tried an EDP so far and i must admit that i get some similarities with original formula of "Ysatis" by Givenchy, only this one is more spicy. I remember when many years ago i tried this one it was also quite harsh for me and it still is. The opening is very much like soap (i guess mixing carnation with a lot of citruses is not a good idea). And it stays like that for a while and then simply dissapeares. I cannot detect any rose notes.

I was fortunate enough to receive a generous sample of Byzance today from Sophiii.

How have I managed to pass over this treasure before now? I am a sucker for the 1980's big statement perfumes, so you can imagine my delight upon inhaling this luscious sultry number. As I so often do when sitting with my husband, I presented my arm for his assessment and expected the usual 'that's nice/awful/like speaking to yourself...' response.

"That's Byzance", he says

I glare at him. "How do YOU know that?....and WHO wore it?"

"Never mind...but, once smelled, never forgotten"

Well, that has to be the shortest relationship I've ever had with a perfume. Too bad, someone got there first!

DISCONTINUED!!!!
WHY???????
Forever a favorite.

I'm quite disapointed with this one.
It reminds me of tiolet cleaner, its really fresh, really summery and somewhat salty. After a while the flowers appear and Byzance gets better but still not my thing.

Sillage: Good
Lasting Power: Very Good

4/10

I am an Istanbulite born and raised. This indeed is "Istanbul in a bottle" as one gentle member put so well.

How else can I describe the hue of the sky as it gets ready for the morning prayer over the Bosphorus than pointing at Byzance’s beautiful bottle… The warm sensation that wraps you up when you breathe in the unmistakable scent of Istanbul, is captured in this concoction with all its spices and florals.

I’m in my early 30’s now and I used to wear this as a 16 year old. Although I loved it, I moved on to other fragrances in time, I’ve almost thought of Byzance as something I’ve outgrown. And they decided to discontinue it. Now that I can find the EDP or the perfume with incredible difficulty, I am ready to mourn the loss of yet another favorite. Maybe Long Lost Perfumes will come out with an original recipe Byzance one day, but what about that beautiful bottle? Why haven’t I saved at least an empty bottle of this lovely fragrance which actually was my carefree youth...

Hi Mad-Lainey, whenever you are swapping your Byzance let me know! It is one of my top 10 favorites!!

It is the only Rochas creation I literally cannot stand.
It smells like a grandma's coffret in the loft full of clutter and rotten flowers.
Absolute NO NO - heavy and sickening.
When I sprayed it for the first time, my mouth started to water but in a way as to give you a morning sickness.
I wil never purchase it again.
The aldehyde does not seem to be in the top notes - it is all over the place, the only note I can smell.
While I am deeply in love with Rochas fragrances, Absolu, Byzantine, Aquawoman, Alchimie, I would never ever wear Byzance even if it was the very one, only and last fragrance in the universe.
Big time Stinker!

The original Byzance is no longer with us. The original EDP, as shown in the second picture above with the gold round label, has been discontinued for many years now. The current EDT is a pale version of what this rich and voluptuous scent once was. Powdery, sweet, feminine, was back then and is still a huge HG for me.

The one!
Unique and unforgettable.
Why Byzance is no longer available?

a beautiful evening fragrance in colder climes. i haven't worn it for a couple of years.but i got lots of compliments when i did.

Had to have it in my collection as it's an excellent winter fragrance. Makes me feel all warm & fuzzy inside. The jasmine & cardamom is what catches my nose all the time. It has indeed become like an old endearing friend.

Byzance is almost the perfect olfactory equivalent to Byzantium, a poem by William Butler Yeats.

It captures the essence of a long lost city, ancient and artistic. Byzance opens with heady florals, exotic spices, zesty lemon and powdery aldehydes. This opening is very strong, very 80's and very me.

Towards the heart, particularly with the entrance of the white florals, Byzance reminds me somewhat of Passion by Annick Goutal. Byzance is however, more powdery and more lemony.

As the heart settles, the florals, most notably the jasmine, become cleaner and slightly soapy. Due to this fragrance's ever-changing nature, I'd say that Byzance is quite complex.

This fragrance is very feminine, without a doubt. However, with that being said, this fragrance is womanly in an old-fashioned, bouquet of flowers, cooking spice and church incense sort of way. Byzance is essentially the scent of a woman from the ancient times - perhaps even the fragrance of Cleopatra herself, if I let myself dream so.

It is a pity that this fragrance is becoming increasingly harder to find these days. I will be truly disappointed if Rochas decide to pull this fragrance from the market.

Nice scent, but really to heavy for me. I like the spicyness though

ohhh, this one is and always will stay in my top 10! I have the vintage and the new one. I just adore them BOTH!!!
An oriental MUST have!!
Good luck!
Action

[I am reviewing EDT; not vintage]


Misplaced and sad, Byzance EDT is the perfume equivalent of lipstick on a woman's teeth: it reveals both an intention and a failure to be elegant.

Words cannot express how much this fragrance does not work for me--yet I will try. I get the same overall impression from the reformulated Anaïs Anaïs and L'air du temps: a nondescript mishmash of notes that manage to to be watery and harsh at the same time, like baby powder gone bad--only Byzance has spice, too.

Perhaps it was a chypre floral long ago, but today's formulation dries down to a candy and floral accord I associate with bathroom cleaner. And not the brand of bathroom cleaner I like.

If a perfume is going to be bad,I think it should at least be shocking, gutsy, brash or provocative. This may be my least favorite perfume so far precisely because it is bad and blah.

The bottle is nice.

One of those perfumes that makes me long to smell the original formulation.

And maybe the EDP is much better than the EDT?

I bought this & wore it last night for bed...my boyfriend loved it!!

I only bought it due to the reviews below & i have to say im well impressed. Im a fan of Rochas anyway but this is my new favourite.

Its sexy, warm & sensual. It made me feel the urge to slip in to something 'less comfortable'.

Its a strong fragrance to begin with but soon settles into a warm powdery, musky vanilla with great lasting power on me too.

Fantastic.

I'm just a sucker for a beautiful blue bottle. Bought this without a proper smell and have worn it a couple of times.
I would say it's highly floral, can't detect any chypre and I love chypre type perfumes.
There is a very slight hint of spice - perhaps a hint of cinnamon and some kind of spicy floral note.
It somehow puts me in mind of Victoria Beckham's Intimately Night (not good) and for me, a strong and strange plastic/playdoh type element predominates througout the wearing.
Overall, I'd say this perfume smells a bit cheap. It's not really awful but it's just not really 'me'.
I'm going to give it away.

Just adorable!!! Rochas fragrances: can you think of a better deal than this? Top quality perfumes, sophisticated all the way and a very very good price! You just have to have them all, without exception.

I love making mosaics, a very Byzantine
era ara, I love the perfume for this
reason, it kind of takes me back
in time!

Sarah

I remember this fragrance... my mother used to wear it in the early 90s, when i was a few years away from my beginning of puberty.

As a young girl, i naturally snuck into my parents' bedroom just to get a whiff of their perfumes/colognes.

When i first laid my eyes on this dark blue bottle, i expected a thick, heavy scent, but was surprised otherwise, to find a pleasant mystical, creamy aroma that tickled my senses and sent my imagination back in time.

Despite the fact that i was a young girl at the time, this frag seemed to exude intelligence and embodied an excerpt of civilization's history in a bottle. Kind of like Hathor mentioned: Istanbul in a bottle.

Despite the fact that i've never been to Turkey, i could still manage to understand the essence of this aroma; probably because, at the time, we were living in a Mediterranean country, and by that age i was quite aware of the general history of the surrounding Mediterranean cultures.

Just one whiff of this intricate redolence would spawn images in my mind of the clinking noises made by exquisite copper and gold jewelry worn by elegant ladies, while dancing in joyous nightly festivities...

I could also detect Church-like incense qualities, as Tessture mentioned. In my mind, i'd imagine the incense that was burned during the ancient and sacred nightly rituals/festivities.

This perfume is truly magical. I think i might just purchase it for myself.

EDIT: As others have already mentioned, this should not be classified as Chypre Floral. I'd say it's more of an Oriental Spicy or Oriental Floral.

This fragrant took some time to grow on me .Its one of those fragrances where it depends the mood your in.For me it is like that.There are days when I'd wear it and feel totally sexy and romantic and there are days where I wish I hadn't put the perfume on.Don't know why it is like that. But the fragrant it self is wonderful.

I bought this one for my wife today to celebrate the birth of our daughter (yesterday). I wanted something elegant and a little different to what she has already got. Her favourites are Chanel no 5 and Shalimar. I think this really complements the other two in being different, but not so different. Somehow it seems appropriate as a scent to give to celebrate the birth of a baby.

Has Byzance suffered reformulation? I've been wearing it since it was "born" and it has never smelled strongly fruity or lemony to me from the bottle or on my skin. It seems almost a bit... salty... when i first apply it.

I don't wear it often because it is also rather... powdery... and powdery perfumes are not my favorite. Additionally, the vanilla stands out a bit strongly, and while i don't mind vanilla in a blend (I adore Shalimar), i don't like fragrances that are dominantly vanilla.

But Byzance has always transcended the powdery and the vanilla because of the complexity of its formula, the mix of sweet and spicy, floral and woody. And when i'm in the right mood to wear a lighter perfume than usual, i love its gentle fresh scent.

Hmmmm...
It's an oppulent, charming lemony-powdery-vanilla smell.

I can easily put it into my list of favourite "classy" scents (in which I include "Wings" from Giorgio Beverly Hills and "Lou Lou" from Cacharel).


DOUBT: is it REALLY a chypre floral?

Chypre? Really? Well, I do love Chypres
but in no way had that word crossed my mind while testing it today. Other words such as...unique, fantastic, interesting, and "whoah, great stuff". At first I thought of candy, soap, sweetened fruits, and bath soap..then I thought of incense, hippie shops, and my favorite groovey notes, and a touch of sheer or light powder-never overbearing here. I tested the EDT. I wish it was a bit stronger and longer lasting..however my skin seems to make almost all perfumes disappear rapidly.

This is almost the only oriental fragrances I like, it is sophisticated and elegant, its something I picture wearing to the opera, very classy. Love the bottle too.

You know, I wasn't crazy about this at first, but after having it for a while, I've really grown to like it. I've found the drydown to be fantastic...wish that I had a pure parfum version, because I have to spray a LOT of it on to appreciate it. But after that, the basenotes last all day, and I can smell the incense/resinous characteristics. It just goes to show how hard shopping for perfume can be.

Incense and aldehydes with slightly soapy carnation, drying down to lovely, almost church-like incense. I really like this one. There's a stage that I can only think of as 80s purple, since it reminds me of many mid-80s fragrances, but overall the incense feeling carries it through. Very nice, very purple somehow.

this to me is istanbul in a bottle!! it has something of east meeting west over the bosphorus. odd, but i get a hint of (clean) body sweat out of it. a lot of roses and a general feeling of something blue, which probably is emphasized by it coming out of such a wonderful blue bottle. i am amazed how many notes it contains. this is for me the last of the great rochas perfumes. very 80's i suppose, quite powerful, wouldnt be out of place on alexis carrington in her shoulder pads. i always think the 80's a much maligned decade but for me it was youth and freedom and i'll always smile when i remember this time. i'm interested to see that one of the base notes is heliotrope. i have discovered that several of my favourite perfumes contain heliotrope. this is ideal to wear in exotic surroundings of in warm summer weather in the evening.

Very interesting scent, the verdict is still out on it for me. Some of the notes are quite strong on me like tuberose I also am not a fan of anise and of course, I smell it througout the entire scent(maybe because once I get it in my nose I can't get it out), some lemon is present. I think it is an acquired taste, and a little indulgent. But that may suit some people fine, just not me!

If you are interested in buying the perfume or looking to restock go to fragranceshop.com 1.7 $16.95 or 3.4 for $20.95.

This is one of those well-balanced that turns into something completely unidentifiable and indistinguishable regarding its notes...at least for me, that is! The only note I can distinguish at all is the tuberose.

For me, wearing Byzance is the equivalent of putting on a velvet scarf. It's very classy and distinctive and wraps itself around you like a soft glove. I love the fact that the powdery dry-down is subtle and not too sweet.

I have a half-used bottle standing in my cabinet. I neither love it nor hate it. It's one of those... I take out the bottle to wear it, but then change my mind in preference for something else.

I think I largely bought it for the bottle (which I do still find beautiful) but the fragrance is a little overly powdery sweet, imo.

It's okay for deep winter to warm you up!

Lovely tuberose. Try this if Fracas (butter tuberose) is too buttery popcorn for you and if Knowing (mossy rose) is too strident in its high note. I wear it for daywear when I want a soft Knowing.The only drawback may be that Byzance is a little too powdery on the drydn. I am trying to get my husband to try this. The "guide" recommends this as a masculine, and I think that is a great idea.

Take it easy with Byzance.. this is a strong scent and would be easy to overdo. I virtually spritz and run do avoid a nose itching pungency in the opening.. and for a while I regretted buying it. But like many perfumes, after a holiday at the back of the dresser, it returns to favour, refreshed.

I had this one. For me it's a warm fragrance. It's, like description says, the essence of night. I just think in dance and seduction.

Byzance feels like an Odalisque, dressed in fine silks of vibrant colours, draped over a lounge. Just like those ones in a Henri Matisse painting. Opulent. Ravishing. Exquisite.

I am so glad I tried this again! Many years ago, I used to spray Byzance on in department stores and sniff dreamily, but I never got around to owing it. Recently though, that striking blue flacon pulled me in (I could get lost in that gorgeous bottle, but that's another matter), so I spritzed some EDT on. A harsh soapiness at first. Spicy. A blend of bergamot, orange flower, jasmine and rose to my nose, but it's not obvious as any of those things. Also reminds me a little of Boucheron’s beginnings too, in its initial stage. But then, like Boucheron, Byzance blossoms into something beautiful…as sandalwood, amber, vanilla and musk come to the fore and it blooms into a sultry haze of softly spiced, deep golden warmth and musky joy. And surprisingly, not heavy at all. I feel so good wearing this. Simply stunning.

I was kind of disappointed in this...Turin describes it as an incense tuberose, but I just don't get that...it's got a creamy, lemony, smell, simultaneously soapy and edible, and definitely a powdery dry down. I don't smell any oakmoss in there...wonder why it's classified as a chypre in the Fragrantica description? I plan to keep wearing this as some fragrances just have to grow on you...it took me a while to like Bandit and now it's definitely one of my favorites. Tania Sanchez says it would make a great masculine, but I can't see most men wearing this.

I remember this as ok. Nothing great I remember I was wanting boucheron and got this by mistake but it was alright. I think I might even still have it somewhere...

It is very much like Salvador Dali, but softer, with lemony undertones. I was very pleased to smell a very earthy and natural cardamom, and also ylang ylang.It is too rich and heavy for an everyday use, so wait for a special occasion, put on your best black dress and your favorite pumps, some Byzance - and the world is yours.

Has a very unmistakable feel to it. Sharp at first but then softens into a powdery soft scent, very floral and baby like. I find it lovely.