Tuesday 25 September 2012

Balmain Ivoire de Balmain

I came across Ivoire de Balmain in one of my local department stores. I understand that this is a relaunch  of the original Ivoire under new licence with InterParfums. 

Now, I never tried the original Ivoire, released in 1980 (or 1979) so I can't compare the original to the current version. What I do know is that I like the current version, which is housed in a very pretty bottle, I might add. Ivoire is soapy, no doubt about it, and fairly green too. I suppose one might class it as a green floral chypre, but to my nose it doesn't really have an oakmoss base, and while the notes list rose, jasmine and ylang-ylang, I am sure I am also detecting some muguet and galbanum. If not, the combined notes certainly created that illusion then. I am not usually a fan of soapy fragrances, but there is something about the way Ivoire presents the soapy note, not too chilly and austere, warmed with a little patchouli and vanilla, that makes it very appealing. 

I have to be honest and say that I think I would struggle to pull off wearing Ivoire as a man, but I certainly like how it smells and would love to smell it on a woman. I'm sure there will be those people who remember the original and no doubt compare it to the current version, and bemoan the state of the perfume industry with reformulation and so on, but at least they've brought back a perfume that could so easily have been assigned to the annals of history.

7 comments:

  1. Ivoire de Balmain is one I bought and wore, as a young 20 something, when it was first released. I knew a fair amount of spanish from living in the southwest U.S., but no french and I loved saying the name of this perfume - it sounded so exotic! I recently bought an 'older version' online and thought it smelled true to my memory. Maybe I should give the new one a sniff to see how it compares.

    Thanks for reviewing one of my favorites from long, long ago : )

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    1. Cym, you know more Spanish than I do, certainly, and my grasp of French is less than rudimentary at best! But as for Ivoire, I think it is certainly worth a sniff, even if only to compare it to what you bought.

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  2. The rest of the Balmain fragrances will be appearing at another local department store soon.

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  3. Another one to look out for soon in the same store is Illamasqua Freak quite interestin

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  4. MB, thanks for the heads up. Illamasqua Freak? Crickey, that's a name! It shows how little I know, but a search online certainly reveals some interesting notes. I especially like the idea of the base!
    !

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  5. If and when I find more vintage Ivoire (my own mini is dangerously low-leveled) I will send you some. I really look forward to sniffing the new stuff, though from the way you describe it, the big presence of moss/galbanum that's in the old Ivoire has been toned way down.

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    Replies
    1. Meg, thanks for the offer! It is very green, but I didn't detect a lot of 'old-school' moss, but I'm not a massive expert on Chypres, so probably not best placed to comment.

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