Bal à Versailles 
Jean Desprez (1962)

Diehard frag heads know full well the legend of Bal a Versailles, the pomp and circumstance, Roja Dove, Michael Jackson, the whole nine, so I won't regale you as to all those details. You'll easily find them elsewhere...

I am just going to give my very own personal response to this icon: marvelous.

I can't compare to older formulations, I won't bemoan performance of "SPL" because that's not how I roll. I know full well now that a lot of this has to do with perception, and often perception is flawed or swayed, or the individual develops this almost pathological obsession of preposterous proportions, sort of akin to the "FMO" malaise. However, in my mind, in my heart, I smell the depth, spirit, and history when smelling this, even in, dare I say, this current formulation.

The sacred and profane collide here: roses, lilac and jasmine gussied up, leathered up, then dirtied up. These flowers have entered the 'back room,' if you catch my drift. It is as if Knize Ten and Royal Bain de Caron had a gay marriage. The civet note is a trained kitty but still gets its tail into some business, and the old fashioned rose note is a keystone to all the tension and release, dissonance and consonance in the development of Bal a Versailles. The dry down is a sheer, smoldering, yet animalic base of resins.

I definitely recommend that serious fragrance enthusiasts invest in a bottle, even if for reference.

Conniving and vulnerable, ravishing and monstrous,she wears many hats,and one amazing wig, lots of makeup, bracelets,to cinvince an overconfident insurance agent to kill her husband. playing a frustrated housewife,a damsel in distress, and a heartless villain. because a femme fatale is defined by her duality,and one of the greatest Femme Fatale of all time is Barbara Stanwyck as Phyllis Dietrichson in Double Indemnity (1944).

A vintage scent with timeless relevance. It smells nostalgic like antique stores and reminds me of scratchy old records, old books, old 60's shag rugs, autumn colored furniture,and dusty Tiffany lamps.this is everything a perfume should be:sultry makes a strong presence,and lasting. it's like a folk music festival campground in a bottle.deep lush citruses,an almost liquor-like vanilla,and a powdery,smoky chypre finish.it reminds me of Tabu.

The opening notes include citruses,with a fragrant lemon grass type of smell, some neroli and freshness.the leather notes emerges slowly before it takes over in the dry down.before you there you smell powdery&balsamic some vanilla,amber and musk.the civet is a good note for the cold winter months.it envelops you in the warmth of It's animalic embrace.It's a 1960's women's, lib,I-am-woman-hear-me-roar scent. like.it's not feminine it's womanly.

If you're a little shrinking violet,unsure-of-yourself wallflower,this is absolutely not the fragrance for you.it has too much presence and makes no apologies for veing either female or powerful.one of the sexiest women's perfume.Longevity is astonishing.

I have been wearing BaV since the early 80's. My current bottle is from the early 2000's. The top has an aldehydic buzz even though none exist. I think it's the blend of all the top notes, that creates this vibe. It is bubbly, champagne-like, well-blended. The civet from the base notes, appears shortly after the top begins to settle. It has no sweetness on top. It has an almost earthy mood.

Rose and muguet appear. Ultra sheer lilac. Mellow jasmine - ladylike. A layer of leather lies just beneath. A layer of ylang ylang makes its presence known after a time.

The base is not sugary sweet. It is a muddy sweetness with again, an earthy appeal. Expertly blended cedar, sandalwood, boozy vanilla, civet (still here!), benzoin, and a fuzzy balsam. Worn out in fresh air, BaV totally reveals her charms.

The base grows more intense after a time. A very adult perfume.

If there were a God, She would smell of vintage Bal a Versailles in pure parfum concentration.

I own a 70's bath oil, that I dab as one would extrait and it is superb, great evolution, the flowers, the powder, resins, vanilla, leather all is of great quality, deep and airy a the same time, shimmering , it lasts forever and even gets more intense in the first few hours. But what anchors, enhances and sublimes is the civet.
Eye rollingly scentual with sex