Byzance
Rochas (1987)

Rita Hayworth was a hollywood beauty who graced the big screen with mature sensuality.she knew who she was and dicated it easily with the arch of an eyebrow,the look in her eyes,the toss of her hair.Vintage Byzance transforms you into that type of woman.a woman who can captivate and Byzance does just that.it heats up and radiates stronger with the heat of your body as time goes on.

This smells similar to Toujours Moi,not as harsh in the opening,but a very similar powdery woods.also reminds me slightly at times of L'Heure Bleue. rich floriental twisted by warm spices. seductive marriage of the notes,hazy yet intensive combination of orris and carnation. rose,jasmine,sandalwood, vanilla and spices makes the heady accord rounded and deep.it's becomes more intimate as the skin's heat pulses through it.the soft powdered flower is present;sweet but not overly so.Byzance is a sexual magnet,a fantasy perfume. such a shame it's been discontinued.

Working on board a 21 day South Pacific cruise, way back in the 1908's, when the Sun Princess carried 600 people instead of 6000,I'd been in every day trying different perfumes out.I was just entranced on the lush romanticism of Byzance,it was one of my first perfumes.
When I returned to work in cold hometown, used to spritz in my leather gloves for winter.It was wonderful to smell the tuberose, lily of the valley, jasmin and those wonderful bottom of orris, cedar, amber and heliotrope scenting and warming the air with a baroque flower arrangement when it was snowing outside.It was lovely, and I just found the second 'gift box' buried in some old curtains in my cedar chest! YAY!!! I've tried the new formula, nice enough, but a rather faded version of the original.

Old Byzance was a smoother relative of vintage Shalimar. She had a similar - if less curvy - build to her cousin and was creamy and lighter, with a soapy-fruity and raspy disinfectant tuberose, which stood in for the camphor and civet raunch of the Guerlain.
As it develops, Byzance moves away from comparisons with the ur-mother Shalimar (thanks Claire) to become more generic sweet with a touch of tuberose. And even though Byzance is newer than classics like Joy and Arpège, it still had something of their rich and creamy feel. But that doesn't mean it transcends its time in the way that some classics do, the oriental tuberose style really nails it down to the 1980's. Despite all that, this was still a fine piece of work, and if you happen to be glamming it up, vintage Byzance might be just the thing for your Night at the Opera...

This is a stunner! It smells just like 1987, in that it's one of the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink big 80's florientals, but plays much more nicely than Poison, for example. I absolutely love it, have just finished a vintage mini, and will be on the lookout for others.

Aldehydes take the lead. The heart reveals LOTV, dark jasmine, old rose, bitterish ylang ylang. No tuberose - yet. The heart is a familiar tune - I've owned this before, years ago. It has a dark and musty, for lack of a better phrase, old boudoir accord. Byzance is not like modern stuff of today. It is a throwback.

There is it - the tuberose. Not strong or overbearing but, it is there. The heart, is very long-lasting.

The base reveals animalic musk at first. Wood lies beneath. A touch of vanilla and amber. A sharp note lingers. A very beautiful, feminine perfume. A classic.

Review of the EdP from a bottle purchased about 25 years ago:
The opening blast is delicious: an orangey opening blast that is laden with aldehydes, but that is very soon pleasantly complimented by an emerging muguet of impressive quality.

In the drydown the metamorphosis to a pure floral composition is complete: jasmine and a somewhat faint rose are detected, but it is especially the dyad of tuberose and, more prominently, a rich ylang-ylang that is the centre piece of the heart notes. The ylang-ylang mixes with the muguet very nicely, and the sweetness resulting from this floral merger is never too intense or cloying.

In the base I mainly get added vanilla with white musks and a nonspecific woodsy undertone.

The sillage is soft, the projection very good and the longevity seven hours on my skin.

A lovely blend for cooler spring days, that is characterised by the presence of a pleasant powdery undercurrent, which give the while and elegant and mature touch. The quality if the ingredients is very good, and whilst the performance is not exact stellar and the base is rather nondescript and the least exciting part, overall it is quite an agreeable and well-crafted scent. 3.25/5.