Review of Ivoire de Balmain (1980) Eau de Toilette by aad de gids

for hours on end again I smell this heavenly scent which is at once so grounded to the earth and at the same time possesses all the characteristics of an Haute Parfum Parisien. the smell that surrounds me can be called by many names, and it forms a unity but it allows also for determining separate notes. the typology under which this legendary perfume can be comprised would be several... a chypre, a fougere, a balsamic flower perfume. I would say it has the traits of being a chypre because of the sheer multitude of its notes and then of course, the balsamic more herbal notes. Artemisia, Galbanum, Asafoetida (a plant with abhorrent olphactive properties if used wrongly), Marigold and Chamomile contribute both to as well the chypre characteristic as also a more pastoral, honeyed signature, a perfume with coumarinic aspects. when I was once biking to my work (in Holland) in the morning, I always smelled the (parts of) the rims with 'Neglectable Herbs', a view that is so wrong. but there was a Hay-like, Honey-like air that wafted through the athmosphere and just made it ethereal (also from the ethereal oils)... in this perfume that experience gets embodied. finally the Vetiver, Oakmoss and Patchouli could also have been contributed to its Chypre Aspect, but that would only still be ONE Aspect of it's perfumial complexity. it is also an Aldehydic Perfume which formed the cloud I am walking in, already for hours. the Aldehydes shall have been suffused in the air, but this billowing and airy and Spring-like and more, Summer-like Athmosphere is one of the main characteristics of this deft and sophisticated perfume. it is where the almost stealth and ephemerically diaphanous transition between 'Pastoral' and 'Haute Parfumerie Française' starts to take place, where the rural and herbal fineries lend their place and also finetune the Arrival of the Perfume Flowers. the Turkish Rose, Carnation, Narcissus, Ylang, Jasmine, Iris, Violet, Orris Root, Lily of the Valley and Neroli appear. of course these also overlap, or, the perfume is blended very well, but in this case it is all together because you automatically have 'an old batch', I have smelled this perfume in 1974 and since, it didn't changed a bit. but together with these facts, and that I bought this flacon in the 1990s. I have learned at Fragrantica and with my own experience, that with a good perfume a Maceration process goes on inside a flacon. with all the (divinely) flowery Creeds bought in the 1990s, never one perfume turned stale to me. neither did the six Gale Hayman Beverly Hills (1990), bought at Ebay, loaded with civet, Rose & Gardenia, ever turned weird or stale. and with Ivoire I smelled just the same perfume as I smelled in the 1970s. the perfume could also be called hesperidic with all the citruses and raspberry. but I am a bad fruit sniffer, although I am the Gay brother half with my Straight brother of a twin... I am not good at fruits. perhaps that is a male thing. when I see reviews from women they absolutely smell all the fruits in there. the fruits I do always smell are Apricot, Peach and Plum and a Melon makes me nauseous. Montales ['Absolute Gold'] smells like Apricot bc there are tonnes in it and I love all Montales, particularly his' Rose-Ouds. but with Ivoire I can defintely smell the Marigold and Chamomile. to think that you put it in there and the posh ladies are waiting (Rose, Jasmine, Ylang, Iris, Narcissus and Carnation to name the most Artculated) and then you still can make out these humble but solar radiairy flowers with a golden meadowy scent is already the proof of a genius Master Perfumer (Michel Hy and Francis Camail). so Ivoire is a Chypre, a Hespiride, a Coumarine Fougere, and a very Haute and Luxe and Sophisticated Parisienne walking on her Chanel, Dior, Balmain (Versace, Calvin Klein, Gucci) Stiletto's on the cobblestones at night as the Boulevardiere de la Nuit. Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Pepper, Patchouli, Labdanum, Incense, Tonka Bean (coumarin), and the Oakmoss, Sandelwood and Vetiver take care of the drydown. but that is the special thing with Ivoire: all the notes are going strong all the way and that is for hours on end. my goal was to give an astute description of one of my favorite perfumes of all times (amongst the 260+ now that I have) and I am glad I did it. now to check of misspellings and typos bc with 67 yrs of age, one has to....