Balmain Paris

 Destin De Balmain Parfum 

Most Helpful Positive Review

a lovely cold spring strawberry for 'grown ups'

Do not let the strawberry note fool you: this is not a childish strawberry scent. The opening spray carries strawberry with a sort of false-vanilla underneath. The notes are creamy, but not in a sweet or milky way, with a soft woody scent that isn't "woody" -- my best guess is this is the Australian... sandalwood note at work. This is the most 'grown up' strawberry fragrance I have ever tried. The cocoa butter note is very subtle, but I can detect it on my skin. The patchouli-ambrexolide does not present on me as anything resembling typical patchouli, if this is a note that might scare you away from the fragrance initially. Whatever formulation it is on my skin, I can't detect that particular note at all in a way I would expect from traditional 'patchouli'. After about fifteen minutes on my skin, the peony becomes a bit more obvious. Over time, the creaminess briefly subsides to an 'incense but not incense' sort of scent, as if picking up remnants of walking through a room where incense has been stored. One of the notes is listed as champaca, the flower behind nag champa, which makes sense for me here. The scent makes you believe at first that you have to keep your nose to your skin to detect it, but as time goes on you will likely be surprised by just how strong this fragrance can be. Don't be fooled by putting on one or two sprays and then thinking you need more -- give it time to warm up. I typically wear fragrance while doing chores around the house and while wearing it on my wrists, I kept catching the scent for hours afterward while just sitting with my hands in my lap or doing dishes. If you have a skin that likes to 'eat' scents like mine does, this is a good one to try. When spraying it on, the liquid seemed more oily than watery which I feel adds to the staying power. Overall, I feel this is an extremely unique scent that is difficult to describe but absolutely worth trying. I received this product for free from Balmain for testing and review purposes.