Jean Desprez Bal a Versailles
Our windstorm blew in snow (fun) and then freezing rain (not so fun.) The electricity repeatedly flickered and shut down, and each time popped on again within minutes, luckily enough. So we were able to run around outside playing in the snow knowing that we could always retreat to the comfort of a warm electrically heated house. We so rarely get snow here in the Portland area that it was a real treat.
I’m going to put off talking about S-Perfume Lust until later, because this windy weekend I have been almost exclusively wearing Jean Desprez’s Bal a Versailles. It’s the subject of a post made a little while back at Perfume-Smellin’ Things, and that post reminded me just how much I love wearing it. It may not have the cool cache that some of the more modern fragrances seem to carry, but Bal a Versailles will forever be chic.
Desprez is said to have used more than 300 ingredients to construct this scent, which sounds like a “hey, let’s just throw stuff at a wall and see what sticks” apporach to perfumery, but the result is a steady, smooth masterpiece. The construct is formal, but never stiff or unfriendly. It gilds the senses in its golden glow, and indulges the nose with a refined vision of earthly delights.
My favorite aspect of Bal a Versailles is its circular quality. As the fragrance develops, notes seem to fade off, only to rise again. To experience it is to open a travel brochure of smells. Roses, orange, orange blossom, and jasmine fill my nostrils with the first spray. Then warm woods with soft balsalmic spices push forward into vanilla and patchouli . Broad notations of amber and incense, musk and more musk, unfold. And then we start all over again, surreally spiraling amongst the flowers and trees, riding waves of indoles and ketones. It is sexy, but not vulgar; Rich, but not gaudy.
So many of the newer oriental fragrances seem to be playing in an AM station monotone.Yet here is old Bal a Versailles, an oldie from 1962, playing in Dolby Digital surround sound. But it never overwhelms, and never blasts too loud. This scent endures as a classic, yet it is timeless. I don’t feel like I’m wearing an antique when I don my eau de toilette. In fact, I feel hipper and certainly more sensual wearing Bal a Versailles than I did when I was testing out, say, the newer Calvin Klein Euphoria. Catching lucky stray whiffs of my own sillage every now and then only adds to the sensation of glamor.
Bal a Versailles is available in many concentrations, and you can’t go wrong choosing it in any form, depending on preference and budget.
Top image of Bal a Versailles by Janine Wesselmann, from dcrpublishing.com. Second image of Lulu by Richard Ely.
December 19th, 2005 at 2:18 pm
Yes, yes and yes! Circular. Such a great word to describe it. And that circular nature is the reason why, despite the fact that it is so rich , dark, etc., etc., it is also so very cozy somehow. Thank you for the review, K, funny how when one loves a perfume, one is so pleased when it is mentioned/reviewed, as if one created it herself :-D (one should be so lucky)
December 19th, 2005 at 2:32 pm
Very cozy indeed, like pulling up to a roaring fireplace that’s using good hardwoods. I know what you mean about reading favorable passages on beloved perfumes - it’s like hearing high praise for a good friend.
December 19th, 2005 at 2:56 pm
Ok, whatever you guys are smelling in Bal a Versailles, I must have missed. I thought it was lovely, but “cozy” is the last word I would have used. Hmmm. Off to see if I still have a sample.
December 19th, 2005 at 3:35 pm
Hey R, if you can’t seem to locate it, let me know please :)
I think it’s quite elegant, but the overall warmth, especially that animalic edge to it, really gives it that cozy feel both M and I discern.
December 19th, 2005 at 4:19 pm
Like R, I do not get the cozy effect from Bal a Versailles either. It is more about elegance, darkness and certain opulence for me. Of course, this is so highly personal anyway. It is a beautiful fragrance, especially in the parfum concentration.
December 19th, 2005 at 8:10 pm
No “cozy” for you either? My husband is not so fond of this scent when I wear it - he says it’s too musky and masculine!! whenever I spray it on. And you know, BaV is a frag I could see making a drop-dead sexy male scent, too. But sheesh, too musky? That man! He has lost his senses!
Opulence is certainly part of its character, I really agree. If BaV were a place it would be a grand opera hall. Ornate and gorgeous, and filled with the most impressive and athletic form of music.
December 19th, 2005 at 9:50 pm
Wonderful review, thank you for juxtapositioning Bal a Versaille with Ephoria…. and for bringing the circularity up again, which I think is a very interesting and aspect. I hope the winter is not going to be too tough on you over christmas!
December 20th, 2005 at 3:50 am
Bal a Versaille always made me feel like I was in a satin gown, perhaps with a fur wrap, totally elegant, which confused me no end, since I first discovered it during the hippie days of jeans and T-shirts. It is transformative on me, obviously, taking me to a more exalted place. The fragrance so overwhelms me, I couldn’t clear my head enought to notice the circularity, the evolution of the scent, anything. I haven’t had any for a few years now, and it may be some time more — it’s so overwhelming to me!
Must add — I adore it, and can conjure up the scent memory easily, the bottle, the entire tactile and olfactory experience. It is an iconic perfume, epic in its reach. (and I don’t mean just sillage ;-)
December 20th, 2005 at 10:32 am
Andy, winter shouldn’t be too tough, I hope. The icy roads with the high winds are a bit scary, but they won’t stay that way all week - I hope! I suppose mentioning Euphoria is a bit of a cheap shot, but it is getting so much hype lately that it’s on the top of my head, and really it simply doesn’t compare.
Anya, oooh, yes, BaV is definitely iconic. That’s too bad it overwhelms you… BaV is so smooth (even though complex) that I never feel overwhelmed by it. I hope perhaps one day it will suddenly fit just right for you.