First, I must protest the use of Charlotte Gainsbourg in this ad. You might have Anna Wintour wrapped around your delicate little fingers, Charlotte, but you can’t fool me. You and I both know that you are famous for one reason and one reason only: your mother is Jane Birkin, herself only famous for having really great bangs. As far as I’m concerned, that’s even less legitimate than Kim Kardashian. Hollywood is chock-full of winsome brunettes- what, Zooey Deschanel wasn’t available?- so let’s not reward nepotism here.
While I can’t deny the glory of these bangs, YOUR MOTHER’S HAIRSTYLE SHOULD NOT BE GROUNDS FOR CELEBRITY.
Balenciaga Paris is a thoroughly modern violet, with no mustiness at all and only a hint of creaminess. Stripped of these traditional effects of violet fragrances, we are left with a perfume that smells rather like Sweet Tarts.
This isn’t necessarily a negative, since I love me some Sweet Tarts, but it is a bit puzzling in light of the “sophisticated”, “refined” tone of Balenciaga’s PR. Paris also smells synthetic to me, and not in a fun, intentional way. This is a pretty perfume, but I unfortunately don’t find it to be the elegant fragrance that I was expecting. Now, if you want a great violet perfume named Paris, I recommend the YSL original.
SCENTS OF SELF 
See, Balenciaga Paris for me has a very sharp metallic opening which is what I love about it and then it settles to a soft powdery violet. I’m not getting an Sweet Tarts from it at all. But perfume does tend to do weird things on my skin.
This got pretty good reviews across the board, which is why I was so surprised and disappointed! It sounds just lovely for you, though. My search for the perfect violet soldiers on…
Yeah, I’ve noticed it’s received mostly positive reviews. It was honestly kind of a surprise to me because I generally steer away from most mainstream new releases. I’ve been on a violet kick lately and think I may be hitting up Parfums de France this weekend because I saw they had a bottle of Meteorites stashed in a glass cabinet last time I was there.
In other news, I feel dirty saying this but I tried Kim Kardashian’s perfume — they had it at Art By Flowers in Tyson’s Galleria of all places amid bottles of Serge Lutens & Amouage. It’s not … terrible. In fact, if I didn’t fee like I’d have to decant it out into another bottle I might buy it as a cheap thrill. I just can’t bring myself to contribute to her paycheck, though.
Aww, no shame here! I’ve got a bit of a soft spot for Kim these days anyway. It’s so very encouraging to see her at every awards show rocking those curves. Good luck with your Meteorites! It was everything I had hoped it would be.
Hi Ari – welcome “back”. 🙂 I tried Balenciaga Paris at the same time I was wearing Angel. Believe it or not, the BP seemed much harsher and overwhelming than the Angel! Granted, the Angel was fading as it was the end of the day, and my nose could be more accustomed to it (thus some anosmia?), but I haven’t tried BP again. We were in a bar, and I was worried the BP was annoying others. My husband didn’t say anything negative, though. I suppose I really should give it another try…
Thank you for supporting my umpteenth comeback, Karin! My wireless has been blocking wordpress for a good month, but I finally broke through today! I definitely found BP to be a lot less subtle than most reviews suggested, too, but I would be a bit scared to put Angel on for comparison! Is “husband didn’t complain” your main perfume criteria? 😛
Ha! Well, my husband’s opinion matters, but I can’t remember a time he’s ever said something negative about my perfumes, so I suppose he’s not a very good gauge afterall!!!
Hmmm… Sweet Tarts, you say? That’s interesting, and not at all what I had in mind. You know, sometimes it’s these bizarre little elements that activate the lemmings, and in this case, lemmings which had previously been put to sleep have risen, George Romano style. Neat!
Welcome back again! You’ve been missed 🙂
Thank you so much, Dee! And it’s nice to see another sweet tarts fan! They’re my favorite candy next to Nerds. But I think I prefer to eat them than to smell like them!
LOL, yeah, I think I share that sentiment: Vamp a NY had a sweet-tart effect on my skin, which has kept me interested, and on the fence about it.