Turns out the fastest way to bring a perfume blogger out of Salinger-esque reclusion is to release “the first perfume with an edamame note.” Let’s get this out of the way: B. sounds more interesting than it smells. It’s a perfectly pretty, nicer-than-most mainstream fragrance that does not smell like soybeans. At all. I guess the cool greenness of the top notes could evoke a pile of crisp edamame pods, but it’s definitely a power of suggestion situation.
Instead of soybeans, B. has a refreshing violet leaf opening before sweetening into a sparkling blue cotton candy fragrance. Think Philosophy Falling In Love or Trish McEvoy No. 9 Blackberry & Vanilla Musk. At $110 for 50 ml, B. is significantly more expensive than either, but it does come in a $25 rollerball. I suspect you’re mostly paying for the sillier-in-person bottle, which Fragantica assures me is “very elegant and artistic”. I think I still prefer the original Balenciaga Paris (currently 10% off at Nordstrom!) for my cool, green Balenciaga fix.
Disclaimer: This post does not contain affiliate links and is not sponsored by Nordstrom (I wish).
SCENTS OF SELF 
Somehow I felt a great anger seeing this advert, knowing in advance it would be a crap, standardized scent. I loathed the first one, so can only guess at the banality of B. Sigh: I will probably find myself smelling it in Tokyo anyway…
I wouldn’t go so far as to call it crap! It’s no masterpiece, but certainly nice enough. I can see it doing pretty well in Tokyo, since it’s relatively light and has that interesting architectural bottle.
Exactly.
Fragrantica’s idea of “elegant and artistic” is usually different from mine.
Too bad about this one… I still love Balenciaga Paris.