Talisman

I don't know where to begin with this one. There are so many things I love about it! The box it comes in is rather elegant. It's matte and textured with dark purple and gold print. It will probably become dirty from me touching it and looking at it. And then there's the BOTTLE. True to its name it really looks like a magical object that will bring good fortune to its keeper. That frosted glass! That purple swirl cap! Swoon! The juice in mine is brown now but I don't mind. It just adds to its appeal for me. Very elegant flacon in my opinion. And finally how does it smell? That's the best part. In the olden days of Japan, royalty were carted around in these enclosed wood carriages with silk pillows inside. Imagine yourself inside sipping the finest rum money can buy...spilling it all over yourself...someone has offered a bouquet of exotic flowers to console you...the carriage is made from the most exquisite carved sandalwood. Hands down the best sandalwood I have ever smelled. Absolutely stunning. Edp version. Edit- ok so Santa Maria Novella's Sandalwood is the best but this is still a stunning sandalwood in a different way.

Gleaming and dazzling like a topaz, Talisman is pretty much the definition of a tropical perfume for me. Upbeat and cheery, but it still maintains that exotic, dusky warmth. It is a very balanced and great perfume in my opinion. Chemistry seems to be a big player here - it really blooms on my skin, whereas it fell apart on my friends. The opening is quite classic and fizzy; aldehydes are supported by the fruity notes. It doesn't smell like the hideous fruity florals that are occupying the store shelves today. They are more of the velvety, fleshy kind. It morphs into a soft, smooth floral bouquet - everything is perfectly balanced. The opening and middle stage don't last quite long on me, luckily enough, since the base notes are Talisman's selling points. The base is pretty much a very dense, but somehow airy combination of notes, which make it stand out from other gourmands/orientals. It pretty much translates to a slight animalic, powdery, skin like warmth on me. Very beautiful and unique. Sillage and longevity are enormous, but it hovers around me nicely. Recommended if you can find it.

I couldn't really put it much better than the reviewer below. I am so lucky I managed to find a full bottle of this stunning scent and yes I did pay extortionate price for it but I do not care. It is amazing and I love it. There are definitely simlarities between this and Rumba, the longevity and sillage are amazing. I find it particularly well suited for colder wintry weather as the boozy honeyed dried fruits come out and warm me up and can easily transport me somewhere tropical and sunny. Shame this is not in production any longer, wish Balenciaga would bring it back. If you can get hold of the scented shower gel from this range, it is almost identical to the perfume.

I always wondered where this perfume went, did I throw it away, or did I give it away? Sometimes I'm more studpid than a livingroom-fly looking for the way out ?? (Well, are they, or aren't they??) (Oh, so very blond we are today/night) (don't tell me you are in the army now..) But, than my best friend tells my by the phone this evening that she got the bottle ... And, I'm so very, very happy, because this is a very beautiful scent, and I have some few drops left in another småller dispenser, I have about 30 more differnt perfume bottles to give away to my best friends and family on my birthday coming up, they dont know anything yet, and I'm so excited!

Wow, I think I'm in love. Despite the numerous notes usually attributed to loud 80's frags, this one is well blended and delicious. For some reason, the caramel comes to the front right away on me with a muted softness of flowers and suede. It reminds me a little of Boucheron but has none of the "head shop" vibe. Unlike some other scents, I don't think I could ever tire of sniffing this one. It's perfect and goes to the top of my "buy a big bottle asap" list. (and since when is 1994 ancient history? "Very old"? Give me a break.) Update: Looks like it has to be layered...EDP only last 2-3 hours.

It's me again... with "the mothership can come and get me" and "I felled into the rabbit-hole"-theme - jup - l'm visiting my mum in Bergen - 6 hours drive - she is 93 - dying her hair and painting her nails - she had a lot of perfumes to give me... and... half a bottle of this holy water; An alcohol free deodorant, 200 ml / 666 fl. oz, and, it smells perfect on my skin, it's weak, but l can most defently smell the dried fruits, and l will use it as a perfume, and of cause l will spend every drop of it! And, thanks a lot to my beautiful mother!

one of the moste beautiful delicious classy and timeless modern fragrances ever... i m really impressed! Talisman is beautiful blendet, such a complex and rich blend of heavenly aromas. it sits on the skin like a layer of honey, spices, aromatic flowers and woods with a gourmand touch in a non sugary way, definitely worth to try and to buy! a real gem with this one you can never get wrong in any situation, sillage great, staying power great!

I am impressed! How did I miss this one, it has a great start and a wonderful dry down that had my nose firmly attached to my wrists all night. I love it when I go to bed, get up in the morning and the scent is still there, not as strong but like a wonderful memory of pleasure. This is just my first impression and I will wear it again today... what will the next 24 hours bring! Thank you for this recom mendation!

What it is about Balenciaga I do not know, but if you have not tried one of their fragrances you are really missing out on the wonderful creations they have to offer. And the great thing about them is, that some are very affordable too. Very very classy, all of them!! I wish they had'nt discontinued some of their masterpieces like Quadrille...

Exquisite! It smells like a great perfume should smell, concentrated, well blended, with a distinct personality and so feminine. This screams high class old school cocotte to me. Too bad it's discontinued. I find it similar to Vivienne Westwood's Boudoir 1998, but classier and less in your face.

The big bottle I had was a 50 ml splash, and I totally forgotten that I did put about 7 ml in a small dispenser, and, a few days ago I found these magic drops, yess, yess, yess :))

This perfume has the most gorgeous set of notes EVER!! It is such a wonderful combination of the most adorable scents in the whole world. GORGEOUS!

Lucky me had a big bottle of this beauty, but, I'm not sure I will buy it again,,, but, it's a very nice perfume =))

This is as good as fruit can get, imho: Dense, syrupy fruit. Like a mousse or marmelade, L'essence de fruit. Sweet and voluptous. With it's chypre heart it gives the smell class, next to it's teenage spirit. It is one of my most optimistic scents. Good mood, laughing, dancing, enjoying being on earth and living to the full. Gives me a smile the whole day long, when I wear it (which is not too often, as I really have to be in the mood to stand it's sweetness and the fruit and gourmand character). It is very close to Rumba, but twisted, even sweeter, more 90s, and totally gourmand. It is very well blended, so don't expect to pick one of those 35 notes of the pyramid on this side. This fruit is nowhere comparable to the watery one-fruit notes, that are often found in perfumes the recent years (e.g. all this newer Dior stuff). Those new fruity florals, or how they are called, I loathe. That stuff hasn't got class, it always goes the safe way, but Talisman is totally different. I guess, that it is for today standards not wearable for teenagers. They crave something different. It is for us middle 30s and above, who appreciate a funky, sweet, very classy fruit treat now and then.

Imagine you ask your friend for fruit, she serves you a dense Christmas fruit cake soaked in booze and then, out of her hyperbolic generosity, adds some fruit compote (canned in heavy syrup) on top, drizzle it with some raw honey, caramel sauce, a dash of vanilla and then sprinkle some coconut on top! She serves it on a sandalwood tray with handles wrapped in leather alongside a vase of every sort of flower she has in her garden! Gosh! How is Talisman this strong and sweet!? If you spray Talisman as you do your modern fruity florals you’ll probably suffer from a diabetic coma😂. This is old school fruity-floral to me, very syrupy and dense. Suitable more for autumn and winter. You only need 1-2 sprays at a time. I don’t get much chypre or aldehyde notes. After the initial olfactory overload, you are embraced by a very beautiful bouquet of powdery florals and later, by the most amazing Sandalwood note and a soft leather accord that doesn’t overpower the scent. It has amazing longevity. The sillage is very strong at first, but reduces to a closer scent bubble but still like an arm’s width. An amazing old school fruity floral that has to be sprayed with respect😉

Oh, now I see. I was wondering while wearing Balenciaga TALISMAN this afternoon and evening why I kept smelling wafts here of leather, there of honey, here again of caramel, there a touch of booziness, here--could it be coconut?... Yes, all of this and more: the list went on and on. TALISMAN is a beautiful light oriental fragrance with abiding slightly sweet vanilla patchouli and a modicum of just about everything else under the sun thrown in to induce these delightful tiny wafts of variety. Rather than having a well-defined development trajectory, TALISMAN, on my skin, seems to operate like a random note generator. Imagine those ping-pong tossing machines that mix the numbered balls using air, only here the notes are popping up instead. Yet the composition really is light and likeable and not at all overwhelming. I actually am a bit disappointed with the longevity, to be honest, but TALISMAN is appealing enough that I could see myself spraying it on over and over again just to be able to catch some more of these nice wafts. I'd like to try this creation at perfume strength, if available...

Its a really friendly not in your face little "vintage". I never had a chance to smell it before even though when it presumably was in the shops i already went and smelled things at least. Couldnt afford to buy much back then but the perfumista was already awakening. So anyhows, this opens quite spicy and fruity, i cant smell much of the middle notes but in the dry down it envelops me completely in this warm cinnamonny and dry sandalwoody sweet bubble. Somehow it reminds me both of a quieter Coco drydown (a little bit more sweet/tangy) and a louder Deci Dela drydown (heavier on the spices and amped up syrupy fruit). Also sour sweet candies come to mind. FBW? Nah, its good I have two miniatures and they will have to do, amps quite a sillage for me even from a ml or 2. Would for sure recommend to try since its a very cute and different little gourmand if you can get your hands on it for not too much money.

Oh, I know this scent... it's somewhere in my childhood memory. Perhaps someone close to me at the time was using this. Despite the slightly mysterious name Talisman, this perfume is very fruity and sweet. It is not the playful, childish fruitiness of modern perfumes. It has a rich sweetness that is made by soaking a lot of fruits in rum with plenty of syrup, caramel, and honey, and aging it for about five years. After a while, a thick bouquet will be added there. A very strong and powerful fragrance. A really small amount is enough. I find this scent to be a retro scent that is not modern as it is tied to memory. But as one of the more assertive and unique scents of an era when sheer wasn't required, I like this one.

On first application, warm, boozy, expensive feeling and potent. A little soapy, a little astringent, and a little incensy. The scent is an unchallenging and classic perfume- pleasant. On dry down the top notes become powdery; to me, quite reminiscent of wearing my mums scented powder makeup from the 90s. This, the sweet intensity of raisins, and a minimal harsh note of cheap mens aftershave. After a while, whafts of pachuili and musk sit close to the skin. The scent is sweet leaning but also sort of sweaty, like BO of someone you fancy. It lasts a good while, and only a small amount is needed before the scent becomes overwhelming.

80-s- and a bit of early 90-s was an era of a dominatrix-women with their unapologetic fruity chypres, high heels and big hair. Talisman is one of them, smoky-sweet-smouldering, alcoholic and dazzling, it offers just about everything and a little bit more. I keep thinking of young Melanie Griffith in Working Girl (1988) in her role of Tess McGill. The Real Deal of a perfume.

Not sure whether I really liked this or not - definitely strong and lasting, well made, got lots of attention. I think best worn by confident mature women who are very well dressed and attend lots of dressy occasions. Not really me at this stage in my life and yet I really like the dry down - overall not sure what I make of it.

Swear a note has emerged that reminds me of when I smoked. Wonder what combination of "ingredients" caused that? The woody notes perhaps. I'll be sniffing my hand closely to see what else develops. How nice of the eBay seller to send me this mini as a gift. (Vintage miniature).

This is strong stuff. Aldehyde, spice and smoke. Oldcore as well. This one maintains it's silage all the way thru. I don't particularly like this perfume. It is overpowering. It can be worn in clubs; reminds me of perfumes I smelled before, that mix with alcohol and cigarette smoke. Special evening occasions only with plentiful of air around.

Smells like 1994. I remember seeing the ad for it when flicking through some magazine and it stuck in my four-year-old mind, which is why I decided to get a vintage mini of it a few days ago. The dried fruits dominate, aldehydes, peach, ylang-ylang, rum and what I guess is beeswax, leather, some caramel. Reminds me of Chopard Casmir.

Sweet coconut,rum and leather,lil bit retro but in a good way.Reminds me of Rumba by Balenciaga. I love them both They turn me back in time . i want them

Fragrance Review For Talisman Balenciaga Top Notes Aldehydes Pineapple Fruit Notes Mandarin Peach Litchi Hyacinth Osmanthus Middle Notes Cyclamen Carnation Iris Freesia Jasmine Ylang Ylang Rose Lily of the Valley Base Notes Leather Sandalwood Tonka Amber Patchouli Musk Coconut Vanilla Beeswax Caramel Cedar Wood Come Mr Tally Mon And Tally Me Banana! Talisman by Balenciaga is a rich concentree and cocktail tropical fruit in Jamaica, but because it has so much sweetness and can be worn with so much gusto in the summer time, it is of any island including Italy's Capri. This is a gorgeous absolutely delicious perfume. If I could drink it up without being sent to the ER I would. The fragrance is a charmer from the 90's when fruit was all the rage. Smells like a hodgepodge of fruit flavored fragrances like Chloe Narcisse Volupte by Oscar de la Renta, Casmir by Chopard and Balenciaga's own Rumba. In the first whiff at the first spritz of Talisman, it's very clear that it's meant to be worn in the day time and in the summer. It's boozy and fruity like drinking an exotic Caribbean fruit based alcoholic beverage right on the sand while you get a tan. The aldehydes are retro but fresh and alive. Then you get a citrusy mandarin with it's sweet and sour taste, a bergamot orange and some pineapple. The pineapple is what gives it that tropical punch flavor. Then there's rum and sweet peach and not to mention a lychee. The heart is floral with hyacinth, osmanthus, jasmine, iris, rose, ylang ylang, lily of the valley and freesia. I would not call this a white floral in the vein of Rumba but more of a multi floral with an exaggerated sweetness that gets to be quite excessive a la Chloe Narcisse. The carnation scent is downplayed I think and instead you get a very beautiful ylang ylang, rose, iris and jasmine scent. These are like gorgeous island flowers that you pick up in the jungle. The iris gives it a bit of powdery note but never too much. A lovely rose and jasmine produce a feminine floral air that is mature but elegant and seductive. One can picture Isabella Rossellini in this perfume in some pretty sundress and sun hat walking on the beach in Italy's Amalfi coast. This also has a bit of a Sophia Loren type of vibe. Just a very womanly sexy tropical perfume. The dry down is delicious. I get caramel and honey courtesy of the bees wax note. Honeyed caramel with amber and vanilla. There's a little bit of musk but mainly a lot of vanilla and as it dries down to it's completion a leather and sandalwood with patchouli adds a slight Oriental air. If this is not meant to describe the tropical islands in the Caribbean it's Ceylon or Sri Lanka in India with it's Oriental nature. This is never too masculine or unisex and the vanilla dominates though it's well paired with musk. This is a beautiful fragrance for wearing in the summer. Talisman is so classy, elegant, cool, delicious and sexy. I am so happy to wrap up Milan Fashion Week today and this perfume made my day. I am off to Paris Fashion Week and will be reviewing some French perfumes. On y va!

I really like to discover ''obscur'' perfumes. I mean by obscur, mainstream/designer perfumes that never were on the spotlight or have a huge success and are now mostly discountinued. Some of them are really interested ones like Talisman. A very complex perfume with an impressive list of notes. Talisman is a fruity chypre with an unusual gourmand side in the chypre family. Well done and beautiful. The opening is a bit strong but it will slowly soften to a very refine skin drydown. The more I wear it, the more I like it.I understand why Talisman is on Luca Turin's top ten island list but I don't understand why it was discountinued... Anyway, I enjoy the ''uniqueness'' of discountinued perfumes. Because they usually harder to find, they will never be too smelled. It is like wearing a very expensive perfume that only a happy few can afford.

Just received today. It has been on for 15 minutes. At the beginning very honeyed potpourri. Don't need to spray much. After 15 mintues or so it has turned to a very pleasant rum-honey-flower blend. It's a very interesting blend that is changing every minute. I will post back soon. I like it a lot so far. I would not describe this as a loud scent but a but definately one that wants to be heard. I can't wait to see what else this little changling does. I bought EDP, FYI. Very classy but not fussy or over sophisticated. I would wear based on mood anyway as I never worry about fitting the attire to my perfumes. There is never a wrong or inappropiate time for a delicious fragrance!

This one arrived with the post today - only a 5 ml tester - as I was so curious..To me it`s a lot like Rumba Passion, except the patchouli is replaced with rum here and some lush fruit is added on. Exotic! Captain Jack Sparrow`s girlfriend would wear this smoky-boozy delight sailing on the Caribbean, at the same time serious throwback to the 90`s when fruity-balsamic-vanilla was a must. This perf is truly lovely, very potent, a single drop lasts a long time on me. Only one negative - the drydown is stale..now that could be the fact that it`s a 20-year old perfume or else my almost 40 year -old skin reacts the way it does..Lovely apart from that though.

I adore Talisman. A very beautiful, womanly scent, ripe fruits, tropical fruits, caramel candy and a rum chaser all wrapped um in a delicious floral bouquet. It is a heavy duty scent that somehow transcends seasons. It seems like a perfect winter scent (and it is) but the florals bloom forth in the warm weather and it morphs into less gourmand and more femme fatale floral.A development that the development of the scent took me by surprise! A counterintuitive choice for warmer weather when you want a dishy bouquet that turns summer in NJ into a carribean beach. It's dark for the winter and sultry for the summer and lasts for about 8 hours on me.

A wonderfull fragrance - very wellbalanced. Just the perfect sweetness - hard to distinct separate notes - but dried fruit and honey is what I get - and some wonderful flovery/green note that might be osmanthus. I am a fan of Balenciagas perfumes and this is not an exception. This one is easy to wear both day and nigth even if I would think of this as more of a daytime fragrance and my signature Cristobal as the nighttime counterpart. And if you look at all the different notes - it would seem like a total mess - that is not what this perfume is - on the contrary this one has a perfect balans.

Talisman is a really sensuous and feminine chypre. It has a strong fruity-floral opening with distictive notes of hyacinth, carnation and lily of the valley. The heart is creamy and powdery with woody notes of leather and sandalwood. It's definitely a retro frag in a good way. I am not sure whether I would repurchase as I am not very much into floral chypres but it is worth the try plus the bottle is very cute.

For the abundance of notes in Talisman, I was expecting more of a symphony, and more of a journey through top, middle and base. It's a quality fragrance, which one expects from Balenciaga, but it's a little too dry and flat for my taste.

For older women than I am (I think). It was really good on me at first but than turned into this heavy mess of god knows what, till my mama asked me to go shower. I was sneezing, too. Bad choice.

I just ordered (a blind buy) this Balenciaga. I can't wait to smell it because it's on Luca Turin top ten desert island list and it's a fruity chypre (one of my favorite perfume family).

Purchased this years ago. There is something unique about it. Reminds me of a Jamacian black cake, which has soaked fruits in the batter and takes a process to make and is very dense.

saw two bottles of this a few days ago in a local pharmacy.Big regret not buying them at the time. When decided to go back and buy them today , both were gone! :(

Classical, dark fragrance. I am 30 and I wear it easily since 2 years. Unusual mixture of leather, coconut, beeswax, cedar and rum. I love it.

this one is very old but still unique as many girls don't know about it yet for that reason i may bring it again

what a glorious scent! This perfume is one of my favourites. It is very french ; amazing, charming, gorgeous!

Eau Jeune - L'insoumise, the missing Gem , are 85% close to it or maybe 90%