Vent Vert

Any perfume lover on the journey has heard of Vent Vert at some point, usually referenced as THE Galbanum Fragrance. Galbanum is not exactly an ideal note to put solitarily forward, a brutish punch of green with some strange woody-oily aspects, it's like the interesting misfit kid that is obsessed with nature and hugs the trees but punches you in the face if you carve them. Poison Ivy just before she became the mean, green, killing machine. I particularly love galbanum, give me a pretty green nose bleed, I don't mind, but Vent Vert is much more than a galbanum fragrance. It is masterfully abstract green and a tigerish, rude green. But in a good french way. It is feral galbanum as the queen of a barbaric grassy tribe doing a victory pow-wow dance over The Hulk overdosed in clorophyll. Leafy, breezy skirts swaddled by wind and floral crown headbands of the daintiest florals to celebrate her - frail lily-of-the-valley, a super gauzy iris, probably hyacinth- softens her image almost enough to romanticize her into an art noveau dryad, a lithograph of a pastoral goddess, fair hair gusted by the wind and that sort, a maiden form with a lot of movement to remind you that nature is an unstopabble living being but ironically pictured trapped in a spiderweb of vines, leaves and flower-spangled meadows --no one can escape nature, especially their own; nymphs in anarchy but contained by art form. The complexity scores high as with most of Cellier fragrances, I try to imagine her original composition with the legendary minibases inside the base, this is peeking at it with with its drapes of mesh-like green gauze intershaded with darker tonalities of spiky chunky wool. Sitting in one of those franchised coffee houses wearing Vent Vert in a bustling city makes me query of the urban life, I fall into a bucolicism extreme enough to question even the charming ones. No wonder some citadines have a fame for being grumpy when they have people like Germaine Cellier to remind them of Arcadia.

Some weeks ago I visited a little store which had plenty of perfumes from the past. They were gems unruined by the IFRA and among the others I bought a very vintage and perfectly preserved Vent Vert. Germaine Cellier is a perfumer whose talent has no equal in the perfume world. Far from being a monument like Jacques Guerlain or Edmond Roudnitska, she shares the same genius of both without enjoying the same status. If you look at her - certainly not many - creations you can see how her talent is multifaceted. Take Bandit and Fracas, at the opposite poles one from the other. Take Vent Vert, opening green and closing another hue that I would define dark saturated pink. Vent Vert opens taking you in a meadow full of grass, some cut, some full of those fantastic "herbes folles" as the French say, whose smell is a voyage in my childhood when I used to live in a happy countryside. Little by little you are transported to a town where the smell of grass is mixed with friendship, love, human warmth symbolized by the flowers that take the scene after the green. Here you are in the yellow phase. Then you are taken to someplace which is the city of your maturity, your work, your stable relationships, husband, sons, long life friends who have travelled all the way with you. And here you are in the final, deep pink phase, when your life is accomplished with every success, goals achieved, duties done. And Vent Vert has developed with you, step after step. More than a scent for me Vent Vert is a metaphor of life. A masterpiece.

Vintage Vent Vert by Balmain is as close to iconoclastic feminism as fragrance gets. On its release this searing, adventurous and uncompromising scent must have cut a swathe through not only smoked filled rooms but preconceptions of what a woman should smell like. It is a bracing bolt from the green. An amorphous, abstract yet geometric gesture in shamrock. To describe and dissect the principle notes or accord seems almost pointlessly reductive. It contains grasses, nettles, citrus leaf and moss but is not solely defined by any of them. Beyond this there is fruity acidity set off by softer florals that appear and then disappear repeatedly in the heart. Like the summer wind the name suggests. Chief amongst these floral elements is a hyacinth that retains a degree of hauter, the slight detachment of that note smudged by a friendlier lighter muguet. The base is another convergence of not only notes but tone, galbanum against amber, sandalwood and cedar, oakmoss and herbaceous border. The effect is entrancing yet at the same time a little alarming. Indeed, this is not a perfume with which the word comfortable can easily be associated. It is too urgent, too agitated, has a point to make even to the point of a certain cold aggression. I can’t help but adore it for its restless boundary-testing taut beauty. If Vent Vert were a painting it would be a cubist Picasso from his lost green period. ************ This is a concise version of the review, to read my full thoughts check out my blog theperfumeddandy.com

I fell for VENT VERT from the first moment I inhaled this incredible and gorgeous green spring scent. This is one of the best green scents I’ve ever tried. It smells just like a spring day after the rain. The scent captures the abundance of greenery, raindrops on a grass and fresh spring air. I am wearing it today on such a spring day and it is in complete harmony with the nature around me. It smells so natural but it is also complex and interesting. Unbelievable experience! The opening is green but not sharp or harsh. It is so harmonious that it is hard to discern the notes. I think I smell a bit of lime, a bit of herbs and orange blossom. I also thought that I smell galbanum but it is not listed, so perhaps it is asafoetida that adds this earthy touch. The symphony of spring continues with the gentle floral heart notes. They are still green but not sharp at all. I catch whiffs of lily of the valley, freesia and later on violets. The scent continues to be in a perfect harmony. The notes are so flawlessly weaved together that I cannot really say which one takes a lead but together they create this beautiful light and refreshing floral scent. The dry down is also a bit green. I mostly smell vetiver and sandalwood. This scent is beautiful from the beginning till the end. In my humble opinion it is a masterpiece among green scents and an absolute delight to wear. I am sure it could be worn anytime of the year but I think its true magic comes alive when it is worn in spring. Definitely recommend.

A review for both the present day version of Vent Vert (as of 2014) and the 1990 Calice Becker reformulation of the original 1947 vintage: I simultaneously bought both versions for a comparison, becoming recently enamored of vintage perfumes. The modern Vent Vert is completely incongruous to its name. It is no more of a green breeze than an old bag of potpourri. It is relentlessly floral, cheery, bland, overly sweet to my taste, and wouldn't you know, it has sillage and longevity for miles. Any initial green notes are at the very beginning and last for about 30 seconds. It's obvious Balmain continues to call this fragrance Vent Vert as mere name recognition marketing strategy. A real shame. I guess cheap floral aromachemicals are just too easy to use in perfume in these days of perfume quality downgrades. The 1990 vintage reformulation still has a really pretty green element to it. It does drift off into floraldom after about half an hour, but the initial burst of it is really nice, and it's something I enjoy wearing. Better than a lot of the modern day dreck out there. I did get a teeny sample of what might have been an original 1947 EDT version of this, but it faded so quickly on me. Tried to buy the actual perfume, but the vintage seller ran out of it before my purchase went through during a sale (or so they said!) One day it would be my dream to own a vintage bottle of the original perfume, sour and spicy and bitter, like biting into a fresh lime. I'll keep looking...sigh.

Wearing the vintage. Green is an understatement. It is different from every other perfume I have ever smelled. It opens smelling like salad and grass clippings- maybe even a salad OF grass clippings, right down to a hint of balsamic vinaigrette. Then it begins to smell strangely of a doctor's or dentist's office. Is that galbanum? It's not bad, but very, very different. It would 100% never be marketed as a feminine scent today. It would probably be marketed as a unisex niche scent from Demeter or something. Except it is a lot more photo-realistic of green things than most of those types of perfume lines ever do. Upon smelling it, I immediately recognized the smell, even though I can't place it. It's so interesting, and I mean that not as a euphemism, but as a sincere compliment. Every Germaine Cellier fragrance I smell is so different from the last one I smelled, and I love how bold they all are. What a genius. It reeks of daytime, springtime. Yet I can picture a summer evening at a European resort on the coast, with a stiff breeze off the ocean chilling a woman who was not dressed for it, but who remains because she needed to come out to the water's edge to think. Germaine Cellier was a conjurer. I have to say I love it. I can't admire something this strongly and not call it love. I could go on, and I may later, as the scent unfolds.

Too good to waste....This is a big green forest with little woody and powdery tunes on the background. The green is harsh, bitter, bold and frank. The rest of the ingredients delicate and refined. I LOVE this timeless creation even though it's not the Vintage version from 1947. I never sniffed the vintage bottle unfortunately (shame on me, I know guys) , but I hear and read that that's the BOMB. Despite of that, I am happy with this reformulated version from 1991, see photo above, by Calice Becker (by the way, there was a second reformulation in 1999 that seems to be bad stuff comparing to the former ones). It was love on first sniff for me. Thanks to the strong and bold galbanum surrounded by lots of green and flowers. Ofcourse I am very curious about the vintage version, but a bottle from e-bay is much too expensive for me. The bottle I got with polka-dot bow says this: Topnotes- Lemon, Bergamot, Neroli Middle notes- Galbanum, Ylang Ylang, Hyacinth, Lilly of the Valley Base notes- Sandalwood, Ceder, Iris Does anyone know more fragrances with that same harsh, bitter and bold green in it (except for Chanel 19)? Not 'just' green perfumes, but the in-your-face ones. Mostly with galbanum and oakmoss in it. Please let me know by giving me some names. Thank you sooo much.

A classic green floral perfume that opens with fresh and green notes. Flowers like Hyacinth, Lily of the valley and Jasmin have an important role in that and perfume has a herbal earthy background. I also feel there is a little bitter Neroli that makes this scent citrussy and fresh. Finally it ends with woody musky notes and flowers dont lose from begining to end . . دسته گلی در برگرفته شده توسط نسیم سبز چمن زار. در فضایی کلاسیک روشن و آفتابی... . فوران رایحه سبز و باطراوت و سپس قدرت گرفتن ذات گلی عطر که سنبل، موگه و یاس در اون نقش های اصلی رو دارن درکنار تلخی مرکباتی طور نرولی و حس خاکی ناشی از باریجه که مثل گَردی لطیف روی گل ها و سبزه ها رو پوشانده توصیف نت محور این عطر هست. به مرور، طراوت و رطوبت اولیه انگار آفتاب خورده و خشک میشه و کم کم شیرینی چوبی مشکی با برجسته تر شدنش در حضور عطرِ گلها پایان بندی کار رو رقم میزنه... . کلیت عطر رایحه ای سبز و مرطوب، کمی صابونی، شیرین از جنس شیرینی گلیِ کلاسیک و تلخ از جنس تلخی لیمویی(نرولی) داره که در پس زمینه ای خاکی و گیاهی قرار گرفتن. گاها ردی مصنوعی از بوی گل و برگِ کنار هم له شده و چمن بریده شده ازش حس میشه علی الخصوص در ابتدای راه. در یک نگاه کلی هم رایحه ی کرم های قدیمی گل بو روی پوست شسته شده با صابون گلنار حسی هست که ممکنه این عطر تداعی کنه.

Vie Cafe said it well! I also saw and sampled the New Vent Vert, available in a truly lovely bottle befitting a retro glamour queen. Normally I don't get excited over bottles, but this hefty beauty is a stunner. Without the bow, she could just as easily be a men's bottle - but only for the most exclusive and well designed men's fragrance. As for the juice itself, it is considerably sweeter and gentler than many a green powerhouse - including my favorite, Silences. I found the sillage to be light but the longevity to be reasonably good ~ around 5 hours. Anyone easily intimidated by cold greens need not fear. Once the initial green burst dies down, you are left with the fresh, sweet air of spring! I do not currently "need" another green floral to add to my burgeoning collection, and so passed by a 40 dollar bargain at Marshalls..... Something I'm telling myself was a noble sacrifice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You write such wonderful reviews, lucia.lawson. Thank you! I always enjoy reading them, and this one is no exception. I love the beautiful way you have described this classic and gorgeous perfume; so evocatively. In fact, it was because of how much I enjoyed Vent Vert through reading your review, that I decided to blind-buy it: and I am completely thrilled and happy that I did!!! Vent Vert is wonderful, and green, and exquisitely flowery. It also has delicious citrus scents that are very fresh and green, the glorious flowers, that I do wish lasted a little longer, especially the lily-of-the-valley (my favourite), but I actually don't mind too much, because I adore the masculine, woody, vetiver, mossy warm dry-down. It's fabulous. I LOVE it. It's a wonderful, wonderful perfume.

This is the first green floral perfume, created by Germaine Cellier in 1947. Vent Vert is up there with Guerlain Vetiver as a pure green perfume that feels very much like “me”. Green florals can come out so pristine they’re practically prepubescent; or they can compromise on verdancy with warmer notes. Vent Vert doesn’t do either. It just doubles down really hard on brilliant, bitter, laser-green galbanum, which adds an edge that isn’t present in, say, Estee Lauder’s Pleasures. The cut-grass and galbanum blend together seamlessly into a single fresh-sharp-green note. And then it opens out into a vernal, bright hyacinth, and a little wisp of lily-of-the-valley and maybe jasmine – but the galbanum sticks around too. I love the delicate fierceness of it. It’s like an angry fairy.

This review is for a sample of a vintage Vent Vert...WOW Although the beginning notes are sort of 'meh', could well be cause this is a vintage sample, as soon as they settle the scent becomes amazing. It's kinda a warm green scent if that makes sense, it lasts really well on me and all this time I keep thinking 'I have sniffed this before' but don't know where...but I want to keep sniffing my wrist ALL the time. Then it dawns on me...it smells like a croos between Chanel no19 and Carven MaGriffe. Both of the scents I love and own...hhmmmm.... So I guess I should not be purchasing a full bottle of this beauty but only because I already own some very very similar.

I was lucky enough to find a pre-1991 original, good condition bottle. Wow. Sour, bitter green. tangy with galbanum and oakmoss, giving way to floral notes and a lovely powdery drydown with real lasting power. Scents of this depth and evolution are rare today thanks to the IFRA ban on oakmoss. It's an acquired taste, but once acquired, one is hooked. Sadly this may be the only bottle I ever find of this age, I have the middle version which is nice enough (post 1991) but lacks the depth; and I won't bother with the new version, it would only suffer by comparison. - Lovely. Like the original Opium, find a vintage one x

I was given a small bottle of the perfume in 1974, I adored it! My sister was given Miss Balmain. We didn't appreciate them enough to keep them for posterity, because we loved both so much we used them up in a matter of months...well we were teenagers! Vent vert (green wind/breeze) is exactly that, young green grass and flowers, beautifully soft, fresh, a breath of fresh air in a tiny bottle. I bought the reformulation a couple of years ago, it is the pale ghost of the original, but still with its fresh charm. Longevity is not its strong suit.

I have had this on my want list soo long that I think it still came in the "lettuce" on top bottle which has since been re-bottled into a classier looking, but not as fun, flanker. This is a lovely fresh fragrance that is VERY similar to A Scent by Issey Miyake. A Scent though is more floral where this one is more herbal. The difference is minor but in my opinion it is still worth owning both. For me, the house of Balmain can do no wrong and this is no exception. This is age appropriate for all....fresh, classy and non-offensive.

Spring is in the air. It's a while ago that I reached out for the cute bottle on the shelf with green bow. My darling Vent Vert was waiting for me and she knew for 100% that I would appear. My oh my, what a lovely, rich, chique, green floral, sparkling spring scent this is! I bend for the galbanum and I am moved by the gentle flowers hidden behind the spicy citrus that welcomes me in the first place. I'm awake again. Darling Vent Vert leads me into summer 2020 as she led me to many summers in my life before.

Acquired through a recent trade, I’m so happy. This is one of the first vintage perfumes I have found that I really like. Vent Vert is green, natural, lovely and I pick up no fruit or flowers. This doesn’t last long before it turns to a skin scent but I need to test this in warmer weather and see if that changes as I would suspect. I reserve the word unique for those rare occasions when it’s well deserved, and that’s Vent Vert. This is niche before the word niche was used to describe perfume.

Fellow Fragranticans, caveat emptor! If you come across the website 'BelowX', which claims to sell the 1991 reformulation in 3.4 oz size as pictured above, be advised that they will ship you the squat, 2.5 oz cube-shaped bottle containing the watered-down weed-juice that bears no resemblance whatever to the fragrance we know and love. Furthermore, attempting to contact them to complain is a lesson in futility (I've tried). So save yourselves the hassle and heartache ...

A signature scent for me...it reminds me of the first palr green leaves budding out and of jonquils blooming..First purchase in 1965; this was released in ca. 1946-49 and was mentioned in Ian Flemming's James Bond novel "To Russia With Love" as a seductive addition to a liasion on the Orient Express! It HAS been reformulated over the years as Balmain was absorbed by a giant conglomerate. Beautiful, very galbanum-y fresh, and I love it at 56!

Lovely floral green. Bold, sharp, bitter, spicey, fresh, flowery. Special, not common. For self-conscious women. Spring-like but mature. Sunny and windy, with substance. But overall green. Not velvet green, but prickly green. Even brutal green. I love this perfume. It's daring outdoors, it nevers steps aside of anything, it goes straight forward with her strong mossy depths, but always in a feminine and classy way.