Bal d'Afrique

LOVE LOVE LOVE... This is the first perfume EVER (in the 40 years of my life and the probably 25 years I'm using perfumes), which I bought on the same day of smelling it for the first time... the first time ever that a recommendation of a shop assistant was spot on.... and the first time, a perfume became my signature scent straight away. I smelled it and it was just... me. I was on a lunch break hunt for new scents and had a chat in the shop about my current favorites (normally fresh white flowers with a green touch, since recently also more woody and deeper/more masculine scents, but never too powdery, makes me cough)... The assistant showed me Bal d'Afrique... I smelled it for the first time... and went "Mmmmmh!" immediately... not like oftentimes, when you politely answer "Yes, nice..." or "Mhm, not bad..." to those awful scents some of the shop assistants are recommending, with the words "I like it very much myself!" or "This is very popular!". No, Bal d'Afrique has a wonderfully fresh citrus/orange/bergamot blast in the beginning, interlaced with a delicious fruit (must be the blackcurrant), never getting sickly sweet, never acidly citric (you know... like the times when you have to sneeze from all the citrus)... just a wonderful balance between all components... while a faint smokey touch is hovering at the scent's edges. This initial richness of juicy fruits lasts about 20 minutes on my skin and then fades a little, becoming warmer with amber, musk and cedar. The smokey touch also gets a little stronger, but never becomes disgusting (non-smoker writing here). The only "drop of bitterness" in this luscious composition is... longevity is only moderate... after 2-3 hours I barely can smell it anymore on myself. Be prepared to always take it with you to refreshen it after some time, because you just can't live without it. Sillage is weak, so it's very office friendly and wearable too. Bal d'Afrique is like nothing I've ever smelled before. The scent invokes a feeling of the zest for life and indulging in its pleasures, while the deeper - and sometimes smokey - layers of your experience of life are always present in the background... not disturbing the present, but also never being forgotten. The picture of a unique life.

If you have a nose that enjoys many masculine fragrances, but then you pick up highly unpleasant notes from the woody notes at dry down, this is a fragrance that will likely work for you even though Fragrantica lists the woody accord as most prominent. This is an excellent fragrance for warmer weather. I prefer Imagination over this, but they both have that clean ozonic fresh vibe and present as a light airy scent profile that has far more similarities than their accords would suggest. Most importantly, for those with woody note sensitivities, this fragrance dries down with no off-putting woody notes. I'm a newb to fragrances. I'm an older man. My wife and I sampled over 200 popular fragrances in a short period of time as a fun experience using mostly decants at home where we could enjoy the full experience of each fragrance over a length of time. It became obvious that most masculine fragrances can be sorted into a small number of categories of broadly similar profiles. I don't mean they are the same by this statement. When I first sampled a decant of Imagination, I immediately recognized it as being in a unique category. My eyes literally widened, I sat up straight, and said outloud, "Oh wow!" It broke into new territory from our many samples. Bal d' Afrique to my nose fits this same rare airy category of scents. I think it will be non-offensive to most everyone, so a perfect office scent and perfect for warm weather events. If you want to present as light, airy, clean and fresh, you will likely appreciate this fragrance. For those that perceive this fragrance as a nothingburger, I have empathy, because I'm on the opposite side of the same coin and detect acrid smells in fragrances most do not. Olfactory perception is incredibly subjective, which sometimes begs the question why we even read and write reviews. If you prefer stronger scents, may I suggest Amouage Badlands or the clone Rayhaan Terra. Those are two scents that are nuclear with no unpleasant notes.

Such a beautiful, soft, and radiant fragrance. I've had decants of BdA for well over a decade now, but have never purchased a full bottle. I know, im dumb. All that money that I've spent on 10mL decants of this, I could've purchased a full bottle with. I plan to. BdA is one of my "safest" fragrances out of my collection. It works anytime, anyday, anywhere. It's such a pleasant scent, in the same vein as Another 13, which is another fragrance that i genuinely adore. BdA sits right down in the middle of unisex. Maybe borderline feminine (again, the same as Another 13), which is not a problem for me. I like my hyper masculine fragrances like Boss Bottled Absolu, which sits so well on my skin. But luckily for me, more unisex - feminine leaning frags also sit incredibly well on my skin (I lucked out lol). On my skin, BdA comes off a tad more masculine, really pushing out that vetiver and cedar. Despite not being denoted in the note(s) breakdown, BdA is also quite musky. For me at least. It's a pleasant, soft musk that's like a hug. It's quite beautiful. Performance is pretty great. No, it's not beast mode, but that's not BdA is trying to be. It's a more intimate, gentle fragrance that implores you to sit closer. Longevity is also excellent. On clothes, it can last for over 2 days. If you like softer unisex fragrances like Another 13 and Gris Charnel, you will LOVE BdA. I do need to get my nose on the absolu flanker as I've heard that bumps up the intensity a notch. Until then, I'll continue to enjoy what I already have. Full bottle to come VERY soon.

Bal d'Afrique has haunted me ever since I first sampled it years ago. I was never all that into this kind of scent-profile, but there was just something about it that gave me life. On me it's all creamy, non-acidic, sweet lemon, vetiver and musk. Recently I sampled it once more. And I have thoughts. I am way more into these sorts of scents now that I was in the past. I used to think that there was no point in owning a perfume unless it was dark, deep and HEAVY - because if I wanted something skin-like (skin doesn't smell like lemon and marigold, I know, but I'm trying my best here), why not just... not wear any fragrance at all? But now... NOW. Now I find myself gravitating towards the likes of Glossier You, Another 13, and this (personal growth, we love to see it). Now I find that there is something so sexy about a fragrance that doesn't try to be sexy. And Bal d'Afrique doesn't try, it just IS. And it doesn't know just how appealing it is - which is just so charming, isn't it? What I'm TRYING to say with this word-vomity wall of text is this: Bal d'Afrique is gorgeous in a carefree, quietly luxurious way. You know how perfumes can put you in a certain mood? You spritz it on, and think "okay, life doesn't suck THAT bad". Bal d'Afrique makes my monkey-brain go "heh. I love my life". It's my ultimate "no thoughts just vibes" fragrance, and as someone who is prone to overthinking and having "neurosis" as my baseline on the daily, I mean this as a compliment of the highest degree. And for these vibes, I am willing to pay the (ungodly) price :)

Волшебно! Я заказала пробник этого аромата, из интереса. Мне хотелось что-то лёгкое, воздушное и не приторное, и мои ожидания оправдались! Аромат очень нежный, я была уверена, что в составе есть кокос, настолько он вызвал у меня ассоциации с конфетами Рафаэлло с добавлением лёгкой цитрусовой кислинки! Я реально удивилась, обнаружив, что кокоса в составе нет :-) Верхние ноты более цитрусовые и сладкие, потом они сменяются на более душистые. аромат идеально сбалансирован, ни одна нота не перекрикивает другую, наверно, проще всего его назвать сливочно-цитрусовым, но на самом деле он настолько цельный, что его не хочется разбирать на части. Мне он сразу же поднял настроение, подумала, что " хочу с ним подружиться" , такой он какой-то добрый, нежный и при этом не приторно-хищный. Кто-то написал, что этот аромат вызывает ощущение безопасности, вот мне тоже так кажется. Из минусов - да, не очень стойкий, сидит близко к коже, но это реально единственный минус, на мой взгляд. Интересно было бы попробовать африканский бал абсолют, но пишут, что он более приторный. В общем, аромат прекрасный, определенно женский, воздушный, деликатный, сладкий, но не приторный, свежий, держится не очень долго, но всё равно замечательный. :-)