Bal à Versailles Eau de Cologne

In early 2017, I was planning my first trip to France with two of my closest girlfriends. One of the things I was most looking forward to was visiting the Palace of Versailles, and during one of my countless meanderings through blogs, photos & history, Bal à Versailles appeared. In the middle of the night, I scrolled wide-eyed through an amazing, thorough review proclaiming this scent "animalic," "urinous," "skanky" - and I was simultaneously appalled & utterly fascinated. I knew I had to try it. It took nearly two years, but Bal à Versailles finally made its way to me. It is everything I expected & more. It is sensual, multifaceted, glamorous, dark - and, yes, a little bit barnyard-skanky. Civet is not for everyone. But, civet is definitely for me. When I first applied it, I felt as though I had been instantly transported to a bygone, more glamorous era. It is definitely not simply "attending a ball at Versailles," though. It is much more "hiding in the corner during a ball at Versailles, stealing a few moments alone with your lover, surrounded by other people doing the same." I can, certainly, understand those who feel it is dated. It is dated. Whether this is a good thing or not can only come down to individual preference. I wear it at night, for special occasions. It has helped me to create many wonderful memories. I would not wear it during the day, or in a warmer month. My fiancé quite honestly loves this scent. He is happier to smell it on me, but a man could wear it as well, beyond a doubt. I, too, love this scent... my little window to the past.

I have a bottle of the cologne that I picked up at the church rummage sale and was shocked to encounter the sexiest, bawdiness niche like fragrance I’ve ever encountered. It smells like I imagine a 17 century cortisone would smell after a few lovers since her last bath. The first note is probably civet? It smells very risqué. Like the hotel room of honeymooners or probably that get away with a mistress. The smell of warmed juicest from excited bodies rubbing against one another. I smell hormones, and pheromones like a cat on a hot tin roof. The birds and the bees. At the start there is also an elegant powdery swell which I suspect is the cortisones wig. The balsam comes in strong and early to let you know she’s high maintenance. She has an orange pomade, and perhaps a sachet at her perfumed wrist with centrefolia roses. Of course you can smell an old lovers herbal cologne on her skin, Rosemary, lavender and such but it’s just the nature of the business. No one will ever say anything. Her cheeks are cherry red and her skin flushed. She has to pay the bills somehow besides as the kings love child must be fed. My fragrance gets louder with body heat so I need to apply the lightest amount, one tap from the stopper on all pulse points. It last 6 hours in beast mode and two as a skin scent to remind everyone of when they let the good times roll. On me I’d like to think this fragrance smells vintage but if not, let them gossip I’ll never tell.

The original Bal a Versailles has been a firm love of mine for a long time now, earning a strong place in my top 5 for life. The Eau de Cologne was a blind buy for me and I was worried it would be a redundant purchase, I have never been so happy to be wrong. This iteration of the scent follows the same overall scent profile of urinous civet, thick balsams and warm amber. However, the overall feel is much brighter, softer and very airy - this is much more wearable and versatile than the standard parfum or EDT. The ylang shines blissfully like shimmering sparkles of sunlight, alongside soft powdery white florals which brighten up the dark filth laying beneath. There’s also a noticeable prominence of Vetiver here, giving the scent a refreshing touch of green earthiness. I adore this perfume, it’s simply glorious. I don’t think it’s obsolete to own this as well as the original, as this is far more wearable in the warmer months despite not straying too far from the original scent profile. The EDC and parfum are definitely closely related, but simply lean towards different aspects of the creative idea. The parfum envisions the scent of a 17th century ball at the Versailles palace, whereas this scent conjures the same idea but perhaps held in the summery gardens of said palace.

Everything thats old is new again. Animalic perfumes fell out of vogue a long time ago. However with the resurgence of this genre, with the niche zoologist range such as its latest star-"Civet" (with synthetic civet notes) In the same vein vintage Weil (Zibeline/Antelope), Vintage Chanel (no5 Cologne), Lanvin (My Sin) houses share the animalic genre with Bal. Perfumes such as Bal are back on the radar. The cologne is the most animalic of Bal a Versailles. The golden civet and musks are straight from the beginning with minimal florals. A powdery rose, and jasmine rise up to round out the musky civet. Its much simpler in construction than the PDT, Parfum or EDT. Its used liberally and boosts depth to the edt/parfum/edp formulations. I use it to boost the later years edt that dropped the animalics to restore the old beauty, or add some depth and warmth of an animalic presence in perfumes of today. It is found in splash bottles up to 16oz. There are also white spray cans from 1oz-3oz. Sometimes the propellent can go off in the spray cans. why isnt there a note list for this fragrance??!

I have a vintage decant of this from a generous perfume lover. So I have now smelled the famous Bal a Versailles. And it is... what I expected. To be fair this isn't my kind of scent. I don't like powdery fragrances and BaV is definitely powdery. But I can certainly appreciate why it is so popular. Does this smell like a ballroom in Paris filled with white wigged courtesans in elaborate ball gowns? Yes it does. Complete with beauty patches and fan and bejeweled shoes. Somewhere Marie is carrying on with a group of male admirers. You can almost smell the gossip. Because of the weight of the powder I get a bit of a Shalimar vibe, I suppose because that leading lady is ALL powder on me. This is actually far more wearable. Will I wear this? I don't know, maybe in the winter when I'm not leaving the house and want something cozy and intimate. It's the first powder forward cologne I haven't hated on first sniff so that's saying something, but it isn't "me" at all. Definitely test this before investing. (The vintage cologne lasts about 3 hours on my skin.)