Bal Musque

Well, I have to say the fragrance 'blurb' is near enough hysterical but that aside, this fragrance actually works for me and wow it smells rather mmmmmm.....difficult to describe....something like ' a warm cuddly fuzzy cashmere scarf that has been left near the woodburner after a boozy night'. How's that for a 'blurb' eh?! Seriously, it smells amazing on me but I think I am just lucky.

Once upon a time, there was a small, inexperienced girl taking her very first steps into an unknown, scented world. She grew up in the fabulous 1980s, in a modest family where desserts rarely came out of the oven and perfume was not part of everyday life. Her mother didn’t bake sweets and didn’t wear fragrance, and perhaps for that very reason, two things would later become deeply loved by that little girl as she grew up: sweets and perfumes. Her little nose didn’t grow up in refined or sophisticated surroundings, yet she clearly remembers elegant ladies encountered along the way, wrapped in unmistakable trails of Opium, Poison, and Giorgio Beverly Hills. Those powerful scents felt almost magical, telling stories of confident, luminous women who seemed just out of reach. Then, one day, just like in a fairy tale, cane the encounter. Its name was Ball à Musc by Nez à Nez. It wasn’t a loud, dramatic love at first sight, but a quiet, profound revelation. In that moment, everything became clear: there were four notes she truly loved. Licorice, cherry, cinnamon, and benzoin. Sweetness, warmth, spice, and resin weaving together like a spell, wrapping the wearer in a comforting yet sensual embrace. Ball à Musc is not a fragrance that shouts; it whispers stories. It smells of comfort and desire, of childhood and adulthood intertwined. Like a forgotten candy found in a pocket, rediscovered by chance, capable of taking you back in time while making you feel, at last, at home. In this olfactory fairy tale, Ball à Musc is both a destination and a beginning: a reminder that you don’t have to be born into a golden world to recognize beauty. Sometimes, all it takes is one encounter, beloved notes, and a heart ready to listen.

It's a strange perfum... My first sensation was - oops! I don't smell anything...then I sniffed again and again and I underestood - it smelt like my own skin...The scent continued to change - it was like a rubber, some resin of the trees, leather. I had a sensation that the tempeature was rising... And after many hours I felt a lot of vanilla, but some kind of dark vanilla. It was there even next day... Somewhy it reminded me the atmosphere of film "Eyes Wide Shut" - mystic..

I think that Bal Musqué is a quite fancy scent. It takes me to a viennese ballroom in the baroque period. Opulent musk, decatent spices and amorous vanilla with playful licorice. Found it a bit too heavy at first but I could not stop sniffing my wrist while pictures from the film "Amadeus" sprang to my mind. To me BM is a voluminous stupendous perfum for voluptuous evenings but defenitely to strong for office, business or casual events.

Recently tried a few samples of this because I am trying to find a few other perfumes or fragrances to wear other than my usual "limited" repertoire-smile. I was really looking forward to trying this fragrance because I imagined it might be a similar but more affordable alternative to my beloved Frederic Malle Musc Ravageur, my current favorite scent! This fragrance is alriight but not one I would own and wear on any regular basis. As others have stated, I liked the opening notes very much because the scent is predominantly musk (which I like a lot when layered with other fragrances) with a nice layer of spice (cinnamon?). Based on reviews, I was expecting this fragrance to be overwhelmingly and forever musk-y and very strong at that...but it was none of that...at least not on me. About 20 minutes after applying this fragrance, it turned into what I would consider a slightly floral, very muted, muddy, murky, subdued and rather powdery substance, losing nearly all of the initial pleasant musk & spicy opening notes. What started out with a promise quickly took a rather mediocre and unoriginal turn...at least on me it did. Much to my disappointment, this scent morphed into a real gourmand fragrance on me...after about an hour or so, I thought I smelled like strong vanilla extract. Lasting power was not great...silage was rather average. As I am learning more about fragrances, I am recognizing that I like rather potent mixtures with strong opening notes, animalic scents...not floral scents, NOT POWDERY scents. I like spicy & smoky fragrances with complex notes that are predominantly musky, woody and spicy. I like the wood, spice and musk characteristics to persist and last as final notes, too (not fade away). A fragrance has to have great staying power for me to love it...unique & unforgettable silage is a huge plus, too! Bal Musque is an okay fragrance but it just didn't quite do it for me.