Ivoire (original)
Pierre Balmain (1980)

A green chypre extraordinaire and devastatingly beautiful to my nose, Ivoire de Balmain would surely be new, uncharted frontier for younger noses who would be shocked, even appalled by the bitter, sharp, unapologetic greenness of its opening and its kitchen sink florals heart. If they were able to make it to its base, they'd be met with unrelenting oakmoss, resins, and muskiness. I imagine it would be alien for those who are accustomed to generous helpings of tonka, ambroxan, and iso e super to guide them along to safety.

I am a man of adventure, also a man aged 43, so much like I can recall a time before the internet, I can recall a time when scents like this were commonplace on your aunt, your teacher, a woman (or man) passing by. Speaking of men, this actually reminds me somewhat of Lauder for Men, a ferocious green aromatic that also showcased galbanum and unbridled verdance. With Ivoire, however, we have accents that startle and seduce the right nose. Curveballs, if you will.

Asofoetida, for example (why does Fragrantica show caramel cubes for its image?), a spice long loved in the East, particularly India (where it is most often referred to as "hing") for amplifying spice and flavor in cuisine. It is exceptionally strong, and on its own, is reminiscent of boiled eggs and burnt onions, foul and pungent. However, its magic comes when a pinch is added to oil. That same pinch approach is here, and it seems to exalt the green elements and florals. It isn't merely gilding the lily, nor do I find that it is quite as body odor like or animalic as others suggest. It's essential to the character of this composition, much like the marigold and the chamomile lending earthy and sweet qualities to counter all the cold green crunchiness. I also discern a pollen-like texture. Have you ever put your nose into a flower and found that some pollen has brushed against your nose? I feel that here.

Ivoire is the promise of spring to my senses as a cold wind blows on this March day.

At first sight it may seem that Ivoire is just what it says on the tin, an ivory coloured aldehyde.
But look closer and it's like a pointilliste painting - where blobs of colour blend to give an impression to the eye.
Green, banana, rosy, biscuit, woody, moss, raspberry and musk - all combine to give a hue that changes like creamy shot silk.
Subtle and clever work.

I used to wear this as a teenager in 1984... got this at Neimans or Saks (I can't remember)
I do remember feeling like a million bucks when I spritzed this on! I'd love a bottle of this now. It was so fresh and clean.
As other reviewers have mentioned B O (what?) - perhaps your bottle has turned.

Scent-of-the-Evening: Pierre Balmain IVOIRE in the vintage Extrait. [1980; Nose: Francis Camail and Michel Hy] Green/Floral/Chypre.

Thanks to Dede Grant for allowing me to try this perfume masterpiece.

TÊTE: aldehydes, chamomile, asafoetida, mandarin orange, violet, benzoin, artemisia, marigold, galbanum, bergamot and lemon;
COEUR: nutmeg, carnation, cinnamon, narcissus, pepper, orris root, jasmine, Turkish rose, neroli, ylang-ylang and lily-of-the-valley;
FOND: sandalwood, tonka bean, amber, cistus labdanum, patchouli, musk, raspberry, vanilla, oakmoss, vetiver and incense.

Gorgeous, complex scent, with many facets. I am testing the vintage EDP.

I love the liquid/juicy fruity takeoff with "apple brandy" whispers (the Spanish word for chamomile is "manzanilla"= little apple), melded with an undisguised benzoin gum that smells uncannily like powder white cocaine (I'll bet this scent was a hit at Studio 54) and the dusty yellow pollen smell of chamomile.

Then the airy, sunshiny dance of bitter, dusty, pollinated and yellow-green herbs, creating a feeling of both the country and the city. Managing to smell both chicly urbane... yet somehow French pastoral, á-là-fois.

In the head is a slight whiff of "sweat + onion", not unpleasant, but rather character-ful, and that is the sly note of asafoetida, a bitter garden herb that has long been used in folk remedies. It is the same note one recognizes in the opening spritz of YSL KOUROS and Carven MA GRIFFE. Too much of this note would be awful, but a delicate hint of it seems to suggest an herb garden in May.

Then, the pristine, feminine (but not "girly-winsome") tea roses... they smell palest pink to me, and they smell very cool to the touch, if not downright cold, like roses from a florist's cooler. Luca Turin was right-- the floralcy in this scent possess a chilly aura, pleasantly so.

A gorgeous chypre base, rich with oakmoss and patchouly, and also (to my nose) possessing some sophisticated balsams, like myrrh and cistus labdanum. Somewhere lurking in the scent is a ghosted, not-there, non-sweet cinnamon. Or it may be balsam tolu? All the hushed spicy notes in IVOIRE remain subordinate, throughout the life of the scent, to the bitter/yellow/dusty herbal notes, and the tart fruit nuances declared in the head.

IVOIRE is an exquisite chypre, with its toes in the "green/aldehydic/floral" vogue of the 1970's. For such a glam scent, I admire its relatively restrained sillage... a rarity for the powerhouse 80's.

To me, this is the more expensive-smelling, more complex, ultra-glam big sister to Balenciaga CIELENGA which I used to adore.

I don't know why, but I feel IVOIRE would suit blondes more than any other type (feel free to disagree). In fact, I somehow picture Sharon Tate wearing this, had she lived to see 1980, walking through Benedict Canyon on a golden afternoon in autumn, her blond, glossily brushed hair doing a "Breck" gallop in the sun.

Or like Catherine Deneuve when she is out in the countryside in BELLE DU JOUR.

It does smell mature and very polished, in no way a debutante/sorority girl/cheerleader fragrance.

I must obtain a flacon of vintage IVOIRE!

In the 1980s, my Mum bought the Harrods Christmas Magazine every year; there was always an advert for Ivoire in it, and it was one of the small selection of fragrances for mail order several years running. From the description in the magazines, my Mum loved the sound of Ivoire, and very much wanted to try it (I have to admit, I didn't think it looked or sounded particularly exciting, and couldn't see why my Mum was attracted to it!). Sadly, there weren't any Balmain stockists in the area we lived. Several years after Mum first saw Ivoire advertised, I was very unexpectedly given a free sample of the pure perfume when I bought something in a small, privately owned perfume shop (I hadn't even realised they sold Balmain). When I returned home, Mum was thrilled with the sample, and couldn't wait to try it: however, she absolutely hated Ivoire! She gave me back the sample, and I wore it several times; each time, I liked it more and more! By the time I had finished the sample, it had, very unexpectedly, become one of my favourite fragrances ever (all the more surprising, as I was very much into heavy oriental fragrances, such as Opium at the time; Ivoire's clean, slightly green, subtly spicy, soapy notes not being my type of thing at all!). Over the years, I was to purchase many bottles of Ivoire; sometimes having a break from it for a few years, but always loving returning to it (in contrast, my Mum never liked it, despite having fancied it so much).

A flanker, Eau d'Ivoire was released at one time, but I never got round to trying it - I don't know if it was anything like Ivoire, or simply shared a name.

I was so disappointed when Ivoire was discontinued - it was like losing an old friend; though maybe I should have realised the end was coming, as it started appearing in cut price perfume shops, drastically reduced. However, I have recently, and very unexpectedly, re-found Ivoire, in the form of Estee Lauder's Private Collection: I had never been a fan of Estee Lauder from the few fragrances I had tried, and had never attempted trying more. Private Collection is slightly greener than Ivoire (in fact, for the first hour it is on my skin, it smells exactly like Irish Spring soap!), but once it settles, it is very similar - so much so, it is like I have refound the old friend I thought I had lost forever!

I can't bring myself to try the new Ivoire, as from all I have read, the name is the only thing to link it with the original, and I am not overly fond of other Balmain fragrances - particularly the newer ones.

Vintage -

Bitter, clean, aldyhydic, green, floral-spicy. The opening is a blast of bitter green vetiver/oakmoss/soapy aldehydes. The galbanum, oakmoss and aldehyde scent continues throughout the evolution of the scent, though it smooths a bit over time and becomes more floral. The floral heart contains that a touch of that indolic jasmine + rose combo that was in every woman's perfume in the 80's, but the dominant floral notes on me are a slightly spicy white floral that smells of marigold + muguet. Far too soapy and bitter for my modern tastes, though better than some of the chypres from that era.