La Môme
Pierre Balmain (2007)

Genre: Floral Oriental

La Môme opens on a very beautiful soft fruity floral top note that puts the majority of crude, candy-colored contemporary fruity floral scents to shame. It's sweet, but not cloying, congenial, yet elegant, and never, even for a moment, smells like something you would eat. Rose, violet, and iris constitute La Môme's core, while a mild, powdery-sweet amber shores up its foundation. The result is a very restrained, demure floral oriental which avoids both the bombast that overtook the genre in the 1980s and the crassness that plagues so much of it today with equal aplomb. I consider La Môme a slightly more reserved peer of fragrances like L'Instant and Cinéma. All trade a certain degree of individual flair for poise, balance, and versatility, and all succeed as agreeable everyday scents.

In strength and sillage, as in all else, La Môme is all balance and moderation. It is adequately potent, but never intrusive, and persists as an amber and opoponax skin scent for several hours after its core floral accords retreat. La Môme won't win awards for originality or drama, but it could earn its keep as an affordable staple for daytime or office wear.

I bought this unsniffed, because I wanted something that was not readily available and would not be what every other person was wearing. I understand it was limited edition for the La Mome movie, Balmain does not even list it on their web site anymore. It was a good choice. From the first spray, it is warm and cozy, strong and long lasting, but not overwhelming. Sort of sweet, but ambery. I ended up buying six bottles of this juice! Now I am stocked for at least the next three years! This will be a perfect scent for autumn and winter months. I get lots of compliments on it. Also, a plus, was that I only paid 18.99 for each 3.3 ounce bottles!!! If you look around, you can find the Balmain perfumes usually for under 25 dollars a bottle.

La Mome is a scent I find myself craving. The rose, myrrh and amber notes dominate on my skin. I bought La Mome blind as I have had good luck with the Balmain frags- I did not find out about the Edith Piaf connection until later. Different from the green and clean scents in the Balmain line, La Mome is equally well crafted, and averaging around $35 US for 100 ml online, the price point is terrific.
La Mome is an oriental that doesn't shout, is womanly without dowdiness, and has a retro feel without drying down to powder. It's grand scent in the cold- I don't think it will do so well in the heat of summer, but when that season gets here, I'll test it out anyway. Longevity on me is about 6 hours and sillage is moderate.

Edited to add- I found LaMome just as pleasant in summer.

This is a very nice sensual fragrance. For me it's oriental with spices (there is excellent base of myrrh, iris and amber) and nice rose (although I usually hate roses in fragrances, here I enjoy them) and its smell lasts for hours. Superb for autumn and winter!