Monsieur Balmain (new)
Pierre Balmain (1990)

I am impressed with the sheer beauty of this citrus scent, one of the best to greet the nostrils, for sure.

Upon application, I am greeted by the most glorious larger-than-life sweet meyer lemon and verbena, with a radiance that puts so many other citrus frags to shame.

The dry down is what sets it apart from others as well, as more of the zest and the rind of the citruses come into play, and a dry smoky vetiver enters the stage, with caraway and thyme shading and darkening into a truly masculine character.

This segues into a more pronounced crisp vetiver, with lilting sandalwood and simmering musks.

I am wearing this in August and it is the perfect time of the year for Monsieur Balmain. Bear in mind, I have the formulation in the lemon-yellow cylindrical bottle in the yellow box.

Lemon 🍋 with just a touch of sandalwood, so that it's not another boring lemon essence.

My father would be always wearing this in the summer and I just managed to get a few bottles... A little hard to find but to me this *is* the beautiful scent of a summer evening when you walk by the little streets of Taormina going for dinner.. Enough said.

Nice citrusy frag .I have got the cylanderical I opens with opulent clemon and bergamot and vetiver and oakmoss make it more clean and deep.
Overall it's a joyfull and refreshing scent in a well-quality way.It's synthetic but in a natural disguise.

I had a cylindrical bottle that I was only too glad to part with. Extremely harsh and abrasive lemon opening, followed by a dominant lemon accord that's not far removed from lemon pledge. Very synthetic, and also quite cheap-smelling. Just when I was wondering if my bottle had gone off, the lemony onslaught subsided around the two hour mark to reveal a restrained mossy character. I take this as an indication that the bottle was fine, the composition - questionable. Anyone looking for a lemon fragrance would be strongly advised to look elsewhere.

1.5/5

I have a cylindrical bottle of this scent. On first application it reminds me of R. White's lemonade. Zesty and sharp and very lemony, with a modicum of sweetness. As it dries down it becomes drier, dusty and woody. Nose tingle is heightened by pepper. A sandalwood impression is there, but it isn't very strong.

Projection and persistence are both low. It is more or less a skin scent after an hour or so.

I group this with other lemon/woodys like Blenheim Bouquet, Wellington Cologne and Agua de Colonia Concentrada by Alvarez Gomez (this latter being the best value for money, but sweeter than M. Balmain).

Overall, quite nice but nothing to write a paean of praise about.

I tried the new version in the square bottle. It has none of the complexity (the old version had little complexity, but the new version has even less) and charm of the older version. It doesn't have that oakmoss counterpoint in it. It is a very faint lemon, very linear, and has almost zero projection and sillage.