Reviews of Le Dix (1947)
by Balenciaga

I came by a mini bottle of the vintage parfum for a song. I'm afraid the top notes have burned a little, so this review may not be accurate to what others experience with the fresh juice. I get no lemon or peach in the opening; instead there is a "burned sugar" note that seems to be common with older parfums that have gone off. So from the beginning this is rather heavy -- caramel, smoke, and violets. The feel of it is formal and dramatic -- a swooning Southern Belle type of violet.

The scent does freshen a little bit in the heart with a very pretty jasmine, which I'm guessing is what draws the Chanel no. 5 comparisons. But Le Dix still retains a lot of formality and a sense of confinement, whereas to me the magical quality of no. 5 is it's easy naturalism. If I picture no. 5 as a pretty girl lounging outside on a warm spring day with not much on, Le Dix is dressed for a dinner party in purple taffeta.

The violets are strong and sweet (on the verge of stuffy, but not unenjoyable to me -- I love violets in their various manifestations) and hang in all the way to the drydown, which is violets over a strong, dirty-but-quality vanilla that reminds me of Shalimar.

Interesting and impressive. I hope to compare it to a recent version, or a more jealously protected vintage, someday and see how much of the smoke and caramel and swoony weight is the real stuff and how much is simply the result of age.

One of the most distinguished female scents ever, the one i would gladly recommend to any woman seeking stylishness and any woman trying to impress me... i mean it, i love to smell it on female skin.
Besides, quite unique: one of the few female scents with a leathery note. Sounds weird, but it starts of with a fresh burst of lemon notes and continues in a typical chypre style a Mediterreanean, herbal middle note, and a woody leathery ending, almost masculine. Compared to Chanel No.5 but unfortunately vastly underrated if compared to the more popular Chanel/ this classic would have deserved far more the cult status of No. 5, as it is less common and more refined that Chanel's creation: less powdery, less floral, less aldehyde, more subtle, no-nonsense and complex.

Le Dix is an elegant and charming fragrance.

I haven’t had the opportunity to sample a vintage version, but am perfectly happy to smell the current EdT formulation—which I would describe as being in soft focus.

I smell violets, aldehydes, green jasmine, iris, and what I think might be orange blossom. Le Dix settles down quickly and produces moderate sillage for around five hours. I don’t smell anything specific in the base (before it fades away) beyond some powderiness from the iris.

It has some similarities to Chanel’s No. 5, but is, to its credit, more interesting and less formal than No. 5.

As a huge violet fan (I regularly wear Green Irish Tweed and have a soft spot for Montale’s Louban) smelling Le Dix makes me smile. I would recommend Le Dix to any woman who likes violets and elegant fragrances.

I really love the parfum version of this wonderful, heady scent. The edt is not enough like it to matter, unfortunately. I would fall for an almost impossible to find product! It is somewhat like Chanel #5 which I used to love, but with more personality, depth and interest.

Quite a heavy, aldehydic floral fragrance… And of the florals, violet is the dominant one… Aldehydic violet makes quite a memorable scent, and I remember this one from when I was kid – my favorite aunt wore it back in the early ‘50s. I remember that my parents gave her a bottle of #5 one Christmas, and to my knowledge she never wore the #5 – she always smelled of violets. My memory tells me that Le Dix used to be a better scent than this Le Dix that I’m smelling now. The present Le Dix doesn’t seem to come off with the clarity of aim or the competence of mission that the Le Dix of the past did. Today’s doesn’t sparkle as yesterday’s used to… it’s just rather heavy now. Le Dix gives off a lot of sillage that, while nice, just seems a bit ponderous and not as refined and well blended as it used to… or maybe my disappointment is simply because it’s not my aunt who is wearing it now.

Le Dix is a heavy, aldehydic old-fashioned floral with a lot of powder and some wood. I can see some similarities to Chanel #5 but Le Dix just smells inferior to me. I personally don't care for Le Dix or its sister, Rumba, but then I am generally not a fan of heavy floral or oriental perfumes. Le Dix is definitely more of an evening perfume and would be more appropriate for an older woman. Stylish bottle.

I recently purchased a vintage 3 fl.oz flacon of Le Dix Parfum that is still sealed with black silk chord and a waxy membrane surrounding the finial & bottle lip. About half of this gorgeous 'jus' has been lost to antiquity through evaporation. Housed in original coffret with the flacon sitting snugly in it's raised presentation dais. Most impressive indeed ! I imagine it's now more 'Extract' than 'Parfum'.

My memory of this fragrance is permanently seared into my olfactory hard-drive as this perfume was worn by my beloved Grandmother for as long as I can recall.
The bottle always fascinated me with it's umbrella shaped stopper & the way light would refract through the highly polished chiseled panels of the base.

For me this delicious perfume connects me to the past evoking childhood memories of freshly made strawberry sorbet, lemon meringue pies and my Grandfather's lovingly tended rose gardens hedged by ferns and soft velvety mosses.

Not quite sure what to do with this odorous 'Jewel', although I'm sure the urge to keep it for posterity will be overridden by the desire to liberate this most fragrant catalyst and reminisce from time to time. . .
The integrity of this liquid gold is perfectly intact as a smudge of evaporated 'jus' from just under the stopper held for a good twelve hours without aberration on my skin.
And Yes ! the dry-down is completely seamless, a symphony of Hesperides, Herbs, Florals and rare Resins. Magnificent !
The only concentration presently available I believe is in the form of the Eau de Toilette ?
Le Dix endures !

Merci' . . Monsieur Balenciaga !

I love this, it's classic, sophisticated, full and vibrant, and by god you really know you're wearing a perfume! I really couldn't compare this with Chanel no. 5 - other than to say it's HEAPS better.

Le Dix is one of the things I sometimes CRAVE - like Jicky, chocolate and erm, spinach! I think it may have something to do with the animalic leather note in it. Wonderful.

I received this as a gift from an old uncle. Even at age 17, I appreciated it. It smells very powdery, which is something I have always liked. If that makes me an "old lady", so be it.

I do enjoy wearing le Dix, and yes it does have some similarities to Chanel No5 and also Bois des Iles. It is very chic and French, a more mature fragrance, but I cannot think of it in the same class as my beloved No5. It is not nearly as charismatic, and longevity is not in the same meg specs as I have to constantly reapply Le Dix, however it does always draw compliments, so to me it stands alone as itself rather than a poor comparison to such unachievable status as No 5.

I wore this in the '90s and loved the wistfulness and elegance of the violet accord. A couple of years ago I bought another bottle (the EDT) and was stunned at the difference from my remembered, cherished scent: this was sharper, rougher, more powdery, and lacking the smooth translucence of the original (in fact, it reminded me more of No. 5, which I can't wear). Does anyone know whether Le Dix has been reformulated? Perhaps I need to try the parfum -- but if they've changed the formula, that may not help.

To say that Le Dix is a copy of No5 might be just too unfair , I know I have said it as well, but Le Dix doesn’t really deserve to be compared in that way, I think. There are many similarities, but in the end, I think Le Dix wins.
I think of this scent as one of the fragrances that you just have to smell for better or for worse, once in your lifetime.
The thing is, Le dix has a certain smell that may give you the impression of melancholy and of longing for a love long lost, or for the sun setting in a horizon of a late spring… a sense of serenity, elegance and calm.
This aldehydic scent has much less of that ingredient than the other big ones for ex. No5, Arpège, Je reviens,Mme.Rochas, or the “lesser knowns” like While Linen, Estée Super or even Calandre, and it also has a certain sweeter feel to it at least on the mid notes that are never too strong, think just a bit less sweet than for example, Calèche by Hermès, and much farther away than Après L’ondée.
It’s just on the same category as Chanel’s Bois des Îles in my opinion and I think very,very highly of BdÎ.
It’s nothing of a shock to see that the same perfumer that created such an amazing scent as L’interdit(original) or L’air du temps had created this scent as well. I won’t go into the notes because they are well known. I can say that the violets here are stronger and less powdery than I expected. It’s smooth like the burnished metal of a gold watch, but without the overtly sharp metal tones, almost like an untouched gold surface I should say.
In this journey you might encounter that the burst aldehydes, then of flowers becomes comfort-green and darker with sparkles or light and then glides into warmer, velvety woods. It’s very french, very classic, and very melancholic.
The ones in the know, have always agreed: Le Dix is an underappreciated jewel, like some great diamond that is locked away in a rosewood safe, in a breezy mountain, far away.

Bon, mon anglais c'est pas trop bien pour écrire, alors mon opinion c'est en français, et vous le comprénez bien, n'est-ce pas?
Le dix c'èst un mèlange de bois et de violette, bergamot et rose.
C'est insolite que personne entre vous n'aies rélevé les notes de violette que pour moi sont éclatantes dans ce délicieux parfum, sec, chypré et tendre sur ma peau.

Le Dix is a beautiful, powdery, classic floral-aldehyde; superior in the pure parfum. Not as good in the EDT. The pure parfum goes on smooth and is a comfy-cozy, luxurious fragrance. The EDT tends to be metallic on my skin; the drydown of the EDT is okay, but that luxuriousness is muted by a metallic tang. I have only seen this online, but it’s not too difficult to find. The lemon and bergamot in the opening notes are balanced with peach, coriander, and that classical aldhehydic ping. The blend is done so seamlessly with Le Dix that I have a hard time distinguishing a particular note in the opening. The middle notes are lilac, iris, rose, jasmine, and lily of the valley, while the base notes are vetiver, sandalwood, musk, amber, benzoin, tonka bean, and balsam. The drydown is a nice vanillic-ambery one, very feminine, very sophisticated. Very grandmotherly, but in the nicest way, of course. Le Dix (French for "the ten")gets its name from the Balenciaga salon which was situated at No. 10, avenue Georges V in Paris. No relation to Chanel No 5.

This fragrance is very similar to Chanel no 5, it is intresting that Le Dix is french for number 10 i wonder if it was suppose to be a type of copy?