Vent Vert (new) (1990)
by Pierre Balmain

Balmain should have named this something else; whatever its merits on its own terms, and it does have them, this is not and never will be the incomparable Vent Vert. If the Mona Lisa were gone, you wouldn't paint even a very good picture of that subject in that general style, in modern acrylics, and then call the result the Mona Lisa. The most you could call it would be "Mona Lisa II".

1st December, 2011.

Adore the bottle and packaging. Love the old print ad (a girl in a sea of grass). Really like the whole presentation of this perfume (yeah I enjoy green fragrance). Sometimes buying a perfume is buying its image, and I think Vent Vert hit my spot.

The only thing that kinda bothers me is the fact that I find the opening and middle notes a bit too sweet... But the drydown is amazing though, so I'm still a fan.

21st September, 2011.

I'm with the naysayers on what I believe is a current EDT rendition (small plain bottle). I want to love it. I need a crisp grass emerald green. This however, is a cynical stab at it...soapy and shrill. It smells like a lily/neroli shampoo. Disappointing.

30th July, 2010.

You want green - take this ! It's intensely green , dry ,herbacious especially when first applied .Quite mind blowing . Slowly I get great blend of floral ( I get iris, rose ,jasmine ) notes coming in to soften the initial green explosion .It gets a little powdery, woody .
A classic ! It's a wonderful chypre . Such an olfactory adventure.

17th June, 2010.

My wife and I sampled this in reverse. Drydown first, then a new blast to study the open.

Dry: Distinguished Floral. Not girly. not oriental, serious floral. Assured floral feminine. Mature. I visualize the edge of an oak forest with flowers growing beneath; dark soil. I like it. Grounded.
Open: Horrible powder-room. Dismiss.

In short, this is a big floral powder bomb which can dry down to something very sophisticated, but we both hate this kind of thing. If you want to get to what this is like on the dry down, pick something more balanced like Coco or Coco Mademoiselle.

5th March, 2010.

Yeah, Balmain!
The most recent reformulation of 'Vent Vert' is really good. A bright bitter green with a traditional green chypre drydown. I am not crazy about the wheatgrass note in the opening (It feels contrived: "See how GREEEEN I am!?/), but it's short-lived, and what I end up with is somewhere between 'Ma Griffe' and 'Cristalle'.

For 20 USD for 100ml, can you beat that?

I recommend it.

23rd January, 2010. (Last Edited: 15th February, 2010.)