Balenciaga Paris L'Essence by Balenciaga, 2011

A lovely compelling fresh green fragrance. Evocative/ distinctive/ unique/ endearing composition that highlights violet and violet stems and rooty medicinal aspect of vetiver. This can be worn equally well by a man. Recommended!

The two previous reviews sum up the conundrum of this fragrance. I find it very soft and velvety and fresh, feminine in a modern way, but not frilly. Alas, my husband thought it came on really strong (I had just applied it, however) and was "harsh". Not a word I would have ever thought to apply to this fragrance!! So, I guess you need to try it yourself...

Fragrantica lists the main accords for this scent as "ozonic, watery, green". If I'd seen that list beforehand, I wouldn't have bothered testing L'Essence - usually I can't abide anything ozonic/aquatic/watery. But I like L'Essence (EDP) very much! Yes, there's a cooling, slightly cucumbery aspect to this scent - but it doesn't seem to feature the obnoxious aromachemical Calone. Is it a green scent? Not in the sense that it contains galbanum (it's no Vent Vert!), but yes it's definitely got the green of violet leaves. The vetiver and 'forest notes' are comparatively subtle. L'Essence should be equally lovely on men or women: it's got a clean, 'modern', vibe - perfect on a summer's evening. It doesn't develop much with time, just fades away discreetly. Having said all that, I personally prefer the original Balenciaga Paris for its emphasis on violet's lovely flowers.

I really have high expectations for scents which claim to be green. I found this to have nothing that I would call green. No "forest", no moss, no vetiver, no grass, no leaves. The violet leaves are of a particularly dense and metallic-sweet kind. The scent overall is very heavy, to my taste very sweet and closed-in. It lands like a clump on my skin and won't go away. I searched for some redeeming features... for my taste I couldn't find any. I really feel that this presented itself as a very loud and problematic scent. I didn't find it attractive at all. I did note a bit of leather-esque chord at the end. Ultimately, I had to wash it off after 15 minutes. Perhaps my skin just doesn't suit this. But green fans... don't expect too much from it. Where's my Ho Hang?...