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Miss Dior or Miss Balmain?

post #1 of 22
9/28/11 at 1:14pm
Thread Starter 
These two scents have similarities: strong aldehydes and floral/gardenia, with deeper notes and leather.

I enjoy both but find Miss Balmain winning out.

Any observations? (I understand both scents are worn by some men, so please chime in if you have a masculine perspective.)

Thank you for reading.
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post #2 of 22
9/28/11 at 4:38pm
Well, MB for me is the hands down victor

It's got that bite, that sexy thing. I keep coming back to it after all these years.

I cannot recall the last time I wanted to smell like MD, as much as I love it. It's so powdery.
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post #3 of 22
9/28/11 at 4:55pm
I'm assuming your Miss Dior is at least a few years old? It smells terrible now...
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post #4 of 22
9/28/11 at 6:45pm
I have both- (vintage Miss Dior and modern Miss Balmain) and find I prefer the Miss Balmain.
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post #5 of 22
9/28/11 at 11:12pm
Thread Starter 
Thank you for the replies, all.

I only have the new Miss Dior and the new Miss Balmain. The Mb seems to have a more prominent leather, which I enjoy.
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post #6 of 22
9/29/11 at 5:06am
I am interested in this. I saw some Miss Balmain for under US$20 and thought about it. I ALSO have been thinking about vintage Miss Dior (EdC or espirit de parfum).

If I didn't like Jolie Madame, would I still like Miss Balmain?
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post #7 of 22
9/29/11 at 5:49am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Primrose View Post

Thank you for the replies, all.

I only have the new Miss Dior and the new Miss Balmain. The Mb seems to have a more prominent leather, which I enjoy.

Do try the old if you get a chance...easily found on eBay, etc. Much (much!) better. The new stuff is pretty terrible imo, so I can easily see why you placed a preference on the MB.
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post #8 of 22
9/29/11 at 5:51am
I never got leather in Miss Dior. I don't know what the new version is like (not so good, I've read here), but an older version of either is probably better than current form of the other. Pamplelune, you might like Miss Balmain better than Jolie Madame. MB is greener and less flowery than JM, as I recall.
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post #9 of 22
9/29/11 at 6:15am
I have a small bottle of Miss Balmain, and it is a favorite! Last time I smelled Miss Dior, it didn't do much for me. But I am already on the lookout for a replacement bottle of MB, it's so good.
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post #10 of 22
9/29/11 at 6:18am
Forgot to add: I have Jolie Madame, too, and find it very different from MB. I keep reading that JM has leather, but in my opinion, not much compared to MB.
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post #11 of 22
9/29/11 at 6:58am
I remember a very delicate whiff of leather, like ladies' kid gloves, in Jolie Madame. Leather is more evident in Miss Balmain. And the green is more astringent in MB. I thought MB was a great fragrance once it got all sorted and smoothed out in the drydown. My preference, however, was Jolie Madame, but I'm a florals lover and I fell for the nostalgic aspect of JM, the smell of the inside of a lady's leather handbag, her perfume, a lacy handkerchief, a roll of violet candies. Very old fashioned.
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post #12 of 22
9/29/11 at 2:53pm
Thread Starter 
MB and Jolie Madame are different.

The MB opens with a blast of aldehydes whilst the JM opens with a wonderful violet with leather. IMO, the leather is more procounced in the JM.

They are nice in different ways.
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post #13 of 22
9/29/11 at 7:31pm
Give me a time machine to the era of expensively-made, sophisticated perfumes (especially Chypres) please!

Oh, foo. I still like Miss Dior. It's still weird and wonderful. Even in its modern form, it's better than many, many fragrances out there. It's a damn shame about reformulations, but I decided, years ago, to quit hoarding and mourning, to go with the flow and buy the new versions.

Jolie Madame has leather, yes. More like gentle suade. Yet it has dominant violet notes along with the gardenia, it's important to remember.

Yes, I love them both. Sexy sexy.
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post #14 of 22
9/29/11 at 7:45pm
Sounds like I might prefer MB - the combination of violets (already on shaky ground with me) and leather of Jolie Madame was just too nauseating for me. Will give it a whirl. Thanks all for your great descriptions!
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post #15 of 22
9/30/11 at 10:05am
Miss Dior.......Since reformulation it has no gravitas!......It has definitely lost its VA VA VOOM!
Now....Miss Balmain.....Still has a serious magic
with a touch of aldehydes and leather chypre...the drydown is magnificient.......leather...oakmoss and vetiver and god knows
what else.........I simply love this beautiful frag and would give it a 5.
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post #16 of 22
5/2/13 at 7:18pm
I have both and adore both.

I'm getting rather worried though, because it looks like Miss Balmain is no longer available

It's no longer mentioned on the Balmain website and nobody seems to have any stock left in the UK that I can find. Really upset by this.
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post #17 of 22
5/2/13 at 8:02pm
Hasn't Miss Dior not only been reformulated, but Pod Peopled? That is, the reformulated version of the original Miss Dior is now Miss Dior Originale, and the thing called Miss Dior is the reformulated version of the original Miss Dior Cherie. I think.
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post #18 of 22
5/2/13 at 8:06pm
I find Miss Balmain to be more galbanum than aldehyde on top. The leather makes it seriously badass. Love Miss Dior vintage, too; it is one of my most beloved genres—old-school civet-laden aldehyde. I could never choose between the two—and why?

- - - Updated - - -

I find Miss Balmain to be more galbanum than aldehyde on top. The leather makes it seriously badass. Love Miss Dior vintage, too; it is one of my most beloved genres—old-school civet-laden aldehyde. I could never choose between the two—and why?
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post #19 of 22
5/4/13 at 8:37pm
Unlike so many, I really like the modern Miss Dior. It only bears a passing resemblance to the old.

The vintage cologne or EDT is a much richer and more multi-faceted than the modern, and certainly not as floral. There is leather, there is galbanum, there is civet.

However, beware, any modern ladies about buying the pure parfum in vintage. It's a civet monster that I couldn't come to terms with. The beautiful floral element was completely overwhelmed by civet from start to finish. I couldn't believe that I smelled like that in my 20s so I searched for an EDT like the one I used back then, and it certainly didn't exude this amount of civet.

I cannot offer experience of Miss Balmain, though from this conversation, it is one that I should put on my list of things to try.
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post #20 of 22
5/5/13 at 12:12pm
New Miss Dior (aka Miss Dior Cherie renamed) is nothing like proper grown up Miss Dior. I wear a vintage parfum as my standard and I love the fact that it's not floral and sweet and 'pretty'. There are way too many floral clones out there and the new version is heading rapidly towards them. I want nothing to do with the new version.
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post #21 of 22
5/5/13 at 9:08pm
The modern Miss Dior, the one I was talking about is this one.Attachment 20610 It has an element to it, that is reminiscent of the original, though, as I say it's quite different. I haven't ventured into anything in the new packaging. Miss Dior Cherie also was somewhat reminiscent of the vintage, though again, quite different. Surprisingly, some people I have met, have found Miss Dior a difficult perfume. I have always been delighted by the beautiful fusion of floral elements with base notes that give depth and 'oomph' to what would otherwise be just another floral.

That is essentially what has gone from the modern versions. The depth and complexity of the base notes. The current Miss Dior is very pretty, though not the challenging and interesting experience it once was. I do agree wholeheartedly with those who think it is still a very worthy perfume, a gem in fact, in the world of 'blah' contemporary perfumes.
LL
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post #22 of 22
5/6/13 at 3:01pm
Miss balmain or miss dior?
Vintage miss dior perfume or extrait is excellent, but there's nothing quite like vintage miss balmain perfume! Not even diorling can replicate that miss balmain smoky-leather, floral combo. Miss balmain wins hands down!
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