Monsieur Balmain Balmain 1964 Eau de Toilette

Recently, I received a bottle of this little masterpiece dressed in lemon-yellow felt, still in its original packaging and estimated to be about 30 years old, if not older. The fragrance is in surprisingly good condition, and the famous strong citrus notes are still present. Usually, it is precisely these notes that suffer first and gradually evaporate during the aging process of a perfume. Here, as mentioned, they are still dominant.
In contrast to the new Monsieur Balmain, however, the heart and base notes have a greater presence - they urgently push through the strong lemon theme. The shift in balance in favor of the heart and base notes may be due to the age of this fragrance, but it shows that it is not simply made up of a loud lemon accord; rather, it reveals an unexpected complexity that also characterizes the Monsieur Balmain reintroduced in the early 90s - you can hardly perceive it amidst all the lemon.
The lemon - and also the cedrat fruit - holds immense significance in the history of masculine perfume. For decades, 'man' especially in southern regions preferred refreshing citrus Acquas, such as Acqua di Genova or Acqua di Parma, while in Anglo-Saxon countries, 'man' tended to appreciate the lavender aroma more. Many of these famous English Lavender Waters are still available today, just like the renowned Acquas. However, around the middle of the last century, it was two French perfumers, or rather one perfumer and one perfumeress, who once again took on these traditionally dominant notes in masculine perfumery and created two fragrances full of French refinement and chic: Pour un Homme de Caron by Ernest Daltroff and Monsieur Balmain by Germaine Cellier. Daltroff nestled the lavender among fine vanilla, tobacco, and amber notes, while Cellier placed the lemon in a woody context where sandalwood plays a significant role in supporting the citrus notes.
Monsieur Balmain is a very typical perfume for Germaine Cellier. As with Vent Vert (Galbanum), Fracas (Tuberose), or Bandit (Quinoline), she places a note almost in overdose at the center, but does not simply let this solo voice resonate on its own; instead, she composes a whole orchestral work around it to bring this soloist even more to the fore.
Since many components of the original formulas of her perfumes are no longer produced today, the fragrances currently associated with Germaine Cellier are more or less complete reformulations, thus achieving only approximate values of the original compositions.
In the case of Monsieur Balmain, however, Calice Becker has achieved a really good reformulation - the new one is not identical to the old one, but it comes very, very close and is definitely Monsieur Balmain!
Anyone looking for a long-lasting, strong, not overly sweet, but rather woody-bitter, classic lemon scent - look no further: here it is!