Bal d'Afrique (Absolu de Parfum) by Byredo

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Bal d'Afrique Byredo 2025 Absolu de Parfum

8.6 / 10 236 Ratings

A new perfume by Byredo for women and men, released in 2025. The scent is sweet-fruity. The longevity is above-average. It is being marketed by Puig.
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Main accords

Sweet

Fruity

Citrus

Floral

Woody

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Blackcurrant

Bergamot

Lemon

Heart Notes

Praliné

Musk

Violet

Base Notes

Black amber

Cedarwood

Vetiver

Videos

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Ratings

Scent

8.6236 Ratings

Longevity

8.1206 Ratings

Sillage

7.7199 Ratings

Bottle

8.2190 Ratings

Value for money

6.8169 Ratings

Submitted by Itscoral · last update on 02/02/2026.

Source-backed & verified

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Bal d'Afrique Eau de Parfum

Contralto

Portofino '97

Hanuman

Baccarat Rouge 540 Extrait de Parfum

Baccarat Rouge 540 Eau de Parfum

Reviews

10 in-depth fragrance descriptions

07/13/2025

Byrehoe
211 Reviews

Byrehoe

Helpful Review 3

silken sunset

A glamorous, summery shapeshifter. Hour 1: sugared citrus. Hours 2-4: “Baccarat d’Afrique.” Hours 5-12+: Bal d’Afrique. Not the near-identical twin I found with the Mojave Ghost Absolu, but definitely a sibling. The citrus, which was invisible to me in the OG, plays a far more dominant role here. The praline interlude is a new addition and conjures up wartime Baccarat Rouge flashbacks. Far more sugary and brassy than the boho-clean marigold shampoo of the original. Feels like the summertime foil to the wintry rose-cocoa of my beloved Soie Malaquais, in that near-gourmand vein. The longevity and sillage defy every Byredo stereotype (two sprays to a tester card was enough to make my car a BdA bubble for 3 days, so much that I could even smell it percolating from the trunk when loading groceries). I was easily clocking 12+h on skin. Would have sprung for a bottle if I didn’t get the amber syrup intercession, as the drydown is divine, but if you like your fragrances sweet and showy this would be a winner.

Mental Snapshot: Southern California. Summer night first date. Five-star tapas bar. Aperol Spritzes al fresco. Tango lessons in the park. Cruising down the coastline at sunset, “Soak Up the Sun” thumping from your sunburst-coloured Boxster.

tl;dr: summer nights, not-from-concentrate

08/05/2025

WendyT
14 Reviews

WendyT

Helpful Review 2

What to do what to do ... this is a morphling which confuses me!

I sprayed this on at my local Skins and my first reaction was - hell no. This is not the Bal d'Afrique I absolutely fell in love with. This is sugar and citrus on steroids ... or something.
I decided against it right then and there. Nope, I'd do with my lovely Bal d'Afrique, spray it a little more, and then buy a new bottle.

Right?

RIGHT?

So when I walked back to my car with another lovely fragrance, I thought - dang, that Kurky that I sprayed on my skin to test it out smells gosh darn lovely. Shall I go back to get it too?
Wait. That was my other wrist. Then what is it that I am smelling?

Yep. The absolu. Between spraying, then deciding against it, getting another perfume and walking back to my car it had morphed into Bal d'Afrique again. And one that projected and filled the car, and still lingers lovely on my skin now, six hours later.

I am so on the fence. Can I forgive the sugary opening? It's gosh darn pricey, but I know I love love love the dry down and it absolutely lasts longer than the original one. Gah! Haha!

08/13/2025

8.5Scent 8Longevity 7Sillage

Omnipotato
464 Reviews

Omnipotato

Helpful Review 2

Well-blended juicy blackcurrant and lemon on musky woody base

Bal d'Afrique Absolu opens with a sharp juicy blackcurrant and lemon combination smoothed out by musk and violet. The woody ambery notes in the base provide body and support to make for a linear yet beautiful creation. Smooth, well-blended, without one note dominating or synthetics becoming overwhelming. Mass-appealing, unisex, and versatile. On the fence about this being full bottle worthy—I think the price is too high at the moment; might jump in if I can find a 50ml for under $200.

Haven't gotten a chance to compare this directly to its predecessor Bal d'Afrique Eau de Parfum but I currently have Bal d'Afrique Absolu and Contralto on opposite wrists and I have to say the Absolu is so much better. Contralto is giving lemon cleaner, while BdAA is so much smoother and more natural. Not sure what possessed folks to compare this to Baccarat Rouge 540 Eau de Parfum, there is not really any overlap other than ambroxan which is in literally every fragrance, and much less maltol sweetness. None of BR540's signature sharp mossiness (evernyl) is present.

10/27/2025

7Scent 7Longevity 6Sillage

NicheOnly
129 Reviews

NicheOnly

3

Female market equivalent of Tygar

My closing coverage for 2025 is still on-going with 62 fragrances now being rated. A weak year overall means some products have an easier opportunity at making the top of the charts and one of Swedish niche brand Byredo's latest, that being the flanker to hero franchise Bal d'Afrique Eau de Parfum, appears set for a top 10 finish on the year with potential for a top 5.

I first wore the EDP a month ago (September 2025) and for this review, I am wearing the two versions side-by-side to offer the strongest overview. One thing has surprised me when I first wore Bal d'Afrique Eau de Parfum is that very few people were describing it the way I was: the scent's main DNA is of a citrusy sugared amber and it's to the point where it could easily be viewed as being adjacent to the profile of Baccarat Rouge 540 Eau de Parfum, i.e. the sweetness stems from a derivative play on saffron. The EDP version's dry-down quality is less impressive with the florals coming in and the musks reminding me of that glossy newspaper smell that you see in fragrances like Le Labo's AnOther 13 Eau de Parfum and Byredo's own Super Cedar as well as De Los Santos.

With Bal d'Afrique Absolu de Parfum, I feel like the DNA leans even more heavily into the sugared amber smell. The primary accords of the EDP version, i.e. fresh-sweet-citrusy-fruity, are all still there, but the Absolu version (to my nose) has stripped out most of the florals and built the fragrances around the blackcurrant, lemon, musk and amber. That is to say there is less development with the scent and I'd say that actually places Bal d'Afrique Absolu de Parfum in the same genre of fragrances as Clive Christian's Town & Country and Fragrance du Bois' Lucius, i.e. citrusy BR540 alternatives. However, unlike these two comps, Bal d'Afrique Absolu de Parfum leans into the fruitiness (which the 2 comps don't even have).

The profile offered by the EDP has garnered such success that calling it the female market equivalent of Bvlgari's hero franchise "Le Gemme - Tygar | Bvlgari" feels accurate. I'd argue Bal d'Afrique Absolu de Parfum takes the better parts of the EDP and structures the scent around them, worthy of a 1 point improvement over the EDP. The result is a longevity improvement of at least 3-4 hours (longevity +3 points; 7/10) and a sillage where people will actually be able to smell you when you're nearby (sillage +4 points; 6/10). Given the retail of €290/100ml, I am placing the value at 6/10 with some upside potential.

For years, the problems of Bal d'Afrique Eau de Parfum allowed competitors like Initio's Musk Therapy Extrait de Parfum and Boadicea's Hanuman to carve into their market. From my experience with all of the products, I would argue the Initio and the Boadicea are more-so competing against one-another than Bal d'Afrique Eau de Parfum as they made relevant improvements to the DNA. With Bal d'Afrique Absolu de Parfum, Byredo has a direct competitor to those fragrances and while I believe Hanuman is still the top product in the genre, Absolu has tightened the gap to the point where spending that extra money may no longer be worth it.

09/22/2025

Nose2nose
58 Reviews

Nose2nose

1

Bal d'Afrique going sweet, creamy and chocolatey

I first tried this in Skins and took a sample home. At the counter, I smelled a sweet, rich, almost gourmand fragrance after a quick citrus opening. Later, when I checked the listed notes and reviews for Bal d’Afrique, I was very surprised; everyone seemed to describe something fresh, clean, lemony, juicy. That was the opposite of what I was smelling. Turns out Byredo released this Absolu version of Bal d’Afrique in 2025, so this must be what I had smelled and got a sample of instead if the OG version - they just hadn't written in on the label of the sample.

Apparently this newer take leans much deeper, sweeter and more gourmand than the original. It introduces praline, which adds warmth and chocolatey richness. The typical Byredo “DNA” I often pick up (something powdery, creamy, earthy, almost orris-like) is definitely present here as well.

For me, this isn’t an everyday scent, nor something I’d wear in an office or enclosed space. It’s quite rich and sweet and on the wrong day it could easily tip into being cloying and headache-inducing. But worn in the right setting (outdoors, evenings, or special occasions) it has a cosy, comforting quality that’s hard to resist.

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