Balmain La Mome

Ambre Gris by Balmain was one of the first perfumes I ever reviewed for this blog. Back then I was still in my “Oh gosh! Fruits and flowers are so good!” phase. I’ve since grown a bit in terms of taste (or at least I like to think I did) and while I still love my flowers, my clean smells, and my fruits I’ve also warmed to Ambre Gris enough to be excited about La Mome rolling out of my sampler box for a try.

La Mome

La Mome

In Bottle: Roses, violets and an undercurrent of amber.

Applied: A flash of sweet raspberry that opens the fragrance under a fruity, sweet pretense. The rose is quick to fall in and I’m glad for that because I think I’ve had my fill of raspberry for a while. The rose has a lovely soft and classic affect mixing beautifully with an amber note that sweetens and warms the fragrance. I get violets the longer I wear this, giving the fragrance a bit of dusty appeal like I’m wearing a fine fragrance and just dusted myself down with some violet powder. This reminds me of fancy windows for some reason. Windows with intricate little patterns in the glass. Windows that lead to an exquisite sitting room. It’s deceptively simple because this is a much more complex scent than the seemingly easygoing violet, rose and amber mixture.

Extra: A little bit of research yielded an explanation for the naming convention of this fragrance. La Mome means “The Kid” which is a dedication to Edit Piaf.

Design: I love the design of this bottle. Balmain does very well with its packaging. The juice, the color of the juice, down to the materials and the style of the bottle, and the weight of the whole thing are meticulous. I love everything about it, up to and including the little tassels.

Fragrance Family: Floral Oriental

Notes: Pink pepper, raspberry, freesia, rose, violet, myrrh, iris, opoponax, amber, musk.

Sometime I should sit down and take a good sidelong stare at how my tastes in fragrance have changed over the past two years. I went from a pretty uneducated lover of fruity florals to a pretty uneducated lover of everything else too. I never would have thought a little hobby blog could take me this far.

Reviewed in This Post: La Mome, 2008, Eau de Parfum.



New Look Coming Soon

I gave this layout a few months to grow on me and it just hasn’t. There’s something sterile about it that doesn’t appeal to me even though I really do like the features. I’ll be uploading a different layout sometime next week that will hopefully work out a bit better!


A Compilation of Odd Thoughts

I really wish stores that sell perfume would stop displaying their testers under super bright lights (looking at you, Sephora). It degrades the perfume inside of the bottle and eventually alters the smell. That’s not to mention the heat those lights give off are not very good for the juice either.

Shalimar Ad

Shalimar Ad

I wonder if anyone has ever literally taken a perfume bath. And not like spraying a couple of spritzes into bathwater. But a situation where they bathe in a tub of Eau de Toilette. I bet it’s terrible for your skin and hair and doesn’t even smell that good and you’ll probably get bored of the scent long before it leaves you.

I wish factices were a lot easier to locate and buy. I’ve wanted a giant quality Shalimar factice for a while for the sole purpose of just–having it.

Speaking of Shalimar, I didn’t realize it before how much the new ads for it have changed. Not sure I like the direction they’re taking it either. Then again, I tend to prefer the classic ads anyway.

When will I ever just bite the bullet and buy that bottle of vintage Chypre de Coty off my friend like I always wanted? Is it because I’m worried it won’t smell as good as I think it will? If that was the case, why do I keep going to my sample to reaffirm that yes, Chypre de Coty still smells awesome.

Is Agonist still absurdly expensive? Yes.

So they have this show coming soon to some channel I forgot the name of called Collection Intervention. It’s silly and all. But it makes me wonder if I’ll ever amass as much perfume as that guy amassed Star Wars memorabilia.