Luckyscent Videos: Bal d'Afrique by Byredo

We've actually talked about doing a review for Bal d'Afrique by BYREDO for quite a while, but every time we try to do it we find it quite difficult. This is a really special fragrance. It was launched in 2009. Ben Gorham worked with the perfumer Jerome Epionette on this. Epionette did several from this line as well as many fragrances in several of the houses we carry, including Italia, Cologne.

This is a really beautiful take on a vetiver. I think that's what I would call it. If I had to pick one note in the composition that dominates, it's vetiver, but it only dominates in the most subtle way and towards the dry down. It has a top note of really sweet citrus. It's lemon, bergamot, neroli, but with a marigold note at the top that kind of gives it a buttery warmth. I feel like the citrus notes in the opening are almost fuzzy as opposed to crisp, fresh squeezed. It's this sort of soft, almost candied. There's also a violet in the heart and I feel like violet can add a little bit of a sugary texture to something.

Now I say it's sweet, but it's not sweet in any sort of cloying way. It's also one of the freshest openings I've ever smelled, but this is the thing with Bal d'Afrique. It's hard to put your finger on what is happening and why it's so good and why you keep smelling your wrist when you wear it because it is both fresh but buttery, sweet but dry. There's a jasmine in the heart as well and I don't really ever pick that up as a prominent note, but I think it adds a little bit of creaminess to the composition.

And then the base, as I said, is a stronger dose of vetiver, but then this beautiful black amber, Moroccan cedarwood, and musk. And so it's maybe the creamiest, warmest vetiver dry down I've ever smelled.