Sublime Balkiss The Different Company for women and men

I have a very special chemistry with this one, and nobody recognized it on me. It starts with a bit masculine sharp citruses, mixed with patchouli...and after a little time this combo turns in a soft leathery blackcurrant veil sprinkled with dark bitter cocoa...and a hint of tender flowerness. Sound irresistible, doesn't it?
Some say they smell it identical to elderflowers, but it's totally different for me...thankfully!
It's a sparkling, playful and changeable one scent...and my twin soul peeks out from the corner of the mirror.

love the opening, then it becomes too vegetal for my taste.

Sublime Balkiss starts with a dense cloud of patchouli, that features a satiny rose somewhere in its depths. It’s almost gothic at this stage. After about 20 minutes, Bergamot begins to overtake the patchouli. The fragrance lightens and develops a charming piquancy. It slowly becomes quite fresh and green, then fades away once you start to fall in love. Moderate sillage but short longevity, unisex, and probably appropriate for most times of year except the coldest part of winter.

I wouldn’t call it fruity, on my skin the scent is woody even, but I think if the berries were more prominent, I wouldn’t like it as much.

This fragrance is fresh, floral, and very beautiful. It opens with a main note of violet leaves, with a touch of bergamot. The other floral notes are gentle, fresh, and pale. The violet leaves note has an ozonic scent with a rainy vibe. When combined with other floral notes, it creates a poetic and romantic floral watery scent, like a watercolor painting.

It reminds me of a garden in the spring after a shower. The perfumer of this fragrance, Celine Elena, follows in the footsteps of her father, the famous Jean Claude Elena, who was known for creating watercolor-type fragrances.

This fragrance has a feminine French style and is perfect for daily use.

8.5/10.

Sister Clodagh ( Deborah Kerr ) in Black Narcissus 1947

Gosh this scent is exhausting. It is definitely green, so green that it reminds me of sweet, freshly cut grass. Later on I can smell some lilac but a rotting lilac kinda scent. Some black currant as well, but not in a juicy, tart way but rather a dry, bitter, not ripe yet black currant. It reminds me of primary school teachers I didn’t like and mean supervisor. Overall, in my opinion, it’s a scent of unlivable people. Disappointed

Nice light, white floral with ozonic notes. It smells exactly like Estee Lauder Pleasures to me. It’s a nice scent, but not worth the price to me. Also, it doesn’t really last on my skin.

This fragrance is a specific blend of lilac, violet, and heather, combined with the crispness of bergamot. The pure patchouli note in the base adds depth and richness. It captures the essence of spring mornings, with a delicate, ethereal, and charming aroma. The scent is very natural, with fresh chypre accents and a floral aura.

I have tested this perfume several times, but it remains a scruber for me. It has the vintage vibe of strong green floral colognes, which I can't stand. Very sharp, very intrusive that is not my style.

Sublime Balkiss is a superb perfume for spring and summer days. It opens with a sweet accord made up of its top notes and the florals. You get plenty of bergamot and violet leaves along with the blackberry, blackcurrant and blueberry along with the Damascus Rose. There's a moderate projection for about two hours.

There's a change about an hour in when the patchouli and cocoa powder base notes make an appearance and the top notes are turned down. The florals become the leading players as the rose gets the lilac and lily becoming a bit stronger. The violet leaf and bergamot keep a gentle sweetness in the background as it blooms into a modern chypre.

I get about 6 - 7 hours in total. I'd say it is a genuine unisex perfume. Worth a try.

Tried twice and both times I loved the opening and the first hour and a half of sublime balkiss. It gave me such a joyous feeling that I wished all my linens, pillows and every soft surface around me to smell like this. But for some reason I did not want this smell on my skin. Guess our feelings were mutual because both of the times I tried it, it completely disappeared from my skin after two hours.

Like walking through a natural garden of flowers inside a forest after a rain on a mild spring day. Mostly green and floral but a little earthy too. Very different from most of what I own but in a good way. Never smelled anything like this and that's what I wanted. This is something you wear for you, not others but don't be surprised if you get compliments. This emerald jewel will keep a smile on your face.

This is definitely a spring or summer scent for daytime. It is inoffensive and leans masculine, but wouldn't be bad on a woman. As much as it is a different scent, I was really hoping it would grab me more, it is still a bit banal. Nothing is grabbing me and making me fall into it. It is just there. For the price and niche company I was hoping for a lot more.

Larkspur - Frank Townsend Hutchens

1918

I've read several reviewers stating, "way too much going on" and "dyslexic blend of notes" with the consensus being they like several things about Ballkiss, but they don't consider it to be an up-and-coming people-pleaser because it feels a bit scatted and incomplete. While this may very well be true, I discovered that I most appreciate this juicy Ballkiss when I combine it with a solid, inexpensive, wet/watery chypre such as Novaya Zarya Chaynyy Paketik. I Start with Ballkiss and finish with Chaynyy Paketik - this combo drives the ladies nuts! Ballkiss and Chaynyy Paketik lean heavily masculine, but highly recommended for we dudes. Ladies, your mileage may vary and your experiences may be vastly different when exposed to the overtly masculine combo of Ballkiss and Chaynyy Paketik.

I find performance to be moderate, which is fine with this type of scent. In summary, Ballkiss is nice for men...but it's magical when combined with Chaynyy Paketik. Overall, I find Ballkiss to be a good fragrance that solicits an equal number of questionable looks as it does eye-rolling pleasure...but it's complex and interesting, no doubt. A definite try before you buy.

This isn't a winner for me, but it's interesting. It opens with a strong green note. It's the sort of scent you get from cutting flowers, not the floral end, but from cutting the stems to put into water, or when you've plucked dandelions and daisies to make flower chains and smell the crushed stems on your fingers. I can't think of another way to describe it, its floral in a sense, but not the normal business end of floral. I find some green notes too harsh, but this is quite smooth and although the bergamot comes through up front, it's not a big citrus bomb and I think that pins the green notes down a little . There is also a deep fruity note that comes about 20 minutes in. This isn't a sweet candied fruit, its sour/sharp/bitter like unripe berries. About half an hour in, it starts to turn medicinal and herbal with the patchouli. I think this is very much unisex and leaning masculine to me (although I'm a bit of a girly-girl when it comes to fragrance). I totally get all the reviews talking about this being early spring, new growth, fresh spring florals etc, but it does all this without being overtly genetically floral. All in all, interesting, but not for me.

I don't know why but this reminds me of Istanbul during summer... such a beautifully mixed perfume. this isn't for the daytime, in my opinion, however, that is just my opinion but you do you and wear it in the daytime and be sure to please the crowd... it's such an original citrusy blend of sweetness, so yeah this definitely will compliment you and your collection, and I can see why this is targeted for both males and females as it has this aquatic almost earthy feel to it that would work for any fresh scent lovers. I think I have not smelled anything like this, this is a definite win.
however this could almost be like an air freshener, but it's on the verge of it because the lovely rose in it saves it.

strong powerful yet not too heady and a very mature scent that could maybe lean towards female fragrances but fret not wear it even if you are a man and like sweeter perfumes

Update: Weeks later and I still want to smell that scent again... it is like a story you wish to hear again or a place you want to visit again, it is very memorable.

Sublime Balkiss evokes the greenery of spring. It reminds me of walking through a meadow of wildflowers right as the winter chill is lifting. It gives me that “new growth” vibe the changing of the season brings. It’s a very cool, sharp floral, yet still sweet and calming. It opens with the bergamot, but by second or third whiff, it morphs into a grand assemblage of greenery and flowers. The black currant and heather are rather pronounced, with the patchouli helping to reign it all in. I don’t think I’m detecting the cacao, but however they formulated this, it works. There’s enough sweetness for daytime wear, but also a mysterious earthy tone that would make it perfect for a cool Spring night. Very nice sillage and longevity, as well.

Sublime Balkiss is early spring in a bottle, and not the romantic version of spring either: it's just about as green and wild and unpredictable as those wonderful few weeks in march when the weather is still cold but you can feel every green thing around you coming back to life, and the excitement of it is so intoxicating. Dominant notes to my nose are a lifelike violet leaf whose natural, slightly prickly greenness is nicely complemented by a lovely bitter lime note, and a cassis note that's juicy in a realistic, unsweetened way that has nothing to do with the artificial, bright juiciness that's found in most fruity-florals. It's a similar concept to L'Occitane's (more recent) Herbae, but much better executed, I think - in contrast to Herbae, this one is very well balanced. It's not the kind of scent that suits any occasion or mood, so I'm not sure how often I'll bring out my little decant of Sublime Balkiss throughout the year, but I think I'll return to it every spring (and when I'm longing for spring to return).

I have to put on my "Sophisticated" gentleman's fedora to describe this one. Late June. Walking through a freshly watered garden, painted with rows of glistening, aromatic green bell peppers, unrelenting but softly and persistently projecting. Somewhere there's a token Bergamot tree. The day is overcast grey and pleasantly breezy. The greyness is enhanced by an eerie silence in your surroundings, accented only by the faint murmurs of the polite conversations of strangers. Not directly in this garden but somewhere in an adjacent lot, someone has recently cut a small stretch of grass. But there's also something else painted among the green, herbal rows here, though you haven't found it yet. Something with a touch of floral sweetness yet somehow teasingly gourmand. You search only to stumble upon some odd, purple berried thing. You don't know if it's edible or poisonous, you're just resolved to quietly observe how the scent is tantalizing in it's subdued sweetness. You resolve to ask the gardener, >>if<< you happen to see him/her, but for now, You're reminded that you had originally intended on getting in a few chapters of that new, page turning mystery novel that you haven't been able to put down since yesterday. So you're just satisfied with looking for a dry place to sit so that you can continue to enjoy the green, cool, misty, aromatic environment....undisturbed.

I expected something floral and fruity but all I get is a an aquatic vibe. This is a disappointment based on the notes. I’d love to smell something that smells like these notes.

I really wanted to love this but was sorely disappointed when I wore it.
I was expecting something citrusy and fresh for the summer but for some reason this smells like an expensive car to me. I get the leathery car seat, air freshener vibe with man's skin toner scent.
I don't necessarily hate it but I would personally never wear it again.Maybe it will smell better on others.
I wish it smelt as fresh and green as the other reviews say!

3/10

reminds me of aftershave somewhat. It is not necessarily bad on my skin, but not something I plan on purchasing full size.

How I can describe your amazing smell? Sublime Balkiss by The Different Company really has a different odor rather than my others fragrances. Lovely, lush, seductive & reminds me of elegant lady. Same as very silky smooth skin on your skin. This is a chypre-floral scent. Lilac & Violet leaves are most remarkable notes in my nose. Also there is strong green-ozonic vibe in this regard that I cannot related to special notes but totally is wonderful sense. I just want to have it on my skin again & again. Moderate longevity & sillage. Good for all season & wherever you want to make someone to fall in love with you

6/10

Smells like aftershave. Definitely not getting currant from this at all. Not a bad scent, but nothing that I want to be wearing. Smells way too masculine, despite what the notes suggest.

Very beautiful green perfume, quality ingredients, reminds me a Diptyque. Lasting,but light, a good niche quality, very recommended.

Copy of Estée Lauder Pleasures

I don't know how this feels to others, but to me it smells only like oakmoss and dry grass, almost like hay. Nothing sweet, nothing fruity, only a strong vintage character. Maybe I have to learn more about chypre perfumes, but I could easily begin with Sublime Balkiss in my search for the perfect chypre. Even though I cannot wear notes like oakmoss, roots, vetiver etc, I really love perfumes with them, because they are the only ones that succeed to evoke bygone times and places. And even if those notes are not listed in here, for sure I can smell a resemblance with other perfumes that contain them. Sublime Balkiss is a beautiful and aristocratic fragrance.

Light, fresh, green floral scent that embodies spring. It's like garden in bloom in April and May. Lots of floral charm in a bottle. All in all, extraordinary.

Update: Too green and woody for me.

So I can see how this might be considered a chypre, as it reminds me of a very muted and tamed version of vintage Paloma Picaso after the dry down, the way Paloma smelled on my skin & clothes after a night of clubing, ahhh, good times! Needles to say, I really like this scent.
Update: while this scent does emulate some of the classic notes of a chypre, it doesn't have the projection or the life span of a chypre, which I would say gives it a modern twist. So if you liked Paloma back in the day, you may enjoy this Much softer & mellow scent. I enjoyed sampling it!

I actually really like this, although I'd agree with the other reviews stating it's hardly a chypre.

It opens green and dry with quite a lot of citrus. A few minutes in it, gets really soapy on me (and it's here where I think it could definitely work well on a man). It dries down a wee bit earthier with just a touch of sweetness. Like other reviews, I get NO leather at all and scarcely any patchouli.

I think I'll put my sample away for summer because it feels like it would be fabulous in hot weather.

The whole time I was wearing this, I had a strange feeling of not disliking what I was smelling but not actually enjoying the perfume either. I think the problem is with the blending.

I appreciate quite a few of the modern chypres and think it's great to see such an iconic and beautiful genre of perfume get an update and find new fans. But, a lot of the frags calling themselves chypres nowadays are not. They add some patchouli or oakmoss to their list of notes, stick a fruit on the top and claim the title of chypre. This is one of those. For me, a true chypre is as much about the composition as the ingredients. Chypres are a world of contradictions in one whiff. They're cold and warm, tough and soft, feminine and masculine, all at once. To achieve that requires careful consideration and masterful blending, not just using a specified list of notes.

Sublime Balkiss, to me, is one of those that uses the right notes, but doesn't achieve chypre status in any other way. I think that's why I could never quite enjoy it.

It opens with a burst of black currant. It's an almost ripe, jammy black currant. Very nice.

Then it switches to rose. Then it switches to lily of the valley.

There's no transition period. This doesn't seem to gradually dry down so much as aggressively go from one note to another. The changes are very abrupt.

Each stage is nice in its own right, but the way it switches is just too jarring for me.

Strangely, the changes stop with the heart notes. I don't get a single hint of patchouli at all, or any leather.

This has the potential to be something I could love, but right now, it's too disjointed for me.

I think I am one of the unfortunate who cannot wear black currant. I got cat pee. Then hay and grass. Then more cat pee. I wanted to see the beauty in it but had to get it off, STAT!

Agree with the reviewer below; Sublime Balkiss opens with a handful of blackberries, not quite ripe yet, smashed together with their leaves. I also get light, musky-aquatic note in the background. It's green, it's a bit tart and rather on the cool side - just like a decent, modern chypre should be.

However, it soon gets sweeter with some plain, sugary sweetness and that's where the frag starts sitting on the fence, trying to make up its mind between fresh and sweet. And that's why I am not enjoying it as much as I enjoyed the opening.

The drydown reminds me a lot of "Delice" by Oriflame, a girly frag that I used to use about 16 years ago. My perfume taste changed dramatically over these years, and Sublime Balkiss is not right up my alley nowadays.

The opening of Sublime Balkiss reminded me of Enchanted Forest by The Vagabond Prince, simply because there is bunch of Black currants on the beginning. I was in haven for a few minutes because Sublime Balkiss smelled even better to me. So delicate, deliciously juicy and green! Loved that part, unfortunately it didn't last. The fragrance settled to aquatic rosy-green scent. You can also pick lily-of-the-valley and lilac. Actually didn't smell any patchouli here and I am very sensitive to it.

Overall, a bit sleepy fragrance (except for the few moments at the beginning). Feminine and proper, watery floral with a touch of green.

I don't really know how to describe this scent . . .it reminds me of when I am in the woods and take different unknown leaves, crush them between my fingers and smell the fragrance of fresh green sweetness. It has a wild vibrance. My appreciation of Sublime Balkiss grew the longer I wore it, and it is not like anything else that I have experienced. The drydown has a soapy clean facet that makes you feel refreshed even after hours. The sillage is good and it lasts all day on my skin.

ecco un profumo molto diverso dal solito. e infatti ho qualche difficoltà a descriverlo. ci sono i frutti di bosco, predominanti, ma assai lontani dai soliti accordi alla frutta caramellata. ci sono le foglie di violetta e il mughetto. c'è la rosa e il cacao, che spuntano dopo parecchie ore. e nel tempo spunta pure il patchouli. anche se è un profumo fruttato e floreale, è per me molto gradevole, perchè mantiene sempre un sentore di erba appena tagliata così verde che pare riassumere tutto il senso della primavera.

Starts green , green , green and oh so fresh.
The violet leaves is gorgeous and then it blends with lilac and lily of the valley. The rose has to stand back in this on.
There is a little touch of soap in this , lather type soap like my fathers shaving foam as a little girl. It doesn't annoy me but calms me.
It morphs into a green berry scent , not juicy - but tart green ones.
The cocoa note is there in the dry down , but not very prominent.
At the early stage, it gets me a reminding Velvet forest wood by Disq2,
another very well done fresh violet leaf perfume !
This is very much spring in a bottle, with all the greens from nature securely tossed in a pretty bottle to be kept and once in a while be opened to remember what spring is all about.....
Lovely !

Like father, like daughter. You can really smell that it's an Ellena creation, good or bad, but it just is.

I am not a fan of JCE, although I agree that he's a master and although I do like minimalist compositions (minimalist a la Kurkdjian to be exact: a different take on minimalism, but it's another story).

SUBLIME BALKISS is an anorexic chypre, just like some of Celine's father's perfumes are anorexic woody florals.

It's still a positive review, by the way. I quite like this perfume, there's something very appealing about it.

The opening is just glorious: juicy citruses and tartly sweet black currant berries (like in my beloved L'Ombre Dans L'Eau), after that the freshness of lilac and the soft powderiness of violet leaves, and then, yeah, ISO-E Super. I like its juniper-y woody smell, but only in thicker, denser compositions, in JHaG line, for example.

SUBLIME BALKISS falls a bit flat on my skin. I'm not in love, although overall it's just right down my alley. I would like to receive it in a swap, but would not buy it.

For my black currant fix I have L'Ombre Dans L'Eau, which is much cheaper and unmistakably better.
For aquatic floweriness I would choose some Heeley, his fragrances all smell very natural.

However, I see how people can fall in love with this one. If you like JCE's signature style and/or Perles de Lalique, try it, you might fall for it.

Sublime Balkiss was all heather, bergamot, and lillies on me. None of the notes I was hoping for (cacao, lilac, or violet leaves) made an appearance.

On my skin, it is a very potent soapy citrus scent that lasts a long time. Maybe a good recommendation for someone who wants to smell like they just lathered up in the shower all day.

I find it likeable but I feel let down because all the notes I was excited to smell were nowhere to be found.

The Different Company SUBLIME BALKISS embodies the quality described by marketers and, hence, perfumistas as "radiance". This is a very, very "radiant" composition, which means, as jtd has astutely observed in one of his reviews, that it packs a big fat punch of iso-E-super. It's truly nose-clearingly strong in this case and makes the listed notes of the composition difficult to identify--aside from violet leaf, which is also in abundance.

I rather like this creation, despite my lack of enthusiasm for "radiance" in some other very popular fragrances, including Lalique ENCRE NOIRE and Hermès TERRE D'HERMES. I am confident that anyone who likes either or both of those compositions--or Escentric Molecules MOLECULE 01--would also like SUBLIME BALKISS.

Is this a chypre? In a word: no. I barely smell any patchouli, the only candidate for a chypre-qualifying note listed. To me, SUBLIME BALKISS is an aromatic radiance bomb strong enough to clear my sinuses. Since it has the same effect, albeit a slightly different scent, this creation reminds me, believe it or not, of those inhalants which people use when they are suffering from a cold so severe that they can hardly breathe.

Would I buy a bottle of this perfume? No, I would not. It may be that I am hypersensitive to the radiance-making components, which is why I smell hardly anything else. I'm guessing that the wide range of reviews of SUBLIME BALKISS, from love to total dismissal, has something to do with whether people are more or less sensitive to iso-E-super.

And the different company creates Paloma Picasso.
And Parfum d'Elle as drydown.

There is just way too much going on here- the notes are crashing into one another. I think Ms. Ellena meant them to weave in and out around one another but that is not the effect one gets. The notes seem to be fighting for dominance in the drydown and I am less and less pleased the longer this fragrance is on my skin. Topnotes were clean and fresh and rather unique so I expected more in the middle notes and drydown. Not to be.

I find this fragrance very disappointing. I don't get chocolate, but rather the smell of a raw cacao pod, which is green and musky at the same time with a sweetness that only goes away when you bite into the raw cacao bean. These beans were definitely not bitten by anyone.

The whole fragrance becomes overbearingly sweet, the lilac, black currant and rose overwhelming and not in a pleasant way. The green notes are in the background but they do not balance- they do not fit and smell rather nauseating fighting with the sweet notes.

This is like a jigsaw puzzle where someone tried to force the pieces to fit, but they do not. I really wish Ms. Ellena had let her father smell this stonking mess before it went to market. I feel sure he would have told her to take out a number of elements. This one had promise, but it's very overdone. If I didn't know better I would think it was a celebrity fragrance, except that the ingredients are too high quality.

Nice perfum but too expensive! Longevity and projection not to justify the cost. Not so original, not sure but I feel I have already smell this scent before. Probably in another life?!
Nooooo, it reminds me some old perfumes of the seventyes. That's my opinion....

Difficult to collocate: this frag is a 'gipsy' therefore it is so difficult to house. Opening a bit zesty with grapefruit traces not declared in the above pyramide and probably not existing also, just a trick of my delirating nose... so elegant in any case - but in a 'new' way as classicity is bypassed here, as the same for the 3 phases. Light, luminous but 'present'. There is a touch of the 'past' in any case as it reminds me some old glories that if not completely disappeared difficult to recognize (being them so changed) any more ('Calandre'?, 'Diorella'?, and some others.)

Spring and summer are probably the best time to wear it.

Lovely!

It reminds me of Pleasures by Estee Laurent, I find it very similar but somehow much softer. I find it irresistable! :)

The Different Company describes Sublime Balkiss as a modern chypre, which is ridiculous. Adding a dash of clean, completely innocuous patchouli does not a chypre make. Nonetheless, SB is a wonderful fruity floral with the transparent, ethereal quality that seems to distinguish an Ellena fragrance.

The top notes are a mixture of berries and bergamot. Without the tartness of the bergamot, the blueberries in particular might be cloying, but the two in combination are effervescent and lovely.

The floral heart notes of lilac, rose and lily of the valley are balanced by the green, herbal note of the violet leaves. If there's a leather note in the base, it's too subtle for my nose. The patchouli is bright and gentle, and therefore doesn't weigh down this delicate fragrance. Overall, SB has an evanescent, otherworldly quality, and even though it fails utterly as a chypre, it is certainly a thing of beauty.

The first time I tested it, I liked it. It smelled of cassia and Lilly og the valley. The second time I found the cassia to be too strong and a soapyness appeared. The third time the cassia made me start to dislike it. Too bad, I love the idea of it, but the cassia gets in the way of any other notes on me.

The fragrance surprices me - I think it smells different according to the mood I'm in..... Always in a positive way of course

Goes on 100% Christmas: pine needles and crisp, bright clear orange. It's like peeling an orange on Christmas day. As it dries, a lovely gentle rose emerges and blends perfectly with the bright notes. Lovely.

I find this to be a pleasant fruity-green herbal scent, it is zesty-fresh from the bergamot and the leather and patchouli are very soft. It almost qualifies as a unisex scent to me. Overall though it's not the type of scent I wear so I wouldn't buy a full bottle.

Sublime Balkiss has brought tears to my eyes, tears of joy. I applied this to my wrist, and the moment I inhaled, I was transported back to when I was 13 and saying goodbye to the first boy I ever loved.

It was a strange occurrence that took a while for me to figure out. Back then I wore a deoderant called Moon Grass by a brand, Impulse. It broke my heart when they discontinued it because I no longer had a scent to remember him by. Seven years on, I've remembered him once again.

Sublime Balkiss is green and refreshing, with a subtle fizzyness. The berries are wonderful and very unique, as is the herbaceously green quality of the scent as it settles on the skin.

This is a somewhat odd fruity scent, almost alien in nature. I'm quite excited for Spring and Summer which will allow me to test this fragrance in a different environment.

While fruity, earthy and slightly floral, Sublime Balkiss gives me a clean sensation. A sense of purity and happiness.

As this fragrance dries down, lily of the valley and wet, earthy patchouli becomes more prominent. Like the other reviewers here, I unfortunately didn't sense the leather note.

I agree strongly with Mellybee who stated, although "Sublime Balkiss is classified as a chypre - it is more of an aquatic floral". It indeed has a slight watery feel that is very obvious to my nose.

The lasting power and sillage are very good and I'm actually very impressed with Celine Ellena's brand and composition. I'm eager to test more from The Different Company in the future.

Hmm it reminds Tann Rokka Kisu but in the lighter version.At first you smell something lemony and after settles down herbally,more green.

What a scent! Very interesting! I sprayed from tester and was immediately hooked! It's not my usual type of scent. I actually don't feel it as pretty, floral, intense, feminine and the alikes. It's not elegant in a classical way. I would say that it is a "sophisticate and complex run in woods". It smells very unisex. I didn't notice it was a chypre before reading here. It smells like raw fresh wood (living trees) and it has a vague smell of vegetable humid thick leaves and some flower. It reminds me a bit of enchanting Dyptique L'Ombre dans L'eau, but not as much nostalgic and dark. It is like the sunny side of the dark pond in the forest.
Extremely true to its nature in every stage, very longlasting and clinging to fabrics, I agree it's a chamaleon and phantom scent. It's intriguing and could be suitable for man or woman in the same way.

I've been trying to wrap my head around this one... Do I like it? Yes.

What is it similar to? Kurkdjian's Lumierre Noir pour femme, another floral chypre with a patchouli/rose accord.

Does it last? mid-range, but it's a peek-a-boo fragrance- the scent comes and goes throughout the day.

Is it interesting? This is where i get stuck. I do like hte opening with the blueberry and forest berry combo, it isn't a sweet, juicy fruit of an opening, but more like the bark of the fruit tree. Nice. Dry down is dry, tart and subtle.

Edit: I came back to this seven months later, and it is projecting more on me in the warmer, dryer climate. Longevity is better, too. I would entertain a decant at this point, but probably not a full bottle. I still hold the opinion that this might turn forgettable after a while. The initial burst of enthusiasm is not followed up by much that is substantial.

A citrus with some depth. This isn't a super sweet fragrance and the patch isn't overwhelming but blends well.

I agree with Mellybee, this does not have the standard characteristics of a chypre floral, and yes, thankfully, the patchouli does not overwhelm. This is a refreshing, sparkling fragrance well-suited to summer days and spending time in the sun. The middle notes of lilac, lily of the valley and leaves are a joyous combination with the berry notes. making this a sweet, soft scent and one that seems to last all day without overwhelming you or those around you.

I have to admit that I'm dying for chypre perfumes so it was an absolutely must-try for me. Especially as The Different Company describes Sublime Balkiss as a chypre, but a modern chypre, which uses two types of patchouli instead of oakmoss.

Those who, like me, might be scared by the patchouli in the description of Sublime Balkiss, fear not; the accord is very soft.
I am also unable to smell the leather here.

So, what one really get? I'm pretty sure that it opens on a sweet elderflower note even though it is not mentioned amongst the notes. The elderflower is combined with soft creamy flowers.

Although Sublime Balkiss is classified as a chypre I think of it as an aquatic floral - it took me quite a while to figure it out -, it permanently makes me think of a summer day near the sea lounging in the sun, sipping icecold teas and doing nothing…

However, for either category I find it light as opposed to heavy and very easy to wear, it works beautifully as a spring or summer-time fragrance.

A fragrance I hope never be without.

Perfect summer fragrance. Fresh and elegant. The best citrus-lime parfum i've ever known. I want it!