Balle de Match was introduced by Parfums de Nicolaï in 2002, and has notes of grapefruit, lime, pink pepper, incense, wood and musk.
Balle de Match is the fragrance that I credit (or blame, as the case may be) with starting me on the path to perfume addiction. Looking for a new citrus scent back in the fall of 2003, I wandered innocently into the fragrance forum at MakeupAlley. My first big discovery was that you could order samples online. How convenient! My second big discovery was that getting a handful of new fragrance samples in the mail every so often was really rather fun. After testing several such handfuls, Balle de Match took honors as my first full bottle of niche fragrance.
I should have left well enough alone, but pleased with my new purchase, I thought I might look for one or two more perfumes worth wearing. Fast forward several years, and here I am with a cabinet of bottles that I will not manage to drain during my lifetime. The day you start to wonder what will happen to your perfume collection after your death is the day you have to admit you have a monkey on your back.
But to return to Balle de Match: it is a wonderfully complex citrus fragrance, and one of very few with excellent lasting power. As any lover of citrus fragrances can attest, by and large they are not tenacious, and those few that do last tend to render the citrus notes brash and overbearing. The dry, sparkling grapefruit and lime in Balle de Match don't really last through the entire dry down, but they do last a good long time, and there is nothing at all brash about the composition.
The citrus notes are given a nice kick in the opening by pink pepper and probably other spice and herbal notes (basil?), later, a subtle trail of incense blends beautifully with the spicy grapefruit. The dry down stays very crisp and lively while adding earthy-mossy woods with hints of pine and grass. Very refreshing for summer, with enough substance to stand up to cooler days in spring or fall.
Balle de Match is marketed as a men's fragrance, and while I would classify it as unisex, it is certainly closer to masculine than feminine. It is an Eau de Toilette, and runs $79 for 100 ml. For buying information, see the listing for Parfums de Nicolaï under Perfume Houses.
For a more feminine take on citrus and incense, try Etro Shaal Nur or for another unisex version, try Hermès Jardin Sur Le Nil.
Tomorrow: Parfums de Nicolaï Vetyver.
Update: in 2014, Balle de Match was renamed L'Eau de Sport.
Robin, thanks for your excellent piece on the start of the Perfume Addiction! I have tried to rationalize it by buying mostly decants, but I now have so much that, for instance, my visiting sister-in-law burst out laughing when she saw my perfume area (I didn't have the heart to tell her the rest of the stuff is in the other bedroom.) I have yet to meet your first love, which sounds like my sort of thing. Right now my non-orange citrus favorites are Mandragore, Guerlain Cedrat and Floris Summer Limes.
Mmmm, very tempting, especially for the lasting power you mention, which is indeed a not so common quality for a citrus fragrance.
M, step one in avoiding embarrassment is to put it all in a cabinet, LOL..and keep the doors shut.
BdM is probably more masculine than any of the ones you list, but very much worth trying, and for that matter, the whole line is really worth trying. It doesn't get enough attention, IMHO.
LOL! Hindsight is always 20/20, is it not, dear friend?
Hugs!
As I said above, I would wholeheartedly recommend that everyone try the whole line
Hey lady, so nice to see you!! And yes it is
Hee! I love reading about the beginnings of everyone's fragrance addictions! Mine hasn't quite gotten out of control due to my miniscule bank account, but I can definintely see myself ordering lots of sample vials.
Bal de Match sounds like a very pleasant unisex scent, however the grapefruit scares me. I'm intrigued by the Nicolai line, and plan to order some samples in the future.
LOL at your innocent introduction to Perfume Addiction! My daughter's (male) friend stayed overnight in our spare bedroom, which is also my Perfume Den. Apparently all he could talk about was how odd it smelled in there…I suspect he was concerned that such untrammeled femininity would stick to his clothes and get him funny looks! It does actually smell quite…powerful…in there.
And forgot to add that I share your concern about what will happen to your collection after you die! I keep impressing on my daughter how RARE and EXPENSIVE some of these bottles are. She'll probably use them as fabric conditioner.
I sampled Balle de Match recently and liked it very much (as did DH). I have, however, been leaning towards the more girly in my full bottle purchases. (Purchases so numerous since I got into this in January, that I should seek counseling.)
As for how I got into it…Now Smell This!
And a lovely addiction it is (along with tea, but I already had that one).
This one eludes me, though I'm a fan of Nicolai perfumes in general. I like lots of unisex fragrances, too, so it isn't that. I also don't like their Eau d'Ete, or whatever the one is that is supposed to be orange blossomy, but isn't, to my nose. Their Eclipse will always be one of my favorites.
Love your perfume addiction-beginning story. I was searching for product reviews on self-tanners and came across MUA…then discovered that there were other smell-crazy people like me! My first MUA-researched purchase was Amazing Grace, and I still love it dearly.
It is definitely grapefruit. Not Guerlain Pamplelune grapefruit, but still, grapefruit & so perhaps won't suit you. But do try the rest of the line!
LOL…and your perfume has its own den! I suspect it smells like my office
HA — or sell them on ebay, which is what I suspect will happen to my bottles!
It definitely isn't girly. Did you try any of the other PdNs?
Apologies for contributing to your delinquency, but as you say, it is a lovely addiction. And I've got one to tea as well…but despite the massive amount I drink, it is still cheaper in the end.
Eclipse is so pretty, L, and overdue for a review. Eau d'Ete seems to be a love it or hate it.
LOL — and the way I initially discovered MUA was when I was googling remedies for blackheads!
I use a kind of AA approach: I force myself to actually FINISH a bottle after starting a new one.
(but i cheat, I drive perfume store clerks CRAZY asking to sample everything)
Online sample ordering is fun and very addictive! I remember the first time I received my 7 samples from Aedes. I even remember what they were!
I absolutely adore the line. However, PdN fragrances are poorly distributed and atrociously packaged. I have never seen a worse choice for bottles–they look like Soviet shampoo containers. Can someone please petition PdN to rethink this selection?
No aplogies necessary. I love it.
As for other PdNs, I'm not completely sure if I've tried any others because I now have samples in drawers, samples in cute little L'Artisan bags received from Lucious Cargo, samples received in swaps, piles of samples from my SA and now good friend at Nordstrom, samples in my pockets…
I better have some tea and try to remember what and where the other PdN might be. LOL
Heh – “innocently.” Suuuuurrrrre.
I think I first stumbled onto MUA looking for a foundation that wouldn't break me out in a flurry of zits AND wouldn't look funny colored (re:orange or pink) on me.
I love this walk down a short memory lane – how interesting that this is your first niche bottle purchase, R. I can't think of what my first niche bottle was anymore… The PdNs seem to find so many fans, and how nice to hear about this one, too.
I first found MUA through people talking about it on the Lipstick Page as something slightly anarchic and definitely to be avoided. The moment I discovered that MUA had a fragrance board it was byebye Lipstick Page.
Good policy, but not one I could stand to adopt
LOL at “Soviet shampoo containers”…I liked the old packaging better, but I think most people didn't like those bottles either.
It was perhaps an odd choice, but I distinctly remember how very strange most of the samples seemed to me at the time, and many of my current loves were dismissed out of hand: I thought Philosykos was particularly disgusting, LOL…
“Slightly anarchic” is probably accurate, I guess
You are going to need the 6 drawer cart on wheels that I just bought for sample storage, LOL…
I do remember precisely when I began my addiction – I visited a perfume shop in my city that had recently opened. It was and is owned by a lovely gentleman who had been a distributor for fine French fragrances and decided to open his own shop. I think I spent about four hours in there the first time. I had always loved perfume but Ii had NO idea how many were out there until that day. My personal collection was limited only by my budget – that is, until I discovered the online samples universe, thanks to you perfume bloggers! I expect that I will end up with an even more impressive collection because of this, so thanks – I think!
How lucky you are to have a shop like that nearby! And yes, the online sample universe is very, very dangerous
I have to sample this PdN. I'm a fan of this awesome perfumer, and so far Eau d'Ete is my favorite, although I could see how it's love or hate. It's fresh but also a very musky jasmine, and I can't wear it in the summer.
I was a regular on another perfume forum when members were talking about how hard it was to keep up on MUA because of its pace and some nasty people…anyway, that got me intrigued and sure enough, I had some trouble come my way when i first started posting there. LOL. But I kept coming back and now I'm totally at home, so I guess I passed through the ring of fire. I'm glad to have “met” you and all my perfbuds. What are the odds that we'd bond through perfume addiction?
I plan to be buried with some of my favorite bottles after being embalmed in Serge Lutens. I hope my buddies will pick one for me.
S, for some reason BdM doesn't strike me as being to your taste, but perhaps you'll surprise me? I love Eau d'Ete too.
And LOL at “embalmed in Serge Lutens”!! Good one. Maybe I'll just pickle myself in Ormonde Jayne Frangipani.
You are all so funny!
Questions, R…. What is IMHO, and DH (DH I'm gathering is either dear or darlin' husband??).
Also would love to know more about the 6 drawer cart you got for your perfume samples. – I may need one myself one of these days! Can you give a store name or website or more info.? I find it hard to keep the little samples standing upright. How does one accomplish this?
IMHO: in my humble opinion
DH: dear husband, or if you prefer, dratted husband
I got my cart on sale at Office Depot: 6 drawer, plastic, on wheels. Inside the drawers I have the samples arranged alphabetically by house in smaller tupperware containers — but not standing up. If you want them upright, your best bet is those lipstick holders or to jam them into a block of styrofoam.
Thanks to the WWW, we can exponentially perpetuate our perfume addictions! It's good to know I am not alone in my habit.
So true…being a perfume addict before the web would have been both difficult and lonely