Silences

I purchased this years ago out of curiosity. There are many shades of green fragrance, and for me this falls very much in the deep yellow-brown end of the green spectrum. Very few fragrances transport me to such a specific place. It is a dark home interior that was built in the 60s or 70s, with a sunken livingroom and a soaring, angled ceiling with one wall wood-paneled and a green shag carpet on the floors. The room is decorated with dried flowers (wild, weedy flowers like queen anne's lace) and swags of preserved spanish moss. All the decor is natural, but none is alive. The only light comes through the windows, outside of which is a dense, damp forest. You can tell moisture has crept into the walls of the home, because there's a faint mustiness mixing with the prickly dust of the dried moss and dried flowers. This is not a real place I was ever in, but Silences conjured it so vividly that I remember the details years later. I recognize both the haunting appeal and the quality of this fragrance, even if it isn't one I would wear.

Lovely warm green fragrance. Middle and end recalls Ivoire (pre 2012).

First test day, hot humid. Straight out of the gate she's fresh green clean. Love the cooling, lightening effect in this humidity... more later 11.30am ooh there's black pepper, nice

I've purchased this twice because it is supposed to be similar to the original Ivoire de Balmain. They do share similarities. My main issue is longevity. Most eau de parfums last 4-6 hours on my skin. The Original Ivoire de Balmain lasted at least 6 hours on me. I still have a bottle of the 2012 Ivoire by Balmain, and it lasts all day. After half an hour, I can barely smell Silences. As this is my second bottle, I doubt I got two bad bottles. The only way I can smell it for very long is to layer it. I have to put on body lotion, spray it on, allow it to dry down and then reapply about 20 minutes later. This is the only fragrance with such poor longevity on my skin, and I've owned hundreds over the years. The fragrance itself: not very similar to Ivoire de Balmain, or the 2012 Ivoire. This starts off bright green and fades to a mossy green in five minutes. I can smell a little narcissus and hyacinth but can't smell the other flowers at all. I will use up the bottle by layering it with a green attar, but I will not repurchase.

Few years ago, I bought a batch of mini. Silences was one of them. I don't like the head notes, too Chanel n19 want to be without the refinement, I probably love the Chanel edt too much to be objective. However I find the drydown of Silences much better, probably because it develops its own 'personality'.

One of my favorite green perfumes. I love the underlying warmth .

Still exploring this one but started with a mini bottle with the old typeset before heading straight to ebay for a full bottle with the gold atomizer (original formulation?). It’s a love. So subtle, calming, yet vibrant. It’s a muted green to me — not shocking like some of my favs, not quite as prickly (not prickly but arresting or commanding) as Coven. I sense both the green from the plants and the moss below. Silences…is there a melancholic solitude in there? A cerebral note for the thinkers among us. Utterly scrumptious, and with two sprays at the collarbone it stays with me most of the day in moderate weather (70s here lately), if fairly close to the skin.

Ebből a sok összetevőből a mesternek sikerült a sima vágott fű illatát összehozni. Én semmi mást nem érzek, csak vágott füvet. Egy kazalnyit. Kasszia, galbánum és zöld jegyek egészen fenn, fejjegyben, én erre gyanakszom, ezek adják meg a kezdettől érezhető szinte mérgező dudva szagát. Elajándékoztam, nem bírtam megszokni magamon, és nem bírtam mást érezni benne, mint dudvát és füvet.... Van, aki szerint ez elegáns, szerintem inkább gyógyfüves hatása van, de abból is a fűszertelen.

I have the parfum de toilette version. In this version Silences starts with dark, dark green notes, like the moss on a dripping cave floor. There is a ribbon of sunshiney gold narcissus laced through that blackish green. This narcissus is enlivened with aldehydes and lifts off the skin. And then there’s the undertone of a very musky hyacinth lurking in the shadows. This top phase has a vintage perfume feel to me, probably because of the narcissus and aldehyde combo. It wears fairly close to the body but has a deep aura to it . Silences diminishes in projection even more once the top notes fade a bit and the heart appears. It then turns into a serene and mysterious skin scent type soft iris and musk beauty with sharp, very dry powdery highlights. That contrast makes the perfume sing and also makes it feel eternal and sort of modern. The entire life of Silences on the skin is about 6 hours. There’s an hour for the top notes, a couple hours for that lovely iris heart, and maybe 3 hours for the cedary and deliciously green and fresh dry down that is my favorite part. This is when I smell the lily of the valley and it is cool and calming and lovely. I enjoy this perfume on myself but I think it would be even better on a man.

Missing it so badly.

My dearly departed father used to travel to Italy a lot for his work in the late 70s/ early 80s and he picked this up for me. At the time I was 17 and all about Love’s Baby Soft and Yardly English Lavender, so this overwhelmed me with its complexity and unisex composition. I wore it, because I didn’t have much to choose from those days, but I really didn’t appreciate it much. In college I started wearing Chanel 19 and when I wanted a green fragrance I only had eyes for her. In 2022 I was reminded of Silences and for purely sentimental reasons, went on the hunt. As a mature woman, I get it now. I didn’t appreciate its floral aspect as a teen, but now I love that you kind of have to look for it in all the green and lemon and when you find it, it’s heady and multi textured. The cedar dry down is also fun. This isn’t a frequent reach, but when I want to feel close to my dad, I enjoy it. Interestingly, he was a PhD organic chemist and now I wonder if that’s why he appreciated this unusual formula.

It smells like red apple soda

Happened to come across a vintage bottle of this at my store. I like it! Opens with a pungent citrus and verdant blast with maybe some Currant up top. After a few minutes it does this powdery waltz of iris and oak moss. Finally settles into a creamy musk with a muted vetiver. Perfectly unisex to my nose. Smells like sweating in a park on a vibrant spring day when flowers are blooming.

I have the mini "parfum de toilette" concentration. A cold, deep, earthy, green floral chypre. Citrus, raspy galbanum, cooling, clean florals like violet, hyacinth, and lotv. As it progresses, the rose and iris/orris come forward. The base is somewhat powdery with animalics and dense wood notes. The vetiver is ashy, smoky, the cedar is peppery. The classic chypres of yesteryear have been stripped of natural moss, and sadly this process has rendered most of them textureless. Not true of this one, the galbanum and vetiver are bitter and hoarse enough at both ends for it to be a pleasantly dense, textured wearing experience. Not quite as enthralling as Chanel No. 19. Silences has progression, but less dimension overall. It's certainly fantastic value at its price. If you want iris + chypre, save up for Chanel No. 19. If you want dense, woody, green, pick up a bottle of Silences. ...Or get both.

Lovely except something is bothering me. Maybe it's the hyacinth / lily-of-the-valley? Or whatever the "green notes" are supposed to be? It's dank and earthly, almost like the tomb, but then the spring-like accords bring, at least for me, a bit of a jarring innocence, that is at the same time totally shameless against the demure, introverted backdrop. Then... Anyone else get a weird sunscreen vibe on the dry down? I got this because it's supposed to be a more affordable, easy to find fragrance in the vein of the original Givenchy III. But I'm not sure what to think of it. There does seem to be a lack of a certain sophistication those older 50s/60s fragrances had.

This was my signature night perfume in my 20's some time ago. I got it as a gift and I instantly fell in love! It was so sensual and sophisticated and it was developing really sexy on my skin, so I remember I couldn't stop sniffing myself and I thought is the best perfume ever! There was something very cool and distant, but at the same time sweet and inviting...2-3 years ago I decided to find it and buy it again, since it was discontinued.For my surprise I couldn't find any similarities to what I felt before. Somehow, it smells like an old one and it doesn't develop to that sweetness or to anything at all. It stays absolutely the same from the time I spray it till it fades.I'm still emotionally connected, so I keep it, but if I want to reproduce similar sensation like before, I use Infinite Definite by Laurent Mazzone and it gives me almost the good old vibe of Silences

So, Silences... A vintage deep green for winter. It is a hate/love one. Serious also. Nothing more to say. 4/5 V

Starts off promising, but no sillage whatsoever. Extremely weak longevity. The initial blast, however, is lovely. I remember my mother wearing this in the 1980s.

What a disappointment. I bought a big 3.4 ounce EDP of Silences because of so many comments that it smells like Chanel 19. It does not. It has a vague green drugstore men's cologne scent to it when sprayed. I gave myself four hits this morning and I couldn't smell it by the time I walked out the door. If I have my nose against my wrist I can smell that I have some kind of scent on but no enough to pick out any notes.

I have an older bottle of this, the edp version produced from 2004 to 2010 from what I know. The smell is made with quality ingredients that is for sure, it has a very natural feeling...but can't put my head around what that smell actually is. It is floral, roseish, earthy, soapy and has a very familiar natural smell of a plant, root or leaf of something....quite not sure what it is though....I feel it is something like a nettle leaf smell, but i havent smelled those in ages so i am not sure. I do not get the forrest smell similarities like others do, not at all. Being a man, i would not feel ok to wear this, i think it leans feminine. Very natural smell, very cool bottle, good performance, yet weird. My wife didnt liked It, gave it to my mother

Simply beautiful. It is purple and green, lush, clean, and magical. It smells like fresh green grass and plump, bright blooms. I'm in love with the mysterious, warmer, darker green, which is deeper, softer, and less bracing. The aroma of a deep dark foggy forest where the foliage is constantly an intense dark shade of green and the air is always hazy and mysterious. Lovely!

a very earthy, green, bergamot scent that smells like it's from the forest. a very witchy, earthy bergamot scent. i also pick up incense notes in this, i know it isn't listed though. i'd imagine a witch in a 90s movie wearing this, i love it!

got it for 6-ish CAD. for the price it's a great value. but it smells horrible. it's definitely green, it reminds me a lot of a forest, but not in a good or enchanted way like people described it as. it smells a bit like an earthy, cheap soap. i tried some and the room was smelling almost sickeningly earthy for hours.. if you're into that kind of thing, it's probably for you. but definitely not for me.

Aromatic and dark, it's like smelling the damp cold air deep into an enchanted forest at night. This would be the perfume that queen Titania would be wearing in "a midsummer's night dream". Copious amounts of oak moss mix with aromatic greens and hints of flowers, most prominently whiffs of delicate muguet, perhaps a hint of narcissus and hyacinth dancing around it. It's an absolute powerhouse of a perfume, intense and long lasting. A long time lover of Chanel 19 did find it reminiscent of "a facet of c.19", but definitely not a dupe of it. However she did love it and enquired about it so she could buy it herself, so probably it appeals a lot to the tastes of those that enjoy 19. I'd have sworn there's some patchouli in it, but maybe it's just my skin. I am a lover of patchouli and this scent satisfies my nose. There's almost a....chewy thickness to the scent. It's definitely not for the faint hearted, neither for those that prefer drier or floral perfumes, since there is nothing shy or weak about it. I feel it needs a cold day, overcast perhaps and the smell of rain, for you to enjoy it's full potential. I'm waiting eagerly for autumn since I've only bought it in June and haven't had the chance to enjoy it in such a way just yet. Me, i feel as if, once such a grey and dreary day comes, the perfume will transform itself from a purely cosmetic aromatic essence into a magical elixir, or perhaps a potent hallucinogen, that, once inhaled, will transport me into that dark mythical forest, where i can witness luminescent fairies dance on the lakeshore and beautiful elven queens participate in mystical ceremonies, away from the prying eyes of humans.... Absolutely adore it, on the verge of worshipping it.

Chanel No19 it is not. This fragrance it greener. It lingers. It has loads of bergamont coming through. If you like one you will like the other, First on you get sharp green as in pine sol cleaner. It mellows pretty quickly to lemon. Stay with it as the middle floral notes come through. Don't give up and when the final musk and veiter shine through it blends into a complex earthy scent that is quite a delight. If Chanel No 19 is the classy cool beautiful reserved cousin, then Silences is the cousin that always comes late to the party, gets drunk and stays too long. She is just as beautiful but she laughs at convention, thinks her cousin is a bit boring and most of all she is a little dirty. No19 has a hard time saying 'yes' while Silences has a hard time saying 'no'. I love both of these fragrances. I am devoted to my No19 however, when I want to smell like me and make sure people stand up and notice, Silences it is. This is the scent that stands up to what No19 cannot: Smoke and a boozy bar, Rock concerts and bad pick up lines, a long walk in snow and a slow dance on the beach. The price cannot be beat...a huge bottle for less than 40 dollars?! You can't go wrong and if you hate it....give it to someone who likes gals that stay too long at the party.

I've had this for a few years. It was a blind buy and has felt like a mistake from the start. Just smelling it in the bottle was enough to turn me against it. I tried it a few times and wound up (as someone else said) washing it off. But today, before I claimed it on Basenotes as my worst blind buy ever, I figured I should give it a real fighting chance. So I gave it some good coverage (chest, elbows and wrists). When it first goes on, I have to say it smells like old perfume that has gone off. But I was patient and gave it a chance to mature. And, what do you know, it turned into something I like. Well, "like" may be a bit strong. Let's just say I don't hate it. The bitterness is still there, but the icky soapy scent has faded. More of the floral notes seem to develop and occasionally there's a whiff of sweetness. Silences is never gonna be a favorite, but I think I'll keep trying it in different settings. And I'll have to revert to White Linen as the absolute worst blind buy I've ever tried. My best friend has worn White Linen for years and I always compliment her on the scent. So I tried some and learned that, on me, it smells like bug spray.

Recently I was on a quest about a nice, soft, and green fragrance and I thought that this perfume would be the one.... I had to order it online via Ebay because it did not exist in my country. Unfortunately it is not what I expected........ It is very strong, heady and pungent. It really represents the decade that it was launched (end of 70s, early 80s) with all these strong perfumes around....... It really reminded me the majority of the perfumes that my mother used to wear during that period. I am very sorry to say that it turned my stomach. I have not smelled Chanel No. 19 so I can not compare them and I would not be objective. I am afraid that the floral green category is quite difficult, until now the majority of the perfumes that I have tried are either too strong or light with zero performance (quite upsetting too, especially when a perfume bottle costs around 90 euros). I am afraid that, I will remain with the old, good memory of "Look" by Vera Wang and "Dawn" by SJP. Anyway, I would like to kindly thank all my friends from this wonderful community about their proposals, the task to find a nice fragrance according to one's preferences is certainly not easy, it is a very subjective matter and many factors can also contribute to this. P.S. I really pressed myself to give it a chance so I kept it on my inner elbows for a couple of hours but it was irritating...... Eventually I had to wash it off, but it was still there....

This is the dirtiest clean scent I've come across. Earth, dirt, crushed bitter leaves, astringent, smoke, and soap. The soap note is nice, though!! Its the kind of soap that's a white-ish bar (not dove) and you could cut it up with a razor in one of those youtube videos. This scent is so incredibly unisex, IMO. I think all of the flowers listed are present, but not the actual flower, just the cut up leaves and stems left over after you make a bouquet of those flowers. So imagine - the smell of a soap bar cutting video, but you're in the gloomy countryside with dirty hands after gardening in over cast and misty weather. All the cut up flower stems from your garden are around you and someone on the other side of the house is smoking a cigarette. Distill it - that's Silences. I love it! Thank you, Jacomo :)

This is a beautiful fragrance that leans feminine. Greenish opening - it's not as green as some of the reviewers make it out to be, and the bitter galbanum is felt throughout. Overall, a masterful gem that smells very good for its price. Go easy on the sprays as this is a very 'perfumey' perfume and it has strong projection and sillage.

SENT TRESBON ET RESSEMBLE AUX PARFUMS DES ANNEES 80. TRESBON PRIX ET BONNE TENUE MAIS PAS DE SILLAGE. UN VRAI COUP DE COEUR. SUR MA PEAU JE SENT DE LA CANELLE ???? SATISFAITE DE MON ACHAT ME FAIT VRAIMENT PENSER A CHANEL 19. FRAIS BOISE