Byzance by Rochas

What a beautiful scent! I came here because of its sister, Byzance; I loved the 2019 version and wanted to try the classic. It’s a timeless fragrance; if you don’t like this style, stay away, but if you’re a fan of the Chanel No. 5 line, Byzance (1987) is a magnificent choice. The notes are very well balanced, none overpowering the others, but it’s the scent of a discreet and elegant lady. Dry down smells like sophisticated soap. I’m glad I found it; it came out almost when I was born. I remember the smell of my preschool teachers with Byzance.

Byzance by Rochas is a work of art from the house, an hyper-intense and exquisite floral, perfectly harmonized. It has an admirable balance between the citrus top notes, the spicy elements, and the floral, with almost imperceptible anise accents. The musk note, treated with care, blends with the vanilla to create this great masterpiece. Here, content and container meet perfectly; it is one of the most beautiful bottles.

The best fragrance in history, for all eternity… Too bad the original house discontinued it. In 2019 they released a version with the same name, but from what I’ve read, it only shares the bottle color; it’s completely different. Luckily, I still have half of a 100 ml bottle of this edition. I’ll enjoy what little remains of this great perfume for special occasions.

Byzance by Rochas is the scent of a bygone era full of glamour, that girl who became a woman, possessing an extraordinary sensuality. A confident, bold, and power-aware woman. Imagine that woman getting ready in a midnight blue dress, shoes, and jewelry for the Opera, with tickets bought and her whole week thinking about it. There’s time to put on makeup, sitting elegantly on a stool in front of the mirror, picking up the deep blue round bottle with a gold cushion. She looks at it, knowing she’ll leave an indelible mark. She grabs it and sprays on wrists, neck, and hair… Tonight, you’ll be hers. Fascinating like a modern Cleopatra, this creation takes its name from a lost city in time. Byzance is an explosion of powdery aldehydes, stunning flowers, and exotic spices. Strong, sensual, uncompromising opening. The carnation and spices give a dominant, slightly powdery prelude, then blend with the heart flowers. All the chords are balanced, and the finish with amber and vanilla completes the feat with skill. A mosaic of sensations: sensuality, elegance, and knowing it’s something unique that no longer exists (despite the new edition), with satisfactory performance. A direct, complex, and beautiful feminine fragrance, a captivating experience that makes you dream.

I had a bottle back around 1990; nowadays I would have loved to have kept it since it smelled wonderful, but it never seemed like a good time to use it, so I decided to gift it away.

So rich, absolutely delicious! I spotted it on Fragancex now, but I’m hesitant to order since the bottle design has changed. I used to wear it when I was 20 and loved it back then.

Byzance is that great opulent beauty that unites East and West with all the splendor of Rochas. This fragrance has a great opening: a precious aldehyde, very elegant, combined with a fresh, radiant pepper drawn from the treasures of Constantinople. Its flowers, which emerge after a few minutes, delight us with a refined carnation, while the jasmine overlaps to create this vintage marvel. In the dry down, once we’ve stopped being amazed (impossible), it adds oriental touches with vanilla and amber. These were accompanied from the start with great presence thanks to ylang-ylang, sandalwood, and musks. A wonderful work, imposing yet soft, delicate but powerful. I understand the pain of its addicts. I know I’m repeating myself about discontinued scents, but if I don’t mention the crime of pulling this piece, let me be struck by lightning. The beauty of the West with the brilliant flashes of the East, orthodox and heavy, of Greek origin, with undeniable weight in art to delight anyone. This is Byzance: a sculptural work with well-defined fragments from both sides combined, creating this marvel where Morillas shone like never before. Created with exotic materials that shine like stones, its goal was to transcend, and it did.

I remember the advertising from the 80s, the impact of the model’s sapphire eyes (chosen as the best photo by a Spanish magazine), but I never found it in any perfumery, neither in Argentina nor in free shops. Over time, I got confused and thought it was Jaipur, perhaps because of its oriental vibe and blue color. Now I’ve rediscovered it was Byzance by Rochas and regret that it’s discontinued, as it had a very well-developed concept. The bottle was a beauty, and I’m left with total curiosity about the fragrance itself.

Teodora paced through the imperial palace gardens, furious. Rumors about her past reached her ears—whether true or not, they felt like a humiliation for the most powerful woman in Byzantium. Probably from Procopius’ sharp tongue, though it hardly mattered; her husband protected her, and she preferred not to raise the issue. As always when she was in a foul mood, she found only one solace. She went to her quarters, opened a golden casket, and took out a delicate cobalt blue glass vessel, her favorite color. She removed the iris-shaped Horus stopper and dabbed her left wrist with a few drops of the precious liquid. She took a deep breath and let her spirit be carried away by the dense, deep, and voluptuous scent. On the bottle, golden letters in a foreign language read: BYZANCE. And here it is: by a fortunate chance, a small sample of this precious liquid has come into my hands, perhaps sent by Teodora herself, knowing my eternal suffering from not being able to smell her. Similar things have happened to me with other longed-for perfumes that, at the cost of making offerings to the goddess Venus, arrived like a miracle. I even swear that, on occasions, I have dreamed of them, and the next day a sample would appear on my pillow. It happened to me as a child, and fortunately, it still happens to me. That is why I do not want to stop being a child, and for every perfume that reaches me to awaken in me the greatest wonder and the illusion that only a child feels. The opening of BYZANCE is strongly aldehydic, as only a perfume from the 80s could be. Citrus notes appear, musky with a certain animal touch, but not that fecal-floral style I hate. It is a balanced carnality, the product of dense cardamom and an unctuous amber that grant it sexuality and elegance at the same time. Fragrantica lists it in the Spicy Oriental family. I lean more towards other websites that place it in Floral Chypre. BYZANCE has too many citrus notes, green notes, aldehydes, and flowers to be a Spicy Oriental. Soon, a sea of diverse and intense flowers appears, highlighting neroli, lily of the valley, and ylang-ylang. They are sweet, pollinic, dense, honeyed, and deep scents. They have nothing to do with current fruity chypres. The floral sweetness of BYZANCE is that of an intelligent, determined, sensual, and sensitive woman’s perfume. This floral phase is the most prolonged and detectable. In the dry down, an avoindivined base is perceived, enhanced by the blue-flowered heliotrope, which probably grants its blue color. The conjunction of sandalwood and the avoindivined aroma produces a powdery, soapy dry down, pleasant and discreet. BYZANCE begins as an explosion but quickly evolves towards a moderate projection with a long-lasting duration.

I was dying to try this, especially since it’s such a special fragrance for a connoisseur, and I wanted to know what had so enchanted her. The opening is strong and powerful, a worthy descendant of the 80s. It bursts with aldehydes, spiced with hints of red clove and a touch of green basil. The heart fills with a soft neroli, not sweet at all; I still notice those spicy notes prevailing over jasmine, rose, and ylang-ylang, becoming powdery thanks to heliotrope. The base is a smoky, amber vanilla, still floral, very clean and soapy, with cedar and sandalwood, creating a creamy, sweet base very similar to Le Panthere de Cartier, but slightly more incense-like. It’s a potent, elegant, mature, subtly seductive, and very feminine Mediterranean floral. Perfect for autumn and winter evenings and nights, and given how hard it is to find, for special occasions. It’s intoxicating and exuberant; once you get used to the opening, its flowers and rich, buttery base will win you over. Since I only have a sample, I haven’t worn it, but it seems to be one of the most beautiful I’ve seen. That cobalt blue is one of my favorite colors. The liquid is dark, leaning toward violet, so be careful with light clothing. Although the opening is potent, after a while it becomes soft and creamy with good sillage and longevity, around 9 hours. I’m testing a generous vintage sample gifted by Rebecapvf, thank you so much, friend. This year Rochas launched an EDT named Byzance. It’s not the same bottle, and I fear it’s not the same scent, or at least not with the same intensity. I haven’t tried it yet, and while I give it the benefit of the doubt, I think there are scents that shouldn’t be touched, and this is one of them. Better to keep it tucked away in a corner of olfactory memory. This fragrance takes me to an open, wild temple where the color of the sea blends with the deep blue of the sky, warming skin golden from the sun. There are barely any stones left, remnants of a glorious past. For me, it would be the essence of a mythical place: the Library of Alexandria. There, immortal and legendary, Hypatia wanders. Dressed in a white tunic and golden jewelry, she navigates its nooks, making her way through the ruins explaining the writings of Plato and Aristotle. A woman full of ancestral wisdom, strong in mind and spirit, tolerant of all religions, whose tragic death still resonates. Her remains burned, her works destroyed, her name forgotten. Never. ‘Her loss marked the end of an era when women were still valued for their intelligence.’ Then came darker times… A piece of history or legend that I remember every time I enjoy a few drops. P.S.: I’m not saying all librarians who wear this fragrance will end up like her; in any case, they will enchant their readers with their captivating aroma.

It was my paternal grandmother who one day gave me a gift: a beautiful blue box that said Byzance. Inside, there was a small bottle and a soap. I can say that at that moment, upon trying it, I was beautifully impacted. One of the most beautiful things, besides the fragrance itself, is being able to look at the bottle and have it present a story of what you are about to try next; when everything is a precious concept, true art. If I had to name a book when talking about Byzance, I would say “Invisible Cities” by Italo Calvino. For me, Byzance is a beautiful Goddess who embodies the spirit of a city conceived between the sky and the sea, destroyed, conquered, reconquered, burned, and burned again, but which has never lost its beauty; on the contrary, it has fed on all its ups and downs to continue shining under a golden sun. Byzance is complex in its construction, very soft and sumptuous at the same time. Exquisite. After finishing that little bottle, I had it once more in a larger version, and, as always these stories of incredible perfumes end, they discontinued it. There should be a law sanctioning the disappearance of these jewels of the art of perfumery.

I am happy in life; I just acquired two bottles of this exquisite elixir that I once gave to my mother, and it fell in love with me.

What a shame it’s discontinued. I went through three bottles in a row and I’m dying to get another, but without going broke and with the certainty that the liquid isn’t old. Sniff sniff!

The perfume my mother used. It was the first adult fragrance I ever tried. I love it and wish I could buy it again.

What I remember most is the jasmine and neroli… I would adore having a bottle of this jewel! More for the liquid than what the name signifies… a clash of cultures and history. It’s impossible to find here in Chile.