Gush›balenciaga›Talisman for women
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balenciaga Talisman for women
balenciaga

Talisman for women

Fresh
Floral
Fruity
Aldehydic
Woody
Powdery
Amber
EDT · 1994 · womens

Balenciaga's 1994 release Talisman for Women arrives from the house's early fragrance years, when the Spanish luxury brand was establishing its olfactory identity alongside its now-iconic fashion collections.

The fragrance opens with a bright, fruity-floral mix of bergamot, litchi, peach, and pineapple, immediately sweetened by aldehydes and dried fruits. The heart expands into a generous floral accord anchored by jasmine, rose, and ylang-ylang, with supporting notes of carnation, freesia, and lily of the valley adding complexity. The base settles into a warm, creamy composition, balancing amber and tonka bean sweetness against deeper woody notes like cedar and patchouli, with musk and caramel rounding out the drydown.

This is a full-bodied floral oriental that works best for someone drawn to sweet, perfumy fragrances with substance and longevity. It suits cooler months and evening wear, though its fruity opening keeps it from feeling heavy. The composition has the nostalgic sensibility of '90s prestige fragrances. Discover similar scents at The Romantic, The Hedonist, and The Heirloom.

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Main Accordsreported by community
Fresh
42%
Floral
100%
Fruity
90%
Aldehydic
60%
Woody
44%
Powdery
21%
Amber
70%
Vanilla
29%
Sweet
86%
Gourmand
50%
Creamy
29%
Fragrance Notesbrand verified
Top · 0–30 min
Aldehydes
Aldehydes
The chemical family that created modern perfumery, aldehydes were first used prominently in Chanel N°5 (1921), adding a soapy, abstract, almost metallic sparkle that lifted the fragrance above anything previously possible. They don't smell like anything in nature; their effect is more textural than aromatic. Aldehydic fragrances feel luminous, sophisticated, and distinctly 20th century.
Bergamot
Bergamot
A sun-ripened Italian citrus with a brightness that goes beyond lemon, simultaneously tart, floral, and slightly spicy. It's the defining note of Earl Grey tea and the backbone of countless fresh colognes. Perfumers love it as an opener because it lifts the entire composition without overpowering what follows.
Dried Fruits
Dried Fruits
A warm, concentrated, and slightly caramelized accord combining raisin, fig, apricot, and date notes into a rich, amber-like sweetness. Dried fruits add a Middle Eastern warmth and complexity to oriental compositions, with a slightly fermented depth that fresh fruits lack. The note of souk markets and traditional confectionery.
Hiacynth
Hiacynth
Litchi
Litchi
Also known as lychee, litchi has a delicate, floral-fruity sweetness that is lighter and more transparent than most tropical fruits. It has a slightly rose-like quality that makes it at home in floral compositions, and a clean sweetness that reads as refined rather than candy-like. Common in contemporary light florals.
Mandarin Orange
Mandarin Orange
Osmanthus
Osmanthus
Apricot-like, leathery, and floral all at once, osmanthus is one of the most beloved flowers in Chinese culture and one of the most interesting in Western perfumery. Its dried-fruit, suede-like quality makes it feel simultaneously sweet and sophisticated. A note that elevates almost everything it touches.
Peach
Peach
Ripe, juicy, and velvety, peach has a warm, slightly creamy sweetness that feels lush rather than childish in the right context. It adds a fruity sensuality to floral and oriental fragrances, and its slightly fuzzy quality can even play into tactile, skin-like accords. A note that feels like high summer.
Pineapple
Pineapple
Vivid, tropical, and intensely sweet with a slightly fermented, almost winey quality, pineapple is one of the most assertive tropical fruit notes. It adds an immediate, unambiguous tropical sweetness that can dominate if used too heavily. In moderate amounts it adds a lively, summery energy to fruity and aquatic compositions.
Rum
Rum
Sweet, slightly smoky, and warm, the distilled essence of sugarcane adds a tropical, slightly boozy warmth to orientals and leather fragrances. It has a brown-sugar, molasses quality with a gentle spirit-like shimmer. Often found alongside tobacco and wood notes to create warm, convivial compositions.
Heart · 30 min – 3 hrs
Carnation
Carnation
Spicy, clove-like, and slightly powdery, carnation is one of perfumery's oldest floral notes, with a warm, almost peppery character that distinguishes it from softer flowers. It has a vintage, slightly old-fashioned quality that is coming back into fashion. Think pressed flowers in an old book, warm and complex.
Cyclamen
Cyclamen
Crisp, watery, and slightly green with a delicate floral sweetness, cyclamen is one of perfumery's more transparent flowers. It evokes mountain air and rain-wet gardens rather than a florist's shop. Used to add a clean, airy quality to floral compositions that might otherwise feel dense.
Freesia
Freesia
Bright, clean, and slightly peppery, freesia is a springtime flower with a fresh, almost citrusy edge that prevents it from reading as purely sweet. It's one of the more versatile florals, sitting comfortably in both delicate feminine compositions and fresh unisex fragrances. Approachable and elegant simultaneously.
Iris
Iris
One of perfumery's most prized and expensive ingredients, iris has a powdery, cool, almost carrot-like richness that is hard to describe and impossible to mistake. It's simultaneously earthy and refined, like the inside of an old Parisian couture house. Iris root (orris) adds quiet luxury to anything it touches.
Jasmine
Jasmine
Intoxicating, heady, and slightly animalic, jasmine is one of the few flowers that smells as rich in a bottle as it does climbing a garden wall at dusk. It has an almost fleshy, indolic quality that stops it reading as purely 'clean.' Jasmine is a workhorse in both feminine and masculine perfumery, adding depth and soul.
Lily Of The Valley
Lily Of The Valley
Crisp, green, and dewy, this spring flower smells like rain on cool grass with a clean, soap-like clarity. It's one of perfumery's most requested scents despite being nearly impossible to extract naturally, so it's almost always recreated synthetically. The result is fresh, tender, and timelessly elegant.
Rose
Rose
The queen of floral notes and the most-used ingredient in fine perfumery. Real rose is simultaneously velvety, honeyed, and slightly spicy, nothing like the synthetic candy version. Depending on the variety used, it can anchor a composition or drift through it like a ghost, adding warmth without dominating.
Ylang-Ylang
Ylang-Ylang
Base · 3–12 hrs
Amber
Amber
A warm, resinous accord rather than a single ingredient, amber is typically built from labdanum, benzoin, and vanilla to create a rich, honeyed, almost solar warmth. It's the quintessential base-note family, adding a comforting richness that makes fragrances feel complete. The difference between a fragrance feeling cold and feeling alive.
Beeswax
Beeswax
Warm, slightly honeyed, and faintly waxy, beeswax captures the hive's scent rather than pure honey: less sweet, more complex, with a natural, slightly animalic quality. It adds a living warmth to floral and oriental compositions, suggesting proximity to nature. Closely related to honey in perfumery but quieter and more textural.
Caramel
Caramel
Warm, buttery, and sweet with a slight bitterness from the cooking process, caramel is one of perfumery's most approachable gourmand notes. It adds a comforting, edible quality without going full dessert, and it softens and rounds other notes beautifully. A pillar of the Angel-inspired oriental-gourmand genre.
Cedar
Cedar
Coconut
Coconut
Creamy, tropical, and slightly sunscreen-like, coconut reads as summery and carefree. In light doses it adds a beachy sweetness; in heavier use it can veer into suntan lotion territory. Most effective when paired with citrus or florals to lift it from the beach bar and into the realm of wearable tropical fragrance.
Leather
Leather
One of perfumery's most complex accords, smoky, animalic, and slightly woody, evoking tanned hide, polished saddles, or fine gloves depending on the recipe. Leather adds sophistication and edge simultaneously, and is deeply associated with masculinity in Western perfumery (though the best leather fragrances transcend gender entirely).
Musk
Musk
The base layer of almost every modern fragrance, a soft, warm, skin-like scent that extends longevity and bridges other notes together. Natural musk was once derived from deer (now banned); today's musks are synthetic and range from clean and soapy to dark and animalic. The right musk makes a fragrance smell like 'you.'
Patchouli
Patchouli
Dense, earthy, and darkly sweet, patchouli is the scent of damp soil and dried herbs with an almost chocolatey richness. It polarizes people because in high concentrations it's overwhelming, but as a supporting note it adds depth and longevity that almost nothing else can match. The backbone of countless oriental and chypre fragrances.
Sandalwood
Sandalwood
Creamy, smooth, and milky with a soft, skin-like warmth that clings beautifully. True Mysore sandalwood is one of perfumery's most precious ingredients, simultaneously wood and skin, never cold or sharp. It rounds off sharp edges in any composition and makes the wearer smell subtly, irresistibly warmer.
Tonka Bean
Tonka Bean
Sweet, powdery, and almond-like with hay-like, slightly tobacco undertones, tonka bean is one of perfumery's most useful base notes. It shares coumarin with fresh hay and freshly cut grass, adding a warmth that feels nostalgic and comforting. Essential in gourmand and soft oriental fragrances.
Vanilla
Vanilla
Warm, sweet, and universally appealing, vanilla is to fragrance what salt is to cooking. Real vanilla is complex and slightly smoky, though most perfumery vanilla is synthetic and reads as clean, sweet, and creamy. It slows the evaporation of other notes and is the reason certain fragrances feel like a second skin.
Who Wears ThisScent DNA matches
❤️
The RomanticBest match86% match
Your fragrance is a love letter you never stop writing.

Warm roses, vanilla, amber, creamy musks. Soft, evolving, intimate.

🍷
The Hedonist86% match
More is more. You've always known this.

Opulent, rich, long-lasting. Vanilla, amber, dense florals, gourmand warmth.

🏛️
The Heirloom82% match
You carry something beautiful that most people have forgotten.

Powdery, soft, classically sweet. Iris, aldehydes, gentle florals, quiet vintage warmth.

Based on this fragrance's accord profile · Find your Scent DNA →
Community
Rate this fragrance
Rate this fragrance
0255075100
—/100
Most Popular with this Scent DNA Type?
❤️
The Romantic
Your fragrance is a love letter you never stop writing.
Warm roses, vanilla, amber, creamy musks. Soft, evolving, intimate.
Discover your type →
Scent Profile
Fresh42%Floral100%Fruity90%Aldehydic60%Woody44%
Fragrance Family
Floral Oriental
EDT

balenciaga Talisman for women— Prices, Coupons & Buying Guide

Best price today: Talisman for women is $0.00. Without a coupon the lowest price is $0.00. Gush tracks 47+ retailers updated every 2 hours.

Are grey market retailers authentic?

Yes. Jomashop, FragranceNet, and MaxAroma sell 100% authentic balenciaga fragrances through unofficial distribution channels. The fragrance is identical to department store stock. Grey market refers to the supply chain, not product quality. The price difference comes entirely from the distribution channel.

Frequently asked questions

What does balenciaga Talisman for women smell like? +
Balenciaga's 1994 release Talisman for Women arrives from the house's early fragrance years, when the Spanish luxury brand was establishing its olfactory identity alongside its now-iconic fashion collections. The fragrance opens with a bright, fruity-floral mix of bergamot, litchi, peach, and pineapple, immediately sweetened by aldehydes and dried fruits. The heart expands into a generous floral accord anchored by jasmine, rose, and ylang-ylang, with supporting notes of carnation, freesia, and lily of the valley adding complexity. The base settles into a warm, creamy composition, balancing amber and tonka bean sweetness against deeper woody notes like cedar and patchouli, with musk and caramel rounding out the drydown. This is a full-bodied floral oriental that works best for someone drawn to sweet, perfumy fragrances with substance and longevity. It suits cooler months and evening wear, though its fruity opening keeps it from feeling heavy. The composition has the nostalgic sensibility of '90s prestige fragrances. Discover similar scents at The Romantic, The Hedonist, and The Heirloom.
What are the notes in balenciaga Talisman for women? +
Top: Aldehydes, Bergamot, Dried Fruits, Hiacynth, Litchi, Mandarin Orange, Osmanthus, Peach, Pineapple, Rum. Heart: Carnation, Cyclamen, Freesia, Iris, Jasmine, Lily Of The Valley, Rose, Ylang-Ylang. Base: Amber, Beeswax, Caramel, Cedar, Coconut, Leather, Musk, Patchouli, Sandalwood, Tonka Bean, Vanilla.
What fragrance family is Talisman for women? +
balenciaga Talisman for women belongs to the Floral Oriental fragrance family. It is an EDT.
What other fragrances smell like balenciaga Talisman for women? +
Based on shared notes, Donna Karan DK for men (Amber, Cedar, Carnation, Jasmine), Donna Karan Donna Karan for women (Amber, Cedar, Carnation, Jasmine), Van Cleef Arpels Tsar for men (Amber, Cedar, Carnation, Jasmine), Valentino Vendetta (Amber, Cedar, Carnation, Jasmine), nina-ricci Ricci Club for men (Amber, Cedar, Carnation, Jasmine) may smell similar to Talisman for women.
What is a grey market fragrance retailer? +
Grey market retailers sell authentic fragrances sourced through unofficial distribution -- typically excess inventory from authorized distributors. The product is real and identical to retail. FragranceNet (est. 1997), Jomashop, and MaxAroma are well-established with millions of verified reviews.

Gush earns a commission on purchases at no cost to you · Prices update every 2 hours · Coupon success rates based on affiliate feed data · Grey market = authentic, unofficial supply chain