Balmain Beauty’s New Flagship Boutique Opens “The Sense Portal”
At the height of Paris Fashion Week, Balmain Beauty attracted a buzzing crowd of models, fragrance fans, and fashion industry insiders at 8 rue des Francs Bourgeois. The air outside the Parisian boutique was supercharged with excitement, carrying over from the day before when Balmain debuted its stunning SS25 collection at the Palais de Chaillot. Like a spark reaching the end of a fuse, the group’s excitement boomed as black cars pulled up in front of the building. Out stepped the French Maison’s visionary Creative Director, Olivier Rousteing, alongside actress and musician Dove Cameron.
Cameron and other stars of the brand’s “Les Éternels de Balmain” fragrance campaign lined up at Rousteing’s side, cheering him on as he cut the ribbon to officially open the very first Balmain Beauty boutique. The entire glamorous lineup dressed in Balmain SS25, fresh from the runway—Cameron and the creative director wearing sharp all-black silhouettes, while other muses showed off the extravagant gowns that had so wowed on the catwalk. Once the ribbon-cutting ceremony was complete, assembled guests streamed inside the space for an enviable first look at the legacy brand’s newest brick-and-mortar destination.
Outside and within, the captivating “Les Éternels de Balmain” campaign was immortalized. The architectural vessels filled the space in dynamic installations, lining shelves and glistening in a staggered tower configuration. Giant bottles mingled with sample-size tubes in a variety of hues and, of course, scents—among them, the sensual bouquet of the passion-red Rouge and the triumphant trio of cedarwoods behind the rebirth-inspired Bronze. Several entries in the collection riff on or reimagine house founder Pierre Balmain’s original eau de parfums, including the 1947 Vent Vert, the elegant Ivoire, and men’s fragrance Ébène.
Bold campaign snapshots, brimming with vivid colors and rich symbolism, filled exterior windows. The striking photos also appeared in framed screens on the walls of the boutique’s stark-white interior, turning the space into a veritable gallery.
Each campaign display symbolizes universal themes such as peace, rebirth, freedom, and unity. Models flanked by supersized square perfume bottles strike sculptural poses against brightly hued backgrounds, intimating the elemental stories behind each scent. The narrative begins in the campaign for introductory scent Carbone, which features Cameron (and a lacquered black Balmain Beauty perfume bottle) doubled across the surface of a triangular, crystal-clear mirror. The image suggests self-reflection, duality, and the multifaceted nature of identity—and that’s not even taking into account the fragrance itself.
The smoky Carbone embodies duality through its contrasting scent, an intoxicating blend of pure white musk, and seductive rose neoabsolute. Taking a meditative breath, one experiences the fullness of the fragrance’s layers, featuring warm notes like patchouli, suede, and cumin. Carbone is the first step on a journey of self-discovery: the “identity quest,” as Balmain Beauty labels it. The unisex fragrances are intended to help you discover your inner self—and, through the multilayered experience of eight exquisite scents, manifest your authentic identity in the world.
“What I love about perfume is its emotion. It's yourself, but it invites others to understand who you are," Rousteing shared.
The new beauty flagship is uniquely equipped to help you on your journey of self-discovery, thanks to “The Sense Portal.” A patented olfactory experience, the portal uses special sensors to immerse you completely in all eight of the collection’s perfumes. It does so by appealing to all five of the senses—taste, touch, smell, sight, and sound. You don’t just inhale the herbaceous floral notes of the reinvented Vent Vert—you’re transported to an Edenic paradise that inspires respect for the natural world. After going through The Sense Portal, you’ll never see perfume the same way again.
Fragrance is an invisible aspect of self-expression, but it’s undoubtedly one of the most important. It leaves a subconscious impression on all we meet, lingering in our absence and triggering a flood of memories with the slightest hint of a familiar smell. A signature scent—changing as we change and grow—is another way in which we tailor our introduction to the world and shape our experience within it. "Les Éternels de Balmain,” then, is the perfect companion for the opening of the house’s first boutique—the retail equivalent of a signature scent. In Rousteing’s own words, “[Balmain] Beauty is more than a new chapter. It’s a new book we are writing together.” If a picture is worth a thousand words, a fragrance is worth a whole language.
To enter "The Sense Portal," click here.
