THE NEW Y LE PARFUM BY YSL: GOODBYE SWEETNESS

Today I'm talking about the new male fragrance from YSL within their iconic Y Franchise, the new Y LE PARFUM fragrance. Spearheaded by legendary Lenny Kravitz as the ambassador and composed by Master Perfumer Dominique Ropion (IFF) Y LE PARFUM pushes the boundaries of masculine perfumery even further by exploring the intense shot of cleanness and sexiness of the fougère (the most iconic masculine fragrance family). Matching vibrant lavender against the strength of black cedarwood, Y’s richest variation yet is a forceful olfactive statement.

Ok chunks of that were from the press release as you can imagine. I've never yet read a modest press release for a fragrance. It's always the most hyper-literate egotistical blow-hard-y nonsense. For example, 

"Intense? Absolutely. Edgy? The name says it all. Nothing but the boldest, most potent scent would dare to call itself Y LE PARFUM."

I'm sorry to single you out YSL, it really is a caveat that to every fragrance that comes through my letterbox, it has to paired with a statement that has more ego that Floyd Mayweather. Imagine if I had introduced myself like this to every PR agent,

"I'm Carl Thompson, the richest variation of any Lifestyle Blogger out there; infinitely sexy, free-spirited, intensely independent, teeming with seductive facets and a minty freshness."

Anyway, jokes aside, let's start with the bottle. 

The Bottle

Designed by Suzanne Dalton the bottle is dressed from top to bottom in bold black lacquer. It's blacked out, it's sleek, the letter Y on the side is also blacked out. These are the kind of bottles I like to see on my bathroom shelf. It fits my overall projection palette and I don't need to find a special place in the house to accommodate it's quirkiness. 

The Scent

The opening of sweet green apple shouts over the ginger, but soon it becomes a confection of sage and lavender with an unexpected yet welcome thrust of geranium. It's not a fragrance that feels emotionally complex, but you get the feeling it wants to tell you everything. And this is furthermore symbolised in one of the most interesting dry-downs I've felt in a fragrance for a while. 

You can have a conversation with this scent. The Tonka bean whispers, it feels under appreciated here. The cedarwood flirts and teases yet it can't out flank the front runners of sage and lavender. But all told it's a welcome cocktail. It's re-contextualised the Y Franchise, wait no. It's changed the narrative is what it's done. The EAU DE PARFUM and the EAU DE TOILETTE are more youthful. This Y LE PARFUM has graduated by dialling back on the sweetness. It is more refined, it has all the delivery of a seasoned veteran telling you a compelling war time story. 

The dry-down is entertaining for about 8 hours. (Tuula informed me that she could tell where I was in the flat by following the scent trail). 

Overall 

It's a mature scent that can be worn all year round. The subtraction of anything citrus-y means that you can wear this any season, any occasion. It doesn't have enough assertion to be a black tie scent for my liking, and perhaps lacks enough old-school edge to make it uniquely masculine, but has enough going on to ensure Tuula won't be borrowing it. I liked it. I would buy it, in spite of its grandiosity.