Yves Saint Laurent
Yves Saint Laurent
90 votes
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Ginger ignites immediately with peppery sharpness, creating immediate brightness that momentarily masks the sweet foundations lurking beneath. Within minutes, cinnamon materialises alongside, building a spiced warmth that feels almost culinary, like stepping into a spice merchant's shop where something's been freshly ground.
The rose finally emerges as ginger retreats, but it's a rose tempered by persistent spice—nutmeg particularly asserts itself alongside the cinnamon, creating a creamy, almost gourmand character. Labdanum rises from beneath, adding honeyed amber depth that softens the floral edges into something increasingly skin-like and intimate.
The base settles into a musk-driven finish where oud, patchouli, and animalic notes create a subtle animalic warmth that never quite becomes animalic in the traditional sense. Benzoin adds creamy smoothness, leaving behind a softly spiced, deeply personal scent that clings close to the skin—intimate rather than projecting, sensual rather than overt.
Exquisite Musk arrives as a calculated contradiction: a fragrance that promises oriental excess whilst exercising remarkable restraint. The opening ginger snap cuts through what could easily become a suffocating sweetness, establishing a vital counterpoint to the labdanum-musk base that would otherwise dominate entirely. This is where the composition reveals its intelligence—the rose doesn't bloom in predictable florality but instead plays second fiddle to cinnamon and nutmeg, which conspire to create an almost culinary warmth, as though someone's dusted your skin with spiced honey.
The creamy accord (a modest 52%) suggests subtle coconut or perhaps sandalwood undertones lending a soft, skin-like quality that prevents the animalic notes from becoming overtly animalic. Those darker elements—the oud, patchouli, and animalic musks—sit patiently in the foundation, their presence felt rather than announced, lending an earthy sensuality that anchors the sweeter elements. It's neither gourmand nor strictly oriental; rather, it occupies an intriguing middle ground where spice and musk negotiate terms.
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Isabey
4.0/5 (117)