Yves Saint Laurent
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The elemi resin hits first with its sharp, lemony-pine brightness, immediately softened by the dual pepper accord that crackles rather than burns. Within moments, the frankincense announces itself—not coldly ecclesiastical, but already warmed by the saffron waiting beneath, creating an effect like resin melting over heated coals.
The frankincense blooms fully now, its smoky tendrils interwoven with saffron's leathery, almost metallic sweetness. Vanilla begins its slow creep upward, threading through the incense rather than drowning it, whilst the suede accord adds a tactile, skin-like quality that makes the whole composition feel worn-in and intimate.
Sweetness dominates, but it's a sophisticated sweetness—vanilla that's been thoroughly smoked and spiced, resting on a bed of soft cedarwood and suede that whispers rather than projects. The frankincense persists as a ghostly, resinous halo, ensuring you never forget this began as something sacred before it became utterly wearable.
Babycat is a study in olfactory contradiction—a name that belies its sophisticated, incense-laden character. Dominique Ropion has crafted something that reads like liturgical smoke filtered through a patisserie window: sanctified and sweet in equal measure. The frankincense arrives not as the austere church variety, but plumped with vanilla and saffron until it becomes almost edible, whilst maintaining that characteristic resinous rasp at its core. The elemi and dual pepper opening provides a citric-spicy bite that keeps the composition from sliding into cloying territory, its pine-like terpenes cutting through the sweetness like fresh air through incense clouds. That suede-cedarwood base isn't the sharp, pencil-shaving cedar we often encounter; instead, it's rendered soft and nuzzled close to the skin by vanilla that's more custard than extract. This is for those who want to smell like they've been shopping for rare resins in a Marrakech souk, then stopped for millefeuille. It's unabashedly sweet without being juvenile, smoky without being challenging, and wears with the nonchalance of someone who knows expensive fabrics feel better against skin that smells faintly of incense. Neither overtly masculine nor feminine, Babycat appeals to anyone who understands that saffron and frankincense have been seducing humans for millennia—there's nothing baby about that.
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