Yves Saint Laurent Yvresse

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Yvresse has a bit of a funny history. According to Fragrantica, it was once known as champagne but was forced to change its name to Yvresse after a few lawsuits.

Yvresse

In Bottle: Juicy peach and nectarine note that’s very crisp coupled with a delicate white floral accord. Extremely pretty!

Applied: Crisp and fruity opening, very peachy and nectarine-y. Quite edible on the opening actually even with the white florals hidden in the background. Yvresse has a delicate, fruity touch upon opening as it starts to evolve into its mid-stage with a warming sensation and an introduction of spices and heavier flowers. Much to my delight the peach and nectarine notes take their time to fade out as the spicy floral mid-stage takes hold. The rose is the major star in the middle stage, amping up with the spice to remind me of classic roses, and other spicy rose iterations like Le Labo’s Rose 31. Now the rose in mid-stage Yvresse is not quite like Rose 31, it’s cleaner, fruitier, definitely sweeter, and–somehow–smells more mainstream yet remains approachable. The dry down is marked with a warm, sweet, vetiver and a green soft mossiness that mingles perfectly well with the lingering traces of spiciness.

Extra: Yvresse has been noted by some as a fruity chypre. And while I can readily agree with the fruity part, I was originally hesitant to call this a chypre myself. It certainly has the oak moss base and the progression of a chypre but I was still a bit hesitant. A little more thought and a little more time and I eventually came around to it all. Oak moss or no, Yvresse progresses like a Chypre. Its opening peach note often relating it to Mitsouko. But Mitsouko’s peach is still a great deal more sophisticated, and significantly less sweet. Yvresse, nevertheless, remains absolutely beautiful.

Design: Yvress’ bottle is a glass oval-like shape with textured elements on the glass itself. The juice is a yellow-golden color, giving the look of the bottle a luxurious edge. This bottle is easy to hold and easy to use. I just wish the cap wasn’t plastic–but then, I always end up wishing that.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Chypre

Notes: Nectarine, peach, caraway, anise, menthol, carnation, rose, jasmine, lily of the valley, cinnamon, litchi, vanilla, benzoin, amber, musk, styrax, oak moss, patchouli, vetiver.

I found it quite the challenge to get a look at this one in a department store. One would think a beautiful piece like this from a rather famous house like Yves Saint Laurent would be much easier to get a hold of.

Reviewed in This Post: Yvresse, 1998, Eau de Toilette.

Guerlain Mitsouko Vintage

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After having read and heard about how beautiful vintage Mitsouko is, I had to get my hands on a half ml vial of the stuff to see how it was for myself. I like the new Mitsouko just fine but she pales in comparison to the vintage for good reason.  Mitsouko Baccarat

In Bottle: As fragrance restrictions were increased and time went on, something happened to Mitsouko. She doesn’t smell like this vintage and the difference is immediately noticeable. Vintage smells like a smooth fruity chypre, the peach is detectable, the chypre scent is distinct. It’s a beautifully layered, and beautifully composed fragrance that smells like rich history.

Applied: This smells heady, dense, very distinctly a chypre with a very smooth, soft peach note. This reminds me of Chypre de Coty for good reason, I can see how these two fragrances came about and I can smell how and why they were beautiful. It makes it even sadder that they don’t come like this anymore–Chypre de Coty being discontinued, Mitsouko having been reformulated into a sharp, powdery ghost of its former self. It opens with a gentle citrus with a touch of heady floral. It goes into the mid-stage into a smooth beautiful fruitiness with a soft peach scent intermingled with a rose and jasmine ensemble. Now, this isn’t peach in the Bath and Body Works sweet peach body mist kind of way, it’s a feminine but very grown up peach scent that lacks any silly girly-girl sweetness to it. The fade is a complex blend of oakmoss, spice and woods that makes Vintage Mitsouko smell so personal. Then there’s that familiar Guerlain base that lingers for an incredibly long time and makes me feel like I could totally pull off wearing a ball gown to a baseball game.

Extra: Any perfumista can write novels about vintage Mitsouko, but instead, you got me. What I can say about vintage Mitsouko is that it makes me sad in the way that smelling old vintages like this makes me sad. Because perfumes aren’t made like this anymore and it is a real shame.

Design: I do not own a bottle of vintage Mitsouko but I eye them very jealously. Guerlain has put their classic fragrance lines under a few redesigns over the years and they have always remained elegant and beautiful designs. Linked above is a newer bottle of Mitsouko. It’s a limited edition collector’s item dressed up in Baccarat and available for $7000. It is not how the original bottle looks. Too rich for my blood, and besides, I’d rather spend the money on a vintage. I always feel like something of a clown judging vintage bottles because I can only say that they’re beautiful and elegant and they certainly do not make them like they used to.

Fragrance Family: Chypre

Notes: Bergamot, peach, jasmine, rose, oak moss, spices, vetiver, woods.

I would love to own a bunch of vintage fragrances because I have yet to smell one I didn’t like. Vintage Mitsouko and its newer formulation is close. Guerlain did what they could with the new stuff but it isn’t the same. The new formulation is noticeably sharper, more powdery, and has a slight imbalance that doesn’t hit the mark quite as well as the vintage stuff.

Reviewed in This Post: Mitsouko, circa 1950, Eau de Parfum.