I Love YY

I LOVE YY from Bogue Profumo. An uplifting composition that brings me so much joy wherever I smell it. This is your carefree Southeast Asian holiday trip, hopping on one of those scooters that look beyond unsafe, without a shirt and helmet on, taking your chances, gutsy after having too many cocktails and a good time. Or your vanilla custard topped with caramelized sugar dessert served with a cup of coffee and a banana on the side. Could you do both at the same time? It makes me think of those sorts of things. Because it smells like that to me. It is an all-out Ylang-Ylang perfume where the canvas is the flower and everything else is drawn on it. I don't vibe with this particular floral note, but here, it is done to perfection. Lush, meaty, a bit damp, with a prominent banana-like facet. It's present from start to finish. There is some cooling verdant quality in the opening paired with a juicy grapefruit note. The heart is all about the Ylang but with some peculiar accords embellishing it that I can't pin down. There is an almost burnt sugary quality to it, as well as a roasted coffee accord. And of course, the banana-like facet. It feels like an exotic desert. The dry down is all about the benzoin, which steers in a prominently powdery-vanillic direction. It is delicious without coming off as gourmand, savory, or juvenile. Rather sophisticated with an edge and an exotic flair. Suppose MEM is a study in Lavender, Il Dieci in Sandalwood, and RISK on the Gulf Area Oud aesthetics. In that case, YY is a study in Ylang-Ylang, one that would find much appreciation even among those who don't particularly care for this ingredient. IG:@memory.of.scents

As with many of Bogue's creations I don't really know what I am smelling and this is a good thing. Gardoni seems to blend notes together that create a bouquet that is distinct from its individual components. I Love YY is no different to me. The opening you get that citrusy/ylang-ylang hit, but not in the same way that YY is usually easily identifiable. It smells a bit old school Chypre at the opening and then it evolves into a bread-y almost yeasty note with some sweetness around it. Is it rose? No. Is it jasmine? No. Maybe some of that benzoin? In the the dry-down you get that darker, greener note start to poke through which has that identifiable Bogue DNA. I Love YY, seems to change a lot throughout a wearing and even on different days. A true Bogue journey.

I first got a sample 3 or 4 years ago and truly hated this perfume. This was in my early days of my perfume obsession and my tastes were more into pleasants. Today I tried this and am over the moon. It has a vintagey feel. The right amount of twang from the ylang. Not mainstream crowd pleasing but really lovely for those who love ylang!

A rather lovely tribute to the beauty of the ylang-ylang flower, this is a happy bright yet complex offering from Bogue. The perfume opens with the central ylang-ylang surrounded by grapefruit. As it starts settling we get slight hints of other florals like rose, jasmine and violet. In the traditional Bogue style the perfume settles on a dense benzoin bed surrounded by hints of vanilla and tonka bean. The feminine leaning perfume has moderate to strong sillage and very good longevity. Enjoy!

ylang, benzoin, violet leaf, tonka; love these notes but not in this fragrance; a bit weird and unpleasant