La Collection Pour Homme

This is a review of the current La Collection formulation which is available now to purchase. On first application I get a searing piercing lemon citrus accord that is underpinned by mint. And oh boy I was not ready for it's power, it could sear the hairs off your chest. lol You know that bracing effect when you splash freezing cold water over your face or add aftershave to your skin. Well this really awakens the senses like you have been slapped around the chops. This is followed by neroli and petagrain which tries to soften the blow but fails. The mint adds a menthol effect to the concentrated lemon citrus which you can feel on your skin and around you. Now usually most modern scents the top notes last for about ten minutes or so but this keeps going for about forty minutes before you get to the midnotes. This opening certainly separates the men from the boys, I do like it as I've never experienced it's like. Quite brutal if your not ready for it, I almost thought 3 sprays was too much. Now in the midnotes everything mellows and it's smells like pure barbershop. I got a flashback memory of when my Grandfather took me to a old barbershop in the late seventies for a haircut, that was the smell. You get a lemon herbal neroli shaving cream with woods which is underpinned by that cool mint effect. I've smelled this accord before in a lot of scents from Givenchy to Chanel but here it has a lot of depth which is what impresses me. When you analyze what you are smelling there is a lot going on. I can pick up Patchouli, woods, thyme and other notes. I don't really get the dirty notes, well maybe a hint here and there. Maybe YSL have cleaned it up in this formulation or it needs your body chemistry to heat up to come out, I don't know. All in all I like it and where as the shaving cream accord in Rive Gauche is dark and broody, here it's bright and cool. Thumbs up, what a ride.

I have two vintage (76% volume) bottles of this, one from 1984 and one from 1988. I bought this LA Collection release (clear bottle) as they are getting low in volume. The first thing I noticed in comparison to the original formulation is that the lemon citrus note in particular in this version is nowhere near the same strength as the original. It's there but it's not on the same level. Taken on it's own it's a pleasant take on the 1971 powerhouse release, but in comparison, sadly it's missing the target by a fairly large margin. Although it smells good, it smells nothing like the original. CONCLUSION | ★★★ If you like this fragrance profile and don't own the original formulation then this release is extremely wearable but sadly (to my nose) it is a pale imitation of the 76% volume original bottles I own.

A masterpiece. If it's one thing YSL can deliver is proper reformations, YSL Pour Homme is no exception. Although this smells nothing like the original formulation, the smell itself is the epitome of class and virility. It's bright, herbal, and smoky in the cleanest and most invigorating way. There's a slight animalic tinge in the composition due to civet and patchouli, some might even call it a funk, but to me, this makes the overall fragrance far more interesting and much more distinctive than the dozens of other copycats. Once it completely settles down it is reminiscent of the smell you experience during a wet shave treatment. That very known smell of shaving foam, and skin oil being scraped off a straight edge razor blade. Discontinued now, (again) and I'm not surprised one bit.

I think I found the last bottle on the internet that was going for decent price from an authorized retailer. It arrived today and it is the square black lacquered bottle. I think I panicked about the fact that it has been dicontinued. Glad I found it again and quite a flashback. I had a couple of bottles with the red top on repeat when I was young. A stunning fragrance and indeed there is nothing like it on the market today. Cultural heritage that should not be allowed to be discontinued.

Yesterday I was wearing YSL PH, and eventually I ended up in a bar, drinking an Old Fashioned cocktail. And they formed a perfect harmony. The dirty vibe of patchouli and moss plus a bit of citrus... and the dirty vibe of bourbon and Angostura plus a bit of orange zest. I wouldn't call YSL PH the "Old Fashioned in form of perfume", but they definitely have something in common. Both longevity and sillage are excellent. 1 to 2 sprays, no more.