L'Homme Le Parfum

I really hope people don't get dissuaded from buying this because of the 3.5 its sitting at, if you scroll down to the actual comments you'll find that a lot of the negativity comes from 3 things. 1. People who write off anything with so much as a hint of "blue" as basic and generic. 2. People who blind bought hoping it'd be a carbon copy of the original just stronger. 3. People who hop on every L'homme flanker to hate that they made another flanker instead of remaking the original formulations. You won't see much hate on the smell of the fragrance itself, and this stuff smells AMAZING. I honestly wonder how many of these people even smelled it vs. just seeing amber in the ingredients and marking generic off the bat, and even those who did I wonder how many people gave up on it during the opening and how many sprayed it on paper vs skin. Word to the wise on testing this bad boy, it NEEDS to be applied to the skin. When I smelled it on paper the amber really dominated everything else, which did make it smell generic "blue", however the warmth of your skin really helps elevate the woody cedar base making that that's what's most prominent, and the amber a supporting role. Also, I did find the opening to be a bit generic blue. It's ozonic, citrusy, and aromatic like most blue's. The cardamom does add some flare and spicyness to the opening though. Once the opening dies down you really get the L'homme we know and love, and this is wear this fragrance is truly amazing. The cedar wood, my favorite aspect of the original, is the dominant scent here. I'd say even more prevalent then the original. This isn't a "blue version" of L'homme, this is L'homme first and foremost with some modern "blue" hints in the background. I agree those calling it a modern version of L'homme. I also love the green/earthy and aquatic notes it has going on in the background. Something about this really takes you to a warm summer morning in the woods by the creak with a layer of morning dew coating the ground. Put that together with the classy sophisticated wood scent, the sweet creaminess of the amber, and a good bit of spice to boot and you have a scent that's far from generic and boring, and it all blends together flawlessly. For my nose, vibe and climate I honestly prefer this to the original. I'm not huge on Ginger and I love cardamom so that was a welcome change for me. Ultimately IMO they amped up my favorite part of the original (the cedar) and replaced my least favorite part (the ginger) and the added aquatic notes and freshness make it better for the heat and humidity of the south Florida climate I live in and make it match my beachy vibe better. Performance wise its better then the reformulated original. The projection is exactly where it needs to be for something you want to be noticed, but can be worn everyday without being obnoxious and inducing headaches. Longevity is about 5 hours of good projection, not off the charts but solid. So if your a connoisseur looking for the next big game changer to add to your collection sure this isn't a MUST have. However if your like most people and just looking for something that smells amazing for any weather or occasion and will get you compliments and ladies (I get tons of compliments wearing this, especially from ladies BTW), or if you're like me and love wood scents and want something woody that works great in warm weather for the summer I'd highly recommend this.

After sampling about 50 fragrances, this is the only one I loved. It works on my skin so well. Having said this, I’m not in love with the opening. It is ozonic, sweet (amberwood), spicy (cardamom), aromatic (geranium), with a slight touch of lemon. The beginning is a little much for me. I don’t love the ozonic notes. However, if you give it 20 minutes, the fragrance calms down a little and a beautiful, dry, masculine cedar note begins to become prominent and it balances everything out. By then, the ozonic notes and lemon are basically gone, and the fragrance is mostly dominated by cedar, spicy cardamom, and sweet amberwood, with some aromatic touches from the geranium/basil/violet leaf. As time passes, it is mainly cedar and amberwood. At first I thought longevity and projection were bad, but after trying this out, i find the longevity to be pretty good, it lasted about 8 hours on my skin. Projection is pretty good for about 2 hours and then it begins to sit closer to your skin. This will get you noticed but it is never too loud. I do not find this cloying at all. I have never sampled the original but this one truly is beautiful to me. A spicy, woody fragrance with some modern sticky blue sweetness from the amberwood. The prominent cedar note sets this apart from anything else I've tried. This is well blended and extremely smooth. Nothing is too sharp, nothing is powdery, nothing is gritty. This is classy, modern, woody, spicy, aromatic, with just enough sweetness. I do not see any resemblance to YSL Y EDP. That one is dominated by apple, ginger, and sage. Yes they both have amberwood but they are completely different. As always, try fragrances on skin and give them some time. If you like the L'homme line or you like the simplistic note breakdown, give this one a try.

I don't want to overcomplicate it. It is most reminiscent of YSL L'Homme but a little heavier on the woods and green/floral shower-gel vibe. It also reminds me of YSL Y a little without the sweetness. There is some sweetness to hold it up, but it is a fresh fragrance, and you won't think sweet when you smell it. I don't mean it in a bad way, but this is as near to the definition of a generic fresh man's scent as you could ever achieve, but it holds up the YSL L'Homme DNA, and has that underlying appeal that makes it exceptional in the wide world of fragrance. Honestly, to my nose it sits a lot closer to Y than L'Homme, but it is difficult to say because there is essentially zero noticeable sweetness relative to what you get out of any Y fragrance. If you want something that is unmistakably YSL, fresh, safe as could be, like L'Homme, and don't want any of the crazy sweetness of Y, this should fit the bill. I haven't tried nearly as many of the L'Homme and La Nuit de L'Homme flankers outside of a store as I would like, but I have plenty of general experience with them, and I just wish they would bring back Ultime. I own a lot of it, but some day it will be gone, and I will be so sad. Something like Le Parfum is nowhere on the same planet as that stuff, and I can't imagine a reason for their doing away with something so objectively awesome. I only mention it really because the note breakdown might lead you to believe this might be similar, but they are nothing alike, just to be clear.

So far, my favorite from the YSL L'Homme collection. Le Parfum is everything a timeless men's fragrance should be--notes of woods, citruses and ambers, with a fresh yet deep and sensual vibe. I'd even go as far as to say that this is as much of a "blue" fragrance as Sauvage, Bleu de Chanel, and even YSL's Y collection. It can come across as a bit mature to some people's noses, but there's a hint of sweetness to this that allows for just enough room for someone in their 20's to pull it off. I no longer own YSL L'Homme Le Parfum. I decided that as well as it works on my skin, it works even better on my uncle's, who now wears this on the daily. A worthwhile buy for me if he's that happy with it! If you'd like to buy this, note that you'll probably wear it on your nicer spring-summer occasions, as it does have a posh quality to it. But if I were you, I'd buy this, even over La Nuit de l'Homme (I haven't smelled Bleu Electrique yet so I can't pass judgment there), and find excuses here and there to use it. I believe this cologne will stand the test of time. SCORE: 93%

This one is freaking awesome. If you like the original L’Homme but hate the super weak performance from reformulations, trust me, this is what you’ve been looking for. They discontinued L’Homme Ultime, which was an absolute favorite of mine, but I can honestly say I am pleasantly surprised with L’Homme Le Parfum. It’s got a bit of the spice from Ultime, the sweet, masculine floral vibe from the L’Homme EDT, but a tiny, tiny bit of the juiciness from Y EDP. Ultime was super dry, this is more wet/slightly aquatic, this is NOT a “blue” frag like sauvage and BdC. This is very much an amazing, longer lasting version of L’Homme EDT, with a bit more spice from Ultime and a bit of aquatic vibe from Y. The beautiful L’Homme drydown and DNA is fully represented here. The L’Homme line gets hated on for so many flankers and that’s totally justified, but this one is fantastic. Again, if you love the EDT, you’ll love this!