Perfume review: Oriental Collection by Yves Saint Laurent

supremem bouquet
I’m excited by this new Yves Saint Laurent perfume range because not only does it smell good, but it lists the fragrance accords on the bottle. Is this a first?

I am always forgetting the floral make-up of perfumes, I know what it smells like but I can’t always remember the ingredients and accords (I think perfumers like making it complicated, a bit like wine used to be before Australians started to usefully list the grape types on the label).

Having them written on the side of the bottle seems like a good idea to me, it adds clarity to the product -something that perfumers aren’t keen on doing normally -and it taps into that need we have as consumers at the moment to ‘know our product’ -what it’s made of, where it’s made etc.

OK, so this is the perfume world, which is made up of heavy clouds of Gitane smoke puffed in front of gilded, carved Louis-the-something mirrors, but it’s a start, and one I hope will catch on with other perfumers.

So to the smell….the Oriental Collection from Yves Saint Laurent is a top quality perfume experience -RRP is a hefty £185 for 80mls -aimed at the affluent consumer appreciating Chanel’s Les Exclusifs range and Dior’s La Collection Privee. You need to see it as the fight back by the luxury brands to regain some of the market share the small but successful high quality, artisan fragrance brands have gained recently.

There are three fragrances in the range, Majestic Rose, Noble Leather and Supreme Bouquet. I’ve been trialling Supreme Bouquet which is a honeyed, velvety floral tempered with woody and amber richness. It’s sweet but not cute, quite a grown up smell in fact, very rich and while I’ve been wearing it people have noticed it i(n a good way). I like it very much.

I think it’s more autumn than summer in tone, but it’s seductive and I think, habit forming. I am going to investigate the Majestic Rose too, as I like the idea of an oriental rose with this make-up.

It was launched on July 1st and you can buy here

supreme bouquet 02

1 Comment

  • Sandy Varley says:

    Just before Xmas a sales assistant in Harvey Nicols (Leeds) sprayed some Supreme Bouquet on my daughter as we passed the perfume counters. We headed out but just as we reached the exits we looked at each other and said “wow what is that? it’s glorious”. We went back to find out what it was and I am thrilled to say it was in under the tree on Xmas morning.
    This perfume is expensive but you would not expect it to be any other . . . . It smells just Devine. I can truly say that it is the most exquisite perfume I have ever owned.

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