40 Days and 40 Nights Of Beauty Brand Reviews

Day 38, YSL

Cavewoman: It is a very rare thing indeed when a perfume lover and collector actually uses up a bottle of fragrance and then repurchases! Of all the fragrances I have ever owned and loved, I present the rarest of the rare, a scent that I have loved since the day it launched at Bloomingdales NYC flagship, a scent I have repurchased at least five times in its first form, and have collected in just about all of its limited edition versions as well. This beautiful perfume is Paris by Yves Saint Laurent, a rose scent that continues to enchant and delight me even more than it
did almost 24 years ago.

Paris is the creation of master perfumer Sophia Grosjman, breaking the tradition of mostly men achieving that status. Her fragrances are unique and well-loved and have stood the test of time and the fickle fragrance market. Paris is Saint Laurent's tribute to his beloved city, elegant and impossibly chic, unlike any other place in the world. Grosjman has fulfilled his vision perfectly. Her strengths lie in her ability to take a theme and turn it into emotion through scent. With Paris, one of the most renowned of rose perfumes, she isn't taking you through a walk in a garden, she's leading you through the beauty, tradition, and sense of the city for which it is named.

Paris, the fragrance, incorporates an amazing amount of notes. Top notes are rose petals, orange blossom, mimosa, cassia, hawthorn, nasturtium, bergamot, greens, and hyacinth. Heart notes are rose, violet leaves, jasmine, orris, ylang-ylang, lily of the valley, and linden blossom. At the base are sandalwood, amber, musk, moss, iris, cedarwood and heliotrope. This list of notes comes from Countess Jan Moran's first book, "Fabulous Fragrances." Paris develops smoothly on the skin, always focusing on the rose, and yet giving the subtleties of the accompanying flowers as if the wearer were standing near a flower stall on a city street. Violet and rose combined offer a sweetness that I love. Woods and moss anchor the base in a womanly and sophisticated drydown. A spray of Paris has me falling in love with a city I have never even seen with my own eyes.

In 2002, YSL started to introduce limited edition Springtime versions of Paris, all of them true to the original, but each with its own tiny twist or tweak.

Eau De Printemps was the first of these versions, lighter, sheerer, and a bit greener. 2003's version was Premieres Roses, a bit muskier this time. In 2004, Roses Des Bois added blackberry, for a sweetly juicy attitude. 2005's version was Roses Enchantees, greener on top and woodsier on the bottom. In 2006, Roses Des Vergers was added to the limited editions, and this one seemed to depart the most from the original Paris. Dry and dark, it evokes a feeling of Paris after dark, a bit risky, a bit
intriguing. I haven't heard anything about this year's limited edition yet, but I'll be spraying and hoping to love it as much as I love the others as soon as I can get my hands on a tester.

As you can see from the photo, it isn't only Paris that I love in the scent offerings of YSL. In Love Again is one of my favorite grapefruit scents, Champagne (now called Yvresse) is a gorgeous sultry chypre in the true sense of the word, and Vice Versa is blossoms and berries and vanilla. And then there is Opium. Once you love Opium, you can never be without it. If I start writing here about Opium, I won't be able to stop.

When I write about a fragrance, I like to wear it as I am writing. I may be sitting at a desk right now, in a small-town-Ohio house, waiting for the snow to fall one more time this year, but the scent in this room tells me I'm somewhere else, somewhere magical, somewhere in Paris.

Annieytown:
Dear Reader,
I assume you have figured out my weaknesses by now. Throw some sparkle in a gloss tube and I am handing you my paycheck. My love for the shimmer started as a child playing with one of my favorite toys. It was the 1970's version of the Barbie Primp and Polish Styling Head. The "magic makeup" that was included was never good enough for me. I would borrow(or steal) my mother's eye shadows for the task. This satisfied my crave for the glitter until the spring of 1976. That is when I attended my Uncle's wedding and caught sight of the bridesmaids. It was a traditional 1970's wedding with Little House on the Prairie gowns and ruffled tuxedo shirts. Each bridesmaid wore a pastel eyeshadow to match their gown. The minute I spotted this I flipped out. I remember being physically restrained by my mother because I totally wanted to march down the aisle to see their eyes up close. That was one of my first glamour moments. I could not wait to grow up and get my very own sparkly mint green eyeshadow.

I am older now and mint sparkles are not always appropriate. I find that I can get my fix through lip glosses. This is a safe way to have some shimmer and pop without looking like a drag queen. YSL came out with some magnificent golden glosses last year. The colors were beyond lovely and were practically on fire with sparkles. They contained nigelle(nigella is a wild fennel) and cameline oils(camelina is a herb from Asia and Mediterranean) to help nourish the lips and actual 24 carat gold for extra dazzle and shine. My personal favorites are #1 Simply Gold, #2 Gold Praline and #3 Gold Pink. I am on my second tube of Gold Praline. This is one of those lippies that just makes your lips look better. It is along the lines of the great Nars Foul Play but with the added twinkle and glimmer of gold dust. It is gorgeous and worth a trip to your YSL counter. It retails for $27 and is available at Norstorm and Bergdorf Goodman.

What are your favorite YSL products? Let us know in the comments.
Photos: Cavewoman and Blogdorf Goodman

Information from YSL website

Lipglosses pictured left to right: Simply Gold, Gold Pink and Gold Praline.

Disclosure: The products featured in this blog post were purchased by the reviewers.