Yves Saint Laurent
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The aldehydes detonate immediately, bright and slightly soapy, their synthetic shimmer cutting through with bergamot's crisp bite. Vervain adds an almost herbal greenness, but the overall effect feels laboratory-derived rather than naturally effervescent—sharp where you'd expect juicy.
Cardamom's warm spice emerges as the aldehydes fade, adding genuine character as it dances against the resinous amber-gold of elemi. This is where the fragrance shows its most personality, the spice-resin interplay creating a brief moment of genuine sophistication before everything begins its descent.
Cedar takes command with austere, papery dryness whilst amber settles into a pale, suede-like base that refuses to warm or deepen. The fragrance becomes increasingly spectral, a ghost of itself, fading to barely-there wood notes that seem to evaporate into thin air.
L'Homme Sport arrives as a curious experiment in restraint—a fragrance that whispers rather than declares. Anne Flipo has constructed something deliberately austere: a bright citrus opening built on aldehydes that crackle with synthetic precision, almost sharp enough to cut. The bergamot and vervain establish a clean, herbaceous foundation, but there's an undeniable artificiality threading through; these aren't plump natural citruses but rather their chemically rendered cousins, lean and slightly metallic.
What follows is the fragrance's most intriguing moment. Cardamom emerges with a peppery warmth, its spiced edge tempered by the resinous softness of elemi, which introduces a whisper of balsamic sweetness. This pairing—spice against resin—creates momentary tension, a brief sophistication before the composition begins its inevitable collapse into its woody base.
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4.0/5 (122)