Yves Saint Laurent
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The citrus trio arrives sharp and unadorned, immediately undercut by galbanum's green resinous snap and currant leaf's stemmy sourness. This initial blast has real bite—no soft-focus haze here—with pink pepper already crackling at the edges like static electricity on cotton.
Orange blossom emerges tentatively, never quite taking centre stage, instead forming a sheer floral veil through which the ginger and remaining citrus continue to shimmer. The white blossoms add a clean, almost laundered quality, whilst the currant leaf persists like a verdant ghost, refusing to let proceedings turn sweet or comfortable.
What remains is surprisingly linear—a skin-close whisper of peppery ginger warmed by the faintest citrus memory. The florals have evaporated almost entirely, leaving behind something skeletal and clean, more suggestion than statement, like sun-bleached linen that's been worn all day in subtle, persistent heat.
Saharienne takes the well-worn citrus cologne template and sharpens it with an unexpected herbaceous bite. Carlos Benaïm strips away the sweetness one expects from mandarin and bergamot, instead letting galbanum and currant leaf inject a green, almost metallic astringency that makes the opening feel like cracking open a bergamot rind with blackcurrant-stained fingers. This isn't the polite citrus of classic eau de colognes—there's something more contemporary and androgynous at play here, a deliberate refusal to slip into comfort.
The orange blossom behaves strangely, never blooming into its usual indolic richness. Instead, it hovers as a pale, water-colour sketch beneath the citrus assault, given texture by those white blossoms (likely neroli and petit grain) that add a papery quality rather than voluptuous florality. The spice accord builds gradually—pink pepper's fizzy bite meeting ginger's warm, slightly soapy edge—creating an effervescence that keeps the composition perpetually bright and alert.
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4.1/5 (281)