Parisienne perfume by Yves Saint Laurent (YSL) was launched in 2009, and it is a romantic feminine perfume inspired by Paris streets at dawn. The official notes are: vinyl, blueberry, rose, violet, peony, patchouli, vetiver, musk and sandalwood.
The opening is quite fruity, with notes of sugary red fruits, like watermelon and grenadine. In the background there is an undefined base of florals, but it is most likely a mix of roses, jasmine and gardenia. In the middle phase, which takes a while to arrive, the red fruits lower their intensity for a sweet floral note of rose, accompanied by a neutral blackberry.
There are also occasional notes of violet, with a non-powdery tone of patchouli. After three hours, towards the end of the middle notes, the rose is dominant with a very good trail. In the final phase there is a comeback of the sweet fruity notes of the beginning, with also a second layer of soft florals. The layer of vetiver it is detectable but still very low and doesn’t interfere with the main aroma.
At the start this fragrance is very young (exactly the opposite of an “old” fragrance like the legendary Opium perfume from 1981). Its personality is attractive and strange (almost weird I would say) at the same time. It doesn’t feel like a banal fragrance, it can endure any type of use, by day or by night, as long as there is at least some extent of formality.
As a night perfume, although the rose is very pleasant, the intensity is low and leaves a short trail. For this reason, this is more a personal fragrance, which is more at ease during the day. On the romantic side it feels very feminine, although the idea of an office perfume somehow spoils the moment.
Again, one YSL fragrance that won’t give this impression is Opium perfume. The ideal age range for this Parisienne perfume is between 20 and 45 years.