We here at Now Smell This have our seasonal lists of “Top 10” fragrances and each December we release a list of best scents of the year. We are a positive bunch for the most part. But if we were to release a “Worst of 2011” list, I have a nominee: Yves Saint Laurent Saharienne.
Saharienne illustrates what happens when a jacket* is the inspiration for a perfume (talk about a dearth of ideas). After smelling Saharienne, I can only imagine the “creative”-team sessions in Paris before the fragrance went into development:
“What about the scent of a freshly dry cleaned Saharienne jacket?”
“Or a Saharienne jacket hand washed with baby shampoo?”
“I’m smelling a ‘stuffed’ Saharienne jacket — ALL its pockets crammed with scented bathroom tissue.”
“I like the idea of a Saharienne jacket after an encounter with hairspray.”
“…the scent of a woman wearing her Saharienne as she gets a permanent wave in a Fez beauty parlor…?”
Any of those ideas could have produced the current Saharienne “perfume” but I’m betting the ‘idea’ that won was:
“Let’s make the cheapest fragrance possible and name it ‘Saharienne.’ Why not? It’s vintage! It’s French! It’s African! All rolled into one! Put ‘YSL’ on the bottle and people will buy it.”
(Don’t even get me started on the ugly bottle.)
Though Saharienne lists notes of citron, bergamot, mandarin, white petals, orange leaves, galbanum, blackcurrant buds, pink pepper and ginger — I don’t believe it. Saharienne smells like the dregs of a perfume; it smells like it’s made from one bargain-basement “scent mix,” or accord, sold by the gallon for pennies and watered down till only a hint of the still-harsh “aroma” remains.
What’s Saharienne’s progression on skin? Top notes: “white petals” with some blackcurrant and ginger. Heart notes: “white petals” with some blackcurrant and ginger. Base notes: “white petals” with some blackcurrant and ginger. Thankfully, this weak/sheer fragrance fades fast. Good riddance! (and may the rest of Yves Saint Laurent’s design innovations be spared their own ‘perfumes’ by the people who brought us this catastrophe.)
Yves Saint Laurent Saharienne is available in 50, 75 and 125 ml Eau de Toilette.
* Yves Saint Laurent’s stylish take on the classic safari jacket; 1968.
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Wonder what would evoke an actual desert? NOT blooming pink pepper, that’s for sure…
Annie: the “desert” is not their concern
Check out Serge Lutens perfume Chergui, I think that does a pretty good job!
LMAO. I love this review.
DevilB: thank you!
That IS an ugly bottle.
Now, I actually likes me some pink pepper. And white petals. AND galbanum. But the notes list did not appeal when I first heard of Saharienne; it sounded like a compounding accident. It still does.
Thanks for taking one for the team, Kevin. (Saharienne jacket stuffed with scented bathroom tissue… argggh.)
Mals: the notes bear little resemblence to any listed ingredient…a terrible two days of wearing this!
“compounding accident” – HA!
Awww, poor Saharienne. I didn’t think it smelled bad, just despairingly uninteresting.
Ari: “despair” is a good word for this one
But what do you really think, Kevin? I love your reviews. Thank you for making a gloomy New York day a little brighter!
JaQsyd: you’re welcome
This made me laugh! Especially the creative team’s imagined “dialogue”. Very, very funny!
I like the bottle and the fragrance is nice, it smells citrusy and fresh but i don´t think it’s worth the price and if you are going to name a fragrance Saharienne i would expect a very rich scent not a fresh one. I am sure it will go to discount stores soon.
CosmicS: I think it’s started it’s life in the US online only…at discount. Haven’t seen any in stores here.
I LOVE this review, Kevin!
“I like the idea of a Saharienne jacket after an encounter with hairspray.”- lol, perfect.
I sprayed this as I was passing the counter without knowing much about it , I thought Africa, YSL, why not?
Well, at first i wondered if I hallucinated it until I put my nose right to my arm and HOOVERED. And then…all I could think of was one of those Tinkerbell ‘ perfumes’ you get when you are a little girl. I was disappointed with those when I was 7 never mind 37. Total fail.
FragrantWitch: yes! a toy perfume
ROTFL!
We definitely need to get you started on the bottle! More hilariously condemning things! Could this be a contendor for the biggest disappointment category, perhaps? I think the bottle is so, so awful, but I seem to be hating them all these days (save for Ellie Saab and Cartier Baiser Vole). There should be a best and worst bottle category this year!
Meg: good idea…but just think of the NUMBERS of scents this year
Meg, I have not had a chance to hold the Elie Saab bottle yet, but the Baiser Vole bottle is fabulous! Love the flip top, clean design and the heavy feel.
It looks gorgeous and sounds intriguing smelling! However, it’s not available anywhere near me so I’m not sure when I’ll get a chance to smell it.
I’m all for a “Worst of…” list. I don’t think of it as negative as much as balanced reviewing.
Like in Perfumes: The Guide, I learn just as much from Luca and Tania’s negative reviews as I do from the glowing ones. And many times I disagree with them, but it’s always enlightening. As are your reviews, Kevin.
I agree LaMaroc. A Worst of the Year list would be very informative. If Kevin writes it – it’ll be hilarious, too. No pressure, of course Kevin
LaMaroc: thanks…a ‘worst of’ list would be fun to compile, that’s for sure
Too many contenders would make for a tough decision on the Worst 10. Maybe a “Bottom 20″?
Gosh, Kevin. Stop beating around the bush and tell us what you REALLY think of it. (Such reviews should come with a warning: “Do not read while sitting within six feet of your boss.” I assure you–snorting laughter is not appreciated during work hours.)
That may be the funniest scathing review ever.
Not to mention, the ads are horrible:
http://parfum-femme.prime-beaute.com/files/2011/02/yves-saint-laurent-saharienne-pub.jpg
Harder to see on the smaller image, but in the giant posters plastered around Paris…I’m not sure the last time was I’ve seen such severe Photoshop’ing!
I agree! Very awkward angle/pose/expression
Scary! We should have a caption contest. I’m thinking, “Starving model turns cannibal.”
lol!
Oh, look! the lady with the weird, crooked kohl eyes. Poor thing, she’s got some arm disease, ’cause her bicep is bigger than her lower arm. And she seems to be. . . .digging a hole to barf into.
hahahhahaha this is amazing!
Great!
“… close to death…model crawls to escape revolting perfume…”
aahahahahaha
I just feel sad that a perfume house that has given us Opium, Rive Gauche , Paris ( my personal favourite ever!) feels itself reduced to create fragrances like this. Mind you I haven’t smelled Saharienne, but do not feel tempted to.
Excellent review, thank you!
Yes, mee too! Sad, sad, sad. I do like the bottle, but not the cap.
Wonderful review, just wonderful! I certainly won’t be purchasing, but of course, I’ll be sniffing :-0
Agreed, it really is awful.
I smelt it for the first time about a year ago, and just walked away from the counter thinking, ‘Yes, the unthinkable truly has happened: YSL has gone to the dogs.’
Everybody stock up on Paris et al NOW! I expect they’ll be butchered before long.
I am afraid Paris has already been butchered. It smells much thinner now, especially in the EDT.
Sorry, I didn’t first smell it a *year* ago; it was a month ago.
I sniffed this in Paris last week. (Big story – I tried De Profundis at the Palais Royal the day it came out!) I found Saharienne very boring, especially since I had just sniffed Eau de Rochas, which is a much more interesting take on citrus, since it has chypre qualities. I have decided there is a huge disconnect between fashion and perfume. This month’s doorstopper Vogue reviews boring fashion scents like Dahlia Noir, for example. What about a mention for all the fantastic niche scents available?! I snorted when I first saw the ad for Katy Perry Purr in Vogue. How can the magazine be taken seriously with that ad? And it’s been in there many more times. I give up, the art of perfumery has disappeared from the fashion world. I’ll just wear a white tee and Carnal Flower and be more satisfied than anyone with the latest fashion on her back.
Ceelouise: what was your verdict on De Profundis?
A lovely spicy masculine floral, very well-blended, but it disappeared after an hour. I did not purchase it!
CEE: thanks!
Hehe, hilarious review
And what would you do if a bottle of this fell out of the sky, duck?
I don’t know. Kevin, you seem a little ambivalent in your assessment of this. Did you like it?
Wow.
Doesn’t even sound like it would make a decent scent to throw on a hankie and toss into the dryer to scent my laundry.
Thanks for taking one for the team, LOL!
Thanks for brightening my day with your wit! As they say say at work you have “level set my expectations” for Saharienne. It’s a shame. I’m with austenfan. How could YSL go boring and cheap on us all?
Kevin, thank you for your very accurate review. I had the “pleasure” to smell Saharienne a few months ago. I was actually shocked how watered down and cheap smelling it was. I did not expected miracles, but this was BAD. I would,nt even call it “perfume’. I do not know what it is, who decided to make it and, who is going to buy it. Brrrr.
Behemot: who knows? terrible (I guess) to say, but I hope it’s a HUGE FLOP! We must not encourage “this sort” of thing. It doesn’t even qualify as one of those “airport-only” perfumes.
Exactly right! Not good enough even for the airport-only category.
The problem is, Saharienne is not the only one hopeless frag on the market. There are hundreds of them..
Don’t forget the diplomat’s unaccompanied baggage version: “Scent of a Saharienne jacket shipped to Nouakchott in the same carton as a case of scented tampons”!
Really, Kevin, you’ve outdone yourself with this review, which is saying a LOT! I also love the disappearing bottle image.
*bows to another amazing Kevin review*
I actually *like* the bottle, in a gaudy overdone 1980s sort of way (I can easily imagine something like Giorgio being sold in it), but that cap… ugh, I’ve seen better caps on Designer Imposter edt bottles. Actually, with that recessed polka-dot design (or is it supposed to be mock hammered metal?), that cap would work better with something like the Kate Spade Twirl bottle.
NP
Nina: i just don’t GET the bottle..it has no relation to the “Saharienne”… that I can tell, anyway.
Ahhh, thanks, Kevin. I was not drinking coffee when I read the review, so my keyboard is safe. I agree with others who have said it’s a shame that the company that brought out Rive Gauche and Paris did this to us. Pfui, as my grandmother would say.
Thank you for this, Kevin. Now that’s entertainment! I needed a good laugh at the end of a very long day.
Couldn’t agree more with your description. No additional words necessary!
Kevin, I was looking forward to your blistering wit, you are the PJ O’Rourke of fragrance reviews (and I mean that as a compliment since I am a HUGE fan of PJ).
It looks like you had a hard time with it though, and I can’t blame you – since I had to write a review of the same about 2 months ago when it came out and discovered I must be anosmic to this so-called fragrance. All the cologle-like newish releases – Les Escales, Les O’s, D&G’s cards and the like – seem loud compared to this one. It is amazing you could detect anything at all.
The Saharienne jacket in question must have been part of the wardrobe of The Emperor’s New Clothes.
Nile: they were perhaps thinking of what was UNDER the Saharienne…with YSL it was usually NOTHING.
Hehehe that figures then
I guess I am in the absolute minority here…
I like the bottle.
I like the juice (though I must say that it surprised me as it was “warmer” than what I expected)
I think this is very very giftable as it won´t offend anybody and yet is a pleasant fragrance to me.
I enjoyed the review though!
I understand you, kaos.geo. And I love your gravatar, it’s so cool, wonder where you got it.
It’s perfectly acceptable to offer a “neutral” scent to someone you don’t know well, or to people for whom “not offending anybody” is a goal. There are lots of them, judging by the many reviews and comments on most websites.
Personally, if I want to smell “forgettable” I just don’t wear fragrance that day. A good shower gel or soap and coordinated body lotion wear close to the skin abd achieve this effect. No need to spend money on fragrance if that’s all you’re after.
Perhaps this is the strategy of companies these days, not to offend anyone.The problem is that when the marketing campaign is on steroids, a pale forgettable fragrance defeats the purpose.
Thank you! My name is Peter, the kaos.geo is an email I can´t let go hehehe. REgarding the gravatar, it is Pukka’s cat (pukka is a korean cartoon character) I love cats
and this one looks cute to me.
About the fragrance I agree.. sometmes no fragrance is best… yet this one, for me, its not forgettable, just pleasant.
This delightful cat brings a smile to my face every time I see it! It seems to suit your personality, too, Peter.
I love your gravatar as well and always enjoy your comments, kaos.geo aka Peter.
How does one go about creating a gravatar for this board?
Here’s the link to the site you need, GateGirl:
http://en.gravatar.com/
Thanks L!!
Oh, and one more question, is there a fee to obtain a gravatar on that website? Thanx again!!
Testing….
K.G.: ha! thanks…I think there was one other person who commented that liked it…I’m sure you’re not alone!
Great review, you made me laugh
. I didn’t find it that bad, although it is not my cup of tea. In the end it reminded me of Idylle.
Thanks so much for the link, LaMaroc!
I’m just testing my gravatar…
This review is fantastic, thank you! It describes every bit I couldn’t put down in words… Saharienne is really the worst thing I have smelled in a really long time. And I will also not start about the ugly bottle!
The whole package is an insult to YSL!
Kevin, this is histerical! Funny as can be! But remember: is not the first false step for YSL, we could have many more in the future, and it is just heartbreaking! Thank you so much!
I recently fell in love with Arabie and thought this might be along those lines with a name like that. I guess not. Very entertaining review! I also loved the Fille en Aiguilles and Wazamba review and they turned out to be exactly what I wanted. Thanks again!