Yvresse / Champagne (1993)
by Yves Saint Laurent

There is a sparkly and bubbly feeling to the opening, reminiscent of champagne. The opening is very peachy and I can smell the cumin along with the peach / apricot: The cumin improves the accord because I usually don’t care much for peach notes. It doesn’t get floral enough for me in the middle – it keeps its peachy / fruity character pretty much all the way through. I do smell a nice layer of jasmine in the background. All the way through the opening and mid notes I get a disagreeable green-like note in the far background that seems an awful lot like violet to me, although violet is not listed in the pyramids. In the drydown the cedar and a lesser vanilla and patchouli takes prominence with a background that has an element of castoreum: Very nice but not thrilling.

Yvresse is a softer fragrance than many YSL’s, and, although it has an enjoyable – fun even – character, it also shows distinct aspects of sophistication. Its bubbly character in the opening is excellent enough to make me enjoy it even though it features peach, but to me the rest of the fragrance is not very interesting. Very good longevity earns it a somewhat tenuous thumb's up.

OMG YUMMMMM!!!!! Peach bellini, then later, a 'cleaned-up' Femme de Rochas. It stuck around overnight after a small evening spritz at my favourite perfume haunt. (Which is the only place to buy this in South Africa, I've, in fact, never seen it before. Life in the colonies...) This is lovely, warm, fuzzy, but dry with it. Yet not like dried peaches - like fresh, juicy, overripe ones, YUM! Champagne was the perfect name, I agree, but Yvresse is so clever, and seems to suit the dry yet friendly nature, too.

The curse of this great perfume is that came in a era everything was fresh and bland, chypres were labeled old fashioned and dull...too bad, whatever the name it's a great fragrance, sparkling, complex, youthful, joyful...It should be a classic but seems that nobody will understand that...

My grandmother gave a bottle of the parfum today. I was so excited, but I cannot seem to like it.
It smells very much like barbie dolls to me --like girly, waxy, pink, plastic toys. (It smells like Strawberry Shortcake's hair.)
And while these sort of nostalgic, surprising associations can be fun, this is not fun.
It smells like it could be a sixth Harajuku Lovers scent.

Beautiful, fizzy and uplifting peachy chypre. One of the easiest of the chypres to love. Heartbreakingly delicious.

vresse opens bubbly and sparkling yet at the same time also powdery and with an underlying dryness that grabs you by surprise. It has the fuzzy texture of unripe peach skin, crisp and for some reason this misleading sensation of being soft while in fact it is rough and sober. The original name Champagne describes it perfectly as it has all the characteristics of the fancy sparkling wine, including the fruitiness and the elegant white-wine dryness.

And indeed, Yvresse develops like wine, with very subtle changes between the nose and the body being quite subtle. The bubbly, peachy and cool qualities are maintained throughout its life on the skin. And the underlining notes, although a classic chypre accord of oakmoss, vetiver and patchouli are very light and subtle in nature. It is most similar to Chant d’Aromes by Guerlain – a very light, albeit melancholy floral chypre. With its touch of roses and sophisticated soft powder, Yvresse also winks towards another creation by Sophia Grojsman for YSL – Paris. However there is something more original about its overall composition, that makes it different from the other more bold Grojsman perfumes I have experienced – it is just more sheer and lighthearted and romantic without taking itself so seriously.