Reviews of Rive Gauche pour Homme (2003)
by Yves Saint Laurent

Rive Gauche launches with intense, sweet, spicy top notes that distinguish it immediately from the run of contemporary men’s designer fragrances. (The listed star anise note is particularly prominent.) It then moves quickly to a woods and floral accord that’s dominated by a yeasty or winey patchouli note. The spices continue to hover around the patchouli, and the scent gradually sweetens as it develops. The floral accord eventually takes on the garb of carnation, while a deep vetiver note contributes much-needed balance by taking some of the sweet edge off of the spices and patchouli. So far, so good.

Sadly, by its third or fourth hour Rive Gauche pour Homme has collapsed into a base of thin, scratchy woods that are no fun at all to wear. It’s an unfortunate end for what began as a pleasant scent, and I’m left wondering whether YSL cut corners on the base ingredients.

I can recommend this as a "budget" alternative to Miller Harris' Fleurs de Sel. It starts our harsher, colder and more metallic, but the metallic note quickly turns into a saltiness very similar to Fleurs de Sel. The herbs are a but harsher and more traditionally masculine in Rive Gauche, and it does have a cooler, more watery tone that makes it feel more generically masculine and less high end. I personally prefer Fleurs de Sel enough to pay the higher price and I don't need another scent this similar, but that said, I can really recommend Rive Gauche pour homme. Just have patience through the offputting topnote - I didn't want to try this at all after just smelling it on paper, but then I read something about it being a salty fragrance and decided to try it on skin, which I don't regret as it gets better and better.

Wow...just got this today and got like 10 compliments from random women . This stuff is just so fresh and so clean . I really don't get that barbershop effect that people say . Never really smelled anything similar...it's very unique . Defintely recommend this juice . It's strong so go easy on the sprays...lasts forever . 2 sprays on my chest and neck at 7:00 pm and still going strong at almost 4:00am . Very nice

This is essentially a patchouli fragrance, with a dominant and slighty creamy barbersol accord. Personally, this really didn’t do much for me – it just reminded me of something that either my father or grandfather would have possibly been interested in.

But then again, I’ve never had much of an interest in the whole barbershop thing anyway…

Yes, pretty close to the Barbasol effect. Pluses- Smelling like you just stepped out of a clean shave. Minuses- I prefer the anise that is in Azzaro Pour Homme. Also, I wish the Patchouli came out a bit more. After 3 full wearings, I wish I could praise it as much as most on here, but I can't just give it 4 or 5 stars.

Not at all a barber-shop perfume...I don't get that - at all!

It has this smooth, dark and cool stringent woodiness, peppered with a note that, for a long time, I found hard to determine, let alone describe...

As for now, I can describe this note as dense, sweet and bitter at the same time...a blend of clove, pepper and anise, with the anise dominating.

I have to say, most fragrances that feature a dominant licorice or anise note, give me a rotten headache...but not this. Its there, and its in your face, but it doesn't give you a migraine. I also usually find that that type of note gives my nose an unpleasant tingling feeling - yet again - it doesn't do that in this perfume - but it is there, and if I use too much, it perturbsme in a way that I can't say I like.

All in all, the patchouli, cedar, guaiac and oakmoss keep the balance there, and are all notably present throughout. The rosemary gives it a nice herbal coolness, coupled with the bergamot. However, as with all anise/licorice scents, this could do with a little less of that note, and more of the woody/herbaceous notes it otherwise features very nicely!

Tried it on as a tester, my initial impression was good... so I impulsively bought it. As I walked around I increasingly became bothered by it. Two women I was with really disliked it.

Perhaps at 40 I am not old enough to wear it or it is too much clove.

It does smell like shaving cream and while that may initially be nice there is a reason the razor takes the cream away.

Anyone want to buy an unopened bottle...

The jury is out for me on this one!

read all the reviews here, so decided to try it in a tester, and it didn't really work for me, seemed a bit too classic or old manish for my tastes, and I am only 40ish, maybe will try it again to see if it comes across any better.

I am very reluctant to actually apply this scent to my skin for the plain and simple fact that it smells exactly like spray on deoderant. A female friend of mine smelled it in the bottle and said it smelled the same way as I have described it. Maybe it will open up into something different when I wear it like the other Yves Saint Laurent scents that are also in my collection currently.