Rive Gauche and age!!! [story inside] - Page 2

Wal-mart, they have it on sale for $20. At that price, I'd pick it up just for the hell of it.

Another note is that Rive Gauche smells nothing like "old man". I sometimes associate a heavy dose of bergamot or vetiver to be slightly dated but Rive Gauche has nothing in that vibe. Think clean, spicy but in a smooth feel, and "dewy". I wouldn't imagine it to be out of place in any situation.

[QUOTE=lasta;1082068]Wal-mart, they have it on sale for $20. At that price, I'd pick it up just for the hell of it.

No way! I'm there! Thanks.

I own and love Jazz. However, I could not get past the barbesol shaving cream association with RG which is why so many like it. It just made me feel ill.

Yes, I think Rive Gauche has a magical kind of effect. It smells spicy like Barbasol when first applied but the scent is overtaken by the gaiac wood, vetiver and patchouli finish after its been on for an hour or so. It is the earthy incense like drydown that women are attracted to, not the spicy opening notes. Although the combination of spices and gaiac wood work really well. I don't think the intense version has a better incense finish than the original but it is very similar to the original - just more patchouli possibly. A nice combination of spices first followed by an incensey wood + vetiver or patchouli finish is also used in other fragrances for a similar result such as - L' Homme Sage, Spiritus Land #2, and Gucci Pour Homme.

30 years and up!!!

I cant beleive your mum cried and started speaking in tongues after smelling the mighty RG!! LOL that cracks me up!
RG has some funny field report stories! Maybe we should make a forum for them?

(Oh by the way... if you like it I cant see why an age limit is relevant... spray away!).

I own RG light and It's rather strong and has that "old-fashioned" smell. I like it, but I have never experienced the "sex-appeal effect".
For me, It's just a nice "shaving cream smell" fragrance. Minty, spicy with a lot of clove.
It's overrated here and YSL thanks everybody for increasing their sales.

Rive Gauche is a great scent.It does not smell "old man".If you like a scent just go ahead & wear it.

Now here is a concept that make sense to me in this whole "age appropriate" debate. RG does smell a little "old fashioned" - but that doesn't mean its only for "old men." From my personal collection Tsar gives me the same idea. It smells like its from another era - but I would never say it makes ME smell like I'M from another era.

Ever wear a navy blazer? Thats classic. Skinny Jeans? Those are retro. We take all kinds of stuff from the past and either keep it going indefinitely or revive it and make it modern. Seriously - if your clothes and music choices and everything else are mostly "safe" or "popular" as is the case for many teenagers then stick with "teenager" scents. There is nothing wrong with that. If you are a little edgier - if you don't have to see an outfit in A&F to wear it - you listen to music your friends have never heard of because its old classics or is the newest thing - then you can wear whatever crazy niche or sex- hairy-chested-man scent you want. If you are playing everything else safe, then don't make scent the one thing you take out on a limb.

I'm 56ish in Basenotes years.

Rive Gauche = Left Bank is one of the Paris' most romantic districts. This is the Paris of another era; the Paris of artists, writers, and philosophers, including Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Jean-Paul Sartre, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and dozens of other members of the great artistic community at Montparnasse.

neo-conservatives need not apply.

There is something shaving creamish about the can, huh?

Rive Gauche smells very sexy to many different kinds of people.

However, most importantly - it should smell sexy to you. Not just your mother.

I would say YSL Rive Gauche have to win the next Basenotes Award (Best fragrance 2007)

Nice post... identified a concept that is true for me. I mean I will wear/listen anything that I like including retro/contemp/current and old.

My wife (36) thinks Rive Gauche is the BOMB! That and Terre d'hermes are her two faves on me. If I let her pick my date night scent (2 kids, have to plan!) , she picks one of those two.

Actually knightowl, I'm 32, and I think of being far from a young insecure lad worried about being joked for smelling sophisticated.
Nevertheless, I find RG to smell aged, I even see the tom ford masculine RG more linked to the 70's than the actual formmulation of the feminine RG (which has been sadly reformulated). I cannot help it.
And I don't find it smelling aged due to my worries, but I feel that wearing it could pair like wearing a brown pied-de-poule jacket with a pale yellow wool gilet and a white shirt: not clashing but simply dated.
Period.

Good assessment Magnifiscent.
I'm also 32. There are FAR better options out there for guys in their late teens / early 20's.
You want to feel fresh and energetic at that age. NOT like the only energy you have is using your bingo dabber.

Now could you post a photo of that supposed fashion disaster just so we can tell how dated!

Wow, I would think this is a creed thread the way its going. Just goes to show the credibility of RG, one way or the other, regardless of age.

TNMA

The Graduate !

I think your worries are right. RG connects me backwards, but sex isn't part of it. The bottle looks cool, though!

Hehe Eluard,
thanks god it seems nobody has had the stomach to wear this stuff anymore cuz I cannot find a decent pic on the web to give you the idea...
Just think that the last time I saw someone dressed this way was my poor grandaddy which had this outfit still from the 60's (it was quite popular at that time such combinaison).
Nowadays pied de poule is still made but there's difference in elaborating elements from the past or merely quote them as they are: that's the smelling idea of what RG is, just a mere quote from the 70's.

I know you mean that people are adding lots of comments about criteria you're not interested in right away, but I think people judge RG the way they see/smell it. They're telling you their miscellaneous reflections on the scent here, and doing so casually. Some of the information you might find helpful and some you won't.


The answer is no. I will not associate it with the seventies if I smell it on someone.


The answer is no. I would not think the smell dated if I smelled it on someone and didn't know what the name of the scent was or which scent it was.


Yup, it is, and sometimes threads are conversations on our thoughts about a scent. Sometimes the point of many comments on a thread is that it is more what you, JBL, detect with YOUR nose. No matter how much you want the answers provided, the best answer members can give you--the one that will serve you the very best--is that you have to smell and find the answer yourself.


I hope you like it! I bet if you give it four straight days of wearing you'll see yourself in it from then on and it will feel like you. That's often the way it has been for me with many scents. I hope the testing is fun too!
Good luck,
--Chris

I really don't think your age has that much to do with it. If you see yourself as an adult, you will definetly be treated as one here. I myself am 21, but I bought Rive Gauche pour homme blind when I just turned 20. It was different from what I was used to. It's very dry and the star anise in the opening shocked me. The drydown with the dusty and slightly smokey guaicwood with dirty patchouli was weird to my nose at first. It took 2 confused wearings before I fell in love with it on my 3rd wearing. I love it and still wear it today; in fact, it was my SotD yesterday! I don't usually receive compliments (true for anything I wear, I don't tend to apply too much, just enough for me to notice), but I have not received any negative comments either. I have a feeling that is more of what you are looking for -- no negative reactions from others. I guess this fragrance is for a more 'mature' consumer, especially compared to the aquatics and fresh scents for others in our age group, but it is all about how you carry yourself. There is no age that defines what you can wear, and there is no age that defines Rive Gauche pour homme. As others have said, it transcends age. Some people say that Rive Gauche pour homme is 'clean,' but I get a different connotation. The patchouli always makes it feel dirty to me, so I usually wear it on one of those days where you have a lot of work to do, classes to go to, haven't shaved in awhile, and with a dark shirt. But I can definetly see how some dress it up as well. I find some relation to Chanel Anteaus, but I think Anteaus is better with the tux while Rive Gauche is better for casual wear. I myself usually wear it with a dark t-shirt, jeans, casual shoes and it suits me (and my age) just fine. Good luck with your testing, and I hope you like Rive Gauche pour homme, because I sure do.


and Welcome to Basenotes!

Hey JBL,

I do think that age is a state of mind mate. I know some damn old 25 year olds (my age) and some very young 40-50 year olds. My opinion is if I feel a fragrance works with my style the I will rock it as much as I like.

Take my SotD today, I am wearing Bois Du Portugal which can by some people be considered "old man" but on my it works excellently, I love it! So if the shoe fits your style... wear it with pride and fuck any haters.

Just to give you another point of view and to prove everyone has his own perception about fragrances...

Yes, I'd have instantly the connection with the 70's, I cannot help it. I always instantly see the quotes from the past when I see them... Could you see Madonna latest coiffure and not thinking about Jane Fonda or Farah Fawcets? Me nope.


Well I'd probably think he's wearing Brut or something he left in his wardrobe for years. Of course I could detect the differences among the two in the end.... but the first sniff would make me think this way

It's about time lol!

good luck >.<

sadly, i own this already.

i've written posts earlier in the thread, i just find the smell unappealing and it seems to me a scent for a decidedly older person. that said, scent is completely subjective, so who knows, i just find i don't enjoy it at all. bad blind buy!