Rive Gauche pour Homme (2003)
by Yves Saint Laurent

Classic fresh fougère
With spicy sparks, dry woods and
Cuephoric lockcide

Which is known to cause
Chronic nostalgia in men
And acute passion

In the dear ladies
At least according to some
Chronic abusers.

It was always going to be tough for Rive Gauche Pour Homme to live up to my expectations. Revered by many folks whose opinions I value, executing a style that is ultimately very familiar and common, it was going to have to make some special kind of impression to justify the investment. Chasing a tin can is not cheap these days.

And boy does it make that impression.

Star anise and cloves are two notes I’m skeptical of in fragrance, because one of my staple childhood meals was beef mince and peas cooked with star anise on a bed of rice steamed with cloves. Turning my comfort food into high class shaving cream? How the f**k could that work?

The simple answer is incredibly well. The entire thing is more than the sum of its parts and far better than my ability to describe it. What I will say is that projection is light and polite, sillage noticeable enough to garner some compliments and performance is good enough to linger through a cold shower.

Check out Zealot Crusader’s review for an excellent technical breakdown. All I’ll say is that between my dad being a Brut man and the culinary notes of my childhood being so beautifully incorporated, this has overwhelmed me. Easily my new favourite.

Usually not a "barbershop" guy but I really like the fresh, unique scent of Rive Gauche pour Homme. Also, the performance is really good as well.

It definitely hints towards a shaving cream scent but the starring and quite biting anise with herbal geranium, rosemary, and warming cloves really makes Rive Gauche pour Homme stand out from many other scents I've tried. It's soapy, green herbal, fresh and masculine.

I get all-day longevity and projection that others can smell without having to get too close.

I've read the rave reviews, I have no doubt it's a classic of its genre. But clearly that's a genre I don't much like. Smells like soap or shaving cream, as many say. As if someone wanted to re-create the smell of an actual barbershop. It's sort of powdery, presumably from a sweet lavender note: certainly not the intense herbal note of a lavender flower crushed in your palm. The anise and clove don't help me to like it either. It's "clean" in the sense that it smells like soap, but that's not really how I understand the word "clean". So not for me: I will continue to look for an aromatic fougere as my nose imagines it, intensely lavender-herbal-bracing.

Rive Gauche pour Homme, my signature fragrance. I grew up loving the smell of my grandfathers shaving cream and aftershave, so perhaps I'm a little biased towards RG but for me this fragrance is pure heaven and the best smell I've ever put my nose to.

It is the perfect mix of old school shaving creams and aftershaves; not the cheap Gillettes, Old Spices and Bruts (although I love those too) but the luxury kind. Rive Gauche smells like the kind of shaving cream and aftershave a wet shave enthusiast would use.

Rive Gauche is a soapy, fresh fougere with just the right amount of each and every note. Just the right amount of anise, lavender, cloves and patchouli with a touch of vetiver to prevent this from smelling too old fashioned. No note leans too strong and the result is a beautiful, timeless fragrance that can be worn in just about any occasion at just about any time of the year (steer clear of days above 32C/90F).

Many will say this is 40+ fragrance to be worn by a formal, clean-shaven man but it's all about how you rock it; I'm a 30 year old, t-shirt and jeans wearing guy with a great big beard and I think I pull it off just fine :p