Back and Spinning, plus Eau Libre

I'm back after a few (deserved) days of holidays away from home, wetting my striped bikini and grilling a mean BBQ aromatized by fresh thyme, so expect to actually see some posts on these pages from now on after this short blog inertia like a dutiful nerd kittie.

In the meantime, I had written a review for one of the less known fragrances by the venerable house of Yves Saint Laurent (magician of le smoking, if you recall). This also came from a clan of products that usher the 1970s in a step as assured as that of an ethic-laced wedge on cork heel rocking the Studio 54 era. That is, Eau Libre, which a very kind reader of this blog sent me a sample of a long while ago. This is a deserved review and it's posted in full on this link on Fragrantica. As always, you're welcome to comment here or there or both ways.
(And stay tuned for more articles of this kind of scents in the very near future)

For those who still haven't left for summer holidays hope you get a great rest and enjoy yourselves and we'll be catching up.

YSL Tribute Coming to an End...and a Little Poll

These past two weeks, ever since Yves Saint Laurent left this vain world for hopefully a better one (or so we have been lulling ourselves to sleep?), it has been a great pleasure writing about the fragrances of the Yves Saint Laurent brand, many of which have been firm favourites, or indeed faithful allies in everyday battles.

Even the ones that have not produced quite the same frisson of excitement in me, such as the otherwise competent spicy fougère Jazz for men (1988) or the girly-sweet Baby Doll (1999) have been additions which have caught my eye at some point for different reasons: if only because they were parts of a line that I liked.

Same goes for some rare ones, such as the unisex Eau Libre with its suave black models, a practice for which Yves was famous; or Pour Homme, his first masculine for which he himself posed in the nude questioning our acceptance of female nudity over male; or even the discontinued fruity Vice Versa.

And of course there are some other fragrances, such as the fabulous incense and spice fireworks of Nu (2001), the controversial M7 (2002) -with its alleged inclusion of agarwood/oudh for the first time in a mainstream fragrance and its provocative ads echoing Yves's nude- or the pleasant almond flower caressed by vanilla of Cinéma (2004); I opted to leave those for another time. The reason? They were created when Yves himself had already retired from his house and so his vision was not the driving force behind them. But they will soon get their share of criticism or praise on these pages.

So for now, a little visual love expressed in the elegant advertising and fashions of Yves Saint Laurent from the 1970s.
And two clips from later on: Jazz from the late 80s and Cinema from a few years ago.



And on to you, dear readers:
1.Which is your most favourite fragrance in the Yves Saint Laurent line?
2.Which is your most despised? Why?
3.And if you could suggest something for the brand for the future, what would that be?

Looking forward to hearing your responses!



For a review of YSL L'homme click here and for a commentary on Elle, click here.

Clip of Jazz uploaded by Ilovelowe and of Cinema by LightBlv on Youtube. Ad pics from the 70s: of Rive Gauche parfum(top left), Y (top right), Eau Libre (mid right) and Pour homme (mid left) from parfumdepub.