Y Yves Saint Laurent for women

I agree with Migalex - this is totally sophisticated scent! Vivacious, comforting, stylish. I like it very much.

What i was expecting based on reviews is a nice chypre fragrance. What i really get from my EDT is a very very sharp burst of oakmoss smell, really bitter and harsh, i was really scared away with the opening. Then i read all the reviews that say i should wait until it fades away. So i have waited. It became indeed more pleasant and at one moment i began to think that it is not that bad actually and i might to like it even. Green notes became more subtile and softer. THEN it quite quickly has changed into very powderly scent which i absolutly dislike. I do not understand how a chypre can turn into something that smells like "Bal a versailles"??!!! I was really upset and decided not to buy a pure perfume version of this fragrance since it will be a waste of money to me.
This is not a kind of chypre i like, i prefer "Madame Rochas" or "Scherrer 1" or "Magie Noire". "Y" is a perfume of extremes: harsh opening and powderly drydown. Too much for me in one fragrance :(
The lasting power is really great and sillage is also really great! But overall not my type of fragrance at all sadly.
My review is not for the very vintage formula, but the current formulation i guess.

Please do not remove this comment, since others might find it useful. Not every review should be positive, so people like me wanted to make a blind buy might find it very informative. Thanks.

Similar to chanel nº 19 in the first five minutes, but nº 19 diverts after that, while Y keeps the opening notes for much longer. Sillage and longevity are great and the perfume is the embodiement of sophistication. That is it.

Review of current formulation EDT:

Y opens with a sharp blast of aldehydes and indistinct green notes. Within a 20 minutes the harshness of the opening faded to a powdery hyacinth and a note that is somewhat reminiscent peach skin. After several hours what remains is a vetiver, oakmoss and powdery aldehyde scent. Beautiful.

Sillage: Good, 4-7 feet
Longevity: Excellent, 14 hours on my skin!
Overall Rating and Feel: 9/10. Even reformulated, Y is a fantastic, understated and under-rated chypre. Well made if a touch "old-fashioned" feeling, probably from the prominent aldehyde notes. Highly wearable and suitable for many occasions, dressed up or dressed down, and appropriate for all ages.

ACH!!!

I'm so tired of the "grandma" and "old lady" references!!

What if we started referring to all the sweet fruity scents made in the last 10 years as "juvenile", "immature", "pre-pubescent" or maybe just "little girly"?

Scents definately belong to certain time periods, representing the current style and can smell "dated", no doubt about it.

But a good perfume is timeless and "Y" is exactly that...it starts as a slightly heavy oakmoss chypre (just like Cristalle actually) but brightens quickly to an enchanting green floral heart. It literally blooms on your skin, truly breathtaking in it's beauty.

You either like it or you don't, you'll either wear it or you won't.

Fine with me no matter (except don't buy the last bottle on the planet or I'll have to kill you) as I plan to add this one to my permanent/masterpiece collection right away.

And if your grandma smells like this, God Bless her, she has excellent taste!

There is no denying Y is a masterfully constructed chypre. I can't fault it. It wears beautifully.

I have a number of chypres in my collection, and several floral aldehydes. Y is familiar territory to my nose and it sits among the other great retro chypres I have acquired over the years.

Gosh, here comes the inevitable "however", Y is such a good classic chypre that it smells identical to some of the other good chypres I have. My nose lacks the capacity to distinguish any points of difference.

Not to diminish Y's credibility I would like to add I am delighted I finally have it in my collection.

Just bought it.It is very different from most descriptions that were given here.I thought is some sort of fresh but I was soo wrong.It is just soo sweet for me.I could not describe it differently.Just very sweet and it smells like a perfume that somebody's grandma used to wear.

It’s no wonder that people love this scent. It is beautiful from so many angles, and so deftly balanced. And, wonderfully, this balance doesn’t seem the result of consensus. This is not the middle of the road in a bottle. It contains the best of green florals and grassiness, a smart fruit choice, a confident dose of moss and just enough darkness in the basenotes to make it meld with your skin. It is a quality of many chypres to sink into the skin over time. This one becomes a skin scent, but one with sillage, almost instantly.

There is something so poised and charming about Y. It has confidence yet never seems to have to prove itself. There’s just that hint of a knowing smile. God, I wish I were Y. Interestingly, while other green scents suggest flowers, grasses, things you might find out-of-doors, Y is in fact outdoorsy. It has all the city sophistication of similar fragrances (Cristalle, Silences, No. 19) but seems perfectly at home in the woods.

Y was released in 1964, the year I was born and a year I’ve never quite made sense of. I remember what the later 60s were like on the east coast of the US where I lived at the time. Yet photos from 1964 look like the mid-50s to me. Y captures a bit of this for me. A few years earlier and Y might have been Jolie Madame, a few years later, Diorella. Sort of an interesting in-between time.

The best of all Yves Saint Laurent scents and definitely the most under-rated. Also, I believe, now discontinued. More's the pity.

50% Guy Laroche Fidji EDT + 50% Chanel No 19 EDT = YSL Y EDT

But to me Y is prettier than both: It is more gentle than No 19 and has more guts than Fidji.

Oh my! I have found my favourite chypre! This baby is better than Emeraude and Bandit and No 19 and O de Lancome. It's like inhaling the fragrance of fresh dewy moss and hyacinths. Usually I HATE aldehyde, but the powder here is as clean and sweet as the first new-mown grass of Spring. Y would be equally at home at a classy picnic or a high level Board meeting. Such a waft of underplayed herbal-talcy freshness with charismatic elegance! Ah! If you are a chypre-dipper, then you must try Y.

Here's another gem I might have overlooked if not for "Perfumes: The Guide": Y is a perfectly smooth, polished chypre. Luca Turin describes it as quintessentially French, as French as Les Parapluies de Cherbourg and Chablis wine, and I agree. Even after all of the reformulations, the oakmoss is quite prominent, along with the aldehydic opening. The fruity (plum?) and floral (hyacinth?) notes stand out, too, though they are more blended. This kind of aldehydic chypre is fast becoming one of my favorite kinds of perfume!

Too lovely to be believed. All the reviews I read made me think this was right up my alley, and it IS.

A classy (I hate that word) subdued beauty. She's an accountant who rides horses in her spare time.

Or she's a woman who runs a daycare out of her home.

Or she's an English professor.

Someone very competent and self-assured but never cocky. Someone accustomed to making her own way in the world and never looking back. Someone who lives very much in the present.

I'm not a fan of oakmoss. Civet? Phew! Aldehydes-- yuck!

Why-oh-why do I love Y so much?

I think it's because it reminds me of September. It is dry, yet green with a touch of yellow, such as the leaves outside. The peach and plum impart a glow reminiscent of the still-warm sun. It is not emotional, nor does it foreshadow the coming winter. The three above ingredients that I so often find offensive seem to combine together in a singular tour de force, supporting, rather than overwhelming, the shimmering yellow-green composition.

If Y were a gem it would be a peridot.

Although never commecially popular, Y has a cult status that cannot be matched. I have the original and the reformulation.

The original is just about the sexiest thing ever produced. It is like Mitsouko on steroids! The oakmoss swirls thoughout the entire composition. The fruit is not fresh-more like fine plum confiture and dried peach. It has a complexity that takes hours to develope. The floral heart is restrained and elegant. It has the fire of a brilliant diamond. The amber color promises many hours of olfactory fliting and delivers.

The reformulation is but a cheap zircon that pales in comparison...Seek out an original to experience a giant 20th century chypre masterwork.

This is one badass chypre, I pretty much see it as Miss Dior with balls. From a contemporary point of view, shaped by fragrances that are designed to smell "cute" on paper for the first ten minutes (in accordance with the shopping strategy of an average customer), Y is definitely every marketing department's nightmare. It's not cute, any which way you look at it, and it doesn't bring out all of its big guns until about two hours in. But I personally love to witness every single minute.

The beginning is aldehydic floral, naturally, but you can already detect some of the mossy base and that lovely civet stink (it even bares a certain resemblance to Bandit for me, which is a plus). Civet and oakmoss are also what dominates the next stage on me, together with a creamy rose note. The drydown brings out more of the dry sweetness of fruits, patchouli and resins.

Shame I only know the EdT which doesn't last that long on my skin.

What can I say about Y...after 42 years using it!...is my parfum...I used before and for many years Fidji until I found Y...I follow it around the world...is not easy to find...Is a great! flowers, green and wood all in one... nobody does it better than Y...Love at the first snif..."Too bad it's discontinued, but the new rules would make it impossible to recreate anyway,with all that oakmoss. The fruity opening is a great pleasure, aromatic but not really sweet, just fresh and energizing"...I´m very sorry that I can find nothing similar Buahhhhhhhh There is nothing like Y!!!

I'm not usually a fan of chypres, but I've always quite liked this one. I find it quite refreshing and green. I wouldn't want to wear it all the time, but it's nice for occasional use - although I'm sure it's probably something of an acquired taste. Haven't seen it for a while - has it been discontinued?

This review is based on a sample generously sent to me by a forum member some time ago, so I don’t know the concentration. However, I suspect it is an EdT. At first I smell powdery violets, citrusy aldehydes, and something green and mossy. As Y dries down, it takes on a soft, gentle, understated floral chypre feeling, a bit like an old Patou scent with a pinch of pollen sprinkled over it like fairy dust.

It’s a well-behaved scent, easy to wear, pleasant and classically European in its general outline. It’s the sort of perfume I’d wear to a formal wedding so as to smell good to myself and others but not upstage the bride. It’s one of those abstract scents that’s simply meant to smell like a perfume, not a flower, place, experience, person, or anything else representational. It would make a good wardrobe staple for anyone who wants a conservative, subdued fragrance. The only down side is that the version I have doesn’t last very long, about 3-4 hours tops.

My all-time favorite chypre. Love it more than any other perfumes I've owned. It's a classic, green chypre that never fails to lift my mood. And now that Spring is here, I'll wear it often.

This perfume is very classic and wonderful! It's my favorite chypre.

Sherapop! Did you notice the DRIED fruits in there? It is one of the most special features of this perfume and although not mentoined in the notes here, one of my vintage books mentoined this. So you saying 'DRY' is exactly the thing! I love that!! DRIED FRUITS!

This is truely light scent. I thought this would be more "dark" or how to say hmm, hevier. Thinking so because I looked up them ingredients. I bought Y and Knowing at the same time. One is in my left wrist and one is in right. They are like day and night ;)))
Both are huge good. Maby Y is very pleasant at summer time when skin gets warm ;) I need to try it after few month.
Edit; Nah! This is better at winter in crispy cold snowy time.

Compared to YVRESSE, YSL Y seems very dry and austere. I'd call it a dried grass chypre rather than a fruity one. There is certainly a connection between the two compositions, but YVRESSE seems fuller, in addition to being fruitier, while Y seems clean and direct. Actually, I think that the naming of YVRESSE makes a lot of sense, in relation to Y: it contains more detectable, thicker notes, so the name has become thicker (longer) as well. I should say that I never really found YVRESSE very fruity (and it seems to me very un-champagnelike...), until I compared it side by side with Y!

Y reminds me a bit of a couple of the Balmain perfumes, inhabiting with them the same general neighborhood as CORIANDRE. On my skin, Y is less green than brown, and the aldehydes do evoke vague and distant memories of ARPEGE, as another reviewer points out, but ARPEGE develops and undulates, while Y seems more linear and univocal--notwithstanding the lengthy list of notes, which are obviously very finely blended! Y is nowhere near as green and wacky as MA GRIFFE.

Y is a conservative, classic creation, for women who appreciate aldehydic perfumes which are neither sweet nor very floral. I am happy to have been introduced to this perfume by fellow Fragrantican Action. They are both gems!

I received this as a gift about 25 years ago, before I developed my fascination with scents. I enjoyed wearing it, but did not repurchase. I had been thinking about it lately, and decided to try it again. I am very glad I did; it is a lovely green floral chypre, and the dry-down, on my skin, actually had a citrusy undertone which Chanel 19 (which it does remind me of) does not. It is VERY long-lasting; the spritz of 4pm was still gently sniffable the next morning!. The opening is indeed what I think of as very "French"; fizzy, green, floral with a wonderful chypre flavour. A great re-buy after all this time.

This juice seems to be the cure for winter. In the past 4 or 5 hours I've applied a significant amount of my miniature because I can't get enough of the scent. Y opens beautifully with rose and powder and peach. Aldehydes and other florals slowly come in and then the small meteorological miracle occurs. Normally in the cold dry air of winter these floral notes would collapse into either nothingness or a thin sad sweetness. In the case of Y, the resins and oakmoss begin to open with a strong plum note. There's just enough civet to give the perfume structure. You will then have several hours of pleasure from alternating sweet incense and lush florals. This is how I've always imagined the Spice Coast of India to smell.

When I first applied this I immediately thought of Arpege. I think Amic was too smart to try to reproduce it but definitely was paying tribute. I hope the kill rumor is just that since I've come to this so late.

Sillage: cocktails at the Plaza
Durability: very good though the top note is addictive
Price to value ratio: excellent
9/10

How can somebody describe love?
That moment when everything seems to fall into place?
That happened to me when I smelt Y for the first time, love at first snif. I couldn´t have enough of it. I was living in London back then and was visiting a friend. She had a big bottle of Y on a self in the bathroom and naughty me (and bad mannered I know) I sprayed it just to see what it was like, and that was it! After that, what can I say? 20 years together, with ups and downs but always close.

What a perfectly lovely chypre Y is! At first spray I was a bit floored, my usual reaction to a true classic chypre.I think respectable with a lot of clean soul is the right way to describe Y. I smell shy peach, fresh cut green stems, a faint whisper of gardenia, passionate civet, green tree moss, and bright ylang ylang in this perfume. Visual reflections of Audrey Hepburn in Charade abound with Y! I think perhaps it might bring me a bit of luck, and even though I believe this fragrance to be classy, it also alludes to a soft unique sex appeal that I rarely find in classic perfumes. I love Y and I’m very pleased with my spanking new version of this perfume over a more expensive vintage one. If it’s been reformulated I don’t care. Y is still a beautiful scent.

Thank you sooo much, lovely Action for this wonderful perfume gift!!!
Y - it is really a classic and does not smell like a perfume from the sixties.
I would have thought it was from the eighties and I can actually picture Alexis Colby wearing nothing but a fur coat and Y while trying to seduce Blake Carrington.
Y is for a strong woman, an alpha-woman, a self-confident woman, a sophisticated and classy woman.
A smart woman who knows where she is coming from, a smart woman who is a leader.
Y turns out to be smoky (no one mentioned that) AND a bit soapy at the same time on my skin, like clean and dirty but not crack whore dirty, it is more like Alexis Colby dirty!
And yes, I always liked Alexis better than Krystle!
And it is so well blended that I cannot single out any note.
Staying power and projection are really good.
A single drop lasted more than 8 hours and I could smell it on me without having to press my nose onto my wrist, my shoulders or the top I was wearing.
Y is not something I would reach for on a regular basis but it is a special occasion perfume.
I would definitely not wear it in hot weather as it would be too heavy for me but I am looking forward to wear it to the company parties (except from the summer party) and my friend's wedding next month.
I will wear it when it is getting a bit warmer, but still below 20 degrees, and when a good friend of mine and I will spend our time sitting in cafés in Hampstead, just watching the rich (and famous) people while we try to look like rich folks ourselves...

This perfume is one of my favourites. It is very classy, luxurious and elegant. It brings a lot of nice memories. Opium and Y are the best from YSL.

Here is another masterpiece that YSL is giving away alomst for free! I have both the vintage and the new one and both smell FANTASTIC!! I really love YSL making this kind of perfumes attainable for everybody (at least online that is..).

AND not unimportant, according to my vintage perfume books, this perfume is quite unique in the fact that it contains DRIED fruits. That gives the perfume and extra sensual dimension, like Quadrille does too, containing dried fruits.

Y may just be one of YSL's most underappreciated fragrances yet. Being overshadowed by all the glitz and glamour that YSL seems to represent today, this bottle is often lost among the sparkly Parisienne or the candy pink Baby Doll.

This fragrance is a classic, especially in the way that it doesn't have to be loud or ground-breaking to be so loved.

When I first smelt Y the word 'clean' came to mind. I wanted to say soapy and fresh, however Y isn't either of those things. It's clean in a very natural and simplistic sense of the word, like something that becomes you, rather than announcing to the world that it's a perfume.

It isn't heavy and it isn't offensive. Y is classy and sophisticated but also versatile enough to be casual and alluring.

It's green and woodsy with a somewhat powdery quality. It doesn't feel dated and I would not have guessed that this fragrance originated from the 1960's. Although not particularly outstanding, the scent itself is quite addictive. It was something that I had to smell over and over again just to embrace its beauty.

I must add that this fragrance isn't as dry as some chypres, it has a delicate moistness, possibly caused by the rich green notes and the earthy, wet patchouli note. The fragrance also tends to smell a little musty.

The aura of Y is incredible. It conjures up thoughts of cleanliness, fresh bouquets of flowers and soft, burning incense. Perhaps slightly 'churchey' and refined in its manner.

I could talk about this fragrance all day, as there are many levels to be experienced here. Y is one of those fragrances that leave a profoundly good impression despite its subtlety.

Y is such a gem of a fragrance. At first spray, I get a lot of the jasmine. Soon, the grassy, woody notes fall into place. What remains is the wonderful oakmoss and vetiver. The patchouli and civet are not played up nearly as much as they are in some of the other classic chypres.

To say Y is a classic and classy perfume would be correct. It has been around since 1964....that should be a sign to how good of a treasure Y is.

A spray of Y, a spin of The Beatles "Revolver" on 45, and the mood is set.

A very classy perfume. When ever I wear this perfume, I am always complimented on how lovely I smell. It is the first perfume I have encountered that takes you on a journey with its individual notes. Beautiful honeysuckle, jasmine, soft fruits, rose, greens, the notes are endless. A beautiful perfume that gives you a feeling of sophistication.

I was given a bottle of Y recently from a generous lady I don't even know. First sniff from the bottle and I thought, oh no, I won't be able to wear this. I have a hard time with chypres (I think). But wow! This is beautiful. It is so clean, green, and to me, a much lighter, rounder version of Aromatics Elixir. I never get a headache when I wear Y. It is becoming a comfort scent for me.

I must admit- it's too sophisticated for me to wear. This fragrance is for women who dress flawless every day. And acts nice all the time.

I tinkered with fragrance when I was younger but at 18 I was given my first bottle of Y and we have become friends now for 38 years. When I am hugged by friends not seen for many years they say they remember my "smell" as much as me. Thank you Jean Amic for your wonderful nose. I will be buried with my beloved Y !! xx

Whenever I wear this perfume. I recieve many compliments. It is very french and classy. Can be worn day or night. A unique blend of green, citrus and flowers enrapture you. Every now and then I smell these beautiful notes and am always surprised that is me.

Well having read some of the reviews - it seems you love it or hate it - personally I love it - I am getting very hung up on this site - and on leaving my opinion I love to compare I think I may have to buy from the USA - despite the shipping costs - there's something wrong in the UK - in my Quartier any way - Left Bank of the Mersey River - I need a good place to purchase some class

don't know where the hell to write this.

I "dissapeared" because I GOT BANNED,with no warning, while I had some unfinished swaps.

Hope the ones who think I've scammed them get to read this before it's deleted.

: ( :(

Y is a masterpiece. I have never smelled an edt that is layerd with such beauty and blended so well. This is a classic. When I wear it, I feel utterly charmed by its beauty.

(Vintage EDP Review)

Finally a chance to test this classic scent!! No need to know hte notes here, as nothing stands out.

This opens sharp to me and develops along the lines of Chamade and Ma Griffe. I do agree that it is a very sophisticated and refined scent.

I know aldehydes were the 'thing' for quite a few decades, but I have a very hard time wearing this ingredient. It turns the fragrance into 'air' on me, and I respond hte same as when I move a pile of papers that have been resting on my desk for a year... a-CHOO!

A nice green chypre, though, and I do recommend the EDP version.

Wow, I finally got some of this and I love it! I was not expecting it to be quite so animalic in the base notes, but that's fine with me as I adore classic Chypres. Lots of nice "dirty" jasmine along with the tuberose and honeysuckle, and REAL oakmoss in the base too, this is a real classic. Too bad it's discontinued, but the new rules would make it impossible to recreate anyway,with all that oakmoss. The fruity opening is a great pleasure, aromatic but not really sweet, just fresh and energizing. A keeper!

A classic fragrance, which is fresh and complex at the same time.
The Oakmoss and Vitiver are very noticeable to my nose. Very pleasant, i like it.

Almost masculine to me, I cannot smell any flowers or fruits here; woody, powerful, beautiful opening, I don't like the drydown which is soapy on me. It smells a bit like old ladies, but in a sexy kind of way, as if the woman wearing it has a lot of experience and knows everything going on around her; Bohemian, I would give it a change with the right wardrobe; mysterious, strong, and creative, intellectual to the last drop, just lacks sexiness to me... great for showing who's got the power in a world dominated by men.

Y is a chypre that I am most familiar with, its composition has a classic structure.

Chypres like this almost always have a jarring beginning, usually with a bright, sharp, aldehydic and green opening.

As the topnotes fade, you discover the fruity nuances melding with its floral heart. The fruits used are not the the candied type so typical in modern fragrances of the new century. They are juicy, but not terribly sweet. They meld seamlessly into the slightly powdered floral heart with a pronounced rose complimented by tuberose and hyacinth.

It is rather soft, and it reminds me of Clinique's Aromatics Elixir, but done with more finesse and refinement. Aromatics Elixir is very bold, very redolent of roses and herbs, with a woody-grassy background. Y's base is more sensual, woody tones softened by musky civet and styrax.

For those who want to warm themselves up to a classic chypre should try Y.

I agree with PR, my husband walked into the room after I sprayed it and asked what the horrible smell was. Musty, dusty, and just plain awful.

I love this. Its not a scent I would wear because you need to be fairly sophisticated to carry it or it wears you. My mother wore it and I can still recall how strong, smooth and distinctive it smelled. Despite an array of ingredients, the scent is fairly solid and very well blended. Classic.

When gardenia, tuberose and jasmine are all together among the chypre ingredients I usually find the overall scent choking, althought I'm a big chypre fan otherwise. I've checked the ingredients of the fruity chypres, the floral chypres and the leather/aldyhylic chypres and those I dislike all contain all 3 (gardenia,tuberose & jasmine) but if it's just one or two of the 3 it's much more appealing to me. But this scent seems to mix the 3 in a way that's truly transformative.

Y is magic. Wear it and you will receive comments, not all of them positive, but wear it anyway - you can't please everyone all the time so you might as well please yourself!

Y, the luxury and the perfection together, a very elegant, timeless and sophisticated fragrance. A harmony between chypre, flowers and green notes. Like a green, fresh wind. A floral bouquet, very intensive. A structure riche, warm and woodly.

I think ,Nuppu, there is part of a truth that it might be my chypre intolerance, and after you pointed it out, I scrolled down through the list of chypres. The part of them I smelled before, are alright, not among the favorites but alright, and how can it be that Coco Mademoiselle is chypre? total surprise and miss dior.. Perhaps the problem can be aldehydes, I don't know, because I find Rive Gauche YSL, Chanel N22,N5 quite similar, but with a less suffocative power, and they all are on the list of Floral Aldehydes, and YSL 'Y' has aldehyde among the ingredients

To Scent lover and PR, the problem might be just chypre genre, I also many times feel chypres suffocating and they make me cough, there's something thick and dizzying. And I do like heavy florals and strong oriental, but most chypres make me ill.

Y is beautiful, green chypre, but again, difficult to wear because of this sensitivines of many chypres.

To PR:

Probably our noses perceives the smells in very different way. In general I like strong, intense, complex scents and anything ligter may seem as light scent to me while for someone else it can be strong. I offered to try Paloma Picasso as I consider it as a strong chypre perfume and I was curious to know your opinion. To me Y is much much much lighter than Paloma Picasso.
Y is very well balanced chypre. A bit of green and citrusy notes and beautifully done wood. I think it is more intense than lets say Madam Rochas by Rochas but weaker than Paloma Picasso.

to Scent lover: No, I haven't tried Paloma Picasso, but it is realy strange you name it as light, perhaps I should try to smell it again..though I am not very willing

To PR:
In opposite I feel it as quite light chypre perfume which is very well balanced too. Have you tried Paloma Picasso? I think thats the strong chypre.

if it is possible to choke on the smell this is the one. Something suffocating and not too pleasant to my nose.. was coughing after smelling this for couple of minutes.'Stink bomb' came to my mind