7
My New Favorite From Le Labo...
Ylang 49 opens immediately with the fragrance's primary accord consisting of a very strong, somewhat banana-like ylang-ylang yellow floral note balanced with gardenia white floral support. The early heart adds a soapy undertone to the balanced florals with the ylang-ylang growing in intensity as the fragrance progression remains quite linear. During the late dry-down the balanced florals remain though slightly diminished, as a touch of green oakmoss sharpened by woody vetiver from the base adds late support. Projection is excellent to outstanding and longevity is excellent at over 12 hours on skin.
Ylang 49 is billed by some as a floral chypre, and I guess one could stick with that classification if they so desire. That said, I think it a more floral driven soapy composition with some chypre aspects. Even though I may not feel it is a floral chypre in the strictest sense, there is no doubt in my mind that the composition is a major success and smells absolutely fabulous. The first thing I noticed is just how successfully balanced the yellow and white florals are. Normally white florals are difficult for me to wear, but the gardenia is kept well enough in check by the stronger ylang-ylang yellow florals to make the composition more unisex and easy to wear. Also worthy of mention is the soapy undertone is very high quality, deftly avoiding the "cheap shampoo" effect found in so many unsuccessful compositions of price points high and low while adding additional balance to the florals. Finally late in the dry-down the oakmoss and woody vetiver are revealed, gently grounding the composition while providing the mild chypre-like effect. The bottom line is the $240 per 100ml bottle Ylang 49 may develop in a rather minimalist linear way and is not a true floral chypre in my opinion, but it much more importantly succeeds big time in smelling exceptional with outstanding performance, earning a very strong 4 to 4.5 stars out of 5 rating. Ylang 49 is very highly recommended to all and is one of the best new releases I have sniffed this year.
Ylang 49 is billed by some as a floral chypre, and I guess one could stick with that classification if they so desire. That said, I think it a more floral driven soapy composition with some chypre aspects. Even though I may not feel it is a floral chypre in the strictest sense, there is no doubt in my mind that the composition is a major success and smells absolutely fabulous. The first thing I noticed is just how successfully balanced the yellow and white florals are. Normally white florals are difficult for me to wear, but the gardenia is kept well enough in check by the stronger ylang-ylang yellow florals to make the composition more unisex and easy to wear. Also worthy of mention is the soapy undertone is very high quality, deftly avoiding the "cheap shampoo" effect found in so many unsuccessful compositions of price points high and low while adding additional balance to the florals. Finally late in the dry-down the oakmoss and woody vetiver are revealed, gently grounding the composition while providing the mild chypre-like effect. The bottom line is the $240 per 100ml bottle Ylang 49 may develop in a rather minimalist linear way and is not a true floral chypre in my opinion, but it much more importantly succeeds big time in smelling exceptional with outstanding performance, earning a very strong 4 to 4.5 stars out of 5 rating. Ylang 49 is very highly recommended to all and is one of the best new releases I have sniffed this year.