Back To The 80's: Yves Saint Laurent Pour Homme Haute Concentration EDT

Hi everyone. I will waste no time in posting my first review. Today I am reviewing one of my favorite citrus scents of all time; Yves Saint Laurent Pour Homme Haute Concentration EDT. I will first go through my experience with the scent and then review it after. If you wish to read the review only, feel free to exercise your index finger and scroll down, the review is just below!
I bought this scent by accident a few months ago. I was still a rookie in the world of fragrance (I probably still am, but I like to think otherwise) and my purchases were rather whimsical. Around this time I discovered 'basenotes' and therefore made a few searches on some powerful sweet mens fragrances.
'Yves Saint Laurent's Opium Pour Homme' came out as a favourite. I therefore decided to purchase 'Opium PH' but I did not take the courtesy to look at the bottle and study it correctly. I therefore went on 'ebay' in search of a good bargain. I then saw a few listings for Opium but they were a bit more than I was willing to spend. I then found what I thought to be a hidden gem. The listing displayed 'YSL Pour Homme Super Concentrate'. I foolishly thought that this was an even stronger version of Opium and since the boxes were similar, I bought it instantly. Little did I know that what I had actually bought was YSL's flagship scent which was NOT Opium.
A few hours later while reading my life away on fragrance websites, I realised my mistake. There was a sick feeling in my stomach because I'd spent a large chunk of my allowance on the wrong bottle! The reviews didn't help either. Some said it was all lemons and it smelt like toilet cleaner or dishwasher while some said it was downright terrible! I then anxiously waited for the bottle with that preset negativity about my purchase. I opened the bottle and tentatively spritzed the juice onto my wrists. It was an assault of sweaty lemons. Thick and heavy but lemons all the same. I instantly hated it! But this was not to last, for I revisited it on a very warm summer day and I got complimented a LOT! Needless to say, I actually enjoyed it.
I will now take this opportunity to review the scent.

REVIEW



Launched in 1983, YSL's Pour Homme Haute Concentration is a more intense and stronger take on 1971's YSL's Pour Homme (Red Cap). It is an unusually long lasting woody-citrus with a thick dose of musk. The official description says 'This masculine scente contains petitgrain, lemon, carnation and is accented with rosemary, patchouli, tonka beans, herbs with notes of aromatic woods and nutmeg making YSL perfect for daily use'.
I myself do not possess a nose complex enough to differentiate between individual notes, but I will say that I can smell a lot of lemon. It's the most dominant note in the fragrance and stays there till the very end, which is highly unusual as citrus notes evaporate in the first few minutes or hours depending on the scent.
I applied 6 sprays of the fragrance for the purpose of the review. I do not recommend spraying this with a heavy hand. It is incredibly powerful and one or two sprays should do just fine. If you want the people around you to smell it from a distance, then maybe my application will suit you. However, I am not responsible for any implications this may bring upon the wearer. If you get chased by a mob of scent driven ladies, handle it yourself!
The initial assault is a nose numbing concoction of lemon. Lots of it too. I understand why it has been compared to detergent or dishwashing liquid. It does have that vibe going on. It then calms down slightly after about 10 minutes to a musky citrus. I do not detect the woods, although I have read that it has woody ingredients. Projection is still very good and I can still very much notice it.
After the first hour, the lemons lose their sourness and begin to sweeten a little. Now the woods come into play. The lemon gets sweeter and sweeter and thus revealing the musk. At this point it smells very much like sour lemon flavoured candy with a slight fresh sweat note thrown in for good measure.This is a very sweet, dirty and sexy musk and lemon combination. One that can definitely evoke 'elevated' reactions from the females.
It remains pretty linear until you get to the 6 hour mark where the musk and woods become clearer and almost equal the lemon in strength. This is my favourite part. I have to keep sniffing my inner elbow and twirlng my head to catch whiffs of it. it's civil, musky and the lemon keeps everything fresh.
After about 10 hours, you now have a woody citrus skin scent with the musk still howling in the background, but quietly so. It remains this way for more than I care to record.
In conclusion, what we have with YSL's PH HC is a slightly old fashioned citrus. It's bold, powerful and it screams for attention. Used sparingly, this will trounce most modern offerings. However, if used with a heavy hand, it may offend, but rarely so. With incredible longevity for any scent, let alone a citrus, this offers incredible value for money. In today's society, it's radically different to the more popular scents and will definitely elicit comments. It's quite rare too so you will not find too many people wearing it. I feel that this will do well with light application in the summer and will perform better in the winter. However it is up to the wearer to decide when, where and how.
I do not recommend buying it blind. Please do test it. I buy blind because I'm addicted to the process of discovering the scent, the unknown and the unseen. I hope that you are not as crazy and save some serious money by trying the scent.
If you feel you cannot handle the serious power of PH HC, why not go for the more civil PH (which I havent tried but I feel is incredibly similar). It's available in the UK at solippy for around £15. Do research internet retailers before buying from them. Solippy has some mixed reviews. If you can find it somewhere more reputable for more, then that £2 extra may just save you months of follow up! For more reviews go to basenotes.net (Link on your left) and read other peoples experiences on this beautiful scent which I have grown to love.