8 / 10
Yves Saint Laurent L’Homme Ultime, £55 (60ml)
Buy online
Why we love it: Simple packaging belies a more complex entity…
Review: “Upon first usage of L’Homme Ultime, I quickly had urges to don my best silk shirt (3 buttons unbuttoned of course) and my favourite cowboy boots (which I don’t own) and head down to the nearest 1920’s style cocktail bar. When I had time to think about it some more, it conjured up images of being in an old part of a castle, looking at myself in an aged gothic framed mirror holding an old fashioned and wearing guyliner.
"But as Lee Mack aptly put it, “what does it ****in smell of?”. Well Lee, I’m glad you asked; it smells like 5 parts fresh grapefruit juice mixed with half a measure of Belvedere shaken in a squirty bottle and misted heavily over a small mound of shaved Green and Blacks vanilla white chocolate. Sincerely, I do not envy fragrance advert producers.
"While I seem to be divulging perhaps a little too much of my personality, the point is that it is a complex, deep and interesting fragrance, with a sharp top note that evolves and mellows allowing the sweeter base to exchange pleasantries with anyone in your vicinity. While others like Cool Water (Davidoff) makes me feel like the breeze on a summer’s day, and the classic Dior Homme evokes the inside of a Barbour jacket, Ultime makes me feel, well…complex, deep and interesting, and ultimately confident, if not confused."
Reviewer: Guest post by Nick, boyfriend of senior features writer Anna Hunter