M7

Yves Saint Laurent, 1971, originally uploaded by Diogioscuro.

Upon applying M7 for the first time, my brother Noam was instantly reminded of a kumzits bonfire and an unidentifiable perfume (my guess: Oud Abu Dabi but when I let him smell them side by side he denied any resemblance). Unfortunately Noam’s skin soaks up fragrances very quickly and M7 was no exception. But before it evaporated completely I did catch a whiff in which M7 smelled very similar to Ambre Sultan with it’s oregano-labdanum accord (my guess is that the amber and rosemary in M7 create a similar effect that may show up better on some skins).

On my skin, M7 starts boldly oud-y and medicinal in a good way. Uniquely woody and definitely a scent that stands out in comparison to any other mainstream men’s fragrances. It is as close to Arabian oud perfume oils as a department store fragrance ever gotten, and that was before niche fragrances have gained the momentum they have reached today. It lasts at this state for a good 2-4 hours at which point it becomes overly sweet as the synthetic musk base takes over. On my skin this is when it turns into raspberry candy. Inbetween the medicinal agarwood and the sugared raspberry there is a short phase where a mineral note of vetiver emerges, dry and almost salty. M7 was created in 2002 and was the 7th YSL fragrance for men (hence the name) and the first scent that Tom Ford creatively directed for the brand. Although marketed for men (the infamous full-frontal male nude is unlikely to be forgotten, and perhaps was intended for masking the previous expose of YSL himself as you can see in the above photograph from 1971). It was designed by noses alberto Morillas and Jacques Cavalier. The notes are said to be the following (though based on my experience I can only assert the presence of agarwood, vetiver, amber and/or labdanum, musk ands raspberry):

Top Notes: Bergamot, Mandarin, Rosemary
Middle Notes: Vetiver, Agarwood
Base Notes: Amber, Musk, Mandrake root