Soviet cheap cologne
Behind the Iron Curtain, millions of people were dreaming about Yves Saint Laurent, Paris and the exquisite French perfumes, but the soviet factories were not always able to create fragrances with the same degree of perfection and refinement. For my conference I was not sure if I should present or not 2 creations (one from the Osmotheque, the other from my collection) because there was something too simple, raw and brutal. The "cleaning product" connotation (fresh synthetic bergamot + herbal jasmine Jasmonal H type + terpenic notes) was too obvious. If you cut many soviet perfumes from the 60's and 50's in 2 parts (the fresh accord + the heavy element) and keep only the "dry fresh soapy floral herbal" facet you get Saharienne (YSL). I am under shock since the other day when I discovered this hideous "minimalist" perfume. First, the bottle and its glass details are terrible ugly, second, this is not a perfume but a "cleaning product" formula of the lowest imaginable quality. It is the formula of a mass market soap from the 80's, "savon de Marseille" type. There are millions of consumers who knew the cheap colognes sold in the East. I invite them to smell Saharienne (YSL), 20 years after the fall of the Iron Court, and to remember the extremely cheap "eau de cologne" (actually synthetic bergamot compositions with the most humble materials) and the scent of the soap produced at home.
I have little to add about the death of YSL as a luxury brand, I've been repeating it since at least 2 years. But one thing became clear to me after I assisted to a conference given by a big boss from l'Oréal. This huge cosmetic group is the direct descendent of the soviet ideology. Have an eye on their perfumes, formulae and world domination in the following 5 years and you'll understand my shock.
The 5 year plan, as it was expressed during this L'Oréal conference, starts with a dramatic raw materials cut. L'Oréal formulae will become much simpler, easy to produce, easy to control. For me it sounds very familiar. It is the Five Year Plan of Madame Molotova, head of the cosmetic industry under Stalin, and strangely it becomes reality today in Paris.
Today, the brands of L'Oréal reflect the same problem of quality found in the former soviet perfumes. They do not have the right ingredients because they are too expensive in the 5 Year Plan, as the target of L'Oréal is to have 2 billions consumers in the next future. They do not have the fragrance savoir faire because the people who select the compositions (proposed by gifted perfumers from IFF/Givaudan/Firmenich/etc.) have extremely low olfactory standards and fragrance culture. In the 30's, Madame Molotova put the bases of the soviet mass production (cosmetics and perfumes) with the same goal in mind. Peasants and workers did not use fragrances before the 1917 Revolution. However, something was very different. Molotova and her perfumers had an ideal (french perfumes) despite their difficulties. Today L'Oréal has also an ideal - the world domination of the shampoo scent, the universal 10 ingredients formula, cheap to produce, easy to sell.
Marketing can sell you dreams but the perfume cannot lie - the cheap quality is obvious to anyone unless it is your first perfume experience. With 2 billions of consumers in mind, there are plenty of innocent people to be seduced.
Marketing can sell you dreams but the perfume cannot lie - the cheap quality is obvious to anyone unless it is your first perfume experience. With 2 billions of consumers in mind, there are plenty of innocent people to be seduced.
Saharienne (YSL) is the beginning of the New World Odor.
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
