Paris Yves Saint Laurent (1983) Eau de Toilette

Paris (Eau de Toilette) by Yves Saint Laurent

Bottle Design: Pierre Dinand

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Paris (Eau de Toilette) (Yves Saint Laurent)

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7.8 / 10 315 Ratings

Paris (Eau de Toilette) is a popular perfume by Yves Saint Laurent for women and was released in 1983. The scent is floral-powdery. It is being marketed by L'Oréal.

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Perfumer

Sophia Grojsman

Fragrance Notes

Top Notes	Bergamot, Geranium, Indian cress, Green notes, Hyacinth, Cassia, Mimosa, Orange blossom, Hawthorn
Heart Notes	Orris root, Jasmine, Lily, Lime blossom, Lily-of-the-valley, Rose, Violet, Ylang-ylang
Base Notes	Amber, Oakmoss, Heliotrope, Iris, Musk, Sandalwood, Cedarwood

Ratings

Scent

7.8 (315 Ratings)

Longevity

8.0 (209 Ratings)

Sillage

7.5 (205 Ratings)

Bottle

7.3 (223 Ratings)

Submitted by DonVanVliet, last update on 21.05.2019

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Reviews

03/22/2019

10.0 7.0 6.0 6.5/10

Blauemaus
0 Reviews

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Blauemaus

I choke on a cloud from the '80s

Yeah, I know I'm gonna step on some people's toes now. Paris is a classic and has many lovers, even here on Parfumo. And first of all, the scent is not bad, quite the opposite. When I look at what is being launched on an assembly line today, Paris is really something else... He has rightly been on the market for several decades. Only unfortunately I don't like him today any more than I did in the 80s.

Paris was a school friend's favorite scent. And my sister-in-law's. It was too pink for me then. I remember him rosier anyway. Either it's my memory or it was the EdP. The EdT starts beautifully rosy. Further down I read rose tea, I also have this association. Around 1 hour it is a wonderful rose note, slightly fruity, never sweet. I can still smell a little rose geranium. It would've been nice to keep it that way. Unfortunately, the smell gets warmer and warmer. Which doesn't bother me now. What bothers me is this musky note that gets stronger and stronger. After about 3 hours I feel like I'm choking on her. In addition there is a typ. early 80s flair. Kind of old-fashioned, old-fashioned. Not classic at all, like N°19 and N°5 or Charlie by Revlon. Or other scents of that time, like Joop Femme. To me he seems to have fallen out of time. I can well imagine, however, that it has a completely different effect on others. Only I myself feel aged by at least 30 years while wearing it.

Maybe Paris and I don't just fit together either - in the 80s just as little as today.

6 Replies

01/21/2019

6.0 6.0 8.0 8.0/10

StellaDiverF
209 Reviews

StellaDiverF

Retro Elegance

Paris EDT opens slightly sharp. It's ozonic, aldehydic and soapy. It then gradually morphs into a smooth powdery flower bouquet. Rose, hiacynth, violet, mimosa, lily of the valley, jasmine and other flowers interlock with one another. I can hardly pick either one out of the bouquet. It has a floral-type of sweetness, and it smells perfume-y. It doesn't smell unpleasantly synthetic, but it certainly doesn't aim to smell like real flowers. It's an artifice, cleverly structrued and well refined. Glamourous as it is, Paris EDT is surprisingly airy to my nose. I didn't find myself wearing a heavy velvet coat. Instead, it wears like a gauzy aura gently hovering around me. I doubt if the EDP has the same texture, though.

However, I do find that Paris is from an era other than our current one. Paris is like some timeless icons such as Audrey Hepburn : people admire their elegance and beauty but one does not necessarily wear exactly the same way as they do in their times. I admire and respect them as an inspiration. I'd occasionally treat myself with a few spritzes of Paris EDT to be embraced by its grace.

By the way, Paris EDT has a moderate sillage on me even with a few spritzes, but it lasts a good 12 hours and survives a shower.

07/25/2018

9.0 8.0 8.0 5.0/10

Pinkdawn
0 Reviews

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Pinkdawn

Helpful Review 12

The musty sweetness of withered roses on mourning wreaths

Paris from YSL is a fragrance that always asks me a question: What does the French capital - and of course the French women in particular - have to do with this perfume by Yves Saint Laurent?
I know Paris. Not very good. The way you get to know the city as a guest. I visited Paris in August, the month in which the locals, if they can afford it, flee the metropolis and leave it to the tourists.
After all. In the parks and gardens it bloomed - in the most beautiful colours of summer. There were roses, too. The Jardin du Luxembourg, the Tuileries, the Jardin Anne-Frank and above all the Roseraie du Parc de Bagatelle.
I imagine that Yves Saint Laurent went for a walk there in the early 1980s and was inspired to create his perfume by the lush Damascene roses, tea roses or pale pink bourbon roses that once bloomed in Josephine's Malmaison That's a naive notion, of course. The perfumer of the fragrance is the Russian Sophia Grojsman, who created fragrances like Eternity, Beautiful and Trésor. But maybe she sat in the rose gardens of Paris and enjoyed her scents.
Paris is known as "the scent of roses". That was also the reason why I was interested in this eau de toilette. I love the smell of roses.
The characteristic bottle made of cut glass with its black and pink cap immediately appealed to me The fragrance starts very sweet immediately after spraying on, almost too sweet for me. I don't notice much of the citric bergamot. Green notes, on the other hand, are clearly present at the beginning. Flowers also mix in very soon. The rose is present from the beginning and remains so. In the heart note, the fragrance begins to become slightly powdery. The cheerful sounds of green and bergamot have now completely disappeared. The EdT doesn't offer any freshness anymore, only a heavy, almost honey-like sweetness, which is reinforced by sandalwood. In addition, heavyweights such as amber and musk are also driven up to the point of waving.
Paris - I mean perfume - convinced me at the time, which I can no longer understand today. I bought the Eau de Toilette Spray and liked to use it during summer time.
YSL calls the fragrance seductive. It should stand for elegant, cheerful ladies with exquisite taste. The perfume is described as romantic, very feminine and delicate.
There are of course reasons why I still have a half-filled bottle of it. Somehow I liked the scent a lot more in the old days. Today I find it too sweet, too heavy - even as an eau de toilette - and also, yes, somehow old-fashioned.
It's the scent experience you might have when you find an old chest in the attic, open it and find the yellowed bridal veil of your great-great-grandmother in it, in which a perfume from the old days has settled.
I would like the roses to smell fresher and the whole fragrance to be lighter, more sparkling and not so dark and austere. But in fact he has a velvety heaviness that is almost melancholic for me. I don't notice the promised cheerfulness. At best, I can imagine that an attractive, well-groomed lady in black with red lacquered fingernails would wear him to her husband's funeral.
I like powdery scents. But here I encounter dusty pathos rather than a cheerful rose powder scent.
Today I can no longer see what I once liked about this fragrance. At the moment I can't identify with him and apart from funerals I would hardly know an occasion where I would wear him.
Romantic? No. Seductive? Especially not. Feminine? At best, if they're older ladies. You need a certain personality to be able to wear this dominant fragrance at least in the evening without being crushed by it. Sillage and durability are here for an eau de toilette almost incredibly intense!
In my opinion, however, this heavy-blooded scent has nothing to do with the lively cosmopolitan city on the Seine, the city of love and artists. She would have deserved a better or more fitting creation. Something light, floral, with charm and esprit, refined, but graceful and sweet.
But Paris, the scent, has none of this at all.
In Vienna, we have a White Woman who's been bypassing the Hofburg. Supposedly it is about Kunigunde, the unhappy widow Premysil Ottokar II, king of Bohemia, who was defeated and fell in 1278 in the battle on the Marchfeld by Rudolf I of Habsburg. Rudolf then exhibited the corpse of the unlucky king in Vienna for 30 weeks.
The queen's restless spirit is not welcome. Why don't you announce her appearance as a certain calamity? Fortunately, I've never met her before. Should I ever, however, I am sure to recognize her perfume immediately: this morbid scent of withered roses on mourning wreaths, this mouldy, heavy sweetness ..

7 Replies

05/26/2018

8.0 8.0 8.0 8.0/10

Jazzy76
319 Reviews

Jazzy76

Hymne à la rose

This iconic perfume could be compared to the Edith piaf's song "Hymne à l'amour" .
This rich and well composed flowery fragrance is a hymne to love and mainly to the symbol of love: the rose.
The acchord is complex, but the main actress is the classic, powerful rose. This scent represents perfectly the most romantic face of Paris.
I had a 30ml bottle of this perfume as a gift from a friend many years ago and I was maybe too Young to wear and appreciate this "mature" and very feminin fragrance. Nowadays I love it so much and I'd like to own it, but the price is high! Paris, je t'aime!

01/05/2016

5.0 10.0 10.0 7.0/10

DorothyGrace
71 Reviews

DorothyGrace

From the '80s - Still going strong

Paris – YSL

Digging around in my perfume cupboard I came across a 7.5 ml miniature of Paris Eau de Toilette from the early 1980's. I have about 1/4 left.

The strength of this EDT is nothing short of phenomenal; no wonder after all this time I still have a 1/4 bottle remaining - it really does only need a little dab and lasts 12 hours plus.

A very rich violet and rose combo (powdery, thick and sweet) with lashings of velvety musk dominates on my skin for several hours and as such it is a little bit of a one trick pony. Eventually it becomes a little less sweet and powdery with a nod from geranium and undercurrent of amber.

What a beautiful picture the pyramid of notes makes but they are only there in a supporting role for me as Paris is almost linear on my skin.

For me violet dominates the rose and Paris reminds me very much of those cachous sweets (adored these - where can they be bought nowadays?) in particular the Parma Violet ones.

I wonder what the new formulation is like.

Eau de Toilette miniature circa 1980s

12/28/2012

Krmarich
24 Reviews

Krmarich

Very helpful Review 7

I Love Paris!!!

I discovered an original black 1.6oz EDT box circa 1983 on e-bay. It is quite different from the familiar formula on todays market. This was truely the biggest and best rose perfume ever made. In its time, I only detected it from afar. Indeed by 1985, it was everywhere. The traffic jam of perfume from that era shall never be forgotten or matched.

Paris however was different. Its pays tribute to Apres l'Ondee and was like Nahema containing a profusion of rose damascenones so boldly. This is YSL running along side Guerlain equally. It is Sophia Grojsman's magnum opus. It is the definitive French rose perfume. Its production cost had to be astronomical at the time and it gradually weakend to the current formula.

This original bottle relys little on the supporting cast of violet and mimosa. The rose dominates the composition for hours and then the natural, rich sandalwood and oakmoss hold it up even further. They are no longer in the pink box.

This isnt sexy like Opium, bold like Rive Gauche or mysterious like Y. As great as they are, Paris explores love. This is the gentle, blushing, innocent love that happens once in a lifetime. One drop on your pulse is profound. It gets under your skin and into your heart. Its mood enhancing and hypnotic. I can almost taste the rose.

Paris is a timeless 20th century giant that was really only around for about 5 year in its pure strength. No wonder it was on display in the Louvre! It was a work of art. Often imitated, even by YSL itself, but never as great as those original bottles. Time is passing-get a bottle today before its too late!

08/02/2012

jtd
484 Reviews

jtd

Very helpful Review 4

80s violet rose

One of the few perfumes that is 80’s in style, size and exuberance but can still be worn today without irony. It’s a cartoon-like rose with candied violet. A bit shrieky up top, but fortunately by the heartnotes the rose grows citric and astringent, lending a sweet/tart quality to the accord. Paris has a crystalline quality similar to Guerlain’s Nahema, but is far less dense and juicy than Nahema. Paris gains a woody, musky quality in drydown, but remains true to the artifice and exaggeration of its era and is proudly an 80’s Huge Floral.

07/08/2012

7.5 7.5 7.5 8.0/10

LadyRogue
166 Reviews

LadyRogue

Helpful Review 3

A Parisian Rose

A classic beauty that is very appropriately named after the city of love: Paris. And filled to the brim with the flower of love: Rose.

A spring walk through the "Parc de la Roseraie" in Paris. Roses everywhere and a hint of violet, lily and wood notes carried on a warm breeze. Parisiennes strolling, a silk scarf carelessly draped around their neck and the scent of effortless elegance and understated chic trailing behind them.

Yves Saint Laurents "Paris" is elegant, joyful, beautiful and romantic. A must smell for everyone who loves roses and/or is looking for a floral classic that compliments every woman and every occasion.

Silage is: "A rose by any other name would be called Paris". -- Longevity is: 8+ hours. A wonderful and classy rose garden in a bottle.

05/10/2012

7.5 10.0 7.5 7.0/10

Sherapop
1239 Reviews

Sherapop

Helpful Review 2

Dallas

Yves Saint Laurent PARIS is a *very* floral fragrance--a huge flower garden dominated by roses of all colors and sizes. It's all a bit overwhelming: I feel as though I'm wearing a huge corsage. Or maybe twelve.

The flowers do smell nice and fresh and as genuine as they would be at a rose competition--perhaps at a state fair--but I feel uncomfortable in this scent. It's really not me. And I must say that it does not cohere in any way with my concept of Paris.

PARIS seems more along the lines of what Monica Lewinsky may have worn to go with her blue dress. Yes, as others have said: big hair, shoulder pads... Hmmm...earlier images, too, of Joan Crawford in MILDRED PIERCE keep popping up in my mind, along with one of my favorite movie lines of all time: "No wire hangers!!!!"

Perhaps a better name for this fragrance would have been DALLAS.

01/30/2012

5.0 10.0 7.5 10.0/10

Lola82
362 Reviews

Lola82

A Tale of the Parisian Sisters

A Tale of the Parisian Sisters Y.S.L Paris & Dior Diorissimo both French and exudes Glamor yet very
different like Night and Day; Paris is a bold
gregarious Sister nothing is quiet about her everything
from the notes Of Paris is big The opening packs a punch
from the Sweetish mimose bright greens Roses hyacinths
to the fiery Sandalwood finishing she'll demands your
attention and wont let go; She also has a lot of personas She's a hot clubber on the dancefloor seducing
all the guys amid her path A top corporate raider who
has everyone under her thumb Or a Diva who needs to be
a center of attention.

Diorissimo a reserved sister of Paris prim & proper
and modesty is her aura Simple and Elegant she doesn't
need a thousand floral notes not Hot deep woody incense to be notice just a few fresh Lilies green
notes and bergamot Her Persona include being a Ballerina plus a housewife and mother she rather work
behind the scenes then being center stage;
If Y.S.L Paris is the fiery part of Parisian Elegance
so Diorissimo is the Ice.

01/26/2012

7.5 7.5 8.0/10

Missk
1165 Reviews

Missk

Helpful Review 3

Strong soapy roses

This is one loud rose fragrance that I do enjoy greatly.

As a child I always preferred the scent of the Black Madonna rose to any other rose in my Mother's garden. It had such a rich, distinctive smell that has been so well emulated through Paris.

This fragrance opens with rich, (and in some ways harsh) rose, gernanium, green notes and what seems to be aldehydes. There is a definite soapy/powdery quality throughout the composition which I find rather alluring.

Just looking at the adverts, I can't say that Paris is particularly sexy or seductive. I'd say forget the sexual aspect and focus on the romantic and classic feel of the scent. This is romantic, candle-lit dinners in a restaurant with a view of the Eiffel Tower, not a clothes-tearing, extremely urgent romp, beneath red satin sheets in a sleazy motel.

I also find this scent to be quite fresh, almost something that I could imagine wearing during the heat of Summer, despite the scent being quite strong. For me, Paris sparkles with vitality and commands attention.

The lasting strength is absolutely amazing. Even showering doesn't completely rid oneself of this potent fragrance.

To some this will seem out-dated, far too strong and 'nightmarish', however I do have hope that some will appreciate this fragrance like I have.

01/11/2012

7.5 5.0 7.5 9.0/10

bloodflower
13 Reviews

bloodflower

Very helpful Review 4

Rosiest of the rose

I am a passionate rose lover and as many fellow rose lovers for a very long time now I am searching for the perfect rose.. And I think my quest is so difficult because I smelled YSL Paris first of all.
This is the classic rose smell, I don't know any other rose which smells so classy, elegant and natural, nothing else I have ever smelt in the rose category, even the pure rose oils manages to give me the rose smell i adore like Paris. Any rose lover should own this, it couldnt disappoint anyone!