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La Nuit de l’Homme vs The One EDT

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La Nuit de L’homme from Yves Saint Laurent and The One by D&G have both been best sellers for over a decade now. They often can get compared to one another since they do have some overlap in notes, while actually being pretty distinctly different fragrances with how they smell. But, while also sharing a similar use case. So, which of these men’s fragrances is better?

Tale of the Tape: La Nuit vs. The One EDT

La Nuit

Notes include: cardamom, bergamot, vetiver, lavender, cedar

Try it out: Yves Saint Laurent La Nuit De L’homme Eau de Toilette Spray, 3.3-Ounce

Read my review: La Nuit de l’Homme

The One by D&G

Notes include: grapefruit, ginger, basil, coriander, amber, tobacco, orange blossom, and more

Click here to try: THE ONE By DOLCE & GABBANA; EDT SPRAY 5 Ounce

Opening

La Nuit opens up with lots of cardamom and a citrus bergamot note, in the beginning. It is fresh, warm, and has that light addition of bergamot. Then, the lavender really begins to come into its own, sometime thereafter. It is a really captivating start, that gives you a nice bit of spice before settling down.

It does later become a bit more powdery and fresh, but above is what I get from the opener.

The One, meanwhile, gives me a bit less noticeable citrus (grapefruit) versus the bergamot in Nuit. Also, the cardamom feels less intense early on, and I get more of a blend with the ginger and light basil note.

The One is warm and has an amazing amber note with hints of the orange blossom giving it a floral touch. Personally, I prefer orange blossom to lavender.

Which is better? I’ve always loved how The One starts off. I enjoy La Nuit also, but with my personal bottle, my favorite part has been the dry down recently.

Edge: The One

Projection

Neither one of these has a monster projection. The sillage of La Nuit is fairly middle of the road for a few hours and then becomes light and finally a skin scent.

The One starts off nicely but really quickly fades, on my skin. It may have better performance for others, but the D&G has never really mustered much of anything for me.

Edge: La Nuit

Longevity

La Nuit used to get 6-8 hours of wear for me. The 2021 batch that I bought is more along the lines of 4-5…6 if I really spray the hell out of it. It’s for sure lost a step.

Again, The One has always had terrible performance on my skin. I might get 2 hours out of it, if I go heavy. With normal sprays, 1.

It may react differently for you, but I wouldn’t expect it to be better than the YSL, even at its peak.

Edge: La Nuit

Versatility

Both The One and La Nuit are best worn in fall/winter, but can venture into more mild temperatures, without issue.

Their versatility as popular signature scents is one of the greatest strengths that these colognes both share. Both lean more towards being nighttime wears, but honestly, neither is out of place in the daytime either.

I don’t really see much of a distinction in this category.

Edge: Push

Overall Scent

Between these two fragrances, which do I prefer?

If we’re going just based on smell alone, I like The One EDT better. It’s got a warmth, lightness, and sweet almost boozy quality about it that I’ve always loved. The downside, is that it just doesn’t work on my skin for whatever reason.

But, if it does work on yours…you should probably go with that.

However, based on smell and performance in conjunction, La Nuit wins this round. It’s not a superstar with how it lasts, but it smells really great and isn’t that far behind the Dolce cologne in terms of enjoyment.

You’re going to be getting plenty of the spicy cardamom, a general freshness, and light powdery finish. So, The One may be more appealing, if that doesn’t sound all that great to you.

Winner: La Nuit

L’Homme Le Parfum by YSL

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L’Homme has become a long running and popular series of men’s fragrances for Yves Saint Laurent. In 2020, they released a Le Parfum version of this scent, and I’ve been recently testing it out to give it a full review on here. What does it smell like? Does it have good performance? Is L’Homme Le Parfum worth a buy?

What does L’Homme Le Parfum Smell Like?

Notes include: lemon, cardamom, cedar, vetiver, amberwood, basil, violet leaf

Click here to try: L’homme Le Parfum by Yves Saint Laurent Eau De Parfum Spray 2 oz Men

My Full Review

The opening of L’Homme Le Parfum really matches the color of the juice. This is a very modern blue-ish fragrance. You can tell the original L’Homme’s DNA is here. But, it is infused with elements of other YSL colognes.

L’Homme Ultime and Libre, come to mind. Those aren’t made anymore, but when it is all blended together, the opening gives off strong Y EDP vibes also. So, it becomes the original L’Homme blended with Y EDP.

The opening act features a strong blend of citrus and the basil. That basil note is what L’Homme Libre was built around and along with the violet leaf brings me flashes of that scent, within Le Parfum.

The basil, lemony spicy cardamom, and actual lemon are all sitting on top of the fresh and dry cedar wood and that synthetic amberwood aroma. The amberwood really steers the blue-ish feeling of this fragrance, like other modern colognes which pair that with citrus.

Unlike Libre, Le Parfum’s basil freshness is tampered down by the sweet spiciness of the cardamom note. Which gives it those L’Homme Ultime vibes, with the geranium. Strip out the sage and apple of Y EDP and Le Parfum is a good approximation, in its early stages.

This fragrance starts out leaning more towards the fresh end of the spectrum, with a solid amount of sweetness. However, in the dry down that flips and Le Parfum becomes sweeter than the other releases that I’ve mentioned.

It’s a woody sweetness with that fresh and hefty dose of geranium in the middle. It ends up being smoother and sweeter in the end, versus the somewhat sharp and synthetic opening act.

Sillage, Longevity, and Versatility

I really appreciate the performance of Le Parfum. I have a recent bottle of L’homme and the sillage and longevity are terrible. With Le Parfum, YSL changes course and delivers something much more substantial.

Early on the sillage is strong. Not a bomb, but one that could easily be over-sprayed. That phase will last 30 minutes or so. After that, Le Parfum fall much more in the moderate camp with its projection. It’s a good deal.

The performance here is also solid. It isn’t elite in regards to how long it lasts, either. But, I’ve been getting around 8 hours of wear on my skin. So, it will deliver what you will need for most purposes and circumstances. Better than almost any other release in this series (it might actually be, but I can’t think of any which exceed it, off of the top of my head).

Seasonally, I’d wear this in the moderate to warmer temperatures of early autumn, the whole of spring, and much of the summer months. It’s a bit too sharp for the cold and probably wouldn’t hold up all that well in the extreme heat and humidity.

Plenty of use, though.

I don’t consider this to be a formal wear. It’s office safe, if you don’t overdo it. However, I’d prefer to wear this out on the town or casually day to day. Think more of evenings in the spring and summer months.

Can easily be worn be any age group. It might be too sweet for some guys, however. That blue-ish ambroxan mix can be a turn off for some and you get plenty of it with Le Parfum.

Overall Impressions of L’Homme Le Parfum

I like it. It has enough of the DNA of the original and blends it with other releases. Not my favorite by any means, but it can do a nice job of replacing L’Homme, which now has atrocious performance.

I like the basil touches, cardamom, and the cedar freshness. Very easy to wear and versatile. A true ‘blue’ cologne with plenty of ambroxan in the base. It is very much an amalgam of other fragrances from this brand, so if you’ve tried any of the one’s that I’ve mentioned, you basically know what this one is like.

I enjoyed wearing it during testing, but it still wasn’t something that I’d personally want a full bottle of. L’Homme Le Parfum does everything well enough and be a solid addition to someone’s rotation.

L’Homme EDT by YSL

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I am a longtime fan of YSL fragrances. In fact, two of the first three bottles of cologne that I ever bought were Opium and Kouros Body.  Needless to say, there is something about this design house’s scents that really speak to me.

Today, my review is going to focus on another entry from Yves Saint Laurent, L’Homme. Introduced in 2006, this has been a fairly big hit in terms of its popularity. Is it worth buying? Read on to find out.

What does L’Homme by YSL Smell Like?

l'homme

Notes include: Virginia Cedar, Ginger, Violet, Citron, White Pepper, Basil Flower, Ozone, Tonka Bean, Sandalwood, Vetiver

Click here to try: L’homme By Yves Saint Laurent Eau De Toilette Spray For Men 3.3 oz

My Take on L’Homme by YSL

The first batch of L’Homme that I reviewed years ago had really poor longevity. I loved the smell, but I couldn’t get it to last on my skin, it was a similar situation with The One by D&G.

Having essentially forgotten about that experience, I picked up a small sprayer of this cologne to test it out, and see if things would be different this time. Thankfully, it was a much better batch of fragrance this time or my skin is finally adept at taking this.

Note: This has been a continuing review since around 2014, documenting changes as I come back to newer bottles of L’Homme.

YSL L’Homme is super clean and has a soft yet utterly fantastic aroma. I completely dig the way this one opens up. The bergamot and citron is light yet retains their juiciness, but never feel like they ever stand out on their own within the composition.

As such, you don’t get the usual sharpness that you would from these notes in higher concentration.

This citrus aroma is light and joined by a warm and slightly spiced accord of ginger and basil. All of this comes together with the inclusion of a creamy tonka bean, for a very-well blended and balanced fragrance.

Ginger is the standout of the spices. Basil played a greater role in the flanker, L’Homme Libre, but isn’t too much of a factor here.

One further addition at the top is the violet which brings a simple floral touch to L’Homme. The spice on this one is not heavy in the slightest, very herbal/green with enough pepper to make it interesting.

Violet is one of my least favorite notes and I don’t particularly like it here, but it isn’t all that bothersome. To me, that’s the weakness in the mix. In the very brief dry down period, expect some cedar wood and vetiver, with most of the top notes having faded away entirely.

This cologne is a blend of sweet and spicy but under the umbrella of being completely fresh. It is all tied together with a cedar wood base, as the last element to a fairly simple presentation.

Sillage, Longevity, and Versatility

Projection wise, this stuff is still very light, quite airy. I really wish they beefed up the sillage. Yes, there is an Intense version, but it really doesn’t smell the same at all.

It’s not going to project much. Potentially, if you spray the hell out of it, you may get some good sillage. It’s a skin scent, in reality. The performance really is my biggest problem with this scent, very frustrating.

Update: 2021 bottles have roughly the same sillage. That actually hasn’t diminished.

The longevity is maybe 4-5 hours on my skin, from this use. Again, I absolutely hate the performance, but love this aroma. I’ve never been able to get more time than this.

Update: I bought a new bottle here in 2021 since it was buy one, get one free with La Nuit. The performance is now 2-3.5 hours with massive amounts of spraying (for both fragrances). For $50 I can afford to overspray this, but just be ready to have extra ready, if you decide to buy.

Also, my skin isn’t the type to ‘eat’ up a fragrance, as I get great performance from many other colognes.

Seasonally, it makes me think of warm weather, not necessarily the heat of summer. However, I do think it can be worn year round without much issue. I’d like it best in early spring or late autumn.

That being said, it works well in the colder months too. Personally, I’d use something else for the winter, but L’Homme is fine there.

It is a casual or dressed up office wear scent. Very pleasant but not really sexy, when people can actually smell it on you, they find it enjoyable. It’s the type of fragrance that you can wear, pretty much whenever, without it feeling out of place. That’s one of its main strengths.

Overall Impressions of L’Homme by YSL

Overall, do I like L’Homme by YSL? I really really like the way that it smells, but still cannot for the life of me, get it to perform up to par. I hate that aspect. Just make it a beast and I would have a bottle pretty much at all times.

Unfortunately, it’s probably a wrap after I finish this newer bottle. At least there are a lot of decent flankers that have stemmed from this name, many of which have been discontinued though.

The original is a great cologne with extremely mediocre performance. L’Homme Eau de Parfum was something that I liked, but the performance wasn’t great with that either.

Performance doesn’t tend to get better, as fragrances have been on the market for longer periods of time. Some batches, may be better than others, but none are super powerful. This has been especially true of this one.

I still enjoy the scent, not as keen on it as when I first started getting into fragrances, but L’Homme does smell very nice. Though, there really isn’t much of a point in owning this cologne anymore.

Maybe the only case is getting a bottle for insanely cheap and not minding re-applying it every 3 hours.

I’ll use my remaining bottle for the gym or just as a quick freshie. As for anyone else, it might be a better idea to look elsewhere, either with YSL or another brand.

Black Opium Neon by YSL

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Black Opium Neon is one of the flankers from the best selling Saint Laurent line. I’m making my way through the perfumes from this line, in order to catch up on the reviews. Today’s entry was released by YSL in 2019. How does Neon Smell? Does it last long? What are the differences? Is it worth a buy?

What does Black Opium Neon Smell Like?

Notes include: coffee, dragon fruit, mandarin essence, orange blossom, jasmine

Click here to try: Yves Saint Laurent Black Opium Neon EDP 2.5 oz 75 ml Women NEW

My Full Review

Let’s see how YSL describes this perfume: When dark coffee meets the vivid & audacious dragon fruit. A vibrant & luminous addiction flashes through the new Eau de Parfum Neon.

Upon first spraying, Neon is noticeably different from the original Black Opium EDP, but you can still pick up the DNA of the original. After all, they still share coffee, orange blossom, and vanilla notes.

However, the weighting is completely different, as the coffee and especially vanilla are toned way down. The opening gives you a very citrusy smelling blend of dragon fruit and mandarin orange. I like it, as it gives Neon a nice burst of energy and a fairly tropical vibe.

That’s another aspect of this one that I like, Black Opium Neon is ultimately a lighter fragrance without the heavy embrace that the original could have.

To me, the opening act is mostly the fruit notes sitting on top of a prominent orange blossom with some jasmine thrown in. It feels sweet in more of a candy-like way for a gourmand. Like, more bubble gum and Starburst versus a baked goods gourmand.

During the dry down, is when I really start to get the original Black Opium vibes. I can pick up more of the coffee and vanilla notes, but really it becomes about the floral notes. Like a softer version of the original, with the fruit remnants still lingering.

Then, the very end of the road is a pretty faint by this point, coffee accord. A little orange blossom, still in the mix. It’s kind of surprising that the coffee is really the last one standing, but that’s just what it is.

Sillage, Longevity, and Versatility

This isn’t a heavy fragrance, nor does it have a crazy amount of projection. Actually, it’s pretty moderate as a whole. From the description, I was expecting more of a loud club banger, but Neon doesn’t fit that bill.

I mean, you could wear it out in the nightlife, it’s just not going to fill a room. Spraying it on a t-shirt, I could pick it up from about 6 feet away, at its max. On the skin, it seems to be around that same level.

This one has a bit better staying power than Illicit Green, but not too much. On me, it’ll go just over six hours, maybe getting close to seven. However, it’s not going to be a massive double digit hour perfume, on skin.

Seasonally, it isn’t limited to the autumn and winter like the original. But also, it isn’t one for the summer months. Depending on where you live, it’s probably good through late springtime.

Neon feels more well put together than the original, with a somewhat more mature vibe. Not to say it’s old lady-ish, but the heavier coffee and vanilla gourmand features aren’t popping out as much.

This can be worn in a variety of situations, day or into the nightlife. You’ll probably just have to reapply if you’re making that transition. Neon isn’t a formal fragrance.

Overall Impressions of Black Opium Neon

Overall, do I like Neon? I do. In terms of how it smells, I like it slightly better than the original. It has more balance, is lighter, and I enjoy the fruity top notes. Dragon fruit is a nice touch.

The performance and sillage isn’t as good. Not terribly bad wear, but it doesn’t hit the same level as its predecessor.

If you didn’t like the original Black Opium, I doubt that this would change your mind. If you already own Black Opium, you probably don’t need this, unless you want to round out your collection.

For those who are just in the market for a Black Opium fragrance…it’s worth a shot to see if you prefer this edition. It’s not way better, but I have a bit of a preference for how Neon comes across.

Neon is one of the better releases from this line, but not the best of them.

Y EDP vs Y Le Parfum Comparison

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The Y series from YSL is now on its 5th release, 2021’s Le Parfum. Obviously, it is going to get compared quite a lot with the other scents that came before it. Mainly, Y Eau de Parfum, since that’s been the best seller of the series.

So, with that in mind, it’s time for another cologne comparison. Which one of these Saint Laurent fragrances smells better? Lasts longer? Should you buy?

Tale of the Tape: Y Le Parfum vs. Eau de Parfum

Y Le Parfum

Notes include: apple, grapefruit, ginger, aldehydes, lavender, sage, geranium, patchouli, tonka bean, and cedar

Read my review: Y Le Parfum

Y EDP

Notes include: bergamot, apple, ginger, sage, vetiver, geranium, juniper berries, tonka bean, amber, cedar

Click here to try: Yves Saint Laurent Y Eau de Parfum Spray for Men, 3.3 Ounce

Read my review: Y EDP

Opening

Y EDP starts off with its bold kick. It’s a strong bergamot, apple, and ginger blend initially. Then, will come the amber, juniper berry, and tonka bean. However, that initial blast is quite juicy, bold, and blue.

I know some people don’t like that initial punch, but I love it. I actually think that its that amber and juniper layer that can put some folks off. But for me, the apple and bergamot pairing really grabs my attention with its crisp bite.

The sage also comes through quite a bit, even at this early point of the process.

Meanwhile, Le Parfum has some similarities to its counterpart, using apple and ginger. However, it replaces bergamot with grapefruit and adds some sweet aldehydes. Le Parfum is understated in comparison, has some more sweetness, and even a darker quality.

Sage and geranium are more prevalent at the beginning in Le Parfum, as well.

Which is better? I like the opening of EDP more so than Le Parfum. I think Le Parfum smells its best when it has settled in and the opening act is the weakest spot, in my mind.

Edge: EDP

Projection

Y EDP does start off bold and the sillage comes across as being quite strong. However, I’d call it above average overall. Not a monster, but very solid throughout.

That first 30-60 minutes, can be a lot, especially with heavy spraying. Though, it always seems to calm down for me, while still having a noticeable strength.

Le Parfum never reaches the same levels. It’s also a moderate, but much closer to the middle of that range than the upper end like EDP. Plus, it doesn’t keep the same consistency as EDP.

I didn’t know if Le Parfum was going to be amped up in comparison, coming into testing it out, but it turned out to be a step down. Still, it’s not bad at all, just not the same level.

Edge: EDP

Longevity

With Y EDP, I always get over 10 hours of wear out of it. It never lets me down with its performance. Y Le Parfum, will stick around for 6-6.5 hours, on my skin.

That’s not terrible, it’s just that Le Parfum is no marathon runner. It’s really not even a contest here.

Perhaps others have better luck with this newer edition. For the life of me, I cannot get this fragrance to stick around to even come close to double digit hours.

Edge: EDP

Versatility

Here is where Le Parfum has an edge and it really isn’t much of one. But, Le Parfum is a more mature fragrance, with a subtlety which can venture into more environments. Its understated qualities will be appreciated by those who think that EDP is too much.

Neither is best on hotter days, but can venture in more temperate climates easily.

Edge: Le Parfum

Overall Scent

Is this an easy win for EDP? Not really. Y Le Parfum is probably my second favorite scent from this series.

The dry down with the tonka bean, lavender, apple, and woods is actually great. That part of the wear is a highlight for me, and at times, I think I prefer it to EDP.

The downside is, that blend of notes comes in when the sillage has already weakened a lot and it floats close to the skin.

That’s not the worst situation, as you can still enjoy it, just not ideal. Le Parfum does indeed have its merits and is a fine fragrance…that had potential to be even better.

In totality, I still prefer Y EDP. It does absolutely everything well. It has depth, performance, and enough versatility to pretty much be a signature fragrance.

I can’t really say that about Le Parfum, at least for me. Sure, it’s versatile and can be worn in a wide variety of climates, but it doesn’t stick out the same.

I will say, if you don’t like the boldness of EDP, Le Parfum could be an easier pick for a lot of guys. Again, I do like the fragrance, just never found it to be all that special.

Winner: Y EDP