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Finding a signature fragrance takes time, patience, and dedication—unless you opt for a YSL fragrance. During our cursory research, we noticed that all the YSL fragrances sold at Ulta or Sephora had at least 1,000 reviews and sometimes up to 5,000 reviews. What’s more impressive, still, is that these reviews didn’t average to anything lower than 4.6 stars. Perhaps this isn’t that surprising, though. After all, YSL—named after its founder, Yves Saint Laurent—is synonymous with youth, sensuality, and luxury. (See what we did there?)

From its best-selling Black Opium Eau De Parfum
, for which Zoë Kravitz is the face of, to its one-year-old unisex fragrance, Tuxedo, YSL fragrances have a variety of notes for everyone. Each fragrance features international ingredients like Moroccan orange blossom and comes in the most stunning packaging. Not only is the box ornate, but the bottles themselves are works of art. Some feature engraved YSL embellishments, while others come adorned with bows and a YSL name plate. But most importantly, they always smell amazing.

Best YSL Fragrances at a Glance

  • Best Overall: Black Opium Eau De Parfum
    , $62+
  • Best Floral: Mon Paris Eau de Parfum
    , $87+
  • Best Sensual: Libre Eau De Parfum Intense
    , $100+  
  • Best Unisex: Tuxedo – Le Vestiaire Des Parfums, $295
  • Best for Men: Myslf Eau De Parfum
    , $89+
  • Best for Men, Runner-Up: Y Eau De Parfum
    , $98+
  • Best Splurge: Lavallière – Le Vestiaire Des Parfums, $295
  • Best for Work: Libre Eau de Parfum
    , $95+
  • Best for Date Night: Libre Flowers & Flames, $95+
  • Best for Weddings: Libre Absolu Platine
    , $100+

To take some of the work out of perfume shopping, we chatted with fragrance expert Dan Rothschild. He gave us insight into how to choose the best YSL fragrance for your body chemistry and some of the most popular YSL perfumes. Keep reading to learn his thoughts.

How to Choose the Best YSL Perfume for You

Rothschild says the only way to really know which YSL perfume is right for you is by trying it on. “And don’t just spray it on a strip and make a decision,” he advises. “The best thing to do is to spray it on the top of your hand or your forearm and keep going back to it over a few hours.” In other words, don’t make a decision at that moment. If you’re able to, take some time away from the scent and see how it smells once you’ve been out in the world.

That said, if you’re in a pinch, you might be able to tap people who work at your favorite fragrance shop. “The store assistants also tend to be quite knowledgeable, so don’t be afraid to ask them for their opinions,” suggests Rothschild. They’ll likely ask about your natural scent as well as the fragrances you’ve found already work for you. This way, they’re able to suggest something in alignment with that.

So, once you choose your new YSL fragrance, what can you expect from it? “They’re always super consistent. Very nicely packaged and sharply tailored bottles. The scents are generally very easy-going and mass-appealing,” says Rothschild. We found that the YSL fragrances we tested did, indeed, check all of these boxes.

Black Opium Eau De Parfum is the fragrance with the most reviews, totalling 7,490 on Ulta at the time of this writing. Moreover, it averaged a whopping 4.7 stars—with some rave reviews calling this fragrance “exquisite,” “sexy,” and “memorable.”

As a bonafide fragrance buff, Rothschild also thought it was “worth nodding toward some of the heritage of the brand.” For instance, he continued, when the brand was under Tom Ford’s creative direction, YSL released the first mainstream perfume to feature oud as a key note. It was called M7. “A true classic,” says Rothschild. 

Since that’s no longer widely available, Rothschild says the Vestiaire range is similarly innovative. “It has loads of super exciting and genuinely artistic perfumes for those looking for something a little off the beaten track [or something more niche].” 

Fret not, because we included two of these fragrances in our roundup of the best YSL fragrances—below.