Baby Doll, the deliciously impertinent fragrance It was in 1961 that Yves Saint Laurent founded his fashion house, with the help of his friend Pierre Bergé. The house's logo is formed by the YSL initials, designed by Adolphe Mouron, who would be called Cassandre.
Released in 1999, Baby Doll is a fragrance that is at once bold, floral, fruity and sparkling. Deliberately impertinent, the Baby Doll woman is a woman-child who falls easily for love at first sight, and this gives her wings. Between the woman and the child, Baby Doll displays a personality caught between childlike sensuality and the femme fatale. While the fragrance plays on contrasts, it remains no less deeply romantic. At once fresh, gourmand and bold, Baby Doll draws attention, not without a certain emotion.
Baby Doll: Cécile Matton's woman-child
To create this romantic composition, Yves Saint Laurent called on Cécile Matton. Her long studies in perfumery led her to a love of perfumery and to exceptional expertise. Because she lived in Zaire, Cécile Matton developed very powerful sensory abilities. Cécile Matton seizes life with both hands, and her dynamism can be felt through her olfactory compositions. She particularly likes to instill a fruity, sensual and sparkling energy into the perfumes she creates. She also likes working with orcanox, musks, and other materials brimming with sensuality. Cécile Matton is employed at Mane, and she is behind numerous successes, among them Bonbon by Viktor & Rolf and Stronger with You by Armani.
Baby Doll, cheerful and sparkling fragrant notes
Cécile Matton therefore chose to open her composition with ultra-fruity, sugary notes, namely pineapple, apple, blackcurrant and orange. Originally from Paraguay, pineapple gradually spread thanks to the Indians who carried it everywhere, calling it nana, meaning the fruit. It was then Christopher Columbus who brought it back from Guadeloupe, and pineapple thus made its appearance in Europe. Louis XIV would require his gardeners to grow pineapple in the greenhouses of the Château de Choisy-Le-Roi.
In perfumery, pineapple gives off very sun-kissed fruity tonalities. Then, the heart of Baby Doll develops toward ultra-floral notes thanks to the presence of freesia, heliotrope, lily of the valley and rose, heightened by the spicy tonalities of cardamom and ginger. Originally from South Africa, freesia is the symbol of unconditional love. Freesia is a flowering bulb made up of a flexible flower stem bearing flat, linear, sheathing flowers. In perfumery, freesia is what is known as a mute flower, meaning it cannot yield its own aromas. These are instead reproduced in the laboratory using synthetic molecules. Freesia gives off floral, soft, sweet and jasmine-like tonalities. Finally, the base of Baby Doll develops toward heightened sensuality, combining vanilla, white musks, cedarwood, sandalwood and tonka bean. The bottle of Baby Doll takes the shape of a spinning top. Its glass is entirely faceted, as is the cap, giving it an ultra-chic look. The candy-pink nectar nonetheless contrasts with the opaque black ring around the neck, playing one last time on contrasts.