I wear YSL Y and I dislike sweet car fresheners. Which fresh aromatic fragrance family should I investigate?

A reader who says no sweet is usually asking to be reassured. Here you can be shown instead: the words you are avoiding were never published into the nine, and the nine are printed where you can count them.

The answer, in full

I cannot tell you what YSL Y contains, because SOSA publishes nothing about any designer or niche perfume and I am not going to invent a formula for a house that has never told me one. The word you used, though, is a word SOSA has published, which makes this the easiest honest answer in the series. Icy Mint publishes a Scent Family of Aromatic mentholic, cool, alert, daytime. That is the only place the word aromatic appears in the nine, and the hanging bottle is ₹499. Its published top notes are crushed peppermint leaf, cool eucalyptus breath, a trace of lemon zest lift. Its heart is cornmint core, clean green herbal depth, a whisper of spearmint softness, and its base is menthol settle, dry green-woody residue, a cold-clean skin-feel. Beside it, Lemon ₹509 publishes a family of Citrus, fresh, with top notes of cold-pressed lemon peel brightness, sharp citrus zest, natural d-limonene, and a heart that includes a subtle bitter edge. Sea Breeze ₹519 publishes Marine aquatic, clean, light, with top notes of fresh marine air, sea-salt brightness, a citrus accent. Those three are the fresh half of the range and all three publish an edge rather than a sugar. Now the half you said you dislike, because it deserves a real answer rather than a reassurance. Sweetness is published in the nine, twice. Lavender and Sandalwood ₹499 publishes soft herbal sweetness in its heart and Mysore Orange Blossom ₹559 publishes honeyed petals in its. Read those two closely before you buy them. Everywhere else, No SOSA pyramid publishes vanilla, tonka, caramel, praline or chocolate, so there is no gourmand composition anywhere in the nine. So the dessert register you are avoiding is not something you have to avoid in this range; it was never published into it. SOSA publishes no strength ranking of the nine and no prediction of what any reader will prefer, so the last step of this is yours. A portion of every SOSA order supports girl-child education through Nanhi Kali.

The published fresh half, and the published sweet half

Three scents answer the first half of your question and two scents answer the second. All five are printed on their own product pages, so none of this needs taking on trust from a blog.

The aromatic one: Icy Mint, and the word in print

Icy Mint ₹499 publishes a Scent Family of Aromatic mentholic, cool, alert, daytime, and that is the only appearance of the word aromatic in the nine. Its published mood line reads alert, crisp, herbal rather than candy-sweet, which is SOSA's own wording and does the work of your question in one line. Top notes: crushed peppermint leaf, cool eucalyptus breath, a trace of lemon zest lift. It comes as a 10ml spray or a 12ml hanging bottle at the same price.

One published word, one product page, ten seconds to check.

The two fresh neighbours: citrus, and marine

Lemon ₹509 publishes a family of Citrus, fresh, top notes of cold-pressed lemon peel brightness, sharp citrus zest, natural d-limonene, a heart of soft citrus warmth, clean lemon blossom, a subtle bitter edge, and a base of sunlit freshness, a light musky drydown. Sea Breeze ₹519 publishes Marine aquatic, clean, light, with top notes of fresh marine air, sea-salt brightness, a citrus accent and a base of soft amber drydown, residual saltiness. Bitter and salt are the published words that sit furthest from sugar.

Where sweetness is published: twice, and named on the page

Lavender and Sandalwood ₹499 publishes a heart of French lavender core, soft herbal sweetness, a whisper of clary sage and chamomile, so its sweetness is in print and SOSA's own word for it is herbal. Mysore Orange Blossom ₹559 publishes a heart of the white neroli flower in full, honeyed petals, soft floralcy. Those are the two. No SOSA pyramid publishes vanilla, tonka, caramel, praline or chocolate, so there is no gourmand composition anywhere in the nine. No SOSA pyramid publishes a fruit note either, so there is no berry, no apple, no peach, no mango and no pineapple in any of the nine.

Two published sweetnesses, seven pyramids without one.

The three fresh pyramids, published in full

Icy Mint ₹499, family Aromatic mentholic, cool, alert, daytime: top notes of crushed peppermint leaf, cool eucalyptus breath, a trace of lemon zest lift; a heart of cornmint core, clean green herbal depth, a whisper of spearmint softness; a base of menthol settle, dry green-woody residue, a cold-clean skin-feel. Lemon ₹509, family Citrus, fresh: a heart of soft citrus warmth, clean lemon blossom, a subtle bitter edge. Sea Breeze ₹519, family Marine aquatic, clean, light: a heart of clean aquatic, a light blue floral nuance.

Three sprays in one box is the cheapest way to put three pyramids in front of your own nose: the discovery sets are ₹709 to ₹909. See the discovery sets →

Fresh aromatic, against what the nine publish

One honest caution on the word fresh, because it is doing two jobs. A published family line describes a composition; it does not describe what your cabin will do with it at two in the afternoon in June. SOSA publishes a formulation range of 45 degrees C and 85 per cent relative humidity and no seasonal performance claim in either direction, so the family word is the limit of what can be said. SOSA publishes no strength ranking of the nine and no prediction of what any reader will prefer, so the last step of this is yours.

“You asked for a fresh aromatic family. One of the nine has the word aromatic printed on its own page, which is rarer than it sounds.”

How to check the whole answer in five minutes

1. Open the Icy Mint page and read the Scent Family line: Rs 499.
2. Open Lemon Rs 509 and Sea Breeze Rs 519 and read theirs.
3. Count the pyramids that publish vanilla, tonka or caramel. There are none.
4. Then read the two that do publish sweetness before you rule them in or out.

Questions, answered