Dua Lipa Is In Pursuit Of Liberté

Just like the rise and fall of hemlines and the ever-shifting shapes of handbags, fragrances too transform with the decades. Every era has its fragrance note du jour, the olfactory equivalent of whatever silhouette is suddenly everywhere. The ‘80s had the heady, powdery florals; the ‘90s embraced the clean, aquatic freshness of the minimalistic moment; the naughts obsessed over tooty frooty gourmand sweetness; and the 2010s ushered in a wave of smoky, sensual oud and skin-like scents. But the latest note to enter the fragrance zeitgeist is santal (or sandalwood, for the non-Francophones), and YSL Beauty is getting in on the obsession with its latest limited-edition addition to their best-selling collection, LIBRE Santal Couture.

As the first floral-woody EDP in the LIBRE lineup, LIBRE Santal Couture puts an exclusive, sustainably sourced New Caledonian sandalwood at the center of its formula. While the latest release takes LIBRE somewhere a little darker and woodier, it still shares the signature DNA of its counterparts: a vibrant mix of French lavender, sensual orange blossom, and its quintessential floral heart. Upon application, the result is a warmer, creamier interpretation of the scent you — if anything like myself — have loved to spritz for years. But this time, you’ll be spritzing this less for your morning matcha and more for your midnight martini.

And much like the scent itself, the LIBRE woman has a familiar face: Dua Lipa, who returns as the YSL Beauty global ambassador for the latest campaign. The songstress who is well known for her globetrotting jaunts and endless appetite for a good escape, takes her latest pursuit of liberté to the South African desert in a film directed by Romain Wygas. With her own fiery take on Aretha Franklin’s “Think” soundtracking the film, Lipa roams the desert before igniting a trail of sandalwood and setting the LIBRE sign ablaze. Très libre, indeed.

“Shooting this campaign in the South African desert felt like the perfect visual representation for the new LIBRE Santal Couture — it’s warm, primal, and undoubtedly strong,” says Lipa. “Steady as the earth beneath you. That’s the kind of frequency this new chapter of LIBRE exudes, and it’s my latest obsession.”

The new bottle is worth obsessing over, too. For Santal Couture, LIBRE’s signature silhouette gets a glossy chestnut treatment, punctuated by its gold Cassandre and sharp, sculptural lines. Perhaps brown is the new black after all.

LIBRE Santal Couture is available now at yslbeautyus.com, and at other retailers on September 1.