Amazon slightly dropped the price of a fragrance discovery set by Etat Libre d’Orange, a niche brand I’ve hears a lot of fantastic things about. Naturally, I ordered it. My expectations were pretty high, but the reality exceeded any expectations!
It was definitely love at first sniff. But only after the love at first sight thing! The set is so handsomely packed, mysterious glass vials with a French tricolor rosette in a metal tin. Bleu, blanc, rouge of the French flag are the same blue, white and red of the Star-Spangled Banner, so the vials look like they are containing Super-Soldier Serum of the Captain America program (you should believe me, I’ve seen the real Erskine serum).
All of ELDO’s fragrances are in eau de parfum concentration (they also sell candles, but that’s quite another story). This discovery set consists of the following fragrances:
- Dangerous Complicity
- Putain des Palaces
- Remarkable People
- Like This
- Jasmin et Cigarette
- Cologne
- Fat Electrician
I hope I’ll give all if them proper long reviews and link them here. For now, though, a short description should do.
Dangerous Complicity, despite its promising name, turned out probably the least interesting for me. I don’t get rum as in ‘sensual, hints of coconut and vanilla’; what I perceive is moonshine fumes or even someone’s alcohol-infused breath. While not exactly disgusting in any way, being pure alcohol, no hangover mustiness, this doesn’t create a sexy image for me. I was expecting an International Person of Mystery in a Jamaican bar, cool and composed, but this is a tipsy middle-aged tourist whose advances might be encouraged only if you are super bored (or if you need this spy wannabe on vacation for your secret plans, which actually happens more often in my life).
Putain des Palaces, goodness gracious, this is pure platinum. Powder and suede, violets, and roses. A violet-eyed beauty clad all in smooth black velvet. You will see all in violet and purple if you try it. Just one spritz is going to stay with you all day, and sillage like crazy at least for the first four hours. Later UPD: it’s slightly in the lines of Narciso Rouge EDP by Narciso Rodriguez and Maitresse EDP by Agent Provocateur, but it’s much more intense, and the suede is much more prominent.
Remarkable People immediately threw L’Interdit by Givenchy from its throne of being my signature scent. Something this good is hard to describe, but I will try my best. Citruses intertwined with champagne, the golden bubbly bliss with a spicy oriental twist that is here to stay. Yes, unbelievable longevity and sillage are here as well. It is probably the only citrus scent I know with fresh and crisp citrus notes lingering for hours and hours instead of vanishing immediately. Remarkable People is also quite unique, I have never smelled anything like this before, it has neither siblings nor dupes.
Like This has a subtitle “Tilda Swinton”, for divine Tilda took part in its creation. Another unique scent. Immortelle, smoke, and pumpkin spice. This may sound like a Starbucks seasonal, but there’s much more to that. This is the coziness of autumn bonfires, this is the sophisticated sweet melancholy of being immortal, watching for the thousandth time the closing of the circle and ready to start all over again.
Jasmin et Cigarette is exactly what it says on the lid. There’s some jasmine, there are some cigarettes. Lots of cigarettes in a wet ashtray. Curious enough, but who would like to smell like an ashtray? Not me.
Cologne is another ‘exactly what it says on the lid’ scent. This is a classical citrus-infused Cologne water formula. It smells great, crisp and refreshing, but in the same way as all traditional formula citrus colognes, it won’t last beyond half an hour, no matter how you use it. Perfect for an aftershave lotion, terrible if you want it as a signature smell that should linger. Sadly, this is a general problem with all citrus scents, due to high citrus oil volatility but at least some of the scents seem to have solved this problem. (Remarkable People is such an example directly from this post).
Fat Electrician is all smoky coconut for me. I wonder what creates this effect; there’s no coconut in its pyramid. Yet here it is, something burnt with hints of metal (but in a good way) and coconut flakes. Yummy.