Etat Libre D'Orange

The new perfume house, Etat Libre D'Orange (Orange Free State) has been called scandalous, libertine, revolutionary, shocking, perverse, provacative, and debauched by the European press.  Personally, I think their cutesy illustrations of body parts are more childish than outrageous.  Like drawings made by little boys after stumbling upon a copy of their fathers' Playboy magazine and giggling at the acres of flesh and fake breasts displayed within.  The actual scents in the line, fortunately, do not live up to their puerile advertising.  There's nothing particularly exciting or unique about any of those I've tested thus far, but they are, for the most part, well-crafted and pleasant scents.  Except for one.

Antiheros
Notes: lavender, musk, wood

"Take me as I am," seems to say this fake Mr Everybody. An anti-hero never lies about who he is, hence the seeming simplicity of this hedonistic and sun-drenched creation, entirely centred on lavender flower. This hero of everyday life fights very ordinary battles at work, when driving, at home without every taking anything too seriously. His innate modesty is extremely appealing and he knows it. He cultivates his imperfections with wit and with natural unconventional elegance. With his tousled hair and look, this somewhat unexpected superman catches the eye and still cannot believe it – that’s why we adore him

A clean and soapy lavender coexists happily with a dry woodsy note. Very simple, very pleasant.  But it seems more appropriate for a laundy detergent or fabric softener than for a perfume.

Encens et Bubblegum
Notes: peach, raspberry, vanilla, lily of the valley, orange blossom, musk, resins, incense

For all the Madonnas of this world. The improbable alliance of two antagonistic smells, sacred incense and mischievous bubble gum. Encens et Bubble Gum (Incense and Bubble Gum) is a candy-like perfume that flirts with mystical inspiration. As provocative as a star who chews a bubble gum in a church, who plays with crucifixes and yet bows low before the altar. When transgression is tinted with erotic guilt, the impish sensuality of this childlike woman takes the upper hand. Men waste away in despair but she doesn’t care. She plays cat and mouse with men, will eat them up and move on.

More interesting/less weird than I expected. The opening is a bit fruity, a slightly sweet raspberry/peach combo, and the incense is right there with it.  At first, it's not at all like bubblegum, but after a few seconds or so, there is a similarity.  But not super-sweet Bubble Yum bubble gum, maybe more like Bazooka, or the gum that comes in packs of baseball cards.  I almost get the sensation of the dry cornstarch that is dusted over some bubble gum so it doesn't get sticky in humid weather.  The incense is of a fairly nondescript woodsy variety.  In fact, it seems more like a cedar note than a smoky incense because it has a faint pencil shavings quality.  Encens et Bubblegum, ends up, after all is said and done, as what most school-age children smell of - gum and pencils. 

Nombril Immense
Notes: patchouli, Peru balsam, black pepper absolu, vetiver, opoponax, bergamot, carrot, ambrette

With Nombril Immense (Belly Button), the accent is put on the exceptional quality of the patchouli used. Exotic and precious, this fragrant wood from India literally captivates. Nombril Immense (Belly Button) is an invitation to introspection. Like an initiatory voyage in Kathmandu, to discover new emotions and an open-mindedness to unprecedented spirituality. Patchouli is a sacred wood in Hindu temples; it inspires meditation and leads the way to shedding one’s mortal coil to access timelessness. Nombril Immense (Belly Button) is an authentic piece of nirvana and has the smell of bliss

An interesting and intriguing combination of notes with predominant black pepper at the beginning, with a healthy dose of resinous balsam and a soupçon of patchouli.  I don't know about bellybuttons, but this fragrance reminds me very much of Catholic Church incense, more so than any actual incense-type scent I've smelled.   That type of incense has a clean quality, rather than a smokiness.  Unfortunately, that lovely aroma disappears rather quickly and the remaining scent is unremarkable: somewhat-powdery sorta-vetiverish, blah.

Putain de Palaces
Notes: mandarin, rice powder, lily of the valley, rose, violet, ginger, leather, amber, animalic notes

Sheer sensuous fantasy. The powdered top note evokes a woman who dresses for seduction – a soft trail of lipstick, the rustling of lace. The intimate ritual of a femme fatale who sees right through the fragile armour of men. Her sophistication is intriguing, as is the commerce she makes of her body. Under the bitter-sweet touch of almond, like a secret that unfolds, comes a hint of supple leather, fluid and flexible, that introduces what is to come : a boudoir, fingers that tighten on a leatherette sofa and the palpable presence of raw desire. Doesn’t every woman have the fantasy of being a temptress in a hotel bar, of yielding to desire in the intimacy of a lift or of giving way to sensuality in silk sheet luxury?

This reminds me of an Indian buffet.  The opening is very powdery and sweet with violet and rose, and there are curry-like spices in the mix as well, as if I had both chicken tikka masala and kheer on my plate at the same time.  The cumin in the curry spices is probably what is meant as an "animalic note," but it's not the skanky b.o. scent some of us attribute to cumin.  The cumin and spice notes fade into the background after a few minutes as the powdery cloud gains in strength as it picks up some leathery qualities and sweet amber.  It's almost as if one ran Lipstick Rose and Anglomania into each other and then made the result half as interesting.  Not that Putain is bad, on the contrary, it's a rather interesting fragrance, just not on par with either the Malle or the Westwood.

Secretions Magnifiques
Notes: milk accord, blood accord, iodine accord, adrenaline accord, iris, coco, santal, opoponax

Like blood, sweat, sperm, saliva, Secretions Magnifiques is as real as an olfactory coitus that sends one into raptures, to the pinnacle of sensual pleasure, that extraordinary and unique moment when desire triumphs over reason. Masculine tenseness frees a rush of adrenalin in a cascade of high-pitched aldehydic notes. The sensation of freshness is gripping. Then the fragrance reveals a metallic side, precise and as sharp as unappeased desire. We are on a razor-edge…skin and sweat mingle, and tastes of musk and sandalwood. The slightly salty marine effect stirs, arouses, and sets your mouth watering. Tongues and sexes find one another, pleasure explodes and all goes wild. Confusion reigns supreme. A subversive, disturbing perfume. It’s love or hate at first sight. Sensuous jousting is rarely satisfied with half-measures… In between Don Juan and the womanwho offers herself, arms are laid down…who will be the first to surrender?

Perhaps the most childishly ill-concieved scent of the line, Secretions Magnifiques smells neither of secretions nor is it magnificent.  It starts out with an oddly sweet floral note riding side by side with a funky metallic one.  It smells more of inorganic or chemical weirdness than any natural body scents I have encountered.  Like a stainless steel sink filled with water and cheap dish detergent.  Or maybe a clean urinal with a fresh urinal cake.  It's an unpleasant, ugly scent, not sexy or sensual, and I cannot imagine anyone wanting to smell like it.  Eventually a musky sandalwood note appears, but it does absolutely nothing to improve this fragrance.  Or stink, a more appropriate term.  And damn it, this one has incredible lasting power.  I scrubbed it off, and it still lingered.  I put some other perfume over it; that faded and Secretions was still there.  Gah.  Don't try it unless you plan to like it.

A scent that would really smell like human excretions would have notes of iron (blood smells like iron, not stainless steel), cumin, and bleach.  A waxy note, and a salty note.  Possibly an unpleasant combination as well, but at least one that smells more of humans.

Vraie Blond
Notes: aldehydes, champagne, rose, peach, white pepper, myrrh, patchouli

She has all the assets of platinum blond seduction. A fullfledged décolleté, shapely hips and a sensuous catlike walk. A perfectly curvaceous body in a sequined lamé dress, a Technicolor version of the American dream! Accords of ambergris, fur and white pepper evoke an excess of luxury, the flashiness of casinos, women in sheath dresses and Marilyn naked under a mink coat. Is she a real blonde? To know the answer one will have to wait for nudity… Flushes of aldehydic notes fill the bedroomair, a tribute to the perfume the star wore at night, red-hot kisses enhanced by a bubbling thirst-quenching pink champagne note that leaves one panting. One feels like biting into this lovely sugared almond. Everything a brunette ever dreamed of!

A Bellini cocktail with myrrh, patchouli, white pepper.  An odd combination of ingredients, perhaps, but somehow it works.  The effervescent aldehydic champagne note is sweetened by a bit of fruit, spicy with a soupçon of pepper.  The resinous myrrh adds still more sweetness, and patchouli is there for grounding.

I very much like the scent of myrrh in perfume and find it sweetly comforting.  Vraie Blond is, in my opinion, the best scent in the line (that I've smelled so far).  A shame it is so crudely marketed, as are they all.  Etat Libre D'Orange has put out twelve scents in all, in a very short time, and I wonder how well they will sell once the novelty wears off.