Let’s get this over with quickly so we can move on the fragrance itself: Yes, Etat Libre d’Orange Putain des Palaces’s English translation — as supplied by Etat Libre, at least — is “Hotel Slut.” And, yes, its logo (see below) is a phallic key inserted into a pink, ovoid lock. All right, we’ve got it, ha ha ha.
But “Hotel Slut” casts the wrong impression of the perfume. It sounds too cheap. After rejecting Truck Stop Floozy (not tony enough) and Penthouse Suite Slattern (really I just listed this name for the chance to use “slattern”), I think High Class Harlot is more like it.
Putain des Palaces was released in 2006 and was developed by perfumer Nathalie Feisthauer. Its notes include rose absolute, violet, leather, lily of the valley, tangerine, ginger, rice powder, amber and animal notes. For once, the list of notes is a good representation of the actual fragrance.
Putain des Palaces is an aldehydic floral juiced with ginger-spiked citrus and sandwiched between a whiff of body odor and a bed of supple stiletto leather. Its first tingly sniff is pure gingered tangerine, but within seconds it’s joined by the smell of freshly dirty armpit. The armpit smell is subtle. Rochas Femme, Amouage Jubilation 25 and Penhaligon’s Amaranthine are more overtly carnal, in my opinion.
Riding under the tangerine and soon taking center stage is the classic cosmetics combo of violet and rose. The ginger and tangerine, still present, make sure that if Putain des Palaces hints at a 1950s lipstick, it’s worn by a finishing school's party girl and not the matron. After only five minutes or so, Putain des Palaces’s leather starts to surface. The leather isn’t a rough birch tar fest, nor is it salty like suede, but it’s soft and thin and buttery.
Altogether, Putain des Palaces becomes a mosaic of disparate but oddly alluring pieces. Its ginger and tangerine smell young and fresh. The violet and roses smell traditional and prim. Animalic notes are sexy and daring. Soft leather is earthy and easy. Snap them together, and you get a Mr. Potato Head of perfume from which it is hard to turn away. It’s the unusual but surprisingly harmonious combination that keeps me coming back to the dab on my wrist.
Putain des Palaces has moderate sillage and lasts about four hours on my skin — probably a couple of hours longer than our high class harlot needs it to works its magic.
Etat Libre d’Orange Putain des Palaces Eau de Parfum is $80 for 50 ml. For information on where to buy it, see Etat Libre d’Orange under Perfume Houses.
My uncle used to always tease me and say I smelled like a “French wh***e” due to me always wearing cologne, no matter the occasion… I might have already found his Christmas present! …but Armpit smell? please explain I have never encountered that in any scent.
Armpit smell is sort of spicy-dirty, like body odor. Cumin, civet, and cedar can all hint at armpits to me, depending on how they’re used.
It sounds to me like this might be perfect for your uncle!
Your uncle seems so cool! To my (untrained) nose this is not a BO-like armpit, as the one I get from Guerlain Pamplelune (which other people love, but I just can’t, no matter how much I like the idea of it). Putain des Palaces is much softer, I just feel a hint of life beyond the powdery, Lipstick Rose-like core, and I think this works very nicely along with the leather. Very much worth trying.
Yes, the hint of B.O. is much softer than in many fragrances.
I think I went too literal went I thought of it as Palace Whore – I wish they had used ‘slattern’ – maybe they will one day. Inevitably very few of these live up to their provocative names but I liked the lipstick and leather drydown which was so different to the spicy fresh top notes. Not much sillage on me and gone fast – sadly just a quickie, no earth moving thrill. My fave from this house is the rather sweetly named Bijou Romantique – I have an obsession with that one!
I haven’t smelled all of the Etat Libres, including Bijoux Romantique. I will definitely seek that one out, though!
Even though I know the literal meaning, I always thing of the head of Russia rotting away in a palace built originally for the Tsars.
Watch out! I hear they can throw you in jail for saying such things in certain places….
No, you were correct: the word ‘putain’ means ‘whore’ – much stronger than ‘slut’.
Even more reason to prefer “slattern.” (Although I do love Pasta Puttanesca, which I understand has similar roots.)
Palais would be french for palace, while palace is french for hotel. Very confusing, isn’t it? And I agree with Bela, putain means whore- just like puta in spanish. And slattern certainly is a great word- Dinckens’ use of it is one of the many reasons I love reading him!
Not too long ago I reread Great Expectations and rediscovered how fun Dickens is.
This is one I can easily say won’t be on my buy list. Between the name and your description, no thanks.
Had to laugh at Penthouse Suite Slattern. What about a Dollop of Trollop?
Oh, Dollop of Trollop is perfect! You should be in marketing, if you aren’t already.
Dollop of Trollop is a brilliant name!
Dollop of Trollop! Love it.
Or Eau de Pro?
Oh man! Genius.
Dollop of trollop has made my day!
They should swipe “Splendeurs et Misères des Courtisanes” from Balzac.
All right, I know I said Dollop of Trollop was perfect, but really you completely nailed it. That title is about as evocative as it gets.
I would buy that without even sniffing!
I agree!
Courtesan, I thought. But that one is taken, no?
Worth already snapped that one up. Courtesan has a nice B.O. note, too–a little more emphatic and musky than Putain’s.
I’m very curious about this perfume, but I confess that I would lie if someone asked me about its name. Also because I’m a French teacher – so you can imagine…
Oh yes. Caution ahead on that one!
I tried this one on a few weeks ago in a shop when I was (finally) crossing Rossy de Palma off my buy list. I loved it. It kind of reminded me of PdN Maharanih Intense, but less overtly civety. I got pretty good lasting power out of a spray — maybe 8 hours or so, if I remember correctly. So I took one thing off my buy list and added another.
I like Dollop of Trollop. I’d totally buy that!
I still haven’t tried Portia, Rien, Bijou, Fils de Dieu, and a few of the others in the line. I need to get busy!
Love how you worked ‘slattern’ in there, Angela. Such a descriptive word! I do quite like this offering from ELdO, I find many of them too sweet for me. Must dig out my decant!
Slattern is a good one, I think. I’m going to see if I can work it into a few conversations over the next week…
I have often wondered whether the deliberately provocative names of this house do them any real favours in the end.
It took me quite a while to get round to testing them. Now some of my favourite scents are by Etat Libre d’Orange. Rien, Fils de Dieu, Rossy, Je suis un homme,Jasmin et Cigarette and L’Après-midi d’un faune. Putain I liked, but then I am partial to the violet-rose combo.
And I think you would love Rien. One of the best leathers ever ( in my humble opinion of course).
Also; it’s one of the more reasonably priced niche lines, which is a plus in these times.
I really need to try the rest of the line! I’ve heard great things about Rien, too. At least with this line you’re sure to get an interesting fragrance, and as you say, the prices aren’t bad.
I’m so happy you reviewd this, Angela. Your voice is one I deeply value, and I’m obsessed with the sample of PdP I just got. (Fils de Dieu is pretty nice too, very Shalimar-like as Victoria noted. I’ll certainly explore more from this line.) I love the “Lipstick Rose” bit, but the musky dirtiness and the leather made this one replace the Malle on my wishlist. Also, I must admit I really enjoy the name – it closes the deal. Maybe I’ll never grow over 13, even as I approach the forties.
I’m glad you like it! It’s an odd but classy scent, in my opinion.
I haven’t smelled a lot of the EdLO’s, though the ones I’ve smelled I’ve liked. And Rien and Rossy de Palma I almost love..I wonder whether their names are deliberately chosen to throw off the wearer (sort of like Le Labo’s naming scheme). Rien was anything but ‘nothing’ (if that makes sense).
That is the one name that I love, quite apart from the scent. GraindeMusc has an interview with the A.Lie who designed the scent. Explaining it’s structure and it’s name.
http://graindemusc.blogspot.nl/2011/05/mechanics-of-internal-fluids-is-beauty.html
The bit about Rien is in the last paragraph.
Thanks for the link–it’s a fascinating interview. It makes me want to try Rien all the more, too.
I need to reread this interview- I remember enjoying it when I read it. Thanks for the link! I knew Lie composed Rien- didn’t register the fact that he composed rossy de palma as well (now I’m looking forward to his perfume for puredistance)
It’s fun sometimes to peruse the “Noses” section of Now Smell This just to marvel at what some of the perfumers have made.
I must try both of those.
I like this one a lot, despite being really turned off by most of ELd’O marketing and names. However, it seemed to me very similar to JHaG Citizen Queen, which I already adored and had on my bottle list. Hotel Slut actually seems a bit tamer to me and more powdery than CQ – but your description seems right on the, er, money to me, Angela!
Isn’t it amazing how many puns this perfume inspires?
My armpits make their own smell. I don’t understand why I would want to smell like someone else’s sweat, unless it were my husband’s
Well then, add leather stilettos, violet-rose lipstick, and hold a ginger-orange cocktail and you will smell like Putain des Palaces!
Very DIY!
Kind of a performance art piece, really.
I like a lot of ELDO scents including this one. I find the names silly but no one knows the name unless they ask and so few people ask what I’m wearing it really isn’t a problem. Most people say I smell nice and that’s that. I love the old time cosmetic scent of this one. I don’t really get much citrus at all.
It’s true–most of the time people say you smell nice but rarely ask what it is you’re wearing.
(Which reminds me, I always forget how a lot of non-perfumistas are really protective about naming their perfume! I think they’re afraid I’m going to start wearing it myself and “steal” their signature scent. Meanwhile, they’d probably fall over if they knew how much perfume I have.)
Lol. I’m totally guilty of that especially if I truly love the perfume. I will conveniently forget the name of what I’m wearing if someone asks me. I guard my favorites. If its not a huge love for me I will probably say the name of it if asked. Of course it also depends who’s asking.
I guess I do have to admit to being protective of Dzing at times….
I’v had my eye on Nombrile Immense for a while – anyone have opinions about it?
Another one I haven’t tried yet…
I’m not sure you absolutely need to try it, lol!
It’s true–the name is a little off-putting. But still intriguing…
Thanks for the review Angela, brilliant as usual.
and yet well done, with a tad of vulgarity that I find really charming.
I smelled PdP a while ago, and I remember loving it straight away – it does what it says on the tin, really. Very… evocative
I’m partial to the ELdO lines, I loathed Fat Electrician and I think Jasmin et Cigarette, while quite interesting, it does not move much from jasmine incense stick of the Indian corner shop. As a man, I can’t really bring myself to wear PdP, but I would love to smell it on a lady.
I’m wearing Afternoon of a Faun right now, and I really like it. It’s pretty “non-gendered”, too.
I have to admit that I can’t wear PdP because it smells very melancholy to me. I smell it and picture a lived in and worked in hotel bedroom, complete with a messy and dirty bed, a bureau containing cosmetic powders of different ages cracked open, the leather of furniture, a badly kept room, maybe even a figure sitting in front of the vanity with face in hands. It just smells like the sent of sadness and desperation to me. I know I’m over-thinking it, but I couldn’t help reacting emotionally after smelling. That said, I do like how it smells on a theoretical level, and would be happy to wear it myself (excepting my reaction) or on someone else.
The fact that the perfume raised such a vivid scene in your mind is a really sign of its success, I think!
As much as I wanted to like this, and even after impulsively buying a 50ml bottle of it, there is something about it that unearths me every time. Maybe I got a bad bottle, because I don’t remember my sample being so leathery, I remember the rose and violets being more prominent. Sadly, my bottle is leather and smoke mostly. It makes me a tad ill, and I detect more catwoman with a cigar than I do some boudoir mistress in her agent provocateur lingerie….bit of a pity.
Too bad you can’t find someone with a rose-violet bottle who loves leather. It would make a great swap. Catwoman with a cigar is pretty hilarious–but intriguing, too!
Indeed! Perhaps there might be some takers on here if they notice the comment!!? I first made the catwoman with a cigar analogy with Molinard Habinata – another one I just find too leathery and smokey to tolerate!