Author Chandler Burr talks about his new fragrance with Etat Libre d’Orange, You or Someone Like You. About 3 minutes.
Etat Libre d’Orange You or Someone Like You ~ new fragrance
French niche line Etat Libre d’Orange has launched You or Someone Like You, a new fragrance made in collaboration with author Chandler Burr, and named for his first novel…
Etat Libre d’Orange Vierges et Toreros ~ fragrance review
Almost ten years have passed since Etat Libre d’Orange released Vierges et Toreros.1 I’ve never come across it in a store and no one ever gave me a sample of the fragrance. The only reason I just smelled it is that I got a tiny vial of the perfume along with the recent Etat Libre d’Orange Attaquer Le Soleil Marquis de Sade release. I ignored Vierges et Toreros all these years because bullfighter images aren’t my thing, and people I trust gave it lukewarm reviews. I never added it to my to-try list. Mistake!
As usual the Etat Libre d’Orange PR text is worth reading for a good laugh and head-scratch…
Etat Libre d’Orange Attaquer Le Soleil Marquis de Sade ~ fragrance review
What a difference an ingredient makes. Last week I disparaged a fragrance that showcased one note (Iso E Super) and this week I’m doing just the opposite. Attaquer Le Soleil* Marquis de Sade by Etat Libre d’Orange promotes one ingredient, cistus labdanum (from Cistus ladanifer), but I thoroughly enjoy this perfume.
I wrote about the Marquis de Sade and perfume almost 7 years ago (Histoires de Parfums 1740 Marquis de Sade). I’ll quote myself:
Sade’s stories of torture, his endless diatribes against religion, his sexual fantasies involving pain, incest, degradation, humiliation and murder numbed me. Reading the Marquis de Sade’s dully written, repetitive tales made me sleepy and after awhile I began to laugh heartily at the absurdity of him and what he ‘preached.’ His philosophy didn’t appeal to (or interest) me. I was definitely not Sade’s audience.
I’m still not Sade’s audience but sometimes I feel I could have been his compatriot…
Etat Libre d’Orange Hermann ~ fragrance review
To be precise, this Etat Libre d’Orange fragrance isn’t just called Hermann. It’s Hermann à mes côtés me paraissait une ombre, a line from a poem by Victor Hugo. Translated, that means “by my side, Hermann seemed to me like a shadow.” Here, we’ll stick simply to Hermann.1
“Perfume as shadow” is a beautiful way to describe the feel of a dark, cool, sheer fragrance. To me, Hermann fills the bill. It also leans masculine and is almost infuriatingly persistent…