Tilda Swinton and the people who brought you sperm perfume – together at long last. Exactly. Tilda Swinton is everying I’d like to be – (insert picture of odd-looking woman who is strangely hot and approachable in her weirdness if our picture-uploading capabilities were working – crap, need to contact new hosting company).
When the news came out that Tilda Swinton was doing a fragrance for Etat Libre d’Orange, maker of Secretions Magnifique, which seemed to somehow combine the worst of semen and blood smell – only perfume to date that made me want to heave, and that includes the completely pissoir-smelling Humanity from Mugler Coffret – I jumped for joy. Everything could go wrong here, which would be a crashing mash-up that I wanted a front-seat for, or it may weirdly come together in something kind of or very oddly cool.
Notes of yellow mandarin, ginger, pumpkin, immortelle, neroli, rose, vetiver, heliotrope and musk. Okay, it starts off a little citrus-ish, the ginger and heliotrope waves some flags to let you know it’s not gonna be like that. There’s a little bit of a tinnish feel in the open. And then the nutty pancake syrupy immortelle buzzes – not loud, soft and wafty, like a smoky tendril. The tin is gone, and it starts warming up in some fabulous ways that make my toes curl. I’m not sure I get pumpkin exactly, but there is this pulpy-ness blended into the immortelle that feels like pumpkin with some spice. Pumpkin pie, almonds and pancake syrup without the calories or sweetness. But it’s not really foody. Gourmand quality to it, but just not that. It’s warmer, richer, but completely light and wispy. I would sooner believe my one-week “shopping cure” will last for a couple of months than to believe a perfume with this list of notes would be light and floaty. But it is. Warm, rich, light, floaty and a great big soft hug.
Yeah, it’s like this. Very weirdly wonderful. I can probably squeeze two samples out of the spray I have that I’ll share for two commenters. So drop a comment and talk about whatever you want – your reaction to Secretions Magnifique or the whole Etat line or what’s the worst perfume you ever smelled or just talk about nothing at all. Like this.
I like this! It smells like warm pumkin pie and orange blossom…very warm and with a beautiful spicy ginger note. Not to sweet, covers you like a blanket and makes you feel like home.
I so want to try this one!
Aah… Like This has been haunting my dreams too, ever since hearing about its launch. I’d love to be in for a sample! [Though I may retract that statement later on as I hope to stop by a local shop today to see if they have it in yet. Will amend as necessary!]
I love most of the ELO fragrances, including SM, which smells a lot better than it sounds. It was almost too intriguing for me not to try and I was actually impressed. Since then, I have purchased Jasmin et Cigarette, Rossy de Palma and Putain des palaces, all of which I love. I also bought my husband the Closet Queen fragrance, and even though he is not wild about the name (he thought it was a joke when I bought it for him!), he loves the fragrance and gets lots of compliments about it.
I just bought the Tilda Swinton fragrance online from the UK (http://nkdman.co.uk/) and hopefully I will get it this week! I’ve never smelt it, but when I heard about it, I couldn’t resist it! I have a lady crush on Tilda like some of the others, so it seemed like the perfect choice for me!
Have a great night everyone! 😡
I did try SM. I did put just a touch on my left wrist once. It was horrendous. And, it took me hours to get the “stank” off my skin. I don’t think I will do that again.
Am I too late to enter the drawing? If I am, my bad! I was at a meeting all day on Friday when you posted this, so I missed it. But if I’m not, I would love to enter the drawing for a sample of Like This.
Does “Like This” mean anything in Tilda’s life? Anyway, I bet it’s way better than SM, lol!
Hugs!
I received a smatterin o ELO perfumes in a swap a while or more back! Amongst them- Secretions Magnifique! I could smell it before I got the package open–and in the swap was Vol de Nuit – and I am thinking- OH NO! VdN is DREADFUL- which of course it was glorious- and lo and behold the dreadful stench was SM!!! And it made me laugh – and was used in an office prank- and then I shipped the rest of my samp to NST’s Angela- cuz she said she hadn’t had the pleasure…hehe…Please enter me in the draw…like that.
I haven’t tried SM – although I’m sure that I will someday, just to say that I did. The only other ELd’O that I’ve tried prior to this was Jasmin et Cigarette, which just didn’t work for me and I swapped away – it smelled too much like I was taking the walk of shame for me to enjoy it.
I don’t need to be entered in the drawing – I’m wearing my sample of this right now and thinking that I might be buying a bottle in the fall. It seems like an odd scent to be launching in the spring/summer – it definitely smells autumnal to me, although I agree that it is lighter than you would think from the notes list.
Please throw me into the draw as well. I did sniff this one on paper amid major sniffage, so can’t say that I found it anything riveting or shocking enough to stand out.
I am stillll afraid to try my sample of Secretions Magnifique. I think I’ll hold on to for a good 8 or 10 more years, so when I finally open it, I’ll think it isn’t so bad after so much build up!
Joe, did you literally get your same sample of it back? :-?:-?
I too would love to try an Etat Libre – Noel au Balcon was a close runner up for my sample choices from Luckyscent. This sounds even more interesting. I sometimes crave the scent of pumpkin but I don’t want to smell like a bath&bodyworks and that is hard to achieve. Like This sounds fantastic.
Sign me up for some SWINTON please!
I’m intrigued enough to ask to be put in the draw, although I’ve never tried anything from this line yet. I’m still a leeeetle scared of it! :”>
Almost gourmand and immortelle aspect without the overkill-effect sounds nice, please do enter me in the draw! 🙂
I heart Tilda Swinton, and this sounds fascinating, just like she is. Please enter me in the draw!:x
I’ve not tried any of the Etat line. But I just read that Gravity Pope has them here in Vancouver. That proves this blog is SUPER EDUCATIONAL. Will be hard to focus in that store (amazing boots and shoes) but someone has to go in there and try!
The worst perfumes…have been the super super super vapid and sweet..like the chocoholics one that is a terrible crime once the theory of it becomes a reality.
Never tried any of Etat’s line. However, the worst smelling fragrance that I ever tried was a Caron Pour Un Homme that went off (in a very bad way).
Sounds really fascinating and worth a sniff.
Is pumpkin a note in many other perfumes?
Not the worst perfume ever smelt but my biggest disappointment… I recieved a bottle of Ormond Woman recently for my birthday as a gift (the EDP), after loving my sample. And I just cannot smell it – 5! sprays this am and even my super sensitive to perfumes man couldn’t smell a thing.Briefly and barely there if anything.
I don’t know what to do – is it etiquette to write and ask if there is a batch problem? I thought it best to ask the posse’s advice first. Thank you in advance.
Fiona
Oh golly, that sounds heavenly. The pumpkin and immortelle thing sounds yum. I’m baking cinnamon rolls right now and oh, how I am digging the warm spicy goodness… and the glaze will be maple flavored, so there’s my immortelle.
I rather like Etat’s perfumes, although I truly despise their adolescent ad copy. Thank goodness for perfume blogs, as I otherwise would have strolled past them with my nose in the air. I bought Rien, V&T and Rossy in Montreal, and would like to have a sniff of Like This, as the only current Etat purveyor in Vancouver, Gravity Pope, might not even get this one.
So I am by far the most deserving to receive a sample of this perfume BECAUSE whenever I go into my local bakery, A & J King, in Salem, Massachusetts, for a petite brioche or a pain au chocolate or a hot cross bun, the lady behind the counter tells me that I look like Tilda Swinton. No kidding. She really says that all the time. Tilda Swinton is Scottish and I’m part Scottish so that must be why. So please put me in your drawing.
Thanks.
Melanie
It has always been a lifetime ambition of mine to smell like pumpkin pie. But not reeeally foody pumpkin pie, you know? Well. It seems those ELO guys have gotten my drift, anyway. Would luuuuurve to try it!
Ooh, would love to sample this! The only Etat scent I’ve tried so far is Putain des Palaces. I really like it! Its like a boudoir scent but with a strange plasticky/vinyl accord that keeps it from being too normal.
Conan O’Brien needs to do the commercial for the new Tilda Swindon fragrance. I can just imagine it.
Made DH smell SM cap in Skins (wonderful fragrance/beauty shop) in Amsterdam. He just said, “I don’t like it.” No trauma. All we got was metal/blood scent. I didn’t try it on skin.
I’d love to try Like This! I have the hugest girlcrush on Ms. Swinton, it’s pretty pitiful. Take her hotness, and new perfume? By a perfume maker that has trumped a perfume titled after ‘whether the carpet matches the drapes’ so to speak? SIGN ME UP.
I want Swinton’s wardrobe from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Minus the dead birds.
Please enter me in the drawing! 🙂
I remember Tilda Swinton in her first season at the RSC in London. she had only a 2-line role but she was so striking I found her fascinating. I have followed her career ever since.
Any perfume she has had a hand in is something I must try — even if nothing in the ELDO range has quite worked for me yet(Rien came close but was defeated by the huge patchouli note I get from it).
Hi all,
I’ve been lurking for a bit too, but finally thought I would comment. I love Tilda Swinton, and this sounds amazing. I definitely wouldn’t guess this to be a light scent.
I don’t actually know the name of the worst perfume I’ve ever smelled. I took my little sister shopping and got handed one of those sample perfumes, which I tossed in my shopping bag. My sister sat on it in the car. I was able to get the sugary-syrupy sent (kind of like cough syrup) out of my new shirt, but my car smelled awful for weeks. I had to drive everywhere with the windows down.
Blergh to unpleasant smells hanging out in the car. :-w
Yay to delurking! <:-p That's two today! Hello, y'all. 🙂
Hey Parker,
I hate when my car reeks:-s
I’ve little experience with Etat scents – and no desire to try Secretions Magnifique, thank you – but would love to sample this. What’s the worst scent I ever smelled? Somewhere in the bottom would be – I hate to say because I love him as a designer and am a huge Project Runway fan – the original Michael Kors perfume. I back away hissing from that one – but then, tuberose and I Do Not Get Along Well. I love reading the comments here – until I found scent blogs, I always wondered whether or not my obsession with smells made me weird. Now I know the answer – yes, I am weird but I have great company!
Hello all– Another wonderful post. I would love to be entered in the draw– this is one I have been wanting to sniff since I first heard about it. The only performance of Tilda Swinton’s I have seen is the witch in Chronicles of Narnia. If you haven’t seen it, check out the DVD and watch her performance very carefully– especially her final moment. Maybe I watch too many kids’ movies, but her performance is just extraordinary, imo. I basically have only encountered one perfume which strikes me as being just awful– Stetson Suede. Everything else, even if it really isn’t for me, I can picture someone else enjoying. Some, I don’t appreciate imposing on my airspace, but for the most part, nothing makes me sick. Except Stetson Suede. It smelled like an old wino’s coat–:)>-
I’ve never tried any of the etat libre d’orange, but I’d like to try this one. Floaty pumpkin pie sounds like it would be great for an Indian summer kind of day. Those suddenly hot fall days where all the leaves are gold. that’s when I’d like to wear something like this.
I would love to try Like This — the notes are so intriguing, as Ms. Swinton herself.
Uhh did I mention in my lengthy first post ever that I would like to be in the draw? ha
Well please consider me entered.
I too love the Swinton and would like to smell her perfume.
I’d love to try Like This. It might wipe the memory of my husband’s reaction to FM Une Fleur de Cassie a couple days ago… He smelled my wrist and muttered with a look of stunned horror, “you smell like poop!” That was a first, haha.
Noooooo!
really?
I love une fleur de Cassie…
so, you mean I smell like, ahem, well…
😉
When I wear it, I feel just so beautiful and elegant, like if I was wearing the most precious couture gown for a night at the opera. I mean, I do get 2 seconds of pee at the very beginning, but then I am raised towards gold perfume heavens, so I don’t really care… :”>
I think I’ll skip the draw (thanks v. much for the offer, Patty, how kind of you). Not an orange blossom fan, not a fan of pumpkin and immortelle notes, and not an ELdO fan.
I have only smelled SM (florals + rotting meat, ugh), but to be un-PC and totally honest, the ELdO “Only cool and enlightened people will appreciate us, we produce Perfume as Modern Art” ‘tude really, *really* annoys me. So does JAR’s “Prove you are worthy to experience our posh smells” attitude. I know that’s just proof of how bourgeois I am, but I still feel that since I have limited fragrance bucks, I need not be democratic about how I spend them. I might miss out on some gems by avoiding certain houses, but I doubt that I’ll be distressed by that since there is SO MUCH good stuff on offer elsewhere.
I think I might go wander over to Smell Bent instead… or Sonoma Scent Studio…
I should clarify: it doesn’t bother me in the slightest that other people enjoy ELdO and JAR. If they make good stuff and you like it, that’s fine with me. I’ll never wag my no-no finger at you.
It’s just Not For Me. (And I do hope that I don’t get the no-no finger wagged at ME. I’m only making a decision for myself.)
We won’t wag any finger, promise!!! 😉
… I wasn’t aware of that ELDO “Only cool and enlightened people” stuff. Hilarious. Well, I think I’ll test “Like This” when it hits the shops, because I’m pumpkin-curious, but as I said, I never felt the urge to try any fragrance of the line. In one of my fave shops, the ELDO falcons sit close to all kinds of niche perfume treasures… And the niche perfume treasures sit close to the Frederic Malle’s offerings, which usually outshine anything else… Between a Carnal Flower and a Fat Electrician, what fragrance will I choose to spray with abandon?
…Uhm, let me think 😕
Maybe it’s just me that’s put off by Their Coolnesses. Could be.
And I have to order everything online, so that might play a part in my avoidance of the line too.
Pumpkin and maple syrup aren’t what I would expect but I am anxious to smell this. Having never tried any of this line, Like This certainly appears to be a better entry point than SM (I can’t even bear to type out the full name-ugh). That’s on my no-way list. Doesn’t take much anyway to make me gag so why do it on purpose?!
Yep, there’s something about SWINTON. For someone with such gigantic personal style — the way she looks and dresses and also that particular combination of being unorthodox AND cultured in some traditional sense — she manages to be a marvelous chameleon of an actor.
Of the Etat Libres — not popular enough here in Vancouver to have stuck it out at Holt Renfrew — I’m most enamoured of Rien, that very nicely done leather of theirs. Secretions Magnifiques? The only fragrance I’ve ever smelled that induced an instantaneous gag reflex. (And hey, I swallow.)
The ethereal pumpkin thing sounds great. Please sign me up!
This is the second time I write a comment on one of your posts only to find out that it’s been deleted. Why is that? There can’t possibly be something offensive about it. Is it because my username linked to my decants page which you somehow find competitive with TPC? Because that would just be silly..
Thanks for fishing my previous comment out of the spam filter!
I haven’t tried any ELdO yet. Since I can’t watch horror movies SM holds no attraction for me! I do love SWINTON though.
Haven’t tried any of the ELdO scents – am curious about this one. Worst perfume I’ve ever smelled? Unfortunately, I don’t know the name of it!!! It’s an awful, nauseatingly common, powdery sweet mess typically worn by older women (I’m pushing 50, so I ain’t young by any means). Next time I smell it, I really should ask – what the $%#@ is that stuff???? Politely, of course. While holding my nose. It reminds me of something like Chantilly?
Oh, do ask, and please report back!
I think Like This sounds pretty great for fall. The only two ELdO scents I know are SM and Jasmin et Cigarette. When I got the SM sample, my husband and I both looked at each other because it damn near fills the room. And he said, “Um…it smells like…” And I said, “Oh my god it does.” And THEN we saw the little penile cartoon that accompanies it. Still, I love having it around to disgust people with. I have a weird soft spot for it.
Jasmin et Cigarette either disappears on my skin, or I’m a little anosmic to it (OR I need to quit smelling SM before I use it.)
ANyway, can’t wait to get my hands on Like This! Great review!
SM didn’t smell like sex to me, it smelled like violent death. I had a gut-level reaction to it — I wanted to run away.
I generally don’t dig people who do things just for shock value, and that’s what ELdO seems to be doing with a lot of their stuff. I need to try their fragrances out of context — I did all my sniffing in the boutique with some French perfume friends and the weirdly snooty (given it’s basically a shop filled with porn & perfume) SA. But I also love me some Swinton, and I also love immortelle, and I’d like to try this.
See Bloody Frida’s comment above. And, in the thread of comments to an earlier post, folks were referring to a bloody knife smell.
Maybe if there’s backstock of this in years to come, somebody will think to buy it all up and put it in diffusers that are planted in movie theaters screening some awful slasher film in 3-D.
No, I won’t be going.
great idea re: film – but I won’t be going either
I think Tilda Swinton is simply fascinating-looking, though I’m getting bored with the “she NEVER wears makeup” thing. And for those of you who follow the hilarious celebrity fashion-faux-pas site, Go Fug Yourself, she is always referred to simply as SWINTON, and they talk about her as if she were some sort of demi-goddess, even when they occasionally do rank on what she’s wearing, the idea being SWINTON can get away with anything.
That said, the first thing that comes to mind when I think of SWINTON is definitely not pumpkin.
Never smelled SM…and can’t imagine I ever will. But I am a little curious. Like This sounds totally up my alley. Would love to be in the draw. Thanks!
Melissa, I became so depressed afterwards…it truly affected my mood for the worse.
Actually I love PdP – it smells like me! 😉
Wouldn’t it be interesting to do a poll about how many people have been traumatized by SM?
Did you wish to:
a) Retreat to the shower for 4 hours?
b) Chew off your own arm?
c) Chew off the arm of the jokester who spritzed you with it?
That said, I would love to sample Like This. Sounds fascinating.
I don’t know why, but I’m dying (dying! dying!) to try this. I read the review on I-Smell-Therefore-I-Am (love that blog too) and her comparison with Pacifica’s Tibetan Mountain Temple. I tried that once in a store and swooned. I was on vacation in the mountains, and TMT somehow smelled like peace and zen centeredness. I’m not sure how I have managed not to buy it– it’s so cheap!
Can you compare it to that? Abigail said she liked TMT even more than Like This.
*pick me! Pick me!*
I have never tried an SM ( not feeling the pain, don’t worry) but I love SWINTON. I love her as an actor, and I love that she has her own bracket in Fug Madness!
None of the notes you mentioned sound like they would even remotely work for me – and that is why I would like to be in the draw! LOL!
Ya nebber know…
xo >-)
Okay, you’ve got me straight trippin’ — you’re right, I wouldn’t have pegged those notes as light and floaty. But I’m willing to give it a run around the track to see what’s going on there.
Immortelle…I’ve been touching down a lot on that note recently, for some reason…some Ayala Moriel Immortele L’Amour…something else? I’ll have to remember. Heliotrope…citrus…hmmmmm. I wonder if this is a hangs up in the air treatment of these notes similar to the way Havana Vanille kept vanilla from being all weighty in gourmand gooeyness. Not that there’s anything wrong with gourmand gooeyness, if that’s what you’re after…
I have had no reaction to Secretions Magnifique, because I have not tried Secretions Magnifique. I feel no need to go there. Not like that.
I have a bottle of Hotel Slut but rarely wear it. In the drydown, it reminds me a lot of Chanel No. 5 and I’m always happy when I get to that point … but it’s the few hours preceding it that I don’t have the patience for. There’s something about it that’s … oppressive and smothering? And maybe a note in there that cloys just a bit too much? I really ought to evilBay all of my unloveds; maybe one day.
Anyhow, that’s the only Etat I’ve smelled. I’m afraid SM would make me retch, literally. Don’t you wonder how many bottles of that they actually sell? Someone should ask that question.
Tilda’s a very interesting person … married, but each apparently has a lover on the side and it’s all exceedingly convivial. She doesn’t look like the sex bomb she apparently is. I would love to know how a gal like that likes to smell!
I’ve loved Tilda Swinton since I first saw Orlando. Such a hypnotic, gorgeous movie and actress. I’d love to try Like This. I haven’t had a chance to smell really any of the ELDO fragrances, but will definitely take everyone’s word for it and avoid SM.