I remember my first encounter with Etat Libre d’Orange at Henri Bendel in New York, with a group of perfumistas, probably at a Sniffa. Some of the names/scents were provocative, ridiculous, or obscene – Putain de Palaces, Encens et Bubblegum, Nombril Immense… and that’s without mentioning the truly NSFW ones. I thought they were interesting – I mean, I certainly wasn’t bored — but I was never moved to buy one. Then in the fragrance tsunami of more recent years I didn’t even bother hunting the new releases down. Plenty of other things to smell, you know? I didn’t want to fall in love with something called, for example, Fat Electrician. The only one I’ve been interested in trying in recent years is Spice Must Flow, and I still haven’t gotten around to ordering a sample.
Anyway, there I was, playing in my perfumista-housemate Carolyn’s perfume shelves (an absolute delight, she has some amazing stuff!) and I ran across one of those 2ml manufacturer’s samples of some random EldO, so I sprayed it on absent-mindedly while trying to decide what to wear next. Whoa. Where has this thing been all my life?
Apparently, Remarkable People came out in 2015 – a year during which I was paying pretty much zero attention to fragrance. It’s marketed as a “spicy oriental” which would have gotten my attention if I’d been paying attention. Notes are grapefruit, champagne, cardamom, black pepper, curry tree, jasmine, sandalwood, ambergris (synthetic), labdanum.
So: a major challenge of my partial, come-and-go anosmia is I never know which fragrances I’ll be able to smell. The strength of the scent doesn’t factor in, and I still haven’t discerned any pattern I could use to my advantage. I just spray and hope for the best.
You know how we’ve discussed on here recently that sometimes what you want is something that smells good, and as unchallenging as your favorite sweater or tee shirt? Well, Remarkable People is, if not “remarkable” in some bizarre way, an oh-so-pretty scent that I find utterly charming. It opens with the citrus fizz you’d expect, then some spice and (fairly clean) jasmine over a warm amber/woods base. I’m making it sound boring – no shocking surprises! No challenging top notes to wade through! I can smell it very clearly all around me, it’s one of those “aura” scents that is omnipresent, and its lasting power is borderline astonishing, at least on me. The shock value for me is that ELdO released such an unabashedly appealing, wearable scent.
Their 50ml bottles are ~$100USD regular retail (and way cheaper if you poke around online) which is a bargain price these days.
Do you love any of the ELdO fragrances? I should still try Spice Must Flow, right? Has anyone tried the new one, Story of Your Life? Notes include davana, benzoin, orange blossom, brioche, rum, cocoa, patchouli, and vanilla which sounds potentially right up my alley.
cover photo via Pexels
PS. Here’s a short, interesting interview with Christine Nagel on her new fragrance, Barénia, for Hermès.
My favourite ELO is Bendelirious, a cheery cherry iris. I also like and have Rien and the big belly button.
How I hate their so-called edginess – I keep saying that their marketing division is staffed by teenage boys.
I have an old sample pack from ELDO that I brought on a girls’ trip a couple months ago. No one else there was very into perfumes, but everyone was game to give these a sniff. I sprayed each scent on paper and passed them around, and we guessed at notes and drew mental images of what each scent evoked to us. In the end, I read out the official notes list for each and told everyone all the silly perfume names. Everyone enjoyed the activity, and one of my friends ended up getting a couple ELDO samples herself!
Remarkable People was not one of them, but Fat Electrician and Putain des Palaces (doesn’t that count as an NSFW perfume name??) were among them. In fact, one friend said, “Ugh, this smells amazing, but can you imagine someone asking you what you’re wearing and having to tell them, ‘It’s Fat Electrician!’?”
Oh, that sounds like so much fun! I would love to do something like that. And yes, Putain is … more NSFW but not as bad as some of the rest of them, hoo boy. And yeah — based on comments, Fat Electrician is one of the more popular ones, but no, I don’t want to wear a fragrance with that name!
I picked up 100ml of Like This years ago. It gets worn each autumn/winter but it will out live me. I do enjoy it very, very much but it is anchored in that time of year.
Putain de Palaces is one of the few fragrances that someone has actually chased me to ask what it was! Anyone who loves powdery violets should give it a go!
Others I’ve owned are Sex Pistols & Rien. I sold both on half used.
Like you I haven’t kept up to date with ELDO’s recent output. I should put this right!
There are SO MANY and some of them look really interesting! I’ve seen a couple of sample sets online. Depending on what’s in there I may go for it (I don’t think it’s everything on offer.) I love it when someone has to know what I’m wearing! I remember liking Putain but balking at the name. Like This was wonderful to smell but for whatever reason not one I wanted to wear.
I got a sampler from them a while back, really liked You or Someone Like You but it’s such a fleeting thing for the $$. Spice Must Flow, otoh, is one of my favorite roses now and I’m wishing a full bottle would magically appear. Sounds like I should try Remarkable People as well.
They’re certainly easy enough to find samples of online, I am thinking about springing for one of those sets.
I think that’s one of the delights of our perfume hobby. Being taken by surprise by an enchanting scent and enjoying that scent as it grows into a bubble around us. It might be just pretty, but that kind of beauty makes the day better. The one I remember liking was Rossy de Palma.
Man I don’t remember Rossy de Palma at all, although I’m sure I smelled it. And yes — those little moments of surprise and joy, sniffing.
Remembering that Sniffapalooza event at Henri Bendel. Ordered a sample of Remarkable People-“pretty” sounds good to me. Glad your smeller works-even if inconsistently.
Oh, I hope you like it! I miss those Sniffa events, and that time in my life.
Heya March,
I am an ELdO fan and have a few bottles.
Remarkable People didn’t throw down a credit card float my boat but I liked it. The three I wear most are Fat Electrician, Spice Must Flow, Trash and You or Someone Like You.
Portia xx
Hey I remember liking I Am Trash! And being amused (rather than put off) by the name.
I like Spice Must Flow. I think I’ve liked several other ELdO fragrances. Nothing has ever really knocked my socks off and I find the shock factor irritating which means I don’t really seek them out. If I fall over one for some reason (ie, I’m looking at a sample site and one pops up) I’ll consider it. This sounds pretty and I like the idea of the champagne note. But, I’ve got other perfume fish to fry. Sounds great having two wonderful perfume collections to swim around in.
Yeah, I am sooooo not their target audience with those names. Some of them are just repulsive. And yes, Carolyn’s collection has quite a few things I don’t have, it has been so much fun.
I’ve tried a lot of ELDO’s perfumes in the past ten-ish years. The conclusion is: they smell more appealing than their names would suggest. I think Portia has written some reviews on APJ and that influenced me to look them up. I own You or Someone Like You, which is a sweet mint/rosy scent. I also have The Afternoon of a Faun, which is a dry woody resinous scent and I have Like This, which is a popular spicy floral autumn scent. Some time ago I had bought Soul of My Soul, partially because of the name. It was a nice warm spicy perfume but not interesting enough to keep it in my collection so I passed it on. There are some other nice perfumes like I Am Trash and Jasmine et Cigarettes but for me they are not FB worthy. Remarkable People fit into the last category IMO, nice but a decant would be enough.
LOVE that you remember Neva.
<3 Well I’m glad we have you!
Oh, how could I ever forget those times! You even sent me a decant of I Am Trash <3
Oh, I was thinking about Soul of My Soul, just for the name! Like This was wonderful but just not “me” somehow. Some of the scent names are so off-putting to me, guess I’m not cool enough lol.
I’ve tried a few and came thisclose to really liking some, just not enough to buy. I almost bought “Like This” but not quite. But I need to catch up on the newer ones.
There are a ton — I was browsing Fragrantica and there are a bunch I’ve never tried. I might spring for one of their sample sets.
Putain de Palaces is the only EDLO I own, it’s really pretty compared to the image the name evokes. Otherwise I haven’t sampled many from their line. Not sure why, too many to keep up with? I also don’t love the bottles. Glad you found one you enjoy and yes; therefore, try Spice Must Flow!
I forgot to mention the bottles — I don’t love them either and I can’t even say why. Too … boldly graphic? I dunno. I’m going to get ahold of Spice Must Flow and maybe a few others to try.
I have sampled Secretions Magnifiques and Putain de Palaces because…well, curious. I was surprised since both were…well, uninteresting. I do love a “Whoa. Where has this thing been all my life?”. It’s great when that happens! I will try Remarkable People and perhaps get a whoa moment too. 🙂
I hope you also get a “whoa!” moment. Those are some of the best moments in this hobby, for sure.
Huh. Do you know… other than the NSFW one (and maybe Fat Electrician) I don’t have ANY recollection of any ELdO scents. I wonder if it’s because… oh, who knows (insert shrug emoji)…
… but this sounds so YOU!
And.. yes. You should try Spice Must Flow because why not?
I’m now making a short list of samples; there are some newer ones I didn’t even know existed.