All Fragrances

Yes I Do by Etat Libre d'Orange - catalogued in full as Don't Get Me Wrong Baby, Yes I Do - is a floral aldehydic eau de parfum for women, the house's mademoiselle with pink-and-white charm and a grey streak underneath. Aldehydes, lily of the valley and pear open it soapy and lifted, jasmine, orange blossom and peony fill the middle, and marshmallow, cocoa, musk, patchouli and cedar are meant to darken it, though most wearers report the florals holding to the end. Reviewers reach for freshly laundered sheets and a spring wedding. "Lily of the valley on clean linen, with a spring wedding somewhere behind it."

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Dangerous Complicity by Etat Libre d'Orange is a woody floral eau de parfum for women and men - rum and coconut poured over leather and sandalwood by Violaine Collas, built on the house's reading of Adam, Eve and the forbidden fruit as the smell of skin on skin. Ginger and rum open it warm and faintly boozy, Chinese osmanthus, Egyptian jasmine and ylang-ylang give the middle its apricot-lit floral, and leather, cashmere wood, sandalwood and patchouli hold it in place. The provocation is all in the name; the fragrance itself is quiet. "Rum and coconut on warm leather - it never raises its voice, which turns out to be the point."

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Story of Your Life by Etat Libre d'Orange is an amber gourmand eau de parfum for women and men - a brioche accord baked into rum and vanilla, written as the house's reading of romantic love as something that keeps beginning again. Benzoin, cistus and davana open it resinous and faintly herbal, laurel and orange blossom absolute run through the warm bread in the middle, and rum, vanilla absolute, cocoa, patchouli and amber wood carry it out. Reviewers keep calling it autumn in a bottle. "Warm bread, dark rum and vanilla - a fragrance that behaves like a kitchen on a cold day."

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She Was An Anomaly by Etat Libre d'Orange is a woody musk eau de parfum for women and men - Daniela Andrier's answer to an AI brief, written after Givaudan's Carto proposed an overdose of two materials she then had to make wearable. Green tangerine flickers at the top, iris, vanilla orchid and a white flower accord sit in the middle, and sandalwood, cedarwood, ambergris and a great deal of musk do the rest. It reads less like a perfume than like very clean skin. "An almost transparent fragrance - the smell of skin that smells of nothing at all, done on purpose."

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Neroli Nasimba by Maison Crivelli is a floral leather eau de parfum for women and men - orange blossom walked straight into a leather accord, composed by Paul Guerlain from Thibaud Crivelli's memory of a walking safari, where Nasimba means "with the lion" in Swahili. Tangerine, pink peppercorn and cardamom lift the opening, neroli, orange blossom absolute and petitgrain hold the white floral heart, and Saffiano leather, labdanum and vetiver settle underneath it - the animal in the grass behind the flower. "Orange blossom in full sun, with something watching from the long grass."

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Cuir InfraRouge by Maison Crivelli is a leathery fruity extrait de parfum for women and men - a bright raspberry accord crushed into grained leather, composed by Jordi Fernández from the house's memory of a neon-lit electronic party: red cocktails, strobe light, leather seating. Italian bergamot and Laotian cinnamon strike first, Moroccan orris and Chinese osmanthus give the leather a powdery apricot edge, and oud, Indonesian patchouli, Madagascan vanilla and Venezuelan tonka carry it into the small hours at 32% concentration. "Raspberry crushed into black leather, still glowing after midnight."

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Latte di Cherry by New Notes is an extrait de parfum for women and men built on one idea taken to its limit - cherry, candied and liqueur-glossed, poured over creamy almond and red berries. Jasmine, ylang-ylang and Bulgarian rose keep the middle from collapsing into syrup, and vanilla, tonka bean, sandalwood, vetiver and amber hold the sweetness down for hours. It reads like dessert and behaves like a perfume. "Cherry liqueur poured over warm almond cream - sweet, but never naive."

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French Flower by Matière Première is a white floral fragrance for women built from tuberose Aurélien Guichard grows himself on a hectare outside Grasse, captured twice - as absolute and as enfleurage pomade - to hold both the green solar side of the day flower and the creamy side of the night one. Pear and Nigerian ginger keep the opening juicy, orange blossom and Chinese tea keep it from turning heavy, and ambroxan pushes the whole field outward. "The intoxicating smell of a tuberose field at night - creamy, never camphorous, never indolic."

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Falcon Leather by Matière Première is a leather fragrance for women and men built on birch tar - the tanning material itself, smoky and almost tarry - with saffron and labdanum lifting the opening and agarwood and benzoin turning the base resinous and sweet. It smells like a new leather jacket in a room where incense has just been put out, and it does not move far from that idea for the rest of the day. "Smoky, dark, smooth leather that smells expensive."

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Crystal Saffron by Matière Première is an amber woody fragrance for women and men that treats saffron as a mineral rather than a spice - cut with habanolide musk on top and set into ambroxan and incense underneath, so the opening reads cold, metallic and almost synthetic before warming into a suede-soft glow. It is the most modern thing the house makes and the loudest by a wide margin. "Opens like burnt rubber and sheet metal, dries down to mineral leather - an absolute monster of a performer."

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