Perfume Pen Pals: Etat Libre d'Orange Rien and Le Labo Patchouli 24


Katie,

As promised (I love making promises about things that only matter to me, and even then, only barely), my next Etat Libre d'Orange is Rien, which just arrived in the mail.

I had tried the sample and was curious mostly because it smelled like none of the other Etat Libres (which all smell sort of similarly). And because of what Luca Turin wrote in The Guide, that it's a simple animalic leather: unsweetened leather and civet and that's all. I want to get to the bottom of this civet business. (Get to the bottom of this civet business, get it? I'm on fire today.)

Having a full bottle to spray -- wow, this is crazy heavy stuff, much more imposing than out of a tiny vial. It's like Le Labo Oud 27 without the oud. And without most of the other 26 ingredients, too. It's Oud 27 with leather and the thing that makes Oud 27 smell so scary at first. It's leather and cat butt.


Turns out there is such a thing as being "too craftsy."


I can't decide whether or not I like it, or even if that's the appropriate question with a fragrance like this, but I've been smelling it obsessively for two hours and that says something. About the perfume and about me, I guess.

Dan


Dan,

Boy, you're a glutton for anal emissions, aren't you -- especially since you haven't particularly liked what you've already smelled in that department. It's the diaper pail game again.

Katie


Katie,

Yep, it is the diaper pail game again. But with leather, which is oddly more harmonious with poo than lavender and flowers are. It really is a narrow fragrance, especially considering it's so strong. Take a smell. It's in your Etat Libre samples.

I'm wearing Le Labo Patchouli 24 out again tonight, on a date this time. I've worn it around two friends and both disliked it, even more than they've disliked Chanel Coromandel.

I have three favorite scents -- P24, Coromandel and By Kilian Liaisons Dangereuses -- and the first two are unpopular with everyone I know. But people love Liaisons D. Maybe I should wear Liaisons D and not be so stubborn.

Dan


Dan,

So, I'm wearing this Rien, and I'm getting aldehydes rather than your cat butt. It smells of tarred oblivion. A little smoky sumpin'.



Sounds like wearing P24 on a date is your version of drawing a line in the sand. If they can tolerate the smoke, they've passed.

Katie


Katie,

No, sadly it's the opposite. If someone likes P24 now, I'll view her with suspicion. I secretly like that my friends don't like my favorite perfumes. I like surrounding myself with critical people. I don't attend to praise, surely because of my upbringing. So that's my line in the sand: like P24 and I'll know you're bullshitting me. (I'm not stable enough to date.)

I believe I was the one who first insisted you try Liaisons D. I was crazy about that perfume, still am, though I never end up wearing it. And, yeah, everyone loves it, which makes it somehow less enjoyable to wear. Crazy, I know.

Alright, I'm going with P24, dammit.

Dan


Fumies, do you have a perfume line in the sand?

Crochet cat butt via
Tar bubble via

25 comments:

  1. I used to crochet. It may be worth learning how again, just so I can make one of those cat butts. Such a wonderful Christmas tree ornament that would make!

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  2. My perfume line in the sand is mostly hypothetical because I've only sampled it: La Via del Profumo's African Queen Pink Panther. It smells like urine, but in a beautiful way. I haven't bought any yet because I'm not sure I'd ever wear it. But I love smelling it.

    So I guess my BS-test is to let someone smell my arm with any perfume that has a discernible urine note and if they say "it smells like pee" they pass, and if they say something lame and generic like "Oh...I like it" they fail.

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  3. and how one finds an image of a crochet cat butt (do you think to search for that?), I don't know, but kudos! perfect image, perfect caption.

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  4. http://www.etsy.com/listing/63744352/cat-butt-ornament-or-keychain-pdf

    Goggle Image Search

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  5. I've said it before,
    I'll say it again,
    I do SO love my Katie and Dan.

    I just adopted two cats from a shelter, against my better judgement and only because I love my kids who have been BEGGING for months. Previous to this, I was strictly a dog person, and THAT was my line in the sand. People who loved cats were highly suspect and not date-able. But now I am one of them, and have had a very up close and personal experience with cat pee, and I think it has ruined my olfactory sense organs forever. What was I thinking. *sigh* I am missing my dear departed chocolate lab, Hazel...

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  6. Ok, I may need a new pair of glasses, but I looked at the crochet pic and I saw a one-eared bunny with a pink tail. Hated realizing what that pink bit was when I realized it was a cat butt.
    I love that Dan tests his friends and dates with questionable fumes and if they like it, they fail the test. It reminds me a bit of how my Dad would needle (verbally, not literally) folks and if they didn't blow up in his face or react in kind, then they were allright! Then he turned on the charm (probably another 'mess with their heads' plan) and they were IN.

    It takes a braver soul than I to smell, let alone wear in public, a scent that purportedly smells like cat urine.

    And Dan, I am assuming this is a first date you are springing the P24 on? Or do you do something more alluring on the first date, and then spring the cat urine on the next one. Good one - keep 'em guessing!

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  7. At first I thought Dan was been a bit unfair on failing people who said they like P24 (probably because I like P24 myself and also tend to lie sometimes to be polite). But then I remembered I put a wrist full of Cuir de Lancome under my friend's nose and she looked faintly revolted and said absolutely nothing. This made me like her even more for being genuine, so I understand where Dan's coming from. I still think it's a little harsh as a deal-breaker on a first date though!

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  8. Good one, Paul, for locating the cat butt instructions! I'd only included the Etsy link to the "ornament" itself.

    ahsu, that's a good distinction to make: are the smellers simply going through the motions of sniffing your perfume choice and blandly thumbsing it up? Or do they care enough to tell you the truth. "Friends don't let friends smell like pee!"

    Bless you, Scott, for adopting the kitties and becoming "one of us". Actually, I went from being a cat-person only to diggin' the doggies, owning to the appearance of Rodrigo the Perfume Dog in my life.

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  9. Scott, I was always a kitty person until one day I realized another pet was needed in my life and I didn't want to be known as the neighborhood cat lady. (I had two vintage cats)I then adopted a puppy who has completely made me a dog person (or maybe just "my dog is the only good dog" person) and with my two vintage kitties gone to glory and a new one (now 5 yrs old) installed, I can say I have one of each and they adore each other. So kudos to you for being a good dad and giving in to your kids' wishes and hopefully your heart will find room someday for a new Lab to keep those kitties in line! I know how hard it is to bring in a new one so give it time. I used to think dating a dog person was my line in the sand (and my eyes would glaze over as they waxed poetic about their mutt) but now I love seeing the odd chihuahua in a handbag in the store and want to cuddle all the little fluffies. My dog is a Border Collie. No handbag for him! After doing much research on dog types, personalities and the such, I fell for a cute puppy and then went home and 'bout fell over when I read what my new puppy was going to grow up to be and shed and so on! Laughs on me. He is 11 years old now and he is model citizen and not as fluffy as the pictures described and so it is all good. And he likes all my perfumes!

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  10. SoS - an added plus that your vintage dog agrees with your perfume choices!

    Tara - Cuir de Lancome revolting? That lovely wisp of leather? I do wonder whether there was more to the deal-breaking with Dan than just the perfume trick question. Anyway, I've smelled Patchouli 24 wafting appealingly in his wake and it smells very appealing indeed. I'm sure anyone would say the same, and not be bullshitting him in the slightest. He needs to get over this perfume paranoia!

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  11. Thanks Katie, I'm glad you like Cuir too. My friend wants to smell of spring flowers so I was always on to a loser :)

    Being a people-pleaser myself I am the opposite of Dan and worry far too much about what other people think of my scents. I even chickened out of buying a full bottle of P24 for that very reason while at Liberty last week. So maybe I should get over my perfume paranoia too!

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  12. Dan, your perfume-as-personality-test is intriguing. I may adopt it.

    I've used perfume-as-punishment. A colleague called a long onerous meeting to take place during the dinner hour (with no dinner provided). I struck back with a heavy dose of Coromandel. Take that!

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  13. Suzy Q, I wouldn't advise adopting anything I do. Truthfully, people rarely comment on what I wear, even in close quarters. (Much of my life occurs only in my head.) Before a recent lunch date, I made the terrible mistake of spraying on a sample of Serge Lutens Rose de Nuit, which would qualify me for arrest in less liberal parts of the country. Still, my companion said nothing. Though what could she possibly say? (Don't answer that.)

    And it seems like Chanel has a new marketing angle for Coromandel. I think Katie almost killed someone wearing it with the windows up in the Los Angeles summer. Correct me if I'm exaggerating that story, KP.

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  14. tara,

    I've found that Patchouli 24 calms right down, once on the skin. People will remain pleased. And the baby steps version of it is to wear the balm.

    Suzy Q,

    Haha, "perfume as punishment". Dan's right about my Coromandel experience. But one person's pain is another's pleasure, because the next person who smelled my Coromandel'd skin that night exclaimed how beautiful I smelled.

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  15. I guess my line in the sand is Secretions Magnifique or anything with rose. I love rose, but my Bf doesn't!!! In fact, he downright hates it. Hummm... an idea just struck me... a magnificent idea... Muhahahahaha! Good Luck Public Speaking students on Monday...

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  16. I find I like a good rose scent a good while after it has been applied. It doesn't matter which one - or even who is wearing it. I think after it settles down (and in?) that it is quite beautiful. But when freshly applied it is too overwhelming. Now if they can only make a perfume that smells like you sprayed it on hours before! Now, there's a thought!

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  17. Lady D has been gripped by an evil idea, methinks!

    ScentsofSmell - I know what you mean about the appeal of perfume that sprays on already "broken in". I think Prada L'Eau Ambrée is like that, as well as Frédéric Malle Portrait of a Lady.

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  18. My perfume line in the sand is Czech and Speake's No.88. I got a rather large sample of this from a perfume friend and GAGGED when I smelled it. It smelled so much like cat spray, I thought it was a joke! If this wasn't from a friend of mine, I would have truly wondered if they were having me on. I looked through basenotes at other people's reviews and at the notes and still, to this day, have no idea why it smelled so terrible to me! There's nothing remotely cat spray-ish about it. Yet, I had to triple bag it and then finally tossed it when the smell made me sick any time it leeched out into the air.

    Another one that I draw the line at is Narciso Rodriguez Musc oil for him. It's such a dreary scent to me! Heavy, damp and chemically musk and then wet, dank tar. And then something awful and sweet. Ugh. It made me feel like I was going to sink into it and never escape. I still shudder thinking about it.

    Oh, also, I'm a lady so...maybe that's why some of these didn't quite work??

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  19. Prosetry,

    Interesssssting...those aren't the typical line-in-the-sand perfumes! C&S No.88's soapy rose isn't perfume manna from heaven for me, but it's not downright offensive, either. Maybe the decant got corrupted somehow?

    And now you have me thinking in a new way about Musc For Him Oil. I've always liked smelling that one, and even toyed with buying it for myself at one stage. But now that you've attached "dreary" to it, I'm motivated to revisit it to see if I can smell the sadness.

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  20. So, Dan, do you intentionally not seek out perfumo-files like yourself? I would think that would create a completely different dynamic with your line in the sand... Hey Katie, wouldn't a perfume dating site be bangin' (It takes one to nose one...)?

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  21. Wow, that knitted cat bottom tops even my friend's knitted breast. (She is a lactation counsellor, I should add.)

    Well, for the record I have a vehement aversion to Dangerous Liaisons - it reminds me of Poison, and just as Guerlain has its special "guerlinade" base, so By Kilian has its own "house" headache-inducing accord. Does this mean I get to hang out with Dan? I have now lost not one, but *two* pairs of bed socks in hotels at SFO, so I will need to come back sometime.

    Conversely, I agree that L'Eau Ambree goes on "broken in" and is lovely and wearable. Cuir de Lancome, on the other hand, goes on like a slap across the face with a leather kipper, but is softer later. And I do love and own it - one of the wobbly top batch they jobbed off on T K Maxx.

    Katie, I couldn't agree more with your statement about leather being "more harmonious with poo than lavender and flowers". I have just had a L'Air de Rien epiphany, and there are no flowers or lavender there, I'll wager.

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  22. Geordan,

    A perfume dating site? There might be something in that. Perfume brought together Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez, as well as Basenotes' creator Grant Osborne and his wife Danielle.

    But the flip side of the coin is the potential aggro with having two fragrance fusspots in the same household, with all the perfume judgments and demands that could entail. At least with my fume-apathetic husb, I can wear whatever I want, with no complaint or clashing from him.

    Vanessa,

    Oh no -- a "yak alert" from you re the seemingly irresistible Liaisons Dangereuses? Just goes to show that anyone can find anything revolting. A comforting thought, in its own way. Reminds me of how my husb stubbornly refuses to understand the appeal of Julia Roberts. Her gummy smile gives him the shivers, apparently.

    I love your "leather kipper"!

    And credit where credit's due: it was Dan who identified the varying affinities of raw perfume ingredients with poo.

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  23. Geordan, I do almost nothing intentionally but I've simply not met many women who love perfume. Which is fine because when they dislike something, I can always attribute it to their lack of, er, sophistication.

    Though, Vanessa, I obviously can't do that with your Liaisons Dangereuses aversion. That's more of a puzzlement than those lost bed socks. Let me know when you're here next and we'll get to the bottom of both.

    And I'm sort of with Katie's husband on Julia Roberts. I don't mind her gumminess and she's perfectly lovely (she's an actress, after all), but she seems like she might smell of stale cigarettes. I have anticipatory anxiety over my presumption of Julia Roberts' scent.

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  24. Katie, I have to agree that Prada L'Eau Ambrée has that perfect "lived in" smell at first spray - and as the day and night go on. And then there is Stella Nude that also has that "lived in" smell at first spray, only not in a good way. I couldn't wrap my nose around that (hmm, funny picture, that) as much as I tried. I couldnt' figure out what the difference was between it and Stella, which I like very much. I think that might be the crux of the problem. I kept trying to make SN be S and it just isn't.

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