Niche

Portia Reconnecting with Etat Libre d’Orange
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Portia Reconnecting with Etat Libre d’Orange

Hey there Looking Glassers, I have long loved the fun and whimsy of Etat Libre d’Orange. They have so many distinctive fragrances, do a fabulous job of reimagining old tropes and twisting them with a new skew. Plus they are very reasonably priced in relation to modern niche as a whole. They were a lot more outrageous in their earlier years, playing for gimmick and shock in their marketing and presentation. I’m not terribly sad they’ve pretty much left that behind in favour of more staid and general public oriented display and scent.

 

Portia Reconnecting with Etat Libre d'Orange

Portia Reconnecting with Etat Libre d’Orange

Maybe you’d like to have a wander through my collection of Etat Libre d’Orange bottles with me? Just for clarity, some of these bottles I paid Retail for, bought off Sale Docs or at the Discounters and others are Press Bottles. My mate Bronwyn was the Australian distributor for ELdO so I’ve been lucky enough to try almost everything. This selection are the favorites I own, maybe I’ll do the others another day.

Fat Electrician

Vetiver and sparks from electrical wires. Slightly salty, dark and weird. One of my favourite vetivers ever.

I Am Trash

Worst title, loveliest scent. The apple is all loads of people talk about but it’s peripheral to me. My ride is a creamy floral, I’m constantly surprised it’s rose and not ylang or jasmine. Dry down is floral woods. So pretty and wearable.

Jasmin et Cigarette

This was on my To Buy List or a very long time but never seemed to make it all the way to a check out. Well, it finally did not so long ago. Bubblegum jasmine that pretty quickly gets a dark coating of tar and smoke. It’s bloody amazing how two such diverse scents work together in perfect harmony.

Noel au Balcon

Very elegant honeyed fruits and Christmassy cinnamon underpinned by vanilla rich amber and musks. I don’t know why this gets so little attention. It’s a stunner.

Spice Must Flow

True to its name. Spicy. Not ALL about spice though. Here we have the perfumers rose/saffron mix that has been so popular in the 21st century niche market. The way we smell it here is a little different though. Add on pepper, cinnamon, incense and patchouli in bucketloads. It’s beautifully created, hits my nose exactly how I’d like it to. Starts a bit rough and ends up smooth as silk.

The Afternoon Of A Faun

Immortelle and a bunch of other stuff. Thick and gluggy on arrival, freshly windswept by the end. So wearable but it’s HUGE so maybe a few less spritzes Portia.

Tom of Finland

Tom of Finland is not a filthy, sex laden, piss soaked, leather bar in Berlin. Shame really, that would have been revoltingly alluring. What we get is the waft of someone wearing their leathers in the next room while we are in our high heel cupboard, but a very soft version of that. It smells luxuriously subtle.

Yes, I Do

Sheer soft focus Lily of the Valley (LotV), sweetness added by the marshmallow and a very clean jasmine/orange blossom. Very little of the oft hyped funk and a bit of plasticky patchouli, but on the whole fresh, youthful and prim.

You or Someone Like You

The fragrance made to fit the mother of writer Chandler Burr in his semi autobiographical novel of the same name. What it smells like to me is a hike in the Australian scrub near a watercourse in early summer. Magic!

 

So what are your Etat Libre d’Orange loves and loathes?
Portia xx

Le Galion Discovery Sets: Portia
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Le Galion Discovery Sets: Portia

Hey All. Firstly, I need to tell you that Jin and I are good mates with the guys from Le Galion. Nicolas and his partner Enno are always on our MUST SEE list while in Paris and we had a blast with them down here in Sydney for Mardi Gras a few years ago too. We know how hard they work to make Le Galion as good as it can possibly be and build upon the foundations set by……. WAIT! Why don’t we have a little look at their history?

In 1930, Prince Murat, a descendant of Joachim Murat, brother in law of Napoleon 1st, and King of Naples, founded Le Galion Perfume House.
In 1935, Prince Murat sold his company to perfumer Paul Vacher, who was already famous within the industry at that time. (Aged just 25, he worked with Marcel Guerlain and then joined Lanvin. In 1927, he created Arpège with Andre Fraysse. Following this success, he decided to launch his own perfume house.)
In 1946, when Serge Heftler-Louiche and Christian Dior wanted to develop a fragrance for their fashion house, Paul Vacher created Miss Dior and in 1963 Diorling.
In 1980 Le Galion was sold to a US company and it collapsed.
2014 and Nicolas Chabot buys the name and original formulas. He then gets a dream team of perfumers to recreate the original fragrances as nearly as possible with modern ingredients. He also starts creating new fragrances for the brand with the same perfectly curated, poised, thoughtful and beautifully blended feeling of Le Galion of old.
2020, Le Galion celebrates 90 years with the release of nine fragrances.

OK, you’re all caught up.

Le Galion Discovery Sets

This is really exciting news. The boys have created three Discovery Sets that you can now buy from the Le Galion site and have shipped to the world. The cost is €35 + P&H for a box of 8 individually packed 2ml samples.
You also get a €25 discount voucher for your next purchase of a full size 100 ml bottle. I KNOW! Right.
It looks really shmick too.

OK, so here’s a look at the three Discovery Sets. You could buy all three for around €100 + P&H and only have three doubles to share with friends.

Latest Releases

Lily of the Valley, Bourrasque, Brumes, Champs de Mai, Tilleul, Tulipe, Jasmin and Chypre

Masculines

Spécial for Gentleman, Esquive, Sang Bleu, Aesthete, Tilleul, Cologne Nocturne, Whip and Cuir

The Icons

Sortilège, Brumes, Bourrasque, La Rose, Tubéreuse, Iris, Cologne and 222

If you are after super weird assed fragrance that makes children run and adults question their existence. If you only love super beast mode bro juice or are into the deep artisan indie scene then Le Galion is probably not going to suit. These fragrances are made for people who love the best, who are wanting to smell luxuriously poised. You won’t get an “Oh My God what is that?” but you will get a raised, perfectly couture eyebrow and a knowing smile. I feel like Le Galion is for people who don’t need to showboat but want to smell wonderful to themselves and those who are close enough to notice. Niche for the truly discerning wearer of scent.

You all know how I love to have several fragrances from a brand I love. In the collection currently I have bottles of Aesthete, Cologne Nocturne, Cuir, Sang Bleu, Sovereign, Tilleul, and Whip. Most of them I bought but the guys gave me a couple too. I’m on my second, paid retail for bottle of Aesthete because I was so excited about it that I sent samples to everyone. I wanted them all to fall as madly in love with it as I have. Still on my list to purchase are 222, Brumes and Sortilege.

Have you had the pleasure of spending some sniff time with Le Galion perfumes?
Portia xx

L’Artisan Parfumeur: Portia’s Most Worn
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L’Artisan Parfumeur: Portia’s Most Worn

Hiya ULG, L’Artisan are one of those houses that many perfumistas had as a gateway to the rest of the world of perfumery. L’Artisan Parfumeur was established in 1976 by Jean Laporte making luxurious ambergris scented balls. He stayed till 1982. Interestingly, two of the first years perfume releases (1978) are still available; L’Eau d’Ambre and Mure et Musc. Over the years they have been incredibly groundbreaking. The first blackberry, fig, mimosa and others. Several have gone on into fabled history like Iris Pallida, La Haie Fleurie du Hameau, L’Eau du Navigateur and who can forget the fragrance made for a NYC store that started its own brand; Aedes de Venustas. Through the 21st centuries early naughties and teens they were available at almost every large department store. They have the added bonus of being slightly weird but extremely wearable, perfect for the newly minted perfumista. I have a whole box dedicated to them in my collection but only a few get year round, reach for a lot, wear. I thought it might be nice if we had a look at these easy go-to scents from a brand that I hope will see a new lease of life under their current owners since 2015, Puig.

L’Artisan Parfumeur: Portia’s Most Worn

Honestly, I was quite surprised at which bottles were most empty. A couple that I really adore seem to hardly have been used at all. So I picked the bottles with the most air in them, that seemed fairest. One day I’ll do a favourites from the line post and the outcome will only have a couple of crossover perfumes.

lartisan-parfumeur-portias-most-worn

Al Oudh

You know when the L’Artisan hands touch anything it’s going to be a smooth and classy version of whatever it is. Add in that this is a Bertrand Duchaufour fragrance. Al Oudh was a 2009 entrant into the oudh race. Just before I found you all on the scentbloggosphere. So when I hit the blogs it was a big, talked up fragrance along with Vanille Absolument (a rerelease of Havana Vanille) and Côte d’Amour (their first stab at all natural). A sweet and spicy look at the oudh/saffron/rose/patchouli combo that stays sheer and elegant, even though it has a lovely dirty/medicinal hit of oudh.

Bois Farine

Jean Claude Ellena created this 2003 beauty. I bought my bottle second hand and already there was juice missing to the top of the title. Powder, woods, iris and I don’t know how there are not sugar and almonds in the mix. In deepest dry down ALL I can smell is those sweet, puffy, almond horseshoe biscuits. It’s uncanny. Clearly my nose smells stuff ay out of whack sometimes but I really don’t care. Part of what I love about this beauty is it’s gourmand hints as it dries down.

Caligna

This is my favourite fig from the L’Artisan line up, created by Dora Baghriche. I love its more aromatic and herbal take on fig. Still creamy but with so many more interesting bells and whistles. Sage, citrus leaves, pine and ambroxan make for a very modern look and yet they also make it seem thoroughly reminiscent of the mid 20th century mens cologne fragrances. It’s an interesting mix that really captures my nose but could fit any time or place and any gender. That’s probably why I wear it so much. Also, it’s less OTT than Premier Figuier.

L’Eau du Navigateur

This was released back in 1979 and had gone through some heavy reformulations before I bought my bottle mid 2010s. At the time I’d only read about it in reverent tones and never seen a bottle. One day at a sale I saw one bottle left, didn’t even ask if they had a tester, I just bought it then and there. So happy I did. A Jean Claude Ellena from his earlier, heavier, more note filled days. Here we have a wooden spice boat on the seas, filled with cargo, deck hands, briny winds and the million other smells of sailing. Just close your eyes and live in this cleaned up fantasy of travel in the spice trade.

Poivre Piquant

This foody trilogy was released in 2002. Piment Brûlant, Poivre Piquant and Saffron Troublant are odes to Bell peppers (chilli), Peppercorns and Saffron. Almost photo realistic recreations of the named foodstuff that open each perfume. Poivre Piquant is pepper but wears like a zingy mix of black and pink peppers, drizzled with honey and sweetened to a liquorice deliciousness by dry down. Pepper lollies! Can you even imagine? It sounds as weird and out there as a fragrance could be but mercifully it’s all done in the cool, smooth, low key Duchaufour/L’Artisan style.

Seville a l’Aube

This is my second bottle of Seville a l’Aube. The Perfume Lover book by my buddy Denyse Beaulieu changed the way I viewed perfume creation and I fell in love with her wild and wicked ways. Though the fragrance itself is not sensual I always feel infused with her free spirit and zest for adventure when I wear it. Oranges, smoky incense, white flowers and honey mix together in an overwhelmingly ripe fragrance that tells the story of a romantic adventure remembered and brought to life by Bertrand Duchaufour. What’s not to love?

Tea for Two

When Tea for Two was first DCd in 2013 the Perfume Posse crew organised a Bus Tour through LA to some of the major fragrance venues. I was SO BUMMED about missing out on a bottle and begged the crew at Beauty Habit to give me their tester. As we were leaving they ran after the bus, stopped it and gave me the tester. This unbelievable fragrance. Smoky, incense laden, rich milky chai tea. Olivia Giacobetti masterfully arranges a fragrance rest stop in an Indian backstreet where the chai wallah has your tea at the ready. It’s sweet, milky, spicy and has the slight smell of frizzing electrical junctions, incense smoke, dusty streets and humanity.

I have at least a dozen more bottles of L’Artisan in the cupboard. Some of them I love infinitely more than these few yet these are the ones I reach for most.

What are your Most Worn L’Artisans?
Portia xx

Le Regent by Oriza Legrand
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Le Regent by Oriza Legrand

Hi there ULG crew. I ordered some fragrance and soaps from Oriza Legrand back in November 2020. The world and postal services being what they are right now it wasn’t until late February the package finally arrived. Inside were some small soaps and a couple of fragrances. The Oriza boys had a fab deal going art that time that if I bought a 100ml bottle (I was buying 100ml of Heliotrope, review coming) they’d add a 50ml of my choice. Well, Le Regent is new from 2019, the notes sounded fabulous and it was a FREE GWP! Of course it’s the one I grabbed.

Le Regent by Oriza Legrand

Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Peru balsam, Tolu balm, Benzoin
Heart: Vanilla, Benzoin, Ambergris
Base: Opoponax, Gaiac wood, Leather

The Le Regent bottles are super indie feeling. They are glass, heavy and simple so don’t have the usual luxurious Oriza feeling. Don’t let this put you off but I thought it important to say.

If you are a fan of Mona di Orio‘s Eau Absolue but always felt it was a bit too cool and detached then Le Regent will warm the cockles of your heart. All the same smooth resinous beauty but handled in a much more welcoming way. Also Le Regent is a much bigger, more potent perfume, it’s a bad ass showstopper.

From the Oriza L Legrand site: “Le Régent” 1st Tome of the Collection “Jewels of the Crown”, explores the 18th century archives of the Maison Oriza L. Legrand which was then called “Parfumerie Oriza de Fargeon-Aîné” at the Court of Roy Louis XV also called in Europe “The Perfumed Court”. 

One of the things I have loved about the boys at Oriza is that they always allude to fact that they are inspired by historic fragrance, not copying it verbatim. Which is impossible nowadays anyway because the way perfume and accords are created is so different, even some of the original ingredients have long gone.

How does Le Regent smell? Firstly, it’s BIG! An over the top, smooth, resinous beauty. Amber amped up by some fabulous bells & whistles that take it well up to the next level. The very slightly briny ambergris adds so much texture and depth. Scotty was over yesterday and he spritzed wildly and nearly asphyxiated himself. I could still smell Le Regent in the living room when I got up this morning. By then it had dried to a deeply burnished woodsy amber. So beautiful.

Unisex, extra large silage and longevity. Advised to use sparingly until you know how it blooms on you.

The Oriza boys have hit this over the fence.

Sound like you might like it?
Portia xx

 

 

 

Muguet Fleuri by Oriza L. Legrand
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Muguet Fleuri by Oriza L. Legrand

Hey there ULG, I know a lot of you are caught in the depths of winter so I thought we could look forward to spring through fragrance today. Muguet Fleuri is Lily of the Valley. That glorious harbinger of spring. On May 1 the whole of Paris smells of it and little bouquets and flowering pots can be bought on street corners. It’s heavenly.

In 2014 I first visited Hugo and Franck of Oriza L Legrand at their 18 Rue Saint-Augustin, Paris store. The brand is a modern resurrection of a long lost perfume house. They took us through their collection and I purchased some soaps and a bottle of Jardin d’Armide. This was the defining moment of my love affair with the brand. The space is gorgeous and chock full of soaps, candles and fine fragrance. Since then I’ve been back to the store a few times. Their affordable product and FREE postage over €100 to Australia means I often buy their soaps and fragrances for gifts.

Did you know that the original Oriza L Legrand patented the idea of solid perfume?

Muguet Fleuri by Oriza L. Legrand 2014

Muguet Fleuri by Oriza L. Legrand

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Green leaves, grass, lily-of-the-valley
Heart : Galbanum, angelica, violet leaf, lily-of-the-valley
Base: Lily-of-the-valley, oakmoss, lily

I love the calm feeling of a Lily of the Valley fragrance, dewy and air conditioned. The Muguet Fleuri opening is cool and slightly mentholated. I get nothing grassy particularly but much more like the juice of Aloe Vera (yes, got a bit sunburned helping my BFF Kath high pressure hose her dad’s driveway). Flore by Carolina Herrera has a very similar plastic Lily of the Valley note but in Muguet Fleuri I find it subtle and refreshing, helped by galbanum and angelica to keep everything super green. None of the modern cucumber/aquatic note like in Muguet Porcelain by Hermès.

It’s excellent to me how they keep the focus so firmly on Lily of the Valley in Muguet Fleuri. The scent feels luxurious and refined while creating  a very nice silage for the first hour or so. Fairly linear througfhout its life, there are slight increments of difference and a gradual earthing of the scent towards the end.

If you often, or even sometimes, wish for a fragrance as true to cut Lily of the Valley stems from the florist as possible but still interesting and beautiful then I would send you immediately to try Muguet Fleuri. Only the first two hours are fragrant, then it hums along quietly as a soft, background wash.

Muguet Fleuri by Oriza L. Legrand

Oriza L Legrand has a €30/choose your 6 x 2ml Sample Set (delivered worldwide). My review today is from an old sample I refound in my collection, looking for something cool and summery.

Are you a Lily of the Valley fan? Do you have a favourite?
Portia xx