Vierges & Toreros (2007)
by Etat Libre d'Orange

Leathery, smokey beginning with a little citrus background. After about 2 hours though it becomes only a skin scent that has poor projectivity. The tuberose blends with some floral notes with the smokey leather popping it’s head in now and then. Overall, not that exciting of a scent as nothing really stands out about it.

20th June, 2011.

After a half century during which we've pine forested, lemon freshened, and april springed our senses into overload, I understand the post-modern perfumer's conundrum. What does a medium created to beautify do in a world awash in pretty albeit synthetic scent? The average toilet now smells better than most 19th-century people. That's why I appreciate what Etat Libre d'Orange is trying to do. I don't like everything they make, but I do like and wear this one. I wore it much in the evening in Paris, and it struck me as just the right funky note for a night out, especially one that involves lots of walking.

20th April, 2011.

This is a great example of a brilliant concept for a disappointing substance. Vierges et Toreros opens with a smoky, dusty leather that's quite fashinating but it gets terribly chemical and annoying in the flowery drydowm. It has something I'm not able to exactly detect that litterally makes my throat contracting. So bad 'cause I liked the ideas behind this perfume but I can't really stand it.

I've to pass on this one.

29th March, 2011. (Last Edited: 4th April, 2011.)

I may be reading too much into this, but I have a feeling the two Antoines are playing with our perceptions of genders in perfumes. Using the metaphor of films, V&T begins like Rambo and ends up like Mary Poppins. So, big masculine start of musks, leathers, vetiver and peppers, but all I could smell at the end was tuberose and ylang ylang. A very clever and daring scent -- I love it.

30th December, 2010.

This is supposed to be a twist on a floral leather. Past floral/leathers have used the juxtaposition of the hard and the soft to lead to an interesting blend. I’m not sure if it’s blend here or just a contrast. The tuberose doesn’t last long, but it makes for an interesting opening. Fairly soon, the dominant note is a plastic/leather accord that lasts through the basenotes. There’s supposed to be a strong animalic vibe here, but I don’t really get it. Maybe that’s what I’m calling plastic, but the artificial quality of plastic seems so far away from raunch in the bodliy sense that I don’t get anything carnal. Just a very clean plastic.

I know Etat Libre d’Orange is the pixie of the perfume world. They challenge our notions of olfactory beauty. (I’m a fan of Secretions Magnifiques.) And I’m very appreciative that they do. But this doesn’t really seem like a challenge. It’s more that they’ve decided to use an accord that simply appeals to the nose. It’s really a play on tromp la nez. Plastic can smell good. So can gasoline and paper for that matter. I know we don’t usually point these things out when we discuss the art of perfumery, but here’s the evidence. In this case, though, and using the ridiculous gender distinction of the virgin and the toreador as a red herring, we’re distracted from the plastic by a description of florals and leather.

10th December, 2010.

siiiiiigh. I liked it...I thought it was kind of interesting, a leather that was different from what I've smelled before...a rude leather. I thought it was a fantastic match with my skin, saleswoman (whose opinion I trust in this case) agreed. Wore it out of the shop to see how it was after a few hours. I really enjoyed that it was a bit louder than the leathers I usually wear, and after the first few minutes it grew a pleasant sweetness that I couldn't really place. All good so far.
I then met up with some friends... who thought it just stank. I liked it enough that I didn't really want to believe them... but then, about 40 minutes after aplication the spritzed arm got red and itchy --I had to scrub the stuff off with soap and hot water, and remained slightly itchy (though not red at least) for the rest of the night. I have NEVER had a reaction like this to a perfume, I don't know what was in there that did it.... so this will have to be a thumbs down for me....

4th May, 2010.