Vraie Blonde (2006)
by Etat Libre d'Orange

Ever smell the room after a champagne party? You know those times where you just shake up bottles of champagne and spray it everywhere? It smells horrid, musty and of rot. The aldehyde in this capture that effect.

Slightly burned plastic from the opening, and then it just gets worse. A real scrubber for me. As it progresses it sweetens a little which just makes it even more horrible. And then comes the urine smell! Simply awful.

Love it. Smells like the dregs of last night's peach melba with a healthy slug of expensive brandy on top. And despite that fairly disgusting description, it's beautiful - peachy, musky, warm, and managing to be sexy without being obvious. my husband likes this the best of all the perfumes I've bought in the last few years, if that's any kind of recommendation...

I like a dose of luxurious aldehydes now and then, and had good memories of smelling Vraie Blonde in NYC at Henri Bendel back in May of this year. My recollection was that Vraie Blonde was definitely the most pleasant scent in the intentionally weird Etat Libre d’Orange line which, upon reflection isn’t saying much, I guess.

Anyways, I purchased a sample to see if Vraie Blonde could be for me. Unfortunately, the top notes had that dreaded shampoo smell. A high-end floral and musk scented shampoo, but shampoo nonetheless. After 10-15 minutes, the powderiness of the fragrance emerged with peach and myrrh notes peeking out ever so slightly which made the composition a little more interesting. I got a tiny amount of patchouli in the end by really, really smelling for it. Lasting time: About 1 ½ hours. In conclusion, would I wear Vraie Blonde? Yes. Is there a similar perfume that I like a lot better? Yes – Le Labo Aldehyde 44.

Here are the notes for Vraie Blonde, courtesy of The Perfumed Court: aldehydes, champagne, rose, peach, white pepper, myrrh, patchouli and suede.

Though my first impression was that this particular blonde is the the cheapest and nastiest ever, the drydown took me by surprise: it reminds of another blonde, SL Daim Blonde, that is. It's quite an achievement to turn from trashy to classy, but this scent does it.

Fake, insincere:
reminiscent of a shemale, sinthetyc wigs, cheap makeup, vynil, lipstick, clean white skin exuding pheromones when making love in a motel. Poliester, lamé, a glass of cava, plastic accesories.
Hard to tell but very easy to remember.
All this is about Real Blonde.