Charogne (2007)
by Etat Libre d'Orange

Musky and plasticky vanilla with a strange note of decomposing flowers. I was expecting an edgier experience, but it's beautiful and nice. I can imagine a muse in Montmartre wearing this at the end of the XIXth century...

23rd January, 2012.

Eldo's politic when it comes to naming frags has always focused on provocation and Charogne makes no exception. So many times we witnessed a launch of one of their fragrances expecting to smell something "out of the world", "extraterrestrial", but too many times we just found that the majority of their compositions where anything but weird (Tom Of Finland, Je Suis Un Homme, Eloge Du Traitre, Antiheros, Fat Electrician etc. etc.). In this context, Charogne definitely makes an exception being one of the very few that lived up to its name (Vierges y Toreros, Secretions Magnifique, Jasmin et Cigarette).

A rancid indolic accord joined by vanilla and animalic leather while white florals fly over very low. The overall effect is pretty odd but at the same time fascinating. There's something very intimate and private in Charogne, something you could only share with your long term partner, like chewing a bubblegum that just came out from his/her mouth.

Not among my favorite fragrances but still a great example of a "weird-composition".

9th September, 2011.

Something in the top notes is vaguely familiar….I know I’ve smelled this stuff before, but where?? Then it hits me after reading the other reviews. It is a strong indolic scent that reminds me of work with it in chemistry lab. It is accompanied by a slight flowery note with hints of lavender that soften over time. At its base, vanilla with hints of leather take over. A bit of musk is in there as well. This is truly a unique scent and one that I’d have to give a thumbs up for just this. Is it wearable? Not quite sure, though I bet there are some occasions it would fit in just fine.

25th July, 2011.

“Carrion” …huh? Well, I do get a hint of the obvious implication: I can recognize the stinky part of the opening, but it doesn’t come through very strongly for me so I find it easy to not comment on that particular miasma. The bubblegum shows up a little later, though, and moots the whole point of “carrion” or “bad breath” or whatever. I’ve experienced many fragrances with a bubblegum note (yawn), but this one offers a very decent one. This bubblegum comes with a light leather note that creates an accord that I find quite enjoyable: a little sweet and a bit animalic accord that is pleasantly conflicting, and, consequently, interesting. The florals of the heart provide another aromatic detour from the beginning malodor with a soft floral texture that is modern, engaging, and well done. The drydown is downright excellent in a soft, gentle vanilla, leather and musk accord. I thoroughly enjoy the basenotes of Charogne… And they provide adequate sillage but could use a bit more longevity. All things told… a very nice fragrance.

7th June, 2010.

JUICY FRUIT chewed at an open-casket viewing.

Utter perdition and detritus mixed with the most tongue-smacking, sweet, candylike, smiling gustatory deliciousness.

Remember when British Saatchi artist Damien Hirst came up with his collection of paintings celebrating medicines, hospitals, capsules, flasks, pills, colored elixirs, medicine labels? This is the milieu to which CHAROGNE takes me.
But we must never forget that CHAROGNE is about Death. That Big Thing. By giving it that very name, it appears ELD'O makes no bones about the fact that there is a Death allusion underfoot. Some reviewers have even given CHAROGNE the nickname "The Exquisite Corpse". Not rotting--- but caught just in time....freshly embalmed with formaldehyde, powdered and cosmeticized. Pretty as you please.
It's kind of like Tim Burton's CORPSE BRIDE. She's so beautiful, so gracious, so sweet, so charming, so lovable, so attractive. But there's just one thing: She's Dead. Dance with her, caress her, court her, kiss her even.... but you can't marry her.
That's how CHAROGNE operates: Sweet, mixed- fruit-flavored CERTS scrounged from a kidskin purse, plastic toys, cellophaned flowers, and.....uh.......Death. Like Damien Hirst's genuine human skull, encrusted with thousands of real diamonds. It's beautiful, it's Art, it's precious... and it's Dead.
This, to me, makes CHAROGNE even more taboo and outrageous than ELDO's other bad-boy, SeCReTIONS MAGNIFIQUES. Yet it is anything but a dark or emo or Goth scent. Au contraire.
Do I love this Post-Modern fragrance? Like you wouldn't believe. Going on my third bottle of it.

23rd May, 2010.

WOW. Something familiar yet different. It is like smelling a non-descript flower. A new flower that has been recently discovered in a crazy landscape.
Maybe a flower that grows in Tim Burton´s Underland smell this way.
It is sharp, metalic, spicy, sweet and plasticky but not animallic. I don´t sense very much the indoles (as lot of people seem to do) I get white flowers, decaying petals, metallic incense (similar to that found in Nu edp).
It starts sweet and tart, like a mixture of bergamot leaves and Jasmine with a very spicy peppery edge. This is an incredibly different accord that I find very attractive.
Then a littler leather (suede like), white flowers bouquet and hints of vanilla and metatalic incense. Later on, the base is strong vanilla and some incense and flowers.
The final stage reminds me of Kenzo Amour.
I find a clear cinnamon accord, but not a typical cinnamon bark. It smells exactly like cinnamon candies, more precisely Altoids.
This is a very complex everchanging blend, long lasting (8+ hs) that proyects a lot during the first hour and then quiets down.

19th May, 2010.