Divin'enfant by Etat Libre d'Orange, 2006

Divin Enfant is becoming a favorite of mine. The fragrances by Etat Libre d'Orange have some racy/provocative names and packaging; and some folks dismiss the actual fragrances because of the silly marketing. However, I have learned by sampling, wearing and buying a few fragrances, that they are well-made and worthy of some attention by the perfume-buying public. Divin Enfant is a lovely, soft fragrance, which on my skin has above average longevity and moderate sillage. I've worn it in cold weather and in warmer weather and find it appropriate and enjoyable. Divin Enfant is radiant on my skin and feels rich and playful. DE is a lovely concoction of orange blossom, a marshmallow-mocha note, and some soft smoke and leather. I see it as completely unisex. Its subtle but quite unusual and divine! It is a different fragrance, as is the norm for creations by ELdO, but I'm enjoying its progression. The sweetness of the top notes is nicely balanced by the bitter-sweet of the mid and base notes. True to the concept of the brand, there is a duality in this perfume; a blending of innocence and wickedness. Could it be any more clear? Look at the contrast of the notes: Innocence = orange blossom, marshmallow, rose / Decadence = Moka (coffee), leather, amber, musk, tobacco

If fragrance can be said to have a "shape," then Divin' Enfant can readily be called a shape-shifter. One certainly can't accuse it of being linear. One problem, though: after testing it a half dozen times, one still can't be sure what "shape" it will be when it emerges from the bottle.

This was not a purchase I had intended. Rather, an eBay seller had listed several largish Perfumed Court niche decants as a lot, and as I badly wanted one of them, I bid for (and won) the whole group. There is some quality in the whole self-mythology surrounding Etat Libre d'Orange that I find off-putting (if nonetheless fascinating), and I can make the same observation about the few other ELdO scents I've sampled. Every time I wear one of them, I simultaneous like and dislike it, and all the while find it difficult to define exactly what I'm smelling. Such is the perversity of Antoine Lie, creator of the notorious Sécrétions Magnifiques, and I'm not surprised to see that he's the nose behind Divin' Enfant.

I completely understand the conflicting and self-conflicting remarks by the previous reviewers. Divin' Enfant can feel like a heavy oriental fragrance, can come on with the sweetness of the orange blossom or rose, get musky and murky, shift into a glowing amber scent, then turn into a bitter, skanky leather fragrance. I can't really say that this kaleidoscope of notes actually works together; rather, the different elements all seem to fight each other for control.

It is difficult, too, to make any concrete observations about its sillage and longevity. On the average, it lasts about four hours, during which time its sillage fluctuates considerably. It seems to go away entirely, then comes back to slap you in the face when you least expect it.

There is nothing divine or infant-like about Divin' Enfant. As I've said, there are aspects of the fragrance that I find very compelling (i.e., the orange blossom and the amber), but there are so many--including its thick oiliness on the skin--that I find sufficiently unlikeable to eliminate DE from any further consideration.

Given the volatility of the fragrance, though, I can actually imagine it working quite nicely for others.

Etat Libre D'Orange Divin' Enfant

Antoine Lie has done two of my favorite Etat Libre D'Orange scents to date, Rossy de Palma and Vierges et Toreros. Both of those scents are very different and I was looking forward to see what M. Lie would do with a note list of: orange blossom, marshmallow, rose, mocha, leather, amber, musk, and tobacco. With a roster like that you would probably think gourmand but this 2006 scent doesn't come off like that on me. The top is the floral sweetness of orange blossom combined with the marshmallow note. This is that slightly sweet, slightly doughy note you get when you open the bag of marshmallows for the first time. It is that doughiness that keeps this from being too sweet. The sweet nature begins to modulate in the heart as the chocolate-coffee mocha note along with rose and a sweet amber keep this sweet. The coffee note is evenly balanced with both the rose and amber which keeps this from feeling like a coffee centered scent on me. Finally in the base the sweetness centers around the smell of leather and tobacco leaf combined with a deep musk. Divin' Enfant is a tone poem of sweet on my skin from the intensity of the top to a more restrained level in the base to a sweetness paired with animalic notes in the base. When I want something sweet that won't cause my insulin level to rise this is the style of scent I'm looking for.