Putain des Palaces (2006)
by Etat Libre d'Orange

A comfortable powdered prettiness, which makes its name another ELDO smile.

I’m not a fan of the way a lot of fragrances deal with amber, particularly monolithic ambers, blocky and impenetrable. For the most part, it tends to stops the lilt of a fragrance and becomes about the amber. If a fragrance incorporates it into the composition so it becomes a team player instead of asserting itself as amber, it can be a real asset and add any manner of warm, agreeable, comfortable types of approachability. But when something starts to dry down to amber, well, you just better like the note.

I like the subtle easy-going amber quality in Putain des Palaces. The powdered lipstick violet/rose accord can be a cool one, and the amber adds something warmer, more casual and pretty, without overpowering it. I find the combination balanced and nice-smelling.

It flirts with a hint of leather, but all that powdered sweetness makes it more a winsome edge than anything else. But that slight edge saves this fragrance for me, taking it out of a two-dimensional prettiness and giving it another layer. Yet it doesn’t succumb to giving it real ‘edge’, which I think is tempting but isn’t in keeping with this fragrance’s character.

I have a glitch when I find a fragrance like this that’s instantly likeable and nice-smelling. I think it’s very approachableness means it’s too simple, from an idea I have to work for my fragrance reward, that it takes time to unlock the facets of a good perfume. I had this problem with 31 Rue Cambon also - I dismissed it at first because of its immediate pleasant accessibility. I find now I like going with my gut reaction, later seeing if it has any further rooms.

So, I like Putain des Palaces. It has an innocent sensuality I always find a pleasure to wear, that you enjoy smelling on yourself. I ordered a decant immediately after sampling.

4.5 stars... Rose & violet right from the start. Instantly smells like a powdery scent. Face powder, indeed. I get only a hint of leather and orange, in the heart. Amber makes itself known. The violet stays strong. Later it kind of resembles freshly made paper.

I'm a sucker for these powdery scents. I'd collect them all, if I could.

Powder! As soon as I put this on I felt like I had just powdered a babies bottom and spilled most if it on the floor while applying bright red lipstick. Maybe it is just my skin chemistry but the dry down is a bit like salt water taffy with flowers and powder. I am not sure I like it but I don't hate it either. Love the name palace whore. 😜

Hmmm . . . violets and leather. Do you think . . . could it be . . . Jolie Madame this time?

Here's ELdO from its early days, doing what they did best then, riffing on a classic fragrance from one of the great French houses. The joke usually goes like this: simplify and sweeten, then add a note of something spicy, noxious, or odd. Add a name that somehow indicates what you've done, preferably in an allusive pun. Stir and serve up something that might be good kicky fun to wear, even if most of the punters don't get the punch line.

In this case, Jolie Madame loses its bracing tannins and chypre structure. It gains a whole gob of powder and lipstick notes on the top. A distinct hit of cumin hints at a gourmandy type of sweat. The composition stays sweet despite its addition. What I get on my skin is an interesting twist on the recent trend for skanky florals: there's nothing indolic here for the skanky notes to blend with, but that adds to its charm in my eyes. I like violets, lipstick, leather, and powder, especially when they last as long as this stuff does.

Is this joke puerile? Absolutely. (Jolie *Madame*? Hotel *Whore*? Get it?) Is this perfume challenging? Nope. Even if the joke extends to the juice, and it does, you don't need to know everything I just told you to enjoy this.

If you combined Turkish delight with Japanese Botan rice candy you'd have this pretty little pastel piece. Indecisively dry, creamy, and powdery, PdP is a pale afterthought of a fragrance - one you wear when you only need to suggest. Does that mean it's weak? Well that depends how close you get when you speak.