Eau de Protection / Rossy de Palma (2007)
by Etat Libre d'Orange

Bitter. Industrial chemical smell. An almost vile beginning. This reminds me of a rotting geranium. It might be the blend of the ginger, pepper, and rose messing with my nose.

This calms down - stops screaming at me eventually. It begins to soften, relax, with jasmine and benzoin. It winds down even more with the addition of patchouli and incense. What a violent ride this is, that I don't want to wear again. It is just too discombobulated.

For reasons unknown, this reminds me of Aromatics Elixir underlaid with some kind of fecally-musk. By rights, as an animalic and strange-scent lover, I should probably enjoy this, but it's a bit too prickly for me, overall. The geranium and ginger and pepper send it over an edge too far for me.

Just when you think you've smelled every variation of rose, this comes along - a brilliant, blood red rose. The perfumer used a clever mix of dark notes to make the rose note ooze sultriness. Naughty and genius.

A sultry, Gothic, spicy Spanish Rose!

Etat Libre d'Orange are usually known for making "shocking" or "unconventional" fragrances, they have also made fragrances inspired by "unconventional" celebrities (like British actress Tilda Swinton). Eau de Protection was their first celebrity inspired fragrance. They took inspiration from "unconventional looking" Spanish actress Rossy de Palma.

This is a spicy rose fragrance! Roses are the favourite flower of actress Rossy de Palma (whose name also means "Rose"), and her garden in Madrid is full of roses. I really think in this case Etat Libre d'Orange have created something very beautiful and alluring with this one.

The fragrance opens up with notes of sour bergamot & spicy ginger (with some fiery black pepper), but they are quickly overtaken by this beautiful, rich, dark syrupy, almost candied rose... absolutely beautiful. At it's heart this is a Rose-Patchouli combination fragrance, but unlike other similar examples out there, this one feels very "emotional", like the rose is being passionate and sensual. Both Rossy de Palma and Etat Libre d'Orange describe this as a "bleeding" rose, and I do get that. To my nose, the rose is paired with a slightly metallic geranium note... and geranium is so multi-faceted that it can sometimes smell like roses, sometimes like lemons, and sometimes like cloves etc. I think this aspect combined with the rose gives it a lush, full-bodied aroma (and the slight impression of blood, etc).

However, this is an extremely wearable fragrance, either by men or by women, although I find this would really shine on a woman's skin. This is a fantastic fragrance from the house of Etat Libre d'Orange and one that, if you are a rose lover, you should definitely check out! A dangerous, sexy, spicy Spanish rose!

Opens odd! I suppose that's the blood note but it's not as metallic as blood - more a somewhat fecal/candied attraction and repulsion that has me debating whether to wash it off. Softens to a slightly green rose, keeping a tinge of a strange sweet\tart almost fruity overlay - almost makes me think of gooseberries. An interesting ride.