22 May 2008 10:31
J’adore the French. Everything about them. The way they wear their scarves just so. The way they purr their Rs at the back of their throat. The way they can eat gooey, smelly cheese and drink copious amounts of red wine and not get fat. The way they make such mouth-watering macaroons. I even like the way they reek of cigarettes. On anyone else, eau de cigarette makes me want to retch. But on a French woman, she’s suddenly and glamorously Brigitte Bardot, Françoise Hardy and Vanessa Paradis all rolled into one.
And that’s what is conjured up whenever I spritz on Jasmin et Cigarette, the best-selling scent from French boutique fragrance brand Etat Libre d’Orange. It smells like a jazz bar on the Left Bank in 1960s Paris. Totally nostalgic, seeing as you can’t smoke in public spaces in France anymore (I know, quelle horreur). And totally unreal too, seeing as we all know what it’s really like to smell like a smoky bar – and it’s a far cry from this fragrance, which is surprisingly fresh and pretty.
Which is perhaps not quite how I’d describe another of the perfumes in this range. It’s called Magnificent Secretions and it’s meant to smell like exactly what you’re probably imagining right now.
For more info on Etat Libre d’Orange, go to meccacosmetica.com.au