Josephine Baker

Okay, so this was an impulse buy at the half-off sale at Henri Bendel last summer. Purchased over the phone scent unsniffed, what I always sternly advise everyone else to avoid. What can I say? I lapsed, succumbing to temptation. ELdO perfumes are not very expensive to begin with--at least not compared to recent haute niche launches commanding (gasp!) $300 or more for a 50 ml bottle. I figured that, even in the worst case scenario, I would not have lost a very big wad of cash, plus since I usually like ELdO's quirky creations, there was a good chance that I'd enjoy Josephine Baker, at least as an event scent. In fact, this eau de parfum smells pretty good. It's a sweet and cardamom-rich oriental fragrance of which I'll surely be able to use 50 ml, so no buyer's remorse whatsoever here! I don't really process the alleged champagne note in this composition--but that's okay, because the cardamom is quite marked, and I happen to like cardamom a lot. I'd have guessed that there was patchouli in this mix, but it is not listed in the note pyramid. There is definitely a nightclub-like feeling here, so the concept works for me. Labdanum adds a luscious texture which makes this sweet oriental best suited for wintertime. Perfect for today, as a matter of fact, as yet another snowstorm descends upon us here on the East Coast.

very very similar to Nina Ricci "Delice D'Epices",almost the same.Only without cinnamon note.Nice!

This is fun! Light and fruity. I sort of see where the champagne is meant to be - right at the top, gone almost immediately - but it doesn't figure much in the scheme of things. Then I can smell the grapefruit, then pineapple, which isn't listed in the notes. It comes in hard on the heels of the grapefruit, possibly the combination of the sweet lollipop notes with the remains of the citrus? Maybe that equals pineapple to my nose? I should add that JB is very different in the bottle. In glass it smells like a masculine shaving soap with mint and pepper and none of the sweet fruity notes that come forward on the skin. Spicy, sparkly, fruity, tropical, light and fun, not very lasting. This strikes me as more of a bath product - Body Shop used to make a little soap shaped like a section of pineapple - than a serious fragrance. I haven't smelled Jean Nate in a long time but I think they wouldn't be too far apart in style. Not a great homage to Ms Baker. Edited to add: though this is not a lasting frag, something is hanging on for dear life hours later and is giving me the feeling that I'm wearing someone else's clothes. It is an unpleasant note which reminds me of toilet cleaner and CKOne - that bitter chemical note that makes me think of teenage boys drinking Red Bull in nightclubs. I think I need to wash it off.

Fragrance Review For Josephine Baker Etat Libre D'Orange Notes: Jasmine Sweet Notes Cardamom Grapefruit Champagne Pepper Labdanum Sandalwood Lorenox Paris 1928 Folies Bergere Ladies and gentleman the one the only la plus belle femme du Paris notre Mademoiselle Josephine Baker This smells like a long lost French champagne with a pink grapefruit scent being sipped as you watch Josephine Baker perform her popular dances the erotic banana costume bit, and the Charleston. She energizes the room and the bubbly champagne fills their heads. This is a sweet and delicious champagne. It opens with champagne and grapefruit, very juicy, bubbly, fresh and intoxicating. The pepper note gives it a touch of spice as does the ginger note the cardamom. Gingery and sweet. The whole thing stays very sweet. The dry down contains musk in the form of lorenox a synthetically created note which smells like leather. It dries down to leather so if you like fragrances that have a fruity opening a champagne and it's mostly gourmand with a leather dry down this is for you. It's not unisex as this leather is a sexy woman in black leather outfit - presumably Josephine Baker herself after the show when she has her real friends over at her place near the Place Vendome. This scent is not as complex as I wanted it to be especially when you call it Josephine Baker who was not only the most talented singer and dancer of the Roaring 20's but a great humanitarian and a World War 2 heroine pilot and spy who helped to save countless lives of those victimized by the Nazi in her courageous contributions with the French Resistance. She is a hell of a woman and we don't have women who hold a candle next to her. This scent is too sweet to fully represent her in her true personality which was deep, but it does smell good and it does evoke a Paris nightclub in the 20's. At least it does that for me. And even if this isn't that amazing it's rather sweet and lovely and hey at least it does not resemble the popular stench that is Secretions Magnifiques also from this line. That frag is in my vast collection but I wear it to scare people on Halloween LOL

This fragrance came to me as a bit of a disappointment. Josephine Baker is an icon. A symbol. Once called the most sensational woman anyone ever saw. I think I expected something sexual and bold, sparkling, sensual, extravagant, maybe vintage. Specially from a perfume house that is not afraid to release some very controversial fragrances... Josephine Baker is nothing like this. From the start till the end it smells a bit like an aftershave. Quite masculine, harsh, peppery-woody with a touch of spice and sharp lemon. I did not get any sweet notes or jasmin, I am a bit hesitant with the champagne, it does not play a very prominent role here. The whole fragrance is quite flat and does not develop much, and there is not enough nuances that I think are necessary to reflect the fragrance's name- it simply does not do justice to Josephine Baker.