Orange Discrete

The woodsy orange of this is, to my untrained nose, practically a dupe of Hermes Elixir des Merveilles, but with less resin. Add the distinct soapy note (stealth aldehydes I'm guessing) that's also in Belle du Soir, and you have Orange Discrete. Personally it's not my cup of tea since I prefer citrus as a spring-summer note, but Orange Discrete is a great cheap substitute for the Elixir Merveilles, if you can find it - I dug it out of the sale section at Anthropologie for $15 myself, but it's going fast, if not gone already. If you like this and are sad that it's discontinued, take heart that it still exists, albeit in the form of an Hermes perfume twice the full-retail price. That tells you something about the quality of this Anthropologie steal!

Opens with soapy orange blossom and instantly has a vintage feel to it, like a Caron scent to me. It's fairly powdery too and I'm not quite sure why. In the opening stages with the strong vetiver note and white flower it reminds me of Narcisse Noir (though I like NN much better) and I don't agree with comparisons to Elixir de Merveilles, as I find that one warmer and richer, with a much more pronounced orange note, which I can't smell at all here. As it wears it grows more masculine and then it starts to really turn on my skin - I would swear there was civet in this as that is exactly what I smell and it is a very recognisable note! I had to scrub it off. Not what I expected or wanted of this one. I think if this is your kind of scent, go for a Caron instead.

When I was a kid we had Orange trees in our backyard. This smells like an orange that fell out of the tree and sat on the ground for a couple weeks. On my skin this just smells like an old rancid Orange.

This creation, a limited edition Le Labo perfume produced in collaboration with Anthropologie, is oddly appealing and literally grows on me over the course of a wear and with each new wear. "Discreet" is probably not a word that I'd choose to describe Le Labo Orange Discrète, as it really packs a powerful punch of wood, and it's not sweet orange but more of an orange rind scent with which it is tinged. I respectfully disagree with a reviewer who compared this perfume favorably with Elixir des Merveilles. Not much overlap here, to my nose. For one thing, this is not at all sweet, in any way. It's much more aromatic and masculine. The dark chocolate is altogether absent, as is the sweet orange of the Hermès. I consider this Le Labo creation to be neither a chypre nor an oriental perfume. Basically the only overlap I see is the wood and the orange, but everything else is completely different. In fact, this composition seems more masculine than feminine to me and only barely unisex. Upon initial application, it always feels like a made-for-men fragrance. After a couple of hours, I start to love the woods and the strong unsweetened orange and whatever else is supposed to be in here. There is an invigorating feeling but also a strong woody one. Orange Discrète is a very unique and worthwhile creation, and I feel fortunate to have scored a bottle as it was on its way out the doors of Anthropologie forever... Or perhaps not. I cannot imagine that in the age of Twitter perfumery Le Labo would not take advantage of the opportunity to squeeze out another launch by renaming, rebottling, and reissuing this excellent and extraordinary take on aromatic orange rind and wood. But it's a pretty safe bet that the $62 for 2 ounce asking price chez Anthropologie will not be repeated. Once again Anthropologie has granted me access to excellent and eccentric perfume for a quite reasonable price. Keep 'em comin', Anthro!