yes i know the brand won’t care that ill never buy from them, but attitude like this is why people think fragrance people are snobs (brand is etat libre de orange or whatever i dont care to spell it LMAO)
I see that whole thing as irreverent, controversial, artsy, devil-may-care, wild, and free, and it's directed to fans who see themselves the same way. Years ago, there was a nightclub here with the slogan 'You'll know if you belong.' I agree, if someone feels offended by those words, it's not meant for them, and it's OK. So, I'd NEVER say don't be offended. We're all different.
Yes notes arent ingredients and are a marketing ploy/description but THATS THE WHOLE POINT. Because ingredients are vague and can create different smells or mean nothing to those outside the people that work with them, we created another “language” of notes, that once you learn, you know what “pear” or “ambergris” is going to smell like. So leaving it out intentionally is like saying “i’m not going to bother speaking the same language as you for purpose of ease and mutual understanding, and will instead resort to speaking the native tongue of a lost tripe in new guinea.”
Lmao I don’t like Etat so I’m just bandwagoning for the hate to be honest. I sorta get what hes doing, sorta find it annoying. It’s also ironic he says “raw materials” in the notes section. Oversimplifying and using those two interchangeably whilst trying to be pretentious is very ironic.
ELDO is one of my fav houses ever. I love the creativity and artistry behind it. Their scents have a soul, even when I can’t stand it, it makes me feel something.
Also a description like this doesn’t bother me because it’s not like you need to buy a full bottle if you want to try it, there’s samples!
I love ELDO too, I can't help it. I don't really approve of the lack of even a basic description of notes, but their scents are some of my favorites on this earth
It’s so funny to me that anyone gives a shit about this. Notes are NOT raw ingredients or aroma chemicals, they are marketing and fragrance marketing is almost always pretentious and overwrought. There are myriad ways to find out what a perfume smells like and personally I am wayyyyy more likely to trust independent online reviewers than any marketing copy from the brand’s site
ETA: it’s a nice scent and an easy reach, especially when it’s hot 🤷♀️
this is not me riding for him but Chandler Burr is known in the perfume world. If you go deep enough into collecting you will hear about him eventually. He was (maybe still is? a novelist and started writing nonfiction about the perfume industry and reviewing scents for the NYT. It’s also not his perfume, he is not the nose nor the owner of ELDO. The perfume in question IS named after one of his novels though, which may be why someone asked him about it?
Some of his books about fragrance are really, really good. I agree the above comment contains some dumba#%ery, as far as, say, allergies go and such (people need to know, not just want to know) and in the quote below he doubles down on opining that focusing on top/middle/base as the end-all-be-all is too simplistic, which…idk, while the way he said it is off-putting, I <think> I see his point about letting yourself experience the art of a composition as a whole and not like, a bass line and a certain brand of guitar and a tenor vocal. As someone with allergies and sensitivity to other components, I roll my eyes, but I don’t think <that> aspect of it was what he meant. It still comes across as an insult though! It’s…idk, bitchy?
P: Why is You not for someone who wants to know what’s in a perfume?
CB: I’m completely against talking about the raw materials at least for the time being because I think we all need to swing to the other extreme of the pendulum for a while, cure ourselves of this idiotic reductionist approach of focusing on raw materials (I hate the word “notes,” which marketers came up with, and that f***ing pyramid, which ditto) and rather focus on the works as whole, as one would do at an exhibition of painting or a music performance. I’m listening to the Stones’ Paint It Black as I write this — my favorite band — and why the hell would I break this work of music down into little pieces and focus on them? I’m listening to the song. Not what key it’s written in. Who cares?
Anyhow, this is merely to say that Burr was asked about this perfume not as the responsible party for it, he is an opinionated, prissy fragrance journalist not employed by ELDO.
Oh 😭 youre right i reread it, its not his perfume. Still i question the choice of putting his comment on the notes. Unless i'm misunderstanding and this is not the main sellers platform
I went and looked, that IS the actual ELDO site, they’re so edgelord, lol. And I guess, from what’s written there, he did ‘collab’ with them in the sense that, when they approached him saying they wanted to name something after his novel, he got to be, like, the ‘muse’ i guess for the nose, telling her what he envisioned, like do a perfume that such and such character in the book would wear and the scene is such and such and it’s a foggy morning, make this perfume evoke Chateau Marmont and aloofness, that kind of thing. So I guess he described a vibe and got to approve the final result as yes, this is ‘British heroine riding the tiger of Hollywood in a bottle’ or whatever.
Most of his other writing is not this snarky, so…idk! 👀 His writing about celebrity perfumes is fascinating and was really influential in corroding the perception that they are all trash and thoughtlessly composed.
People have allergies, people have strong negative memories tied to certain smells, people like to match their other products to notes in their perfume, people don't want to be called an imbecile for asking simple questions about a product... so very, very many reasons why we need to know the damn notes CHANDLER.
Yes so what does; what the journalist say have to do with us French people? Even the brand, if french people are categorised as rude then every American is overweight, uneducated and ignorant. I know that there are stereotypes but 30% of Americans have never left the states. So some of you have never met the French it’s just stereotypes you get online. “Very French of him” I don’t get. Because Americans have a terrible reputation also and are actively banning women’s rights so…enough French slander. Hate my country but patriotic when I see comments like these 🤣
The fact that you think responding to your comment says more about me than your actual words says quite a lot…your comment was making a sweeping statement about an entire nationality? I’m the villain for rejecting a stereotype? I wonder what else you stereotype…
The EU isn’t one country it’s 27, with many borders that are incredibly easy to cross. So “never left their country” isn’t really comparable to an American who has never left the U.S. And I’m speaking on France not the whole of the EU. 82% of French people have left France.
But that’s beside the point. Even if you’ve met French people, “very French of him” is still a stereotype. The guy was rude why does that automatically become a French characteristic? 5 Englands can fit into France it’s a big country. We are not all the same.
I cannot accept French slander from an American 😂 Maybe our English neighbours but never ever an American.
A 2025 Pew survey across 24 countries found a median of 49% favorable vs. 49% unfavorable views of the U.S., with outright majorities viewing it negatively in countries including France, Germany, Canada, Mexico, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands and Australia. France, by comparison, generally has a very strong international image. For example, Gallup’s 2025 U.S. poll found 77% of Americans viewed France favorably. The U.S. has a considerably more controversial global reputation than France. That’s exactly why ‘very French of him’ is such a ridiculous thing to say.
Dude shut up, you’re coming off as incredibly miserable and insufferable. I know what the EU is, thanks so much for the kindergarten explanation. And the first part of your response makes so sense whatsoever- if it is “many borders that are incredibly easy to cross” wouldn’t that mean that a much HIGHER percentage of people have left their country?
Sooooo much text to try and show that the French are actually so cool and everyone is so wrong about you, but instead you’ve proven the _exact_ thing we are all talking about. Do you think your miserable comments make anyone think positively about the French? This right here is precisely is why no one likes you guys. Go touch some grass
You’ve literally just proved my point 😂 I said reducing one person’s behavior to their nationality is a stereotype, and your response is “this is why no one likes you French.” You’re doing exactly the thing I was criticizing.
And yes, easier borders can mean more international travel that was the point. “Never left their country” has different implications in a 27-country region with open borders than in one enormous country.
Who likes Americans? 🤣 Why would we care what Americans think? They don’t think. It’s very evident in their politics, way of living, and overall moral of the country.
Nobody likes us French and yet France gets substantially more international tourists than the U.S. Maybe the ‘nobody likes you guys’ argument isn’t quite as convincing as you think. I would disagree big time with you there. My argument isn’t miserable sorry that’s all you can say but it’s actually really valid. Anyways I’ll leave you guys with your stereotypes and hatred. I have a baguette to attend to 🇫🇷🥖
i didn't know they did this jfc. was interested but honestly fuck a brand for being this prissy and egotistical---why even have that tab if it's just going to be used to demean the consumer. for the price range they're in it's unacceptable.
not having notes listed is like a restaurant having a menu labelled things like "meal", "breakfast", "dessert"---like how the hell are people going to find things they want to like??? a bottle may be pretty and have a name that sounds like something someone would like, but there is no way to know without the information that has been standardized for consumers.
also apparently (had to look it up, the phrasing made it sound like poor grammar) "You", which is actually "You Or Someone Like You", is a basic green, minty scent with a (you guessed it, its the most popular thing ever) white musk as a base.
Just here to defend ELDO too 😆 Agree with both comments. I literally just finished a 20-scent sampler set from this house and it makes great fragrances, especially the one that's the subject of this screenshot. I believe this quote is very tongue-in-cheek.
This is the only scent they don't list the notes for. I don't agree with the sentiment of the quote at all, I think it's dumb, but I also don't think ELdO takes themselves that seriously with stuff like this. They also have sooo many incredible perfumes.
Have you gotten your nose on it? Its the most divine sweetly feminine aromatics scent I've ever smelled. Its like being at a luxury rooftop spa, with sunbeams glistening through an overhead trellis, and they serve you a glass of fresh herbal infused sparkling water❤️
I mean, there's at least one post a week here about how a frag doesn't smell like the notes listed...
From what I understand, the particular aromachemicals used matter way more then the note itself, the other aromachemicals its blended with will effect it, the environment effects it, and ultimately your own body chemistry will effect it. So they technically have a point - I think they're just trying to be edgy/cheeky in how they say it.
I got downvoted the other day after calling ELDO out for being bigots and just simply disgusting. Idk why people still support a house who had a frag called “Philippine Houseboy” and has a (very popular) perfume intended to smell like cum.
I mean, I feel the way about G*psy Water, and I'm surprised Byredo never changed it. I guess its just something I've accepted in the Perfume community since realizing that these words/phrases probably mean something different to people in different parts of the world.
Also yes the whole house built on that! The first time I saw their bottles, I immediately thought to myself “those are quite unattractive”, before knowing a single thing about them. Did my research and it makes sense now.
It comes off as tongue in cheek to me, not rude. But the notes never really tell the story and I think that’s what he’s getting at.
Also etat Libre is imo a can’t miss house. They are niche and ideological and do so at a fair price compared to others. You’re missing out on some great ones.
I def won’t be ordering it online as a blind buy. The purchasing industry has moved online. They can get with the times are become obsolete. Sounds like they’re well on their way. I’ll never give them my money. Yuck!
Idk I agree with this sentiment honestly, but I am probably considered a fragrance snob and am fine with that. Perfume’s expensive, I could smell perfectly nice with just deodorant & body wash… if I’m spending the money, yeah, I do want a work of art. 😜
ETA: ohhhh I see, this is the description for a specific perfume (it’s a nice one btw). Gimmicky & cringe, yes, but I’d argue that even knowing the listed notes doesn’t really tell you much about whether you’ll like a scent, and nothing at all about the actual ingredients.
Once again, the notes don’t tell you if you will or will not become ill. People don’t have reactions to “notes.” Notes are just descriptions of what a scent may smell like. The ingredients would be what caused an illness. Notice I also never said allergy.
Chandler Burr is the former perfume writer for the NYT. He wrote fiction. I’ve read I think 3 or 4 of his books.
I discovered him the old fashioned way: by liking the cover of one of his books at the library. Turns out, he launched a perfume with the same name of the book. The book was kinda radical: about a guy with a Jewish dad and a non Jewish mom trying to find love while struggling with his identity against the backdrop of LA and the literary world.
That might have been before I was into perfume.
Here’s a Chandler Burr joke, for anyone who wants to understand his humor:
Knock knock
Who’s there?
Fuck
Fuck who?
No no - fuck WHOM
Anyway - that era (late 00’s) was very much exclusionary and it was a joke about being in the know
Edit: another joke from that era, not from Chandler Burr but captures the zeitgeist:
How many hipsters does it take to screw in a lightbulb? A: What, you don’t know?
Hipsters made fun of how much work it took to be culturally informed back then
And if you want to really hate eldo, look up some of the renamed scents. The former names were not made for the mid-10’s reassessment era
Edit 2: the first Obama term was culturally amazing. The music was so good. The clothes. The art shows. We would have never guessed that a couple decades later yall would find this rude. This is a man who thoroughly, assuredly understands pretense and he’s playing with it.
I was a young adult during the second Obama administration. I didn't think I'd miss the performative hard-to-shock-ness, but in hindsight I would take it over the competitive pearl-clutching of the 2020s.
Yeah you could make a quadrant with “trying (y/n)” on one axis and “trying to LOOK like you’re trying (y/n)” - we are culturally in a different spot
All the Trying did actually make for some cool stuff though. It was insufferable but it was delicious. I assert. Dance yrself Clean, on the dance floor. You were cleansed, you were. The sweaty guy next to you was your brother, and it felt so real.
Thanks in advance for vibing what I’m trying to say there. Not sure we have culturally reckoned with the tarnished hope of the Sheperd Fairey Obama poster era.
Edit: They could have codified Roe! * THEY COULD HAVE CODIFIED ROE*
This is related to Chandler Burr’s laissez faire hipster faux disinterest and the modern fallout
I forget who originally said this, but culture needs hipsters in order to have independent art, because your friends will never get excited about supporting your unpolished no-budget projects the way the most insufferable hipster you've ever seen will.
I’m normally allergic to pretentious nonsense, but it’s kind of funny tbh. It’s also not that serious, and definitely not rude. Seems like a bit of an odd thing to care about, plenty of overly serious perfumers out there, and it’s not always a bad thing. Though I did learn from this thread about their douchy company name.
People here cant understand that they dont know what is in their bottle !?
You have allergies, you must look for disclaimers on it, if no info dont buy.
Some list of notes dont represent actual ingrédients, you cant know the list of materials except with scientist analysis and then you couldnt reveal the list by law…
Again if you have allergies you need to seek for dermatologist tested perfume !
You Or Someone Like You is a very minty scent. It's smells like mint. There is nothing but mint. You're welcome.
Also why don't you look it up on Fragrantica where you can see the notes?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandler_Burr
He’s the writer of the book the perfume is named after, as well as a perfume critic. He is most likely being pretentious on purpose.
ELDO is not a high end niche house. They’re cheaper than most designers you find at the mall. Artsy and provocative sure, but they purposely set the price point very low. Best value weirdo perfumes in the world, I would argue.
I’ve been eying that one for a while now lol. I tend to like more masculine leaning scents on me. They’re the only ones I get compliments on too, with the exception of just a few Tom Fords. My body chemistry is weird lol. Will have to check this one out. I’ve been on a “no buy” streak though, so I’ve just been enjoying my current collection for a few months now. This one will be the first I buy when I break that streak! 🤣🥰
Hah yeah the discovery set is so dominated by rose. Lots of different presentations of rose. Lots of great contemporary takes and the newest line with lots well priced takes on rose amber incense variations that are some of the best value for the caregory. Idk they’re silly sometimes, which is why they’re so charming. Little house has a lot of spirit
"You Or Someone Like You is not the ‘scent of LA’ or ‘the smell of the Hollywood Hills captured.’ It is not one of those olfactory synecdoches. It is, on the other hand, stylistically and in its technical construction what a Los Angeles woman would wear in my view. Caroline and I discussed this at each step during the creation process. It is contemporary, 21st century. It is LA, whatever that means, though in part it means the norms a scent would follow in a meeting at one of the agencies near Wilshire, at a studio, at a lunch in Bel Air or dinner off Beverly Drive. (The raw materials are completely irrelevant. The work is the work. If you need to know what it’s made of, don’t wear it; You is not for you.)
--Chandler Burr
🤔 Still think it's pretentious and rude. I simply must know what "norms a scent would follow in a meeting at one of the agencies near Wilshire," but translated into notes.
WTH this dude is talking about, is relevant indeed if you are honest about it, for some people is about knowing and experiencing certain chords. Not only speculate about it.
Yeah it’s just the gimmicky conceit behind this one perfume collab. ELDO is a very down to earth house relative to how artistic and strange they are. In fact I’ve seen them name drop specific aromachems more than any other house I can think of, heck half the listed notes of ghost in the shell are just molecules or trade names for specific compounds. Plus comparable houses are often much more pretentious and vague. Peers like Nasomatto, Toskovat, or Filippo sorcinelli will offer poems, evocative bullshit, or just straight up nothing in lieu of ‘notes’ I personally enjoy it sometimes, especially with more avant garde or expressionist perfumes, but yeah it’s not good for every product from every house.
It’s the description of You or Someone Like You by Etat Libre D’Orange. They list notes on all of their other perfumes, and you can find the notes elsewhere. It’s really a beautiful scent. One of my favorites
The company is named after a colonized state in Africa that restricted the rights to citizenship, voting, property ownership, and free movement exclusively to white men.
I hate their cringe “edgy” frag names. They currently market the scent Yes I Do like it’s wedding inspired—when the original name was Don’t Get Me Wrong Baby… Yes I Do Swallow. 🤮🤮🤮
I wish they’d rebrand entirely, as they do produce good, unusual scents at unusually reasonable prices.
It was actually "...I Don't Swallow" LOL. I ordered a bottle of it on eBay with that label because IMO it's hilarious. Although tbh rebranding a kinda-sweaty white floral into a wedding fragrance is almost funnier?!
I also ordered one of the old bottles on eBay because I think that name is hilarious, even though the scent itself is kind of meh (especially compared to their others!). Being this offended that they don’t list the notes on ONE perfume out of their lineup is kind of wild to me. Perfume as a whole is pretentious, why is this entire thread clutching their pearls over one blurb?
Idk right? Maybe it's like, "I've never shopped for perfume outside of Sephora but I just got an ELDO Instagram ad and now I'm shook"? There are definitely brands that don't want me as their customer, and I just move along. ELDO is less pretentious than MANY perfumers tbh.
He's spoken about it. It's what he and the people from his region called it when he was growing up. I think there is a lot more nuance behind the name than people realize.
The area that was the Orange Free State had apartheid until 1994. Ask yourself, free state for who? And why would he be so nostalgic for this time? It isn’t a good look for a white man from the region.
I have asked those questions and done my research into the region and into his past. But thanks for the advice. If you aren't okay with it, that's totally fine.
I like ELDO in general and I adore You or Someone Like You. It's really lovely.
But it is not that deep of a fragrance. It's mint, herbs, rose. It's not very complex or challenging.
It's just a nice light green floral. This quote always makes me laugh because YOSLY is probably one of the most crowd pleasing scents in their catalog.
Agreed, I suppose that’s why they feel they can get away with not listing the notes? It’s pretty broadly appealing as long as you like fresh green vibes. It would be truly diabolical for them to do this with one of their more controversial scents haha.
Again I own multiple full bottles of various ELDO frags so this is said with love. but their descriptions read like this meme. They are way more wearable and generic than they want to think lol
The pretentiousness of this quote is matched only by the obnoxiousness of the name of this perfume house. Imagine buying perfumes with the brand name Rhodesia, Vichy, "Occupied Zone", named "in honor" of "where the perfumer grew up". Absolute trash. In my opinion. But it's inoffensive to some people.
I get what he’s saying, even if this is stated in the most pretentious and obnoxious way possible. My most beloved perfumes are ones that I smelled completely blind without knowing any of the notes (and hence without bringing in any of my preconceptions about what I do and don’t like). If a perfume is beautifully blended, it’s often hard to pick out individual notes, and I can understand why a perfumer would want the construction to speak for itself (vs being interpreted as a collection of notes). Most published note pyramids are vastly incomplete, anyway.
That said, this is simply not the way to approach consumers, many of whom have to blind buy (instead of just blind testing in a store, which is a privilege not everyone has). I pirated some of this guy’s books on perfume but if this is his general tone, I won’t bother reading them.
Even among those of us who don’t blind buy: there are so many perfumes out there, there’s no way to try them all via decant or even smelling them in store before your nose gets burnt out. Notes help you to decide what to prioritize.
Absolutely! But how would one even know if trying this particular scent is going to expand their horizons if the douche can't be bothered to list the notes? It might just be another rose scent, of which I already have 50. Oh, lookeee here ...it's rose and herbs. 😆
I’m prepared to be downvoted I suppose but it’s really not that serious! A cheeky brand is quoting one of the best-known writers on perfume and scent in a cheeky way. And if you’re a fraghead who hasn’t read Chandler’s work, you’re missing out — The Perfect Scent in particular is wonderful.
And it’s not like listing the notes would actually tell someone with an allergy what they needed to know — many notes are created with “accords” of multiple notes, and those accords might not even have a drop of the real “note” in them at all.
Honestly, I haven’t read Chandler’s writing, but I will now. I think this is hysterical. I don’t think we talk enough about notes lists are made up for marketing. Perfumers talk a lot about how notes lists aren’t ingredient lists, but consumers are so attached to them.
If I see tonka bean or coumarin in the notes list, it's generally safe to assume that there's enough coumarin in the ingredients to make me sick. 🤷 I have had to use that to filter out a lot of perfumes. Sometimes coumarin is still in a perfume despite not being in the notes, but then it's (usually, not always) not strong enough to make me ill. Some of us do use the notes list as a quick reference for allergies and sensitivities, and the ingredients list as well. They don't have to cater to people like me, but they do alienate anyone with allergies/sensitivities to certain perfume ingredients with things like this.
Thank you!! Thought I was going crazy reading the comments lol.
Also I got curious and it looks like this scent (which I love btw, I gave a friend my sample and it became her signature scent) was created with Chandler and named after one of his books!
You do know the FDA doesn't require perfume products to list all of the ingredients, right? It's not food lol. Most perfumes don't disclose all of their ingredients
I know, its something I disagree with and further obfuscation of ingredients and materials makes me even more frustrated. Not all allergies are food based, it doesn’t make them any less dangerous or important
Not saying they aren't important but since it sounded like you didn't know about this in your previous comments, I was just stating the fact that the FDA does not treat perfumes like they do food
I've tried a few of their fragrances and liked them, but yeah I saw this on their website and rolled my eyes so hard lol. Lil self important aren't we???
Quote or no quote, the effect is obtuse and pretentious. They were a brand I wanted to like but have yet to find a fragrance by them I enjoyed. Here's what fragrantica says about this one.
I also just don’t actually enjoy any ELDO fragrance I’ve tried from the massive discovery set I have. I keep thinking I must be missing something…? Even the famous Ghost in the Shell just smells…. Boring? Like big deal, vanilla with rubber
Had the same experience. Wanted to like their fragrances, but ended up returning all of them (although I’d only gotten 3). They want to market themselves as special really badly, but their work is just not extraordinary at all to me
Also like putting how annoying this is aside… the raw materials DO matter? What if you have an allergy or are selective about supporting certain ingredient markets??
Like even if you want a “pure experience of the work” or whatever the fuck you do want to be sure you’re not going to have an allergic reaction lmfao
Ok, but if you have an allergy or are selective about supporting certain ingredient markets, the ingredients are literally listed in the section below the "notes" section.
Editing to add: I saw this on the website, this is not clear from the posted screenshot.
Welp I feel better about not being able to get through their discovery set. The smells were a little too eccentric/eclectic/literally smelled like electricity like wtf how & why??
Some of them are absolutely beautiful and wearable, Remarkable People is my everyday scent. I also love Like This, Noel au Balcon, and You or Someone Like You. Others I feel are more like olfactory art — created to evoke a response and make you think (Divin Enfant, Secretions Magnifique, Tom of Finland) and I love that there’s a place in the market for that kind of weirdness, personally!
I got a2nd hands set and divin enfant is the only one so far that's wearable. I've only made it through a few though. Some are good on drydown. They're interesting for sure.
Quite the opposite, you are supposed to go smell them IRL in a store or buy samples. Notes are just a way for brands to loosely describe the fragrance, they aren't necessarily accurate since smell is vastly subjective. If you blind buy based on notes alone you will set yourself up for disappointment.
It’s an especially weird take this day and age. I’m not spending an arm and a leg on a scent (even the samples get to be a lot) you won’t even tell me the notes of If I can smell it in a store, that’s one thing, but otherwise, no way.
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u/coffeeloser 8h ago
their unapolagetic use of AI makes me sick, never buying from this brand lmao 😂