500 Years
Etat Libre d'Orange (2019)

Opening is a rose-saffron-oud combo, but not terribly heavy or overly sweet. A bit camphorous. Some reviews mention Carmex and I haven’t smelled that in years, but I get the reference from what I remember. Bit of an old lady smell to me in the opening but the drydown reveals woods and leather, which guides this back to unisex territory.

500 Years opens with sweet woods and a hint of light bergamot citrus. The citrus fades right away, revealing spices and amber wood with some rose. This isn't a fresh scent at all; it darkens quickly, giving off a dark, balsamic, almost oud-like vibe. I'm not sure if oud is in this scent, but it has a similar feel, with all the spices and a sweet amber or vanilla-like note that blends it all together. It's on the line between mainstream and niche—neither experimental nor too difficult to wear, but it does push the boundaries of the mainstream market a bit. This fragrance is perfect for the colder months, especially in fall. It's not piercingly sharp but has decent performance, especially considering most scents from this line are moderate to soft. In the drydown, it becomes more amber-woody, with less of the cacao note. I don't really detect the rose in this scent. As Clockworkalice points out, it's just woods and woods. This is one of the better scents from this house and definitely worth sampling.

Love this stuff! I was at first ambivalent but kept wanting to smell it and them finally I put some on. It is listed as for men and women, and I think that's a more accurate way to say it than "unisex." It seems to become whomever is wearing it. In addition to the notes already mentioned, I get a very nice cacao/cocoa note, something I'm not usually a fan of at all. The other night I put it on again and realized it's kind of like two different perfumes in one, which, as I'm reading these reviews, tracks with flakonkrystal's review here. The way I thought to describe it is a stereo recording: it's two different tracks (rose and oud) playing in parallel and held together/bridged by the spices and cacao. I think it's brilliant.

500 Years really made me sit up and take notice. For those who are ambivalent about Oud, as I am--often getting out the putty scraper to take it off--ELDO has some singularly subtle Oud's. This one mixes turkish rose with saffron and cardamom: a combo seen in the gourmand "Spice must flow." But it adds not just a hint of Oud but what ELDO calls "Geranium Bourbon." This creates a theatrically diverse scent with two characters. One is that familiar deep spicy rose, and one is an oriental geranium which, at worst, reminds me of the Garden section at Home Depot on a sunny Saturday morning, and at best, beckons "Keep smelling perfume: you will learn and learn and learn..." Not quite "The story of mankind delivered in a perfume" as ELDO boldly claims, but it is a story--and it is novel.

Description says it should be a woody spicy rose, but on my skin and to my nose it's only woody wooden woods. Nice though.

500 Years is the final instalment for me of ELDO's ‘Orange Extraordinaire' trilogy of spiced woody roses and the one I find least tempting. There's a feint at the start with a brief impression of a mumsy sugarbomb rose in the manner of Oud Satin Mood, but, surprisingly it dissipates swiftly and almost completely, even the sweetness. What follows is a dried rose petals, sawdust and spice combo that, while successfully unified, seems content to go for the middle ground rather than the stars. ELDO's marketing department takes a rather loftier view, though, claiming ‘the story of mankind [sic] delivered to you in a perfume', no less. They'd have done better to go for the desert spice routes clichés more suited for this one.