Archives 69
Etat Libre d'Orange (2011)

Imagine an alternate dimension where Necco Wafers have flavors of spiced plum, blueberry, strawberry, and paprika, along with the usual wintergreen. Then imagine you are touring the factory where they are made. Imagine the air. It penetrates, but it feels so good.

You are then transported to a temple, something out of Jodorowsky film, and the aroma from the alternate dimension Necco factory has taken the form of a camphorous incense. The smell is warm, sensual, yet meditative. Why, this feels at first peaceful, yet also unnerving—exciting even.

Cold and sharp melts to creamy and smooth, and flashes of heat are intermittent, like when one's skin is flush from arousal while in a chilly room. There is the slightest impression of perspiration. The fat and airy pulsation of life is noticeable. Archives 69 is a fever dream for this skin, and I like it.

Too much pepper and turns kind of sour to my nose. I don't get the camphor that others mention. It's not terrible but not for me, it smells a little like home perm solution. It's borderline thumbs down but I guess it could be okay for others.

Spicy, feminine floral sweet opening, but very pleasant. There’s no cinnamon listed but the woody, peppery spice and slightly sweet notes hint at something like potpourri. The drydown is clean flowers and the camphor is present but not overpowering. Gives it a cooling effect.

Archives 69 intrigued me from the line. It’s quite unique, offering a soft yet spicy profile with some resins. It’s not overly spicy and feels cuddly. It turns balsamic but remains gentle and not too smoky, with a transparent sweetness from the amber that isn’t thick or sickly. I don’t detect a strong camphor note, so it doesn’t remind me of Vick’s VapoRub. In the drydown, I get a soft, pleasant sweet woody incense, likely from the plum, along with very light florals from the orchid. The benzoin contributes a light sweetness, and I don’t pick out the patchouli. After the opening, the scent remains fairly linear. The performance is moderate, and it’s unisex. With a moderate application, it could be worn year-round and could even serve as a signature scent. It’s one of my favorites from the brand.

Goodness me! Christine Nagel's 2011 invention "Archives 69"
for Etat Libre d'Orange has certainly polarised reviewers'
opinions on this site. One's experience of a fragrance is
such a deeply personal thing and different experiences
are inevitable, healthy and fascinating but I'm going to
put in a good word for this divisive olfactory invention.

It seems to be the camphor that's causing most of the trouble.
Admittedly it's a bold step to put it up front in a composition
but I like the daring nature of the decision (rather like Christopher
Sheldrake's opening blast of wintergreen in his 'Tubereuse Criminelle'
for Serge Lutens) but the initial shock quickly gives way to a
more complex and alluring assembly of deliciously balanced
notes of pepper, incense, benzoin and a somewhat carnal and
darker collision of patchouli and musk in its final resolution.

I enjoyed reading the negative reviews but I declare myself a lover!

Archives 69 by Etat Libre d'Orange (2011) is loved by some close friends, so please forgive my reaction to this stuff because evidently you see beauty where I cannot. This is one where the ELdO Quirk-o-Meter is swung full to the peg, with a mashup of disparate things that I can only guess symbolize the brand as a whole since this is partially named after the company address. The perfumer of Christine Nagel was here just before her assuming the mantle as house perfumer for Hermès, and it's clear she had a lot of fun here even if the final product is so bizarre as to be unendearing. For the record, I like camphor as a fragrance note when used in ways where it makes sense, but not here, and not like this. Holy moly is this stuff just a whole lot of nope, with a tiny bit of light at the end of a very painful tunnel I shan't be going down again.

The opening smells straight out of a Vicks 44 bottle or Vicks vapor rub jar. Full medicinal camphor blast that will slay your men, enslave your women, burn your vilage, and salt the earth when it leaves Attila the Hun style. From there, you get some scant citrus notes, juniper berries, and acetates buzzing around ionone green floral notes until something like tangerine and orchids emerge in the heart. Pink pepper also zips around but things stay pretty nightmarish until some dark fruity notes show up to guide us by the hand into the base of muscone and cedar-like woody notes. The shrill battle-cry of the camphor and green florals becomes faded glory, and only hours in is there something wearable underneath, although still not really good. Wear time is moderate, as is sillage after things calm down, and don't ask me when to use this.

Etienne de Swardt did his usual mondo bizarro bait and switcho in the transition from opening to dry down like so many of the more notorious ELdO scents, but however avant-garde this may seem to the inner Warhol to me, the part of me that likes to enjoy a fragrance from tip to tail just screams no. If you enjoy this, more power to you, and you're probably someone who also likes Concrete Music and flash mobs too, but I'll just stick to my pedestrian fragrances that don't try to strum my brain waves like a Theramin, thanks. I most certainly won't forget the experience of this, and hats off to a brand that can stay sustainably profitable with fragrances like this and Sécrétions Magnifiques (2006) on the books. If nothing else, this makes a great way to enforce one's own personal space bubble when in public, because if I smell this on you, I'm sitting as far away or upwind of you as I absolutely can. Thumbs down.