Vraie Blonde by Etat Libre d'Orange: Vraie Marilyn Monroe

We’re seduced by the life of fame and luxury. And nothing symbolizes this more than the allure of vintage Hollywood glamour: the spotlights and sequined dresses, bright red lips and an ingenue’s platinum blonde hair cascading down to her shoulders.

Surrealist perfume house Etat Libre d’Orange conjures the ghost of Marilyn Monroe in Vraie Blonde (True Blonde), and the intimate sensuality she brought to mid-50’s America. This is a fragrance to commemorate sleeping in the nude with only a drop of perfume for nightwear, and a starlet’s bare skin adorned by nothing but a luxurious evening coat.

Vraie Blonde pays homage to the glittering world of red velvet booths, huge chandeliers, and waiters in white coats, with a top note of sparkling pink champagne, bursting with starry-eyed enthusiasm and expectation.

But underneath the bubbly fizz of the sweet champagne, Vraie Blonde begins to tell another story. A sharp white pepper note creeps in, followed by a warm and intimate myrrh. A hazy rose note floats around the edges of the spice, but far in the background, like the end of an echo down a long hallway. There’s a dangerous, sensually-charged moment in the heart of Vraie Blonde – the pepper is quite strong, and the myrrh note carries a whiff of hot skin liberated from the trappings of luxury. The price of fame can be steep.

The dry down answers the question that the heart has asked: a delicate peach note is paired with a subtle and sophisticated patchouli, their sweet and rough edges complementing each other rather than pushing them apart. The base of Vraie Blonde is Marilyn at her best: a welcoming, happy smile on her face and her devastating allure reflected in the star-shine from a hundred camera bulbs flashing all at once.