Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

You can’t accuse ÉLdO of cowardice. The instant accessibility of last year’s commendable Like This may have raised fears that one of perfumery’s cockiest houses was starting to play it safe, but their newest offering – named after the address of their flagship Paris store – pulls them right back into spikier, more dangerous territory. In fact, it returns them to the area occupied by what many consider to be their most abrasive creation: the infamous Sécrétions Magnifiques. There are several moments in the development of Archives 69 when the all-too-familiar, gag-inducing, metallic wrongness of SM appears in the background, but it’s never allowed to dominate. Instead, centre-stage is taken by an impressively indecipherable blend of snuffed candles, acrid, heavily synthetic marine-woods and brittle, aluminium-edged florals.

ÉLdO have stated that Archives 69 is another of their ‘body’ scents, and yes, its connection with their highly idiosyncratic ‘olfactory understanding’ of anatomical aromas is clear. But I’m not sure that their vision of what counts as an intimate smell necessarily resonates with other people’s. In ÉLdO’s oeuvre, the human form appears to be the site of odours which tend to repel rather than attract, and this latest release is no exception. On paper, its drydown does display a welcome muskiness, but on skin, it’s cold and curt, like a glare from a stranger wielding deadly shoulder pads. Archives 69 is unusual, distinctive and rarely boring… but is it wearable? I’ll leave that question to you.

[Christine Nagel is officially credited as the creator of Archives 69; review based on a sample obtained in 2011; fragrance tested on skin.]


Discover more from

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

5 thought on “Review: Archives 69 from État Libre D’Orange (2011)”
  1. This sounds brilliant. I always love Orange's perfumes because they're so edgy and different. I'm definitely trying it as soon as I can.

    Thanks for the review.

    Jayme.

  2. Persolaise, do you know when it will be available? I've been searching for samples, but alas.

    ELdO never ceases to intrigue me!

I love hearing from my readers, so please feel free to write a comment or ask a question.