Foreword
I’m sat here on a very wet day with my arm glued to my nose. Or maybe that’s my nose glued to my arm, either way, I’ve forgot what the weather is doing and I can not stop sniffing the most peculiar perfume. The unfairly, notorious Sécrétions Magnifiques by perfumer Antoine Lie for French house Etat Libre d’Orange.
I read about Sécrétions Magnifiques on a blog, somewhere, a year ago and was absolutely mesmerized by it’s conceptual outline. Blood, sweat and semen are the three tenors used in the perfume’s make-up, oh and some spit thrown in for good measure, ’cause, spit helps things move along!
Moving along. I think my jaw hit the floor when I first read this and thought it must be a joke. I genuinely believed it to be one of those highly conceptualized, high-brow affairs. Trying to be different and shocking for the sake of it.
I’m not the first person to discuss the, what seems insane, perfume. Katie Puckrik shows us her first reaction to it as she liberally spills applies the juice on her arm. She wasn’t impressed, but it makes for funny YouTube antics. Denyse Beaulieu interviews the perfumer, Antoine Lie for a fascinating, sometimes, behind-the-scenes read. In fact, a revealing read at that and one I highly encourage you do. And Birgit Oeckher shares her horrific, hilarious impressions on her blog.
The seeds were planted, I had to see what all the fuss was about. I parted with £3/£4 and ordered a sample from Les Senteurs. A week later I held my breath and went in.
Sécrétions Magnifiques
My advice to someone who is curious about this perfume, do not be afraid. True, It’s hard to shake the mental image of what might be crawling around your dirty mind when you hear of Sécrétions Magnifiques’ creation—a carefully considered intention I’m sure. Personally, I think it is absolutely stunning. It does not smell of any of the above mentioned fluids, but instead, I think it tries to capture the impression of these fluids.
It opens with a muted citrus note, the orange blossom coming through. In a juxtaposition of sorts, the clearest, most transparent smell lingers for a good half hour—the metallic note. It’s cold at first. The citrus odour however works with that metallic note that was always there to begin with, but as the citrus begins to fade, the metallic note is now standing to attention beside an iris floral heart. Neither of the two clash, in fact they compliment each other so well in a yin yang, 69 kind of way.
After a few hours Sécrétions Magnifiques really becomes something else. It is for the most part, a linear perfume with a subtle dry down. And I like linear fragrances too but an obvious floral smell is now present and that inital citrus, highly metalic smell has well receeded. It is now soft with coconut milk, sandalwood and opoponax—even slightly powdery, the metallic present in the background at times. With this in mind, Sécrétions Magnifiques is now itself, so soft, so gentle you could be forgiven for thinking it’s as if the furore of sex and it’s climax is now still, peaceful and thoroughly exhausted. It’s as the perfume is making a statement on the number of hours it takes for people, and this perfume, to reach a state of satisfaction and sedation.
This is what impressed me so much about Sécrétions Magnifiques. I genuinely believe it to be a story of sex told through smell. It not only arouses curiosity, but it evolves from initial passion to stillness and calm. That metallic note, always appearing, always receding throughout. Sometimes sour, sometimes sweet.
What do you think?
Is Sécrétions Magnifiques an over-sexed, over-hyped creation? Does it merit the status of “class” or “crass?” Or, is it something of a subdued, submissively smelling creation?
Great review. I dont find it repulsive at all either. I dont put it on my skin much, but I often sniff the packet I keep my sample in, I get drawn to it a lot, I would definitely like to own a bottle of it in time.
I’ll try review this one too.
I’m suprised you don’t note the sour milky note, that’s the only bit that turns my stomach just a tad. But the metallic iris and powdered coconut is so bozarre, love it!
This scent helped inyroduce me to the world of niche, good memories :’)
Yeah! Another SM lover. It’s that very reason you pointed out that I love it, metallic iris and powdered coconut. Bozzare is a fitting word ;)
What better way to step into niche than this stuff too.
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This is an awesome conversation, I think :-) I’ve smelt Sécretions Magnifiques a few times now and had interpreted what’s referred to here as the egg- white / meringue as protein which makes up a good part of semen and the metal smell evokes iron, a key element in blood. These two come out quite clearly. The sweat, though, seems neglected which would have made our crazy pastry baker look like a muscled, hairy-chested Adonis.
Thanks Christopher for contributing to the conversation too.
It seems there are a lot of keen noses out there, poised ready to smell egg-whites! I’m afraid I don’t get that smell at all, which frustratingly, I’d like to. Sometimes I get that sweet, dough smell. And I like the contrast with the metallic. It’s makes sense though when you compare the egg whites, semen and protein together like that!
Nothing wrong with a hairy-chested Adonis too, maybe the baker still is one if you can smell the sweet note? lol
Hi Liam, reading your review reinforces my suspicion that Secretions smells very different to different people. I smelled it alongside another fragrance blogger friend at a trade show and he found it pleasant, while I recoiled in disgust. Luca Turin raved about it–gave it five stars–but I think he may enjoy it simply because it’s so bold and different (a professional perfume critic must long for newness like this).
I actually like some of the nastier scents out there. A favorite is YSL’s Kouros, which has an opening note that’s almost sweat-like. My wife hates it, but I absolutely love it. But neither of us can stand Secretions.
There is a metallic note that I detect, but it has such a nasty, screeching, pungent, offensive quality to it that I could never wear Secretions. And yet I keep going back to it, like a kid who says to a friend, ‘Oh, gross! Smell this!’ When I got a packet of ELdO samples at the trade show, I was excited because I thought there’d be a Secretions sample among them. My wife and I opened it eagerly and…it was missing. I’m glad stuff like Secretions is around to challenge the limits of perfumery, to remind us how safe the parameters have been for so long.
–Harry
Indeed Harry, you’re not the only one that praises it for it’s uniqueness and boldness to be different. I think there is a unanimous feeling like this towards it. Whilst it might not always be wearable to all, 99% of perfumistas can appreciate its boundary pushing capabilities.
You’ve also planted a seed in my head to sniff out Kouros again! Nice work ;)
P.S.: if sex smelled like this, human race would be in extinction!
HAHA. Depending on who is finding it disgusting. There could be a race of metallic loving primates out there in some parallel universe ;)
Maybe that could be a good source of inspiration for a science fiction movie…
Dear Liam, SM smells like egg whites – the nasty smell is so powerful that I actually took a shower, scrubbed my skin till I almost saw blood and it did not go away. I had to clean my skin with nail polish remover.
if you want the truth – I have a 5 cm stone in my gallbladder and I cannot stand the smell of eggs anymore – every time I smell it (now I don’t even have to eat the egg), I get major pains due to the stone. because of this fragrance I had to stay in bed!!!
If I am to make a quick description of this nasty thing here it goes:
SECRETIONS MAGNIFIQUES is a crazy pastry baker that had an urge to have sex in the middle of his working day and end up jerking off inside the bowl of a batch that he was cooking – probably a merengue.
Sorry if this is 100% adult content, but that is the picture I get. A fat hairy man jerking off in a very cheap porn movie while customers are waiting after the counter to take the dessert home.
And the metallic thing – ok, he can wear braces too, why not??? And for your sake, I hope you don’t come near me wearing that monster.
Some people try to find beauty in it probably because they saw that Luca Turin gave it 5 stars – and not for its beauty but for the creative way of using one specific molecule.
Simone,
That is the most fragrant-related, creative story-telling I’ve ever seen! Something straight from ELdO themselves ;) You might want to watch that for copyright now. And no fear, this is certainly an adult zone!
You’re the second person to comment that SM smells like egg. You’ve somehow made it a merengue, and *ahem* fluidy. But I wonder what’s making it “eggy” then?
I haven’t actually read the Luca Turin review myself, and I have The Guide at home. Maybe it’s natural to want to find beauty, as you say. I seen so many hilarious, and honest disgust towards SM I wasn’t sure what to expect. It was a pleasant surprise when it turned out to be really beautiful. Creamy and smooth, with a metallic’ness that, to me, isn’t at all as foul as I thought it might be.
I hope you feel better soon, and that you never have the pain/pleasure to smell SM again ;)
Not to menton that this fragrance had an evil impact on my sense of smell – every time I find the same molecule that smells like egg whites in other perfumes I recognize it immediately.
I explain – Sel Marin by Heely was to me a perfect fragrance before SM – after learning that there is such a nasty smell of egg whites in perfumery – now I can find it even if well hidden like in Sel Marin – it became also hard to use it after SM. Same thing hapened with a fragrance by French Niche House called EgoFacto. I loved one of the fragrances – now I smell the egg whites!!!!!
So my life is divided in BSM and ASM :-) LOL!
So do you know what this specific molecule is Simone. I guess it is something sulphurous if it smells of egg whites. Yes you are right about that, You know how any good housewife would say that you must never wash a dish of eggs with hot water because the smell sticks to the it. Well that’s what happened to the desecrated bowl of meringue in your story.
This has nothing to do with sex or the human body or natural smells to me. Except perhaps what you smell on a badly washed dish where you have served eggs. Very artificial (this is not an accusation in my book, just a fact) very metallic. I have to agree with Elena of Perfumeshrine on how I “read” this perfume.
There are two other perfumes that reminded me of this metallic quality and which I thoroughly enjoyed: Montale Sandflowers (that’s human skin to me!) and Serge Lutens Bas de Soie.
If I had to make a connection between sex and SM, it would have to be an overused inflatable doll :-)
An overused inflatable doll you say! Well now there’s lots of unfortunate imagery, frothing, to the top of my mind…
I read that review on Perfumeshrine (thanks for the heads up), I honestly must be missing some smell in the fragrance if there is such a unanimous revolt towards SM. Honestly, if the greatest proportion say, “Boke, that’s disgusting,” and the minority say, “Oh, how beautiful,” surely the minority aren’t “getting it.” Is it my threshold to offensive odours is lower? Do I, on some level, like foul odours?
I’d love to try Montale Sandflowers – human skin – how nice :) Especially on a hot summer’s evening. Must be something else.
Well one never knows with smell, do they? No way to show someone what you smell, but I believe this is also the beauty of it. I think it is accepted that some people cannot smell some musk molecules. Who knows what exactly happens with the multitude of synthetic molecules used in perfumes.
I like “foul” smells myself, so don’t get me wrong about SM. Just for the sheer boldness and creativity of it I give it a big thumbs up. Would I want to spill any of it on me? Nooooway!!!! This devil lasts for hours and it won’t wash off too! (sounds like a musk molecule….). But the people at ELDO are really amazing. Excellent stuff and an interesting concept.
Interesting, I didn’t know some people couldn’t smell musk. With things like this, I always wonder, exactly why? Is it that they aren’t quite wired up the same as everyone else?
You’re right too about ELdO being amazing. I really can’t wait to get my hands on a few more samples from them… and that SL fragrance… and oh, about 100 others lol
I have tried most of the line, but it was all at once at an event, and don’t recall anything terribly unconventional other than the great names of the perfumes. At the time I recall I thought they were all well made and interesting. Will have to revisit.
Indeed, maybe a revisit might pique some interest. Maybe pace it out too, sniff one or two a day and return to them with a fresher approach each time?
Ah Liam, I’ve sniffed this perfume doing interesting things on different folk. I think skin plays a huge part in what happens with this one. It’s mostly that metallic note on me, on one friend it smells utterly rancid, on another soft and milky, and it was a beautiful floral on one lady at the Basenotes meet up!
Hi Nick, thanks for your comment. You’re right, skin is the last ingredient in not only, every fragrance, but especially Sécrétions Magnifiques. I’ve smelled some perfumes on lots of people and for the most part, yes, they’re much the same.
I haven’t “shared” my sample of SM yet with any one so I have yet to experience the individual rancid, metallic, or soft and milky aspects on them.
By the by, I have a confession, I was that lady at the Basenotes meet up ;) SM sits very floral-like on me, that metallic note present all the while. And as I said above, it really settles and calms into a creamy, smooth dry down/come down smell.
I kept getting the impression of very salty sweatiness, something like Womanity, but better.
It’s not a fave, tho it’s nice to read a calm and collected take on the components and how they work together.
Hi Lucy, thanks for your comment. I can see where salty sweatiness is there, I’m trying to remember Womanity but all I can remember is sweet edible biscuits with that one! Have you tried anything else by ELdO?
I wish I smelled what you did, Liam. You make SM sound like a harmless kitten and almost made me forget the olfactory onslaught it was for me. Almost… ;)
Thank you for your comment Birgit. I seem to be in a minority don’t I! I genuinely smell all the things I mentioned, and the way it develops and settles on my skin, I thought for a second, “Ah everyone’s just in a tizzy!”
Truth be told, I want to smell it is you and others do too! Maybe that’s kind of sadistic too, a nasal torture of sorts! ;)