To Dupe Or Not To Dupe? Part 2
May 30th, 2007
By Tove Solander
The next couple on the dance floor is the Caron classic Yatagan and Eloge Du Traitre from the even more infamous Etat Libre d’Orange. I know they have been spotted as smell-alikes all over the blogs by now but I said it first. I did. Only I said it in Swedish so nobody could hear me… Looking at the notes, the likeness hardly comes as a surprise: four hits and a clear belonging to the same family. Thus the real question is: “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the manliest man of all?” Will the Turkish warrior slay the French traitor with his sabre or will the latter traitorously assassinate the former?
Yatagan: geranium, pine, patchouli, leather, lavender, wormwood, petitgrain, artemisia, vetiver, castoreum, styrax
Eloge Du Traitre: geranium, pine, patchouli, leather, bay, armoise, clove, jasmine, musk
The original: Yatagan is the man, the Seventies macho man who aspires to be a fox-hunting English gentleman but whose tweed suit has flared legs, oversized lapels, and a chequered pattern in orange, brown and green. Yatagan knows nothing of British subtlety. Sometimes he’s refreshingly bold and outdoorsy, like a walk on a forest floor covered with pine needles and pine cones. Sometimes he’s just a loud drunkard picking fights at the disco. Wearing Yatagan requires a certain energy, otherwise the sharp, dry, herbal notes might give you a headache or just get on your nerves. I think I prefer just smelling it from the bottle as a refreshing aromatherapy kick - wearing it I tend to tire of its one-dimensional harshness. There’s something dirty hidden in the vast forest but not dirty in a good way, more like wet dog. Now there’s an animalic note I fail to appreciate!
The copy: wearing the scents side by side, they’re more different than I expected. Or perhaps I just develop partial anosmia from smelling the one and can only pick out the notes that differentiate them in the other. Sure, Eloge Du Traitre has spicy herbs and dry pine too but it also has a hint of powdery sweetness which I guess is from the jasmine and the musk which oddly seems to be a clean white musk. It reminds me both of green chypres like Cabochard and of more conventional soapy men’s colognes, while Yatagan firmly belongs to the family of ruggedly masculine scents like L’Eau Du Navigateur and Jules. If this is a competition in machismo, Yatagan easily beats the more effeminate Eloge Du Traitre which even has – gasp! – a floral note. If it’s a competition in wearability, the slightly softer and “chicer” Eloge Du Traitre wins. Perhaps being a nancy boy dressed up as a lumberjack in borrowed clothes is a winning strategy?
Entry Filed under: Guest Blogger, Perfume Reviews, Smell-alikes
12 Comments Add your own
1. Flora | May 30th, 2007 at 12:53 am
LOL - as a longtime fan of Yatagan I would really like to try the other one now! I would kill if I could find a man who would wear Yatagan for me, but I have to be content with sniffing it from the bottle as aromatherapy like you. I cannot wear it myself unless I am home alone, it’s one of those fragrances that really IS manly and I imagine very few women can actually carry it off. I do not find it excessive, but then I like very manly men, and nancy boys too.
2. Patty | May 30th, 2007 at 5:59 am
I finally got around to wearing Yatagan recently and… wow! It grew hair on my chest! Eloge is much more wearable, but I can’t help but love Yatagan just a little more because it doesn’t make any excuses.
3. chayaruchama | May 30th, 2007 at 6:11 am
You wicked girls !
How I love you.
Nancy boys, indeed- I do love them, nonetheless.
Merit in both camps.
Still, a man with a yatagan..
MWAH !
[Can he have a moustache, too ? A big, sweeping one, like Dr. Crippen, or Vlad Dracul ?
Please say YES !]
4. March | May 30th, 2007 at 6:21 am
Marina wrote once about Yatagan being the smell of hot, hungry, cruel bodies, which I can still quote without looking it up! Yatagan makes me weak at the knees; one of the sexiest fragrances I own. Next to that, Elogie might as well be wearing a dress… although I’ll grant you it’s a smooth operator.
5. Elle | May 30th, 2007 at 6:43 am
Loved your description of Yatagan!
But, I have to confess I adore it and layered w/ Messe de Minuit (Marina’s brilliant idea), it’s pure heaven to my nose. I liked Eloge, but never quite got to the point I felt compelled to purchase it.
6. Marina | May 30th, 2007 at 7:16 am
Love how you described Yatagan, although I don’t agree about the 70s thing. An Ottoman and a Gentleman
7. Marina | May 30th, 2007 at 7:20 am
Flora,
Smells good on him, but *I swear* it smells even better on me.
By the means of flattery and emotional blackmail, I made Mr Colombina wear and like Yatagan.
8. tmp00 | May 30th, 2007 at 10:22 am
As the second person (I think) to point out the similarities the I have to go with the original.
(fluffs feathered hair and straightens gold chain)
9. Solander | May 30th, 2007 at 11:24 am
Flora - as a nonbeliever in sex segregated scents I think someone robust enough could pull it off. Or someone with a skin chemistry that softens it just a little, takes that aggressive edge off it. It’s probably good for wearing outdoors, not in small spaces…
Patty - I hear you.
Chaya - Of course he can have a moustache, what would a seventies lumberjack be without a huge moustache? But what about a tall, muscular butch in a glue-on moustache and flannel shirt?
March - Is there an opposition between “sexy” and “man in dress”…?
Personally, I don’t think Yatagan has much to do with sex though. More like machismo and a healthy active life in the wilderness, which I personally don’t find very sexy. But perhaps your nose reads the “wet dog accord” as something more pleasantly animalic?
Elle - I adore Yatagan too, or I used to, I don’t know. Perhaps I just didn’t have the energy to appreciate it properly when I wrote the post… Or perhaps I just like it much better from the bottle than on my skin.
Marina - Well, what do I know, I wasn’t even born in the 70ies… All I have is hearsay on the fragrance fashions of yesteryear….
Tom - You’re a dahling. I think I would normally go with the original as well, perhaps my nose was just tired when I made the comparison so I preferred the softer scent. Yatagan is cooler anyway - the bottle, the brand, the vintage, the name…
10. Ina | May 30th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
You crack me up with your descriptions! I can’t help but agree on Yatagan, though. It’s rough and harsh but not dirty enough for a Turkish warrior. On my skin it’s all dry, bitter herbs. Meh.
Love your smell-alikes posts! Keep them coming!
11. March | May 30th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
Solander and Ina — yech, I don’t get the wet dog note at all, and agree it would be a deal-killer. My Yatagan’s all about manly sweatiness and leather.
12. Solander | May 31st, 2007 at 1:43 am
Ina - Thank you! Dry, bitter herbs, it seems we have similar skin chemistry then. I think my skin makes it even more bitter than it is in the bottle, or sour, or flat? From the bottle it’s more like that nice pine forest. But perhaps it’s just because I don’t sit smelling the bottle for hours, perhaps I just tire of it when I wear it. Or it wears me, and wears me out.
March - Ooooh, I wish I got more leather… Or, I guess the “wet dog” IS the leather, so perhaps I ought to be happy it’s so subdued… But something other than shrubs would be nice, some dirt or horse or sweaty man or whatever…
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