Jasmin et Cigarette

Etat Libre d'Orange's Jasmin et Cigarette is an olfactory provocation that captures the precise moment a jasmine flower wilts in an ashtray, each note heightening the other's raw sensuality. The jasmine absolute here isn't the polite, soapy interpretation found in department store florals—it's indolic, fleshy, almost bruised in its intensity, amplified by an earthy turmeric that adds a dusty, golden warmth. The mat absolute (from Artemisia pallens) delivers that titular cigarette smoke: not fresh tobacco leaf, but the acrid, resinous quality of actual smoke clinging to fabric and fingertips. Clary sage and galbanum in the opening create a sharp, almost medicinal bitterness that cuts through the jasmine's sweetness, preventing it from tipping into conventional florals territory. The Venezuelan tonka bean rounds out the base with a subtle warmth, though it never overwhelms the composition's deliberately austere character. This is a scent for those who find beauty in the dissonant, who understand that jasmine's true nature borders on the indecent. It's for late nights in smoky bars that no longer exist, for artists in black jumpers chain-smoking outside gallery openings, for anyone who rejects the sanitised version of florals that dominates modern perfumery. Antoine Maisondieu's composition refuses to comfort or seduce in conventional ways—instead, it challenges, provokes, and ultimately rewards those who appreciate perfume's power to conjure specific, transgressive moments rather than vague moods.