Delicious Closet Queen Etat Libre d`Orange for men

Closet Queen has been a pleasant surprise for me. To date, I have found the ELDO range to be slightly amiss somehow, but Closet Queen definitely delivers. What I get here is a modern leather sported by a woody base, but eminently wearable by guys and girls, and a good option for those lusting for a summer leather. Today has been 30 degrees C plus and I have not found this overbearing, nor did it break down as some fragrances do in the heat.
I find Closet Queen to be interesting enough to keep me interested and wanting more. It is quirky and modern, and very endearing.

Thanks so much to Scorpiosheep for this sample. Two thumbs up!

Pow! A strong burst of leather, tobacco, and citrus. Oh, no it's a man scent! I received a sample and the back label only had the maker. Totally masculine and it smells a lot like Washington Sq by Bond 9, but with a more subdued berry scent. Wait, it's mellowing and the tobacco is sweet, quite nice and I'm not a tobacco fan per se. My skin loves resins and woods and usually go sweet on me. This is a good modern scent that men and women could wear...I'm a chick that isn't into wearing "man scents". As it wears, it's quite mellow. I won't buy it, but would recommend it.

I received a sample of this wonderful fragrance from my good friend Linda a few weeks ago. ELDO scents never disappoint me and always seem to be extremely well made. The imagery that came into my head once the name of the fragrance was recited to me was of a beautiful cross dressing diva. Her makeup and perfume mixing with harsh accords of her native odor "she" was naturally born with.
She is relaxing after her big show in front of her boudoir. She removes her wig, and adjusts her genitals. Afterwards, when she is back to "normal" she leaves the gaybar as a normal man, gets into her car and drives home. Her life isn't one of hiding, but, she is however very selective to whom she reveals her secret to.

The top:

Opening with sweet, tart raspberry the beginning of this fragrance is very feminine. Raspberry is complimented well by an earthy-sweet, slightly piney Opoponax accord. This fragrance is BUILT upon contradictory/complimentary notes. Whereas the raspberry is very sweet and slightly sour, the opoponax is rather stale and dry.
The iris in the beginning is the contrasting accord, interrupting a sensual slow dance between the ingredients of before.

The middle:

After iris is done with it's spontaneous jittery behavior it begins to tone down, and allow a moist powdery violet to play. Rose bounces onto the scene, with her pink dress and red hair and begins blowing kisses to the bad boy in the room, Leather. The leather in this composition isn't the stuff of normal mens fragrances, this leather is sweet and tender. He's a mommas boy at heart, but doesn't complain when sweet innocent rose offers up her moist femininity to him. Don't be fooled, whist rose an leather dominate the middle of this fragrance, there is always a hint of violet throughout.

The base:

Starts with a slight whiff of patchouli, a unisex accord, herbal, soft, sweet and slightly masculine. While in passing you notice a well dressed man (vetiver) seemingly glaring at you, he is crisp and stern, not like the other patrons to this night club. He is a wall flower but it seems the he is the only thing keeping the place sane, glaring at the patrons who may be getting out of hand. Sandalwood and tonkabeans are what wraps up this fragrance. Ending in an unmistakable masculinity, with memories of being a female.

FABULOUS

Smell: 9
Longevity: 8+
Sillage: 6

The concept behind Delicious Closet Queen is the one of a feminine fragrance built to be wore by men who aren't afraid to show their feminine side. It sounded quite challenging/intriguing to me and when I found a 50ml bottle of this composition for 10 euros (no kidding) at a special sale they were doing at La Fayette in Berlin, I blind bought it right away.

This stuff opens cheekily chemical with a sort of rawsberry bubblegum note that's at the same time horrifying and interesting. Floral patterns, opopnax, hints of leather and green notes join the party giving birth to a sweet (but never too much) and nutty scent laying on a woody/vetiver base. Maybe a bit generic and somehow nondescript but not completely unsuccessful.
Nothing outstanding or particularly exciting here, but overall Delicious Closet Queen still mantains a slightly weird vibe that can make of it a quite enjoyable fragrance.

IMO it doesn't worth the full retail price, but if you happen to find it at a bargain price, go ahead as it can be funny.

Rating: 6.5/10

The opening is quite different from what I'd imagined--I smell a very strong leather from the bottle. But on my skin it has a very smoky fresh vetiver...A few minutes later, the leather comes out and it becomes something similar to the Putain des Palaces...Leather and flowers. Synthetic and somehow a little dirty. Anyway, cannot imagine a man wearing it.

An interesting take on bending gender notes: the vetiver is not too strong, the raspberry and flowers are not too sweet, and the musk is just a bit synthetic (imagine that plasticy musk in SJP Lovely). A pretty, determined, far from closeted, slightly artificial scent, which like its name and the smiling, empty-eyed mask on the sample package, suggests the tears of a clown.

With the name “Delicious Drag Queen” this would be fun, but “Delicious Closet Queen” ....