Fat Electrician Etat Libre d'Orange 2009

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7.3 / 10 516 Ratings

A perfume by Etat Libre d'Orange for men, released in 2009. The scent is woody-spicy. It is still in production.
Pronunciation

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Main accords

Woody

Spicy

Resinous

Green

Sweet

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Black pepper Orpur®

Elemi resin

Heart Notes

Vetiver

Cedarwood Orpur®

Base Notes

Myrrh

Opoponax

Vanilla absolute Orpur®

Perfumer

Antoine Maisondieu

Videos

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Ratings

Scent

7.3516 Ratings

Longevity

7.4400 Ratings

Sillage

6.5396 Ratings

Bottle

7.2366 Ratings

Value for money

7.2179 Ratings

Submitted by TVC15, last update on 07/18/2025.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Vétiver

Vetiver Réunion

Kenzo Air Eau de Toilette

Vétiver Moloko

Bread in Chestnut

Encre Noire Eau de Toilette

Reviews

31 in-depth fragrance descriptions

03/20/2025

7
Pricing 7
Bottle 7
Sillage 8
Longevity 7.5
Scent

Merlotsupern
71 Reviews

Merlotsupern

Very helpful Review 7

The unusual semi-gourmand vetiver, one of ELDO's best

Etat Libre d’Orange has a knack for the unconventional, and Fat Electrician is no exception. With a name that immediately raises eyebrows, one might expect something brash, borderline unwearable... but what you actually get is one of the most unique, yet surprisingly versatile, vetiver fragrances out there.

At its core, Fat Electrician is a study in contrasts. The “fat” side is a smooth, creamy vetiver: its usual dry, rooty character rounded out by a warm, almost milky quality. This isn’t the sharp, smoky vetiver of Guerlain or the mineral-drenched (and dry) type found in Terre d’Hermès. Instead, it leans into a plush, almost gourmand territory thanks to an unexpected roasted chestnut accord.

And that’s where the “electrician” side kicks in. That chestnut note, with its warm, nutty depth, carries a subtle edge of something charred/slightly burnt. If you’ve ever worked with soldering irons or caught a whiff of burnt electrical wiring, you might recognize the effect. It’s not overpowering, but it’s there lingering just enough to add intrigue without making the scent feel industrial.

This clever balance between cozy and offbeat makes Fat Electrician one of ELDO’s most wearable offerings. It’s still unconventional, but in a way that feels refined rather than deliberately provocative. Performance is solid, with the creamy vetiver and chestnut combo leaving a lasting impression.

In a lineup filled with boundary-pushing concepts (I'd say avantgarde for 2009, when it was launched), Fat Electrician stands out as one of ELDO’s best. It is unusual but not daring, proof that originality doesn’t have to come at the expense of wearability.
Not to forget, fantastic price when found at discounters!

11/02/2013

jtd
484 Reviews

jtd

Helpful Review 6

fat me

I can feel the woody amber with my nose, and there is an acetone, shellac, sour plastic quality that I smell as the volatility of the note pulls it away from me.

And then I don’t really smell anything.

Great name, perplexing olfactory experience. It comes and goes in 5 minutes. A discrete, tidy performance that leaves me in a chin-scratching state.

I feel like I should applaud.

05/31/2016

BrianBuchanan
351 Reviews

BrianBuchanan

Helpful Review 4

Smoke and Mirrors

Any perfume lover sold on the idea of a semi-modern vetiver may be justly discombobulated when putting this on for the first time.

You get a burst of sweet spices and then a steamed suet pudding with an ethereal metallic tang, and chestnut purée. There are some red fruits, and then a strange aromatic, sweet and vaguely herbaceous note comes floating over the top. What appears to be metallic takes on a sour vinegary overtone, which you suspect is trying to smuggle a homeopathic spirit of vetiver into the profile.

The development stage is very volatile, changing at almost every sniff. What is certain though, this is not a Vetiver perfume in the accepted sense. There may be vetiver in there, but this profile doesn't smell of it; rather, more and more of a pale, nutty-creamy chestnut purée heaped onto suet pudding in a stainless steel dish, with a splash of aromatic vinegar.

Yet ironically, this radical construction is based on a traditional model of Vetiver i.e. vetiver paired with myrrh and spicy notes. Its the character of the changes that Antoine Maisondieu made to the traditional form which make Fat Electrician radical. He has taken 'The Vetiver' and thrust it into the odd gourmand territory of pale chestnut purée, and vinegar. This is the innovative angle which, when latched onto the traditional form justifies the weird ELdO moniker 'semi-modern vetiver'.

In every vetiver worth mentioning (and some that are not) vetiver's name has had to take pride of place on the label - just as a megalomaniac film star's name must come top of the bill; because as Luca Turin points, out when there's not enough vetiver the note gets lost, but when there is enough it takes over.

The problem of vetiver's distinctive personality has at last been solved. The challenge has long been how to get enough of it into the mix without letting it dominate, forcing you to call your perfume Vetiver; the name an admission that the perfumer's attempts to bend this recalcitrant yet seductive weed to their will have failed.

In this case a novel and effective way to square the vetiver circle has been found. Instead of the tried and tested anisic route, or the citrus dead end, the lighter aspects of vetiver have been exalted into the head accord by means of a silver leaf olive note, which recalls the aromatic vinegars of pre-modern perfumery. This is a well blended, fairly neutral, comparatively subtle (and its really saying something to describe a penetrating top note as subtle) sweet vinegar-like accord that washes off a trace of vetiver into its volatile fumes.

The blocking material between the buried vetiver and the exalted thin vinegar - metallic accord is a naturalistic chestnut purée. It has an oily-granular paste like texture, and a mild-sweet & bland nut-meat aroma, which is mid toned yet also opaque and thick enough to smother the vetiver early on. It is so different from the vinegar as to be largely immune to it. This thick splodge of chestnut purée on the vetiver keeps it from rising to the light; a lot of chestnut - almost too much - but not so much as to stop a little vetiver from leaking out into the atmosphere on the volatile vinegar gasses. The vetiver is bowed down, suppressed, but its there none the less - like a Freudian neurosis.

As things settle down, vetiver does, ever so slowly creep out, but it spends the first half of the development in hiding, and then, when it does emerge it's initially disguised as some kind of baroque courtier done up in whitened face, powdered wig and plastic comedy glasses. And then, when it really gets going, FE's alter ego starts cracking acerbic one liners right and left - and its then, finally, you come to realise that that old scoundrel vetiver has been capering under your nose for ages and for much of the time you didn't even know he was there.

The mark of a radical art work in any discipline is the initial confusion it engenders in the mind of the audience. The first time I smelled FE I thought it was boring and a bit weird (challenging and irritating) and I thought to myself 'who wants to smell like ... chestnut purée?'
But later, I re-watched the art critic Robert Hughes talking about Carl Andre's notorious pile of bricks in the Tate Gallery, the howls of indignation provoked by this 'sculpture' and the public money wasted on buying it. But, by virtue of its location in the gallery, it forced people to reconsider the forms that sculpture might take. After that, sculpture could no longer be just a marble torso nicked from the Parthenon.

Fat Electrician was the pile of bricks in my head, which challenged baffled, confused and annoyed, but eventually lit up a neural pathway that led to a lightbulb moment.
Besides having re-engineered The Vetiver to make it a balanced two part structure, it has also democratised this dictatorial material which long exerted a stranglehold on any structure a perfumer tried to make it play along with.

But if it 'means' anything - and whether perfume can or should have any significance beyond smelling good is another story - Fat Electrician is about humour and irony. These people at ELdO are no doubt far too subtle to to spell it out, preferring - as they do - to weave their postmodernist word games into clouds of semiological signifiers, in an attempt to envelop their weird fumes with a tantalising mystique.

Whatever.
Let's give Antoine Maisondieu and ELdO the last word when they declare
"The Vetiver is dead, long live vetiver!"

06/26/2025

8
Pricing 7
Bottle 7
Sillage 6
Longevity 8
Scent

Ceesie
108 Reviews

Ceesie

Helpful Review 4

Beauty doesn’t last…

… and this fragrance doesn’t either. So the inspirational story of this fragrance is about this handsome dude who’s had his best time behind him. Enjoy life while you can, it’s over before you know it.

And like that I enjoy this fragrance while I can, it’s pretty darn beautiful but it’s over before you know it. I can’t say longevity is particularly bad. It lasts maybe an hour of 6 on my skin, but it’s just such an interesting journey you wish took longer.

Starting off with a good fresh dose of pepper. That transforms in the deliciously gourmand vanilla chestnut. And back into some spicy smokey vetiver. That vetiver is scent-wise quite close to the peppery start, so you might say it almost makes a 360 degree turn.

If you’re on the lookout for a nice versatile vetiver, don’t pass this one by. It’s smooth, original and the price is quite sensible if you ask me.

02/16/2023

8
Pricing 8
Bottle 5
Sillage 7
Longevity 8
Scent

MrMoustache
6 Reviews

MrMoustache

6

Shapeshifter

Once upon a time, there was a perfume called "Fat electrician." At first, many people were puzzled by the name, but soon they realized that this fragrance was just as enigmatic and complex as the name suggested.

On one hand, "Fat electrician" had a fresh, rooty scent of vetiver that reminded some of the earthy smell of a garden after a rain shower. It was a refreshing and energizing fragrance that could lift your mood in an instant.

But on the other hand, "Fat electrician" also had delicate, warm, and almost gourmand touches that made it irresistible to those who loved sweet scents. It was a perfume that could make you feel cozy and comfortable, like a warm blanket on a chilly day.

The brilliance of "Fat electrician" lay in its originality and multi-faceted nature. It was a fragrance that had two faces, yet both of them were equally beautiful and appealing in their own way.

The scent of "Fat electrician" was like a story that unfolded gradually, with new and unexpected twists and turns. It was a fragrance that could transport you to a different place and time, where anything was possible.

In the end, "Fat electrician" became a beloved perfume among those who appreciated originality, complexity, and depth in their fragrances. It was a perfume that left a lasting impression, just like a good story that you can't help but remember long after it's over.

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