Eau de Protection
Rossy de Palma
Etat Libre d'Orange 2007

Eau de Protection / Rossy de Palma by Etat Libre d'Orange

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7.1 / 10 235 Ratings

A perfume by Etat Libre d'Orange for women, released in 2007. The scent is floral-spicy. It is still in production.

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Main accords

Floral

Spicy

Synthetic

Citrus

Fresh

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Bitter orange

Ginger CO2

Madagascar pepper

Heart Notes

Rose absolue Orpur®

Heliotrope Jasmine

Jasmine

Base Notes

Patchouli Orpur®

Benzoin Orpur®

Tonka bean absolute

Perfumers

Antoine Lie, Antoine Maisondieu

Ratings

Scent

7.1235 Ratings

Longevity

7.4168 Ratings

Sillage

6.9165 Ratings

Bottle

7.2157 Ratings

Value for money

7.066 Ratings

Submitted by DonVanVliet, last update on 05/14/2025.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Lyric Woman Eau de Parfum

Rose Poivrée

Coriandre Eau de Toilette

Portrait of a Lady Eau de Parfum

III-III Love Kills

Attrape-Rêves

Reviews

21 in-depth fragrance descriptions

05/30/2013

10
Sillage 10
Longevity 8
Scent

Cryptic
24 Reviews

Cryptic

Top Review 17

Warning: Patchouli

Not being familiar with Rossy de Palma, the woman who inspired this fragrance, I went Googling to ascertain the nature of her celebrity. It turns out that she is a Spanish actress known for her work in the films of Pedro Almodóvar and (please forgive me, Gentle Reader) not exactly an oil painting. My ignorant opinion of Rossy de Palma aside, ELDO gets a lot of credit in my book for selecting an atypical muse as inspiration material rather than the usual teen idol or Hollywood starlet. For a company that sometimes gets a bad rap for using shock tactics as a marketing tool, Eau de Protection strikes me as a thoughtful, intelligent launch.

The perfume itself was an instant love for me because it has so much in common with my beloved Epic Woman and can be had for less than half the price. Eau de Protection opens in fresh fashion much as a natural rose would with some sparkling bergamot, but rapidly transcends the true flower by incorporating a number of darker notes. Before you know it, the rose is quite poisonous, but all the more alluring for being so. Eau de Protection uses a similar strong peppery note to the one I find so appealing in Epic, but replaces the caraway with ginger, rendering Eau de Protection less pickle-like and a bit more wearable. While Eau de Protection showcases a fairly nice Bulgarian rose, Epic revolves around the headier Damascus variety. Both contain incense and patchouli; the Amouage favoring a gorgeous silver frankincense and the ELDO being heavy on the patchouli, and therein lies the rub with this perfume.

Patchouli is a polarizing note, perhaps because some associate the smell with the '60s counterculture and the tumultuous events that surrounded it. My first wearing of Eau de Protection was at an outdoor event of a fairly conservative nature. In my defense, I wasn't familiar with the note pyramid and stupidly figured that Rose Frag = innocuous. Not! An offended woman who happened to be seated nearby sniffed ostentatiously while glaring at me as if I were The Whore of Babylon. In a nutshell, Eau de Protection has great, big sillage and is not the ticket for fragrance-phobic environments. Longevity is excellent. Many thanks to the rock star from South Africa who turned me on to this beauty, which is absolutely bottle-worthy.

11/12/2012

8
Scent

Ysbrand
84 Reviews

Ysbrand

Top Review 10

You look so beautiful when you are angry...

A rose is a rose is a rose, as Gertrude Stein said. But not all roses are the same. Formerly called Rossy de Palma- Eau de Protection (now just Eau de Protection) is a rose in a temper, a rose with a warning beauty- clothed on a magnificent armour of thorns, that will defend itself with iron at any advance, but will stay vigilant on its throne, as long as it remains untouched.

Eau de Protection starts harsh, abrasive, yet pleasant. This opening reminded me somehow of SL Vitriol d´Oeillet, although the progression is different. The rose comes wrapped in a more than generous dose of pepper. This spicy rose starts high pitched, and comes with a wonderful metallic note, that, as it has been accuartely pointed out before, reminds to blood. Makes me feel i´m wearing a no-nonsense Queen of Hearts, with a serious expression that you don´t know if it will be followed by a smile, or a yelling death sentence.

After the slightly violent opening, this fragance has a generous heart. The rose now is voluptuous and deeper, and comes supported by full-bodied notes of geranium and patchouli, that keep it deep-rooted, and a little moist indolic touch, all in a seamless accord. Eau de Protection is vigorous and passionate; the texture of its meaty petals is almost chewable, but in any moment i felt overwhelmed, quite the contrary, because the high pitched spices are nicely balanced with bass notes.

The drydown is also wonderful. The rose almost fully metamorphs into earthy dark chocolate and patchouli, a fainty vanillic benzoin and a pale trail of incense.

Despite the unmistakable rose note i didn´t feel like i was wearing a femenine fragance, indeed i was asked by (straight) men what i was wearing (of course they had never heard of Etat Libre D´Orange) IMHO this Rossy de Palma inspired perfume could fall in the shared category and i encourage any man who likes rose and patchouli to wear it. And if someone doesnt like it, off with their heads.

06/21/2012

9
Scent

Coutureguru
223 Reviews

Coutureguru

Very helpful Review 10

A rose by any other name ...

Mindblowing Rose!!! I have tried more than a few of the Etat Libre d'Orange range of frags and take a filial sort of pride in the fact that the house was started by a fellow South African. I noticed that in a lot of the fragrances, the drydown seemed to be very similar (at least to my nose) and drew my own conclusion that the frags were probably all built on the same base, similar to Guerlain's 'guerlinade', which doesn't really work on my skin. How true this may be I cannot say ... I was simply following my nose - which more often than not leads me totally astray!

Today I tried Rossy de Palma and it was an instant love affair! This rose is intense - rich ,sweet and melancholy with the touch of a sting and a hint of blood as the thorn pierces the skin (undoubtedly the ginger and pepper). She is blousy and overblown, definitely not of the fresh and dewey variety. A rose that has reached her prime, languidly crushed against the sheets from being made love upon, exuding her fragrant swansong. Later, pale incense delicately spirals into the sky, carrying the soul of the rose aloft ...

I don't care that this is supposed to be for the gals ... I'm gonna wear the hell out of it ... and I'm going to abuse the sprayer mercilessly!! This frag is freaking AWESOME!!!

12/04/2012

10
Bottle 7.5
Sillage 7.5
Longevity 7
Scent

Sherapop
1239 Reviews

Sherapop

Very helpful Review 7

Bright Rose diminuendos as pepper crescendos...

Etat Libre d'Orange ROSSY DE PALMA opens bright red with a huge, beautiful blast of rose, making this a buy-at-the-counter hit for sure. I imagine that the effect is even more spectacular when this perfume is sprayed rather than dabbed on to the skin. Nearly immediately the rose begins to fade away, though it remains detectable throughout the entire wear. At the same time, the spicy components--above all pepper--grow stronger and stronger and stronger, almost to the point of taking over the rose. Eventually, the drydown perfume smells like a close olfactory neighbor of The Different Company ROSE POIVREE and Eau d'Italie PAESTUM ROSE. With two big differences.

First, ROSSY contains a pretty good dose of patchouli, which I believe is not present in either ROSE POIVREE or PAESTUM ROSE (or if it is, it's much ligher!). The second, and equally important difference to my nose is that rather than cumin, the spiciness in this composition is produced primarily through pepper and ginger. Cardamom is listed as a note, but I do not detect it independently. What I smell is a combination of pepper, patchouli, ginger, incense and rose, with a BIG emphasis on the pepper.

If the pepper were cumin, this would be all wrong for me. Instead, I like this so much that despite my sadness at the disappearance of the rose, I'll probably add a bottle of this creation to my collection at some point. Too interesting to pass up, plus I'm a longtime fan of Pedro Almodovar, although I had no idea until yesterday that the unforgettable woman in so many of his films goes by the name of Rossy de Palma!

04/01/2015

7.5
Bottle 5
Longevity 10
Scent

ScentedSalon
96 Reviews

ScentedSalon

Very helpful Review 6

Dreams Delayed

Years ago on a extremely freezing night, in a smoke-filled room by the fire, I inhaled this scent from my arm and swooned. You know what they mean when they say "swooned"? It is when you sigh with extreme pleasure and close your eyes, imagining there is nothing more worthy of your love than this moment. Artists know the value of a swoon. Sometimes you see a movie or a beautiful face that makes you feel that way. A delicious dessert can do it. Most often, our sense of smell allows us to travel into swoon-worthy territory, but a perfume must be really special for such as reaction.

Rossy de Palma is such as scent for me. I am a rose lover through and through, and you have to be to appreciate this concoction. The rose is the star, red and dripping. The supporting spices are ginger and something else I cannot place. The blood accord is just a supporting player to the red red rose. And the drydown is smooth and creamy with benzoin and patch.

I have many rose loves and they tend to be similar in character. Rose Flash, Calligraphy Rose, Vengeance Extreme and others are similar to Rossy. This is a brighter dark rose, not too heavy in the base notes and more about the top and heart. Could not recommend it enough. (The price, which is rare to say, is right as well.)

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